Robert Free Galvin Indian Rights Activist and Member of the Tewa and the Naua Nations
We are Still Engaged in Survival After the Genocide of All Indians - Part One
16 March, 12:53 Download
audio file The
Doctrine of Discovery that allowed the stealing of Indian Lands and the
genocide of the Indian peoples has never been rescinded by the Catholic
Church. Today the Indians are still faced with ignorant racism and their
lands are still being raped and destroyed by multi-national corporations and
companies in their quest for oil and resources. The result has been poisoned
water supplies and birth deformities and miscarriages because of pollutants
and the poisoning of the Indian lands. I am speaking
with Robert Free, a long-time Indian rights activist and the member of Tewa
and Naua Nations.
Greeting
Robles: What
are some of the issues that you are fighting for now for the Indian people?
Free: It
is relevant to all indigenous people on the planet and to all people who
live on this planet, the issues we’re struggling for our survival, to
maintain our sacred mother Earth for the future generations to enjoy, to be
able to live from.
Now we are
engaged in survival from the genocide that has happened particularly in the
North and South Americas, we are still recovering from the Doctrine of
Discovery that was given the green light for all the nations of Europe to
come on to our continents and commit genocide and land theft if you were not
the Christian, if you were not white, the invading armies were allowed to
slaughter and take, for the crowns of Europe, the territories and any of the
resources of gold and silver from it, and to enslave all the people there,
to mine these resources for the Renaissance of Europe and the entrenchment
of the churches on the planet.
Robles: What
is your opinion on what they did?
Free: That
is sad side of human nature, and the moral mask that some people can
project, but actually do something else. Where you have the churches and you
have the imperial invasions going on in the names of the crowns of Europe,
coming to our parts of the world and after the rampage of disease, wiping
out millions, just literally slaughtering any resistance to their
incursions.
So, it is
no difference today. Today it has a different name and a different face but
basically you have the multi-nationals representing the crowns of Europe, in
a way, and you have these multi-nationals crossing all the territories now
and not being held accountable to the incursions they are doing in
indigenous territories for gold, silver, the same metals, and a few other
new ones, oil and coal, so that is what is going on today.
I will
give you a very specific example, you have Canada, who has sold itself to
the planet as being a very eco-friendly peace-loving country, actually
committing 80% of the mineral extraction on the planet.
To make it
more specific, we take British Columbia, where there are about 1,500 mining
companies registered. Those mining companies are in Central America, in
South America, the Philippines, other parts of the world, Haiti, and doing
devastating destruction to the land where it pollutes the waters where
people, live causing great health issues amongst the people; from
miscarriages to deformities to cancers. So, that is what is going on.
You want
me to tell you what is going on on the planet Earth, and in the name of
struggle, stop free pass that multi-nationals have, to go into indigenous
people’s territories or anyone on the planet, without any accountability to
the destruction to the environment and to the people that they affect.
Reminder
Robles: Is
there anything we can do to ensure that rights are being protected in some
way?
Free: We
were directed 40 years by elders in the Standing Rock Reservation to… After
Wounded Knee, after we did a stand-off of 72 days against 500 armed military
US marshals who shot 900,000 bullets at us, after that truce we saw that we
would get no justice in the United States.
So, we
were directed to go to the global communities of the world, so people went
to the United Nations, and after 35 years finally got the Declaration of
Indigenous People’s Rights passed by all the nations.
So, we’ve
gone to those areas of moral accountability to put pressure on these
countries to hold their multi-nationals accountable, so that is a lot that
is going on right now.
That route
is going on right now at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous People and the
preparations for the World Conference on Indigenous People in 2014 that is
going to be held over in New York.
Robles: Do
you think they will actually change anything, or produce any visible
results?
Free: I
don’t think so. The United Nations is not too good at having any
enforcibility. We’ve seen that since its inception, hasn’t really been able,
unless it is US driven or multi-national driven, that it gets a lot of
results. It’s just that they fund the United Nations.
I was up
in Canada in the 70s and the Dene and Chippewyan up that way increased, took
me hunting and trapping way up on some beautiful territory. It was so, you
had to fly in 500 miles and land there, there are no roads.
