Campaign Hype vs Day to Day Resistance

Bruce Power delays Nuclear Waste Shipment to consult with First Nations

By: Johnny Hawke                                                                                               

Monday March28 2011 

In a press release issued Monday, Bruce Power said it would delay the shipment of nuclear waste through the Great Lakes in order to more fully communicate with First Nations and community groups.

“The important thing is we do this right, not that we do it quickly,” said Bruce Power CEO Duncan Hawthorne in the release.

The “Anishinabek Nation” incorporated under the Union of Ontario Indians which represents 39 Indian Act governed communities across Ontario has made it clear through their spokesperson, “Grand Council Chief” Patrick Madahbee,

“We will do everything in our power to prevent the Ontario and Federal governments and the nuclear power industry from using our precious waterways as a garbage disposal route,”

“It is contrary to Supreme Court decisions, our aboriginal and treaty rights, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the laws of Nature.”

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples says that States must take effective measures to ensure that no storage or disposal of hazardous materials shall take place in the lands or territories of Indigenous peoples without their free, prior, and informed consent.  It also affirms the right of Indigenous peoples to conserve and protect the environment and productive capacity of their territories.

The United Nations reports that more than one billion people around the world lack access to safe drinking water, including over 100 First Nation communities in Canada. Globally, two million tons of sewage and industrial and agricultural waste are poured into the world’s waters every day, and at least 1.8 million children under five years of age die every year from water-related diseases, or one every 20 seconds. More people die as a result of polluted water than are killed by all forms of violence, including wars.

Recently this past Sunday approximately 25 train cars were scattered after a CN freight train derailed near Cobourg Ontario. The train was carrying Jet fuel. The evacuation of citizens around the area was reduced on Monday.

With the knowledge that trains carry hazardous material everyday passing through our territories and do derail what makes one issue recieve more attention then others ?

It’s good our people  especially INAC Chiefs are voicing up against destruction of the earth and awakening their warrior spirit even though it may be moderate it still is a start but at the same time things are happening day to day that needs immediate urgent attention and action.

I find that once a campaign to rally around a situation gains media hype it seems everyone jumps on the band wagon and shouts the slogans but before and after a hyped up campaign there are just as many other dire situations out there happening daily that need the same attention and hype that other campaigns get. Just as this recent train derailment vs nuclear shipment. Don’t wait for the hype to make change be a leader and make some noise.

This also brings me to share some relevant observations I have noticed when we as active people organize to make change.

I along with many others who were of Euro Canadian and Anishinabe heritage were successful in stopping the construction of a Dump that would’ve contaminated waters in the territories we share. While it seemed we saved the water in reality we just sent the garbage elsewhere.

I stood beside many farmers to stop this dump and realized that what they had to loose was of capital loss. Many farmers who I stood beside use pesticides which effects underground water aqufier just as the dump would have. Those pesticides they use to protect their crop kills insects which we need in other parts of the ecosystem. The type of farming they are doing also harms the integrity of the soil and the earth. The food they produce is not for themselves but for the masses which is also over producing and demanding more from the earth.

Though both groups stood united I sit here two years later looking at a picture on my wall of that illusion of a success and also see the garbage waiting to be picked up outside my home and I ask myself did we really protect the water. Did we really win the fight?

Are we a just cause in our opposition of the shipment of Nuclear Waste through our territories when we continue to use nuclear energy and marginalize other daily threats to our territories?

I am struggling with ridding my alcoholism but I don’t protest against the bootlegger in my community for my hangover. When we as a commuity decide to kick our bad habbits then the bootlegger will be out of business.

Is our Nation to Nation Relationship with the British Crown really a Dealer to Junkie Relationship? It seems that way when our alleged leaders buy and continue to use what we are being dealt.

How can we expect to gain our Autonomy and be treated like a separate Nation if we keep utilizing a colonial way of governing ourselves, giving authority to their justice system and utilizing their laws imposed on our Nation which we use to defend our rights under duty to consult expectations?

Its like the same thing when we tell our selves to vote for change in our oppressors elections. We have Uncle Tomhawk Chiefs telling us to vote so we can make change but yet they harping on some Nation to Nation Relationship. If our people tell us to vote for our oppressors then I challenge you to elect Stephen Harper to run for Grand Council Chief of Union of Ontario Indians.When we vote we are shitting on our Nation to Nation Relatioship just as we are when we expect some duty to consult giving authority to some modern agreement that is created to extinguish our original agreement. We already have agreements in place. We don’thave to make new ones or become involved in ther system to be recognized.

