Preparing for Battle

The current controversies over casinos and energy resources on Indian lands in the US prompted us to clarify for our colleagues just what is at stake over tribal sovereignty. While environmental issues related to endangered salmon or nuclear toxic waste dumping on reservations are fairly well known, the goals and objectives of the Wise Use Movement are less clearly understood.

The ultimate goal of the energy industry in the United States is the establishment of a totalitarian government, a state where its citizens have no civil or human rights, a country where the rule of law protects only the powerful, and a continent where industry can operate with impunity. The energy industry's key objectives include repealing all environmental, health and safety regulations, and terminating all treaties with Indian tribes.

Intermediate objectives over water allocations, energy rights-of-way, trust fund royalties, public land leases, and tribal jurisdiction are the building blocks of corporate fascism in the US. The inattention to this phenomenon, the inability to see the anti-democratic movement in its totality, and the failure to anticipate the proven methods of mobilizing fear and resentment over energy insecurity, ensure the battle for control of American energy resources will be an especially vicious and brutal one.

What we can do is to inform and educate ourselves. Forewarned is forearmed.