Now I just
happened to bury a friend of mine up that ways, and all those folks were at
this funeral, and they were telling me: they have to now bring their own
water out into the bush, they to call it, because it is so polluted they
can’t even make tea in the field, so they can only carry about 2-3 days
worth of water.
They can’t
drink that water that was from the lake of Athabasca or Peace River because
upstream is the tar sands of Alberta that is polluting all that beautiful
area. So, they can’t even eat the fish, they are having miscarriages and
nothing is being done for that.
Robles: Can
you tell us some of the other realities that American Indians are faced with
in this day and age? Can you tell us a little bit about your tribes, the
Tewa and Naua?
Free: The
issues faced right now by a lot of Indians is the pipelines that are going
to come out of the tar sands areas of Alberta, down all the way to the
Dakotas, all the way down to Louisiana, to pipe the oil over to Europe and
to China.
The other
angle is the pipeline from Alberta all across British Columbia down to north
of Vancouver and they are trying to make a pipeline over to the east coast
of Canada, trying to ship it in that direction.
Robles: What
would you say to counter racist stereotypes against Indians?
Free: They
are ignorant and they are all products of educational systems that
perpetuate this ignorance and until we write our own books and if they are
not included in all the educational system curriculum, that ignorance will
continue.
Robles: What
would you say is one of the biggest lies told by Europeans or their
ancestors against the Indian peoples?
Free: The
Doctrine of Discovery that gave them permission to come onto lands and take
them if they were not Christian, and that is still in effect and hasn’t been
rescinded by the Catholic Church.
A couple
of years after Columbus landed over here the Church saw the abundance of
gold and lands that came back, and so they did a Doctrine of Discovery where
they got 10% of all armies’ acquisitions and 10% of all the gold and silver.
Robles: Thank
you.
Free: Okay. Keep up the good work.
This is
John Robles, I was taking to Mr. Robert Free, a long-time Indian Rights
activist and the member of Tewa and Naua nations.
End of
part 1.
The World did not Blink an Eye Over the Recent Genocide of Mayan Indians - Part Two
According
to Indian teachings those governing and ruling our planet should plan seven
generations ahead and ensure that our Mother Earth is being taken care of
and respected. The world has also ignored the fact that in the 1980s
genocide was committed against approximately 250,000 Mayan Indians in
Guatemala and South and Central America with the support of the United
States. Long time Indian Rights activist Robert Free Galvan spoke with the
VOR’s John Robles about these matters and much more.
This is part 2 of an interview in progress. You can
find the first part here: PART
1
Hello! This is John Robles, I'm speaking with the Robert
Free (Galvan). He is a long time Indian
rights activist and a member of Tewa and Naua Nations.
Free: It’s
called the Doctrine of Discovery.
Robles: How could you possibly discover a land where there were
civilizations and people living for thousands of years in peace?
Free: It’s
“people” racism. If you are not white, then they are better than you. And
they used racism to validate and justify their actions. That’s how they can
“not see” the great civilizations and let their greed be their motivator.
Robles: And they characterized most native peoples as being some sort of
savages when they came in themselves and eradicated everyone they could
possibly eradicate.
Free: Well, at least we took bathes and washed daily. When they first got
here they were reeking of their stench.
Robles: Most of the Europeans that arrived in the Americas, they were
outcasts and criminals and killers from the worst segments of British and
European society.
Free: Well, they are still the same people attacking the territories of
North and South America and Central America. They just have different names
and have “suits” but they are just as ruthless.
They hired
thugs and armies to do their security, these multinationals. And they hunt
down activists and they shoot them, down there in Guatemala, Honduras, El
Salvador, Ecuador, Peru. That’s all happening today.
While the numbers might be smaller, the effects of
their industry is killing thousands with the cancers and the birth deffects.
They also used government armies, such as in Guatemala, to annihilate a quarter
of a million people, in the last ten years
during the 80s and the world did not blink of an eye.
Robles: A
quarter of a million people?
Free: Yes.
It was supported by School of the Americas, by the United States.
Robles: These were people where?
Free: In
Guatemala, the Mayan Indians.
Robles: During which time period?
Free: During the 80s. It is pretty well documented. And the armies which
were supported by the United States, got their training at the School of the
Americas in Georgia.
