OCTOBER 1990 PNL 57 6
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE SYRACUSE PEACE COUNCIL
FOUNDED IN 1936
In This Issu e
In the month that contains what the
majority of people call Columbu s
Day, it is important to remembe r
those who were already here whe n
Columbus disembarked from hi s
merchant vessel . This issue present s
information about current and pas t
Native American struggles .
'eace Newsfett,"
October 199 0
PNL 576
Table of Contents
4
Letters
5
Celebrate Columbus?
6
Native Struggle At Big Mountain
7
SPC Page
8
Mohawks Under Siege
Canada, Oka, & the Mohawk People - An Interview 9
10
Natives & the Fur Industry
11
Middle East Crisis: Sins of the Dollar
12-1
4
Community Groups
Environmental Information Column
1515
Green Corner
16
Pico Lawsuit Filed
17
The Other Guatemala
21
Book Review: Agents of Repression
23
Unclassifieds
The Peace Newsletter (PNL) is
published monthly by the Syracuse
Peace Council (SPC) .
The PNL strives to serve some basi c
functions as the internal organ of SPC ,
as a forum for articles which discus s
issues of concern to the peac e
movement, and to facilitate communit y
interaction . The opinions expressed in
the PNL reflect the diversity of opinion s
within SPC itself. While we are not
able to print every possible viewpoint .
we do welcome your letter and articl e
submissions as well as suggestions an d
assistance.
The cover art is a detail from a piece Jan Peterso n
created for the SPC Peace Calendar American Ilyth s
Jan, Sandee and Brie are in Syracuse for the fall .
THE PEACE NEWSLETTE R
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October 17
10/90 Peace Newsletter 3
Wildlife Refuge s
No Haven
Dear Editor:
I am writing to share with fello w
citizens some awful truths about ou r
National Wildlife Refuges .
The National Wildlife Refuge System, administered by the Departmen t
of Interior with our tax dollars, wa s
created to provide inviolate sanctuaries for wild animals. But today
more :than half of the nation's 45 2
refuges host a total of 557 different
hunting programs . In addition, 9 1
refuges allow commercial and recreational trapping of wildlife. Every year,
hundreds of thousands of wild animals -- representing more than on e
hundred species -- are killed o r
wounded on refuges . The National
Wildlife Refuge System is a shambles l
Little integrity remains in "refuges "
that allow this wholesale destructio n
of wildlife.
One argument often cited by hunters in favor of refuge hunting pro grams is that hunters "bought" th e
National Wildlife Refuge Syste m
through the purchase of Duc k
Stamps (a federal tax on waterfowl
hunting) and should therefore b e
allowed to hunt on Refuges . But th e
Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) data
show that only 3.5% (3,000,000
acres) of the 90 million acre Refug e
system has been purchased wit h
Duck Stamp funds . Most Refuges
have either been carved out of lan d
already owned by the federal government or bought up with tax dollars .
Therefore, the hunter's argument doe s
not stand scrutiny ; it is merely an
attempt to justify sport hunting o n
National Wildlife Refuges .
Thankfully, Congressman Bill
Green of New York has introduced
progressive and far-reaching legislation to correct these injustices . HR
1693, the Refuge Wildlife Protection
4 Peace Newsletter 10190
Act, would reform the National Wild life Refuge System by eliminating th e
abuses caused by hunting and trapping. HR 1693 now has over 63 cosponsors in the House of Representatives and is supported by a host o f
animal protection organizations an d
millions of citizens . I urge people to
contact Representative James Wals h
and ask him to add his name to th e
bill's sponsors .
Sincerely ,
Lou De Santis. Jr.
Syracuse
Message Fro m
Kore a
To our Brothers and Sisters through out the country who support the Pic o
Korea Union struggle :
Having had to leave behind th e
heavy burden of our struggle wit h
you, I found the joy of being reunite d
with my loving son to be only temporary . Since our return we have
been extremely busy here with gettin g
the truth out about our struggle an d
so I find that my first correspondenc e
to you has been quite delayed.
We apologize to all of you in the
U .S. who are continuing to cant' o n
the struggle of Pico Workers . We hop e
that you are all well.
Our comrades here would also lik e
me to express their appreciation t o
you . The passionate help given to us
by all those organizations of conscience and supporting brothers an d
sisters throughout the U .S. ha s
shown results even in this country .
Your efforts and support helped t o
bring about a heightened level o f
consciousness and awareness of ou r
struggle which forced even the Mi n
Ja Dang (the ruling party) to act o n
our behalf . This, we could not trad e
for any amount of money . I cannot
help but feel joy in knowing that the
tears of the Pico mothers were no t
shed for nothing. Though we know
for truth and always stressed tha t
the Pico struggle represents the sorrow of all the workers in this world
and that it also is a question of national dignity, the fact is that withou t
the warm love and solidarity of all of
you in the U .S ., all of this would no t
have been possible .
Here, in Korea, workers are
involved in a battle for their very
survival . The government is decreasing the number of public holidays
and trying to pass laws which state
"no work, no pay" (this in effec t
would take away all of the benefits
that workers have fought so hard
for) . Truly, the future worries me .
Brothers and Sistersl Let us b e
healthy so that we can all together go
on this road which is far and rough ,
showing each other the way, an d
keeping each other up until we reac h
that world which we are all hopin g
for. Let us meet soon to defeat Bernard Hitchcock who has provided this
historical battle in which brother s
and sisters in our land can be in
direct solidarity with those in the
U .S .
Let us not forget that our strength
comes from when we are organize d
and that we can win only when w e
unite .
Please do take care .
Yoo Jum Soon
President. Pico Korea Union
Celebrate Columbus?
In 1492 Columbus sailed th e
ocean blue, but he painted the lan d
red! This was my theme in a letter t o
the editor of the Syracuse Post-Standard last October . "Going for th e
Gold" was foremost in Columbus '
mind, and others have explored or
exploited Central America to this day !
That letter brought colorful and spirited written responses and lively discussions during coffee and lunc h
breaks . The letter gave me furthe r
opportunity to reply with two more
letters over the next two months .
Later in March of this past winte r
one of the responders, professo r
Douglas Deal of SUNY at Oswego ,
and I were asked by Syracuse University to speak to the topic, "Who wa s
Columbus?"
The following quotes are to give yo u
some flavor of my three letters . Fro m
the first: "In a few years, leaving n o
stone unturned, no man or woman o r
child untouched, no returning shi p
empty of slaves, he engineered th e
murder of 250,000 peaceful Arawa k
Indians, thus causing their extinction .
The equivalent number projected wit h
population` growth over 500 years
would be in the millions today, whic h
puts Columbus in the same leagu e
with Hitler and Stalin . . .The gold now
is lumber and depletion of the rai n
forests, land to raise cheaper beef,
sugar cane and bananas, using pesticides forbidden in this country an d
cheap labor. Present-day exploitation
experts are the multitude of international corporations, with the aid an d
cooperation of enforcers like the CIA ,
Oliver North, Elliot Abrams, Ronal d
Reagan and George Bush."
The second letter provided sources ,
one of which was Howard' Zinn' s
People's History of the United States .
From that letter: "As always, whe n
cherished stereotypes are challenge d
or shown to be false, there is consternation and incredulity. Unfortunately, my portrayal of Columbus is
neither imaginative nor fictionalized.. .If we care about truth and
justice, and if we would leave a sane
and healthy planet for our children' s
grandchildren, then we must do ou r
homework, both in and out of school .
We must require that the history
books in our schools contain such
items as the genocide of the Armenians ; Stalin's starvation of thou -
Win Skeele
show topics .
sands ; the world's noninterference i n
Why do we not hear about the
Hitler's Holocaust ; the killing fields of
great crimes of history? 'The Official
Cambodia; the tragedy of Vietnam .
Story," academy award winner for
We must examine our cultural an d
best foreign picture, is the story o f
historical traditions, our prejudices ,
terror as government policy and th e
our social violence ; we must see that
thousands who disappeared in Argenignorance leads to arrogance an d
tina in the 1970's . A college student' s
false assumptions. "
remark was the angry spark to the
My third letter dealt with silence by
story: "History is written by assasthe media and individuals about wha t
sins." In Orwell's book 1984, when a
has been going on in Central Amerigovernment does not control by forc e
ca, specifically El Salvador . One of
through the military, it must watch
,the letter responders had written
regarding the Nazi
death camps . Silence infected many ,
including the major
leaving no stone unturn e no
media on both side s
man or woman or child untouched
of the Atlantic, to
the Holocaust. Anti no returning , ship empty of slave s
Semitism was ram he engineered the murder of250
pant . How terrifying
are the parallels to 000 P eaceful Arawak Indians ..: `
day to the 30's an d
40's. I ended with :
'To be silent is to
very closely and attempt to manipudecide . To be silen t is to die insid e
late and control through the medi a
ourselves. "
and information sources . In M . Scott
The title of my topic at SU was : "By
Peck's People of the Lie, a committee
1992 : Will the Planet Have Seen an
of three Army psychiatrists made a
End to Respectable Murders?" I
recommendations for research that
began my remarks with a brief permight shed light on the psychological
sonal background, in thought and i n
causes of My Lai . The research they
letter-to-the-editor writing, regardin g
proposed was rejected on the ground s
Columbus . The subject of Columbus
that it could not be kept secret an d
should be addressed in the context o f
might prove embarrassing, because it
much disinformation and ignorance
about Central America, and our nawould be difficult not to examine our
own culture and then be able to seption's continued refusal to address
arate THEM who did the awful deed s
basic issues regarding the Vietna m
from US !
conflict or other mass killings of th e
What are some doing to get read y
last 100 years .
for the 500th celebration in 1992 ?
Paul Hanly Furfey in his book The
NASA plans to send three space
Respectable Murders said that the
ships to Mars for $25 million, named
greatest crimes of history are no t
the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa
committed by individuals or smal l
Maria. The 1992 Summer Olympics
groups but by communities or countries, with the cooperative or passive
in Barcelona will be used to launc h
replicas of Columbus's ships . Th e
consent of their citizenry, Thes e
U .S . Treasury will be putting into
crimes are committed by "respectabl e
circulation a new dollar coin, the
citizens" with the help of you an d
me, and our ancestors, down throug h
Christopher Columbus silver dollar . I
thought about writing a letter o f
the ages. These respectable citizen s
complaint to the three Republica n
are the power structure : the governSenators who sponsored the bill, bu t
ment leaders, the royalty, generals ,
admirals, judges, business leaders ,
had second thoughts when I realize d
investors and the media, molders o f
Columbus on the almighty dollar
might be quite appropriate . In conpublic opinion; they are clergy, editrast indigenous groups met in Bogators, columnists, professors, and
national TV personalities . And their
ta last October to plan their ow n
motives and deeds are not front page
news, nightly TV news or hot talk
Sail cont'd on pg 1 9
10/90 Peace Newsletter 5
Forced From Their Homelan d
Dineh Struggle At Big Mountain
PL 93-351, passed in 1974 ,
mandates the separation of th e
Joint Use Area of Big Mountain in to two equal sections separated b y
barbed 'wire fences, removal of Navajo and Hopi to the segregated
areas, 90% reduction of all live stock herds and a halt to all building and property improvements i n
the area.
Big Mountain is in the Four Corners area of Arizona, her story i s
best told anecdotally . Mother Earth,
perhaps like most rape victims ,
reveals her past not in straigh t
narrative but in bits and pieces o f
story, parts which reflect an awfu l
whole . Or perhaps these are the excuses of an white writer describin g
things that are not white ; or, perhaps, the excuses of a writer wh o
knows that the entire story of th e
genocide at Big Mountain would b e
books and books in the telling .
