[Nonviolenza] Telegrammi. 4497

[Centro di ricerca per la pace Centro di ricerca per la pace <centropacevt at gmail.com>]

TELEGRAMMI DELLA NONVIOLENZA IN CAMMINO

Numero 4497 del 10 giugno 2022

Telegrammi quotidiani della nonviolenza in cammino proposti dal "Centro di ricerca per la pace, i diritti umani e la difesa della biosfera" di Viterbo a tutte le persone amiche della nonviolenza (anno XXIII)

Direttore responsabile: Peppe Sini. Redazione: strada S. Barbara 9/E, 01100 Viterbo, tel. 0761353532, e-mail: centropacevt at gmail.com, sito: https://lists.peacelink.it/nonviolenza/

Sommario di questo numero:

1. Tre minimi promemoria

2. "Contro tutte le guerre, le stragi, le uccisioni". Un incontro di riflessione a Viterbo con Paolo Arena

3. Due lettere per la liberazione di Leonard Peltier

4. Amy Goodman intervista Nick Estes (parte prima): Indian Boarding Schools Were Part of "Horrific Genocidal Process" Carried Out by the U.S.

5. Amy Goodman intervista Nick Estes (parte seconda e conclusiva): Leonard Peltier's Continued Imprisonment Is an "Open Wound for Indian Country"

6. Tre tesi

7. Ripetiamo ancora una volta...

8. Segnalazioni librarie

9. La "Carta" del Movimento Nonviolento

10. Per saperne di piu'

1. L'ORA. TRE MINIMI PROMEMORIA

Primo: ogni giorno occorre opporsi alla guerra, agli eserciti, alle armi.

Ogni giorno occorre adoperarsi per salvare le vite.

Ogni vittima ha il volto di Abele.

*

Secondo: ai referendum del 12 giugno contro i controlli di legalita' e contro l'indipendenza della magistratura, ai referendum imposti dal partito iper-razzista, dal regime della corruzione, dagli anomici privilegiati e dagli ebbri e stolti tastieristi dell'irresponsabilita', votiamo no.

Votiamo no.

Votiamo no.

*

Terzo: alle elezioni amministrative del 12 giugno votiamo per le liste di sinistra che siano impegnate per la pace, per i diritti umani di tutti gli esseri umani, per la difesa del mondo vivente.

Votiamo per le liste di sinistra che siano esplicitamente antifasciste ed antimilitariste, antirazziste ed antimafia, femministe ed ecologiste, socialiste e libertarie, pacifiste e nonviolente.

Votiamo per le liste di sinistra che siano espressione del movimento delle oppresse e degli oppressi in lotta per la salvezza e la liberazione dell'umanita'.

Naturalmente dove tali liste siano presenti, e a condizione che candidino persone decenti.

*

La nonviolenza e' in cammino.

La nonviolenza e' il cammino.

Solo la nonviolenza puo' salvare l'umanita'.

2. INCONTRI. "CONTRO TUTTE LE GUERRE, LE STRAGI, LE UCCISIONI". UN INCONTRO DI RIFLESSIONE A VITERBO CON PAOLO ARENA

La sera di giovedi' 9 giugno 2022 a Viterbo, presso il "Centro di ricerca per la pace, i diritti umani e la difesa della biosfera", si e' tenuto un incontro di riflessione sul tema: "Contro tutte le guerre, le stragi, le uccisioni".

L'incontro si e' svolto nel piu' assoluto rispetto delle misure di sicurezza per prevenire e contrastare la diffusione del coronavirus.

All'incontro ha preso parte Paolo Arena.

*

Una minima notizia su Paolo Arena

Paolo Arena, critico e saggista, studioso di cinema, arti visive, weltliteratur, sistemi di pensiero, processi culturali, comunicazioni di massa e nuovi media, e' uno dei principali collaboratori del "Centro di ricerca per la pace, i diritti umani e la difesa della biosfera" di Viterbo e fa parte della redazione di "Viterbo oltre il muro. Spazio di informazione nonviolenta", un'esperienza nata dagli incontri di formazione nonviolenta che per anni si sono svolti con cadenza settimanale a Viterbo; nel 2010 insieme a Marco Ambrosini e Marco Graziotti ha condotto un'ampia inchiesta sul tema "La nonviolenza oggi in Italia" con centinaia di interviste a molte delle piu' rappresentative figure dell'impegno nonviolento nel nostro paese. Ha tenuto apprezzate conferenze sul cinema di Tarkovskij all'Universita' di Roma "La Sapienza" e presso biblioteche pubbliche. Negli scorsi anni ha animato cicli di incontri di studio su Dante e su Seneca. Negli ultimi anni ha animato cicli di incontri di studio di storia della sociologia, di teoria del diritto, di elementi di economia politica, di storia linguistica dell'Italia contemporanea. Fa parte di un comitato che promuove il diritto allo studio con iniziative di solidarieta' concreta. Cura il sito www.letterestrane.it

