Countercurrent – January 23, 2025
‘From Ground Zero-Stories from Gaza’:
An Appreciation of the Palestinian People
by Richard Falk
[Prefatory Note: Reflections on the experience of seeing an unusual film in conception, initially published on January 20, 2025 in CounterPunch, and movingly transparent as a cinema experience.]
This extraordinary film, on the 2024 Oscar shortlist for documentaries, consists of 22 episodes stitched together by the noted Palestinian film director, Rashid Masharawi, but without any apparent effort to curate a narrative experience of the Gaza ordeal now in its 15th month. The power of the film taken as a whole derives from the cumulative impact of the utterly helpless and vulnerable Gaza civilian population seeking to survive despite overwhelming challenges to safety and pervasive loss of loved ones, home, neighborhood, schools, and sacred/historical sites in the overcrowded tiny Gaza Strip [25 miles long, 3.7-7.5 miles wide, population estimate of 2.3 million]. The various episodes both express the distinctiveness of Palestinian lived culture, its rich historical heritage, and the universality of a devastating saga of prolonged victimizatio
n.
I read through a series of admiring reviews that stressed these features of Palestinian resilience and creativity in the face of this cruel, undeserved collective fate. None of the episodes delves into the history of Palestinian suffering brought on by the Zionist Project for over a century. Nor is there any explicit linkage of the Gaza ordeal to the pathological geopolitics of the US-led supposed bastions of liberal democracy with its constitutional façade of fidelity to the rule of law and the international protection of human rights. From a cinematic perspective this purifies the message of bravery in the face of suffering, the existential variations of such an experience that has the potential to inspire remarkable acts of memorialization and transcendent behavior, as by making artworks from shards of glass or chunks of rubble.
These silences inevitably raise such questions as ‘Was this foreclosure of response a pragmatic adjustment to market realities, well-grounded fears of ideological suppression if the film had dared to examine even glancingly the underlying political impetus, the genocide of the perpetrators, the context of the October 7 attack, and the systemic disregard of law and morality by leading political actors? As it is, the film is being shown widely in American theaters, received accolades from reviewers, and much deserved attention from film festivals, even honored by nominations for coveted cinema awards. It seems fair to conjecture that this desirable outcome would not have happened had the Palestinians expressed anger directed at the sources of their misery. What we may never know was whether this set of foreclosure were set forth and monitored by the curator to make the film suitable for Western audiences in North America and Europe or whether this represented his aesthetic judgment to keep a steady universalizing focus on a dire humanitarian tragedy, somewhat mitigated by the courage and inner spirit of its victims. In sum, to consider effects of genocide rather than crime and its perpetrators.
At least in my review of mainstream film critics there was no commentary on this question of boundaries, whether consciously or not imposed on these 22 Gaza filmmakers. I left the theater struck by the failure of any of the characters to mention the words ‘genocide,’ ‘Israel,’ ‘Zionism,’ ‘United States,’ ‘United Nations,’ ‘international law,’ and ‘International Court of Justice.’ It should be mentioned that there was also no mention of ‘Hamas,’ ‘terrorism,’ and ‘hostages.’ This raises the question as to whether the absence of such references represented an effort by to adopt a posture of apolitical neutrality either for aesthetic or pragmatic reasons. We may never know, and would the motives of the curator be important beyond its human interest relevance? At the same time, I find it unacceptable to hide the evil of genocide behind a ‘two sides’ political smokescreen that equates the crimes of the oppressor with the criminal excesses of resistance on the part of the oppressed. The film completely avoids even a hint of some kind of implied parity of responsibility for the suffering inflicted on the people of Gaza.