The destruction of Big Mountai n
is perhaps foreshadowed in the creation myth of the Dineh themselve s
(the Dineh- the people- whom white s
tend - to call Navajo) . For before th e
Dineh were Dineh, they were othe r
beings, foxes and insects and other s
who inhabited other worlds. At each
stage of existence, the world and th e
Dineh-to-be was rocked by cataclysm ,
and they climbed through a hole i n
the sky to a new world as different
beings . If the whites have their ways ,
the Dineh will need to find anothe r
hole soon . Then again, the radioactiv e
remains of the Ken-McGhee plan t
may just blow sky high and help
them, and us, to find that hole .
Tradition holds that the Hopi are ,
as it were, the mode of communication of the Great Spirit, the' Dine h
the vessel which protects that voice .
This symbiotic existence prevaile d
since before recorded time at what i s
known to us as Big Mountain . Here
Hopi farmers and Dineh shepherd s
have coexisted virtually forever . The
land, Big Mountain itself, is the center of their existence. Removed fro m
this sacred mountain, the members
of Hopi and Dineh communities cease
to be Hopi and Dineh . Dineh elder
Pauline Whitesinger notes that ther e
is no Dineh word for relocation, t o
relocate is to die .
This peaceful coexistence ende d
with the rapacious white man . In the
6 Peace Newsletter 10/90
Blaine DeLance y
problem selling or leasing the lan d
to Standard . The Bureau designated these individuals as the firs t
Tribal Council, which obediently al lowed Standard to drill . Ah . . .progress .
This was the essence of th e
Tribal Council in the U .S. Remember that elections are alien to virtually all traditional Amerindia n
cultures . The Dineh govern, if that
is the appropriate word, throug h
elders who are not named or elected, but understood to be wise by
their actions and standing amon g
their peers . Since the U .S. government imposed the first tribal council, elections have been held frefor
our
surviva
l
"We pray wrt
t ceoung
quently in the Big Mountain area
ers,`not s fewhere'else.
and in other "reservations ." No t
We have .1 o'thoughis of relocation
surprisingly, the traditionalists tend
I(Ee SHAY; Dit Moun~eini elde r
not to participate in these elections ;
the Christian converts (largely Mormons in Big Mountain) do .
Tribal Councils are usually nothing but extensions of Big Papa's govI860's the venerable Kit Carson hunernment in Washington . As far as I
ted down and slaughtered countles s
Indians, collecting 8,800 in 1863 on
can find out, no election of the Navathe Longest Walk, a forced march
jo Tribal Council has ever involve d
even 20% of the Big Mountain popuacross 300 miles of burning sand t o
Fort Sumner, where the natives wer e
lation . A further note - in the case o f
to be incarcerated . Many Dineh fle d
the Dineh, the Tribal Councils impos e
a predominantly male rule on a gene the Longest Walk and escaped to Bi g
Mountain .
rally matriarchal culture - wher e
there are many female elders, there
The white man had thoughts o f
all councilmen .
penetration even then . General Jame s
Carleton organized the clearing out o f
In any case, as a result of th e
councils allowing the rape, this area
natives from the area and pointed ou t
is the most polluted in the world .
in 1868 that it opened up the path t o
natural resources . At the time we
Radon gas has poured out into th e
were happy to leave the barren Bi g
air for years from plants processin g
uranium . The worst nuclear accident
Mountain to the farmers and th e
in US history occurred there at Rio
shepherds .
John Rockefeller was perhaps th e
Puerco, contaminating the water tabl e
first to wise up. Executives of hi s
for hundreds of square miles (th e
Standard Oil made the discovery i n
water supply is still contaminated) . A
1921 that the mountain was burstin g
plume of black smoke is so horrenwith oil (uranium and coal would
dous as to be visible from oute r
eventually be found as well) . Joh n
space (US astronauts saw it iii 1965) .
Rockefeller 's games did not finis h
wanted to rip the area open and drill ,
but there was a slight technicality.
the attack . Most Hopi and Dineh still
He didn't own the land . He tried to
opposed the rape of their mother. I n
1970 Peabody Coal convinced the
buy it from the occupants, but the
Dineh and Hopi were not comfortable
Hopi Tribal Council to hire a publi c
with the idea of selling their mother ,
relations firm, Evans and Assoc ., to
stage a range war between Hopi an d
let alone to be raped .
Dineh . They hoped, despite th e
An angry John approached th e
Indian Bureau, which legally con peaceful coexistence of Hopi an d
trolled the land . Government official s
Dineh for centuries, to convince Con searched the communities and foun d
a few Mormon converts who saw no
Dineh cont'd on pg 7
Syracuse Peace Council Pag e
House Paintin g
Underway
It has begun .
The Peace Council office buildin g
has not been painted in probably 3 0
years . It shows . Dark, thick filth i s
caked onto every square inch of chip ping paint . It is horrendous .
With much help 12 Lambda Chi
fraternity brothers of S .U ., a massive
effort began on Saturday Septembe r
15th to scrape, wash and paint the
place . The brothers were referred to
us courtesy of the SOS (Student s
Offering Service) office of Hendricks
Chapel at SU . They are committed to
completing the work this autumn.
If you are inspired to see a spanking fresh SPC office building - the
first fresh look since 1972 when we
moved in! - there is still time to volunteer .
By the time this PNL is in your
hands, we will be striving to complet e
the finish coat before cold weather
sets in . Just two hours of your time
could be critical . Call today!!!!!!!!!!!
- Gary Weinstein
Craftsfair Jurist s
Needed
The Peace Council's 20th Plowshare Craftsfair will be hel d
December 8th and 9th at Plymout h
Congregational Church. Right now we
are looking for people willing to jur y
applications from craftspeople . Most
of the work for this involves a few
meetings to go over ' slides and approve applicants . Your job would be
over by November 2 . Please call Barbara at 424-6015 if you are interested .
And for those of you who aren't
inclined to the above, we need peopl e
willing to help plan a Saturday nigh t
concert . Again, call Barbara or th e
Peace Council.
In memoria m
David K . Oser
Died July 12 of AIDS
He was 30 years old
Dineh
from pg 6
gress that a land dispute existed an d
to expel the Dineh from Big Mountain . Congress bought it .
In 1974, PL 93-531 was passe d
and relocation of up to 15,000 Dineh
had begun, to racist areas such a s
Flagstaff. The relocatees were give n
small amounts of money for th e
move ; those who have survived live i n
abject poverty .
The relocation was supposed to b e
complete by 1986 (the Reagan government threatened to send in troop s
to complete the job) ; however, intense
resistance from the Dineh (led largely
by women 50 years and older) and
public outcry postponed the genocide
for a while .
The government since that time
has focused on starvation tactics ,
systematically reducing the number s
of sheep that Dineh shepherds ma y
keep . The sheep are the base of the
Dineh economy and their mai n
source of food .
The relocation is genocide by inter national law : it intends to wipe a
people out of existence . The US .. .
government is biding its time unti l
the issue recedes even further fro m
public consciousness . Rest assured
that the intention of slaughtering th e
Dineh remains .
Pressure must be kept on members of Congress to repeal this blood y
law, PL 93-351 . And feel free to ge t
in touch with me for more information on the genocide at Big Mountain .
Blaine has been a long time activist fo r
the environment, third world struggles,
and Native American issues both in th e
community and on the SU campus .
10/90 Peace Newsletter 7
Mohawks Under
In March Mohawks at Kahnesatake Territory near Oka, Quebe c
erected a peaceful symbolic blockad e
on a wooded piece of land in th e
Mohawk territory. The blockade wa s
established to block the expansion o f
a nine hole golf course onto Mohawk
land.
Prior to July 11th a couple o f
Mohawks saw plainclothes policemen '
in one of the sheds . Amer the polic e
had left they investigated - pip e
bombs and trip wires were found .
Dan David, a journalist who lives a t
Kahnesatake said, "We knew some thing was up. A call for help went
out to other communities . We sent
word as far away as Onondaga (a
Nation near Syracuse . NY) and n o
one responded except a few men fro m
a reserve called Kahnewake and Akwesasne .
On the morning of July 11th the
Mohawks were holding a tobacco
burning ceremony when the Quebe c
Provincial police arrived . John Cree
went to talk with the police and told
them, "I can't tell these people t o
leave. They're not going to dismantle
$..
200
I*d on Bey
®v
.tame,
y
la
1
!
:o' aKehnw.ke
s'
the barricades. They are not going t o
honor the injunction ." Cree said h e
didn't see any paddy wagons or billy
clubs, all he saw were rifles . The me n
were kept way back in the woods, th e
women and children came forward ,
right up to the police lines and said
"We're not going to dismantle the
barricades . We're prepared to b e
arrested, we are prepared to b e
beaten ." But they weren't prepared
for what happened next .
About 100 police officers clad i n
helmets, fatigues, and gas masks
opened fire, lobbed tear gas and
concussion grenades at the wome n
Canada, Mohaw k
An Exclusive Interview with Dan Davi d
Dan David, a journalist, is one of th e
Mohawks in the community center a t
Kahnesatake Territory near Oka, Quebec .
This interview took place on September
6, 1990.
Q: Is it possible for the Mohawk
people at Kahnesatake to acquir e
sovereign status?
A: No. In Canada, the Canadian
government doesn't recognize India n
Nations as sovereign nations as the
United States does - as sovereign .
independent, internal governments.
What they (Canada) do is say tha t
they have an Indian Act and they'v e
instituted band councils that basic ally administer Canadian laws on the
territories. They don't recognize In dian Nations as nations per se wit h
the ability to govern themselves,
make their own laws, and administe r
their own justice system . And that's
partly what this fight is about.
NEW YORK
ONTARIO QUEBE C
CANAD A
L. #lu,on
~
8 Peace Newsletter 10/90
and children who were at the barricades . According to Ron Bonspille ,
an ambulance driver who was an
eyewitness to the attack, It was jus t
like a war movie . At about 6 AM
some police cars and two renta l
trucks pulled up and all hell brok e
loose. There were about thirty men i n
each truck . They started shooting automatic rifles, tear gas, I heard
about four explosions, I think it wa s
stun grenades ."
David said that at that point a fe w
men came running from the woods to
try to drive the police out . There was
an exchange of gunfire between the
Q: There are a lot of reports of factional fighting within the Mohawk
Community at Kahnesatake. Is this
another Akwesasne ?
A: There are a lot of people, for in stance even within our own communities, because of the Warrior s
and what they have done in the pas t
that I think is the same thing - that
it's another Akwesasne which basically was an ugly civil war. I worked fo r
the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and I covered that story [Akwesasne] several times . I came awa y
thoroughly disgusted with watchin g
my family, my father comes from tha t
place, torn down the middle - wit h
uncles shooting at my cousins and
my aunts throwing rocks at my
nieces .
Q : Isn't that sort of thing happening
at Kahnesatake ?
A: No, it's not the same at all. What
happened when the police attacked i s
that the whole community was certain that they were going to be attacked again . The only ones who
prevented that attack, who kept anyone else from getting killed were a
small group of men defending thi s
community - some of them calle d
themselves Warriors . They have been
there ever since : protecting, mannin g
the barricades, keeping the police ou t
and afterwards standing up to 3,00 0
members of the Canadian Arme d
Forces. People here, well I don't kno w
about the people who have left, bu t
the people who have stayed behin d
during this whole thing feel that the y
have a huge debt to pay to thos e
men and those women who wer e
Siege
heavily armed provincial police an d
the Mohawks . During the battle Corporal Marcel Lemay, 31, of the Quebec Provincial Police tactile squa d
was shot . Lemay died later that day
in a hospital . Bonspille said that th e
Mohawks behind the barricades di d
return the police fire but that the y
shot over their (the police's) heads :" I
could hear the [Mohawk] controller on
our [ambulance] scanner - he kep t
saying to shoot over their heads . "
The men drove off the police an d
erected a barricade . David tells u s
'That's the way things stood with this
community surrounded at one time
Debbie Glidden
by nearly 3,000 Quebec Provincia l
Police officers - about three policeme n
to every man, woman and child i n
this community ."