3. REPETITA IUVANT. DUE LETTERE PER LA LIBERAZIONE DI LEONARD PELTIER

Appello alla Presidente del Parlamento Europeo, on. Roberta Metsola: president at ep.europa.eu

Gentilissima Presidente del Parlamento Europeo,

il suo indimenticabile predecessore, il Presidente David Sassoli, si impegno' affinche' il Presidente degli Stati Uniti d'America compisse un atto di clemenza che restituisse la liberta' a Leonard Peltier, l'illustre attivista nativo americano difensore dei diritti umani di tutti gli esseri umani e della Madre Terra, da 46 anni detenuto innocente nelle carceri statunitensi a seguito di un processo-farsa in cui fu assurdamente condannato per un crimine che non ha mai commesso sulla base di "prove" false e di "testimonianze" altrettante false, come successivamente ammisero i suoi stessi accusatori e giudici. Nonostante la sua innocenza sia ormai da tutti riconosciuta, Leonard Peltier continua ad essere detenuto.

Con un intervento pubblicato su twitter e una dichiarazione alla stampa di cui e' disponibile la registrazione video il Presidente Sassoli il 23 agosto 2021 espresse pubblicamente la richiesta al Presidente degli Stati Uniti d'America di concedere la grazia a Leonard Peltier.

Nel suo tweet del 23 agosto 2021 il Presidente Sassoli scriveva, in italiano e in inglese:

"Inviero' una lettera alle autorita' statunitensi chiedendo clemenza per Leonard Peltier, attivista per i diritti umani dell'American Indian Movement, in carcere da 45 anni.

Spero che le autorita' accolgano il mio invito. I diritti umani vanno difesi sempre, ovunque".

"I will send a letter to the US authorities asking for clemency for Leonard Peltier. A human rights activist of the American Indian Movement, he has been imprisoned for 45 years.

I hope the authorities will take up my invitation. Human rights must be defended always, everywhere".

Gentilissima Presidente del Parlamento Europeo,

gia' nel 1994 e poi ancora nel 1999 il Parlamento Europeo delibero' risoluzioni per la liberazione di Leonard Peltier.

Qui di seguito si trascrive integralmente la Risoluzione del Parlamento Europeo dell'11 febbraio 1999 (pubblicata sulla Gazzetta ufficiale n. C 150 del 28/05/1999 pag. 0384, B4-0169, 0175, 0179 e 0199/99):

"Risoluzione sul caso di Leonard Peltier

Il Parlamento europeo,

- vista la sua risoluzione del 15 dicembre 1994 sulla grazia per Leonard Peltier (GU C 18 del 23.1.1995, pag. 183),

A. considerando il ruolo svolto da Leonard Peltier nella difesa dei diritti dei popoli indigeni,

B. considerando che Leonard Peltier e' stato condannato nel 1977 a due ergastoli dopo essere stato estradato dal Canada, benche' non vi fosse alcuna prova della sua colpevolezza,

C. considerando che Amnesty International ha ripetutamente espresso le proprie preoccupazioni circa l'equita' del processo che ha condotto alla condanna di Leonard Peltier,

D. considerando che il governo degli Stati Uniti ha ormai ammesso che gli affidavit utilizzati per arrestare e estradare Leonard Peltier dal Canada erano falsi e che il Pubblico ministero statunitense Lynn Crooks ha affermato che il governo degli Stati Uniti non aveva alcuna prova di chi aveva ucciso gli agenti,

E. considerando che dopo 23 anni trascorsi nei penitenziari federali, le condizioni di salute di Leonard Peltier si sono seriamente aggravate e che secondo il giudizio di specialisti la sua vita potrebbe essere in pericolo se non ricevera' adeguate cure mediche,

F. considerando che le autorita' penitenziarie continuano a negargli adeguate cure mediche in violazione del diritto umanitario internazionale e i suoi diritti costituzionali,

G. rilevando che Leonard Peltier ha esaurito tutte le possibilita' di appello concessegli dal diritto statunitense,

1. insiste ancora una volta affinche' venga concessa a Leonard Peltier la grazia presidenziale;

2. insiste affinche' Leonard Peltier sia trasferito in una clinica dove possa ricevere le cure mediche del caso;

3. ribadisce la sua richiesta di un'indagine sulle irregolarita' giudiziarie che hanno portato alla reclusione di Leonard Peltier;

4. incarica la sua delegazione per le relazioni con gli Stati Uniti di sollevare il caso di Leonard Peltier iscrivendolo all'ordine del giorno del prossimo incontro con i parlamentari americani;

5. incarica il suo Presidente di trasmettere la presente risoluzione al Consiglio, alla Commissione, al Congresso statunitense e al Presidente degli Stati Uniti d'America".

