From: KAHAHYUHES@aol.com Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2000 01:55:13 EDT Subject: GREEN HORIZONS Green Party Takes Pro-Native Stance by Doug George-Kanentiio Although it wasn't, parts of the official Green Party platform on aboriginal issues may well have been written by the traditional leaders of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. The Green Party is represented in this year's presidential elections by human rights advocate Ralph Nader and his vice-presidential candidate Winona LaDuke, a Native activist from the Anishnawbe (Chippewa) Nation of the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota. The platform begins with a call for an amendment to the US Constitution which reads as follows: "The right of citizens of the US to enjoy and use air, water, sunlight and other renewable resources determined by the Congress to be common property shall not be impaired nor shall such use impair their availability for use by the future generations." Such a statement blends well with Haudenosaunee law which requires all human activity to be conducted in such a manner as to consider its ramifications on the seventh generation into the future. The Haudenosaunee believe the rights of the unborn to a clean and healthy environment characterized by personal freedom must be the prime consideration of all nations. Although the Haudenosaunee are not US citizens, and as such are prohibited under Iroquois law from taking an active part in American elections, the enactment of Green Party's proposed constitutional amendment would be welcome news, not just to the next generation but to the natural world as well. Given the obvious climatic changes in North America, and its attendant effects on lives and property, a constitutional law requiring greater care of limited natural resources may well secure the survival of many species, including humanity itself. The Green Party calls the constitutional addition the "Seventh Generation Amendment" in honor of the Haudenosaunee. In conjunction with the amendment Nader and LaDuke are also proposing the creation of a fund which would enable Native nations to make use of alternative energy sources generated from the sun and wind. They cite the great energy potential from both these sources in the Great Plains region where many of the larger, and poorer, Indian reservations are located. A halt to the exploitation of Native lands by various development companies is also called for by the Green Party along with a massive cleanup fund for the removal of uranium and coal mine wastes, and the restoration of fish runs by the destruction of outdated dams. The Greens are committed to support what they refer to as the "responsible exercise of retained treaty rights" which in the instance of the Haudenosaunee would mean the acknowledgement that the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua, with all of its provisions, is in effect and binding on every level of US government. Nader and LaDuke are also proposing "reservation economic zones" to create employment on Indian territory which ties into their plan to implement a "Living Wage" program which would have businesses and the federal government "pay a wage that a family can live on." The Greens defend the rights of Native nations to engage in such activities as commercial gambling and are pressing for a return of public lands to Native people as one way of resolving land claims. They propose the creation of a special fund which would be used to buy private lands from willing sellers which would then be turned over to Native governments as part of a settlement agreement. Also on the Green wish list is universal health care, public financing of political campaigns, additional protection for workers and the transfer of military funds to programs which benefit the poor and needy. Of particular interest to the Haudenosaunee is the Nader-LaDuke assurance that if elected they will act to protect the intellectual and cultural patrimony of Native people which would mean the preservation of burial sites and the return of those items deemed sacred to the Iroquois. Also important to the Haudenosaunee is clemency for Leonard Peltier, the Anishnawbe man now enduring his 24th year in prison for the 1975 shootings of two FBI agents in South Dakota. The Greens maintain Peltier was not given a fair trial and should be released. 670 words 9/13/00 #### [In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only.]