GEORGE’S STORY

By Johnny Hawke

We are Nations. We have always been Nations

We have voluntarily entered into a relationship of friendship and protection with the Crown, which we have for two centuries referred to as the Covenant Chain. In placing ourselves under the Crown’s protection, we gave up none of our internal sovereignty.

We have never concluded any Treaty with the Dominion of Canada, nor have we ever expressly agreed to accept the Dominion of Canada in place of Great Britain as the party responsible under the British obligation to protect us.

We retain the right to choose our own forms of Government.

We retain the right to determine who our citizens are.

We retain the right to control our lands, water and resources.

We retain our rights to those lands which we have not surrendered.

We retain the use of our languages and to practice our religions and to maintain and defend all aspects of our culture.

We retain those rights which we have in Treaties with other Nations, until such time as those Treaties are ended.

We retain the right to choose our own future, as peoples.

The only process known to international law whereby an independent people may yield their sovereignty is either by defeat in war or by voluntary abandonment of it formally evidenced. Our Nations have never yielded our sovereignty by any formal abandonment of it. We have never been conquered in war by any power on earth of which there is a record or tradition

-Union of Ontario Indians   Anishinabek Nation Declaration

I recently visited George Williams a fellow Warrior, Hunter and good friend of mine from Moose Deer Point First Nation this weekend. I went up to his community to bring fish nets and to help his family with ceremonies they were doing for him and to also organize our own enforcement to counter outside agencies who are imposing Canadian Laws on our Nation.

George Williams is Potawatomi of the Sturgeon Clan; he is 62 years old and has been a hunter, fisherman and trapper all his life. It is his knowledge as a hunter, trapper and fisherman that he is sharing with me to ensure these traditions and rights are passed on to our people.

Left to Right: George Williams and Johnny Hawke

INAC Chiefs in 1923 were pressured into ceding our peoples Hunting Territories and Fishing Rights under the Williams Treaty (no relation) therefore my community has not retained our traditions and rights in the aspect of Food security which is the founding basis of a Nations Sovereignty. Also living on a secluded small Island there is not much to fish and hunt so I am taking every effort to get out on the land and embrace my inherit right as an Anishinabe. My friend George is helping me to become that hunter and trapper.  He says everything that makes a Warrior comes from being a Hunter.

George is one of the very few Elders who is not passive and exemplifies our peoples fighting Warrior Spirit. He still Lives off the Land and embraces our Spiritual teachings. Most Elders that I have come across including many of our Anishinabe people only seem to consider certain people of Spiritual hierarchy to be a legitimate “Traditional Elder.”

Most “Traditional” Elders or Spiritual People I have counseled with have given me advice that we shouldn’t  show up waving “fierce looking flags”, wearing fatigues, or balaclavas when it comes to protecting our land and rights. Some of these people speak on tolerance of others but at the same time denounce their own people who choose to enforce our Sovereignty by any means. It seems some of our people can tolerate Canadian agencies fierce forces and laws imposed on our people in the name of “friendship” but cannot tolerate their own people enforcing our original laws.

In my own experience some  Elders and Spiritual People have  told me and others to walk away from the frontlines of a blockade when we are protecting our territory and some even say that we are not warriors. At the same time some people who I here talk like this show up at powwows looking just as fierce in their regalia playing “Indian” on the weekends.  George is not one of these Weekend Warriors he lives every aspect of being Anishinabe.

George is no Medicine or Holy man or is initiated into a Lodge or a part of a particular spiritual Indigenous sect but still embraces our teachings  devoutly.  By some he is not a legitimate “Elder” in the “ pan-Indian Traditional” sense however he passes on hunting skills to his people and in kindness provides what he catches to the communities. George is not an angry person he is just as kind hearted as those ancestors who welcomed the new comers onto our continent so long ago. He can be seen driving around his community with a Warrior Society emblem on the side door of his truck with a bow in the back decked out in camouflage ready to get a moose for the people, or fiercely defend his Nation and Territory when the time arises.

George's Grandson Myiingan in Camo standing in front of George's Truck

In July 9, 2009 three men from the Muskoka region were convicted after a 16-month undercover operation by Ministry of Natural Resources investigators.

George Williams was convicted of possessing and transporting an illegally killed bear, selling whitetail deer and breaching a probation order he was on at the time of the offences.  He was given a $4,100 fine, received a five-year hunting license prohibition and was placed on two years probation.

Anthony Williams son of George Williams was convicted of having a loaded firearm in a vehicle, hunting whitetail deer during the closed season, possessing and transporting an illegally killed bear, possessing a bear gallbladder and breaching a probation order he was on during the period that some of the offences were committed.  He was fined $2,500, received a two-year hunting license prohibition and placed on probation for two years.

The court heard that between September 16, 2004, and December 1, 2005, undercover conservation officers investigated reports of illegal hunting activities and were sold fish and game meat contrary to the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act. The officers were guided to hunt moose, deer and bear during the closed season.

The investigation led to eight people being charged with a variety of offences.  Five of those charged pleaded guilty and their cases were heard in 2006. The investigation also led to charges being laid by the OPP against David Stock a Mohawk man from Wahta Mohawk Territory for firearm related offences which resulted in an earlier jail sentence and a lifetime prohibition against possessing firearms. The case was heard by the Honourable Justice Harpur in Ontario Court of Justice, Barrie, on June 22, 2009.

Anishinabek People taught Conservation to these newcomers and still honor our own natural laws in working with the environment. It is Industry and White collared Capitalists and Politicians that should be locked up for what they are doing to our Continent.

“The Ministry of Natural Resources came in undercover to the Reserve looking for a hunting guide.  They found out I was a hunter through the grapevine and so I was more than willing to take them out on our Reserve. They said they were Metis and had rights to hunt. ” explained George.

“I warned them about their handguns and told them that if they got caught they need to take responsibility for their own actions. I didn’t know they were undercover agents.  They killed a bear out of season illegally by their own laws using handguns and rifles. They broke their own laws just to place charges on me to stop me from hunting.