Gentilissima Presidente del Parlamento Europeo,

la liberazione di Leonard Peltier e' stata chiesta gia' da molti anni da prestigiose istituzioni, innumerevoli associazioni democratiche, milioni di persone di tutto il mondo tra cui illustri personalita' come Nelson Mandela, madre Teresa di Calcutta, Desmond Tutu e numerosi altri Premi Nobel.

Gentilissima Presidente del Parlamento Europeo,

dia seguito all'iniziativa del Parlamento Europeo e del Presidente Sassoli, e chieda al Presidente degli Stati Uniti d'America di compiere finalmente l'atto di clemenza che restituisca la liberta' a Leonard Peltier.

* * *

Appello al Segretario Generale delle Nazioni Unite, on. Antonio Guterres: sgcentral at un.org

Egregio Segretario Generale delle Nazioni Unite, on. Antonio Guterres,

uniamo la nostra voce a quella di quanti hanno gia' chiesto un suo intervento presso il Presidente degli Stati Uniti d'America affinche' compia un atto di clemenza restituendo la liberta' a Leonard Peltier attraverso lo strumento giuridico della grazia presidenziale.

Chiediamo questo suo intervento perche' la vicenda di Leonard Peltier riguarda l'umanita' intera.

Come Lei gia' sapra', Leonard Peltier e' un illustre attivista nativo americano, generoso e coraggioso difensore dei diritti umani di tutti gli esseri umani e della Madre Terra, da 46 anni detenuto per delitti che non ha commesso.

Gli stessi suoi accusatori che ne ottennero la condanna al termine di uno scandalosissimo processo-farsa basato su cosiddette "prove" dimostratesi assolutamente false e su cosiddette "testimonianze" dimostratesi anch'esse assolutamente false, hanno successivamente riconosciuto che la condanna e la conseguente detenzione di Leonard Peltier e' ingiusta e persecutoria, insensata e disumana, ed hanno chiesto loro stessi la sua liberazione.

Eppure, nonostante che la sua innocenza sia ormai certezza condivisa dall'umanita' intera, Leonard Peltier - ormai anziano e con gravi problemi di salute - continua ad essere detenuto per delitti che non ha mai commesso.

Sicuramente ricordera' che la liberazione di Leonard Peltier e' stata chiesta da milioni di persone di tutto il mondo, tra le quali figure luminose come Nelson Mandela, madre Teresa di Calcutta, Desmond Tutu.

Ricordera' sicuramente anche che la liberazione di Leonard Peltier e' stata chiesta da innumerevoli istituzioni, tra le quali il Parlamento Europeo con ben due risoluzioni fin dagli anni '90 del secolo scorso.

Ci e' particolarmente grato ricordare anche l'iniziativa del compianto Presidente del Parlamento Europeo, on. David Sassoli, recentemente deceduto, che il 23 agosto 2021 scriveva, in italiano e in inglese:

"Inviero' una lettera alle autorita' statunitensi chiedendo clemenza per Leonard Peltier, attivista per i diritti umani dell'American Indian Movement, in carcere da 45 anni. Spero che le autorita' accolgano il mio invito. I diritti umani vanno difesi sempre, ovunque".

"I will send a letter to the US authorities asking for clemency for Leonard Peltier. A human rights activist of the American Indian Movement, he has been imprisoned for 45 years. I hope the authorities will take up my invitation. Human rights must be defended always, everywhere".

Gli sforzi di milioni di esseri umani, l'impegno di innumerevoli associazioni - tra cui in primo luogo Amnesty International -, il voto di autorevolissime istituzioni, non hanno ottenuto fin qui che Leonard Peltier venisse liberato.

Occorre evidentemente un'iniziativa ulteriore.

Sia Lei, che rappresenta l'Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite, quindi l'istituzione rappresentativa di tutti i paesi e i popoli del mondo, a promuovere questa iniziativa.

Sia Lei a chiedere al Presidente degli Stati Uniti d'America di restituire la liberta' a Leonard Peltier.

4. DOCUMENTAZIONE. AMY GOODMAN INTERVISTA NICK ESTES (PARTE PRIMA): INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOLS WERE PART OF "HORRORIFIC GENOCIDAL PROCESS" CARRIED OUT BY THE U.S.

[Dal sito www.democracynow.org riprendiamo questa intervista del 13 maggio 2022]

The Interior Department has documented the deaths of more than 500 Indigenous children at Indian boarding schools run or supported by the federal government in the United States which operated from 1819 to 1969. The actual death toll is believed to be far higher, and the report located 53 burial sites at former schools. The report was ordered by the first Indigenous cabinet member, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, whose grandparents were forced to attend boarding school at the age of 8. "It's kind of a misnomer to actually call these educational institutions or schools themselves when you didn't have very many people graduating, let alone surviving the dire conditions of those schools," says Nick Estes, historian and co-founder of The Red Nation. Estes says the institutions were part of a "genocidal process" of "dispossession and theft of Indigenous people's lands and resources."

