Leonard Peltier

I am a Native American who has suffered nearly 28 years in prison, even though government attorneys and courts acknowledge that the government withheld evidence, fabricated evidence, and coerced witnesses to fraudulently convict me. But the courts say they have no power to correct the wrongs of our government. If the Courts do not, who does? I will ensure that all peoples receive justice. Environmental protection is paramount for our survival. The earth is our sacred Mother who nourishes us. Our government is destroying the earth by allowing its usurpation for greedy purposes. I will protect the environment. All minorities must be allowed to maintain their languages and traditions with dignity. I personally suffered the indignity of being deprived of speaking my native tongue and following Lakota traditions. This country has engaged in genocidal policies to exterminate virtually every minority, especially those who express dissent and seek equal justice. Now is the time to end the continuing injustices of this government and ensure liberty and equal health care to all. Luther Standing Bear, a Sioux Chief, stated: "Out of the Indian approach to life became a great freedom -- an intense and absorbing love for nature; a respect for life; enriching in a supreme power; and principals of truth, honesty, generosity, equity, and brotherhood as a guard to mundane relations." That statement exemplifies the basic truths of life. I will represent all people, not the entrepreneurs who care only how much money can be stuffed into their pockets.

Excerpts from Leonard Peltier's New Year letter

The government, under the pretext of security and progress, liberated us from our land, resources, culture, dignity and future. They violated every treaty they ever made with us. I use the word "liberated" loosely and sarcastically, in the same vein that I view their use of the words "collateral damage" when they kill innocent men, women, and children.

They describe people defending their homeland as terrorists, savages and hostiles, and accuse us of being aggressors. We have never fought a battle or war that was not on our own land; we never fired the first shot ... ever. My words reach out to the non-Indian: Look now before it's far too late -- see what is being done to others in your name and see what destruction you sanction when you say nothing. Your own treaty, the one between yourselves and the government, is being violated daily; this treaty is commonly known as the Constitution.

With us, they started a little at a time, encroaching on our rights until we had none at all. It will be the same for the Constitution; this is not conjecture, but fact. We are not embattled with the color of man, but with ... a mindset that lusts for power and wealth at the expense of life.

Men of all colors, cultures and religions must stand together to oppose the genocidal policies that face us all as the corporate world seeks to enslave all, and pit one nation against another.

If you avoid breaking laws and do what you're told and ignore the poor, the oppressed and the downtrodden -- you probably won't be bothered. If you try to right what is wrong, however, you will surely meet great opposition and run the risk of imprisonment or death.

I encourage you to do your best, be kind to one another, seek harmony and balance with all natural life, enjoy what freedom you have left, and most of all, never, never give up.

On March 2, Peace and Freedom Party registrants will vote their "preference" among the potential candidates for president who have so far come forward seeking the Peace & Freedom Party's presidential nomination. On July 31 and August 1, the newly-elected Peace & Freedom Party State Central Committee will hold a convention meeting in Los Angeles to decide who (if anyone) will be the party's actual candidate.

The primary vote is one of the strong factors SCC members will take into account in making their decision. Like every other party on the California ballot, the party doesn't choose its presidential nominee in the primary, since many things can change between now and the end of July. Either of the two candidates now on the ballot might withdraw. New candidates may emerge. A national movement may come into being whose nominee we will want to support.

Despite the fact that the primary vote is only advisory, it's important that you vote. It gives the convention delegates key information about how Peace & Freedom Party registrants view the candidates.

If you want to get more closely involved in the party's decision-making processes, contact us at one of the addresses or phone numbers on the next page. This party is only as strong as the number of people working in it.

Who the candidates are

Walt Brown is the presidential candidate of the Socialist Party U.S.A. His vice-presidential candidate is Mary Alice Herbert, an activist in the Liberty Union Party in Vermont. He has been a professor of law, a public defender in the Navy Judge Advocate General's office (the lawyers assigned to defend sailors in courts martial), and a member of the Oregon State Senate for 12 years, as well as a riveter, letter carrier, construction laborer and warehouse worker. He is taking a leave from his work as volunteer attorney for the Oregon Consumer Justice Alliance to run for president.

Brown played a major role in qualifying the Socialist Party for the ballot in Oregon and has run for Congress three times as a socialist. He is a board member of Health Care for ALL, which sponsored Oregon's single-payer health care initiative in 2002.

Leonard Peltier is a member of the Lakota (Sioux) and Ashinabe (Chippewa) nations from South Dakota. He was a leading activist in the American Indian Movement (AIM) which engaged in a prolonged struggle with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the FBI during the 1960s and 1970s. After a 1975 armed clash between AIM members and FBI agents in which two agents were killed, Peltier fled the country, believing he could not get a fair trial. Two of his fellow defendants were later acquitted in jury trials.

Peltier was later extradited to the U.S. from Canada on the basis of perjured declarations. Despite the fact that the government openly admits that they don't know who killed the FBI agents, he has been in prison for 28 years. During his imprisonment he has been active in a number of causes. He is a board member of the Rosenberg Fund for Children.

Contacting their campaigns

Walt Brown for President
1720 NW Lovejoy, Box 214
Portland, OR 97209
(503) 241-8217
coordinator@waltbrownforpresident.org
www.waltbrownforpresident.org
www.sp-usa.org

Leonard Peltier for President P. O. Box 15156
Worcester, MA 06108
(508) 926-3403
bbachrach@bowditch.com
www.freeleonardpeltier.org

Walt F. Brown

Readers of The Partisan should confidently vote Peace and Freedom in 2004, not grimly vote for the "lesser of two weevils".

There is no willingness on Capitol Hill to buck the corporate takeover of the White House. Shortly after 9/11 the Senate passed the USA PATRIOT Act with only one dissenting vote, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. All other Democrats and all Republicans voted "Yes".

Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) said,

"Fascism should be rightly be called corporatism, as it is the merger of state and corporate power."

To paraphrase George Orwell, there is no chance of righting the conditions facing working-class families today, or of saving the world from fascism, "unless we can bring an effective Socialist party into existence."

There are really only two choices in 2004: One, reluctantly vote for the Democratic nominee, who will be a Republican-lite-type candidate favored by the Democratic Leadership Council and who will not help us "bring an effective Socialist party into existence."

Or, two, enthusiastically vote for the PFP's presidential nominee. No one should be reluctant to vote either for me or for Leonard Peltier.

What political fruits were harvested after most Americans on the left voted for Clinton in 1992? As President, Clinton led Congress to complete George H.W. Bush's political agenda including laws to

• "deform" welfare,
• implement the North American Free Trade Treaty, and
• grant "Most Favored Nation [Trade] Status" to China.

I've been committed to socialism, democracy, ecology, feminism and racial equality for over 50 years.

I joined the Socialist Party USA in 1948. I've since run for Congress three times as a Socialist, receiving over 10,000 votes in 1998. I believe that socialism and democracy are indivisible.

I became a Life Member of The Sierra Club in 1957. During my 12 years in the Oregon State Senate I was honored five times "for a 100% environmental voting record" by the Oregon Environmental Council.

Since 1949 I've been an NAACP member.

Were I elected President my first act would be to revoke all Executive Orders signed by Bush during the first week of his presidency. My second act would be to order the immediate pardoning of Leonard Peltier, then to generously compensate him for his 28 years of illegal incarceration.

The 2004 Socialist Party presidential campaign intends to fully honor the high standard set by Debs in 1918:

"[Y]ears ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on Earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free." (Statement to the U.S. District Court on September 14, 1918, just before sentencing.)