Eighty-Six Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Thursday, February 26, 1976 News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
U.S. meddling in Nat. Am. politics
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THE RESIDENTS OF Pine
Ridge reservation in South
Dakota have successfully voted
Tribal Chairman Dick Wilson
out of office. Strongman at the
13,000 member reservation since
1972, Wilson has become a sym-
'bol of tribal government cor-
ruption and federal favoritism
because of his ripoffs of federal
funds and his terrorist tactics.
This article was prepared by
members of the Native Ameri-
can Solidarity Committee.
Wilson lost his January 27
bid for a thirdhterm as tribal
chairman to Al Trimble only be-
cause the Federal Mediation
and Conciliation Service moni-
tored the election, apparently
in a fair way.
Wilson is not surprisingly a
poor loser. Retaliation came
even before the January runoff.
Wallace Little Junior,anAIM
supporter, lost an eye and a
hand in an explosion January
24. Someone threw a Molotov
cocktail into his brother Rich-
ard's home on January 31. Their
brother Jimmy, who had called
for Wilson's impeachment, was
beaten to death last September.
Four days after the election,
another Indian rights activist,
Byron DeSersa, was killed in
what a member of the Wound-
ed Knee Legal Defense / Of-
fense Committee (WKLD/OC)
called a "clear act of retribu-
tion" for Wilson's defeat. Wil-
son's followers, or "goon
squad" shot into the home of
the elderly Dull Knife couple
and then arrested them for
"malicious mischief."
WE MUST RELY on contact
with the Native American Soli-
darity Committee and WKLD/
OC and occasional articles by
the "alternative press" for re-
ports of these atrocities. Gov-
ernment perpetrated acts of ag-
gression on Lndian people are
not covered by establishment
media.
Russell Means, sentenced De-
cember 31 to four years on a
1974 charge, faces several more
trials (with a combined maxi-
mum sentence of 111 years).
Leonard Crow Dog, the highly
respected spiritual leader of
AIM, is in jail on charges of
"aiding and abetting ani as-
sault." It seems to be a calcu-
lated insult to Indian culture
and an attempt to demoralize
AIM.
Within the past six months
AIM supporters have been ar-
rested in Kansas, Minnesota,
Oregon, Nevada and other
states. Dennis Banks 'was ar-
rested January 24 in El Cerri-
to, California, after being un-
derground since August. He had
fled South Dakota rather than
go to jail, where he believed he
would be killed. He is now fight-
ing extradition to South Dakota.
The government is continuing
its assault on the Wounded
Knee Legal Defense / Offense
Committee. In January of this
year, three lawyers received
subpoenas to testify before a
grand jury. The tactic is an at-
tempt to "drive a wedge" be-
tween movement groups and
their attorneys.
"LAWYERS and legal work-
ers are now on notice that when
they seek to represent Indians
in American courts, they will be
subject to being hauled before
grand juries, with all the pow-
er and threat to them that those
institutions represent," accord-
ing to a statement in support of
Marti Copleman, the first law-
yer subpoen
ter for Con
NYC.
sorting to illegal tactics. Last
October FBI men broke into all
three WKLD/OC offices in
South Dakota, ransacked files,
and attacked some of the staff
or held them at gunpoint.
'The w
trve peon
f Ou g h I
f i o mn
where wo
ing Cut
rolls with
ings, to
state whe
mish trib
by fisher
The FBI h
al workersc
Reservation
Charlie Lon
worker in th
in Oglala,
month on chl
a federal of
weapons. Th
in cooperati
undercut th
defense com
Having sp
tax dollarsc
Wounded Kn
ernment fac
track record
victions. The
aed, from the Cen- WHY IS THE U. S. govern-
nstitutional Rights, ment so anxious to squash
the American Indian Move-
ment?
Forthe answer we must look
;to their. land. Underground coal
rr against Na- fields are located in Indian land
in North and South Dakota,
ple is being Montana and Wyoming. Energy
everywhtere, companies plan to strip-mine
the coal and build at least 42
Ann Arbor, coal-fired electrical generating
plants. The first goal gassifica-
omen are be- tion plant is to be built by Con
f rot welfare solidation Coal (owned by Con-
e tinental Oil)at Rapid City.
,out fail- hear- .No one has examined the en-
vironmental impact on Indians.
Washington D u r i n g the occupation at
Wounded Knee a University of
wr the SoO- Arizona professor told a mining
7e is attacked symposium that "the smoke
doesn't bother anything but the
ies officers.' Indians and a few sheep."