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: A new report by the Interior Department has documented the deaths of 500 Indigenous children at Indian boarding schools run or supported by the federal government in the United States, but the actual death toll is believed to be far higher. The report also located 53 burial sites at former schools, which were run for over a century. The report marks the first time the Department of Interior has documented some of the horrific history at the schools, known for their brutal assimilation practices forcing students to change their clothing, language and culture.

The report was ordered by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who is a member of the Laguna Pueblo. Her grandparents were forced to attend boarding school at the age of 8. She spoke on Wednesday.

INTERIOR SECRETARY DEB HAALAND: For more than a century, tens of thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their communities and forced into boarding schools run by the U.S. government, specifically the Department of the Interior, and religious institutions...

When my maternal grandparents were only 8 years old, they were stolen from their parents' culture and communities and forced to live in boarding schools until the age of 13. Many children like them never made it back to their homes...

The federal policies that attempted to wipe out Native identity, language and culture continue to manifest in the pain tribal communities face today, including cycles of violence and abuse, disappearance of Indigenous people, premature deaths, poverty and loss of wealth, mental health disorders and substance abuse. Recognizing the impacts of the federal Indian boarding school system cannot just be a historical reckoning. We must also chart a path forward to deal with these legacy issues...

The fact that I am standing here today as the first Indigenous cabinet secretary is testament to the strength and determination of Native people. I am here because my ancestors persevered. I stand on the shoulders of my grandmother and my mother. And the work we will do with the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative will have a transformational impact on the generations who follow.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. On Thursday, Matthew War Bonnet, who was brought to a boarding school on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota at the age of 6, testified about his experience before the House Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples.

MATTHEW WAR BONNET: My boarding school experience is very painful and traumatic. I remember when I first got to school. The priests took us to this big room which had six or eight bathtubs in it. The priest took all us little guys and put us in one tub, and he scrubbed us hard with a big brush. The brush made our skins and our backsides all raw. And we had to have our hair cut. The school then put all the little guys in the same dormitory. We were together, the first through fourth grades. At nighttime you could hear all the children crying.

AMY GOODMAN: To talk more about the history of Indian boarding schools run or supported by the U.S. government, we're joined by Nick Estes in Minneapolis, writer, historian, author of the book Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance. He's co-founder of the Indigenous resistance group The Red Nation and a citizen of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe.

Nick, welcome back to Democracy Now! Talk about the significance of this new Interior Department report.

NICK ESTES: Thanks so much for having me, Amy.

And as you could hear in the voices of the people, Secretary Haaland, this is a very emotional experience for a lot of Indigenous people in this country. And it should be an emotional experience for non-Indigenous people in this country. This is quite a historic moment in time. Although it's not new news to Indigenous people, it might be new news to those who are hearing this horrific genocidal process that has taken place.

I think, you know, there's a reason why the forcibly transferring of children from one group to another group is an international legal definition of genocide. That's what we're talking about, because taking children, or the process of Indian child removal, has been one strategy for terrorizing Native families for centuries, from the mass removal of Native children from their communities into boarding schools, as this new report lays out, from their communities into their widespread adoption and fostering out to mostly white families, which happened primarily in the 20th century.

This is a historic report in that regard, because it documents, I think for the first time, the federal government admitting to this genocidal process. Of course they don't use that language in this report, but many of the researchers, most of whom were Indigenous, who did the legwork on this first volume - I think it's going to be the first volume of several volumes - to say that this is a widespread - this was a widespread, systematic destruction, not just of our culture but of our nations, as well as an open, you know, theft of land.

And I think that's important to talk about here, that settler colonialism isn’t just about targeting Native people because they hate our culture, our language or our religion, but this boarding school system came at a time when the United States government, at the turn of the 19th century to the 20th century, was looking to consolidate its western frontier through the Dawes Allotment Act, which resulted in hundreds of millions of acres of Indian territory being opened up for white settlement and using Indian children as hostages. And that's the language of the policy reformers at the time. That's the language that they were using. They were saying, "We are going to use these children as hostages" for the, quote-unquote, "good behavior" of their people.

AMY GOODMAN: Now, you have visited and reported on one particular Indian boarding school, the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, that was opened in 1879. Can you talk about that as an example of what took place around this country?

NICK ESTES: Carlisle really became the archetype of off-reservation Indian boarding schools. And in fact, the Carlisle Indian School, the first classes that entered were from Lakota people, my nation, from specifically the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Agencies, because we had put up a historic resistance against the Dawes Allotment Act, and it was a way to essentially break the tribal bonds of our people.

And so, that first class that went, it's documented in Luther Standing Bear's two autobiographies that he wrote. He's from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. And he talks about these schools as not being so much schools, but as prisoner of war camps, where they learned - they didn't learn, you know, the ABCs or language and mathematics, the things that you would expect to learn at schools. Instead, they learned military discipline, because General Pratt, or Colonel Pratt, he was a military man. And this was a strange arrangement between the U.S. military and the Department of Interior to run this off-reservation boarding school, but the militarized discipline became instilled in many of the off-reservation boarding schools, as well as the inculcation of U.S. patriotism, flag worship and religious obedience.

