[PEN-L:319] Re: Re: Inuit and ecology

["Rosser Jr, John Barkley" <rosserjb@xxxxxxx>]

Jim,
     I am not going to post more on this thread, having
raised most of the questions I meant to.  I am sorry that
you have felt the need to get so heated about this.  Just
for the record, I have been actively involved in various
Indian rights movements in the past and am well aware of
the points you make.  I also presumed that most on this
list did not need a recitation of the set of sad facts that
you have reminded us of.
      It is precisely because I am extremely conscious of
all this that I find it hard to be placed in this
particular conflict.  Because I also feel that the problem
of endangered species is a serious one.  I have expressed
my wish that the tribes did not feel that they have to
carry out these hunts.  But, obviously my wishes are
pretty trivial in all this.  I don't see these hunts as
resolving unemployment, alcoholism, etc. I do understand
that they may enhance cultural pride and identity.  But I
don't think that this means that being concerned about this
"contradiction" is "shit."  Sorry about that, Jim.
Barkley Rosser
On Tue, 28 Jul 1998 12:58:45 PST8PDT James Michael Craven
<cravjm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Was even one Indian Nation a signatory to any international
> conventions on Whaling? Was even one Nation consulted or asked about
> Whaling and its significance to national/cultural survival or any
> alternatives that might also allow national/cultural survival? No,
> the "dependent and captive" Indian Nations were represented by
> Governments that have killed/are killing more Indians than Whales
> could ever be killed even with the most sophisticated technologies.
>
> I just can't believe this shit. I see, for example, groups calling
> for a "Free Tibet" which has the same exact formal status as the
> "dependent and captive Indian nations" of the U.S. and Canada--and
> parts of Central and Latin America and elsewhere--while saying not
> one word about the plight, conditions and gencoidal trends
> exterminating Indians daily. I see all of this concern about whales
> and preservation of the agreeable-easy-to-support--warm-and-fuzzy
> species, but not one word about the preservation from extinction of
> Indigenous Peoples.
>
> I can understand it from ultra-rich white fisherman, hunters,
> land-grabbers etc and those who pimp for them, but among so-called
> "left radicals".
>
> It makes me want to puke and brings back some ugly memories of the
> Stalinist concept of "social fascism"--socialist in words,
> objectively promoting forces of fascism and repression.
>
> Jim Craven
>
>
>
> On 28 Jul 98 at 14:12, Rosser Jr, John Barkley wrote:
>
> >      It is my understanding that so far those questioning
> > the Inuit whale hunt (agreed to by the Canadian government
> > as part of the Nunavut sovereignty negotiations) are not
> > raving racists like either the Metcalf/Gorton crowd or the
> > lunatic fascists in northern Wisconsin.  So far, it has
> > been legitimate, if "middle class" ecologists.  If I
> > remember correctly, Louis at least has been arguing that
> > the "middle class greens" are not to be avoided simply on
> > the grounds of their middle classness.  But then, maybe I
> > haven't been paying close enough attention.
> >      Aren't there other ways for these tribes to express
> > their cultures besides subverting global agreements to
> > protect endangered species?
> > Barkley Rosser
> > On Tue, 28 Jul 1998 13:09:33 -0400 Louis Proyect
> > <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> > > Jim Craven has been very close to a similar type conflict in Seattle with
> > > the whale-hunting Makah's lined up against an outfit called the Sea
> > > Shepherds, a middle class green group that views the Makah as a cat's paw
> > > of the Japanese whaling industry.
> > >
> > > Meanwhile, one of the main supporters of Sea Shepherd is Rep. Jack Metcalf.
> > > According to a post on sovern-l,  Rep. Jack Metcalf "is known throughout
> > > the state of Washington as the second most influential long time racist
> > > anti-tribal activist, next to the king of racism Sen. Slade Gorton. Jack
> > > Metcalf is one of the founders of S /SPAWN which later became the United
> > > Property Owners of Washington (UPOW). And Jack was on the UPOW Board until
> > > he left for congress. There is a great over lap of members and rhetoric
> > > between UPOW and the Washington Property Rights Network which is led by Jim
> > > Klauser who began, with other officials of the Builders Industry
> > > Association of Washington, the 'Wise Use' Movement in this state. They also
> > > receive support from the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise. Also
> > > connected in this is the Citizens Equal Rights Alliance, a co-founder of
> > > the 'Wise Use' Movement and is a national anti-treaty rights organization.
> > > UPOW has always used itself as a means for white property owners to fight
> > > tribal sovereignty and Native treaty rights. They have led the fight
> > > against tribal shell fishing rights, including a suit in which the
> > > Defenders of Property Rights (DoPR) is co-counsel. DoPR is an extremist
> > > right wing group whose board members include James Watt, Ed Meese, Robert
> > > Bork, Sen. Orrin Hatch and Sen Larry Craig, and is associated with the
> > > Heritage Foundation, the Alliance for America and other far right wing
> > > organizations."
> > >
> > > What's interesting about this lineup is that the middle-class greens have
> > > made common cause with the Heritage Foundation and the Wise Use Movement,
> > > two outfits which have staked out pro-capitalist, anti-green positions.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Louis Proyect
> > >
> > > (http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)
> > >
> >
> > --
> > Rosser Jr, John Barkley
> > rosserjb@xxxxxxx
> >
> >
>
>  James Craven
>  Dept. of Economics,Clark College
>  1800 E. McLoughlin Blvd. Vancouver, WA. 98663
>  jcraven@xxxxxxxxx; Tel: (360) 992-2283 Fax: 992-2863
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> "Hitler's concept of concentration camps as well as the practicality
> of genocide owed much, so he claimed, to his studies of English and
> United States history. He admired the camps for Boer prisoners in
> South Africa and for the Indians in the Wild West; and often praised
> to his inner circle the efficiency of America's extermination--by
> starvation and uneven combat--of the 'Red Savages' who could not be
> tamed by captivity." ("Adolf Hitler" by John Toland, p. 702)
>
> "Set the blood-quantum at one-quarter, hold to it as a rigid
> definition of Indians, let intermarriage proceed...and eventually
> Indians will be defined out of existence. When that happens,the
> federal government will finally be freed from its persistent
> Indian problem." (Patricia Nelson Limerick, "The Legacy of
> Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West" p338)
>
> *My Employer  has no association with My Private and Protected Opinion*
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>

--
Rosser Jr, John Barkley
rosserjb@xxxxxxx