NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NEWS

CURRENT ANTI-INDIAN LEGISLATION IN CONGRESS

Recently Native American Indians and many supporters completed their 2,800 mile march to Washington called "The Longest Walk". The march was initiated to call much needed attention to legislation in the U.S. Congress that would effectively legalize Native Americans out of exist ence. Listed below are these bills and a capsule summary of the effects they will have if allowed to pass Congress. The sponsoring Congressperson is listed also,

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H.R. 9054 Cunningham, WA. "Native Americans Equal Opportunity Act of 1977." This Act will abrogate all treaties made with the U.S. Government. In effect, it would take away Indian cultures, lifestyles, religions and customs. It could shut down the few existing Native American hospitals, schools and housing projects, all under the guise of "Equal Opportunity". Clearly, the provisions go far beyond the title. Reservations, the last vestige of what was at one time shared by many nations, will no longer exist. Water rights will be. non-existent in the eyes of the U.S. Government. By dissolving the sovereign relationship between Indian nations and the federal institution, government would be able to demand taxes at all levels--local, state and federal.

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H.R. 9175 Cunningham, WA. "Washington State Fishing and Hunting Equal Rights Act". This piece of legislation, if passed, will provide Washing ton State complete control over all Indian hunting and fishing off reservations. Native Americans would be required to purchase licenses or permits to hunt or fish.

Akwesasne Notes/cpf/LNS

ANTI-ABORTION VIOLENCE CONTINUES UNCHECKED

(HerSay/NARAL Newsletter)--Karen Mulhauser, the Director of the National Abortion Rights Action League, says that she is "sbocked" at the Treasury Department's sudden dropping of an investigation into bombings and arson threats against 11 abortion clinics in the United States. The Treasury -Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms stepped into the case last spring after NARAL issued a report summarizing the results of dozens of cases of bombings and violent incidents against abortion clinics across the United States. The Bureau announced in July, however, that it had dropped investigations into a majority of the incidents after conducting a "superficial analysis" of the situation and consulting with local police. According to Treasury spokesperson Bruce Tibbo, the investigation was dropped because "There were no substantive leads to follow, no defendants, or primary suspects".

Mulhauser says that she is "outraged" at reports that the Treasury Department had not even contacted or interviewed the victims of the assaults and bombings. No suspects have been arrested for any of the violent incidents against abortion clinics. One gasoline bombing in Cleveland resulted in the temporary blinding of a woman clinic technician, Mulhauser adds that a congressional investigation may be necessary because police, fire marshals, and arson squads are often reluctant to act on the violent incidents because they see the abortion issue as a "religious" or "women's" issue.

The following list illustrates recent violence against abortion facilities:

1. May 15. A firebomb damaged the front porch and the front door of the Vermont Women's Center in Burlington, Vermont.

2. June 10. A firebomb was tossed through the window of Founder's Clinic in Columbus, Ohio. Prompt response from the fire department kept damage to a minimum.

3. June 13. A firebomb thrown at the back of the Emma Goldman Clinic in Iowa City, lowa did minor damage. (The above two bombings occurred at night, unlike the Cleveland fire in February, which was started in mid-day in a clinic full of patients.) 4. June 25. Staff of the Summit Clinic in Bridgeport, Connecticut arrived at work to find a skull and crossbones, swastikas, and "abortion is

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murder'' written across their building. On June 29, the same clinic had all its front windows smashed.

NARAL will continue to report on these acts of violence and urges all women to support the clinics. in their areas. If it were not so horrible, it would be almost laughable that people who call themselves pro-life use such tactics of destruction.

JEAN O'LEARY APPOINTED

(HerSay)--Jean O'Leary, Co-Executive of the National Gay Task Force, has been appointed by President Carter to serve on the recently established National Advisory Committee for Women. O'Leary. who is the only publicly acknowledged gay person on the Committee, will be one of 40 members, including former Congressperson Bella Abzug and Carmen Votaw, President of the National Conference of Puerto Rican Women,

The Committee, which was established in April, supercedes the President's Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year and will advise the Carter Administration on "initiatives needed to promote full equality of American women".