This was an entrapment on our people. I am just Anishinabe providing for my family and trying to help our people who want to go out on the land to exercise our rights. They don’t want us to do that and they keep enforcing their laws by trying to incarcerate us any way they can.” explains George.

The Anishinabek Nation incorporated the Union of Ontario Indians (UOI) as its secretariat in 1949. The UOI says it is a political advocate for 39 member Indian Act Bands across Ontario. The Union of Ontario Indians delivers a variety of programs and services, such as Health, Social Services, Education, Intergovernmental Affairs and Treaty Research, and does this with approximately 70 staff members. The UOI is governed by a board of directors and has a Grand Council Chief and a Deputy Grand Council Chief that carry the day-to-day leadership responsibilities.

During George’s time in court he couldn’t find any support from his own people or leaders to assist him with court costs, organizing rallies helping him to defend our Sovereignty and Rights and creating an awareness of what the MNR did. He had to retain a Legal Aid Lawyer for his defense and suffer these illegally imposed consequences because he only had a legal aid lawyer who wasn’t up for a fight against the Crown and obviously the Crown would never consider his Diplomatic Immunity as an Anishinabe from the provincial laws placed on him.

These Modern Chief Organizations who claim to be Political Advocates on behalf of our Anishinabek Nation, a Nation which is more than 39 INAC “Indian Bands” continues to give authority to the Canadian Judicial System. They continue to give authority to this foreign Judicial System as avenue for settling our grievances and continue to embrace the Indian Act to impose its authority on our Nation. This is also where they get there authority to be legitimate leaders in the eyes of Canada when we have our own Anishinabek Laws, Clan Sytem Governance and Nation to Nation Relationship that they so much preach about.

Recently the UOI created a Declaration of the Anishinabek Nation for their organization which is a good thing and historically correct but doesn’t mean anything if they do not live by it and enforce it.

In most instances these leaders of these individual “Bands” denounce their citizens from representing their Nation in actions when certain struggles arise. They do not assist in legal costs when our people are faced with charges regarding our rights. The common support that is mostly given is a “Chief” posing for photo opts to the media waving a finger at the Government while the grassroots people continue to be locked up and fight for our rights.  If there happens to be any success these leaders along with the passive spiritualists who don’t want anything to do with stirring the pot make statements to the media or at community gatherings like it was a collective fight of our Nation as a whole.

Stories like these go unheard and the majority of times our people face charges that breaches our Nations Sovereignty and Canada’s own Constitution which protects our Aboriginal Rights. We need to organize to help tackle these issues where Indian Act Band Political Advocates fail and denounce our actions.

During my friend George’s court struggle I was wrapped up in a struggle of my own fighting to protect the waters of my home that was being threatened by a DumpSite that would’ve sat atop an aquifer in Simcoe County, ironically Ontario Ministry of Environment approved this and Indian Affairs was no where to protect our interests and our Chief and Council showed no support. I was also assisting another community regarding getting their treaty acknowledged. I wish I had the time to help my friend George but here I am now.

I am not involved in the mainstream media as most of my journalistic colleagues are because my voice is too strong for certain publications advertisers. I organize underground and hope you can share this story and help. This article will be followed by a video and will be the start in creating awareness in what has happened so that others won’t face the same kind of things and to educate and create a buzz in helping us appeal these charges and help get George compensation and an apology and our Sovereignty honored.

Our privileged euro Canadian setter allies seem to know how to get exposure in the media when they need to especially when they are speaking for us in urban areas so maybe if you are a privileged ally and are reading this maybe you can contact me and help us get some things started and network with us.

If you are Anishinabe and would like to help organize our own enforcement to deal with these agencies come meet us in the communities where we organize. It is there where we know who we are organizing with for our own safety and security.

Our own Anishinabe Passive People who claim to be tolerant of other peoples beliefs criticize some of our own people who fight for our rights in certain ways calling us s “media seekers” looking for 15 minutes of fame.

I would like to say to those arm chair quarterbacks who most likely are Indian Bureaucratic Uncle Tomahawks. Who do you think provided your moose meat and pickerel dinner that your eating at your Council Meeting right now?  To some of us it is not all about our names in the papers its about getting the struggle in the papers and getting our grievances some attention. Some of us “bandana” wearers actual work for the people.  Before and after blockades there are people like George in the background of our communities providing for the people and living Anishinabe.

“We need to organize ourselves so when stuff like this happens we are not fighting this is in the courts alone and when they send any of their officers on our territories we need to be ready to come together from all communities to force them out.  I don’t accept their laws on our people. I am trying to appeal this and looking for a written apology and compensation for my destroyed property. ”

-George Williams      Potawatomi Nation   Sturgeon Clan

Waking The Sleeping Giant

By: Johnny Hawke

“Since the arrival of the Europeans and Christianity, Nana’b’oozoo’s kin and neighbors had forsaken him and espoused new heroes and heroines, new values, everything. Not only was he neglected, he was now regarded as no more than a “trickster” and a “fool” by many of the people he had served. Spurned and scorned, hurt and humiliated, Nana’b’oozoo, taking his Grandmother with him, moved out of the lives of the Anishinabe.”

  – Basil H Johnston , Scholar, Historian,  Anishinabe Nation

Sleeping Giant, Thunder Bay Ontario

My people the Anishinabe held in high regards Nana’b’oozoo, Original Man, our Teacher so much so that when we greet each other we use his name. Nana’b’oozoo was half spirit and half man sent by Creator to wander the Earth to name all things and to learn lessons clearing the path for his descendents, the Anishinabe. Nana’b’oozoo lived amongst our people from the time we were created until the coming of the Europeans. Our Elders say that Nana’b’oozoo left our people because we were turning our backs on him.