The Illusion of Duty to Consult

The Two Row Wampum which was the basis of the 1764 Niagra Covenant Chain Belt proclaims that we have a Nation to Nation Relationship with the British Crown between our Indigenous Nations of Turtle Island. We won’t govern each other and will respect each others territories.

When today’s Government Funded “Chiefs” acknowledge and refer to the duty to consult under modern agreements, declarations and invalid treaties we are taking bead by bead off of those original wampum agreements that guarantee that we are our own Nations. We have every right to say no, which they have an obligation to follow and here we are crying about we never received a duty to consult under some United Nations Declaration where we are not even represented or our Chiefs are allowed to sit.

Under the illusion of the duty to consult they only have to consult but under 1764 Niagra Treaty they are obligated to follow what was already agreed upon.

The more modern day treaties and agreements we make and refer to is discrediting our own Sovereignty, laws and original agreements. All we have to do is uphold our original agreement, 1764 Niagra Treaty.

This agreement was established to end Anishinabe War Chief Pontiac’s campaign which was forcing the British off of Turtle Island and was gaining success. If these original Nation to Nation agreements are not respected then Pontiacs campaign can easily be restarted again in these revolutionary times.

Don’t let these invalid Chiefs represent you under the false illusion of Nationhood and know the difference from campaign hype to day to day resistance and resurgence. This lifestyle is not a fad that comes and goes built on media hype, people have fought and died choosing to live this lifestyle. This lifestyle is more than a Facebook status, media hype and teeshirt.

While blockades and other defensive strategies are used to protect and get our voices heard, it is unplugging from the capatalist system that reallt makes the change. 

After a blockade, protest and rally when every other campaign is over we tend to go back to our banks, hydro, coca cola, budweiser, gasoline, wood products,cities, reserves, candian laws and everything  we fight against and we still remain plugged into the capitalist system as a product consuming products destroying ourselves and the earth and the false illusion that we won is created

Know the difference between campaign hype and day to day resistance. Don’t let our struggle and resurgence become “drive by revolution”

Nii Kaana Giina

The Politics of Humility

By Johnny Hawke

I never belonged with the “in-crowd” but have always tried my best to fit in and have always seemed to find myself breaking all the rules of conformity. So this is my rave and rant of the Politics of Humility.

The Beginning

When I was five years old I entered a race in my community’s fall fair. It was a race to see who the fastest runner in all age groups was. The distance wasn’t very far for my age group but I managed to find myself doing somersaults all the way to the finish line and win the race. I was disqualified because I didn’t run. I won the race in reality doing what I did but the judges who wanted to make the others in the group who followed the rules feel better disqualified me. This was the beginning of my relationship with humility and my experience with not running with the rest of the crowd.

In “Traditional” Circles

In adolescence I found myself looking for my Anishinabe Identity from people who helped to revive our culture back within my community. I found and even to this day I find a lot of ego, belittlement, and hypocrisy with the majority of these people who are preaching the good red road. I acknowledge the few who walk their talk though but the majority of walking ego’s make me walk away from this crowd.

I choose to drink off and on and am struggling to give it the final boot. I know alcohol contradicts who we are and brings out the worst in us. However these same people who preach our teachings make it known to me that in some way I am less an Anishinabe because I sometimes stagger down the good red road. Most times these people have walked in my moccasins but now are walking amongst the clouds and forget how it is to struggle.

I find that it is who has the most eagle feathers, who’s been to more ceremonies, who knows and who is related to who, who is in a lodge, who is a sundancer, peyote taker, sweatlodge maker, who is the best drum group, dancer, is what really matters than actually walking our teachings.

So today I practice my spirituality on my own because I can’t conform to a “lodge” or “spiritual elitism.” I think my alcoholism has actually helped me to remain humble and down to earth and spiritually connected in these youthful years of mine. Maybe one day I will become spiritually enlightened and join the club but today is not a good day to die.

In my HIGH school Daze

Trying to fit in with the “in crowd” because running alone can make you feel lonely at times I found myself in high school getting high down the trail and missing a lot of school. I was immersed within the “crew” and was in with the crowd until I couldn’t conform to their expectations and they sold me out.

