The Move for Lakotah Independence

From http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=1201

The Move for Lakotah Independence
Jerry Collette Liberty For All
March 13, 2008


The Republic of Lakotah (formerly known as the Sioux Nation of Indians, a name given by the white man) has withdrawn from its treaties and agreements with the United States and reasserted its sovereignty. This could be the most significant move in recent times for freedom lovers everywhere.

Lakota Nation: Reserved by the 1868 Treaty for the unreserved use of the Lakota people. 1876: Lakota reservation after the US stole the Black Hills. Lakota reservations after 100 years of court actions. they get depressed and end up committing suicide.
The Chief Facilitator of the move for Lakotah independence is long time libertarian activist Russell Means. Means was second in the race to be the 1988 Libertarian Party candidate for president, which Ron Paul won by only one vote. Means is also famous for his work with AIM, the American Indian Movement, creating the first privately owned and operated American Indian Radio station and the only free non-government funded medical clinic in Indian country. Means is probably best known for leading the 1973 Lakotah victory at Wounded Knee.
Means stated, “Lakotah sovereignty is legal and lawful under United States and international law.” Means was invited to visit the Libertarian Party national headquarters when he was in Washington DC recently visiting over twenty embassies and presenting the Petition for Recognition Of Lakotah Sovereignty. The petition lays out, in simple language, the Republic’s legal case for its sovereignty. Means added, “You don’t need to be an international lawyer; if you can read history, you can understand the unquestionable validity of Lakotah sovereignty.”
The United States continues to occupy and claim sovereignty over Lakotah territory. However, if recent history is any indication, the United States will eventually leave Lakotah, just as the British left India. Decolonization is a global trend. All over the world, colonizers have withdrawn from their occupied territories and returned sovereignty to the indigenous people. European countries have very few remaining colonies. The United States was a later colonizer than most of Europe, so it is understandable that it is later on the curve to decolonize.
Means points to the Compact of Free Association, under which three of the Trust Territories of the Pacific reclaimed their sovereignty after being under United States trusteeship (like the Lakotah are), as a possible model under which Lakotah sovereignty will be recognized by the United States. However, Means sees a much more libertarian approach to governing Lakotah than the Trust Territories have adopted. Micronesia, for example, depends heavily on United States foreign aid, and two thirds of its workforce is employed by its governments. While colonizers no longer govern Micronesia, dysfunctional government systems established by the U.S. remain.
One need only to look at how government employees engage in labor actions to see how dysfunctional big governments are. Government employee unions who cannot, by law, go on strike, organize work slowdowns to protest labor conditions. Even though the employees accomplish next to nothing on their job, they keep from getting into trouble because, officially, they do everything “by the book.” Their departments grind to a halt, though. This means that the only way that the government ever functions at all is when its own rules are ignored. Why would anybody want to live under such a system?


Even the concept of Indian chiefs is a white man concept. When the white man first asked, “Who is your chief?” Lakotah people were puzzled at the concept. Free people do not need bosses. (Even Sitting Bull, for example, was a medicine man, not a chief, as most white people believe.)
Since reasserting its sovereignty, Lakotah has been inundated with refugees. Americans, mostly white professionals, are looking to Lakotah to escape the tyranny of the United States. Libertarian activist Sean Haugh commented, “I always liked the Free State Project. This is a free country project!”
Means said that libertarians are especially compatible with the Indian ways of freedom and responsibility. “Out of all the white men, their thinking is the closest to Indian,” said Means.
Means is preparing to run for president of the Oglala Lakotah Tribe as a plebiscite (referendum) on Lakotah freedom. Tribal government is a system set up by the United States to give the Indians the illusion of self government, but all they really get is the right of self administration — Indians get to choose which Indians implement Washington policies. Candidates usually campaign on platforms of being better beggars of Washington money than their opponents. Means platform is to be the last tribal president under that system and to move the Republic of Lakotah to full sovereignty and its people back to their traditionally free way of living.
Because of the great number of white people living in the media area of his reservation, this presidential race is not only a great chance to educate the Lakotah people about the kind of freedom its ancestors lived naturally, but to educate the white people living in the Rapid City area about living free. At some point, the national media will probably cover it, too. Means is counting on libertarian support from around the world to get his message out and will be reaching out to libertarians soon, to invite them to contribute time and funding for this most important election of the season. Stay tuned for more about the most important vote for freedom yet! Oglala Lakotah presidential candidate of 2008, Russell Means!

Jerry Collette is the interim attorney general for the provisional government of the Republic of Lakotah. Jerry is a long time libertarian activist and the founder and director of Libertarian Legal Fund, a legal aid ministry that specializes in taking the kind of legal projects that most attorneys would avoid.