FREEDOM RUN 1996
FOR LEONARD PELTIER
& ALL INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
We invite you to join the FREEDOM RUN '96 as an action in support of the
American Indian Political Prisoner Leonard Peltier and the struggles of
Indigenous Peoples world-wide. This Run includes issues on human rights, the
fight against racism and colonialism, the anti-nuclear campaign, protection
of the natural environment, connection to the land, and respect of cultural
and religious differences.
PARIS - LILLE - AACHEN - KOELN - BONN - FRANKFURT - HEIDELBERG - STRASBOURG -
FREIBURG - KONSTANZ - ZUEERICH - BERN - LAUSANNE - GENEVE
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Leonard "Gwarth-ee-lass" Peltier, a symbol of Indigenous Resistance
Peltier has been imprisoned for 20 years in the USA. He was found guilty of
murder of two FBI Agents, even though the courts have never been able to
prove his guilt of this crime. It has been proven before the courts that the
FBI had intentionally fabricated evidence, coerced witnesses and withheld
essential material supporting Peltier's innocence in order to get Peltier
sentenced.
Peltier's case is one of many in which governments try to destroy civil
rights movements by arresting their leaders. AIM had held an occupation at
the village of Wounded Knee, South Dakota in 1973 to fight against the
exploitation of coal and uranium in the sacred Black Hills of the Lakota
Nation. They were also defending themselves against the opressive puppet
tribal government that was at the time "persecuting" AIM-members and
traditional Lakota who were demanding the right to self-determination from
the U.S. government. For this activism to gain civil rights for American
Indians, Peltier, like many other members of AIM, or organizations such as
the Black Panther Party were targeted by the Counter Intelligence Program of
the FBI.
Today, Peltier is still an active member of AIM out of his cell. He has
exhausted all judicial avenues to get a new and fair trial. The only chance
for his freedom is the granting of executive clemency by the U.S. president.
Millions of people, parliamentarians in the U.S., France, Germany, Italy,
Holland, Belgium, the European Parliament and Nobel Prize Winners, Nelson
Mandela, Rigoberta Menchu, the Dalai Lama and many more have demanded
executive clemency for Peltier. Yet he is not free.
With this RUN we want to gain more support for his freedom and raise
awareness with his case to the struggles of Indigenous Peoples who face
persecution, murder and imprisonment for their resistance against colonizing
governments and their ongoing struggle to survive.
Indigenous Peoples' Struggles
Indigenous Peoples are the first inhabitants of the land that they
traditionally live on. They have maintained their cultures and ties to this
lands since times immemorial. World-wide, indigenous people have been victims
of physical and cultural genocide, and exploitation by intruding
"discoverers" or expanding populations and their governments. But despite
centuries of extermination, over 300 million indigenous people live today on
all five continents.
Governments deny indigenous peoples the right to their land, and control over
their resources, the right to self-determination and the right to exercise
their culture and religion freely. In order to secure internationally
recogniced rights, indigenous peoples are actively fighting within the United
Nations. The UN have called out the DECADE FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES: 1995 -
2004 to promote the recognition of Indigenous Peoples.
As a section under the theme of the UN-Decade, this RUN is organized to
provide a platform to inform and confront European governments and
corporations who are implicit in the destruction of indigenous people's lands
with the demands of indigenous peoples. Only through sustained political
pressure and public awareness will governments be forced to uphold the rights
of indigenous peoples. For this, support from the public and smaller
political entities such as city-councils is helpful. Yet it is also the aim
of this RUN to address the European Parliament in Brussels and the United
Nations in Geneva.
Representatives from all indigenous peoples are welcome to join this RUN to
inform their situations and present their demands to political
representatives in Europe. These presentations can cover issues such as human
rights violations as for example in Central America in Chiapas or Guatemala;
destruction of traditional lands as for instance of Ogoni-land in Nigeria or
the Black Hills of the Lakota; resistance against nuclear testing and uranium
mining as in cases such as the Maohi in Tahiti, the Western Shoshoni in
Nevada, or the Cree of Saskatchewan; desecration of religious sites like
Mount Graham of the Apaches or sites of Aborigines in Australia; and the
struggle for self-determination as for example of the people of West Papua or
the Mohawk in Canada, etc. As a result of these meetings we hope to have
gathered a comprehensive collection of signatures and statements of support
by the visited city-councils. This collection will be presented to the
President of the Human Rights Commission of the UN and to the Chairperson of
the UN Working Group on Indigenous Peoples in Geneva at the end of the RUN.