Before Colonial Policies were enforced on our people, we had a Nation to Nation relationship with the Europeans and it is in this time where we started exchanging our lifestyle for their capitalistic values and became dependant on their products, this is the time when Nana’b’oozoo left our people.  Nana’b’oozo lying down on the ground  fell asleep and turned himself into an island to protect an underground Silver Mine and is still their sleeping  over top of the mine and waiting for the people to awaken his spirit.  Today Nana’b’oozoo can be seen sleeping on the shores of what is now known as Thunder Bay, Ontario. 

We are in the time of the Seventh Fire Prophecy and are about the light the Eighth and final fire. We have a choice in the Eighth Fire in our prophecies where we can either choose to destroy ourselves with the “White Mans” values and products, where the Earth will play a part in cleansing herself of the Human Race, which is now happening, or we can return to our original instructions and light an ever lasting Fire of Spiritual Balance working in harmony with the Earth. It is of urgency that we awaken the Sleeping Giant that is the Anishinabek Nation for the benefit of all Earths People.

                My name is Kai Kai Kons, Young Hawk of the Anishinabe Ojibway Nation and am 26 years old and am of the Bird Clan, a Clan recognized for our voice and leadership. My English name is Johnny Hawke and I reside on Chimnissing Anishinabe Territory some of my people who accept Colonial Authority also call all our home Beausoleil First Nation, Christian Island, Ontario Canada. We are located on the southern shores of Georgian Bay, two hours north of Toronto, Ontario. 

As I become a man with an ever more increasing responsibility to retain our Sovereignty and to stand up for the Earth I am writing this article for the young ones who are coming up behind me and who choose to walk this path of Resistance and Resurgence. I want to share what I have observed this far in our struggle and in my own life as an Anishinabe. I am not writing this article as an ego trip or as some veteran in the movement as I am quite fresh. This article is not a how-to-do it yourself manual. I am just sharing some frustrations and barriers we need to watch out for as we as a Nation struggle to retain our Sovereignty.  If our youth are our future then consider this article a living frustration from a youth who is trying to put our teachings into place finding that our worst enemy is ourselves.  

I am very much rooted and have been brought up in the responsibilities of my Clan and as a Man being that Fire Keeper and Provider. I have been rooted in our Anishinabe Ceremonies, Spirituality, History and Sovereignty by my family. I have been active in the defense of my own and other brother and sisters Indigenous Territories enforcing our Sovereignty from the encroachment of Colonial Governments and Corporations standing on the frontlines for the past few years of my young life.

 I am a multimedia artist with a College Diploma in Broadcast Journalism. I am a writer, musician, traditional dancer, painter, videographer and carver and like everyone else I have my faults and am no Saint. I try my best to walk the way of Okijida, to have a “Big Heart” and to walk an Anishinabe way.

With the education, dedication and skills I have I can make a comfortable life for myself through participating in a capitalist society but I choose not too and I dedicate my lifestyle to walking this path of Resistance and Resurgence waking this Sleeping Giant up. Some may call this the Indigenous Resistance Movement, American Indian Movement, Native Youth Movement, Okijida, Activism or Warrior Society what ever it is it is a global movement where oppressed people are waking up along with an angry Earth Mother to cleanse and reclaim ourselves. The following is not only my story but our story.

“Sometimes they have to kill us. They have to kill us, because they can’t break our Spirit. We choose the Right to be who we are. We know the difference between the reality of freedom and the illusion of freedom.” – James Looks Twice/ John Trudell

Disrobing the Modern Small Pox Blankets

The White Man has infected us with Capitalism by disguising his institutions with our cultural symbols and placing them within our communities so he no longer has to kill us out in the open but rather we destroy ourselves internally. These institutions are the modern day smallpox blankets in which we need to disrobe of as quickly as we can, replacing them with our own original socio political institutions in order for us to remain as Anishinabe.                                                                                                      

 The following institutions are painted to look like our own but exploit our cultural symbols so we are fooled into believing that these things belong to us. Underneath they are still colonial and benefit only the “white man” for his capitalist agenda. Beware of the following as you try to make change within our Indigenous Communities and I encourage you to see beyond the smoke and mirrors even if it is dressed up with our culture.

Indian Act First Nations: In the Northern Part of Turtle Island our Indigenous Nations are subjected to the Indian Act enforced by the British Crown under the governance of Canada. The Act including the elected Chief and Council system is a system imposed on communities in our territory. It is in breach of our inherit Sovereignty, Treaties, Canadian Constitution, Royal Proclamation, the Two Row Wampum, 1764 Niagara Covenant Chain Belt and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which acknowledge our title to our Lands and Rights including our Sovereignty.  In order to retain our Sovereignty we need to reject the First Nation Reserve System, Chief and Council and most treaties. Most treaties which ceded our lands and rights are invalid because they were signed by Chiefs who were given authority by the Government in their Indian Act system and not the by our people and our system. The very existence of INAC Chief and Council and our Reserve Communities today and their day to day operations are not only breaking Canada’s own law but our own laws and Sovereignty.

AFN/Chiefs/Union of Ontario Indians: These types of Chiefs organizations claim to represent our People however the leadership is elected only by Chiefs and they are funded by the Government. They want to embrace Capitalism over our own Traditional Indigenous Economic Systems so in turn they become hypocrites in advocating for our Culture, Rights, Treaties and Sovereignty. You can’t advocate for our Cultural ways and then not put them to use for what they encompass and teach. They consistently advocate the Governments for more funds which are never seen on a community level only through a bureaucratic nepotistic funding structure where assistants to the assistants are hired to create a failing economy, while our children continue to starve. They also ask the Colonizers for our Sovereignty when we already have it and just need to enforce.

Anishinabek Police Service: These officers are enforcing Canadian Laws in our own Community which breaches our Right to be a Sovereign Nation with our own laws.  Anishinabek Clan system is responsible for correcting inappropriate behaviors therefore there is no need for lawyers, judges, jails where we become a product  set up only to benefit the Capitalist system. If you don’t like the police and foreign laws lets organize and patrol and become responsible for our own community. These thugs do more harm to our communities handing our people over to a foreign judicial system which creates more conflict in correcting an individual’s behavior. These thugs make us dependant on their service so we do not become responsible in resolving our own problems through our own holistic ways as a community.