Continental Oil is only one of
............ ..............:: ............ m any m ultinational corpora-
tions attempting to rake in
iarrassment of leg- their next profit by victimizing
on the Pine Ridge the Indians. Peabody Coal, a
is just as blatant. subsidiary of Kennocott Copper,
g Soldier, a legal has leased 157,555 acres on the
e WKLD/OC office Northern Cheyenne Reserva-
was arrested this tion alone. The corporation is
arges of assaulting illegally surveying the land.
ficer and carrying THE INTERESTS of these
e FBI was working monopoly capitals speak loudly
on with Wilson to in Washington. The Department
e effectiveness of of the Interior, which includes
zmittee. the Bureau of Indian Affairs,
ent millions of our (BIA) represents these inter-
on trials related to ests. We can then understand
iee, the U. S. gov- why the American Indian
es an embarrassing Movement is demanding that
on obtaining con- the BIA be removed from the
y are therefore re- Department of the Interior and
Banks
restructured as an independent
agency controlled Eby and ac-
countable to Indian people.
The war against Native peo-
ple is being fought everywhere,
from Ann Arbor, where women
are being cut from welfare rolls
without fair hearings, to Wash-
ington state where the Skoko-
mish tribe is attacked by fish-
eries officers for fishing in
treaty protected waters.
Despite .overwhelming oppres-
sion, Indian people have made
clear their intention to fight
until they win liberation. Their
struggle is the cry of all of us
who ononse the destruction of
land, government harrassment,
racism and genocide. A Native
Americnn Solidarity Committee
is forming in Ann Arbor. The-
first meeti-g is Thursday, Feb.
26 at 8:00 in 1020 Angell Hall.
1 tde'n- on the occupation of
Wounded Knee will be shown.
i
'' .Q7,,
Ford cover-up suspected
JN ORDERING THE FBI and Na-
tional Security Agency (NSA)
not to comply with a House subcom-
mittee subpoena concerning the
Government's interception of mes-
sages carried by telegraph compa-
nies, President Ford has raised the
old Nixonian spectre of executive pri-
vilege.
Ford's argument consists of the old
"national security" line. In Ford's
view, the information requested by
the Government Information and In-
dividual Rights subcommittee cov-
ered such an "extremely broad"
spectrum of documents as to include
the "most sensitive national secur-
ity information". Consequently, Ford
reasons, "the public interest" de-
mands that the desired records not
be turned over to the committee.
In the bleak years of the Nixon
Presidency, the words "executive pri-
vilege" in conjunction with the
catch-all phrase "national security"
came to denote official chicanery and
TODAY'S STAFF:.
News: Phil Bokovoy, Lois Josimovich,
George Lobsenz, Jeff Ristine, Tim
Schick, Karen Schulkins, Bill
Turque, Mike Yellin
Editorial Page: Marc Basson, Stephen
Hersh, John Pansius, Tom Stevens
Arts Page: Kevin Counihan, Jeffrey
Selbst, Jeff Sorensen
Photo Technician: Pauline Lubens
presidential cover - up. With Ford's
memo, memories of past adminis-
trations' sham explanations rise to
the surface.
Is Ford trying to cover up gov-
ernment violations of the Constitu-
tion and the Federation Communica-
tions Act? According to subcommit-
tee chairperson Bella Abzug (D-Man-
hattan), this is possible. She notes
that the Administration has said it
has stopped picking up messages sent
by cable, but the question of govern-
mental monitoring of Telexes is still
very much in the dark.
TELEX OFFERS DIRECT, instan-
taneous communication from
one terminal to another across the
world, and it is a system which may
be leased by private companies or
organizations. In Abzug's eyes, Ford
may have acted to cover up an on-
going interception program in sus-
pect exercise of executive privilege.
The President is developing an un-
healthy affinity for secrecy. Some
more openness in government, far
from threatening our country's se-
curity, would insure a gteater de-
gree of conformity to the law.
Editorial positions represent
consensus of the Daily staff.
146
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ZAIRE:
Crisis endangers
U.S. African policy
I,
84N \/OVAGES /
By REED KRAMER
WASHINGTON, D.C. (PNS) - Last
fall, as New York City teetered on the
brink of default, Zaire (formerly the
Belgian Congo) quietly skipped another:
loan payment to American creditors.
And the Ford Administration, adamant-
ly opposing plans to bail out New York,
asked Congress to approve millions in
emergency first aid for Zaire.
The southern Africa giant - Ameri-
ca's leading ally in black Africa-faces
an economic and political crisis which
could draw the U.S. into a new Angola-
type involvement.
