permaculture

[Nicholas Roberts <nicholas@themediasociety.org>]

http://www.counterpunch.org/norrell01122009.html
***Palestinians and American Indians * *Russell Means Breaks the Silence on
Obama *

By BRENDA NORRELL

American Indian activist Russell Means said President-elect Obama was
selected by the colonial powers as president to improve the US image
globally in the aftermath of George Bush. Further, Means said Obama's
appointments show that he is a Zionist controlled by Israel. Speaking on Red
Town Radio today, Means said what is happening now to Palestinians is what
happened to American Indians.

"Every policy the Palestinians are now enduring was practiced on the
American Indian," Means said on the Blog Talk Radio show, hosted by Brenda
Golden, Muskoke Creek. "What the American Indian Movement says is that the
American Indians are the Palestinians of the United States, and the
Palestinians are the American Indians of the Middle East," Means said.
Further, he points out that the Zionists who control Israel now control the
United States. "The power of the US in world politics diminishes every day."

"Now they have found a house servant by the name of Obama." Means said Obama
was selected as a "man in charge to take the heat," because of the "bad cop"
image that Bush put forth in the world. "Now, all of a sudden, it is, 'We're
so great. We elected a black man to be president.'"

Means added that Obama is a black man who was raised by his white
grandmother and has appointed Zionists to key positions and that the US is
headed for a new era of menial jobs. On Indian lands, Means reminds us, the
only people who get ahead are those who sell out to the colonial system.
Now, there is massive and sophisticated propaganda by the Zionists and the
U.S. Both countries, he said, are liars. In the US, American Indians have
been shut out of history, philosophy and the arts, in a "total blackout."
The United States does not want to be reminded of the smallpox blankets,
theft, colonialism and mistreatment of the American Indian, he said.

Means said most Americans do not realize that the financial collapse of this
country is only beginning: "Americans cannot continue the lifestyles of
consumers when there is no production. Low income jobs and menial jobs are
the only ones left." "Health care in the US reveals how the policies used in
experimentations on American Indians became US policies. The US health care
system is now stringent and calloused, with constant refusals of treatment.
This has always been the case with the Indian Health Service. Now it is the
policy of the HMOs. Family ranchers and family farmers are now in the way of
progress, the same way the American Indian was once viewed. Now, family
farmers and family ranchers are being gutted, because they function on
massive credit. They are trying to pay back debts, which is not possible
with manipulated agriculture prices. The family farmer and family rancher
are now going to be extinct."

Means points out that the federal government has also taken over and
polluted the educational system; "Americans don't even know their own
history. Along with this federal control, came the passage of English-only
laws in many states. However, for Indigenous Peoples it is positive to know
many languages. If you speak two languages, you are speaking with two
brains. That is the way it is to us. That's how we look at life. In the
mid-Twentieth Century, US schools listened to the communities and local
governing boards."

"However, now the US educational policy has taken away local control and
mandated federal guidelines. So now education has become a matter of money.
Meanwhile, the real history is silenced. While the United States attempts to
portray itself as a peace loving nation, the fact is the United States is at
war every year. The United States breaks a host of international laws every
year, which has been the pattern since 1946. American Indians were aware of
what the US was doing, because the US had already broken all treaties with
American Indians; treaties guaranteed by the US Constitution," he said.

About the American revolution to throw off the British, Means pointed out
how "his-story" has been manipulated; "There is a great deal of propaganda
about why the US broke away from England. But the fact is that George
Washington, the largest landowner, along with the slave owners, broke with
England so that the original treaties of England with American Indians in
the west would not have to be honored. The US broke with England, to invade
the west and take the land. "

The US was created to break international laws," Means said, adding that it
is obvious today that this is the pattern of the U.S. Means said the United
States was initiated as an outlaw and renegade nation and that "today, its
imperial policies mean that Israel is a surrogate of the US, receiving aid
from the U.S. With the combined US and international aid, Israeli receives
$12 billion a year for its "military and the settlers in the West Bank."

Means said 80 percent of the people in the West Bank are paid to stay there.
"It is America who pays them to stay there. But even in Israel, where there
is a free press and not everyone agrees with Israel waging war on Palestine.
He said 20 to 30 percent of the people in Israel are against the war on
Palestine. Like the United States, Israel has been at war every year of its
existence."

