L-I: RE: RE: FW: Hitler, Vegetarian, "animal lover", and "right to lifer"

["Craven, Jim" <jcraven@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks Mark, and I hope that you and Natalya are keeping well and strong.

When the Air Force facility left the Makah reserve, the Makah lost almost
half their Tribal revenues. The Makah resisted putting in a casino because
of all the culture-destroying stuff that comes with the casinos plus the
fact that of each gros profit dollar from the casinos, about 51 cents goes
to the "investors" like Harrahs and others from Las Vegas; of the remaining
49 cents, about 31 to 32 cents goes out for "consultants" (all white),
licenses, taxes etc; of the remaining 17 to 18 cents, five or six cents goes
out for BIA fees for holding accounts, transactions costs etc; of the
remaining 11 to 13 cents about 5 or 6 cents is typically taken out via BIA
and/or Tribal corruption to those at the top; this leaves typically 5 to 7
cents on the gross-profit casino dollar going to Tribal accounts and/or
programs designated for the average reservation or off-reservation Indian
(and many of those programs are staffed through nepotism and cronyism in
many Nations and Tribes).

There is rampant alcoholism and drug addiction on many reservations/reserves
and among the young, the only hope for the survival of the nation, the rehab
programs
that are culture-tradition based are the most successful. The Makah, who
voluntarily suspended whaling for over 70 years, are traditionally in diet,
songs, dress, diet, social stratification and even genetics, based on
whaling (traditionally whale blubber serve to form fat that insulated from
the cold).

Further, the U.S. has no right under the 1855 Treaty to negotiate with the
IWC in behalf of the Makah, the Makah very easily fall under the Indigenous
traditions and diets exemption of the IWC Treaty, and paradoxically, the
Makah, in defending their treaty rights in order to defend what is left of
the Makah Nation and the inviolability of treaties (talking about Indian
sacreds is useless but sometimes the contradicitions between bourgeois
machinations and bourgeois sacreds can be used and leveraged for progressive
actions), they are not only defending the 1855 treaty, they are defending
the 1948 UN Convention (Treaty) on Genocide and even the International
Whaling Convention itself to the extent that they defend the literals,
specifics and rights of all remaining treaties against even further
encroachment and violations (of the 800 treaties between the US government
and Indians, all 800 were faithfully kept by Indians while only 370 treaties
were ratified by the U.S. Senate with all 800 treaties being rountinely
violated by the U.S. government).

The struggle for Indigenous rights and survival is not some kind of struggle
to return to "primitive communalism" and it is not as struggle to join-in
U.S. capitalism and imperialism. Indeed, in the conditions and plights of
Indians and Indian nations, one can see the naked and concentrated
expressions of racism, sexism, imperialism, monopoly capitalism ad
capitalist-based destruction of peoples and other life forms along with
their environments. This struggle is a perfect and conentrated arena in
which many of the fundamental contradictions of capitalism and imperialism
are naked and provide valuable lessons; it is an arena in which all the
various masks, sophistry and pretensions of imperialism are stripped away to
expose the naked genocide, fetishism, exploitation and barbarism of
imperialism and capitalism from which more than Indigenous Peoples suffer.

As a native Washingtonian I grew up with whales since my childhood. I too
would morn the wholesale slaughter of industrial-for-profit whaling. But you
know, I have never seen any of the whale watchers or protectors putting on a
wet suit to swim with the whales in Puget Sound or in the ocean; they would
look too much like a seal or a whalrus and might easily get eaten by their
whale "brothers and sisters"; or perhaps just get crushed. I never see any
of these PAWS or PETA types liberating lab rats or even minks (minks can be
quite vicious when held) I have never seen any of them protesting against
turning Indian reservations into toxic waste dump sites (last year the EPA
published a list of 73 toxic/radioactive waste dump sites and 72 were on
Indian reservations); I have never seen any of them protesting murders of
Indian Tribal activists or protesting massive levels of lead poisoning among
Indian children. No they seem to love all kinds of "animals" unless they are
in human forms (one person talked about animals not being "class
enemies"--what is that about?).

The petit-bourgeois environmentalism is perfect for the narcissists for whom
the cause is some kind of instrument for smug self-congratulation and
instrument for comfortable and non-threatening "struggle" for some
personally graatifying cause. I can make sure I recycle, fight for those
life-forms on my own personal endangered species list, practice
vegetarianism (from which I may well benefit for health reasons), ride my
bicycle so as not to pollute, munch my granola and we have personalized and
comfortable "liberation"--for myself and my chosen animal "brothers and
sisters".
Anyone not on my personal lists of favored creatures (like Indians or Indian
nations etc) well then, I, ME, summarily declare not that they aren't worth
preserving, only they are not worth my consciousness or concern. And of
course the problem is never capitalism, only the "insensitivity an lack of
advanced consciousness--mine--of those who eat animals and/or are not
mobilized to "protect" them.

How about liberating the rattlesnakes, cobras, kraits, black mambas etc?
Maybe they could commune and cuddle with them for awhile; or perhaps the
poor rats at the garbage dumps who are being systematically destroyed by
unsafe and dangerous land fills?

Jim Craven



-----Original Message-----


From: Mark Jones [mailto:mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, March 08, 2000 1:58 AM
To: leninist-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx;
hewholaughsalot@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: L-I: RE: FW: Hitler, Vegetarian, "animal lover", and "right to
lifer"


I'm sure you all hate gratuitous praise as much as I do but I can't resist a
simple thank you to Jim Craven for these tremendous posts, in particular the
one about the veggies. You put in words some of the irritation most of us
feel about this bunch of sanctimonious holier-than-thou gastro-intestinal
fetishists. Thanks.

Mark

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-leninist-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:owner-leninist-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of
> Craven, Jim
> Sent: 07 March 2000 03:24
> To: 'leninist-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx';
> 'hewholaughsalot@xxxxxxxxx'
> Subject: L-I: FW: Hitler, Vegetarian, "animal lover", and "right to
> lifer"
>
>
> [snip]



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