[Wolfn]

FOXNews.com - Lakota Indians Withdraw Treaties Signed With U.S. 150 Years Ago - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

WASHINGTON — The Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from treaties with the United States.

"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us,'' long-time Indian rights activist Russell Means said.

A delegation of Lakota leaders has delivered a message to the State Department, and said they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties they signed with the federal government of the U.S., some of them more than 150 years old.

The group also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South African and Venezuelan embassies, and would continue on their diplomatic mission and take it overseas in the coming weeks and months.

Lakota country includes parts of the states of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.

The new country would issue its own passports and driving licences, and living there would be tax-free - provided residents renounce their U.S. citizenship, Mr Means said.

The treaties signed with the U.S. were merely "worthless words on worthless paper," the Lakota freedom activists said.

Withdrawing from the treaties was entirely legal, Means said.

"This is according to the laws of the United States, specifically article six of the constitution,'' which states that treaties are the supreme law of the land, he said.

"It is also within the laws on treaties passed at the Vienna Convention and put into effect by the US and the rest of the international community in 1980. We are legally within our rights to be free and independent,'' said Means.

The Lakota relaunched their journey to freedom in 1974, when they drafted a declaration of continuing independence — an overt play on the title of the United States' Declaration of Independence from England.

Thirty-three years have elapsed since then because "it takes critical mass to combat colonialism and we wanted to make sure that all our ducks were in a row,'' Means said.

One duck moved into place in September, when the United Nations adopted a non-binding declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples — despite opposition from the United States, which said it clashed with its own laws.

"We have 33 treaties with the United States that they have not lived by. They continue to take our land, our water, our children,'' Phyllis Young, who helped organize the first international conference on indigenous rights in Geneva in 1977, told the news conference.

The U.S. "annexation'' of native American land has resulted in once proud tribes such as the Lakota becoming mere "facsimiles of white people,'' said Means.

Oppression at the hands of the U.S. government has taken its toll on the Lakota, whose men have one of the shortest life expectancies - less than 44 years - in the world.

Lakota teen suicides are 150 per cent above the norm for the U.S.; infant mortality is five times higher than the U.S. average; and unemployment is rife, according to the Lakota freedom movement's website.

Fantastic news!

[Variable]

This should be interesting

[Wolfn]

Originally Posted by Variable

This should be interesting

Heck yes! A country was created today within America. However, I'm very suprised at the lack of media coverage.

[Variable]

It may have been. I think we need to see some more details and wait to see how this pans out. But it definitely be interesting if the US just became a perforated state.

[MossadConspiracy]

The group also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South African and Venezuelan embassies, and would continue on their diplomatic mission and take it overseas in the coming weeks and months.

They forgot to invite ambassadors from Kush, The Mughal Empire, Franconia, Manchuria, Thrace, Parthia, The Aztecs, Cimmeria, or most importantly the Ottoman Khilafa

ws

[MossadConspiracy]

Originally Posted by Variable

It may have been. I think we need to see some more details and wait to see how this pans out. But it definitely be interesting if the US just became a perforated state.

the question is whether the ones who declared independence are people who have the authority to make such a declaration under the existing treaties or whether they are just some activists (ie: random people)

[hijabihoodlum]

Originally Posted by Wolfn

Heck yes! A country was created today within America. However, I'm very suprised at the lack of media coverage.

surprised? i'm not. very interesting though, and i hope it proves to be for the better.

[riad19]

its kinda like when Peter created petoria in family guy

[Revert]

Erm this sin't really news..theres its no different from the Conch republic...

[shadha]

wolfn: and living there would be tax-free

Tempting!

wolfn: - provided residents renounce their U.S. citizenship

Damn! I'm no longer tempted.


shadha-

[GOTFIVEONIT]

i love the native american tribes, they hate the u.s. government with a deep passion and are great to do business with over thier tax-free sqaures LOL, i never got a tax bill unlike those moron's who bought thier sqaures outta kentucky.

i think the first country this nation should contact is peru, whose president is himself a native american.

[Synner]

This entire charade is so silly. At best, it’s a cheap ploy for sentiment and pity, at worst, it’s delusional wishful thinking.

The new country would issue its own passports and driving licences, and living there would be tax-free - provided residents renounce their U.S. citizenship, Mr Means said.

The above sounds a lot like the hippie clap-trap of the 1960’s. So yeah, no taxes. So you have effectively ruled out any workable mechanism to pay for schools, roadway infrastructure, social services, etc., etc.

This Russell Means character should ride his horse off into the sunset and keep on going until he drowns in the ocean.

[Wolfn]

Originally Posted by Synner

This entire charade is so silly. At best, it’s a cheap ploy for sentiment and pity, at worst, it’s delusional wishful thinking.



The above sounds a lot like the hippie clap-trap of the 1960’s. So yeah, no taxes. So you have effectively ruled out any workable mechanism to pay for schools, roadway infrastructure, social services, etc., etc.

This Russell Means character should ride his horse off into the sunset and keep on going until he drowns in the ocean.

Interesting first post. However, I have a great deal of respect for Mr. Means. He's someone who actually cares about us and is actually trying to do something.

[Synner]

Originally Posted by Wolfn

Interesting first post. However, I have a great deal of respect for Mr. Means. He's someone who actually cares about us and is actually trying to do something.

I don’t believe I’m part of the “us” group he cares about. I just think he’s proposing a completely unworkable concept. For example, his proposal to establish a separate, sovereign nation within the borders of the U.S. is fantasy. His proposal also presupposes that the agreements signed by earlier Indian representatives are void. Void on what grounds – his say-so?

This is entirely a charade.

[IbnMardhiyah]

Originally Posted by Synner

His proposal also presupposes that the agreements signed by earlier Indian representatives are void. Void on what grounds – his say-so?

Well, he's basically following the example of the USA