From Ground Zero also steers clear of evoking our pity in frontal ways by showing hospital scenes of amputation or severe injury, which of course abound in Gaza alongside the daily death toll. From my own previous visits to Gaza where I was exposed to such visible torments, I know the power exerted by direct contact with such victims. I shall never forget the imprint left after many years of seeing a distraught father carrying his bleeding and badly wounded young son in his arms while shouting angrily in Arabic. I didn’t understand the words, but the sentiments he was expressing were transparent, and needed no translation. This conscious or unconscious decision to exclude such material from the film may have lessened its immediate impact, but it deepened the longer term understanding of the underlying humanitarian ordeal being endured by the Palestinian people.
The closest the film comes to making political allusions is put in the mouth of an engaging puppet who voices a damning indictment in one of the latter episodes, “everything is gone and the world just watches.’ There are also brief isolated references to the Nakba and the coerced expulsions from their homeland that at least 700,000 Palestinians experienced in 1948, and have ever since lived as refugees being unlawfully denied by Israel any right to return. These references express the deep roots of Palestinian suffering, but without pointing an accusing finger, and will likely be noticed at all except by those non-Palestinian viewers that have followed Palestinian misery through the decades. While for Palestinians those allusions to the past likely serve as grim reminders of familiar realities.
On balance I applaud the rendering of the Palestinian experience in this authenticating and original manner. It is itself a triumph of the Palestinian imagination over the daily torments that have become a reality of their lives 24/7.
It is not only the unbearable losses of family and home, but the menacing nightly sound of nearby explosions and the constant noise of drones overhead. The episodes are uniform in exposing the total vulnerability of the Palestinians and the disregard of the limits set by international law and morality made far worse by deliberately imposing a desperate struggle for subsistence arising from the obstructing the delivery of humanitarian aid causing death and disease throughout the wretched tent cities in which Gazans have been forced to live since the destruction of their homes. The daily life of searching for food and drinkable water are only available, if at all, at sub-subsistence levels.
Of course, I hope that From Ground Zero receives an Oscar at the Academy Awards night coming soon.
Richard Falk is an international law and international relations scholar who taught at Princeton University for forty years. Since 2002 he has lived in Santa Barbara, California, and taught at the local campus of the University of California in Global and International Studies and since 2005 chaired the Board of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.
Countercurrent – January 23, 2025
Gaza Ceasefire at Last:
How Israel’s ‘first defeat’ will shape the country’s future
by Dr Ramzy Baroud
The headline in the Times of Israel says it all: “For the First Time, Israel Just Lost a War.”
Regardless of the reasoning behind this statement, which the article divides into fourteen points, it suggests a shattering and unprecedented event in the 76-year history of the State of Israel. The consequences of this realization will have far-reaching effects on Israelis, impacting both this generation and the next. These repercussions will penetrate all sectors of Israeli society, from the political elite to the collective identity of ordinary Israelis.
Interestingly, and tellingly, the article attributes Israel’s defeat solely to the outcome of the Gaza war, confined to the geographical area of the Gaza Strip. Not a single point addresses the ongoing crisis within Israel itself. Nor does it explore the psychological impact of what is being labeled as Israel’s first-ever defeat.
Unlike previous military campaigns in Gaza—on a much smaller scale compared to the current genocidal war—there is no significant strand of Israeli society claiming victory. The familiar rhetoric of “mowing the lawn”, which Israel often uses to describe its wars, is notably absent. Instead, there is a semi-consensus within Israel that the ceasefire deal was unequivocally bad, even disastrous for the country.
The word “bad” carries broad implications. For Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, itﾠrepresents a “complete surrender”. For the equally extremist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, it is a “dangerous deal” that compromises Israel’s “national security”.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog refrained from offering political specifics butﾠaddressed the deal in equally strong terms: “Let there be no illusions. This deal—when signed, approved and implemented—will bring with it deeply painful, challenging and harrowing moments.”
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, along with other Israeli officials, tried to justify the deal by framing Israel’s ultimate goal as the freeing of captives. “If we postpone the decision, who knows how many will remain alive?” heﾠsaid.
However, many in Israel, along with an increasing number of analysts, are now questioning the government’s narrative. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously rejected similar ceasefire agreements in May and July, impeding any possibility of negotiation.