And so, the first classes that went to the Carlisle Indian School, according to the testimony of Luther Standing Bear, who was part of that first incoming class, half of them didn't even return home. Many of them died at that school. So, it's kind of a misnomer to actually call these educational institutions or schools themselves when you didn't have very many people graduating, let alone surviving the dire conditions of those schools.

And in this report, they document the forced labor. The unpaid labor of Native children was used to essentially subsidize the lack of resources that the federal government was not providing to Indian education at this time, too. So it was a horrific experience for those who didn't make it out, but it was also a horrific experience for those who did make it out.

And to this day, at the entrance of the Carlisle Indian School, there is a cemetery of hundreds of gravestones. And many tribal nations, including the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, have been working on returning their ancestors. Some of them have been successful. But it's also important to point out that some of the children that died there are from tribal nations that don't - you know, that have protocols around not disturbing their ancestors when they're interred into the earth. And so this is a very delicate situation. It's not just the problem of the federal government; it's also the problem of the U.S. military.

AMY GOODMAN: So, let me ask -

NICK ESTES: Because this is an active - it's an active military base. I think that's important to point out, too.

AMY GOODMAN: Nick Estes, research by Preston McBride at Dartmouth, Dartmouth College, has suggested as many as 40,000 Native American children died at government-run boarding schools around the U.S. This report is saying 500. Can you talk more about this discrepancy?

NICK ESTES: Yeah, I think in the press briefing by the Department of Interior yesterday, it was pointed out by Deb Haaland, as well as Assistant Secretary Bryan Newland, that this was a preliminary report and that they've identified over 53 marked or unmarked gravesites at these various off-reservation boarding schools and on-reservation boarding schools. And I think it's a really delicate matter, because, for example, the Rapid City Indian School, which is in Rapid City, South Dakota, the burial sites are actually within the community itself. There have been housing projects that had been built over the burial sites. And a lot of people are reluctant to identify them publicly because of the history of grave robbing at a lot of these sites. And so, I think what Preston is saying is very true, that this is an undercount, because it's an initial survey of these specific gravesites. But I think as this investigation goes underway and more documents become available for the public, we're going to see those numbers continue to rise. And it's very tragic.

I think it's important to point out that this initiative began last June, when several hundred Native children's graves were found in Canada. But where are the headlines now about all the surveys that a lot of these First Nations are doing at these sites? And the numbers are in the thousands right now, but it's not making headlines, you know? And so I think it's important to pay attention to this as it unfolds and to really listen to a lot of the Native elders, as well as the Native researchers who have been doing this historically. This isn't new news to us, you know. We don't have a definitive number. All we have is the common experience of the boarding school system, as it has affected every single American Indian in this country.

AMY GOODMAN: Do you have reservations about the report? In fact, it's true the Interior Department report said they expect to find thousands, if not tens of thousands, of deaths. But you're talking about a report that was released by the Interior Department and worked on by the Bureau of Indian Affairs within that, which actually ran the whole boarding school system. But the new development, of course, is Deb Haaland is in charge, the first Native American cabinet member in U.S. history.

NICK ESTES: Yeah, I think it's important to point out that Deb Haaland is - you know, I think she's been in this position for just over a year now. And one year, you know, in the face of a century and a half of genocidal Indian policy, isn't that much, when we think about how history unfolds.

But also I think it's important to point out that the perpetrator of this crime against humanity is now going to be the adjudicator of justice, so to speak. And there were questions of Deb Haaland's office yesterday about what reparations will look like on behalf of tribes. They're modeling their truth and reconciliation process off of the Canadian model. But it's important to point out that the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission only came about because of a class-action lawsuit on behalf of residential school survivors. And I would say that the Department of Interior has a poor track record in terms of adjudicating an accounting for its own crimes.

You know, we can look at the Cobell settlement, which happened in 2011. You know, the - excuse me - the banker, Elouise Cobell, she was from the Blackfoot Nation. She did a forensic audit of the United States and found that the federal government had mismanaged $176 billion of individual Indian moneys, and the Department of Interior awarded itself, because we're still considered wards of the government, $3.5 billion. That's almost pennies on the dollar of what she had accounted for in terms of damages that we were awarded.

And so, it's no coincidence that Indian people are in the same department that manages wildlife and federal lands. You know, we have - I heard earlier in the broadcast that the Department of Interior is kind of going back on this overt federal leasing program. But it's not just the question of Indian boarding schools, you know, because Indian boarding schools were one facet of a larger process of dispossession and theft of Indigenous people's lands and resources, because the Indian boarding school system was actually using treaty annuities and federal funds that was meant for Indian education for this genocidal process. And this money was gained through the selling of our land to white settlers. It was also gained through the dispossession of those lands by the federal government itself. And so there's a lot of accounting to be done here.

