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‘SINCE PREDATOR CAME – Notes from the struggle for American Indian liberation’
Ward Churchill - AK Press

"At this juncture, the entire planet is locked, figuratively, in a room with the socio-cultural equivalent of Hannibal Lecter. An individual of consummate taste and refinement, imbued with indelible grace and charm, he distracts his victims with the brilliance of his intellect, even while honing his blade. He is thus able to dine alone upon their livers, his feast invariably candlelit, accompanied by lofty music and a fine wine. Over and over the ritual is repeated, always hidden, always denied in order that it may be continued. So perfect is Lecter's pathology that, from the depths of his scorn for the inferiors upon whom he feeds, he advances himself as their sage and therapist, he who is incomparably endowed with the ability to explain their innermost meanings, he professes to be their saviour.

His success depends upon being embraced and exulted by those upon who he preys. Ultimately, so long as Lecter is able to retain his mask of omnipotent geniality, he can never be stopped. The socio-cultural equivalent of Hannibal Lecter is the core of an expansionist European "civilisation" which has reached out to engulf the entire planet"

Another history lesson from the mighty pen of Churchill, reminding us what history's victors would prefer we forgot. "Predator" is a meticulously researched collection of essays concerning the fate of America's original
inhabitants since the European invasion. From the broken land treaties of the 1800's to the enforced fostering (i.e. kidnap) of Native children to White families of the 1900's, Churchill never pulls any punches.

The 500-year long occupation of the Americas is presented here as a debilitate genocide holocaust, surpassing even the Nazi's Final Solution in effectiveness and brutality.

Churchill points the finger at the Dominant cultures revolutionary Left as much as the imperialist Right -
land grabs by white settlers increased under the Abolitionist Government following the Civil War in the
US. Left- wing movements across Latin america have habitually ignored the plight and status of local
Indian comunities and tribes.Indeed, Marx's writing fail to acknowledge tribes or tribal identity as valid
human ties, prefering to see society, particularly the working class, in simplistic, reductive terms. The
Zapitista's of south Mexico are hailed as a dramatic example of indiginous peoples reasserting themselves
on the political stage, offering something to the planets "Fouth World" beyond the traditional Left/Right dichotomies.

Churcill, unsurprisingly, is known for his involvement in the American Indian Movement and the yearly disruption of the Columbus Day Parade in Colorado.He has recently come under a lot of flak for his comments after 9/11. For more on the man and his writing, see www.zmag.org/bios/homepage.cfm?authorID=62

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