In the time between those rejections and the eventual acceptance of the deal, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed or wounded. While these tragedies have been entirely disregarded or dismissed in Israel, many Israeli captives were also killed, mostly in Israeli military strikes.
Had Netanyahu accepted the deal earlier, many of these captives would likely still be alive. This fact will linger over whatever remains of Netanyahu’s political career, further defining his already controversial and corruption-riddled legacy.
Ultimately, Netanyahu has failed on multiple fronts. Initially, he wanted to prevent his right-wing, extremist coalition from collapsing, even at the expense of most Israelis. As early as May 2024, manyﾠprioritized the return of captives over the continuation of war. Netanyahu’s eventual concession was not driven by internal pressure, but by the stark realization that he could no longer win.
The political crisis that had been brewing in Israel reached a breaking point as Netanyahu’s administration scrambled to navigate the growing discontent. In an article published soon after the ceasefire announcement, Yedioth Ahronothﾠdeclared Netanyahu politically defeated, while his Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, was blamed for military failure.
In reality, Netanyahu has failed on both fronts. Military generals repeatedly urged him to end the war, believing Israel had achieved tactical victories in Gaza. During the war, Israel’s political and social crises deepened.
Netanyahu, at the helm, resorted to his old tactics. Instead of demonstrating true leadership, he engaged in political manipulation, lied when it suited him, threatened those who refused to follow his rules and deflected personal responsibility. Meanwhile, the Israeli public became increasingly disillusioned with the war’s direction and frustrated with Netanyahu and his coalition.
In the end, the entire Kafkaesque structure of Israeli governance collapsed. The failure to manage both the political crisis and the military strategy left Israel’s leadership weakened and increasingly isolated from the public.
Of course, Netanyahu will not give up easily. He will likely attempt to satisfy Ben-Gvir byﾠinsisting that Israel retains the right to return to war at any time. He will likely enable Smotrich to expand illegal settlements in the West Bank and may try to redeem the military’s reputation by escalating operations there.
These actions may buy Netanyahu some time, but they will not last. The majority of Israelis now seek new elections. While previous elections have ignored Palestinians, the next election will be almost entirely defined by the Gaza war and its aftermath.
Israel is now facing the reality of a political and military failure on a scale previously unimaginable. Netanyahu’s handling of the situation will be remembered as a key moment in the country’s history, and its consequences will continue to affect Israeli society for years to come.
Netanyahu’s departure from the political stage seems inevitable—whether because of the war’s outcome, the next elections or simply due to illness and old age. However, the material and psychological impacts of the Gaza war on Israeli society will remain, and they are likely to have irreversible consequences. These effects could potentially threaten the survival of Israel itself.
Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is “Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak out”. Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net.
Is Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century’ back on the table?
Donald Trump's first administration proposed what it called the "Deal of the Century" which would have redrawn Israel's borders to include major swaths of the West Bank. As Trump reenters office there are fears the annexation plan is back.
BY MICHAEL ARRIA
It’s easy to forget now, but on January 28, 2020 the Trump administration released a political plan for Israel and Palestine.
Dubbed “The Deal of the Century,” the outline was developed by Trump’s son-in-law and political adviser, Jared Kushner, and came just months after the economic part of the plan had been presented at a workshop in Bahrain. In total, the plan amounted a an annexation plan where large parts of the occupied Palestinian West Bank would
Now as Trump re-enters office, it’s unclear whether the new Trump team will return to the Kushner plan, but the political support for West Bank annexation has only grown in Israel since Trump’s first term. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has named 2025 as “the year of Israeli annexation of the West Bank,” and there is already growing concern about what Trump might have promised Netanyahu’s government in order to push the recent ceasefire over the edge. Combined, these factors are joining together to raise concerns the “deal” might be back on the table, or that it may serve as a model for Israeli annexation in the near future.