Aboriginal Economic Development: First Nations are now collaborating with Mining, Gas, Oil, Mineral, Forestry Corporations and Governments to extract resources on our Traditional Territories becoming sell-outs to the very foundation of what makes us Indigenous. We have our own Anishinabe Economic Systems based on common ownership of lands of the people and cooperative management and allocation of resources which works in harmony with the Earth. Remember only after all the fish are gone then you will know you can’t eat money.  We cannot remain as Anishinabe with Anishinabe principles and values if we embrace Capitalism. Either Capitalism will fail or being Anishinabe will fail.

Aboriginal Social Services: Social Service Agreements that are administered by First Nations create dependency on the state, which is the institution that protects Capitalism. It is Capitalism that creates poverty conditions which requires our society to implement these Social Service Programs. It also diverts our people living in poverty from uprising and replacing the Capitalist Society with our Sovereignty. Everyone in our Anishinabek Society had a job which we depended on and no one lived in poverty. if we remove the Social Services Welfare system we will begin to see how fast the majority of our people will begin to organize and start putting food on our tables and stopping this dependency. We survived an Ice Age, a Great Flood; I am sure we can provide for ourselves and find jobs in this time. The Welfare system is the number one cause of being on Welfare.

Aboriginal Self Government: Portrayed as some form of Sovereignty self-government is the exact opposite. It transforms band councils into municipal governments under provincial & federal control. Reserve lands become fee simple property that can be bought & sold on the free market.

It’s the same goal as the 1876 Indian Act and the 1969 White Paper: the legal, political & economic assimilation of Indigenous peoples into Canada. Some bands are already well advanced in their self-government deals, including the Nisga’a, Sechelt, Westbank, Nunavut, James Bay Cree & Inuit, as well as the Gwich’in & other Yukon bands. In this way, self-government will really be the self-administration of our own oppression. The only Self Government that is being honored is under Government stipulations.

Aboriginal Healing and Wellness Strategy: Healing Centers, Councilors and Social Workers and the work they do are based on Indigenous Culture which helps to “heal” individuals. This is very much needed but once a person becomes “healed” they go back into their impoverished communities and continue destructive behaviors as a result of social conditions which stem from capitalism. The Funding of this strategy is administered and depended on by Government sources. Social workers make a living off of “Aboriginal Misery” and the core issues are not being “healed” which makes our people again a product for the Capitalist system.  “Whispering Four Winds Healing Treatment Centre” benefits the people on payroll more than the communities who have to deal with Colonization.  Give a Community Economic Sustenance instead of a Treatment Centre and tell me which one “heals” social problems more efficiently. You can give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, teach him to fish and he’ll never go hungry.

Pan Indian Traditionalism: As we the prophetic Seventh Generation pick up what was taken from us, a melting pot of cultural knowledge, ceremonies and ideologies create a passive euphoric romanticized version of what we once used to be. It is filled with a majority of people who want to attain medicine person, elder and sainthood status and the role of the hunter and warrior are degraded into a savage militant threat to this harmonious way of life. If we deny the role of the warrior to appease a contemporary political correctness then we are denying everything our ancestors did to make sure that we are here today.

 Compromising our own Nations customs and rituals to accommodate this new age melting pot of traditionalism dilutes the very meaning of what we are trying to preserve and awaken. Powwow and the openness of sharing of our knowledge has become a thing of honorarium and prestige. Sacred Dances such as Sundance, Raindance, the role of Heyoka and our medicine societies are replaced for an inter-tribal exhibition called powwow which creates the image that we are nothing but a powwowing culture, while our diversity is forgotten. Powwow a mish mash of culture that becomes our national image as a people.  While Pan Indian Traditionalism creates a form of Nationalism which unites us at times however it can divide us as we do not who comes into our communities under what agenda.  It creates the freedom for an individual to make themselves a self appointed Chief, Medicine Person, Warrior or Clan member without proper protocol, ceremony or accreditation in which the vulnerable can fall victim to such people.

This Pan Indian Traditionalism creates an outlet for our people to share our culture to the mainstream society where even non Indigenous people are provided to establish a career of selling out. Ego and greed and manipulation of culture to suite individual needs are than created which is in direct conflict of those teachings. Reestablishing our own Nation’s Sovereignty can filter out the manipulators and the people of all colors will benefit instead of the ever present Capitalism.

Conclusion

As I listen and try to exercise what Chiefs preach along with the wisdom of our teachings and historical agreements the more I feel like Nana’b’oozo the Sleeping Giant who our people now look at as a trickster and a fool.

As I listen to Indigenous Politicians speak of Nation to Nation Relationship with Canada and asserting our Sovereignty I see no real action to back up their talk but when I try they see me as a “fool trickster” who is shun.

When I attend the ceremonies of my people which preach on love and acceptance and how we learn from the animals I watch the bears loose there territory and when provoked I see them fight back and those same ceremonial Elders tell me to be quiet and that fighting back is not our way.

 As I listen to rhetoric from my community to go and get educated and help our community I am faced with nepotism and social incest barriers. When I try to share my education and skills I can’t get employeed so for free to benefit my people I share but am denied the use of our community assets because I am not a band employee or a family member of those who are in power.

I know I am not a Saint but I am more than a fool and a trickster and before I am shun away like Nana’b’oozo I only ask those who are ready to walk the talk to help wake up this Sleeping Giant Up.

