Page 18 RAIN October 1978 POLITICS A Basic Call to Consciousnes~, The Hau de no sau nee Address to the Western World, 1978, 53 pp., $3.00 softcover, from: 1 Akwesasne Notes Mohawk Nation via Ro<?seveltown, NY 13683 O,riginally presented to the UN Geneva conference on Discrimination Against the Indigenous.Populations of the Americas (see RAIN, July 1978), A Basic Call to Consciousness is now available in a booklet format from the good people of Akwesasne. The first analysis of the modern.world ever committed to writing by an official body, of Native people, this statement is important reading for anyone seeking a non-Western American perspective on the thrust of American culture. In their own words: "The traditional Native peoples hold the key to the reversal of the processes in Western Civilization which hold the promise of unimaginable .future suffering and destruction. Spiritualism is the highest form of political consciousness. And we, the Native peoples of the Western Hemisphere, are among the world's su~iving • proprietors of that kind of consciousness. We are here to impart that message." (Thanks to Terry'Simmons) - SA '..,,,.... ,. ,,,,tl ' ~~(~~)- from A BASIC CALL TO CONSCIOUSNESS Coalition for a New Foreign and Military Policy, Membership $10/yr 120 Maryland Avenue, N.E. WashingtQn, DC 20002 The Coalition unites more than 40 national religious, peace, labor, professional and social action organizations working for better military and foreign polici~s. In addition to grassroots organizing and Washington lobbying, the people connected with the Coalition produce a series of useful information, resource and action guides on human rights and foreign policy, unemployment caused by military spending, transfers from military spending to human needs, disarmament, the new generation of nuclear weapons (all 10¢ each), South Africa ($1), and Indochina ($1). -TB EC-ONOMICS· Who's Mining the Farm, Janet M. Smith, David Ostendorf and Mike Schechtman 1978, 76 pp. softcover, $4.00/individuals, $8.00/institutions, $25.00/corporations, plus $-1.00 postage from: Illinois South Project, Inc. 101-1/2 N. Park Herrin, IL 62918 Based on extensive research into land ownership data and county tax records, this report ex1amines corporate ownership of coal reserves in Southern Illi- , nois and the negative implications for the local economy, family farms and small towns. Of 380,000 acres of coal lands documented here, fully 99 percent is absentee-owned, primarily by six large energy corporations. Who's Mining the Farm cites-how existing tax systems avoid netting a fair reimbursement for local governments and how federal reclamation laws have actually encour- .. ' aged such companies as Peabody and Amax Coal to expand into corporate farming with all its destructive tendencies. The report demonstrates how • better pro'perty tax assessments, coal severance taxes and restrictions on corporate land ownership could avoid the creation of yet another banana republic in America's heartland. Strong stuff! A gQod research model for other regions threatened by corporate exploitation. --:SA Cut Local Taxes-Without Reducing Essential Services, Robert W. Poole, Jr., 1976, $2 from: National Taxpayers Union 325 Pennsylvania Avenue, S.E. Washington, DC 20003 The standard bureaucratic reply to tax- ' relief proposals is, "That means we will have to cut essential services." When the ballot measures pass, they cut essential services and say, "See, I told you s9!" Bunk! Get hold of this little book and thrash them out of office, or better yet, run for office yourself. The age of selfapproved bureaucratic 'budgets is over. Nothing radical here (other than common sense), and no technological alternatives. Just good administrative procedures (what they're supposed to do).· Many documented savings o'f 50 percent in cost of fire protection, 70 percent savings in garbage collection costs, etc. Contains a special refereµce section ' for getting more hard facts, useful organizations, private consultants, how to launch a political campaign or taxpayer's group. -TB SMALL BUSINESS The Briarpatch Book, 1978, $8 from·: New Glide Publications 330 Ellis St. San Francisco, CA 94102 I'm always talking up the concept of the Briarpatch Network wishing places oth~r than the_Bay Area would start up their own vers10ns of this small business self-help/cooperative network. Besides assisting each other with bookkeeping, marketing, worker management and other such challenges, the Network puts out a quartery journal ($5/year) . that is filled with examples of interest~ ing and successful small businesses and general tips on the hows, whys and • wherefores of "living between the
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