The police were amassing and
preparing to move in . The entire
community had converged upon the
piece of woods where the attack had
taken place . The general feelin g
among the people was that if the
police attacked again a lot of innocent bystanders - men, women an d
children - would be killed too .
At Kahnawake, a reserve just
south of Montreal, Mohawks erecte d
a sympathy blockade on the Mercie r
People, & Oka
Debbie Glidde n
down there in the pines . And like I
said now they are surrounded by
about 1,000 members of the armed
forces and 500-600 police and w e
don't know what's going to happen to
them .
Q:
Is there a possibility of amnesty
for those Mohawks that were in the
pines ?
A : Well, they (the government) are
not talking amnesty. What they were
talking about was giving us a fai r
trial . The way the laws are set up
here in Canada, with this kind of a
situation there's not much of a
defense that they can use . Canada
did sign something and pass it
through Parliament awhile ago - they
were going to ratify something called
The 2nd Protocol to the Geneva Convention and under that protoco l
arguably they might have a defense .
That thing deals with internal disputes, internal armed disputes within
a country and it seems to deal with
this circumstance but Canada hasn' t
ratified it yet .
Q:
So at this point it looks as
though there will be prosecutions?
A: It looks like it. yes . And especially
if they fall into the hands of the
Quebec Provincial Police .
Q: Is there a legal defense fund and
where can donations be sent ?
A: Yes, there is a defense fund .
Donations can be sent to:
Kahnesatake Community Society In c
PO Box 747
Kanesatake
Mohawk Territory
Quebec, Canada JON1EO
Q:
Has there been any pressure on
the Canadian government from othe r
governments?
A: There is a lot of pressure - th e
Italian government was going to
reconvene its parliament and send a
delegation down here to stan d
between the army and the Mohawks .
There have been almost daily demonstrations that shut down the Canadian consulate in Los Angeles . Hundreds of iron workers in New York
City have been marching around the
United Nations . There have been
demonstrations in North Carolina and
in South Carolina . The European
Economic Community - I believe the
European Parliament has put Canad a
on notice . China has condemned
Canada . 4
Bridge going into Montreal. Davi d
said, "What that did was change
everything . The police were massing
for that attack and all of a sudden in
back of them a bridge gets blockade d
by a reserve that's about 6 times as
large as this one . There are 6.000
people there. Suddenly the police had
to think twice about what they were ,
going to do . That's the way it was
with two communities surrounded by
thousands of police for the next 47
days . "
On September 1st 300 Canadian
troops, backed by provincial police ,
moved into the Mohawk territory with
helicopters and tanks . Ellen Gabriel,
a Mohawk negotiator, said some children were caught in the path of
advancing troops . In a radio intervie w
Gabriel said, 'The army was movin g
so fast they didn't have a chance to
get the children out . "
As the army moved through the
community about 25 Mohawks, hal f
of them believed to be women and
children, retreated to the drug treatment center which had served as
headquarters for those enforcing the
barricades. Right now the treatment
center is surrounded by about 1,000
soldiers, barbed wire, search lights ,
Siege cont'd on pg 1 9
10/90 Peace Newsletter 9
Natives & the Fur Industry
Native/Animal Brotherhoo d
that our Native populations decline d
been jailed by the age of 25 ;
Three hundred years ago, before
by as much as 90% due to disease ,
• juvenile delinquency is three time s
the white man came to Canada ,
substance abuse and the socioculgreater among Natives than amon g
many of us were nomadic peoples .
tural upheaval caused by European
the rest of society ;
When we killed an animal, we use d
fur traders .
• Native infant mortality is 60 %
the whole animal -- for food, fo r
higher than the average among othe r
clothing and for survival .
Canadians .
Native people are . not the
destroyers of the earth . We do
Fur Trade Not the Answe r
not kill our animal brothers fo r
Trapping will never provide
joy or for money . Before fur
relief from these problems . It
traders arrived in Canada, we
will simply perpetuate them .
perceived animals as our brothEven our Native children uners, as sharers of the earth . We
derstand this fact . Only one per
talked to animals . We explained
cent of the children in For t
to them, if we had to kill them ,
Simpson expressed an interest
why . We didn't kill animals fo r
in trapping as a career . Exsmall amounts of fur . We didn't
ploitation of our people for 300
kill them for their pelts alone .
years has contributed greatly t o
Fashion fur is not the Native
the decimation of our culture
way. Native tradition calls fo r
and heritage . Whether or not
the economical and respectfu l
the fur industry prospers, the
use of animals .
Native people continue to sufNo traditional Native woul d
fer.
dream of killing 40 small aniIn an economic sense, th e
mals to create a piece of clothfur trade has been of limite d
ing that one large animal would
provide .
benefit to Native Canadians.
Natives are excluded from all
Being forced to kill is an ac t
distasteful to any of us and to
the bit money parts of the fur
illustration by Paul Hollingswort h
industry . Natives are not furkill for such a trivial reason a s
to make a fur coat is horrible At a time when the Native com- riers; Natives do not marke t
indeed .
Natives do not store furs .
munity faces serious social prob- furs;
Natives are at the bottom of
lems, the government is asking the economic fur industry
A History of Exploitatio n
Today's fur industry profes- them to invest everything the y chain. They make the leas t
ses to be the champion of Caamount of money.
At a time when the Nativ e
nada's Natives, selflessly watch- have in a dying industry .
community faces serious socia l
ing over the welfare of a peopl e
whose future is uncertain . This
problems, the government i s
Social Disruption Continue s
is ironic considering that the fu r
asking them to invest everything they
Recent statistics show that :
have in a dying industry . The governindustry has been the most destruc• 70% of our people have less than
tive force in our history .
ment's interest in protecting the fur
high school education ;
industry is at the expense of socia l
It has exploited our land, ou r
• our average annual income is onl y
reforms essential to the survival o f
resources and our animal brothers.
two thirds of the national average ;
the Native communities .
Sea mink have suffered extinctio n
• we have twice as many single and. at different times and in difparent households as are found i n
ferent places, the fisher, otter, beave r
Why Have Natives Been Forced t o
non-Native communities;
and pine marten have come precariSupport Commercial Trapping?
• there are five times more Nativ e
Part of the government's equatio n
ously close .
children under the care of social
for settling Native land claims is the
It is a logical extension that suc h
agencies as there are non-Nativ e
an industry would exploit our people ,
use of the land for hunting, trappin g
children;
and fishing. Thus, we are forced to
our culture and our way of life . Euro• less than 50% of Native homes are
continue trapping in order to la y
pean traders introduced steeljaw
fully serviced with sewer and wate r
leghold traps, guns and ammunitio n
claim to our land! The value syste m
as compared to 90% for the nationa l
into our lives. The Hudson's Bay
thereby imposed is one alien to us ,
average ;
Company further induced Nativ e
but one which some of our politica l
• in 1979 . status Natives accounte d
leaders have adopted to fight for ou r
people out of their nomadic lifestyl e
for 70% of all the admissions to proland .
and into trapping .
vincial and federal prisons in th e
In a society where we have little o r
The Europeans brought with them
prairie provinces ;
alcohol and foreign diseases that
• about 70% of status Natives have
decimated our people. It is estimated
Fur cont'd on pg 2 2
10 Peace Newsletter 10/90
SINS OF THE DOLLAR
(A two part PNL series on Imperial ism and the Cold War in the Ara b
World)
O peration Desert Shield is a grea t
success from the American militar y
point of view, but from the peace
movement's perspective the occupation of Saudi Arabia and all politica l
posturing that goes with it must be
seen in the light of historical US
interventions in the Arab World ,
To understand the present gulf
crisis we as leftist must look at pas t
imperialism, from its root of British
domination to today's present confrontation over oil .
THE BRITISH EMPIRE
Much has been said of late concerning Ottoman Empires in th e
Middle East . Modern Iraq was create d
by the British after the WWI defeat o f
the central powers in Europe, and i s
made up of disputed borders on all
sides : to the north with Turkey, eas t
with Iran . west with Syria, and to th e
south with Kuwait; this is where
today's problems lie .
These border disputes originated a t
the hands of the faulted League o f
Nations soon after the close of the
war, giving Britain control over these
"new" countries . Before the war British interests in the middle east were
minimal at best, with only limite d
trading with Iran and Iraq .
After oil was discovered in Iran i n
1907 British forces and the Britis h
Petroleum Co . took over much of Ira n
and the newly formed Anglo-Irania n
Oil Co . One year later British Petroleum gained control over the Turkis h
Petroleum Co ., that was to discove r
oil in the Iraq in 1927 .
After the war the British effectively
placed puppet monarchies in place i n
Iran, Egypt, and Iraq .
The Arabian desert peninsula wa s
to prove unconquerable by British
forces, but along with American Oi l
Companies, British Petroleum forme d
Arabian/American Oil Co . (ARAMCO )
to split up the profits of the Saudis'
new found oil .
Of the three British occupied
countries - Iran, Egypt and Iraq,
Egypt was the country most dominated by the British. Egypt contained
both oil and the newly revived Suez
Canal, and even though the Britis h
were forced to grant independence to
Egypt in 1922, the British remained
as the sole military and economi c
power in Egypt until 1952 .
Probably the most disruptive action (unseen at the time) in those
early days was the (British) 191 7
Balfour Declaration . The declaration ,
'issued to cause unrest for the centra l
powers in WWI from their Jewish
minorities, stated that the British
supported the formation of a Jewish
homeland in Palestine . Thirty-on e
years later, Zionists of the world hel d
Churchill to his country's promise ,
creating millions of homeless Arabs i n
Palestine .
LOSING CONTROL
By the end of WWII a rise in literacy, world awareness, and 30 year s
of British theft of resources an d
nationhood made a lethal brew for
the British .
As early as 1947 the newly forme d
CIA focused its eye on Iran as a
potential hotbed for Soviet expansio n
into the Persian Gulf. In response to
this paranoia, the US State Dept. and
CIA coerced the reluctant leaders of
Iran, Turkey, and Iraq to sign the
Baghdad Pact and attempt to limi t
the Soviet influence in the Middle
East .
The Shah of Iran, placed in powe r
in Iran, lost power in his country t o
Muhammed Mussadegh by 1950 .
Mussadegh nationalized the Britis h
controlled Anglo-Iranian Oil Co . i n
1951, arguing that the British alread y
had received enough of Iran's precious oil resources while stealing th e
profits from needy Iranians. In th e
postwar era, when the rebuilding o f
Europe and Japan depended on British and American oil, this could not
be tolerated .
Cletus Pinti
In 1953, President Eisenhower and
Secretary of State Dullas agreed to
cooperated with the British to topple
Mussadegh . Kermit Roosevelt, Teddy's
grandson and ambassador to Iran ,
spearheaded the covert action, code
named Operation Ajax . Kermit's cou p
replaced Mussadegh, "a madman wh o
would ally himself with the Russians", with the deposed Shah using
just $200,000 in CIA funds . For the
US oil companies involved it was th e
best bargain in history. The new National Iranian Oil Co . had 40% US
ownership, previously 100% British ,
for the next 25 years .
At the same time Kermit was trying to run another CIA covert actio n
on the Arabian coast to help
ARAMCO secure a newly discovere d
oil field in Abu Dhabi, which wa s
controlled by the British . Kermit firs t
tried to fix an election in the region .
and to bribe a local sheik with a
Cadillac and the ruler of Abu Dhabi
with $90 million in gold from th e
ARAMCO, CIA, and the Saudis .