Resurgence & Liberation:

A Program for Building Brown and Red Native Unity,                       Decolonizing Our Minds and Liberating Our Lands

Taken from Speed of Dreams by Enaemaehkiw Túpac Keshena

The Speed of Dreams is an avowedly revolutionary website currently based out of northern Turtle Island, aka Canada. Its author’s politics are hard to force into this or that category, but if you want to learn about the author visit the site andclick on the above link

Brothers and Sisters, Comrades

Over the course of our movement’s history, one of our principle failures has been our all too often inability to recognize each other as brothers and sisters. One of the greatest victories of the colonial system over us has been its success in indoctrinating Red Natives or Indians – that is, people who the colonial governments in Ottawa and Washington D.C. say are officially indigenous – into not seeing fellow indigenous people in Brown Natives – Chicanos-Mexicanos, Puerto Ricans and other from so-called “Latin America” (Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America). Likewise, Chicanos-Mexicanos, Puerto Ricans and others are often unaware of their own largely indigenous ancestry.

Primarily through its control of the schools, media and popular culture, the colonial system has divided and conquered us. It has called our Spanish speaking brothers and sisters things like Hispanic and Latino, linking their identity to Europe, and it has taught Indians to view them as illegal immigrants. If we are to rise up and shake off this system of oppression we must begin by recognizing ourselves and each other for what we are, regardless of whether we are called Indian, Métis, Mexican, Puerto Rican or anything else.

Now it is time to build for the future!

The Eagle & Condor Have Met!

The 6th Sun Now Arises!

The 8th Fire Has Arrived!

This is About Our Land! This is About Our People! This is About Our Culture!

This is About Us Getting Free!

Who We Are

I. From Alaska to Chile – We Are One People Without Borders.

As was noted above, we – Indians, Métis, Mexicanos, Puerto Ricans and others – are the descendents of the indigenous people of this continent and as such we are also the heirs of a long history of indigenous struggle against colonial domination. It is our hope and goal that we will be able to unite all oppressed people in occupied America, regardless of national origin and citizenship, to join in the process of building a unified revolutionary movement, ultimately being able to finally advance forward the dream of a unified, liberated continent.

Historically, within the borders of the settler states of North America, we have suffered under colonial oppression, isolation, and dehumanizing conditions. One consequence of the invasion has been the emergence of different terms used to identify ourselves, some imposed by the colonizer, others put forward by us in resistance to colonial imputations. English and French speaking brothers and sisters have been called many things throughout history: Indians, Aboriginal, etc. Those of us who were colonized by Europeans from the Iberian Peninsula have been called by many names as well. In the zone of U.S. occupation the terms placed upon our brothers and sisters initially colonized by Spain have often been designed to strip them of their Native heritage, and include such ones as Hispanic.

This project, related the idea of the Métis in Canada, and which is spread through out the Americas, is the extension of the 500 years of North American (white) attempts to break us down racially, and classify us based on our real or perceived influence from European and African populations. The more Native (and/or more African) an indigenous American is, the lessor they are on these imposed scales. The whiter they are, the better they are. As a result of the internalization of these colonial practices, many of our Spanish speaking cousins actively take up the terminology of colonization,  in a desperate attempt to assimilate into whitestream society.

Other terms though, such as La Raza and Chicana/Chicano have progressive connotations and were widely used during the Chicano Power movement, which often sought to reconnect those people to their true heritage. Even today, these terms are used by many in a positive and political fashion, with La Raza often used as described

 above. Today many indigenous people have also opted for the use of identifying terms from our ancient tongues, such as Onkwehonwe, Nican Tlaca, and Anishinaabe, which are respectively Mohawk, Nahuatl and Ojibwa words meaning indigenous people.

Likewise, the name of this continent also varies. Widely used words from various indigenous tongues include Turtle Island, Anówarakowa Kawennote, Anahuak, and Abya Yala. From Spanish we also get the term Nuestra América, which in a geographical sense does what La Raza does linguistically and unites the people of Spanish-speaking Latin America with their Indian brothers and sisters in North America.

While a point should be made to recapture our cultures and our languages, we must also recognize the fact that not only have our Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters within the borders of the United States and elsewhere been stripped of their original tongues by Spanish colonization (though there is a growing awareness of Nahuatl, Maya and others), but they have then subsequently had the use of that language suppressed in the United States and other English-speaking areas of the continent. As such, we should recognize the historical and political significance of all of these names, and respect any and all of the terms that our people choose to use.

For simplicities sake, and out of respect for all our struggles, we have opted to use the the phrase “Native” as the identifier for our people. We will also use the indigenous derived “Turtle Island” for the name of our continent. This may seem inadequate right now, but my goal in doing this is to avoid the privileging of one indigenous tongue over another (Nican Tlaca vs Onkwehonwe vs Anishinaabe for example), until such a time that we can self-determine our identity, and what we want to be called.

II. This is Turtle Island – We Are Indigenous Nations.

We must recognize and uphold the right to self-determination of all indigenous nations of this beautiful and vast continent. Turtle Island has been made subject to the genocidal violence, theft, and slavery imposed on us by European colonialism, United States  and Canadian imperialism, and global neoliberalism for 500 years. As indigenous people of these lands we are bound by our common history, struggles, and destiny.

The principled unification of our forces throughout this continent is not simply something to be desired – to produce joint statements or better coordinate protests – it is absolutely necessary to succeed in our struggles to overturn all manifestations of colonial, imperialist, and neoliberal oppression upon our people. In an international sense we must understand that the liberation of all indigenous people within the current borders of the United States and Canada will, and must, be tied to the liberation of all indigenous people and Latin American nations throughout  Turtle Island.

The indigenous inhabitants of this continent constitute the colonies of a number of illegal settler states that are essentially an extension of old European settler-colonialism. The United States, Canada and other states have funded and directed those settlers who exploit our labour, keep a disproportionate number of our people in prisons, stereotype us through the media, falsify our history, deny us a relevant/productive education, and militarise the borders in order to keep out the very same people from which this land was stolen.

