7/28/2019 Native Americans slaughtered, sacrificed, fenced in reservations in US RT
1/11
fencedinreservat ionsinUS RT
1/11ws/russell-means-interview-116/
rt.com http://rt.com/news/russell-means-interview-11
Native Americans slaughtered, sacrificed,fenced in reservations in US
The prominent Native American activist Russell Means passed away on Monday. In 2008 he met
with RT to talk about the Native Americans withdrawal from the US, their fight for recognition
and his unhappiness with US citizenship.
At the end of 2007, a large group of Native Americans from South Dakota declared the
independence of the Lakotah Republic from the United States, and renounced their US citizenship
Following the incident RTs Nadezhda Kevorkova met Russell Means, who told her about his
struggle for independence.
RT:Russell, you are no longer a U.S. citizen, are you?
Russell Means: I am not. I am a Lakotah citizen, and I really regret about those who are
hesitant to terminate their U.S. citizenship.
RT: In Russia many people dream of getting US citizenship, and they consider it stupid if
anyone couldve stayed in the U.S. under any pretext but failed to do so. What do you make of
that?
RM: The United States is a fake country that has no culture. Its easy to manipulate such a
country, and to channel its people. The U.S. has a faade shown to the rest of the world, but few
know of its reverse side as thoroughly as Indians do. The picture people see is not the reality of
todays United States. Even the President whos in office today wasnt really elected, like back in
the year 2000. Young people certainly strive to get here to achieve their dreams. But really
anyone coming only has one reason: they want to become rich and successful, and they want to ge
their opportunities [to succeed]. Once you talk to them you realize they dont even dream of
anything beyond money-making. This was the reason Europeans came here. This is the principle
of the American life. The world is sick and tired of American prosperity. The world is waking up.
RT: You have declared the Republic of Lakotahs independent from the United States. What ha
the response been like?
RM: The world has shown a great response thats been growing by the day. Thanks to the
internet, we see how keen people are about our freedom. A large number of people support us, an
welcome us. People are vividly interested in our independence. The world understands us; while
http://rt.com/news/russell-means-interview-116/7/28/2019 Native Americans slaughtered, sacrificed, fenced in reservations in US RT
2/11
fencedinreservat ionsinUS RT
2/11ws/russell-means-interview-116/
the US government doesnt.
RT: Whos been supporting you?
RM: People dont merely support us; thousands of people demonstrate their willingness to come
to the Republic of Lakotah. Unlike the unfortunate refugees fleeing to the U.S., those willing to join
us are highly qualified professionals doctors, lawyers, professors, teachers, scientists, various
profile engineers, computer specialists, farmers. When people employ their minds they understan
the meaning, and value, and the true meaning of freedom. Were excited about anyone. If
Americans want to join us we welcome them as well. The Lakota are a free people in their free
country. The global situation has never been more favorable for us.
Chief Oliver, descendant of the legendary Chief Red Cloud, a supporter of Russell Means (Photo by Nadezhda
Kevorkova)
RT: Theres a notion that Native Americans are now running casinos in their reservations, and
making huge profits from them.
7/28/2019 Native Americans slaughtered, sacrificed, fenced in reservations in US RT
3/11
fencedinreservat ionsinUS RT
3/11ws/russell-means-interview-116/
RM: Casinos are legalized robbery. Only weak-minded and weak-spirited would want to spend
their time playing in them. There wont be any casinos in the Republic of Lakotah. We dont want
people to be robbed under a pretext that this kind of business is profitable for a tribe.
RT: What kind of difficulties do you expect to face, such as traveling outside the U.S. without a
assport?
RM: A passport is required to be able to return to your home country . You only need an ID withi
the country ; and the same applies to Europe. People will need their Lakotah passports to travel
the world; this is something wev e been working on now. As for me, I dont expect any problems
leaving the country; but they may want stop me from getting back in, thats a possibility. It would
be interesting if an American-born wouldnt be allowed to return to his homeland. According to a
UN convention, all groups of nationalities have the right to their own passports. So we are
operating within international law.
RT: What is the meaning of freedom that Lakotah represents?