It was only the lack of a written
guarantee that stopped the oil deal ,
Abu Dhabi's ruler blew the whistle o n
the CIA. The British filed charges for
control of the oil field in Abu Dhab i
in International Court and won it s
case against ARAMCO, even after the
CIA tried to bribe the justices .
Revolution struck Egypt in 1952 ,
when Col . Gamel Abdel Nasser overthrew the British imposed monarchy
of King Farouk . Nasser soon becam e
the new focus of cold war fears when
in 1955 when he made an arms pac t
with Czechoslovakia and opened talk s
with the Soviets .
The Aswan Dam, Egypt's mai n
public works program, soon became
the pivot of US pressure to tur n
Nasser away from the Red Tide . In
December 1955 Eisenhower and the
Brits offered Nasser covert aid for
Aswan, but Nasser turned down the
aid because of British demands fo r
control of the Suez Canal and U S
Sins cont'd on pg 23,
10/90 Peace Newsletter 11
COMMUNITY UPDAT E
Central New York Chapte r
f New York Civil Liberties Unio n
OPE N
3{ANIJ
THEATER .
Classes For Children & Adults
Geoff Navias
Upstairs a group of children an d
parents are acting out a scene fro m
the folk story "Caps for Sale ." Th e
instructor is narrating the story an d
playing background music on th e
piano at the same time . There is a lo t
of laughter as the monkeys in the
story, acted by a mix of parents an d
children steal the hats from the unsuspecting Hat Maker. This is part o f
"Classes Backstage," a new series o f
seven courses from Open Han d
Theater. Downstairs on the stage a
group of children are making masks ,
while in the gym an introductory
class in Circus Skills is getting unde r
way. The instructors are all per formers with expertise ranging fro m
dance and mime, to puppetry an d
acting . The six week series of course s
starts Saturday, October 6th an d
runs for six weeks. Of the course s
offered, half are designed so tha t
parents and children can take them
together, the others are just for kids .
The courses also include Puppe t
Making, Mime, Musical Sound
Effects, Acting and Creative Drama tics .
Open Hand Theatre has been performirig mask and puppet play s
through out central New York fo r
nine years, and now are enterin g
their sixth year of touring show eac h
spring to Elementary Schools . Ope n
Hand Theater has started this serie s
of courses in answer to the man y
requests from children after eac h
performance .
In addition to the Saturday children's classes there is a Moder n
Dance and Improvisation class fo r
adults Wednesday evenings .
Classes are being held at 232 E
Onondaga St (Plymouth Church) . For
more information on classes an d
registration call Open Hand Theate r
at 467-0466 .
12 Peace Newsletter 10/90
25 YEARS OF VIGILANC E
Founded 196 3
We Must Educate About Rape
Marcy Waldauer
It is difficult to believe that i n
1990 it is necessary to rally, marc h
and picket to make the public awar e
of rape . The American Civil Libertie s
Union policy on sexual assault law s
was passed in 1977, 13 years ago . At
that time the ACLU called for reform s
such as removing bars to prosecutio n
of spousal rape, treating sexual assault victims with sensitivity an d
without the skepticism and abuse
unique to this crime, and recognition
of the complainant's privacy rights ,
e .g. putting limits on admissibility o f
the victim's sexual history. Why
haven't those goals been realize d
during the last 13 years ?
Some things have changed . Law
and court procedure have droppe d
the corroboration requirement, i n
which a rape victim's testimony had
to be backed up by independen t
evidence or another witness . Prio r
sexual history is not usually admissible anymore, nor is prior chastity .
New York State outlawed requiremen t
of a polygraph or psychological tes t
for the sexual assault victim before
the crime is investigated . Spousal
rape charges are pressed today. An d
arrests for child sexual assault hav e
become all too commonplace . There
are many Rape Crisis Centers in the
state, including Syracuse, whic h
assist the victim and educate people
on sexual assault defenses . Syracus e
University is to be commended fo r
opening its own Rape Crisis Ctnter ,
one of the first campus centers in th e
country.
So why do sexual assaults continue? Why aren't assaulters brough t
to justice? Why are rallies necessary ?
Although the laws'have changed i n
the last 13 years, attitudes have not .
The crime still holds near-mystica l
status . Myths - some hundreds and
thousands of years old - abou t
women and rape are hard to erase i n
just 13 years . Too many men still
believe that women want to be rape d
(when they say "no" they mean "yes") .
They still believe that women ar e
vindictive and lie about sexual assault . And that women belong to
particular men (rape is a propert y
crime) . And too many women stil l
believe that men have a right to sexual contact if they want it . Too few
people understand that sexua l
equality means mutual social an d
physical respect . Laws cannot chang e
attitudes .
Rallies are educational tools which
are needed to change attitudes .
People must learn that no one has a
right to assault another person, particularly sexually . And that everyone
must be held accountable for his or
her actions . Society's reaction to the
crime of sexual assault, the attitudes
and assumptions which are contrar y
to our notion of fair play, mus t
change . Through ' rallies about rape
and other educational tools, we ca n
make people realize that everyone ha s
a right to control his or her own
body . Let's make the 90's the er a
when sexual equality and respect are
finally recognized .
CONFERENCE ON LARGE-SCALE COMPOSTING OF
GARBAGE :
Learn about the potential i n
Onondaga County an d
elsewhere .
Sat ., Oct . 27, 1990 10 :00-4 :00
SUNY-ESF, Syracuse, N Y
Sponsored by the Sierra Club, Iroquois Grou p
Contact : Linda DeStefano, 475-0062 (8 :00 AM - 10 :45 PM)
COMMUNITY UPDATE
Onondaga Earth First! Oppose s
Aerial Spraying
Todd Rogers
During the months of July and
August, Onondaga Earth First' wa s
the subject of much controversy a s
we opposed Onondaga County's plan s
to spray Cicero Swamp with pesticides in an effort to kill mosquitoes
suspected of carrying the virus, Eas tern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) . Th e
virus, which can be transmitted t o
humans through a complex chain o f
biological events, can be fatal, bu t
instances of the disease in humans is
extremely rare . With the presence o f
EEE, one can understand the fears o f
residents living near the swamp y
areas which surround Oneida Lake ;
however, the methods of controllin g
the virus used by Onondaga, Oswego
and Madison Counties bring up many
valid concerns :
• The pesticide, Dibrom-14 by trad e
name and otherwise known as Naled ,
is a mixture of neurotoxin and petroleum product such as kerosene an d
is toxic to flying insects, amphibian s
and other aquatic life . The yearly
application of Dibrom threatens to
disrupt the swamp's fragile food web ,
as well as endangering the health of
the swamp's human neighbors .
• The Onondaga County Health
Department sprays the swamp regardless of whether the virus ha s
been isolated there or not.
• There is evidence that aerial spraying is not an effective means of con trolling the spread of EEE .
-~
We sponsored a demonstration in
front of the Civic Center in downtown
Syracuse to bring attention to the
issue, and members of our grou p
occupied the swamp during the coun ty's spraying maneuvers to registe r
our objection and to observe th e
effects of the spraying .
A more in-depth article on thi s
issue will appear in next month' s
PNL.
Onondaga Earth Firstiers also
attended the EF' Greater Adirondac k
Bioregion Rendezvous on Labor Da y
weekend in the Moose River Plain s
Recreation Area in Adirondack Park .
This meeting brought Earth Firstler s
together from all over the northeas t
for an opportunity to share news an d
ideas, strategize on efforts to preserve
and recreate wilderness in the Adi -
rondacks, and enjoy a weekend ou t
with our past. A road closing actio n
at Crane Pond in the Pharaoh Wilderness Area highlighted the state
Department of Environmental Conservation's failure to enforce protectio n
for designated wilderness areas.
We also continue to be active i n
supporting Cortland Citizens Agains t
Radioactive Dumping (CARD) in thei r
efforts to keep radioactive wastes ou t
of New York's rural communities . We
will participate in a rally at Oswego
to call for sane energy policies, th e
on-site storage of radioactive wastes ,
and the shut down of the reactors a t
Nine Mile Point .
To find out about our next meetin g
or how you can get involved cal l
Andy at 472-5478 or Todd at 478 5993 .
WARFOR OIL! .
.S .TROOPS OUT NOW !
Rally Fri . October 5
Federal Bldg, Downtown Syracuse
just east of manlius
~ . . t itadwial wivk .e.
682-6694
t,e4s - ih- -4101 #.N.4o rpwt h
10/90 Peace Newsletter
13
COMMUNITY UPDAT E
HERIT GE
200 0
ALIANCE
Help clean up New York and kee p
it green for our children's future . Vote
yes on proposal one: Environmental
Quality Bond Act.
For more information about th e
Bond Act call the Bond Act Office a t
(518) 457-7727 . To campaign for the
passage of the Bond Act call (518 )
869-6062, the Heritage 2000 Alliance ,
a statewide coalition of environmenta l
groups, historic preservation advocates and civic organizations .
Keep New York Green : Vote Yes O n
Proposal One!! !
Eileen E. Nutt & Radell Roberts
Regional Coordinators
Proposal One, the $1 .975 billion
21st Century Environmental Qualit y
Bond Act, is our chance to assur e
clean drinking water, to close unsafe
garbage landfills, to promote recycling, and to protect lakes, beache s
and wildlife areas for our children .
Previous Bond Acts have begun t o
address statewide environmenta l
problems but we must continue t o
reclaim, protect and preserve natura l
resources and our historic heritage . A
Yes vote on the November ballot will
reinstate funds that have been exhausted from the 1986 Bond Act an d
boost current efforts by local governments .
For example :
• In the Syracuse area alone, 2 4
inactive municipal landfills are potentially eligible for State grants to assis t
in their proper closure . These includ e
the landfills at Pompey, Elbridge an d
Bristol Hill .
• Municipalities in the Syracuse are a
must undertake 108 sewage treatment projects valued at more tha n
$406 million . Through low-cost State
financing under the Bond Act, these
municipalities could see their loa n
interest costs reduced, at a savings
to local taxpayers of almost $10 0
million .
• We have begun aggressive recyclin g
efforts in Onondaga County but have
met with limitations due to lack o f
funds . The Bond Act would provide
State grants to local governments t o
help buy recycling equipment an d
locate markets for the millions o f
tons of recycled materials - glass ,
plastics, paper, cardboard, yard waste
and metal .
Without the Environmental Quality
Bond Act, local communities wil l
carry the full financial burden o f
solving their environmental problems .
Raising property taxes may be th e
only means to secure necessary
funds . The Environmental Quality
Bond Act will ease and evenly distribute that burden statewide.
14 Peace Newsletter 10/90
celebrating the release
of her new albu m
Phantom Centers
MARK YOUR CALENDAR:
Rochester- Thurs ., November 1 5
Hochstein Auditorium-
.
Syracuse- Fri ., November 1 6
dsodmsrk neater-
Ithaca- Sat., November 1 7
-Studer Auditorium-
WATCH FOR DETAILS
(315) 425-5659 for further info.
Dr. Howard S . Walsdorf
CHIROPRACTO R
trrarnn•nrs tor :
Neck & Shoulder Pai n
Lower Back Injurie s
Stress Related Pai n
Chronic Ailment s
465 Westcott Stree t
Syracuse . New York 1321 0
Day & Evening Hour s
For Appointment Cal l
!315, 422-2027
Guidance in Nutrition &
Natural Ronedies
COMMUNITY UPDATE
Animals in Entertainmen t
Marguerite Mallia
As children, most of us wer e
brought to zoos, circuses, or some
events in which animals were used t o
entertain or educate us . Our parent s
or some loved one brought us there ,
so we thought that it was a good
thing to do . But, we are adults now
and behind the gee golly whiz parade ,
banners, capes twirling, and bears
dancing in skirts, are captive animal s
that are only shadows of wildlife . The
animals that we see are not wha t
they truly are but what we hav e
made them . Colorful pageantry dis- guises the fact that animals used i n
circuses are captives forced to per form unnatural, painful, and humiliating acts . Their physical, social an d
behavioral needs are often ignored by
those who profit from their exploitation .