"NON-SEXIST” HEROINES PAY

(HerSay)--A study of 175 so-called non-sexist books has found that the allegedly liberated heroines of the novels have a pretty lonely time of it. The study was conducted by a feminist research team for the Women's Studies Newsletter in New York.

The researchers say that they found that of the 175 books, the majority had as the protagonist a girl who was active, instead of the traditional passive type. The girl, however, the researchers say, was often placed in a stereotyped environment where she existed as a "freak" who must constantly prove herself. She was loved, the study found, often "in spite of" rather than "because of" her individuality.

The researchers report that only a small number of books dealt with boys who were not aggressive, or were capable of some of the traditionally-assigned feminine values and emotions. The study concluded that among the so-called non-sexist picture books put out in the last five years or so, "tokenism' has been masquerading as progress.

H.R. 9736 Cunningham, WA. "Steelhead Trout This Act will take away one of Protection Act". Native American people's means of survival. Indian nations depend on commercial fishing as a means of support. This Act will stop Native Americans from catching steelhead trout and selling them commerci ally.

H.R. 9950 Meeds, WA. In the name of conservation, "The Omnibus Indian Jurisdiction Act of 1977" would allow state officials to enter reservations to halt hunting and fishing by Native Americans to "insure that the opportunity of all persons to hunt, fish or trap outside such lands arc not seriously and substantially infringed." This Act removes all jurisdiction over non-Natives on reserva. tions of individual nations. It would force nations to deal with individual state governments. Also, there are substantial numbers of Native Americans whose very livelihoods depend on their unimpaired right to hunt and fish.

H.R. 9951

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Meeds, WA. "Quantification of Federal Reserved Water Rights for Indian Reservations Act". This Act extinguishes all aboriginal rights to the use of water for Native American people. It would limit water allowance to the highest level used over the past five years. In addition, if water and/or land rights could later be afforded by Native American peoples, the acquired property could not be added to any reservation's land. 2, 4, 5 T

DAMAGE

(HerSay)Oregon Congress member Jim Weaver says that his office is conducting an investigation into reports that eleven miscarriages in rural Oregon may be connected to the government's spraying of powerful herbicides in that area.

Eight women living near Alsea, Oregon, report that they have suffered a total of 11 miscarriages since 1973. They claim the miscarriages occurred at times immediately following the spraying of 2,4,5-T in areas close to their homes.

Weaver, the Chair of the U. S. Forestry Service Subcommittee, has sent one of the women who miscarried a strongly worded letter stating his intention to look into the matter personally.

The spraying has been carried out by the U.S. Forest Service, the Federal Bureau of Land Management and private timber companies.

Weaver's letter comes on the heels of an announcement by the Environmental Protection Agency that it too was looking into the miscarriage incidents.

FINANCIAL AID FOR WOMEN?

(HerSay)--Women are reportedly discriminated against when it comes to distribution of financial aid among students. A study of 29,000 undergraduate students at 241 colleges and universities showed that men had access to substantially greater financial resources than women.

The study, published in the Journal of Student Financial Aid found that public and private 2 and 4-year schools allotted greater percentages of their total resources to men than to women.

EQUAL REPRESENTATION?

(HerSay)--The National Women's Political Caucus reports that in the last 200 years, since the United States was declared independent, the Federal Government has seen only 11 women in the U.S. Senate, as opposed to 1,715 men, and there have been a paltry 87 women in the U.S. House of Representatives, as opposed to 9,591 men.

On the judiciary side, no women have ever been appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, as opposed to 101 men, and currently only 6 of the 525 active Federal judges are women.

Only two women are now serving in the U.S. Senate, both appointed to temporarily fill the seats of their deceased husbands. Eighteen of the 435 U.S. Representatives, however, are women.