Robles: What do know about the School of the Americas?
Free: It’s a training place. The United States
Government provides money and military assistance to the military regimes,
especially in South America, and provides them training. In their training
in the School
of the Americas, they teach them how to
torture people and extract information from them, and how to hunt down
activists.
I remember
I went to a world youth and students gathering in East Berlin after the
Wounded Knee shoot out in 1973. And I remember having these discussions,
there were about 150,000 very different people from around the world, and I
was get into these deep arguments with Communists, Leninists, Maoists,
Trotskyists, all these people because at one time I made the statement, I
said; “I don’t see anything different between the capitalists and the
communists and the socialists, when it comes to how they treat this Mother
Earth.
They all
extract minerals wantonly and destructively. And then I got all these people
charging at me. And I said: “If you get the five minutes I will explain
myself why I said what I said.”
And I went
on to explain to them why I said what I said, and they were all quiet.
Robles: Why do you feel that way?
Free: I
only know what I’ve been taught by elders.
At one time I used to travel around the country with Thomas
Banyacya who was a Hopi Indian and Nazer
Anderson who was a Tuscarora for
the Six Nations Confederacy.
And I went to the Six
Nations Confederacy where they have a
meeting of 52 chiefs of the Six Nations, and they speak the great law of
peace that is the law of the Six Nations. And they spoke in their six
different languages, and they added English, somebody would write and
translate.
And in there, in this Longhouse,
as they spoke these great laws, like who is supposed to elect the chiefs:
the women are, because they raise the kid and they know the character of
somebody for instance. And as they were translating the Clan
Mother Audrey Shenandoah looked down and
mentioned to us: “Oh, that’s where Benjamin Franklin sat, that’s where
George Washington sat, that’s where Thomas Jefferson sat. And there was one
more person but I won’t mention it right now.
But I’ve
mentioned to the people in Berlin. I said: “If you are Communist, where do
you get your doctrines from?”
And they
said, “Well, Lenin.”
I said:
“That’s good, what did Lenin base his theories on?”
“He read
Engels.”
“Where did
they get their doctrines from and formulate the theories?”
And the
more we did this, the less they knew.
Finally,
one of them said: “Lewis…”, Oh, I’ve forgot his name, “… who went around the
country studying tribes and their forms of government.”
And when
they did that it was so funny! That years later they made a mistake. One
turned out to be the great capitalist countries, the others turned out to be
the great communist countries, based on their observations and learnings,
looking at the Indigenous Governments of the Six Nations.
Robles: The Indian nations had the world’s actual first real democracies, I
mean, the Europeans did not have anything, they had monarchies, they had
brutal dictatorships, they had no democracy.
Free: Yes.
And that’s what they were saying, that these folks came over and observed
the teachings. And eventually, they both left out something.
The
capitalists did a separation of church and state, and the communists denied
any of that. So, they both left out the spirituality that should dictate and
be in harmony with the decisions that they will do on our planet.
They are
supposed to make decisions and treat our planet Earth with the impact it
will have on seven generations ahead of us. And when they do that, then they
are in more harmonious-caretaking of our planet Earth.
So, that’s
something I share.
Robles: That was very interesting, thank you. Maybe for them deleting that
part of the equation was the only way they could continue to exist or
justify their own existence.
Free: “Lewis Morgan!” That’s his name, Morgan.
Lewis Morgan was studied by Engels and Marxists and then by Lenin. But they
all extracted and left out the spiritual part.
And then
Thomas Jefferson and Washington, and Ben Franklin, all those studied and
listened to the Six Nations, give power to different nations, a number of
their representatives, and modeled the United States Constitution after
that.
But they
separated the church and state, and by doing that, they all left out
spirituality, in relation to our mother Earth and taking care of it.
So, you
have both of them, both the Communists and Capitalists assaulting our planet
Earth, going after minerals and resources, and doing devastation with no
accountability.
This is
John Robles, I was talking to Mr. Robert Free. He is a long time Indian
activist and a member of Tewa and Naua Nations. Thanks for listening and as
always I wish you the best.
This is
the end of part 2 please come back soon for part three of this interview.
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