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Sat Oct 13, 2012
Venezuelans have celebrated the Day of Indigenous Resistance to commemorate the Native American people’s battle against the European occupation.
The event was held on Friday to highlight the Americas’ struggle for self-determination, unity, and cultural and human diversity.
Venezuela’s Day of Indigenous Resistance is the local version of Indigenous People's Day, which is being celebrated this week in the Americas as a counter-celebration to Columbus Day.
In the early 1990s, Native Americans renamed Columbus Day, which is ‘celebrated’ on October 12 to mark the arrival of the European conquerors and settlers, Indigenous People’s Day.
In North America, indigenous rights activist Leonard Peltier, who has been in prison in the United States since 1976, has issued a statement on the occasion of Indigenous People’s Day.
Peltier, a Native American activist who was a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) in its heyday, was convicted in 1977 of the murder of two US FBI agents during a 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison.
Following are excerpts of the statement:
Greetings my relatives and friends, supporters!
I know I say this same line all the time but in reality you all are my relatives and I appreciate you. I cannot say that enough. Some of our people, as well as ourselves, have decided to call today Indigenous Day instead of Columbus Day and it makes me really think about how many People who still celebrate Columbus, a cruel, mass murderer who on his last trip to the Americas, as I have read, was arrested by his own people for being too cruel. When you consider those kinds of cruelty against our People and his status, it makes you wonder to what level he had taken his cruelty. In all of this historical knowledge that is available people still want to celebrate and hold in high esteem this murderer.
If we were to celebrate Hitler Day, or Mussolini Day, or some other murderer and initiator of violence and genocide, there would be widespread condemnation. It would be like celebrating Bush Day in Iraq. It's kind of sad to say that even mentioning Columbus in my comments gives him more recognition than he should have. So I agree wholeheartedly with all of you out there that have chosen to call this Indigenous Day. If I weren't Native American or as some of have come to say -- Indigenous, I would still love our ways and cling to our ways and cherish our ways. I see our ways as the way to the future, for the world. Whereas I, and others, have said over and over, and our People before us: This Earth is our Mother. This Earth is life. And anything you take from the Earth creates a debt that is to be paid back at some time in the future by someone.
In speaking of our ways, I can't help but think of times… our sweat lodge… I feel that we could be anywhere, that we are with the Indigenous People, in that time, those moments in our prayers and in our hearts there is no distance between us. I am no longer in a prison in Florida. I can be on the prairie in South Dakota or in a lodge in British Columbia or in a lodge in South America. Or even with some of my children in a family lodge. We all need to be thankful for what we have but we cannot afford to forget what has been taken from us. There is no amount of freedom that I could personally receive that would be restitution enough for what they have taken from me. But if in some way my incarceration and sacrifices for our People who came before me and throughout our Indigenous history serves as a pathway to a brighter future, a healthier Earth, and for life of all mankind; if it would bring us together to be of one mind in protecting the future of our People, our children, and all the future generations upon the Earth, then it will have been well worth it.
Indigenous Day should become a way of life that embraces all that promotes life and not just a few days out of the year. If you're standing or sitting or whatever with whoever lives around you, give your loved ones a hug for me. Guard your freedom zealously. Rescue Mother Earth where you can. Sweat often and know that this common man, Leonard Peltier, will always be with you in the struggle, one way or another.
May the Great Spirit bless you with the things you need and enough to share.
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, Osceola, Geronimo, Chief Seattle, and all those many others who stood for what was right and tried to right what was wrong.
Mitakuye Oyasin.
GJH/HGL
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