The “Deal of the Century”
The “deal” was formally announced in January 2020, and was put together without any input from Palestinian leaders and predictably offered them virtually nothing. It would have redrawn boundaries to include illegal Israeli settlements, annexed the Jordan Valley, recognized Jerusalem as the “undivided capital” of Israel (while curiously acknowledging it could also become the capital of a hypothetical Palestinian state), required Palestine to be demilitarized, and denied Palestinian refugees the Right to Return.
As part of the plan, the Palestinians would also have to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, refrain from joining international organizations, and dismiss all pending legal action against Israel at the International Criminal Court.
Experts dismissed the plan as a ﾓtotal shitshowﾔ that was ﾓdead on arrivalﾔ and purposely developed in order for the Palestinian Authority to reject it.
However, Trump’s vision was predictably embraced by Israeli leaders and his pro-Israel supporters in the United States.
“I believe that down the decades, and perhaps down the centuries, we will also remember January 28, 2020, because on this day, you became the first world leader to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over areas that are vital to our security and central to our heritage,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Trump at a White House press conference announcing the plan.
Map of the future Israeli state in the Trump administration plan. (Image: The White House)
The Republican Jewish Coalition called it “a bold and nuanced proposal that is deeply rooted in America’s core values of liberty, opportunity and hope for the future.” The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) praised “the efforts of President Trump and his administration to work in consultation with the leaders of the two major Israeli political parties to set forth ideas to resolve the conflict in a way that recognizes our ally’s critical security needs.”
The late GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, were in the front row at the announcement. Although Sheldon has since passed, Miriam has remained a major Trump supported and donated an estimated $100 million to his 2024 re-election campaign.
New administration’s first moves
Though the new Trump administration has yet to put forward any concrete policies around Palestine and Israel, Trump has made a series of comments and moves since taking office that paint a picture of what his administration’s approach to the region may look like
.
While signing Executive Orders shortly after his inauguration, Trump told reporters he had little faith in the Gaza ceasefire holding. “It’s not our war. It is their war. I am not confident,” said Trump.
Despite this statement, Trump has made no indication that he plans to halt weapons shipments to Israel. On the contrary, he has reportedly resumed shipments of 2,000-pound bombs to the country.
“We believe that Trump is going to release, at the beginning of his term, the munitions that haven’t been released until now by the Biden administration,” outgoing Israeli ambassador to the United States Mike Herzog told Axios.
In another move that stands to threaten the ceasefire agreement, the Trump administration is lifting sanctions on violent, far-right settler groups in the occupied West Bank. The move comes amid rising anti-Palestinian violence in the area. Just hours before Trump canceled the sanctions, dozens of Israeli settlers attacked homes and businesses in the West Bank towns of Jinsafut and Al-Funduq. The Palestinian Red Crescent said they treated 12 men who were beaten by the settlers.
“The settlers were masked and had incendiary materials,” Jinsafut’s village council head Jalal Bashir told the AP. “Their numbers were large and unprecedented.”
On social media Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich celebrated the sanctions being lifted and praised Trump’s “unwavering and uncompromising support for the state of Israel.”
At the White House signing, Trump also spoke about the attractiveness of Gaza’s location and weather, but refused to reveal whether the United States would assist in rebuilding the area.
“I looked at a picture of Gaza, it’s like a massive demolition site. It’s really … it’s gotta be rebuilt in a different way. Gaza’s interesting, it’s a phenomenal location. On the sea, the best weather. Everything’s good. Some beautiful things can be done with it. It’s very interesting. Some fantastic things can be done with it,” he told reporters.
The comments are very similar to ones that Kushner made last year, in which he praised the “very valuable” potential of Gaza’s “waterfront property.”
“Gaza’s waterfront property could be very valuable … if people would focus on building up livelihoods,” Kushner told an interviewer.
Kushner is not expected to take a formal position with the administration during this term, but will reportedly be a “pivotal” part of Trump’s Middle East policy.
