Leonard Peltier #89637-132
USP - Leavenworth
PO Box 1000
Leavenworth, KS 66048-1000
November 30, 2004

Sisters, Brothers, Friends and Supporters,

Indigenous Peoples of the United States are no strangers to
hardship and abuse at the hands of the oppressor. We also
are no strangers to treaty negotiation and betrayal.
Between 1778, when the first treaty was signed with the
Delawares, and 1868, when the final one was completed
with the Nez Perces, there were hundreds of treaties
between the U.S. government and the Indian Nations. Not
one of these treaties was honored by the government.

The United Nations itself says that human rights must be
applied to all Peoples without discrimination.
Accordingly, the United Nations Draft Declaration for the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the U.N.
Subcommission for the Prevention of Discrimination and
Protection of Minorities in 1994. The text of the
Declaration has been endorsed and supported by hundreds
of Indigenous Peoples and organizations around the world
as the *minimum* standard required for the recognition
and protection of Indigenous Peoples' rights internationally.

However, there have been continued attempts by some
states to undermine efforts to protect the human rights of
the Indigenous Peoples. We cannot allow our rights to be
negotiated, compromised or diminished by the oppressor
or by the U.N. process, which was initiated more than 20
years ago.

Yesterday, the Indigenous Peoples' delegates declared a
hunger strike and spiritual fast inside the United Nations
Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, to call the
world's attention to these attempts to weaken the Draft
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

This week, I urge you to send expressions of solidarity to
our brave sisters and brothers and letters of support for the
adoption of the current text of the U.N. Draft Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Send faxes to: ++ 41 22 917 00 79.

Send e-mails to: indigenousolidarity@yahoo.com .

Thank you for caring.

Mitakuye Oyasin.

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,


Leonard Peltier