Something happened where we got pinched and someone within our group ratted each other out for holding and the blame got put on the only “brown guy” within the circle. I got sold out by the “in crowd”

I was also being pushed out of the circle because I couldn’t conform because I didn’t have wheels; enough weed and couldn’t get in to bars. I couldn’t conform because I wasn’t a privileged rich white boy. I’d meet up again with the privileged white kids in other circles.

I eventually went back to running on my own and the last years of highschool I became the student with the highest grades in academic classes. The strictest elite teacher of our school featured and I hate to admit this, she featured me as an example of a well written academic student amongst her “preppy” stuck-up privileged white kids who always received good marks. She asked me to read my work to her other students from other classes.

At our graduation I was asked to sing an honor song with my hand drum.  This was something rare where a First Nation student was invited to participate in Graduation Ceremony, so this was a big deal. My friend just because he was “First Nation” wanted to join in with me on the song. I accepted because he was my bro. However he didn’t know the song and he didn’t practice with me before hand and I felt he was just there for tokenism. He ruined the song because he didn’t know it and sung off beat and made up the stuff he didn’t know while I struggled trying to sing it without getting thrown off.

To me this was a big deal of my accomplishments. I was an academic, recognized and asked to participate in our graduation ceremony representing our culture. This honor song truly meant something to me to sing. To my bro it was just a chance to get up and be singled out in tokenism. To the other grads and their parents, teachers and staff, the song didn’t matter because it sounded “First Nations” authentic. The true spirit of that song wasn’t invoked but that didn’t matter. I had to suck it up and please everyone else. It had become a show off, no explanation of the song, just a show off of ethnicity.

I learned a lot in these years and still today struggle with understanding Humility and trying to please everyone to their expectations.

Are the Outcasts really the “In-Crowd”? Humility in Activism

Anishinabek never had Martyrdom or Messiahs. We had what anthropologists call “trickster” figures which gave us teachings on how not to be. We had great people but never made a religion to worship them.

Being immersed within my culture be it ceremonies, fishing, living off the land and fighting oppression standing up to injustice has always been within my community and family. It runs in my blood. Speaking up, fighting, having a big heart, being independent and a provider is a trait instilled in me from my dad and mom.

I have always been and continue to be passionate and active for the well being of people, rights, community and the earth. I have never called my self an activist, politician, or whatever but have been called many things and I’ll leave it up to people what they want to call me. The one thing I can call myself is Kai Kai Kons, Anishinabe, Maang Doodum and a Friend.

In my journeys these last few years I have been meeting and organizing within various circles and groups who are of like mind.

In the spirit of my teachings I enhance my learning through unity and am fascinated with all the “isms”, “ists”, “tions” that help to diversify this colonized rez boy’s mind.

I also find that these solidarity groups and other allies of like mind are very reminiscent of high school which accompanies itself with the same paranoia associated with smoking weed I did back in them high school days. I am starting to feel déjà vu all over again maaan. I find a lot of classism and ego within these circles as well.

These ally groups who confess of being the underdog and voice of the oppressed feel very much like the “in-crowd” of high school and the majority are the same privileged white kids I shared joints with back in the day.

I also find that there is a lot of work besides protesting that groups can be doing to help fight the fight. We rally about rights and pollution and destruction but in between occupations, marches and protests we still are plugged into the capitalist system and creating garbage. So this is where I become disillusioned with most groups who are just about labels, names and ego.

I defended myself from some racists and sat in jail for assault two months ago. I didn’t get any parade or rally nor did I expect one it is just a fact of life and many people like me experience this everyday and are not activists and don’t get the parade. We are not in the in-crowd.

I am not a professional activist as some portray themselves to be but I have always fought and will die if I have to for my people our rights and earth. I speak up against injustice and only speak the truth. I am not a criminal so I do not have to act like one or be paranoid. My parents never told me to shut up they encouraged me to have a voice, so I speak freely.

As Anishinabe we are not landless, or without Sovereignty, we are not Canadian.  When I speak freely I feel that I am not compromising direct actions because as a Sovereign Nation we have every right to protect everything within our jurisdiction with out falling victim to paranoia.

At the same time I know the difference from compromising actions to ratting out and selling out as I was by the “white privileged in- crowd” many a times. I know what force the enemy has and I’m sure they know what force we have.

