Solidarity
This page is under construction.
Very soon, this page will give y’all contact information about different people and causes we think would benefit from your attention. Here will be contact information about political prisoners, people facing persecution for political reasons, and other situations that could be helped by your contacting them.
Keep checking back!
JAMES MAIN, JR.
James Main, Jr. is a long time Native American activist from a long time Native American activist family. He is currently in the county jail in Havre, Montana, where he has been waiting trial since November of 2006 for the murder of a Caucasian male on $250,000 bond. Many facts have come to light about this case, including the confession for the murder by another man unrelated to Jim, and DNA evidence linking that man and another to the crime. The evidence against Jim is almost nonexistent; yet he has remained in jail for more than two years. Police brutality and anti-Indian racism is a well-known fact of life for Native Americans at the reservation where Jim, Jr. had been living. His family was involved for many years in the fight for water rights on the land, after a mining company devastated the community and poisoned much of the drinkable water. Jim, Jr. and his family have also been involved with the American Indian Movement, and have suffered persecution based on their activism.
Unlike many others here on this page, Jim, Jr. is not currently in prison, but may be soon, if people do not act to stop this injustice. Write the governor, the attorney general, and the judge considering his case if you can. Also, write to Jim himself, and let him know that people care about him, his family, and justice for Native Americans. Click here to connect to this fight
INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS UNDER ATTACK IN THE NORTHERN TERRITORY!
Under the so-called Northern Territory National Emergency Response, enacted by the territorial government of the Commonwealth of Australia in 2007, Indigenous communities have been increasingly policed, restricted in what they can read on their computers and what legal substances, such as alcohol and kava, they can purchase. The land rights in these communities previously protected by law have been lost, as have recently won considerations of indigenous culture and traditional law in regards to criminal proceedings against Indigenous folk. Also, the Community Development Employment Projects have been abolished, spreading unemployment, and the welfare benefits of many in the community have been “quarantined.” What is the reason for all this racist terror? “To protect the children!” There have been accusations against parents in these communities of child abuse. And somehow, such measures as the abridging of land rights and eliminating employment opportunities will help end this child abuse.
Two things to keep in mind when weighing the case of the white-majority government of the Northern Territory. Firstly, whilst many thousands of police have been deployed to these communities, less than 20 persons are working for child welfare concerns–and only one in the whole territory hired full-time in this capacity! And lastly, do we really need to mention the century of stealing children away from their parents–supposedly to “protect” them–that the government of Australia just the same year as this legislation was enacted finally officially apologized for?
If you wish to find out more about resistance to this latest chapter in the long history of genocide against the Indigenous people of the world, check out the Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia) news and announcement blog at http://wgar.wordpress.com/ to see the many people who are mobilizing against this injustice.