Organizations and individuals supporting indigenous peoples' demands are
invited to help organize this event.
The RUN
Traditionally the Run was used by indigenous peoples to bring messages from
village to village. The Run was considered sacred and in North America the
staff with eagle feathers was there to protect the messengers and to remind
them of their purpose. There will always be a spiritual leader and elder in
charge of the RUN. At the start and the end of the RUN a ceremony will be
held and each day will be concluded with traditional songs and drumming.
This RUN us organized to introduce the political demands of Indigenous
Peoples to the political representatives in Europe and to inform the people
of the European communities.
While a group of runners covers the distance from city to city, parallely,
delegations of indigenous representatives will travel by bus and meet with
the city councils and hold public events. The delegations will prsent their
political demands to the politicians at each city and ask for support and the
recognition of the specific struggles and for support of Leonard Peltier's
freedom. Each evening the runners and the delegates will meet again and stay
in the scheduled cities. Together public events will be held. Local support
groups in the cities will arrange sleeping accomodations and food. Everybody
is welcome to join this RUN. It will begin June 16 in Paris and finish July
20 in Geneva.
There will be also link-runs, from countries that are not on the main route,
which will join the FREEDOM RUN. One will start in Bretagne, another in
Poland which will cross Slovakia, Austria, Czech Republic and Germany, and a
third one from Italy to Geneva.
How You Can Participate
You can participate in this RUN as a Runner, as well as a participant who
accompanies the RUN or helps as a driver, translator, sponsor, doctor, nurse,
musician, artist or local cooardinator. If you can volunteer to offer your
services and/or your vehicles and if your organization, company, or tribe
would like to assist this RUN by sponsoring a Runner, please contact our
offices in your area. Everybody is welcome to participate in this RUN. We
also welcome non-runners to become part of this event. You must be
self-sufficient and provide for your own transportation. Locally we are
looking for additonal people who can help to mark the roads for the runners,
organize lodging, food, public events and media coverage. Everybody is asked
to help in spreading the word about this event and contacting human rights
and environmental organizations in your area. We are looking for a lot of
support to make this International RUN successful.
If you want to participate please ase for a REGISTRATION FORM at our offices.
NO DRUGS AND ALCOHOL ALLOWED ON THE RUN!
For more information:
European Office: Indigenous Office: Local Office:
Nitassian-CSIA LPDC-Canada AKIN-KOELN/LPSG-Cologne
Sylvain Duez-AlessandriniScarborough, Ontario c/o Spinella
75229 Paris Cedex 05Phone: (416)-439-1893 Troisdorf, Germany
France Phone/Fax:
02241-402093
Phone: 01-43566998
e-mail:
Fungirl869@aol.com
e-mail: hdoreau@aw.sgi.com
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:
DateDayRouteappr. kmcomments
June France
14.-16.Fr-SunParisarrival/opening
20.ThuParis-Amiens139
21.FriAmiens-Lille118
22.SatLille-Bruxelles121
Belgique
23.-24.So-MoBruxellesmeet European Parl.
25.TueBruxelles-Aachen140
Deutschland
26.Wed.Aachen-Koeln-Bonn70+30arrival at US Embassy
27. ThuBonnmeet German Parl.
28.FrBonn-Luxembourg170
Luxembourg
29.SatLuxembourg
30.SunLuxembourg-Frankfurt240
July
1.MoFrankfurt-Heidelberg90meet link RUN from the east
2.-3.TueHeidelbergmeet politicians in Stuttgart
4.ThuHeidelberg-Strasbourg130
France
5.-6.Fr-SatStrasbourgjoin international lawyers meeting
7.SunStrasbourg-Freiburg90
Deutschland
8.MoFreiburg
9.TueFreiburg-Konstanz120
10.WedKonstanz
Schweiz
11.ThuKonstanz-Zuerich60
12.FriZuerich
13.SatZuerich-Basel80
14.SunBasel
15.MoBasel-Mulhouse40
France
16.TueMulhouse
17.WedMulhouse-Belfort45
18.ThuBelfort-Bern130
Schweiz
19.FriBern
20.SatBern-Fribourg35
21.SunFribourg
22.MoFribourg-Lausanne70
23.TueLausannne
24.WedLausanne-Geneve66
total1984