RM: Today the world lives by 17th-century values. Thats when the idea emerged that interests
of an individual were protected by representative democracy. Few understand that a national
government isnt the most balanced kind of representation.
The strongest kind of representation is an association of communities where each community is a
group of free citizens that guarantees their protection. The United States was intended as such a
union of communities but they are no longer that way. They became an old-fashioned system of
hierarchal governance.
The Republic of Lakotah will be designed on a communities principle based on consensus between
them. Each community will have their own judges, law enforcement teams, and electoral councils.
A community governed by its people doesnt need police.
The patriarchal governance system is based on fear that produces various phobias. Men fear
women, and women gain so much power that their identity gets modified. Refugees storm the
state borders, and states protect their borders, maintain armies of prisoners, and practice tortureand execution. The entire society is saturated with fear thats been stirred up artificially. A
patriarchal state believes in negative only, and expects negative only from its people. It was
generated together with the market; and it made people its slaves.
A union of free communities is based on the principle of freedom rather than fear. A lot of people
worldwide do realize it; this is why the Republic of Lakotah has so many supporters. If racists
want to join us they are welcome to come here and live in a racist community. Freedom implies an
7/28/2019 Native Americans slaughtered, sacrificed, fenced in reservations in US RT
4/11
fencedinreservat ionsinUS RT
4/11ws/russell-means-interview-116/
opportunity to be an idiot and to live in a community of the likes.
RT:Native Indians arent represented in the U.S. Senate, or Congress, or the Supreme Court,
are they?
RM: They arent, and they havent been throughout all these centuries. We intend making the
U.S. government liable for the genocide of ethnic Indians. Were now preparing paperwork to star
a case at the International Court in The Hague. We are convinced that many countries will suppor
our cause.
RT:Many journalists paint a picture of your program as a return to wigwams, fires and ritual
dances, is it not true?
RM: Some would probably find this picture quite attractive, but this isnt a possibility. We have t
proceed from the reality. By returning our culture we mean using all the opportunities. Ive
traveled to Europe many times, and Ive learned of various approaches to preserving the nationaculture. Back in the Soviet times, I visited Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, and East Germany
everywhere except Russia and the Arctic region. So I can make comparisons between places. The
United States doesnt even have opportunities for culture; it is only focused on money and on
those forms of culture that yield money. Any art that sells is the kind of art that generates profit.
Its a terrible fodder turned into a machine for generating profit.
What we see now is the world being Americanized, the profitability principle, expanded. Its caugh
up even with Russia which is however trying to resist it. We dont want to see any further
Americanization, but are no revisionists either we arent calling people to going back to the Ston
Age, to isolation, to an ethnographic museum type of life. Or to perform paid rituals, a kind of a
spiritual prostitution thats been involving Indians under the pretext that this is our way to
preserve our identity by publicly performing our sacred dances.
So they say, if you dont like Columbus, and progress, and democracy, you should give up using
electricity, and computers, and phones. This is exactly what we will do immediately, as soon as
those strangers and immigrants get on their boats and go back to their countries.
7/28/2019 Native Americans slaughtered, sacrificed, fenced in reservations in US RT
5/11
fencedinreservat ionsinUS RT
5/11ws/russell-means-interview-116/
One of Russell Means achievements: A sc hool for Native Amer ican children in Pine Ridge Reservation, South
Dakota (Photo by Nadezhda Kev orkov a)
RT:What do you have to offer instead of the pragmatic American system?
RM: We have a special group thats developing a whole new system, from creating alternative
energy sources to our own banks that wont be robbing our citizens. You have no idea just how
positive people are about Indians. This is something I felt quite strongly in my travels they wer
positive about me just because I was an ethnic Indian rather than an American. With this kind of
trust credit, we will overcome all our difficulties, together with our allies.
The governments will have to recognize us and give us sovereignty. Their laws say its our land. I
they refuse to do so, we will file a suit to the Supreme Court. They will have to make that decision
you know they keep talking about the supremacy of law. Now it will backfire. So far theyve bee
trying to ignore us, with the American press marginalizing us. But now, with the advent of the
internet, these tricks have stopped working. The best idea for them would be to sit down and
negotiate. Otherwise our next step would be going to the International Court in The Hague and
7/28/2019 Native Americans slaughtered, sacrificed, fenced in reservations in US RT
6/11
fencedinreservat ionsinUS RT
6/11ws/russell-means-interview-116/
demanding that genocide against American Indians be recognized. And we hope that as a founder
of this court, Russia will support us.
