Lakota Indians secede from U.S.

Russel Means

Leaders from the Lakota Indians said Wednesday that they have withdrawn from treaties with the United States.

"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us," said Russel Means, an Indian rights activist.

Lakota leaders announced their unilateral withdrawal from all treaties with the U.S. federal government to the State Department on Monday.

The leaders also visited the embassies of Bolivia, Chile, South Africa and Venezuela in a diplomatic effort they say will continue and go overseas in the coming weeks and months.

Lakota country includes parts of the states of Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska.

As long as residents of the new country renounce their U.S. citizenship they may live there tax free. It would also issue its own passports and drivers licenses.

According to an AFP report the Lakota freedom activists say on their website the treaties they signed are "worthless words on worthless paper." (The report does not give the web address, but it could be LakotaFreedom.com which, at approximately 2 pm central, had exceeded its bandwidth and is inaccessible.)

Means claims withdrawing from the treaties is completely legal.

Michael of the blog UnCivil Defense weighs in with several questions:

The implications are monumental. Think of the corporatist drones who are scurrying about even now, worried that the lucrative contracts given to them by the feral government will now have to be renegotiated with the rightful owners. Oil and mining interests will be the least of it. Water rights will need to be addressed , as will land leases given out by the feds.

The political complexities are labyrinthine, to say the least. Best of all is the implication that many will be welcomed by the new Lakota Nation, as long as they renounce their U.S. citizenship. Organizations such as Free State Wyoming and New Hampshire should begin contacting the new nation now. Individuals might well wish to contact Lakota Nation Embassies and Consulates when they are finally set up.

It would certainly behoove members of the "freedom movement" to query the Lakota Nation as to what form of nation they will be setting up. Will it be significantly freer than the U.S.? Will non-Indians be welcomed as equals or will they be accorded 2nd class citizenship? I really cannot wait to see how this plays out. Will the feds react with violence, as has often been the case? Or will sanity and sovereignty prevail? Will we see the beginnings of a second Secessionist War? Or the birth of a new country within a country? Will the new country embrace libertarian principles or something more statist? And who will side with the Lakota, should the worst come to pass? There are so many questions to be answered here.

I am curious myself how the government will handle the matter, as there is no response to the Lakota's announcement in the news reports yet.

Update: Citing several sources, Daily Kos claims this entire story is mainly a load of bull.  "In other words, a group of prominent activists from a controversial group (AIM) are shopping around for recognition of an independent country they want to declare." 

-Dippold

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