Middle East Monitor – January 23, 2025
The long-term Impact of Israel’s Gaza Genocide will only become Clear as the Toxic Dust Settles
(ﾠMiddle East Monitorﾠ) – As the toxic dust begins to settle, it is hard to even fathom the complex feelings of our Palestinian friends and colleagues, many of whom have families in Gaza who are beginning the arduous task of returning home and rebuilding, having survived 15 months of Israeli genocide. Since October 2023 Gaza has been pummelled, relentlessly, through aerial bombing campaigns, supplemented by ground offensives that, far from eradicating the resistance, have laid waste to entire towns and cities.
Whilst local authorities have estimated the current death toll to be in the region of 47,000 there is a growing consensus that this figure is a mere fraction of the overall total number of Palestinian men, women and children killed. These figures are catastrophically incomplete, capturing only those for whom we have evidence of their martyrdom being a direct result of Israeli air strike, bomb blast, or bullet fired, a point that has been noted in the globally respected Lancetﾠmedical journal.
The true number of Palestinian lives lost will only become clearer when the rubble is finally cleared, and the bodies are recovered. Despite the cyclical nature of Israeli military assaults on Gaza, the long-term implication on Palestinian health is vastly under-researched, with much more work needed to consider the long-term impact of sustained exposure to prolonged hunger, the effect of inhalation of toxic fumes and heavy metals – the by-product of military bombardment – or the effects of poor sanitation and water contamination on public health.
According to the Watson Institute for International and Public affairs, in the 12-month period from October 2023 to September 2024, approximately 62,413 Palestinians died from starvation alone. As a result, in July 2024 the Lancet tentatively suggested that a more accurate depiction would be to say that the death toll attributable to the genocide lies somewhere in the region of 186,000. Following this logic through to the moment that a temporary cessation came into effect, the number of deaths caused as a result of the Israeli genocide could well stand at over 250,000.
Whilst this temporary ‘ceasefire’ (a term we use advisably) allows for a modicum of relief for those in Gaza, as comrades and colleagues, we remain resolutely focused on the material reality which is the fact that Gaza remains besieged. The Israeli state maintains its collective punishment of the Palestinian population through its ongoing blockade, limiting the control of essential goods including aid and medicine, and continuing to fully control the movement of over two million Palestinian survivors of genocide. The difference now is that these practices of subjugation and colonial control take place amidst a Gaza which has been completely destroyed.
Therefore, our work has only just begun.
Israeli policy for those living in Gaza has long been focused on meticulous management of the Palestinian population, creating a situation in which health and life may be sustained, but just barely. To paraphrase Fanon, this gnawing at the existence of the colonised tends to make of life something resembling an incomplete death. Policies such as limiting the calorie intake of those living in the Strip, using a calculation designed to maintain minimum intake but only just prevent starvation, have long been documented. By 2012, around 10 per cent of children under five years of age across the Strip had stunted growth due to prolonged malnutrition. Increased rates of anaemia were reported, with 37 per cent of pregnant women, 58.6 per cent of Gaza’s schoolchildren and 68 per cent of children aged nine to 12 months all suffering from the condition.
The deliberate targeting of healthcare facilities and medical personnel over the last 15 months has meant that chronically ill patients have had almost zero access to much needed medications, significantly worsening their condition and unquestionably leading to an increase in the likelihood of mortality. Over 1,200 dialysis patients and over 10,000 cancer patients have been denied access to lifesaving treatment, and the fate of these patients remains unknown, with many waiting to receive assurances of getting access to treatment abroad.
Research in other war-torn contexts has shown that famine and food shortage will have both short term and dire long-term consequences. Those who have experienced famine in the womb can develop significant health issues across their adult lifespan, including a decreased immune function and increased rates of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Men who suffered starvation between the ages of 9-15 are more susceptible to high blood pressure as adults, with excess mortality noted from associated heart disease and stroke. Women who have experienced famine have greater prevalence of breast cancer. Thus, surviving the genocide in Gaza will undoubtedly have long term consequences for many.
