It's not surprising you're confused. Most of the reports about the dispute
are not very clear or enlightening. The dispute is between something called
AIM and something called National-AIM. AIM is a very loose federation with
autonomous chapters in many states. National-AIM is a much smaller
centralized organzation centred around the Bellecourts. The first grouping,
AIM, is the heir of the legacy of the struggles in South Dakota in the 1970s.
The second grouping, National-AIM, is led by people who profess to be leaders
of the entire movement, but who've pretty much appointed themselves to that
post since AIM hasn't had any national conventions or meetings to choose such
a national leadership. Most of its members have always preferred to be a
decentralized movement. Tensions have been brewing for years, but they've
come into the open recently because of a tribunal organized by AIM to try
National-AIM leaders for various transgressions against native peoples. The
tribunal's necessity became urgent, AIM members felt, because National-AIM
had stepped up its attempts to discredit certain AIM leaders it considered to
be too "radical", like Ward Churchill, whom National-AIM accuses of not
really being Indian - a preposterous claim. Churchill, a co-director of AIM's
Colorado chapter, is Creek/Cherokee Metis and a professor at the University
of Colorado. His numerous books include a landmark study of FBI subversion of
the AIM movement in the 70s, and he writes a lot for Z magazine and other
publications. He is a highly effective writer who in a vivid way popularizes
complex ideas. That is why he is being discredited. Those attempting have
suspicious backgrounds of their own. The National-AIM leaders have been
advocates of links with Libya. Also, there is a great deal of suspicion that
some of them are FBI agents. Be skeptical of what you read on this topic!