I was born with an identity number for my race, my phone is tapped, cops keep tabs on me but I don’t care for I only speak truth. They have always been doing this to my people who choose to live this kind of lifestyle.

Facebook has become a very useful tool within our “movements” which has united many. Recently a Revolution across the pond in a very harsh monitored oppressed atmosphere has happened.

The people in Egypt discussed very openly how, where, when and why to over throw the dictatorship of their government. Facebook helped to organize their Revolution. But at the same time Revolutions and unity has happened before Facebook as well.

We fight for our freedom and our many platforms where we can enjoy freedom of speech at every protest. So why do some give in to paranoia that we are being monitored? If you tell me to take off the bandanna on the frontlines then let me speak.

I have been warned here and there by some for sharing strategies on actions which occurs on illegally occupied Indigenous territories.

I admit within the past few winter months I myself have become quite the “facebook activist” and I have fallen victim to this craze in posting protest pics and thoughts to please my own ego. Even other people who are not activists this Facebook has created a lot of ego’s.

Like my Alcoholism I can’t drink here and there so eventually Johnny is gonna have to give up Facebook and the Booze all together. It is my addictive personality.  Facebook is an addiction, for some it has become all about me, me, me  and I am starting to go cold turkey.

When looking at some “activist” friends on Facebook these same people who warn me about being too open have tagged each other on protest pictures which they posted and announce their planned actions on an event pages and pose just the same as anyone else.

If we are being monitored and if it is a concern of some then maybe your activism should be left for offline as well.

I have found myself once again joining the in-crowd. I have been working with youth for the month of March which they helped me to remind myself of my 5 year old self. I once was against the computer and my 5 year old self has given me a good swift kick in the ass along with those who warn me that “their watching.” But I don’t really care if they be watching.

I will be returning to what I have always done. For the hip paranoid in-crowd activists I challenged you do to the same and live up to your own ideologies.

Some of us grassroots Indigenous brothers and sisters around these territories will be reviving traditional communication for more secure organizing. Thanks again for the reminder.

If I post anything further online it will be on my blog and will only be stuff that has already been shared or posted publicly by allies.

I am going to delete my “activist” friends and reserve my Facebook for Family and Friends Only and will not involve my work with Facebook for your security and safety.

This is Johnny Signing off…

Enjoy the Race I’m Disqualified

An Indigenous Liberation Manifesto

By Rowland  Tupac’ Keshena of The Speed of Dreams/Red Path Society/ Menominee Nation

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, please read the Who I Am page linked to at the top on this following site

http://bermudaradical.wordpress.com/

Resurgence & Liberation:

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

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 Indians – that is, people who the colonial government says are officially indigenous – into not seeing fellow indigenous people in Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and other from so-called “Latin America” (Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America). Likewise, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans are often unaware of their own indigenous identity. 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.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the debt that this manifesto owes to the revolutionary Indigenous-Raza organization, Union del Barrio, from who it is more or less lifted, though it was subsequently heavily modified, as well as to the work of radical Indian activists, especially Gord Hill.

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 my 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 Latin American, Latino, and 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 was 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, I have opted to use the the phrase “Native” as the identifier for our people (for explanation of this and other terms please check out the Glossaries of Key Terms on this site). I will also use the indigenous derived “Turtle Island” for the name of our continent. I’ve also chosen to maintain Union del Barrio’s original linguistic formulation of “Raza Internationalism.” I know it 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 racism by reactionaries of the North American white nationalist 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 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, in my opinion, 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 deny this. As such, any struggle for our liberation must be fought as a unified whole, of all Native nations. 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. 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.

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 within the oppressed 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 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 and its applied form, Historical Materialism, in this sense 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 and 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 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 race, 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 was also not always 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 Europeans conquerors, and was later ingrained even more so into our societies through the experience of forced assimilation, especially 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 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, though unfortunately many have fallen short when it has come to queer and trans people. 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 have ever faced, and by that I am meaning not just to Natives, but the whole of mankind, and indeed most life as we know it. If capitalism is left unchecked the earth, the common mother of all, will be damaged beyond recognition, the poor masses of the world will be left to pick up the pieces, that is, if we are able to survive.

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 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 climate change. 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 of the Brown Beret organization stand at the 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 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!