This, along with ever present state terrorism in our communities (migra, police, border patrol, RCMP/FBI etc.), and

 the ever-increasing overt and violent expression of White Nationalism by reactionaries of the North American population, are all characteristics and manifestations of the ongoing colonial nature of North American society. We must be cognizant of this and other current neocolonialist tactics employed by the oppressor, which include the use of our own people against us. These people, from Democratic Party politicians to the Band Councils of recognized Native nations, are puppets and lackeys of the colonial state, appointed or self-appointed, and financially backed by colonialism. Their primary role within the colonial system is to confuse indigenous people into thinking that we are making progress, and that we can actually achieve self-determination within the existing system. This ploy is central to the classic colonizer tactic of divide and conquer. Instead of focusing our energy on overturning imperialism, this method pits us against opportunists of our own kind, and other oppressed nationalities, each struggling against the other for beggar’s crumbs, petty concessions, and neocolonial positions.

III. Ours is a National Liberation Movement Rooted in Class Struggle – This is Indigenous-Raza Internationalism.

This struggle is first and foremost one waged against 500 years of national oppression by the settler-colonial states that have imposed on top of us. Our goal is complete self-determination and freedom from oppressor nations. Over the course of this historic struggle, nationalism has consistently emerged as one of the leading forces in unifying oppressed people to combat the source and symptoms of colonial oppression. Indigenous nationalism has been the ideology of warriors and strugglers as diverse and geographically removed as Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzáles and Howard Adams.

Like all political movements, indigenous nationalism has gone through a process of evolution and change in response to the conditions of our oppression. Today, in those communities recognized as officially indigenous by the North American settler states, debate is taking place over what form nationalism should take. Well known and respected Mohawk scholar and activist Taiaiake Alfred (as well as many of his contemporaries) argues for a nationalism that emphasizes our actual historical nations, like Cree or Mohawk, whereas Howard Adams, George Manuel and others have long argued for an overarching indigenous nationalism. The former critiques the latter by claiming that any sort of overarching indigenous identity has been created by colonization, and to decolonize means to resist that kind of homogenization. The latter argues back, looking to the examples of the national liberation struggles in Africa and elsewhere, by pointing out the ways in which unity of the oppressed is essential and basing identity on smaller units plays into attempts by the colonizer to divide and rule.

The true solution though lies somewhere in between these two. Colonial oppression has forged us into one unified entity for the most part, whether it is called Indian, or “Aboriginal,” or Native, or whatever, and whether or not we choose to like it. This is the material truth. You have to have your head firmly planted in the sand to de

ny this. As such, any struggle for our liberation must be fought as a unified whole, of all Native nations, including of course also Chicano-Mexicanos, Puerto Ricans, Central Americans and South Americans. However, this is not to say that we should not also treasure our diversity – our different cultures, traditions, and languages. This diversity is one of the things that makes our people beautiful, and powerful. Struggling together against oppression as one, as Natives, does not have to mean that we stop being Cree, or Mohawk, or Lakota or Menominee, or Maya, or Mexica or end the project to revitalize and strengthen that which makes all our nations unique. To borrow a phrase from the revolutionary African hip-hop duo Dead Prez: we are one folk – many tribes.

Returning to the original point, throughout the history of North American imperialism and colonialism, it has been the politics of nationalism that have united indigenous people as one in our struggle against terror, poverty, and other forms of oppression. The basic elements and historical commonalities of a nation are what bind us together as a people – culture, economic realities, geography, oppression, and struggle. Of course we would be foolish should we not fully understand that nationalism can lead to reactionary positions and race politics, particularly nationalism within an oppressor nation, for example Nazism and fascism. However the nationalism that can rise within the oppressed nation is, generally speaking, a progressive development, and an effective weapon in the struggle for liberation. This is despite what many anarchists, left communists and other revolutionaries may argue. It is these progressive elements within nationalism that we should uphold.

This progressive nationalism that arises within the oppressed nations is called Revolutionary Nationalism. It is an ideology that calls for the establishment of a socialist society, built on the collective social, economic, and political development of the people, based on our historical, cultural, and present conditions and realities. A socialist society is in fundamental contradiction to capitalism, a system where a small, rich ruling class controls the wealth and power of a nation. Revolutionary Nationalism demands a complete transformation of the social, economic, and political institutions that presently form the basis of our oppression. It is Revolutionary Nationalism that must define the struggle for the total transformation of our lives – from a colonized and dependent people, to a life and future of a truly liberated and sovereign nation in the world community.

Further, as was noted before, we must recognize that our struggle is intrinsically linked, through history and practice, to the movements of all of the oppressed and colonized people throughout this continent. Therefore the term Indigenous-Raza Internationalism best describes what should be our political relationship to the rest of this continent, and by extension the world. Our obligation as we strive to build towards revolution is to recognize the right of all oppressed people to self-determination – to uphold the principle of continental emancipation of our people. In our work we will struggle to carry forth the fight on all fronts to bring about a democratic and socialist unified Turtle Island.

Finally, our continent’s history parallels and intersects with the experiences of Africa, Asia, and Oceania. Our histories are burdened by our common experience of suffering under conquest, slavery, exploitation, and military intervention, as well as a shared challenge to win freedom. It is our duty to recognize these ties and our common enemies, and support all peoples struggling for self-determination and against imperialism.

IV. Dialectical and Historical Materialism Should Form the Basis of Our Strategies and Tactics.

As indigenous people we are overwhelmingly a working class people, and from our labour, along with that of all other oppressed workers – Africans, in Africa as well as elsewhere, the people of the Middle East, South Asia etc. – all wealth is generated. While some regressive and reactionary forces within our movement, such as Cultural Nationalists, who are essentially Native capitalists, may try to convince us otherwise, the truth is we share far more in common with other members of the working class than we do with rich Natives. As such, the essence of our movement is one of class war. Our enemy, and the enemy of all working class people is the ruling class.

