There are obviously other topics for me to write about, but I'm quite busy lately and this is one that I both want to keep on top of and want to spread awareness of.
Anyway, just a quick update for now. Now that the new Republic of Lakota website is back up, they've continued to make improvements. The biggest is the addition of a discussion forum. It doesn't have a whole lot of traffic just yet, but it's still relatively new so hopefully that will change. Certainly I think the existence of the forum will help drive traffic to the site and therefore spread awareness, and hopefully some good things will come of it.
For the record, I've registered on the Republic of Lakota forums with the username 'josho'.
I've just discovered that there is a new website for the Lakota Freedom movement: www.republicoflakota.com (the old website forwards to it). The new website is, in my opinion, a little better looking and, more importantly, better organized. There's a separate section explaining their motivations, as well as one explaining the history of the movement. I do think it would be helpful to their cause if they added a news section or blog with an RSS feed to make it easier for people to keep track of what's going on (and help their search rankings).
Most importantly, however, they have addressed the criticisms leveled at them that they do not actually represent the Lakota people. They say that they have had ongoing communications with traditional chiefs and treaty councils for the past three years, and have been in consultation with the traditional treaty councils of: Pine Ridge, Porcupine, Kyle, Rosebud, Lower Brule, Cheyenne River, Standing Rock, and Flandreau.
I hope that this means they actually do have some legitimacy behind them, although there still hasn't been any real mention of them in the news. But I'll be continuing to follow the story and hopefully something actually come of it.
Edit:
It appears that republicoflakota.com is now down, and currently displays only a GoDaddy domain parking page... (Thanks, Windtalon, for the heads up.) I've emailed the people in charge (the Means) and let them know, so hopefully this will be resolved soon.
Edit 2:
The site's back up now.
I've been doing some more research into the authority of the Lakota Freedom movement to actually declare independence for the Lakota Nation. From what I can tell, even amongst the Lakota there's a lot of confusion about the issue. The man largely behind the movement appears to be Russell Means, a Lakota activist and one-time gubernatorial candidate, and there are mixed feelings, to say the least, about him taking the role of spokesman. Some say that even if he did have the authority to represent them, they wouldn't want him to. Others appear to be all in favor of what he's doing and hopeful, if not confident, that the U.S. government will acknowledge him as a representative of the Lakota.
The discussion about this issue seems to be the same, regardless of which side of the always-complex relationship between the U.S. and American Indian nations you happen to be on. The fact that everyone is questioning whether the delegation that went to Washington had any authority to do so makes me suspect that they probably did not. However nearly everyone, myself included, also seems to think that even if it's nothing but a PR stunt, it could turn out to be a tremendously effective one. It certainly raises the questions (or would, if the media was actually covering it... I still haven't found any coverage of this in major US sources, maybe on Monday) of the legality of the way we (the U.S.) have treated the Indian nations, the true nature of the supposedly sovereign nations created by the reservation system, the reality of Indian dependence on the U.S. government, the desirability of freedom and independence, and whether or not the more recent treaties have been honored any better than past ones were.
If nothing else, I think this will be successful in raising these questions on the reservations where it is, at least, getting more attention than off of them. Probably unsurprisingly, I, for one, think every step that can be taken towards true independence should be. Obviously it would be complicated for everyone if a completely sovereign nation sprung up in the middle of the country, especially if others were to follow. I'm currently in New Mexico outside Santa Fe, and driving from here to the Albuquerque airport next Wednesday I'll pass through about 5 or 6 different reservations. What would happen if they decided to become fully independent nations as well? Nevertheless, I think it is extremely important that we look at the treaties that we've signed, understand what obligations they entail, and examine whether or not we've actually lived up to them. The treaties were theoretically supposed to be for the benefit of both sides. Were they? If they were, are they still? If they're not, they should either be re-negotiated or gotten rid of entirely.
The declaration made this week was almost certainly timed to take advantage of the upcoming elections. Now, in particular, we're all questioning the wisdom and benefit of pursuing imperialistic policies abroad. Before we can even hope to answer those questions we need to answer the questions surrounding our imperialistic policies at home. Putting real thought into these questions and trying to answer them will, I think, be of tremendous benefit not only to Lakota and other Indian nations, but to us as Americans, and to all the peoples we currently do and will deal with abroad.
Well, it seems that the Lakota Independnce story is starting to get picked up in national sources ...kind of. It's made it into USA Today's On Deadline blog: Lakota withdraw from treaties, declare independence from U.S. It's not much, but it's a start. Hopefully next week will start to see the story make it into some of the bigger outlets. Also, I was very surprised to find that if you do a Google search for 'Lakota independence', my previous entry is the number two result. Cool for me, not so much for the Lakota or whoever is handling their media relations. I've also found, thanks to digg, a map of the Lakota nation.
The story is getting some international coverage though:
There is, of course, some question as to the reality of this movement. It's being said by some that it's nothing but a political stunt by the American Indian Movement. Certainly the AIM was involved, but I'm not sure that necessarily means the whole thing is a farce. Some more research into the matter is called for. I, for one, would like it to be real, and to actually happen. But it seems that even among the Indian community they're saying that it's nothing but grandstanding and that the delegation that went to Washington didn't actually represent them. Well, I'll still be following to story to see what happens.
I haven't seen a whole lot of coverage of this, and what I have seen hasn't really had all the much information. But apparently the Lakota Sioux have unilaterally withdrawn from all treaties with the United States and are taking steps to emphasize their sovereignty including plans to issue their own passports and drivers licenses, as well as opening diplomatic relationships with other countries. The most interesting step they're taking, to me, is the offer to allow U.S. citizens to move to the new Lakota Country where they can live tax free so long as they renounce their U.S. citizenship. This move could serve to attract the talent and marketable skills that they will need to survive as a fully independent nation, but only time will tell. They've also announced that they will be pursuing energy independence through renewable sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, and bio-fuels.
The best coverage of this that I've seen so far comes from the Indigenist Intelligence Review. It also contains the only link I've found so far to their website: lakotafreedom.com. Unfortunately, due to the recent news exposure, the site has exceeded it's bandwidth allotment and is inaccessible. I've attempted to contact them in order to offer some of my own hosting for the interim, but have yet to hear back. Edit: the website is apparently now back up, so we have a first-hand source of information.
I'm extremely interested to learn more about what's going on, and will be doing my best to keep on top of the story. Unfortunately it doesn't really seem to have been picked up by any major news outlets, which is unfortunate. In particular it will be interesting to see how the U.S. government responds to this. In theory it's completely legal, and they were technically already sovereign. In practice, the sovereignty of the various American Indian nations has always been tenuous at best. A few other nations, however, including Bolivia and Venezuela, have apparently already expressed their support.
