mejedwa@lopez.UUCP (Carl Tausch) (01/18/90)
CHIPPEWA SPEARFISHING UPDATE --by Rick Whaley (reprinted in full from the _GREEN LETTER_ {Winter 1989} with permission). The 1989 spearfishing season brought a severe escalation of violent intimidation against Chippewa spearfishers and their families. Anti- treaty protesters fired rocks and ball bearings at spearers from wrist- rockets, and most nights brought out huge protests at the boatlandings, featuring the vilest racial and sexual remarks as well as attempts to block the launching of Chippewa boats. Few prosecutions have resulted from the massive violation of civil and safety rights of the Chippewa this year. The response of the Chippewa was one of dignity, restraint and nonviolence. Witnesses for nonviolence helped shine a light on the terrorist activities in northern Wisconsin, and eventually media and law enforcement people could see that this was a one-sided and racially- motivated fight. The State of Wisconsin's responses to the disturbances were first to go to court to block the Chippewa's exercise of their rights, and second to offer to buy out the off-reservation harvesting rights in an effort, they said, to quell the racial backlash. The larger agenda of the State of Wisconsin has been exposed. The Governor's top aide is James Klauser, former Exxon lobbyist. Corporate plans to make northern Wisconsin a new mining district as well as to build new pulp mills could be blocked if these developments would negatively impact on the harvestable resources (fish, wild rice, deer, timber). Such harmful development could proceed if a buy-out agreement were signed between the Chippewa and the state. A unity of Native Americans and Green/environmentalists has emerged from the struggles of both communities for democratic control and basic safety. When the matter was put to a vote, the Lac du Flambeau Chippewa rejected the buy-out of their rights by a 439-366 count, in a stunning repudiation of the wishes of their own tribal government and the expectations of every politician in Wisconsin. Lac du Flambeau members saw their rights as well as their cultural heritage at stake in the attempted buy-out. With the failure of violent intimidation at the boatlandings to stop the spearfishing, and the failure of the take-money-for-rights idea, anti-treaty groups and politicians will now ask Congress to abrogate treaties with Native American nations. The multi-racial constituency of Greens and other witnesses in Wisconsin appeal to all concerned people to inform their Congresspeople of this racist backlash against Native American rights, and to urge resistance to all Congressional efforts to abrogate treaties and land claims with native nations in Wisconsin and elsewhere. For more information or letters of supports, contact the Midwest Treaty Network, c/o the Grapevine, Box 1350, Bayfield, WI 54814; or the Milwaukee Greens Treaty Rights Task Force, Box 16471, Milwaukee, WI 53216. Thanx! PEACE!!! M E J E D W A TRADITIONAL LAW: As wild things walk in beauty on the earth, let us walk trails of faith and brotherhood with nature heart by heart.