Horses and dogs used for racin g
are frequently drugged, forced to ru n
when injured, and transported unde r
stressful conditions . Cattle and horses used in rodeos are subjected t o
electric prods, caustic ointments ,
sharp spurs and bucking straps tha t
pinch their genitals causing them t o
buck . In circuses, animals are kep t
confined in small cages or transpor t
vehicles . Many are declawed,
defanged, and kept muzzled, chaine d
and sedated . Whips, tight collars ,
electric prods and food deprivatio n
are tools used to force them to perform painful, unnatural acts . Boxin g
kangaroos, dancing bears, and divin g
mules are examples of exploitativ e
acts .
Our , ancient ancestry binds us t o
nature and the natural life . Recognizing and respecting that union is a n
essential part of our mental development, peace of mind and content ment . The natural world is a refuge
of humanity's spirit . Humanity mus t
not become separated from the
natural world . We, being animals, ar e
part of them, and they are part of us .
If humanity becomes separated from
the natural world we will be like a
cancer. Animals are not "underlings "
as Henry Beston said, but are "othe r
nations ." By working against inhumanity towards animals, we preserv e
our own humanity . PAR is plannin g
a demonstration against the Mosco w
Circus in October .
THE ENVIRONMENTAL
INFORMATION COALITION
Incineration
Gene Tinell i
Recycle Firs t
Sometimes, the best of future
visions occurs when seen throug h
lenses that have scanned the past .
At the beginning of the 1980's, ou r
County joined with the thinking o f
that time and decided that a wasteto-energy incinerator be the majo r
part of the solution to our solid waste
problems. The risk/benefit ratio wa s
believed to be relatively good and the
Environmental Impact Statement file d
in 1981 was favorable . However, as
we enter the 1990's, we now have a
decade of information we can use a s
feedback control to guide us as w e
assess our future . We at Recycle Firs t
are urging that a moratorium b e
placed on the building of any county
waste to energy incinerator and tha t
alternative technologies be used .
There are two sets of reasons for thi s
request, one economic and the othe r
ecological .
A local study will be released thi s
month showing that mixed municipa l
composting is less costly than building and operating an incinerator. Not
only does this reflect national an d
worldwide trends but, since the Ne w
York State Department of Environmental Conservation considers corn posting to be a part of recycling, th e
law mandates that composting b e
considered before incineration if composting is economically viable .
Currently, a number of towns i n
the County are considering municipal
composting and are exploring options
to their incinerator contracts . Mixed
municipal composting centers can b e
financed with private rather than
public funds and this can sav e
County taxpayers from floating a
bond to finance a $105 millio n
incinerator . Onondaga County already
is the fifth highest county in th e
State in property taxes per perso n
and second in government spendin g
per person . This is one area where
we do not need to "be number one . "
The other area of new informatio n
is much more lethal, that of mercur y
poisoning . Large parts of south an d
central Sweden, south Florida, and
other areas have become contaminated with mercury . Waste incineration, due to burning flashlight /
radio batteries, thermometers, an d
lights, has been a major factor i n
Sweden and the largest source of this
contamination in Florida . Despite
manufacturers claims that "state of
the art" incinerators are safe, these
facilities cannot efficiently remove
mercury from the stack gases . In .
fact, Ogden-Martin, the approve d
vendor for our proposed incinerator ,
documents this . Last year they said
that their incinerator would not emi t
more than 1424 pounds of mercur y
per year into our environment . This
year, they raised their projection t o
3580 pounds of mercury per year.
This is not a good sign .
Contamination of the environmen t
occurs as the airborne mercury
vapors are absorbed by trees or com e
to earth in rainfall . In the soil, lake s
and streams, bacteria convert inorganic mercury into methyl mercury (a
process that is accelerated by aci d
rain) which is then absorbed an d
concentrated in the food chain . We
currently have mercury contaminatio n
in Onondaga Lake severe enough t o
make the fish too toxic to eat and a
waste incinerator would spread thi s
problem to the whole county . Eve n
more frightening is the fact that the
humans most at risk for mercur y
poisoning are unborn fetuses ,
whom it causes severe central nervous system defects . Sections of ou r
County are now among the highest i n
the nation with regard to infant morbidity and mortality and the proposed
incinerator (and its toxic gases) i s
scheduled to be built within a fe w
miles of these areas.
The reality of mercury poisonin g
should be taken very seriously . Several thousand instances of methy l
mercury poisoning have bee n
recorded in the scientific literature ,
with the most catastrophic occurrin g
in Iraq in 1972 . A total of 653 0
people were hospitalized for treatmen t
and 459 known fatalities occu_ red ,
principally as a result of eatin g
homemade bread prepared from see d
treated with a methyl mercury fungicide . The most researched mercur y
poisoning occurred in the vicinity o f
EIC cont'd on pg 22
Green. Cong r
Jim Foley
fit,
At . a recent talk in Phoenix, NY ,
people who are interested in th e
Greens suggested the option of starting a third party . Little did they know
that they were bringing up one of th e
most hotly debated proposals facin g
the Greens and other movements .
It shouldn't have been surprisin g
that these Phoenix residents wer e
interested in a third party, eve n
though many of them were activ e
Democrats . They may know best tha t
the two dominant parties are very
similar, especially insofar as the y
have come to have a vested interes t
in the status quo .
But starting a "third" political party
is problematic . The first majo r
problem is the winner-take-all syste m
of U .S . elections . When German
Greens get 8% of the national vote ,
they get 8% of the representation i n
the legislature . No such luck here .
Nonetheless, Green candidates are
being elected for local offices aroun d
the country, sometimes with th e
backing of a major party, and some times on their own . Still, electora l
politics is controversial in the Gree n
movement .
Some of the objections are pragmatic . Electoral politics takes energy
away from other projects an d
encourages flash-in-the-pan organizing focusing on quantity in the shor t
term rather than quality for the lon g
term . People can also get tired o f
losing and may burn out.
Other objections are ethical .
Should we clamor for a place fo r
leaders in the centralized powe r
structure rather than build a broade r
movement which works to replac e
that structure? An early Gree n
movement in Canada foundered whe n
it moved too soon into electoral
activity and found itself without a
grassroots base .
Despite these objections, it's hard
to sit on the sidelines while voter s
must choose between two white mal e
millionaires who both support th e
right of Americans to grab and exploi t
natural and human resources all ove r
the world . We must elect Greens !
The compromise of most Green
groups is to promote Green candidates, but to keep the focus o n
local Green projects rather than forming a permanent party organizatio n
(this is changing; details to come) .0 ~
10/90 Peace Newsletter 15
Lawsuit Brings Renewed Interes t
Nora Choi & Simone Sagova c
in Pico Workers Struggle
As you may know already, the
three representatives from Pico Kore a
Union departed for south Korea on
August 17, after a three month struggle in the U .S . They felt that this was
a good time to be reunited with thei r
families as well as to carry on th e
work in south Korea . Before leaving ,
the workers and their supporter s
from throughout the US and Canad a
held a week-long "Fast for Justice . "
This fast was simultaneously carrie d
out by supporters in L .A. and th e
remaining Pico workers in Korea .
Though we had a great deal of medi a
coverage and gained support from al l
across the world, the fast failed t o
move Hitchcock to negotiate with th e
workers . Thus, the Center for Constitutional rights filed a lawsuit i n
Federal court on behalf of the Pic o
Korea Union .
The Lawsui t
A Complaint was filed with th e
Federal District Court in Binghamton ,
New York on August 12, 1990 by
Frank Deale, an attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, on be half of the Pico Korea Union agains t
Pico Products, Inc. and Bernard
Hitchcock . The primary charge in th e
complaint is that Pico Products an d
Mr. Hitchcock did not honor th e
Union and Pico Korea management ,
which was signed by representative s
of both parties in November of 1988 .
Also charged is that the company
failed to notify the workers in advance of the plant closure in accordance with the Plant Closures Ac t
which went into effect in early 1989.
The response to the complain t
came on the last possible date, an d
basically denies all the charges . Mr .
Hitchcock's lawyer is Mr. Gerald J .
Mathews, of Menter, Rudin & Trivelpiece, P .C ., located on 500 South
Salina Street, Suite 500 in Syracuse .
Our attorney, Frank Deale, has been
in contact with Mr . Mathews regarding the amount of assets left at th e
Pico plant in Korea. Upon filing th e
lawsuit the workers decided that the y
were no longer interested in safeguarding the Pico plant or property withi n
and notified Mr . Hitchcock, giving th e
company a date in advance as to
when someone should assume responsibility. In a recent press release
16 Peace Newsletter 10/90
Mr . Hitchcock claims that nearly $1 . 8
million in assets are missing from th e
Pico Korea plant . He is accusing the
workers of having done away with
this amount and states therefore any
money he owes to the workers shoul d
be taken out of the missing assets .
According to the Korean Embassy .
the only sellable assets left in th e
factory were a number of used cars
that would not amount to even a
third of the workers' back wages . Th e
workers note that Hitchcock quote d
figures from a January 1990 report,
a full month before the pullout, thus .
not accounting for items shipped or
taken out of the county during the
month of February . On the initial
inventory listing which the workers
provided, some items were merel y
overlooked and not accounted for,
additions have been made since .
Furthermore, Mr . Hitchcock is trying
to hold the workers responsible fo r
assets which he negligently left be hind while running away more than
Pico cont'd on page 22
Serial Mas s
Killer Profile d
George Metesky
Investigators say a serial mass killer stalking less developed areas o f
the planet is a shrewd "methodical maniac" with a talent for making hi s
victims look like criminals and sick racial theories . Experts predict tha t
the killer, who has left a trail of corpses across Latin America, is likely
to strike in the Persian Gulf area next .
Criminologist Dr . Marion Delgado distinguished the mysterious murderer from other notorious offenders . "Your typical mass murderer ha s
no accomplice . It's usually a man whose pent up rage suddenly explodes ,
resulting in a single event in which he massacres several people, ofte n
family, fellow employees, or persons that he believes wronged him," explained Delgado . "Your garden variety serial killer is a male, also actin g
alone, who goes through repeated cycles of cool deliberation and savage
killing, usually of a single victim at a time . Ile is often what we call a .
criminal sexual psychopath, a man who hates women and can't fee l
empathy or remorse . The serial killer hides his crimes. "
The serial mass killer is different," Delgado told the News . "Also
usually male, he never acts alone, instead ordering others to do hi s
killing . He acts with cool deliberation, but unlike a Ted Bundy, he revel s
in his acts, striking heroic public poses . "
Accounts of serial mass killers abound through the centuries . Some
roamed from town to town in Central Asia on horseback, laying wast e
to all in their path. Others travelled by ship, killing, pillaging and raping
in coastal areas . In the 19th century North American west . George Arm strong Custer directed repeated mass murder binges until he was brough t
to justice by an international posse led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse .
Famous 20th century serial mass killers include A. Hitler, P. Pot, and R :
M . Nixon .
Maritza Alabarca, who survived the killer's December 20, 198 9
rampage in Panama City, describes her ordeal as initially appearing a s
something else : "It looked like a thousand points of light. Only when on e
of those points hit my neighbor's propane storage tank and burned down
the whole neighborhood did I realize that the points were bullets ." Other
victims describe similar attacks on villages in El Salvador and Guatemala .
Dr . Delgado theorized that the criminal mastermind behind the at tacks probably lives in a large white house, somewhere on or near th e
mid-Atlantic seaboard of the United States : 'We've seen this kind before .