Zaire's treasury is close to bankrupt-
cy, political dissent against the dictator-
ship of Mobutu Sese Seko is on the rise,
and leftist Antoine Gizenga - former-
ly a key deputy in the Lumumba gov-
ernment which was overthrown (with
CIA aid, according to recent disclo-
sures) in 1961 - last month launched
a military campaign from eastern Zaire
against Mobutu's government.
WITH THE WAR in neighboring An-
gola all but over, Mobutu is also wor-
ried about 3,000 troops from Katanga
province in Zaire who have been fight-
ing for the Popular Movement for the
Liberation of Angola (MPLA). These
troops fled Zaire when Mobutu, using
largely white mercenaries, crushed the
Katangese secessionist movement in the
mid-sixties. Mobutu now fears they will
return to fight his army once again.
Diplomatically, Zaire's isolation in
black Africa has increased as the west-
ern-backed forces it supported in Angola
have been run off the battlefield and
the leftist MPLA has been recognized
as Angola's legitimate government by
- in part because of its strategic loca-
tion (it straddles southern Africa and
borders seven nations) and in part be-
cause of its abundant natural resources.
ZAIRE TODAY HOSTS the largest
CIA station in Africa. Before the An-
golan civil war, Zaire was a prime
target of South Africa's U.S.-encouraged
detente policy towards black Africa.
Though its vast rain forests have bare-
ly been explored, Zaire's known mineral
wealth is prodigious - including gold,
industrial diamonds, cobalt, copper and
oil.
U.S. firms have one of their largest
African stakes in Zaire, with $250 mil-
lion in direct investments and $800 mil-
lion in loans. And the U.S. depends on
Zaire and neighboring Zambia for rough-
ly half its cobalt.
But copper has long been the key to
Zaire's future - and to its recent eco-
nomic collapse. Providing 70 per cent
of its foreign earnings and 50 per cent
of its national budget, copper has plung-
ed from $1.50 a pound on the world mar-
ket in early 1974 to 55 cents today.
ITH INCOME LAGGING and debts
skyrocketing, Zaire soon began to
default on loans. By October 1975, it had
missed more than $8 million in pay-
ments to U.S. banks.
In response, the U.S. government -
already committed to covert aid for one
of the Angolan factions, for which it
needed Zaire as a staging ground -
quietly began to lobby on Zaire's be-
half with its New York bank creditors.
More important, the State Department
began working on an $80 million aid
package - a 16-fold increase over 1974
and 1975.
WHEN THE STATE DEPARTMENT
attempted to transfer the first $10 mil-
lion of a requested $22.8 million in Se-
curity Supporting Assistance to Zaire
last month, however, a loud outcry from
key committee chairmen blocked the
move. The Senate Foreign Relations
Committee subsequently recommended a
$15 million ceiling this year.
To help the administration lobby
against such restraints, Mobutu recent-
ly sent his top aide, Nguza Karl-i-Bond,
to Washington.
Even a 16-fold increase in aid may
not be enough if current signs of politi-
cal dissent continue, however. The sig-
nificance of socialist Antoine Gizenga's
campaign is not yet clear, but the for-
mer Lumumba deputy will have no trou-
ble operating out of Kivu province -
which Mobutu has been unable to con-
trol for years. (It was an anti-Mobutu
force in Kivu which kidnapped one Dutch
and three U.S. students last June.)
MOBUTU HAS TROUBLE elsewhere.
On a recent trip to northern Zaire, he
was met by groups of irate women pro-
testing high prices. Normally presidential
visits are greeted by specially mobilized,
cheering crowds - and overt dissent is
risky.
A plot to overthrow Mobutu by young
officers last summer points to further
weakness in Zaire's army, though its ex-
tent is impossible to gauge.
In a move which confused observers.
Mobutu reacted to the plot by blaming
the CIA and expelling the American am-
bassador, Deane Hinton. Six months earl-
ier, he had similarly confounded expec-
tations by being the first black African
leader to publicly criticize the appoint-
ment of Nathaniel Davis as U.S. Assist-
Alobiti
jected to U.S. involvement in Angola.)
MANY U.S. OFFICIALS believe the
two slaps were intended by Mobutu
- who felt ignored and abandoned in
his economic crisis - to put pressure
on Washington.
Other observers feel Mobutu was try-
ing to shake his reputation in black
Africa as "an American stooge." Mo-
butu came to power with direct Ameri-
can aid - including a CIA-financed army
of white South African mercenaries-and
much of black Africa feels he has been
beholden to American interests ever
since.
Now, with his economy verging on
bankruptcy, the MPLA in almost com-
plete control of Angola, a civil war
springing up in Zaire's own back yard
-... fpr o.f ffir.th~v ,'cheilionif the
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