The 118th anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre

Today, December 29th, 118 years ago, in 1890, more than 200 Lakota were brutally slaughtered by the 7th U.S. Cavalry. In 1973, A.I.M. and other Lakota people took their stand at Wounded Knee to claim their rights as a Native American people and as human beings.
Let us never forget!

Once more: Native American Issues

Merry Christmas to all of you who read my blog. I hope you have happy holidays and will have a nice New Year's Eve party.
For many people, XMas and New Year's Eve will hardly be celebrations of any kind, because they are too snowed in, too remote, too cold or too hungry, lonely and unhappy to have a pleasant moment during these days, that everybody should be able to be with family and friends, to be happy and fulfilled.
In these days, too, I come up with some Native American Issues: the striking poverty on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Yes, again. Because it's a reality. Of course, even in a poverty stricken disaster area, there can be happiness, togetherness and kindness. Yet, I want you all to remember how things can be around XMas time for some people in the world...





When hurricanes strike the southern USA states' coastal regions, many people are duped. They have to leave their homes and when they return, they have to clean up the mess and get their lives back on the track again. Many people have insurances, they get help and so on. Not so some Native American peoples, who live in these danger areas as well. What happens to them, you can see in the following video:





Both in 1978 and in 2008 and many times more, Native American people walk the longest walk, from California to Washington DC, to raise awareness. They raise awareness for the fate of the Native American peoples throughout the country and in neighboring countries, for the freedom of the peoples and the freedom of religion for Native Americans, for the awareness of what's happening to nature and our environment....Here's a report:





With thanks to the AlJazeeraEnglish Channel on YouTube and Riz Kahn for their broadcasts and putting this important stuff on YouTube!

Broken Rainbow and Incident At Oglala

The two series of YouTube videos you are about to watch in this blog entry are called "Broken Rainbow" and "Incident At Oglala".
The first set of videos is a 7 episode series about the Hopi and Navajo nations in Arizona and bordering States of the USA, the way they have always lived, the way they live now and what the US government has done to them.





The second set of videos is a 10 episode series about the shooting incident in the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1975, in which two FBI agents got killed and for which the American Indian Movement got the blame and Leonard Peltier was eventually sentenced to life imprisonment.





In fact, both video "series" were orginally made as one film each, but posted as separated episodes on YouTube. I thank the YouTube members who originally posted these documentaries for doing so. The true story about the treatment of the NA peoples has to be told and it's about time the world gets to see it.


In the "Incident At Oglala" series, unfortunately, at the end of episode 7 and the beginning of episode 8, there is a gap, so that Leonard Peltiers official statement about his conviction and verdict, which he wrote in prison and reads out in the documentary, has been garbled and not fully shown in this version on YouTube.

Russell Means speaks at rally for Leonard Peltier

Watch the video, it's worth it!

I have made a video about the apalling conditions the majority of the people on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, have to live in, during all seasons of the year. Especially the winters are extremely hard on many of them. Please watch and help!

My thoughts are in South Dakota

Here I am in Holland. This time of year is always a chilly, cosy, sitting-by-the-fireplace time of year. The weather is mostly stormy,rainy and sometimes, even some snow comes falling down. It might even freeze up a bit overnight, so we can slide instead of walk to work the next morning...

But when was the last time we really had a weather catastrophy over here? I'm 45 years now and I haven't experienced a major climate distaster yet where I live. So, for me, so far, this time of year is a time of cosiness and cuddling up by the fire.

Not so in South Dakota. Especially the Pine Ridge Reservation. Shannon County, the poorest county in the United States of America.
Every year, people there are freezing to death. Roads are blocked with heaps of snow and far out homes can't often be reached on time when they need urgent supplies of fire wood, fuel, food, water and medical supplies. This happens every year. Only this year, it has been put under the noses of a much wider audience, because the Lakotah finally have a voice that carries very far. It's not that they have never shouted it out before, but no one really cared to listen. Now that the USA is in dire straits financially and economically and, finally, people like the ROL Chief Facilitator Russell Means, take the voice of the Lakotah people to a different level.

It's a shame that this is happening to the Native Americans and that this has been happening to them for the last couple of centuries on an increasing scale. In a country that calls itself the best country on the face of the earth...

In this time, the ROL gets a chance to show that they can do it better, just by living and organising things the way their ancestors did. Even if Russell wasn't elected tribal president, he and his fellow ROL people are doing what they can to make life on the rez a better place and to make the Lakotah more and more aware of their inner and outer strength!