Prior to 7 October 2023, the baseline prevalence of non-communicable diseases including ischaemic heart disease, stroke and diabetes was alarmingly high across the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, approximately 71, 000 in Gaza live with diabetes and 225, 000 with high blood pressure. Whilst little is known about the connection between heightened levels of food insecurity and the impact on such health conditions, what is likely is that those in Gaza will experience a pandemic of non-communicable disease in the coming decades should the colonial status quo remain the same.
With over 70 per cent civilian infrastructure destroyed, the dust that is in circulation, the toxic remnants of asymmetrical and wanton Israeli destruction of Gaza, includes cement, metals, silica, asbestos and other synthetic fibres. As an active carcinogen, when inhaled as dust particles, asbestos is associated with an increased risk of lung cancer, in particular mesothelioma. When we consider that, according to the UN, over 800,000 tonnes of the bombed-out debris has been generated in Gaza since 7 October 2023, the likelihood of significant exposure to asbestos is high. Research done in the aftermath of the World Trade Centre collapse has shown that 4,343 survivors and first responders have died from related illnesses since the attack compared to the 2,974 people who died on September 11 itself. The point is: the deadly effects of asbestos and inhalation of other toxic particles released over the last 15 months will only be evident in the decades to come.
Heavy metal exposure from munitions will have permeated Gaza’s soil and water sources, and, as such, the land used to sustain life in the Strip will have been further poisoned. Previous research conducted after the 2011, 2014 and 2018–2019 Israeli assaults on Gaza linked the high incidents of birth defects and premature births in mothers with evidence of exposure to heavy metals. Furthermore, childhood lead exposure in particular can lead to permanent alterations in the function of the nervous system, with higher incidences of attention deficit disorder and Alzheimer’s and dementia noted later on in life.
And so, whilst this is an important and necessary moment of purported cessation, a time to take stock and contemplate the sheer volume of destruction that has been meted out on a starved and besieged population by a conglomerate of nuclear armed ‘superpowers’, our gaze must be longer.
We must recommit ourselves to the struggle for a justice oriented, full Palestinian liberation. This will require a more fulsome understanding of the long-term impact of Israel’s genocide on the healthcare of the Palestinian population in Gaza, as some the long-term health impacts of surviving the genocide will only become clearer much later on.
In maintaining this longer gaze, it is our duty to stand alongside our sisters and brothers as they rebuild Gaza, yet again. It is critical that we vociferously call for reparations from all who stand accused of aiding and abetting this latest failed attempt at Palestinian erasure.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
https://www.juancole.com/2025/01/israels-genocide-settles.html
The Indigenous leader Leonard Peltier Is Finally Going Home
The Indigenous leader and longest-held political prisoner in the U.S. will be released to home confinement after his sentence was commuted.
After 49 years and 11 months, Leonard Peltier will finally leave prison. Peltier’s life sentence was commuted by outgoing-President Joe Biden on Monday, hours before Donald Trump was sworn in. Peltier, the longest-held political prisoner in the United States, is 80 and suffers from multiple, severe health ailments due to his nearly half-century of incarceration. Peltier will spend his remaining days in home confinement, as he was not pardoned for the crimes which he has insisted for over 50 years that he did not commit.
The news of the commutation of his sentence was widely celebrated as a victory for those who have fought for decades for Peltier’s release.
“It’s finally over — I’m going home. … I want to show the world I’m a good person with a good heart. I want to help the people, just like my grandmother taught me,” Peltier said in a statement from the NDN Collective. In recent years, the NDN Collective has been arduously lobbying and organizing for Peltier’s release.
