http://mensnewsdaily.com/2008/01/08/canupa-gluha-mani-speaks-about-lakota-o
yate-lakota-freedom/

Canupa Gluha Mani speaks about Lakota Oyate, Lakota freedom

January 8, 2008 at 7:52 pm · Filed under NewsLog, North America

It's now been three weeks since the four-person Lakota Freedom Delegation
declared that the Lakota people were withdrawing from their treaties with
the United States and, though small, the movement still proves
controversial: two U.S.-recognized Lakota tribal governments have rejected
the Delegation's authority outright with at least one tribe stating it will
consider the Delegation's, now Lakota Oyate's, proposal. The rest of the
tribes have remained silent.

The central figure the movement has been Canupa Gluha Mani, a longtime
activist whose tactics have led repeatedly to his arrest and imprisonment —
most recently in June 2007, when Canupa Gluha Mani was one of six arrested
who participated in blockading a road in Nebraska to keep outside alcohol
from entering his dry reservation where it is banned. Wikinews talked to
Canupa Gluha Mani about the movement and Lakota Oyate in an exclusive
interview.

Also called Duane Martin Sr, Canupa Gluha Mani prefers to be referred to as
just that, "Canupa Gluha Mani"; it means "He walks as he protects the
pipe", though much of the meaning is lost in translation between English
and the delicately-nuanced Lakota language. Canupa Gluha Mani prefers to
speak in this, his native tongue — he "hates" that the English language has
become the everyday language of the Lakota, and decries the extinction of
many indigenous American languages — but uses English fluently and
earthily.

Canupa Gluha Mani talked about the Cante Tenza, the Strong Heart Warrior
Society, which he heads and which forms the paramilitary force of Lakotah.
The society, an okolakiciye or warrior society, originated in the Black
Hills. He told the following story: Four warriors in the hills ran across a
coyote and gave it chase. And as the coyote ran he turned into a Lakota
man, and in his changing the man left four objects: a rattle, a drum, a
lance, and a tomahawk with which the Lakota people could be defended.
Canupa Gluha Mani is a warrior leader, and his position with relation to
the treaty council which traditionally governs the Lakota is "whip-man",
loosely "sergeant at arms" — that is, he enforces order and decorum when
passions grow heated during tribal discussions.

The authority of the Lakota Freedom Delegation, he says, comes not from the
BIA-recognized governments but rather from the "people who understand
treaties", i.e. the treaty council, from among the Seven Sister Bands of
the Lakota. This traditional government is based on the idea of "staying
quiet and listening to the people who have answers", the "itacans" or
expert headmen.

Canupa Gluha Mani also endorsed Naomi Archer, who has acted as Lakota
Oyate's liaison; indeed, as the Lakota Freedom Delegation prepared its trip
to Washington DC he called in Naomi Archer, who though of non-native
extraction is his adopted sister and a fellow Cante Tenza member, to handle
media support. "I support the understandings of what she's saying", he
said, referring to a previous interview with Archer which revealed an
apparent split between Russell Means and other members of the Lakota
Freedom Delegation. "She as an individual has integrity." However, the
previous interview missed nuances and the perceived gap between Lakota
Oyate and Russell Means' Republic of Lakota is not so great. "There's no
division here….it's communication, that's all. We can always get past
this."

With regard to Russell Means, who has declared himself Chief Facilitator of
the Republic of Lakotah, he said, "I've worked with my uncle Russell Means
in positive venues. And I'm still behind him, I have love for him;" He
emphasized the familial bond between himelf and Means, noting that Means
had adopted him as a nephew. However, "the Lakota have to be recognized."
It was "genocide", he said, that of all the races of humanity, American
Indians are not represented at the United Nations.

On the subject of Lakota activist Alfred Bone Shirt, who organized the
Lakota Oyate's first freedom celebration and information meeting on
Saturday, 5 January but has since made comments attacking the legitimacy of
Canupa Gluha Mani, Naomi Archer and Lakota Oyate, Canupa Gluha Mani had
this to say. "I have nothing to do with Mr Bone Shirt, nothing against
him". He also noted that Lakota Oyate had respected Bone Shirt's call to
take down invitations for donations, but expressed a wish that Mr Bone
Shirt would make the same call to any other website inviting donations to
Lakotah.

The traditional decision making process within the Lakota, he said, was
informal discussions among the women of the Lakota rather than
pronouncements and declarations. Ideas like western forms of government —
referencing the "Republic" — and the use of the English language were part
of the reason for both the misunderstanding of the dispute between Russell
Means and Canupa Gluha Mani and the Lakota's problems: "It's hard for
Indian people to adapt to this modern lifestyle….It's white teaching that
cause Indian problem….leave us alone….This country has not learned a thing
about its own First Nations people."

US governing of Lakota has led directly to the economic and social decline
of the Lakotah people, he argues. Canupa Gluha Mani noted that the life
expectancy for Lakota men is only 44, and that alcohol and drug use are
epidemic, as are infectious diseases such as tuberculosis. But revival of
the Lakota has to be not just economic to improve the circumstances of the
people, but cultural too: "Our language is at stake right now" but the US
government-backed instutions like the Tribal Police are just "the second
coming of the white man's cavalry".

Canupa Gluha Mani is on record as saying in a previous interview that
"we'll probably get killed for" withdrawing from the United States. Now, he
is tight-lipped on the future, and when asked about the possibility of a
confrontation with the US will only say that "anything's plausible."

And if the United States government leaves the Lakota alone? "Then we can
take our practices forward in good will." Canupa Gluha Mani, who is married
to a woman of European descent, says that the traditional American Indian
lifestyle can coexist with the western lifestyle, but "every wound has to
heal". "We can be self-sufficient. We can govern ourselves." Having
withdrawn from the outstanding treaties with the United States, will Lakota
Oyate make a new arrangement with Washington? "That has yet to be
exonerated." Lakotah continues to seek international recognition; although
no country has declared recognition for Lakotah, he is "confident with the
Bolivians" and also noted a positive response from the "Bulgarian freedom
fighters" pressuring the US to recognize Lakota independence.

Canupa Gluha Mani then addressed the Lakota people directly. "What needs to
get out there is, I love my people….This is your dream come true. That's
what the symbolic meaning of Lakotah is. It's called freedom. Hoka hay."