And I support this. The Tibetans have the Dalai Lama to speak for them and to make other people speak for them. Many peoples who are suppressed and in need have their spokespeople. And the Lakotah have Russell Means and other chiefs and spiritual leaders.

Let me be a supporter of their cause through this blog. I pray for all people to be free one day. I hope to help those who seek freedom to attain it before I leave this world....

May this time of year bring the Lakotah strength, hope, peace and inner freedom, so that food, water, fuel, medicine and freedom at last may come to them soon!

Leventissa

This is an email message I am forwarding through my blog: EMERGENCY!

Because...yes, it REALLY, REALLY, REALLY IS THIS BAD!

Email message received on Monday, November 17th, 2008:


International Declaration of Emergency
Update 01- November 17, 2008
ROL Banner
Greetings!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Republic of Lakotah
help@republicoflakotah.com
605-867-1111

RE: Twelfth Day of Snow Emergency

* Many hundreds of American Indians still snowbound and without electrical power or water on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
* Sofia Romero, age 98, snowed in, no power, no water, food situation unknown.
* Emme Zimiga, age 96, snowed in, no power, no water, food situation unknown.
* Amanda Milk, age 80's, no legs, dialysis patient, snowed in, presumed dead.
* Hisle SD - 38 households (average of 17 persons per household on Reservation) still snowed in with out power or water.
* Lost Dog Community - 5 families snowed in, no power, no water, food situation unknown.
* Lacreek Electric Association reports that over 1,000 power distribution poles broken by the storm have been replaced, but dozens more are still down, while repair efforts have been diverted to the some of the main distribution lines still partially inoperative.
* Red Cross Effort Vehemently Incompetent - As documented by Marion White Mouse (605-462-6242), the American Red Cross sent a contingency of one volunteer, Monica Turkleson who departed the Reservation prematurely on Saturday, November 15th. Ms. Turkleson's "aide" consisted of nothing and her behavior was reported as impatient, rude and racist. Russell Means suggests that this organization change its name to the "White Cross."


For More Information About the Situation of the People on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservaton, CLICK HERE


Please forward this e-mail to friends, press contacts and bloggers to get the word out. CLICK THE FORWARD EMAIL LINK BELOW.

May the Great Mystery continue to guide and protect the paths of you and your loved ones,

Russell Means
Chief Facilitator
Republic of Lakotah

The Etruscans

For many years, the Etruscans have been my passion. I have studied and done research into them for many years now and I'm still doing it. I still love it. The Etruscans are still alive, although they are much different from their ancient ancestors. The traces of the ancient Etruscans can still be found in Italy, where they once flourished. They were masters in creating beautiful art. They were also living in deep contact with nature. They understood and read the divine signs of heaven and earth. And they were a people, which knew how to enjoy life. That's why I love the Etruscans!

www.myspace.com/tinscvil

Shame On America: the day after the tribal elections

The US citizens chose for Obama and thus for change. Let's hope they get what they chose for. Hopefully, they know that change cannot be brought about by one person only, the guy or gal in the White House.

Yesterday, the majority, although just a small majority, on the Pine Ridge Reservation (rez) in South Dakota, chose for a tribal president, who will most likely not bring about an atmosphere of change. Ms. Theresa Two Bulls, who beat her Republic Of Lakotah(ROL) opponent Russell Means with 2277 votes against 1970 votes, is supported by and supports an organisation that encourages and trains Native American people to run for office on their respective reservations. They do this with the best of intentions, venting the idea that, when you get more Native Americans to vote (and get voted) all America will benefit. May be. I don't know. What I do know is what catches my attention, when I watch this organisation's promo video. They go about running for office, campaigning etcetera as the white people in the US do, thus adopting the white man's practices again and diminishing some more of their native cultural inheritance. Too bad, but if they believe it will benefit them, that's what they got to do..

Russell Means has run for tribal president again and he has been beaten, again. Beaten, but not defeated, he will carry on making the ROL, the principles of individual freedom and government by consensus known to the world and eventually the ROL will be a fact. The establishment of the ROL has already taken place in December of 2007, when its establishers went to Washington DC, to unilaterally withdraw from all treaties ever made by and with the US. Russell just couldn't get enough votes to become tribal president and make the ROL a daily fact on the rez as soon as possible.

Somehow, this could be expected, for several reasons. Many people on the reservation (not only the Pine Ridge Reservation) think it'll be better and more safe to leave things being as they are...Change is a scary thing for many.

