“We are no longer citizens of the United States of America, and all those who live in the zone of five states that our country covers can join us,” said on New Year's Eve at a specially convened press conference the famous actor and fighter for the rights of the indigenous population of North America, Russell Means. Even earlier, he and his associates in the struggle for independence from the USA informed the State Department of their decision and appealed to the embassies of four states with a call to recognize the sovereignty of the Lakota over the ancestral lands of their people. As Means assured, diplomatic activity will be expanded in the future, but it is obvious for now that the Indians decided to seek support from blood brothers and fellow sufferers. The appeals were sent to the embassies of Venezuela and Bolivia, where representatives of the indigenous population are currently in power, to the diplomatic mission of Chile, where Indians make up a significant part of the population, and to the ambassador of the South African Republic. Apparently, South Africa made the list of priority addressees because the Indians in the USA, like the black inhabitants of the African country, in the words of Russell Means, lived for many years “under apartheid conditions.”
Notably, the Bolivians responded almost immediately. The ambassador of that country, Gustavo Guzmán, personally appeared at a Catholic church outside Washington, which the Indians had chosen to announce their declaration, to express solidarity with the brotherly people. “We are here because the demands of the indigenous people of America are also our demands,” the ambassador said, assuring that the appeal of the Lakota tribe had already been forwarded to the Bolivian Foreign Ministry and would be considered shortly.
The US State Department did not react to Russell Means' declaration and, it seems, does not intend to take seriously the statements that the peace treaties with the government, signed by the Lakota chiefs in 1851 and 1868, have no legal force. In short, official representatives of the authorities behave exactly like their predecessors shown in the Oscar-winning film “Dances with Wolves,” in which Means played one of the main roles. Perhaps that is why during the press conference he involuntarily reproduced his text that sounded from the screen. The actor said that the treaties signed by the Indians with the whites were repeatedly violated, and the authorities seized “our lands, destroyed our culture and our way of life.”
At the same time, Means claims that the Indians' refusal to comply with a treaty violated by the other party is fully consistent with the US Constitution and international law. He recalled that back in 1974 the Lakota chiefs adopted a declaration of independence, and the idea of an independent Indian state lives on to this day, although Means considers the current tribal leaders to be collaborators for the most part. The Sioux leaders, in turn, claim that the actor has usurped the right to speak for the entire people. In principle, the tribal chiefs support the demand to Congress for a revision of the agreements concluded in the 19th century, but not at the cost of the threat of separatism.
“Our chiefs in 1974 authorized us to establish relations with the international community and restore independence,” insists Russell Means. International cooperation is handled by his like-minded person Phyllis Young, who as early as 1977 announced the Indians' plans at the International Conference on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Lakota also consider the adoption in September of this year by the UN of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a kind of diplomatic success. However, even the optimistic Young believes that the struggle for Indian independence is unlikely to succeed during her lifetime. She particularly emphasized, however, that this struggle is not waged against the United States, but in the interests of the children and grandchildren of the current inhabitants of the reservations.