Means often refers to Israel as the 51st state, of warmongers and
imperialists. "America and Israel are based on lies, resulting in the
massive deaths in Iraq. Now, the US and Israel are focused on Iran because
its oil reserves." Means said Indian lands have become "open air
concentration camps." "If you chose to stay on the reservation, you are
guaranteed to be poor, unless you are part of the colonial apparatus set up
by the Bureau of Indian Affairs," he said.

"On Indian lands, everyone fights to be part of the tribal governments
because that is where the money is. Everyone fights to be part of the
colonial system. The only way you can be part of the colonial system is to
obey. Those returning home to Indian lands cannot 'rock the boat,' demand
their treaty rights or their rights guaranteed by the US Constitution."

Means said the American Indian Movement made people aware that the US
Constitution was based upon that of the Iroquois Six Nations. "However, the
US Constitution only includes one-third of the Great Law of Peace. If all of
the Great Law of Peace had been adopted, this country would be much
different and much wealthier." However, it was turned into a country of
consumers. He said what you get with a country of consumers is greed. "What
is going on in Palestine is going on in America. The United States is taking
away the homes of the people." Now in the United States, there is "communism
from the left" and "right-wing socialism." He said the problem with
socialism is that it is bereft of consensus and spirituality.

Means, now 70, said he has experienced the US when it reached its zenith in
the world in the 1950s, "At that time, America was a productive country. In
the years that followed, the ruling elite sold out the unions, as the labor
movement was razor thin close to taking over politics in America. The most
watershed event was Brown vs. Board of Education, the US Supreme Court
ruling which desegregated schools. The white male started losing his power.
Then, in the social revolution that followed, white males lost control of
their women and their women's vote, and lost control of the work place.
While civil rights was the chosen remedy of most social movements, American
Indians remained dedicated to 'sovereign rights,' individual sovereign
rights. We are the only ones that held on to the sovereign concept, he said.
The other social movements were saying, "Please Mr. White Male let me be
equal to you."

Means said things will be different now, "Our grandmother the Mother Earth
is tired of the human race. She is going to eliminate it and I champion her,
Mother earth." Means said matriarchy is what Indigenous people are all
about. "We know that women are the givers of life and men are the takers of
life. We have to follow the woman in order to gain balance." He said in a
matriarchal society, there is a balanced society, as each celebrates their
strengths together. "True individual freedom has to be done by consensus,
otherwise it is mob rule." In the US, now there are fake elections. "The
people are convinced they are actually electing a president. However, it is
the Electoral College that actually selects the US president."

The charade is now coming to a close, as the 'Patriot Act' means that Posse
Comitatus is dead and buried. Means said everyone has the responsibility to
be free. "You are free to be responsible. That is the essence of freedom."
He said everyone should know their rights. Otherwise, they are guaranteed
slavery.

"Einstein said, 'The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and
over again and expecting a different outcome,'" "That's America, that's the
Indian reservation. That's pathetic and an injustice to human beings." He
said "human brains are doped up with all this ignorance and greed."

Red Town Radio show host Brenda Golden, an enrolled Muscogee (Creek) Nation
of Oklahoma, grew up in Clearview, Oklahoma. Golden attended Sequoyah Indian
School in Tahlequah before joining the Air Force. Later, she received her
bachelor's and master's degrees in business administration from the
University of Oklahoma. She has worked in Indian Country as an educator,
tribal liaison, grant writer, board member and volunteer since the early
1990's.

Golden said she is hosting Red Town
Radio<http://www.blogtalkradio.com/RedTownRadio>,
on Blog Talk Radio, to offer a platform for Indigenous issues.

Listen to more of the show, including David Hill, who called in, and pointed
out that while the US cut school funds and school lunches, the US increased
aid to Israel.

*Brenda Norrell* is human rights editor for U.N. OBSERVER & International
Report. She also runs the Censored
<http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/>website and is a contributor to
Red
State Rebels <http://redstaterebels.org/>. She can be reached at:
brendanorrell@gmail.com

-- 
Nicholas Roberts
[im] skype:niccolor