Because of this, we must base our ideology, and the process of its evolution, on the material historical basis of all things and situations, as well as the material conditions within which our people find ourselves. The philosophy of Dialectical Materialism is a theoretical tool to help us look at the world without metaphysical or subjective limitations. The concept refers to “dialectics”, which is the study, understanding, and response to the many elements and conditions in the universe that constantly effect and impact each other. Sometimes these contradictory elements combine to form new a element. This new element at times has characteristics of the old elements, but in itself is different and new. With dialectics we can better understand social, economic, and political questions as part of a dynamic, flexible, ever changing universe. Looking at our struggle for liberation in this way, we can better understand how all things constantly contradict, and evolve into new forms. Dialectical materialism combines dialectics with philosophical materialism, providing an overall perspective that combines, defines, and provides an order to other sciences – biology, chemistry, social sciences, etc.

Historical Materialism is the theoretical tool of dialectical materialism as it is applied to the history of humanity, evolution, and the development of colonialism, capitalism, imperialism, and neoliberalism. Together dialectical and historical materialism are essential to understanding our current reality, as well as forming strategies and tactics for our liberation.

A people’s capacity to create and reproduce our means of existence through the development of knowledge, technology, culture, economic activity, and governments to serve our collective interests is the driving force of human dignity. All social progress and meaningful development are a direct result of working class struggle. As such, in a world where opposites and contradictions are constantly affecting and influencing each other, it is the leading role of working class people to transform the very conditions of life, and not just for us, but all people. We should be dialectical in our approach to political work, and strive to constantly evolve and balance our theory and practice, and meet the challenges posed to us by colonialism, capitalism, and imperialism.

What We Need

I. Self-Determination, Liberation, and a Unified Continent.

Indigenous Chicano activists stand in solidarity with other oppressed people and nations threatened by U.S. imperialism

Our primary goal is the decolonization of our people. The means to this end is the advancement of self-determination, which can best be defined as collectively determining our history; economically controlling our destiny; controlling our social development by self-determining our culture, education and language; independently developing the content and direction of our political orientation; and controlling the political institutions that make the laws that govern us.

We must recognize the indigenous peoples of this continent as social actors and subjects of history. We must demand the self-determination of indigenous identities, cultures, spiritualities, customs, and languages on par with all national entities and interests. More precisely, these rights include the following: Self-affirmation as the right to proclaim existence, and be recognized as such; Self-definition as the right to determine who is a part of the group and define territorial limits; Self-organization as the right to develop and enforce laws parallel to the broader laws of other nations; and Self-government as the right to define and administer political affairs parallel to the broader procedures of other nations.

Any talk of decolonization that does not include these demands, which mean the fundamental deconstruction of the colonial system, can only lead in one direction, and that is greater assimilation of our people. While some, like our band councils and “chiefs” push so-called “self-government” as a realization of decolonization, the truth is that the demand for greater political and economic power by these groups and individuals only serves to enrich them and assimilate the rest of us even further.

Finally, if we are truly to defeat colonialism throughout all of Turtle Island, we must seek to advance the liberation and, ultimately, the unification of this continent under a revolutionary movement, immediately accountable to the people. This Confederacy of Turtle Island, to put it one way, would replace capitalism, patriarchy, earth destruction, empire and conquest with a society based on freedom, justice, equality and the fundamental worth of all living things. Furthermore, this movement must be committed to the liberation and unification of all oppressed peoples throughout the world. This end it must be in permanent solidarity with all oppressed people all across the planet, until the struggle is won through the end and the last vestiges of imperialism are defeated.

II. Participatory Democracy and Socialism.

Capitalism is our enemy. The solution is revolutionary socialism

We must strive to overturn the current Euro-American bourgeois definition of democracy as being exclusively limited to electoral procedure. Derived from our ancient traditions, our democracy is a participatory democracy, one that transcends narrow concepts of citizenship and imposed political borders. We must actively reject any and all governments, laws, national borders, and definitions of citizenship that deny us full enjoyment of our human and democratic rights.

We must demand freedom of communication and information. Control of knowledge and information is one of the keys to maintaining effective control over a colonized people. Through the domination of all means of transferring knowledge and ideas such as schools, newspapers, television, radio, etc., colonial institutions dictate and manipulate the ways of thinking and acting amongst ourselves. Without understanding our true history, culture, and identity, self-determination is impossible. This is why one of the most pressing tasks confronting our movement is making people aware of the basis of our oppression, to develop national, continental and international consciousness, and through this consciousness concretize a revolutionary process to the masses.

We must also seek social and economic justice, and defend the collective interests of the poor and working people of this continent. Fundamental to our independence is the development of an economic and social order that will see the masses of indigenous people as owners of the products of our own labour, and exercising collective control of the economy. We are victims of the common enemies of all working people in the world – capitalism and imperialism. It is for this reason that we must have a revolutionary organization, fighting for the liberation of our lands, our class interests, and on the side of all oppressed peoples. Under a unified, democratic continent we will share the human, intellectual, scientific, military, medical, and natural resources of the nations of our continent, and raise the quality of life for all people. We seek to advance political unity among the international working class, and will never unite with the bourgeois capitalists, or their neo-colonialists agents.

The eventual goal of this movement should be the radical de-centralization of power in society, namely through the deconstruction of the state. Autonomous power will be wielded at the local level – community and region, as well as the tribal nation. Such a society will also be classless. It would be the true fulfilment of communism.

III. The Absolute and Unequivocal Liberation of Women, Queer & Trans Folk.

Women warriors unite to fight!

Fundamental to any revolutionary organization and conscious social movement is the absolute economic, political and cultural equality between men and women, and between people of various gender expressions and sexual identities. Prior to colonization our societies were much more liberating for women, queers and trans people (read up on the traditional institution of the Two-Spirited people if you doubt me), and as such the subjugation of women, queers and trans people is a major part of the overall oppression of our people under capitalism and imperialism. There exists a more intense oppression of indigenous women and queer & trans people – exploited and repressed not only by class and nation, but also by gender and sexual identity. True liberation cannot take place until all sectors of our people are free.