And the report itself identifies 39,000 boxes of materials that the federal government has. I think it's about 9 - over 9 million pages of documents that need to be reviewed. And so, allocating just $7 million to this investigative process over a century and a half of genocidal policies is kind of a drop in the bucket in what needs to happen. But it is important to point out that there is - Representative Sharice Davids, who's a Democrat from Kansas and also from an Indigenous nation herself, has a bill that's going through Congress right now that will open up, I think, more federal money for an investigative process that will look not only into the federal Indian boarding school system but also look into the role of faith groups, specifically the Catholic Church and its role in these genocidal educational policies.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, we will certainly continue to follow all of this.

5. DOCUMENTAZIONE. AMY GOODMAN INTERVISTA NICK ESTES (PARTE SECONDA E CONCLUSIVA): LEONARD PELTIER'S CONTINUED IMPRISONMENT IS AN "OPEN WOUND FOR INDIAN COUNTRY"

[Dal sito www.democracynow.org riprendiamo questa intervista del 13 maggio 2022]

Calls are growing for President Biden to grant clemency to Leonard Peltier, the 77-year-old imprisoned Native American activist who has spent 46 years behind bars for a crime he says he did not commit. Amnesty International considers Peltier a political prisoner, and numerous legal observers say his 1977 conviction for alleged involvement in killing two FBI agents in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Reservation was riddled with irregularities and prosecutorial misconduct. "At this point, there's no reason other than vindictive revenge for him to be in prison," says writer and activist Nick Estes, co-founder of the Indigenous resistance group The Red Nation. "He survived COVID, he's in poor health, and the man deserves to be with his people," says Estes, who calls for a full congressional investigation into the deaths of Indigenous activists on Pine Ridge Reservation, where the shootout that led to Peltier's arrest occurred.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: But, Nick Estes, before we end, I wanted to ask you about Leonard Peltier, the 77-year-old Anishinaabe Lakota Native American activist who's been in prison for 46 years for a crime he says he did not commit. Leonard Peltier was a member of the American Indian Movement, convicted of involvement in the killing of two FBI agents in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota in 1975, his arrest and trial marred by prosecutorial conduct, withheld evidence, coerced and fabricated eyewitness testimony and more. Amnesty International has long called him a political prisoner. In late April, Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz asked Attorney General Merrick Garland about calls to grant Peltier clemency.

SEN. BRIAN SCHATZ: A final question, easy one: What is your position on clemency for Leonard Peltier?

ATTORNEY GENERAL MERRICK GARLAND: So, this is a matter that goes into - applications go to the pardon attorney. Pardon attorney makes recommendations through the deputy attorney general to the president. And so I'm not going to comment on that now.

SEN. BRIAN SCHATZ: Can you comment on where we are in the process?

ATTORNEY GENERAL MERRICK GARLAND: I don't - I assume, but don't know, that an application has been made. I actually don't even know whether - I mean, I've read about this in the press, so I don’t know anything more about it than what I've read in the press.

SEN. BRIAN SCHATZ: And this doesn't cross your desk?

ATTORNEY GENERAL MERRICK GARLAND: Certainly not as an initial or even secondary matter. This goes to the pardon attorney and then the deputy attorney general. I'm not saying I wouldn't be involved, but it certainly has not crossed my desk.

SEN. BRIAN SCHATZ: Thank you very much.

AMY GOODMAN: Nick Estes, can you talk about Leonard Peltier? You recently currently co-wrote a piece for The Guardian headlined "Leonard Peltier is America's longest-held Indigenous prisoner. He should be freed."

NICK ESTES: Yeah. It's important to point out, first of all, Leonard Peltier is a product of this federal Indian boarding school system. He was actually - his name was actually mentioned in the press conference yesterday on this particular initiative. And in fact, it's also important to point out that during her tenure as a congresswoman for New Mexico, Deb Haaland was a strident advocate for Leonard Peltier's release. And so we’re seeing a growing momentum around the question of Leonard Peltier's continued unjust imprisonment. And the Obama administration had an opportunity to correct the course of history in releasing Leonard Peltier or granting him clemency, because that's the only option on the table right now for his release.

But he is an elder. He's an endeared elder to his community. Turtle Mountain Ojibwe have a plan in place so that once he is released, he has housing and he's taken in by the community itself. You have Representative Ruth Buffalo from North Dakota, who's up for reelection this year, who's been a strident advocate for Leonard Peltier, who talks to Leonard Peltier on a weekly basis. And so you have this massive support from Indian Country, from elected officials to tribal governments, advocating for his release.

And if we want true justice in this country, whether it's for the boarding school system, something that Leonard Peltier himself was fighting against as part of the American Indian Movement, then we also need to not only advocate for his release, but advocate for a full congressional investigation into the conditions that led to the shootout at the Jumping Bull property in 1975 and the multiple, the tens, you know, the dozens of deaths that have gone unsolved on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation during the so-called reign of terror following the occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973.