The big problem will not be identifying him, but bringing him to justice ."
The Other Guatemala
-- land of eterna l
G uatemala
; land of smiling indigenou s
spring
women •in colorful, intricately wove n
dress ; land of spectacular mountain s
and lakes ; lush, tropical foliage:
ancient Mayan ruins . That is the
Guatemala of the travel guides, the
picture postcards, the posters tha t
greeted me upon my arrival at th e
airport . But what I experienced wa s
another Guatemala . I found a country
filled with misery, suffering, an d
extreme poverty . A country made u p
of 22 indigenous groups, each speaking a different language and togethe r
compromising over 60% of the population . Where 2% of the people own
over 70% of the land . Where th e
average wage for a factory worker i s
equivalent to $1 per day . A country
which is a democracy in name only - heavily controlled by the army . It i s
a country steeped in human rights
violations and abuses, where there i s
little respect for the law and the
perpetrators are treated with impunity . A country in which 100,00 0
people have died as a result of th e
repression and violence during the
last ten years ; 440 Indian village s
have been displaced, 50,000 wome n
have become widowed, 40,000 hav e
"disappeared" and 200,000 childre n
have been orphaned .
Five years ago Guatemala electe d
its first civilian president, Vinci o
Cerezo, since the U .S . backed cou p
overthrew the democratically electe d
government of Jacobo Arbenz i n
1954 . Cerezo's election brought grea t
hope for the beginning of change for
the people of Guatemala . But two
right wing coup attempts made i t
clear that the army would not relinquish their power . Thus they continue to maintain control and huma n
rights violations go unpunished whil e
Guatemala claims to be a "democracy" by virtue of the fact that the y
had an election . Unfortunately, n o
candidate in the upcoming November
election represents the needs of the
popular movement . And there is the
possibility of a victory for Rios Montt ,
whose previous rise to power in 198 2
brought sixteen months of repressio n
in which thousands died, eve n
thought he is legally ineligible to run .
I was part of a delegation tha t
went to Guatemala in August to mee t
with representatives of popular movement groups (as well as members of
the human rights commission, the U S
embassy, the army, and the busines s
sector) . The testimonies I heard were
painful, moving, and often chilling .
They were spoken by labor leaders ,
women, workers, campesinos, peasants, exiled Guatemalans, the displaced, widows, and relatives of th e
"disappeared . " We met with groups i n
Mexico City, in Guatemala City and
in the countryside . And everywhere
people echoed similar themes : th e
high cost of living, the increase i n
poverty, the problems of the indigenous population (exploitation, discrimination, intimidation), the violence and repression and human
rights abuses by the army, the effects
of 500 years of racism and illiterac y
and terror, forced service in "voluntary" civilian patrols (refusal to serv e
results in threats, kidnappings, torture, death), the loss of economi c
self-sufficiency and dependence upo n
an export economy, the 500 homeles s
children living in the streets of Guatemala, the high rates of infant mortality and illiteracy and the lack o f
health services, medicines, school
supplies, and schools . We met with
workers who had been fired for trying
Working
As
Neighbors
On Saturday, October 20, the Central
America Coalition is sponsoring a
sixhour workathon to raise funds fo r
Syracuse Covenant Sanctuary an d
medical aid to Guatemala . We are
recruiting volunteers to work at loca l
community service organization s
(Vera House, Lesbian Gay Yout h
Program, Salvation Army, Spanis h
Action League, and others) and t o
solicit pledge money for each hour o f
volunteer work you do . We are also
looking for sponsors . Registratio n
forms will be available at SPC or cal l
Joan at 673-1083 . The workathon wil l
conclude with a concert by Charli e
King at Plymouth Church at 7 :30 p .m .
Tickets at $5-$15 can be purchase d
at the door .
Joan Goldber g
to organize a union and with a docto r
who had received death threats and
was forced into exile for organizing in
his community .
We visited a community on th e
edge of a garbage dump in Guatemala City where people make thei r
living by collecting paper, plastic ,
metal, and glass and sell them for a
miserable price . The dump is also
their source of food and clothing.
They have been struggling for fou r
years under threat of eviction, petitioning the government to give or sell
them the land, but so far hav e
received no favorable responses .
Though their living conditions are
often inhumane, people someho w
manage to maintain their sense o f
pride, dignity, hospitality and courage. And despite the hopelessnes s
and frustration and danger, peopl e
are working collectively to condemn
the violence and end the repressio n
and intimidation . There is a massiv e
struggle for land and life . Alliance s
are being formed -- of workers, peas ants, students, the displaced, familie s
of the disappeared . There have bee n
strikes and demonstrations as a response to the repression . There have
been denouncements of human right s
abuses and petitions to the government and to the human rights
abuses and petitions to the government and to the human rights ombudsman . Men are refusing to serve
in the civilian patrols under th e
threat of death . There is a growing
movement of consciousness raisin g
among the indigenous, among
women.
The United States continues to
supply arms and military aid to th e
government of Guatemala . If yo u
want to work to change US policy ,
write your senators and representative to oppose all forms of security
assistance and to support the struggle of the Guatemalan people fo r
justice, democracy and economi c
development . Locally, you can volunteer for the Working as Neighbors
project, a work-a-thon to support
community services in Syracuse an d
raise funds for Sanctuary and medical aid to Guatemala .
/1
Joan just returned from Guatemala an d
is active in local Central America support
work. Currently she is helping to
coordinate an October Work-a-thon t o
raise material aid for Guatemala.
10/90 Peace Newsletter 17
Sail
cont'd from pg 5
approach to the 500th . I quote fro m
their declaration : "Thus it is that the
brutality of the conquest is not some thing of the past . Sadly, it remains a
present reality . The sacking of ou r
natural resources, the destruction o f
the habitat, the assault on our cultures . . .the strangling of our economies with the payment of an immoral
and unpayable debt. . .the militarization of our rural areas . . .etc ." But the
most public challenges to the Columbus legacy are ongoing demonstrations and arrests due to an exhibit
that will be displayed over the next
two years throughout this country ,
called "First Encounters . "
Who was Columbus? The more re levant question for our time is: "Does
Columbus, and the leaders and investors who back him, live today?" Fo r
the United States the answer is a
resounding YES. Columbus's name
may today be abbreviated LIW, and i t
stands for Low Intensity Warfare, tha t
is waged on military, political, an d
economic fronts simultaneously . It is
waged against the troublemakers o f
the third world who dare to challenge
American interests . El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras are good examples . LIW fights to protect en trenched oligarchies and/or thei r
military enforcers against the mass o f
the population . When we side wit h
those who use assassins, we too be come part of the horror, killing off
our sensitivity to pain and suffering .
We look the other way. And eventually moral cor-rosion finds its way to
all levels of our own society . Leaders
subvert the constitution, they lie t o
Congress, break laws, conduct breakins of cit-izen organizations, us e
words to describe tortures like "democratic resistance" or the "moral equivalent of the Founding Fathers" . How
can we hope to have and preserve
democracy, free-dom and justice in
the United States when we promot e
directly or through proxy, tyranny ,
exploitation and inequality outsid e
our own borders .
The evil of Columbus lives! Examine leaders ; question investors : then
go home and look in the mirror! Liv e
with environmental by-products o f
exploitation . Columbus lives as lon g
as we view the have-nots of the worl d
as enemies and do not face the racis t
dimensions of our society. 0 4
',Win lives in Deruyter.
Siege
cont'd from pg 9
parachute flares going off day an d
night : tanks, armored personnel carriers, 50 caliber machine guns and
out on the river there are nets and
police boats .
The troops have also surrounded
the Mohawk Community Center ,
which houses a school and food
bank, where about 150 Mohawks ar e
gathered . According to army official s
the Mohawks in the Community Center are not viewed as a threat . Lind a
Cree, a Mohawk, who is staying a t
the Community Center said that she
can't go home . "I have tanks, barbed
wire, and soldiers with 50 calibe r
machine guns in my driveway. "
Troops are stationed on all road s
leading to Kahnesatake . According to
David, "Some of our people were
picked up at the barricades or going
through the [police] blockades . If you
left, for instance, to do any shoppin g
and people were trying to do that o r
if you had a job outside . Peopl e
would be picked up and in a coupl e
of cases - one guy was taken to a
barn, shoved down into the back sea t
of a car so that he couldn't sec an d
the police worked him over prett y
good . A couple of other guys were
picked up on the river, taken to a
police parking lot, and they had the
crap beat out of them. One guy was
burned with cigarettes on his
stomach . Another guy was just
picked up a while ago trying to get
back in [to the Mohawk territory], his
family is here, he works up nea r
Ottawa. He has been going back an d
forth all the time but this time the y
wanted him to sign a blank statement . When he refused he was
worked over. "
Linda Simon, director of the food
bank, said that many people didn't
leave the territory for fear of arrest or
harassment . Others are afraid that
they won't be allowed back into th e
territory by the police or army. Du e
to the military presence people are
unable to get out to go to the store ,
bank, post office or jobs. A lot o f
people have lost their jobs .
On September 10th two vehicle s
from Syracuse, NY took food to th e
food bank at Kahnesatake . The food
did get through to the Communit y
Center in the Mohawk territory. The
food bank feeds about 200 people on
the reservation who are dislocate d
and unemployed due to the military
action .
Reservations have contributed t o
the food bank but this was the firs t
shipment from a city according to
Simon.
Food is not being allowed through
military lines to go to those Mohawk s
in the treatment Center, said David.
The last time food was allowed to b e
sent to that group of Mohawks was
on September 6th .
Anyone wishing to contribute food
or money to purchase food may con tact the Peace Council (472-5478) o r
Debbie Glidden (423-8165) .
Negotiations in Ottawa are at an
impasse . The feeling among the people at Kahnesatake is that the arm y
is preparing for a massive assault .
Since the army moved in, there have
been a group of reporters in with
them trying to cover the story . O n
September 5th the army said that i t
wasn't going to allow the journalists
batteries for their cameras or tape
recorder or new tape . Now the army
is not allowing food to be brought t o
the journalists. We find that disconcerting . It seems that the army i s
preparing for a military solution. f ,
al b
Debbie is a long time Syracuse residen t
and activist who initiated the food shipment organizing that is continuing from
Syracuse .
"At the Community Darkrooms l have access
to technologically advanced equipment like the
AM/GA 2000 and through Light Work programs,
contact with innovative contemporary artists like
Cindy Sherman, Laurie Simmons and Pat Ward
Williams.'
'dinette Marcreft
SU Graduate Student ,
English Department
COMMUNITY DARKROOM S
316 Waverly Ave .
(Watson Theater . Complex)
443-2450
10/90 Peace Newsletter I9
Book Review
Agents of Repression
The FBI's Secret War Agains t
the Black Panthers and the
American Indian Movement
Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wal l
509 pgs ; 1988 South End Press
$15 softcove r
reviewed by Rich Stuchiner
Every so often a book is published
that shocks the living hell out of you .
Agents of Repression is such a book.
Written by Ward Churchill and Ji m
Vander Wall, this book offers an
unbelievable look inside the FBI' s
counterintelligence operations of th e
mid-sixties and seventies, completel y
destroying the facade that the FBI i s
merely an organization devoted t o
fighting crime . Instead the book sho w
that the FBI is little more than th e
political police of the United State s
Government .
Agents of Repression offers a brie f
look at the formation of the Burea u
and of its founder and director fo r
almost 50 years, J . Edgar Hoover. I t
details the part Hoover played i n
orchestrating the infamous Palme r
Raids of the 1920's where over 6,000
warrants were issued for "alien radicals" and over a thousand peopl e
were deported . These raids helped to
crush the rising tide of socialism an d
labor struggle in America and advanced the career of J . Edgar Hoover.
