How you can help Seneca tax resisters

How you can help Seneca tax resisters HOW YOU CAN HELP Support the tax resisters and send a message to Gov. Pataki that the state of New York has no business on sovereign native land. LETTER-WRITING CAMPAIGN ------------------------------- sample letter ------------------------------- To: Governor George Pataki Date: June 6, 1997 Fax #: (518) 473-7669 Subject: NY State taxes on Haudenosaunee territory Dear Governor Pataki: I wish to condemn, in the strongest terms possible, your state's use of violence and intimidation against the Seneca who have refused to sign the interim taxation agreement. Perhaps you have not reflected on the implications of your actions. I would like to direct you to the words of Raphael Lemkin, the Polish jurist who coined the term "genocide". He wrote: "Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killing of all the members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aimed at destruction of the essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves... Genocide has two phases: one, destruction of the national pattern of the oppressed group: the other, the imposition of the national pattern of the oppressor." - Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace/Rumford Press, 1944 The current actions of your state toward the nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy unambiguously qualify as genocide. That you seem to have been able to coerce or convince certain members of these nations to sign an agreement does not absolve you of your ultimate culpability. You may feel that the current global political climate makes prosecution unlikely. I remind you that genocide is a Crime Against Humanity, and that unlike war crimes, there is no time limit on prosecution of this crime. I urge you to withdraw your government's attempts to impose your taxation system on other nations. Sincerely, [your name] cc: Members of the NY State assembly and senate, National AIM, NY Times, and other media ------------------------- end sample letter ------------------------- ADDRESSES SENECA NATION Seneca Nation of Indians Route 438 Irving, NY 14081 Tel: (716) 532-4900, ext. 128 Email: sni@localnet.com WWW: http://www.localnet.com/~sni/ POLITICIANS Governor George E. Pataki Executive Chamber Albany, New York 12224 Phone: (518) 474-8390 Fax: (518) 474-8099 / (518) 473-7669 Commissioner Michael H. Urbach Department of Taxation and Finance Albany, New York 12227 Phone: (518) 457-2244 US President Bill Clinton Fax: (204) 456-2461 Email: president@whitehouse.gov White House comment line: (202) 456-1414 When asked to listen to the issues menu press 0, because the NY tax issue isn't listed. State that you have heard about this issue and would like the President to give it his attention. First Lady Hilary Clinton Fax: (202) 456-6244 Commissioner Edward Mercado New York State Division of Human Rights Public Information Office Email: nysdhr@unix6.nysed.gov SENATE NY State Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno Albany, New York 12247 Phone: (518) 455-3191 The following list of senators' email addresses can be copied and pasted as a whole into the "To:" header of a letter. abate@senate.state.ny.us, bruno@senate.state.ny.us, connor@senate.state.ny.us, ccook@senate.state.ny.us, jdefranc@senate.state.ny.us, dicarlo@senate.state.ny.us, dollinge@senate.state.ny.us, espada@senate.state.ny.us, farley@senate.state.ny.us, galiber@senate.state.ny.us, gold@senate.state.ny.us, gonzalez@senate.state.ny.us, goodman@senate.state.ny.us, hannon@senate.state.ny.us, hoblock@senate.state.ny.us, hoffmann@senate.state.ny.us, holland@senate.state.ny.us, kruger@senate.state.ny.us, kuhl@senate.state.ny.us, ojohnson@senate.state.ny.us, jones@senate.state.ny.us, lack@senate.state.ny.us, larkin@senate.state.ny.us, lavalle@senate.state.ny.us, leibell@senate.state.ny.us, leichter@senate.state.ny.us, maltese@senate.state.ny.us, markowit@senate.state.ny.us, mendez@senate.state.ny.us, nozzolio@senate.state.ny.us, oppenhei@senate.state.ny.us, padavan@senate.state.ny.us, paterson@senate.state.ny.us, present@senate.state.ny.us, saland@senate.state.ny.us, santiago@senate.state.ny.us, senator@dpm.senate.gov, senator_al@damato.senate.gov, solomon@senate.state.ny.us, spano@senate.state.ny.us, trunzo@senate.state.ny.us, velella@senate.state.ny.us, volker@senate.state.ny.us, wright@senate.state.ny.us HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES The following list of NY House reps' email addresses can be copied and pasted as a whole into the "To:" header of a letter. boehlert@hr.house.gov, engeline@hr.house.gov, mpforbes@hr.house.gov, hinchey@hr.house.gov, dearsue@hr.house.gov, peteking@hr.house.gov, lazio@hr.house.gov, nitamail@hr.house.gov, tmanton@hr.house.gov, mmcnulty@hr.house.gov, molinari@hr.house.gov, nadler@hr.house.gov, bpaxon@hr.house.gov, jserrano@hr.house.gov, louiseny@mail.house.gov, maloney@hr.house.gov, rangel@hr.house.gov, houghton@hr.house.gov U.S. Representative Louise Slaughter, 28th District, NY Tel: (202) 225-3615 Fax: (202) 225-7822 E-mail: louiseny@mail.house.gov NY STATE ASSEMBLY Speaker of Assembly Sheldon Silver Albany NY 12248 Phone: (518) 455-3791 Email: speaker@assembly.state.ny.us Majority Leader Michael J. Bragman Assembly District: 118 Email: bragman@assembly.state.ny.us Minority Leader Thomas M. Reynolds Email: reynolt@assembly.state.ny.us Email addresses of all NY Assembly persons can be found at: http://assembly.state.ny.us/ The names are listed alphabetically. Clicking on a name brings up email and snail mail addresses, clicking on the email address will bring up the browser mail form. POLICE NY State Police: Troop E (Cayuga, Chemung, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne, Yates) Troop E Headquarters Canandaigua P.O. Box 25220 Canandaigua, NY 14425-0220 Tel: (518) 783-3211 National Guard at Albany Tel: (514) 465-1618 New York State Police, Division State Police Headquarters Van Steinberg, media liason/public information Phone (518) 457-2180 Fax (518) 783-3298 MEDIA The following list of New York media email addresses can be copied and pasted as a whole into the "To:" header of a letter. independent@taconic.net, dailyfree@aol.com, letters@nytimes.com, palladiu@knighted.com, voice@echonyc.com, wbfo@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu, news88a@prodigy.com, wsyrradio@aol.com, y94fm@aol.com, nynews@gannett.infi.net, lcn@eznet.net, Lonsberry@eznet.net, ltreebear@aol.com, Today@MSNBC.com, Nightly@MSNBC.com, Dateline@MSNBC.com National Public Radio (NPR) Ken Barcus, Eastern Region Editor 635 Massachussetts Ave. NW Washington, DC 20001 Tel: (202) 414-3232 Fax: (202) 414-3329 NPR Buffalo: http://www.wbfo.buffalo.edu/news.htm Email: Suggestions for future topics should be sent to the addresses below. These are not to be used for press releases or other bulk-mailed material, which should be sent by snail mail or fax only. All Things Considered: atc@npr.org Morning Edition: morning@npr.org Weekend Edition, Saturday: wesat@npr.org Weekend Edition, Sunday: wesun@npr.org Buffalo TV stations: http://www.wivb.com/ http://www.wkbw.com/ Group of nine local newspapers: http://www.beenews.com/editorial.htm Syracuse Newspapers: http://www.syracuse.com/pageone/ Click HERE for addresses of federal politicians and national media. SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS Ed Johnson, from the Buffalo office of AIM (national), recommends messages of support, solidarity, or condemnation of the NY authorities can be faxed to William "Grandpa Bear" Swanson, Executive director of NY chapter AIM (national) at 905-994-0011.