Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee should be required reading in every school on the planet; it's a depressing and damning indictment of greed and self-interest driving the destruction of a continent-wide group of cultures.

I was lucky enough last year to be in South Dakota and met several native Americans and see their culture first-hand. Part of that experience was a trip to the Crazy Hose Monument in the Black Hills (Time dictated it was there or Mount Rushmore. No contest). It was truly inspirational to see how these people refuse to be victims any longer; indeed as I sit here a small piece of the mountain being sculpted by Korczak's children into the Crazy Horse Monument sits on my desk to remind me of the ability to triumph over adversity with dignity and a commitment to truthfulness. They are building a cultural centre there and have refused federal funding; memories are long, scars are deep in this part of the world and the Lakota remember the lies of the federal government regarding the Black Hills so they are creating this entire complex on their own terms. Meanwhile, just down the road Pine Ridge is still home to people in desperate poverty and living a third world existence, although many are helping themselves.

But then the fuckers in charge are still selling out for profit and greed all over the world. We sit back whilst China essentially destroys Tibet, we happily consume the palm oil products which are the result of flattening large areas of pristine rainforest inhabited by isolated tribes and rare wildlife.

I sat one night in a bar in a small town in North Dakota and met a white man there who had taught on Pine Ridge for 30 years, art and English. He was a 'spirit rider' and had been accepted as such by the tribe. It was a fascinating couple of hours conversation and that man opened my eyes wider than ever before.

It'll never end because there are to many wankers in charge.