Two chapters of the book are devoted to the COINTELPRO (counterintelligence program) era involving the
Black Panther Party . The FBI use d
numerous illegal means in their at tempts to destroy the party, includin g
wiretaps, infiltrators, agents provocateur, harassment, arrests of activists ,
attempts to stir up anger between
different factions, fabrication of evidence and even assassination .
In the pre-dawn hours of December 4, 1969, heavily armed members
of the Chicago police department,
equipped with a floor plan, raided a
Black Panther apartment . The floo r
plan was provided by informer William O'Neal who had infiltrated th e
party so well that he was director o f
Panther security . The floor plan included the room and position wher e
Fred Hampton slept. Fred Hampton
was a 21 year old activist who be came the leader of the Illinois Blac k
Panther Party . Because of his effectiveness as a leader and mobilizer he
was targeted for assassination . A t
about 1 :30 a .m . on the night of th e
raid, O'Neal left the apartment afte r
giving Hampton a drink laced with a
sleeping pill. This would rende r
Hampton unconscious for the comin g
raid . The police burst into the apartment killing Black Panther Part y
member Mark Clark instantly. They
then fired 42 shots in the direction o f
what was Fred Hampton's bedroom .
These shots wounded Hampton an d
the following exchange ensued : "that' s
Fred Hampton . . . Is he dead? . . .Brin g
him out . He's barely alive ; he'll mak e
it." After this exchange two shot s
were fired, both hit Hampton's hea d
at point blank range ; "he's good an d
dead now," one officer stated .
This case was finally settled i n
1983 . Not one officer was to serv e
any time for the murders of Mar k
Clark and Fred Hampton, and th e
Illinois chapter of the Black Panthe r
Party was effectively destroyed .
At the same time the Black Panthers were struggling for a just society for African Americans, the American Indian Movement (AIM) was seeking redress over various grievance s
with the US government . It was in
this context that the FBI and J .
Edgar decided the American Indian
Movement needed to be destroyed . B y
this time some of the informatio n
detailing the FBI's illegal and unconstitutional methods were bein g
brought to light . This caused muc h
public outrage so Congress in its
usual manner convened hearings . A t
about the same time as then-FB I
director Clarence Kelly was swearin g
before Congress that COINTELPR O
was an anomaly and would neve r
happen again, the FBI was gearin g
up for a long war with the American
Indian Movement on the Pine Ridge
reservation . This war would includ e
all the tactics that were used agains t
the Black Panthers but on a much
larger scale . Unfortunately, the results were the same .
In 1973 AIM was engaged in a
program to recover land from the U S
government that belonged to th e
Oglala Lakota Indians on the Pin e
Ridge reservation . Unbeknownst t o
the Indians, the government ha d
discovered uranium and other minerals on the Pine Ridge Reservatio n
itself, thus the historical need t o
drive the Indians from their land .
During the years of 1973-1976 mor e
than 60 members of AIM die d
violently . None of these homicides ha s
ever been solved, and many case s
were left un-investigated despite numerous instances of eyewitnesses wil-
ling to testify . The FBI's excuses were
"lack of manpower," but at that tim e
the FBI enjoyed the highest ratio o f
agents to citizens at any time in it s
history .
But as Churchill and Vander Wal l
show the FBI were in fact too bus y
infiltrating AIM . "During 1973 alone ,
the Bureau amassed more tha n
316,000 separate file classification s
on AIM and its membership . As a
result, 542 charges on such weight y
matters as 'trespassing,' 'interferenc e
with federal officers,' and 'theft' of a
used pair of cowboy boots were refer red to Federal prosecutors . "
These are just a few examples o f
the numerous horrifying tactics use d
by the FBI . Agents of Repression i s
rife with examples and documentatio n
of the highly illegal manner in which
the FBI conducted itself; and lest yo u
relax in the comfort that this n o
longer continues, be aware that thb
FBI continues to do business usin g
the methods perfected against th e
Black Panthers and the America n
Indian Movement . The last chapte r
details instances of FBI illegalitie s
and chicanery used against Centra l
America activists in the eighties. Thi s
book will impress upon you the fac t
that if you struggle for justice in th e
United States, and are vocal about it ,
you will come face to face with th e
very undemocratic nature of ou r
country .
Rich, who continues his four year ques t
for a real and meaningful education a t
Syracuse University, is a frequent contributor to the PNL .
Erwin Reine r
Residential
Contracting
478-2998
Restoration
Renovatio n
R ehabilitation
Repai r
passive sola r
personal servic e
references
10/90 Peace Newsletter 21
Fur
cont'd from pg 1 0
no economic or social freedom, w e
are forced to depend on what littl e
money we can generate apart fro m
government assistance . A trapper' s
average annual income of $700 i s
pitifully small but is considered by
the federal government to be a "livelihood ." It is, however, hard for Native
leaders to argue against this minute
sense of independence .
Government and Fur Industry
Motives : Public Opinion Manipulation
With fur sales in decline, the
Canadian government commissione d
a study entitled Defence of the Fu r
Trade . One section dealing with "Public Opinion Manipulation" suggeste d
that "defence of aboriginal cultures
could be a good counterbalance to
anti-fur or anti-trapping campaigns . "
Because of the deep sympath y
Canadians and Europeans feel towar d
the plight of Native people, the Canadian government and the fur industry
have chosen to use us to protect th e
entire billion-dollar fur industry . They
have gone so far as to suggest that
people opposed to commercial trad e
are advocates of cultural genocide .
They continue to promote the myth
that trapping is culturally and economically central to Canada's Natives .
This policy results in the illusion
of concern for Native Canadians whil e
poverty, inadequate housing, socia l
services, daycare and education are
met with cutbacks to federa l
economic development programs an d
a refusal to recognize Native lan d
claims and the right to self government .
Yesterday's Values Toda y
Indigenous survival is not synonymous with Canada's fur industry .
Quite the opposite is true . History
has shown that the commercial fur
industry actively promoted the disintegration of our culture, a , proces s
which continues to this day.
The preservation of culture is an
infinitely valuable cause which i s
misunderstood or given little priority
by outsiders . But culture is a complex and multifaceted state . In the
case of Canada's aboriginal, the commercial trap line has no place in our
culture whatsoever .
The concept of living as part of
nature and taking only what i s
needed is perilously violated in th e
quest to satisfy an outside element :
the insatiable demand for luxury fur s
on the international market .
22 Peace Newsletter 10/90
Native/Animal Brotherhoo d
We believe that Native Canadian s
have become the victims of th e
federal government's policy to promote the fur industry. While claimin g
to help Native Canadians, in reality ,
it is the non-Native elements of the
fur industry who most benefit . Mean while, the government too often fails
to meet treaty obligations and resolve
Native socioeconomic concerns .
A major reason prompting the formation of the Native/Animal Brother hood was the government's funding o f
Native politicians to travel to Europ e
to defend the fur industry agains t
initiatives to label trapped fur. We
wanted to tell our side of the stor y
but our applications for governmen t
funding have been denied. We mus t
rely solely on donations to speak fo r
our animal brothers . 0 ,
For more information contact Native/Animal Brotherhood, 106-90 Carden
St., Guelph ; Ontario, Canada, N 1H 3A3 ,
phone (519) 821-8554.
Pico
cont'd from pg 1 6
U .S . State Department has appointed
someone to specifically handle th e
Pico matter. This representative
placed repeated calls before recently
speaking with Mr . Hitchcock and
encouraging him to settle .
St . Vincent : New Old News
Apparently this isn't the first tim e
Pico has been involved in union busting tactics and exploiting workers
overseas. In fact, Pico was cited a s
an example of multinational exploitation in a textbook! See The Caribbean : Survival, Struggle, and
Sovereignty, by Catherine A . Sun -
shine, published in 1985 by EPICA .
For more information call the Pico
Support Committee at 315-474-3350 .
[This article was published in the
August 1990 issue of Pico Korea
Workers Struggle]
0
Nora and Simone are both staffpeopl e
for the Pico Korea Workers Support Com mittee and have given much time and
energy to help bring Justice for the people of the Pico Korea Union .
a year and a half ago .
ElC
The Korean Government's Response
Until recently, the Korean government had been sympathetic but no t
helpful in this matter. When th e
workers returned to Korea, .however ,
due largely to the support that the y
gained in the US, the ruling party o f
the government, Minjadang, made a
special visit to the Union . they apologized for not being more helpful in
the past and pledged their full cooperation in the future . Following thi s
visit, the Labor Attache at the Korea n
Embassy in Washington, DC, Mr. I n
Nae Ko called us in Syracuse to discuss a letter he was sending to Bernard Hitchcock on behalf of the Korean government . The content of th e
letter stated that according to th e
Korean Standard Labor Law, whic h
Mr . Hitchcock had violated, Pico owe d
the workers a minimum of $427,000 .
The letter further stated that thi s
amount had to be paid in cash, no t
in the form of assets or any othe r
substitution . The government noted
that the question of the assets left i n
Korea was a matter for Mr. Hitchcoc k
to handle and that the Union had n o
responsibility whatsoever. Mr . Ko also
pledged his support and cooperatio n
with the lawsuit now in progress. We
were pleased to hear the government's official position on this matter .
Minamata Bay, Japan in 1953 . A
chemical plant discharged inorgani c
mercury, and this was incorporate d
into the protein of fish and shellfish .
As a result of eating the contaminated seafood, at least 111 cases ofpoisoning occurred, with 42 know n
deaths . Because the mercury crosse d
the placental barrier, fetal injury wa s
particularly severe . During th e
involvement, 42 of 400 live birth s
exhibited evidence of brain damag e
despite lack of clinical symptoms in
all but one mother. In the adults, no
warning symptoms occurred in individuals exposed to methyl mercur y
until toxic or even fatal amounts ha d
been incorporated ; then, a latent
period of two weeks to severa l
months elapsed before neurologica l
symptoms appeared .
Ten years ago, local planners wer e
unaware of the above mentione d
economic and environmental data ,
especially the fact that wast e
incineration produced large amount s
of mercury emissions . We now have
better information to guide us more
safely into the future . We must us e
this data appropriately and place a
moratorium on construction of our
incinerator and use other less costly
and safer technologies . To ignore this
recent data and continue on ou r
present course is more tha n
negligent, it borders on criminal . The
children of our children's kids deserve
better than this . *
The U .S . State Department
In addition to the Korean Embassy
urging Mr. Hitchcock to negotiate, the
cont'd from pg 1 5
UNCLASSIFIED S
LOOKING FOR HOUSEMATE in non-smoking, vegetarian home .
Large beautiful house with wooded backyard, two porches &
excellent housemates . Ideal for cooperative, friendly ESF student .
Walking distance to campus. Please call 475-2202 anytime,
reasonable rent .
HELP PROGRAM - helping exoffenders & low income people .
Reconditioned stoves, refrigerators, and washing machines for sale .
Payment plan available : full guarantee - money returned . Contact
Dik Keough at 471-4703 if you would like to donate or purchas e
an appliance .
THERE'S STILL TIME! Learn to play frisbee . Fancy throws ,
catches, nail delay, and tapping tricks taught . Join in and eve n
show off at the field house and parks! Juggling lessons too .
Beginners especially welcome . Results guaranteed in the firs t
session - really! Call Jim at 426-9961 anytime and leave a
message with Homer and Marge .
(Unclassified listings should be typed or printed and mailed t o
PNL Unclassifieds, 924 Burnet Ave, Syracuse NY 13203 . You may
also call in your ad by phoning 1-315-472-5478 . Ads are free and
run for one month or longer if desired and space allows . Donation s
are accepted and appreciated!)