For the Pine Ridge Reservation, however, the poorest county in the US, this means, that there's going to be no vital change in the poor health, housing, food and employment conditions within the next two years, unless the people are urged to really get up and do something.

The conditions are really appalling and this has mostly been brought about by the isolation policy of the federal goverment of the US(BIA) and state government of South Dakota for many years. Nothing ever happens on the rez in many ways, so the people are hungry, needy, sick, cold, in overall bad health, undereducated, tended to spend their small amounts of welfare money on alcohol and drugs, which is more or less openly encouraged by the federal and state governments, while the tribal council keeps the sale of alcohol and drugs off the rez. Two miles south from the Pine Ridge Rez' border, in Nebraska, a small village is abundant with liquor stores and many people from the rez can be found there when payday arrives...The only thing the authorities give them is the means to have them destroy themselves..

A good example of life on the Pine Ridge Reservation can bee seen through the eyes of tribal police officer Rudy Yellowlodge in the movie "SKINS". The story is fictional, but it shows the heartbraking life on the rez and what the people are going through, Rudy also, who is dealing with an alcoholic brother, a Viet Nam veteran living under appalling conditions on the rez. These stories are no Indian tales, but a sad fact on the rez!

And still, there is pride. Still there is the Lakotah Nation, the Oglala Sioux Tribe, the traditions of the old People of the Earth, the rituals, the songs, the stories. The Red Path is still there and people can still walk it or derive from it, to, maybe one day, find it back again.

The Lakotah believe in a prophesy that was given to them some 150 years ago, that the Seventh Generation would heal the wounds brought onto the People. The Seventh Generation would bring health and prosperity back to the People.

The Seventh Generation is now! The message is peace and harmony: the Red Path.

The ROL is not only an endeavor of one man, Russell Means, but of a whole group of supporters and volunteers. And of 1970 voters on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Mitakuye Oyasin - We are all related

November 4th, 2008: Election Day in South Dakota

Today, not only the US citizens are electing their president, also many Native Americans are electing their tribal presidents and tribal councils on their reservations. These people have never really been made a part of American life, although they are the original inhabitants of the continent. Most of them have been confined into reservations, where they seem to have some kind of independant rule, but this is very much controlled by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the FBI, which controls the tribal police forces on the reservations.

On December 17th, 2007, some people of the Lakotah Nation (more commonly known as the Sioux Nation) in South Dakota, unilaterally withdrew from all treaties made by the US government and founded the Republic Of Lakotah. The man behind this idea, Lakotah activist, politician, writer, artist and actor Russell Means, from that moment on, started a campaign to run for the tribal presidency in his reservation, the Pine Ridge Reservation, the poorest county in the United States of America. His goal: to get elected as tribal president and start making the Republic of Lakotah (ROL) a fact. On these sites, you can read, watch and listen more about Russell's programme and the goals of the ROL for a better future for the Oglala Lakotah, all the Lakotah tribes and eventually for many Native Americans and other peoples wanting to follow the road the ROL wants to travel to a future of individual freedom:

www.republicoflakotah.com

www.russellmeansfreedom.com

For all of you who really don't know what this is all about: it's about something many of us have long lost or forgotten, namely: individual freedom and what freedom really means: the have the choice to be responsible and to care for ones own environment. The Native Americans, like so many indigenous peoples, have been there before and have the way of going back there imbedded in their traditions, even in these modern times. And tonight and tomorrow, we will know whether the Oglala Lakotah will have chosen for freedom! Go, Russell!

Hecetuwelo!

Happy Native American Heritage Month!

Welcome to Eirene Leventissa's World!

I was advised by an online friend to start an online blog here, if I wanted to get my word out in the world. Some say that I am an easy writer. If I have something to say to my fellow humans, I'd better say it here. I've been around the internet, working and publishing in various online communities and discussion forums. This is my first step on blogspot.

I am a 45 year old female, living in The Netherlands. I am a classicist and archaeologist, both lecturer and researcher. Further interests are: Native American peoples and their culture, especially the Lakotah people; mysticism and spiritualism; Indonesia and its various cultures; Greek (rebetika) music.

I read and write a lot, edit texts and manuscripts, too. And I publish my things on the internet:

www.myspace.com/leventissa
www.myspace.com/vasilistsitsanis
www.myspace.com/tinscvil

If you are interested, you are very welcome to visit these sites.

I will write blog entries on all my interests and various other thoughts. Again, you are very welcome to read them and post your reactions.

Eirene Leventissa