Gandhi once said: First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then condem
you, then you win.
RT:Vladimir Putin also holds Gandhi in high esteem. He says that after Gandhi died, there is no
one to talk to.You have something to build upon.
RM: Putin was talking of the double-standard democracy in America. The US supports the
sovereignty of all peoples, save for those who live in the US. So we are certain Russia will back us.
Theres more on this. Chinas resources are now worth around 40% of what the US has. Few
people at all know that China has promised Bush a market collapse if the US attacks Iran. So ther
is a variety of tools for peoples to support one another.
RT:What if special services assassinate you?
RM: We the Indians are not afraid of death.And I havent been, either. Thirty-four years ago at
Wounded Knee we defeated a whole army of special services. We will defeat it now, too.
You know the best thing about the Republic of Lakotah people? For centuries they slaughtered us
sacrificed us, fenced us into reserv ations, and stole our land, our air, our water. But we surv ived!
We have things to offer. By contrast, they have nothing to offer. So they pretend we are non-
existent.
RT:What are your arguments against the US government?
RM: According to the US data, when Europeans came here, there were around 12 million Indians
across 48 states. By the early 20th century, only 250,000 Native Americans survived. About 70%
of Indians are refugees in their own country; they have been displaced from their own land. The
US carried out an unparalleled genocide: they killed 99.6% Indians.
The US takes pride in its commitment to law and democracy. But throughout the years, there has
been no respite in wars. There are only two countries in the world that keep breaching
international law non-stop: the US and Israel. The US goes as far as neglecting its own
constitution, which says that we are all free and can declare independence any time.
Right now the Republic of Lakotah is a five-state area. Six more have already supported us and
would like to join us, too.
RT:Do you want to stick to peaceful means? And if it doesnt work out, will you take up arms?
7/28/2019 Native Americans slaughtered, sacrificed, fenced in reservations in US RT
7/11
fencedinreservat ionsinUS RT
7/11ws/russell-means-interview-116/
RM: Never. This is inefficient. If y ou want to fight your way to freedom, you are no different from
your enemies. You cant protect y our independence by throwing swords into the scale. Look at th
Soviet experience: it was a failure.
Russell Means poses for a portrait at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona, October 28, 2011 (Reuters / Joshua Lott)
RT: I was shown the houses of drug dealers in the reservation. What should one do about
them?
RM: The communities will sort it out by themselves. There are two legal drugs in the US: alcoholand tobacco. Alcohol kills 75% of the population, while tobacco kills 24%, and the remaining 1% die
of illegal drugs. One day the six of us decided to block alcohol traffic to the reservation and formed
a barrier on the border with Nebraska. But then came the police. They arrested us and let the
dealers get away scot- free.
RT: But it was the Indians who introduced tobacco to the world, wasnt it?
RM: Indians smoke a pipe with unadulterated tobacco as part of a ceremony, while the US
7/28/2019 Native Americans slaughtered, sacrificed, fenced in reservations in US RT
8/11
fencedinreservat ionsinUS RT
8/11ws/russell-means-interview-116/
produces cigarettes for daily consumption without any ritual meaning but with a lot of lethal
chemical drugs.
RT:Do you smoke?
RM: I do smoke a pipe, but no cigarettes. Anyway, I dont inhale the smoke just like Bill Clinton
RT:Americans killed all the buffalo.Now the buffalo are back and white people eat their meat irestaurants. Have they turned your basic meal into fast food?
RM: Americans crossbred the bison bull with domestic cattle. What they eat is the meat of this
hybrid. They also add beef to buffalo meat. You can only taste buffalo meat at a dancing ceremon
in our state and in Wyoming.
