Indigenous Peoples' Rights: "Last of the Mohicans" Coming to SANA Convention
"Red-Indianization" has not ended with the
colonization of the Americas, Australia and News
Zealand. Millions of indigenous people around the
world continue to be threatened with losing their
land, basic human rights, identity, language,
culture and heritage. Globalization, large-scale
population movements, discrimination, loss of
political power and living under the hegemony of
powerful and unscrupulous majorities have
dispossessed, marginalized, intimidated and weakened many people.
This sounds very familiar if one looks at the
miserable condition of Sindhis who have suffered
immensely as a result of the partition of the
Indian sub-continent and the unprecedented
migration that has continued unabated since. They
have lost control over their resources, their
land and the decision-making in their own
province. Their language and culture have been
under constant attack and conspiracies have been
afoot since long to bring demographic changes
turning them into a minority in their own land.
Siraikis and Baloch also face similar threats in Pakistan.
I think it is important that the issue is
internationalized and effectively taken up at
different forums. It is necessary to establish
contacts between indigenous people around the world.
Keeping that in view, we have invited the
greatest living American Indian leader, Russell
Means to be the keynote speaker at the
forthcoming SANA Convention to be held in
Orlando, FL June 29 – July 2. I am glad to inform
you that he has graciously accepted the
invitation and would be delivering the keynote
address during our annual banquet. He will speak
on the 'empowerment of indigenous people,
activism of indigenous people and inherent rights
of the indigenous people on world stage'.
I had been in contact with him since last couple
of years and had invited him for our Sindh
Convention but he could not get Pakistani visa in
time and couldn't attend our convention held in Karachi in December 2005.
Russell Means is said to be the most famous
American Indian leader since Crazy Horse and
Sitting Bull. He was among the Indian activists
including his father "Hank Means," who occupied
San Francisco's Alcatraz Island in 1964 lasting 19 months.
He became first national director of the American
Indian Movement in 1970 and has been active in
the American Indian movement/activities since.
"Later that year, Means was one of the leaders of
AIM's takeover of Mount Rushmore. In 1972, he
participated in AIM's takeover of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs office in Washington, DC, and in
1973 he led AIM's occupation of Wounded Knee,
which became the group's most celebrated action" (Wikipidia).
In occupying the Wounded Knee site of a 1890s
massacre of Indians by US cavalry, AIM was
attempting to regain lands granted to the Lakota
in the 1868 Laramie treaty. Both events brought
worldwide attention to the injustices and
privation faced by American Indians past and present.
Russell Means is also a famous Hollywood actor.
He started his acting career in 1992 playing the
title role in the film: "The Last of the
Mohicans" (1992). He has starred in several
movies after that. He is an author, an artist and a music writer too.
Means and his wife Pearl are currently building
"Treaty Total Immersion School" on the Pine Ridge
Indian Reservation. Through "total immersion" in
the Lakota way of life, children will be
instilled with the pride and confidence to face any challenge.
You can read about him at:
http://www.russellmeans.com/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0575184/
http://cdbaby.com/cd/russellmeans
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Means
Friends, it is our sincere effort to make the
SANA conventions most meaningful for our
community in North America and our people in
Sindh and elsewhere. I hope this will be a
significant effort in that direction. I would
request all of you to please attend the SANA
Convention and hear this great leader of the indigenous people.
Best regards,
Aziz Narejo
TX
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