Perversions of justice : indigenous peoples and Angloamerican law

Churchill, Ward. (Author). City Lights Books (publisher.).

Summary: The United States is readily distinguishable from other countries, Chief Justice John Marshall opined in 1803, because it is "a nation of laws, not of men." In Perversions of Justice, Ward Churchill takes Marshall at his word, exploring through a series of 11 carefully crafted essays how the U.S. has consistently employed a corrupt from of legalism as a means of establishing colonial control and empire. Along the way, he demonstrates how this "nation of laws" has so completely subverted the law of nations that the current America-dominated international order ends up, like the U.S. -itself, functioning in a manner dia-metrically opposed to the ideals of freedom and democracy it professes to embrace. By tracing the evolution of federal Indian law, Churchill is able to show how the premises set forth therein not only spilled over onto non-Indians in the U.S., but were also adapted for application abroad. The trajectory of Americ's imperial logic can be followed all the way to the present New World Order in which "what we say goes" at the dawn of the third millennium.

Record details

ISBN: 0872864162
ISBN: 9780872864160
ISBN: 0872864111
ISBN: 9780872864115
Physical Description: print
xxii, 465 pages ; 22 cm
Publisher: San Francisco : City Lights Books, ©2003.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Introduction : "The Creator knows their lies and so should we" : Ward Churchill's pursuit of juridical truth / Sharon Helen Venne -- Perversions of justice : examining U.S. rights to occupancy in North America -- Rights of conquest : the devolution of a myth in international law -- Stolen kingdom : the right of Hawaiʻi to decolonization -- Charades, anyone? : the Indian Claims Commission in context -- A breach of trust : the radioactive colonization of native North America -- The crucible of American Indian identity : native tradition versus colonial imposition in postconquest North America -- Forbidding the "g-word" : holocaust denial as judicial doctrine in Canada -- The bloody wake of Alcatraz : repression of the American Indian Movement during the 1970s -- "To judge them by the standards of their time" : America's Indian fighters, the laws of war, and the question of international order -- Appendix A. Declaration on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples : United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV), December 14, 1960 -- Appendix B. Congressional apology to Native Hawaiians : Public Law 103-150, 1993 -- Appendix C. Draft United Nations Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples : a report of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities : 46th session, August 1994 -- Appendix D. National Security Council Memorandum on the rights of indigenous peoples, January 18, 2001.