PLOWSHARES VOLUNTEERS NEEDED to help the Peac e
Council with its 20th anniversary Plowshares Craftsfair . Peopl e
needed for publicity, art, set up, clean up, raffle sales, priz e
solicitation, etc ., etc . Committees are forming now. The craftsfair
takes place December 8 & 9 at Plymouth Church in Downtow n
Syracuse. Call coordinator Barbara Flock at 424-6015 or Andy a t
472-5478 .
Troubled Waters for America's Fish -- A report from th e
American Fisheries Society warns that more than one third o f
North America's freshwater fishes, 364 out of 1000 species, are
threatened or in danger of extinction (not counting the 40 specie s
lost in this century) . Dr. Jack Williams, Director of AF S
Endangered Species Committee remarked, "If we cannot revers e
the trend of burgeioning human population and development, the
rate of extinction will increase and we will see large-scale specie s
losses and large-scale system failures ." If you are alarmed abou t
this contact Onondaga Earth First! and help us work toward s
stopping biodiverstiy loss . 478-5993 or 471-7312 .
Diane T. Ogno, C .S.W.
Counseling
sexual orientatio n
relationship s
addiction s
adolescents
Consultation
& Training
adolescent issues
sexualit y
addiction s
(315) 422-2460
Sins
cont'd from pg 1 1
insistence of no relations with th e
Soviets .
Nasser did use a $12 million brib e
from Kermit Roosevelt intended fo r
the building of a CIA spy center i n
Cairo, affectionately called "Roosevelt's
Erection" by Nasser, for building u p
Egyptian defenses .
In reaction to Washington's cut of f
of legitimate aid for the Aswan Da m
due to increased Soviet reaction wit h
Egypt, Nasser nationalized the Sue z
Canal Co . in the summer of 1956 .
The British, French and Israeli s
developed an invasion plan and th e
US, although supportive of the effort ,
did not take part . This was due in
part to the fear of being pulled into a
Middle East war with the Soviets an d
also with Eisenhower's reelection bid
only three months away.
Placed partially out of the loop, th e
US did provide surveillance with th e
famed U2 spy plane . On one fligh t
the plane twice passed a Cairo air -
field ; on its second run the base ha d
been destroyed by the Israeli preemptive strike . Two days later the French
and British joined the Israelis a s
planned, but superior force did no t
prove effective and Nassar's arm y
defeated the invaders .
Nassar's victory earned him th e
mantle of leader of arab nationalism ,
which was to effectively change th e
Arab world forever.
In Iraq during the second worl d
war a occupation of the country b y
British forces due to the Iraqi overtures to Axis powers . This occupation
and the British and American insistency of Iraq to sign the Baghda d
pact led to the 1958 revolutio n
against the puppet King Faisel .
Yet the revolution would probabl y
have happened even with out thes e
two factors, since like in so man y
"colonial" countries, 2/3rds of all th e
agricultural land was controlled b y
only .05% of the population, and the
five fold rise in literacy gave birth t o
the spirit of Iraqi nationalism .
The revolution of 1958 was a coal -
ition, with today's Baathist leader s
only a minority, led by General Adl a l
Karim Qasim. Qasim held control
over Iraq until ' 1963, when his failure to modernize or reclaim Iraq's oi l
from British control frustrated hi s
country's citizens .
THE FRAMEWORK OF TODA Y
The interventions for oil and control of "strategic" areas of the arab
world by both the American and British governments has cause the dee p
resentment . seen on your television
screens and front pages of Arab s
burning effigies and US flags . Thi s
anger has a cause, and as we wil l
see in part two of this article in nex t
month's Peace Newsletter imperialis m
and intervention did not end in 196 0
or is it non-existent in today's Persian Gulf crisis . 4 &
Cletus Pint/ is a member of the PNL committee and is presently involved with th e
community effort against escalation i n
the Gulf. Cal! Cletus at 472-5478 if you'd
like to help!
10/90 Peace Newsletter 23
2
EVERY MON. ACT-JP Mtg .
7 :30pm 515 W . Onondaga St .
475-1544
EVERY MON. Bluegrass
workshop at Tea Here Now. 122
Trinity Place 8pm Open mice .
Free
21
22
28
29
SANE/Freeze 2nd Annual Peace
Award Dinner honoring 011i e
PAR mtg . 7pm Cal Lind a
Clubb. Reception 6pm, dinner
49 55-0062 or Nona 492-0459
Genesee Inn, 1060 E
for place 7p m
Genesee St
Reading & Booksign!ng by Pennry
mug at my Sisters'
Hayes, author of LesbianAMi-Racism
words, 312 N McBride, 7pm. 478Westerns at My Side's' Words,
304 N McBride St. 2-Spun. 428-~ •
NV VERY SUN: Metropolitan
Community Church Worshi p
service, 6pm, Grace Episcopa l
Church . 471-6618
5
10
11
12
13
National Corning Out Day acivi- 'Columbus Day 1990 : Perspeo- Hal Moon Dance at May Mem CNY NOW mtg . Urine Midland ties TBA, see New Times for twos from a Mohawk Indian !No .- oral 3800 E Genesee . Live
man' w/Ginny Dodo, Women's music 56 510 stilling. 475 3583.
Bank 360 S . Warren St. 7pm
details .
Studies Prog at SU, 304A Schine
455 7866
I EVERY THURS. Mediation I Cntr. 12 noon .
f Circle at Tea Here Now. 122 • Lesbian Support Group meets at
Women's INFO Center, 601 Allen Explore the Autumn Bog at
Trinity Pl. 7 :30pm $5 per
St . 7 9pm 478 636.
session
Beaver Lake Nature Cntr, guided
EVERY WED. Aliance meets
EVERY FRI. Country Dancing wok . 2pm 635-2519.
at ECOH 6pm 475-4120 for
8-10pm, Grace Epis . Ch. $3
info.
8
15
Crop Walk to raise money t o
fight hunger . Downtow n
Syracuse. Registration at fpm a t
Clinton Sq. Bring banners. 445 9055.
Syracuse Food Co-op genera l
member ntg & potluck at ECO H
(crnrs of Euclid & Westcott) . 5pm
potluck. 6:15pm mtg. 472-1385.
4
i
i Oawsgo
Ete Shut Down
re ciAs.
Onondaga Earth Firstl mtg . Call Basic Worksho p i
Nuke nPlantsff ast Park dwM m
1On sPon•Cbit r
Andy for info. 472-5478
I 2110011 -3pm. Cavan
tematives
to
Violence
Prcjed
at
fie
Pueblo Pottery workshop at
.
Green Lakes leavig Syracuse
cal SPC 4720usinin 9 0 (Waterman Cents0, Ana'
5478.
Rd. Fayettew . 469-8956.
Apsladkin, NY 607-625-7221 .
'Breaking the Cycle of Domesti c
Oct 4-8. Fee .
'Gender Tension in the 19th Violence Seminar to separating
EVERY 1st and 3rd THUR.
Century' Women's studies Prog & divorced women at Women' s
Gay and Lesbian Aliance of
at SU, 304A Schine Cntr . 12 INFO, 601 Alan St. loam-2pm.
$4-58, bring lunch. 478-4636 .
Syr. (GLAS) 7 :30pm ECOH
Open Writer's Workshop at Erwin
Methodist Church, caws of Euzld
& Westcott. spans by Community
Writes' Project 7-9pm. Free &
open to all.
SANE/Freeze rig . 'What fo do
With War Looming in the Middl e
East' at May Memorial, 3800 E
Genesee St. 7 :30pm.
Advocacy Training to help obtain
rights willing the mental heat h
system. Oct 14-19 . Info 4754120.
EVERY SUN . Volunteer s
needed to be servers at Unit y
Syracuse Real Food Cocp
Kitchen . Call Ann 475-6761
Council meets . 7pm
O PAR nag. 7pm Call Linda
9 EVERY TUES. Lesbian 8
7 EVERY SUN. Poary reading v .475-0062,Norma 492-0459
Gay Youth Program Suppor t
Tea Here Now. 122 Trinity Pl . Food & Supply run to Native
Group meets 6•-9pm cal l
Oran mils . Fos
Communities near Oka, Canad a
422-974 1
lying
una
siege
by-81
65
&
TUES. AIDS Support
3rd Anniversary Party: My Sisters' urn Calr Debbie 42 donate r EVERY
Grp.
7pm AIDS Task Force of
~. e 472-1138855 words Bookstore, 304 N MCBrdeShan
nate oof CNY 627 W . Genessee St.
2 5pm
.
het
Women
In Black- Silent Vigil to 475-2430
EVERY SUNPemla's 60
protest Israeli occupation of West EVERY TOES Meeting wit h
MjputesCooke Cable Ch. 7 ,
Banc & Gaza. At E Genesee & those infected with HIViAIDS
8pm 472-5478
Ede Blvd . 5-6pm.
AIDS Task Force of CNY
SAT
WED THURS FRI
TUES
20
. King in Concert at
Nature w our Child at Coon Cry Child Care Council' s Chart
Sharing Nffiure wryour child at Sharing
Syracuse Covenant Sanctuar y
N
15th Annual Dinner & Award s Plymouth Church, 232 E Ononha
arar Naluro l
.pmger Lake Nature Cntr. Ceremony at Drumlins, 800 daps St, dwlwn Syracuse . Benefit
Mtg. a May Memorial 7pm 380 C 'Autumn
Leaves' S.2. 3U . Autumn Leaves' $2. 1 :30pm Nottingham Rd . 6:30pm . $15.50' for Central America Refugees .
638-2519 . 638-2519 . $70 .472-6919to . roroppister . 7:30pm. $5-515 . wheelchair
'What l Learned ' liom my acme., childcare prov., sig n
Onondaga Earth First! mtg.
European Education' wNanessa interpreted .
7:3 pun . call Andy 472-5478 for
Johnson, Women's Studies Progw
tor Material Aid to
place.
al SU, 3040 Schine Cntr. 12,E cf Csrttral Ada, 6731083 to register, sponsor, help
noon.
FRI.Act -Up rase demo in NYC against U.S.
25 PNL Mailing Party !
26 EVERY
r-ru ~•~atnn .
23
Troop s inMidEa st . Call Car 212'Bladk Female Activists Reoog- 754-2295 orSP C 47 2- 5478 fo
r
Come
join
the
funl
5-730pm
TUES. New Environ.
rued in History/Herstory' ca
m,
Death Penalty Vigil, noon
Assoc. Mediation 7 :30-8pm
w!Dianetta Bryan, Women's 475-4188
Columbus Circle 475-4822
Studies Prog at SU, 302 Schine 2 7
Cntr. 12 noon.
EVERY TUES . 'vening wit h
Mid
Day History - Eli Thomas ,
Arabesque,' Arabic televisio n
support Group meets ,'Nature's Recycling : How
Native American Artist at OHA Leebran
7
.
7pm
show. Channel
Corr
Handle
a Latg
St. Women's INFO Center, 601 Allen
Portion
of ostr
Ononcan
. Cty's
Waste'
If groups listed change regular Museum, 321 Montgomery
St. 7-9pm. 478.4636.
Ra ni bow Coalition 27th C.D .
.
Cal
for
time
428-1864
SUNY
ESF
.
10am-4pm
.
Lind
t
a
mtg . times or places, please le
mtg . Hoppe Memorial, 111 0
475-0062.
us know.
South State St. 472-4331
EVERY THURS : Central
America Vigil 730arn .Fed.bidg.
EVERY THURS: SPC Voluntee r
Night, 7-9prn, Lots of fun.
472-5478 for into.
EVERY SUN : Suwon uroup Mr
people with Psycdogical labels .
Aliance 3-Spin Plymouth
Congreational Church
BRING OUR TROOPS HOM E
Rally at the Federal Bldg, Downtown Syracus e
Friday, October 5th, 4 pm - 6 pm
speakers & music / 472-5478 for info
sponsored by People for Peace in the Persian Gul f
October
1990
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