And so, this is an open wound for Indian Country. It's an open wound for the federal government. And his committee is advocating for healing. And the first step of that process is to grant him clemency. At this point, there's no reason other than vindictive revenge for him to be in prison. He survived COVID, he's in poor health, and the man deserves to be with his people.

AMY GOODMAN: Why don't we end with Leonard Peltier's voice? By the way, his new attorney is a former chief judge from Tennessee. But I spoke to Leonard, oh, 10 years ago - that's this clip - on the phone in a Florida prison.

AMY GOODMAN: Leonard, this is Amy Goodman from Democracy Now! I was -

LEONARD PELTIER: Oh, hi, Amy. How are you?

AMY GOODMAN: Hi. I'm good. I was wondering if you have a message for President Obama?

LEONARD PELTIER: I just hope he can, you know, stop the wars that are going on in this world, and stop getting - killing all those people getting killed, and, you know, give the Black Hills back to my people, and turn me loose.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you share with people at the news conference and with President Obama your case for why you should be - your sentence should be commuted, why you want clemency?

LEONARD PELTIER: Well, I never got a fair trial, for one... They wouldn't allow me to put up a defense, and manufactured evidence, manufactured witnesses, tortured witnesses. You know, the list is - just goes on. So I think I'm a very good candidate for - after 37 years, for clemency or house arrest, at least.

AMY GOODMAN: I was speaking to Leonard Peltier at a public forum a day after a major event at the Beacon Theatre had taken place in his honor and to raise money for his support here in New York City. Well, Nick Estes, we thank you for being with us, writer, historian, author of Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance, co-founder of The Red Nation.

You can link to all of our interviews with Leonard Peltier, as well as my questioning of President Clinton at the time, whether he would be granting clemency, and you hear Leonard Peltier himself talking about asking President Obama for that. Now the question is: What will President Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland do?

This is Democracy Now! Next up, we go to Mexico, where three journalists have been killed in the last week, bringing the toll to 11 so far this year, making Mexico the deadliest country in the world for journalists, behind Ukraine. Stay with us.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN: Vivir Quintana. The central character of the song is Mexican journalist Miguel Angel Lopez Velasco, who was murdered in 2011 along with his wife and son in Veracruz, Mexico.

6. REPETITA IUVANT. TRE TESI

La guerra e il fascismo sono la stessa cosa. Solo la lotta di liberazione delle donne puo' difendere e liberare l'umanita'.

Salvare le vite e' il primo dovere.

Solo la nonviolenza puo' salvare l'umanita' dalla catastrofe.

7. REPETITA IUVANT. RIPETIAMO ANCORA UNA VOLTA...

... ripetiamo ancora una volta che occorre un'insurrezione nonviolenta delle coscienze e delle intelligenze per contrastare gli orrori piu' atroci ed infami che abbiamo di fronte, per affermare la legalita' che salva le vite, per richiamare ogni persona ed ogni umano istituto ai doveri inerenti all'umanita'.

Occorre opporsi al maschilismo, e nulla e' piu' importante, piu' necessario, piu' urgente che opporsi al maschilismo - all'ideologia, alle prassi, al sistema di potere, alla violenza strutturale e dispiegata del maschilismo: poiche' la prima radice di ogni altra violenza e oppressione e' la dominazione maschilista e patriarcale che spezza l'umanita' in due e nega piena dignita' e uguaglianza di diritti a meta' del genere umano e cosi' disumanizza l'umanita' intera; e solo abolendo la dominazione maschilista e patriarcale si puo' sconfiggere la violenza che opprime, dilania, denega l'umanita'; solo abolendo la dominazione maschilista e patriarcale l'umanita' puo' essere libera e solidale.

Occorre opporsi al razzismo, alla schiavitu', all'apartheid. Occorre far cessare la strage degli innocenti nel Mediterraneo ed annientare le mafie schiaviste dei trafficanti di esseri umani; semplicemente riconoscendo a tutti gli esseri umani in fuga da fame e guerre, da devastazioni e dittature, il diritto di giungere in salvo nel nostro paese e nel nostro continente in modo legale e sicuro. Occorre abolire la schiavitu' in Italia semplicemente riconoscendo a tutti gli esseri umani che in Italia si trovano tutti i diritti sociali, civili e politici, compreso il diritto di voto: la democrazia si regge sul principio "una persona, un voto"; un paese in cui un decimo degli effettivi abitanti e' privato di fondamentali diritti non e' piu' una democrazia. Occorre abrogare tutte le disposizioni razziste ed incostituzionali che scellerati e dementi governi razzisti hanno nel corso degli anni imposto nel nostro paese: si torni al rispetto della legalita' costituzionale, si torni al rispetto del diritto internazionale, si torni al rispetto dei diritti umani di tutti gli esseri umani. Occorre formare tutti i pubblici ufficiali e in modo particolare tutti gli appartenenti alle forze dell'ordine alla conoscenza e all'uso delle risorse della nonviolenza: poiche' compito delle forze dell'ordine e' proteggere la vita e i diritti di tutti gli esseri umani, la conoscenza della nonviolenza e' la piu' importante risorsa di cui hanno bisogno.