Our women have always felt the most brutal effects and tactics of colonial violence. In a 2004 Canadian Native women reported rates of violence, including domestic violence and sexual assault, 3.5 times higher than non-Indigenous women. Studies suggest that assaults against Indigenous women are not only more frequent, they are also often particularly brutal. According to another survey, young First Nations women are five times more likely than other women to die as a result of violence. The picture is not much different in the United States.

Violence against our sisters has also not always been quite as direct. With the onset of the European invasion of 1492 came European and Judeo-Christian social norms and structures, which were, and still are, based on a rigid patriarchal order. Sexism, male chauvinism, homophobia and heternormativity, which were more or less foreign to our people before contact, were forced upon us by the brutal Christianizing mission of the European conquerors, and was later ingrained even more so into our societies through the experience of forced assimilation, especially the church and state residential and boarding schools. Today they have firmly been incorporated until our societies, to much ill effect. Macho approaches to warriorism in the original Red and Chicano Power movements drove women, queer and trans brothers and sisters away from the movements. Within the intimate setting of our own families and communities, queers and trans people, who were once widely accepted, even held to be of sacred importance, have been forced into the closet, and have suffered, unable to express their true selves, and love whoever they wish to love.

However, we must recognize that these are bourgeois traits. They must be completely rejected and overturned for any of us to win freedom. Subjugation of women, queers and trans people is an integral part of the current socio-economic order imposed on our people, and we must actively combat sexism and homophobia in all its forms and manifestations, both within our movement and throughout our communities. Revolutionary examples from people’s struggles in Chile, Cuba, El Salvador, México, Nicaragua, and Vietnam educate us that women’s liberation is an essential part of national and class liberation. We must insist that without the full participation and leadership of revolutionary women, queers and trans people , there will be no victory in revolutionary struggle.

IV. Environmental Emancipation.

Native activists stand up for the rights of Mother Earth

Capitalism and imperialism has brought with them more than just class society, patriarchy, racism and national oppression, and empire, it has also brought about the greatest ecological crisis that we have ever faced. Not just indigenous people, but the whole of mankind, and indeed most life as we know it are threatened by this crisis. If capitalism is left unchecked the earth, the common mother of all, will be damaged, perhaps even beyond recognition, and the poor masses of the world will be left to pick up the pieces.

With this very real, very possible, scenario in mind, as a revolutionary movement for the liberation of indigenous people, we must defend the air, soil, and water of our lands. The correct approach to the struggle against environmental degradation has always been best summed up by the slogan of the Chicano Power Movement – “The Solution to Pollution is Revolution”. Our ancestors understood the importance of a balance between humans and our environment. As such, environmental justice is a part of our struggle against colonialism, capitalism and imperialism.

One of the consequences of European conquest, colonization, and imperialism is the transformation the environment into a commodity to be exploited for increased returns. This has propelled the massive exploitation of our natural resources, and forms the historical basis of the current disequilibrium between humans and nature. Furthermore, neoliberalism is only capable of promoting the interests of transnational corporations, and these have proven capable of destroying the planet in their insatiable quest for profit. As with every crisis born from capitalism and imperialism, capitalists reap wealth in direct proportion to environmental degradation, and poor people suffer from increasingly frequent catastrophic loss.

Only a continental revolutionary struggle can, and must, bring an end to the poisoning of the atmosphere, deforestation, contamination of the oceans, and the other causes of ecological destruction. Only a socialist world economy can provide a socio-economic system where the accumulation of wealth is not the driving force of society, but instead prioritizes life with dignity and justice. Through the construction of a society that values all life, we must turn back the damage to the environment, and prevent the further destruction of our planet.

V. A Revolutionary Organization for Indigenous Liberation.

Warriors stand ready to defend our people

In political struggle, individualism is a bourgeois egotistical trait. We must raise the shortcomings and contradictions to those who profess being active in political work without accountability to an organization. Central to this point is the combating of liberalism, which in our movement represents itself as unprincipled and opportunistic struggle. Liberalism stems from selfishness, and places personal interests above the interests of the collective movement. We must uphold the importance of engaging in constructive criticism and self-criticism, as a way of identifying our weaknesses and shortcomings. We must adhere to the principle of collective decision-making within our organizations, and in our daily work. Only through this process can we achieve organizational, practical, and ideological unity.

It is of paramount importance that all indigenous liberation forces establish lines of communication and principled working relations. Without networking and coalitions we are wasting resources, duplicating work, and missing opportunities to effectively address pressing issues in a collective fashion, or from a position of strength. While our organizations may have different strategies and tactics, it is essential that we display the political maturity to put aside minor contradictions and work together. This is especially important when the attacks against our communities are of such intensity that our failure to respond collectively translates into more victories for our enemies and heightening the oppression of our people. Adherence to previously agreed upon principles of unity is especially important within coalition work. When it is necessary to work with organizations representing other movements, the resulting coalition work must be based on concrete objectives, mutual respect, principled association, and recognition of each other’s autonomy and right to determine the character and content of our own struggle.

Since unity building does require compromises, it is necessary for us and other revolutionary forces to approach any relationship with a clear, scientific understanding based on the facts that our fundamental goal is not for civil rights or mere reforms, but for an end to imperialism, and the advancement of indigenous self-determination.

In many parts of North America indigenous people are now once again beginning to form the majority of the population. Including brothers and sisters from Central and South America, we now total more than 50 million people within the current political borders of the North American settler states. Yet, even with these numbers, our present political condition forces us to exist in a state of virtual powerlessness. As Revolutionary Nationalists and Indigenous-Raza Internationalists, it is our intention to free all of our people from terror and oppression, and therefore we must involve every progressive element of our community in the struggle for self-determination. Only with a well organized, mobilized, and politicized people, will we develop the power necessary to achieve liberation. A critical aspect of this point is the need to channel our people’s energy and resources into a disciplined revolutionary organization.

In the Spirit of Total Resistance—Smash Capitalism!

Long Live the Class Warrior!