Dear Friends and Supporters,

I am very proud to be sending this statement to you for this very important and extraordinary event. I have been very encouraged and inspired by the movement that is building to stop globalization and its control by the rich. It is exactly this out of control frenzy for cheap resources, land, labor, and power that is at the root of all of our problems; it affects each and every one of us. Finally, a movement that unites all of us is quickly growing and it is just what is needed to combat the numerous and diverse problems that exist in the world today as a result.

Because, while we slave away in prison factories for substandard wages here in the U.S., our Indigenous brothers and sisters afar slave away, for substandard wages for foreign companies, right on their own lands. And while the Dine' resisters at Big Mountain are forcibly relocated for coal, and our sacred Black Hills are mined for uranium, Indigenous Peoples all over the globe are having their very existence threatened for the same reason. Indigenous Peoples of the Americas have been experiencing globalization for over 500 years, and we can tell you from personal experience, that globalization is nothing short of genocide.

But we are creating our own kind of globalization now. It is the globalization of resistance. And we can unite ourselves across the globe in order to protect our unique ways of life, our lands, and our peoples from being forced into the global culture dictated by the rich and powerful and benefiting only their pockets. It is a culture that holds no value for life and its beauty. We can find our commonality while keeping our identities.

We must stop the WTO, the IMF, and the World Bank from dictating our futures, and we will.

Know that I am with you in this struggle. I have spent 24 years in prison for fighting for the survival of my people, our land, and our ways of life.

Corporate greed has always been at the root of our problems, for the Native way of life has always contradicted that of our oppressors, and is therefore seen as a threat. The struggle is never an easy one, but it is a righteous one and a worthwhile one. So I encourage you to persevere and continue to work in unity. You give me hope for the future generations.

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, Leonard Peltier

Call the White House "comments line" today to demand justice for Leonard Peltier! 202-456-1111