Occorre opporsi a tutte le uccisioni, a tutte le stragi, a tutte le guerre. Occorre cessare di produrre e vendere armi a tutti i regimi e i poteri assassini; abolire la produzione, il commercio, la disponibilita' di armi e' il primo necessario passo per salvare le vite e per costruire la pace, la giustizia, la civile convivenza, la salvezza comune dell'umanita' intera. Occorre abolire tutte le organizzazioni armate il cui fine e' uccidere. Occorre cessare immediatamente di dissipare scelleratamente ingentissime risorse pubbliche a fini di morte, ed utilizzarle invece per proteggere e promuovere la vita e il benessere dell'umanita' e dell'intero mondo vivente.

Occorre opporsi alla distruzione di quest'unico mondo vivente che e' la sola casa comune dell'umanita' intera, di cui siamo insieme parte e custodi. Non potremo salvare noi stessi se non rispetteremo e proteggeremo anche tutti gli altri esseri viventi, se non rispetteremo e proteggeremo ogni singolo ecosistema e l'intera biosfera.

Opporsi al male facendo il bene.

Opporsi alla violenza con la scelta nitida e intransigente della nonviolenza.

Oppresse e oppressi di tutti i paesi, unitevi nella lotta per la comune liberazione e la salvezza del'umanita' intera.

Salvare le vite e' il primo dovere.

8. SEGNALAZIONI LIBRARIE

Letture

- Biancamaria Frabotta, Tutte le poesie 1971-2017, Mondadori, Milano 2018, 2019, pp. 456, euro 20.

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Riletture

- Nawal al Sa'dawi, Firdaus storia di una donna egiziana, Giunti, Firenze 2001, pp. 128.

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Classici

- Leslie A. Fiedler, Love and Death in the American Novel, 1960, 1966, Dalkey Archive Edition, 1997, 2008, pp. XII + 514.

9. DOCUMENTI. LA "CARTA" DEL MOVIMENTO NONVIOLENTO

Il Movimento Nonviolento lavora per l'esclusione della violenza individuale e di gruppo in ogni settore della vita sociale, a livello locale, nazionale e internazionale, e per il superamento dell'apparato di potere che trae alimento dallo spirito di violenza. Per questa via il movimento persegue lo scopo della creazione di una comunita' mondiale senza classi che promuova il libero sviluppo di ciascuno in armonia con il bene di tutti.

Le fondamentali direttrici d'azione del movimento nonviolento sono:

1. l'opposizione integrale alla guerra;

2. la lotta contro lo sfruttamento economico e le ingiustizie sociali, l'oppressione politica ed ogni forma di autoritarismo, di privilegio e di nazionalismo, le discriminazioni legate alla razza, alla provenienza geografica, al sesso e alla religione;

3. lo sviluppo della vita associata nel rispetto di ogni singola cultura, e la creazione di organismi di democrazia dal basso per la diretta e responsabile gestione da parte di tutti del potere, inteso come servizio comunitario;

4. la salvaguardia dei valori di cultura e dell'ambiente naturale, che sono patrimonio prezioso per il presente e per il futuro, e la cui distruzione e contaminazione sono un'altra delle forme di violenza dell'uomo.

Il movimento opera con il solo metodo nonviolento, che implica il rifiuto dell'uccisione e della lesione fisica, dell'odio e della menzogna, dell'impedimento del dialogo e della liberta' di informazione e di critica.

Gli essenziali strumenti di lotta nonviolenta sono: l'esempio, l'educazione, la persuasione, la propaganda, la protesta, lo sciopero, la noncollaborazione, il boicottaggio, la disobbedienza civile, la formazione di organi di governo paralleli.

10. PER SAPERNE DI PIU'

Indichiamo i siti del Movimento Nonviolento: www.nonviolenti.org e www.azionenonviolenta.it ; per contatti: azionenonviolenta at sis.it

Tutti i fascicoli de "La nonviolenza e' in cammino" dal dicembre 2004 possono essere consultati nella rete telematica alla pagina web: http://lists.peacelink.it/nonviolenza/

TELEGRAMMI DELLA NONVIOLENZA IN CAMMINO

Numero 4497 del 10 giugno 2022

Telegrammi quotidiani della nonviolenza in cammino proposti dal "Centro di ricerca per la pace, i diritti umani e la difesa della biosfera" di Viterbo a tutte le persone amiche della nonviolenza (anno XXIII)

Direttore responsabile: Peppe Sini. Redazione: strada S. Barbara 9/E, 01100 Viterbo, tel. 0761353532, e-mail: centropacevt at gmail.com , sito: http://lists.peacelink.it/nonviolenza/

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