“Leonard Peltier’s commutation today is the result of 50 years of intergenerational resistance, organizing, and advocacy,” NDN Collective founder Nick Tilsen said. “Leonard Peltier’s liberation is our liberation. And while home confinement is not complete freedom, we will honor him by bringing him back to his homelands to live out the rest of his days surrounded by loved ones, healing and reconnecting with his land and culture.
“Let Leonard’s freedom be a reminder that the entire so-called United States is built on the stolen lands of Indigenous people, and that Indigenous people have successfully resisted every attempt to oppress, silence and colonize us. … The commutation granted to Leonard Peltier is a symbol of our collective strength, and our resistance will never stop.”
“Leonard has persisted, has resisted, he has remained strong in his beliefs as a leader of Native people even in prison,” Gloria La Riva, a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation told Peoples Dispatch. “Many, many thousands of people have also given their support to his cause, from Nelson Mandela, to the president of Ireland, to Fidel Castro, and many others who called for a reversal of this great injustice.”
La Riva, who has been part of the struggle to free Peltier for decades, recounts that during the visits she had with him in prison, “each time he asks how other people are doing, how the people of Venezuela and Cuba are doing. He is so anxious to come home, to care for his great-grandchildren, his grandchildren, his children.”
“The U.S. punishes political activists. The U.S. keeps Black, Native, Latino and white political prisoners for decades, from 40 and 50 to beyond. We celebrate, we salute Leonard, we salute all the people who fought for him.”
Who is Leonard Peltier?
Born in 1944, Leonard Peltier is an Indigenous activist from the Turtle Mountain Chippewa tribe and is Anishanaabe and Dakota. In the 1970s, he began organizing in the American Indian Movement (AIM), which waged militant campaigns demanding that the U.S. government respect Indigenous people’s human rights and land rights.
In 1973, AIM activists organized an occupation of Wounded Knee in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in protest of the corrupt leadership of Oglala Lakota Sioux chairman Dick Wilson and discriminatory policies from the federal government. The occupation lasted 71 days and was followed by a three-year retaliatory “reign of terror” against AIM activists and tribal members opposed to Wilson. Those violent attacks and murders, 60 according to the Free Leonard campaign, were carried out by FBI-sponsored vigilantes led by Wilson, the Guardians of the Oglala Nation (GOONs).
In 1975, in the midst of the “reign of terror,” two FBI agents in unmarked cars stormed the Jumping Bull Ranch on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, allegedly looking for a suspect in a robbery. Tensions escalated and a shoot-out ensued, with allegedly 150 agents and GOONs surrounding the ranch where Peltier and other AIM members were staying. Two FBI agents were killed as well as one Native American man, Joseph Stuntz.
An internal FBI memo revealed a push to concentrate all resources on convicting Peltier.
Peltier and several others from AIM were accused of killing the FBI agents, and in 1977, Peltier was convicted and given two consecutive life sentences for the crime, which he insists to this day he did not commit. The Indigenous movement and the movement for the freedom of U.S. political prisoners have maintained that Peltier’s conviction was a frame-up to repress Peltier’s leadership for Indigenous liberation.
FBI documents, released after Peltier’s sentencing, revealed the FBI’s long-term agenda against the Indigenous movement, including by suppressing the activities of AIM.ﾠAccording to Kevin Sharp, a member of Peltier’s defense team, the bureau’s strategy was to “continually harass and arrest and charge” AIM leaders so that they “can’t protest their own treatment.” An internal FBI memo also revealed a push to concentrate all resources on convicting Peltier after his co-defendants had been acquitted. Peltier’s trial itself wasﾠrife with misconduct.
In a statement released in February 2023 to mark the 48th anniversary of his unjust incarceration, Peltier wrote, “When I speak, sometimes I think I may sound a bit too sensitive, but my love for my people and the love supporters have shown me over the years is what keeps me alive. I don’t read your letters with my intellect. I read them with my heart.”
Peltier’s family and supporters, and people of conscience across the world, eagerly await Peltier’s return home.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/leonard-peltier-is-finally-going-home/