RT:Thanks to you, South Dakota no longer celebrates Columbus Day. Instead, it observes
ative American Day. Now what about Thanksgiving? What is the true background? There ar
conflicting accounts that come from Europeans: that it is a celebration of the first harvest, or
that Indians brought gifts and saved the settlers
RM: This is all a lie. Native Americans have repeatedly saved the settlers, but there are no
holidays to mark this. The true story is that the pilgrims massacred Indians, so the governor of
Massachusetts issued a message to thank God for that and called on the other states to follow suit
Later on they tried to give the holiday a more peaceful meaning, but theres no changing the past
RT: Now what do Indians do on Thanksgiving Day?
RM: They eat turkey. Many of them dont know a thing about it. They are a colonized people with
a changed mentality and memory. Schools dont teach them anything. Most of them dont even
know a thing about me. They believe Im just a cinema star. Maybe the 1890 massacre rings som
bell. But they are fully unaware of our 1973 victory at Wounded Knee. And that was a true
triumph of Native Americans over the US government.
7/28/2019 Native Americans slaughtered, sacrificed, fenced in reservations in US RT
9/11
fencedinreservat ionsinUS RT
9/11ws/russell-means-interview-116/
A sac red Nativ e A meric an mountain in South Dakota, which was destroy ed to create a pr iv ate ly owned museum
about the great indigenous Chiefs (Photo by Nadezhda Kev orkov a)
RT: Could you please share some statistics on how American Indians live today?
RM: They are struggling. The life span is getting lower by the year. Men hardly live longer than
44 years, and few women are older than 47. This is worse than in the poorest African countries.
The unemployment rate is about 73%. The only fluent speakers of the Lakota language are at leas
65 years old, and they are few and far between. Heres why I built a school at my ranch, where all
the subjects there are taught in Lakota only.
Every fourth baby dies. Pharmaceutical companies take the healthiest kids away from their
families, send them to orphanages and test drugs on them, including psychotic ones. To make
matters worse, people kidnap children from reservations and sell them for organ removal or
psychiatric experiments. A few cases have been started against these kidnappers. Beating and
corporal punishment is rampant in schools. For kids from the reservations school embodies
violence.
7/28/2019 Native Americans slaughtered, sacrificed, fenced in reservations in US RT
10/11
fencedinreservat ionsinUS RT
10/11ws/russell-means-interview-116/
Scores of reservation dwellers are infected with tuberculosis, polio, and other diseases which have
been defeated in the US. There are many more instances of hypertension and diabetes in
reservations than in the areas populated by white Americans.
The reason for that is this particular free fodder that generations of our people have been fed. Th
free food contains nothing but carbs, while two thirds of our people cannot afford buying proper
food. No other place in the United States has such death and disease rates as we do. Our water isintoxicated by uranium mines located in the Reservation. People living near uranium deposits
suffer from cancer and all the associated diseases; women suffer miscarriages, and deliver
unhealthy babies. Poor living conditions, uranium-intoxicated water and bad nutrition are the
three reasons that have been killing off my people. We tried going all kinds of other ways such as
rebellions, protests, marches, addresses, and strikes, but nothing got changed. The Republic of
Lakotah was declared in the name of rescuing our people that the U.S. government didnt care
about. We began to die out, but we dont want to anymore.
Most of tribal unions arent doing anything but cooperate with the colonial regime. They are like
the Vichy Government under Hitler merely making an impression of self-governance in the
reservations. But they are even worse than the occupants. They are now spreading rumors that
we hadnt consulted with our people and chiefs. This isnt true. We did consult with those who are
respected by people rather than the authorities. We reached an agreement with a hundred out of
over 500 tribes, and with 480 families of several hundred people each. There are those in our
tribes who we call miniature oligarchs, the caricature millionaires who made money on troubles of
their people by selling alcohol and TVs. T hey also want to keep the current state of things
otherwise they would lose their platform for developing their business. This mockery of life had
ended on 17th December 2007. We are free. The Indian Vichy wanted to keep their power over
the Indian souls; but the Republic of Lakotah put an end to it.
7/28/2019 Native Americans slaughtered, sacrificed, fenced in reservations in US RT
11/11
fencedinreservat ionsinUS RT
Vietnam War veteran Harry Roland, the director of the Wounded Knee Museum (Photo by Nade zhda
Kevorkova)
Top Related