by ILPS-Canada Commission in Support of Indigenous People’s Struggles

For many years it has been clear that the struggles of Indigenous people represent a clear threat to Canadian capitalism and its state. Oka (1990), Gustafsen Lake (1995), Ipperwash (1995), Burnt Church (1999), and Caledonia (2006) have become place names symbolizing militant Indigenous resurgence. Each of these direct confrontations over land between the Canadian state and Indigenous people gained national and international attention and served to remind us that a major contradiction within Canada is the struggle of Indigenous people against colonialism.

In recent months, we have seen the birth of Idle No More (INM), a new movement for Indigenous land rights.

INM protests swept across Turtle Island over the past several months. Bridges, railways and highways were blocked, malls and intersections were filled with round dances, hundreds of teach-ins and public meetings took place, and the movement exploded on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. While the protest organizers sought to keep the movement firmly within pacifist boundaries, it is undeniable that INM has opened up new possibilities for resistance.

It is important to note that while the INM movement has captured the popular imagination and inspired a new generation of Indigenous activists and non-native supporters, grassroots traditionalists have long been active in resisting colonialism. Whether continuing to defend Kanonhstaton, the Six Nations reclamation near Caledonia, resisting border authorities in Akewesasne, or in blocking pipeline construction on Unist’ot’en lands in “British Columbia” and countless lesser-known struggles, grassroots Indigenous activists have “Never Been Idle.”

While INM was able to mobilize considerable resistance against Stephen Harper’s legislation, the movement faced significant shortcomings. The first of these came from the movement itself. Because INM was primarily focused around making moral claims and expressly limited itself to pacifism – going so far as to discourage nonviolent direct action such as occupations and blockades – it was going to be inevitably ineffective in struggling against a ruthless government that was deeply set in its ways and unwilling to budge. The Harper government was prepared to let Chief Theresa Spence starve on her hunger strike.

Because none of the actions carried out under the INM banner grew into the kinds of spectacular confrontations seen in Oka, Caledonia or elsewhere, the INM movement was able to fuel pan-Indigenous political consciousness but not repeal the government legislation being protested against. In part, this occurred because of a specific strategy undertaken by police forces to avoid confrontation with protesters and to allow the protest to “burn themselves out”.

Another key factor has been the relative weakness of forces on the Left and throughout other oppressed and exploited communities to connect with the grassroots struggles of Indigenous people. While many non-natives participated in INM activities, the explosion into activity of INM revealed how inadequate the relationships of the left are to those struggling in “Indian country”.

Fortunately, there are some indications that this dynamic is beginning to change. At the October 2012 General Assembly of International League of People’s Struggles (ILPS-Canada) in Toronto, delegates came together from some 20 organizations representing grassroots anti-imperialist forces. What was particularly significant about this conference was the level of participation from Indigenous activists from a variety of different communities and the links that they made with other oppressed and exploited communities fighting the same opponents.

One of the outcomes of the conference was the creation of the ILPS Commission in Support of Indigenous People’s Struggles.  The mandate of the Commission was set to make serious and ongoing connections with Indigenous communities across Turtle Island in order to learn from their struggles, connect with international anti-imperialist struggles, jointly advance campaigns and altogether strengthen a united front against Canadian imperialism and colonialism.

In February 2013, ILPS organizers traveled to northern Ontario Indigenous territories, Savant Lake and Mishkeegomang, home to some members of the Commission.

Gary Wassaykeesic, Mishkeegomang delegate to the ILPS Commission, said:

“I wanted (ILPS organizers) to view some of the housing conditions, the severe overcrowding, the real conditions we live in… So it was a success because (they) came up and visualized everything I talk about… I hope it happens again… There’s a lot of potential now… I don’t think they made a crack in the door, I think (they) opened the door for other people, other organizations to come in and do what ILPS wants to do… And you’re coming into a community where that’s what people need right about now.”

If connections like these can continue to be forged between Indigenous peoples struggles and the grassroots people’s struggles across united within the ILPS and across Canada, then the alliance of anti-colonial and anti-imperialist forces can actually begin to turn the tide of attacks of Canadian colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism against the people.  With greater unity, defeating pieces of legislation like Harper’s Bill C-45 Omnibus bill will be the least of our tasks.

For more about ILPS–Canada, visit: http://www.ilps-canada.ca.

by James Chemose, Eric Omwanda & Owen Sheppard – LCO

In the year 1963, Kenya attained a partial, political independence from the hands of its British colonial masters by both the edge of the sword and political negotiation. For many within Kenya, this was a cherished dream come true after many years of labour and sacrifice: freedom from the colonial government, which forced Kenyans to carry identity papers called kipande, engaged them in forced labour, alienated them from their lands, and paid low wages and salaries to black Africans, just to mention a few abuses.

From the early days of British imperialism in Kenya, communities resisted this invasion and abuse in unique ways.

The Giriama community of the coastal region was one of the first to rebel against the British. This group showed enormous bravery and strategic acumen through the guidance of their leader Mekatilili wa Menza, a woman who spearheaded their guerrilla campaign against colonial rule between 1913 and 1914. Despite slowing the progress of colonialism at a crucial moment when the balance of forces did not clearly favour imperialism, Mekatilili was eventually captured in 1914 and taken to Western Province, where she was assassinated.

Other elements within indigenous communities opted to collaborate with the colonialists. Settlers and missionaries often tricked local leaders by offering them presents, such as a bicycle that was offered to King Mumias of the Wanga in exchange for his cooperation. These early comprador elements greatly smoothed the way for theft and militarization of land and resources.

Settlers soon controlled a sufficient base to occupy the land, confiscate livestock and other resources from indigenous peoples, and appropriate or import the capital necessary to begin building inland cities. Kenya’s capital Nairobi was established in 1899 as a supply depot along the new East African railway system built to hasten resource extraction from interior areas of the continent.

As colonialism reached maturity, indigenous people were increasingly denied the right to grow cash crops such as tea and coffee, these industries being placed under strict settler control. Indeed, settlers took over much of the fertile land and left Africans with less productive areas. The British occupation of Kenya’s Central Highlands, where favourable climatic conditions allowed for European-style farming and the absence of endemic malaria, was so intensive that the region became known as the “White Highlands”.

Necessarily, this process of settlement caused mass displacement of indigenous people. This and the machinations of colonial divide-and-rule policy stoked so-called “tribal” rivalries that continue to simmer today. Far from a clash of cultures, these tensions stem from ongoing issues of land appropriation.

In fact, the expulsion of subsistence farmers from their lands and the complete, imposed transformation of the economic system in most communities created a class system. Farmers became indentured labourers in rural areas, or members of the new urban proletariat. Inevitably, this created exactly the conditions of impoverishment, class solidarity, and organization needed for the coming independence struggle.

By the 1950s, numbers of trade unionists and freedom fighters had joined the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), which became known as the Mau Mau movement. Mau Mau was a guerrilla army under the leadership of Stanley Mathenge and Dedan Kimathi, the objective of which was to harass the colonialists off the land. According to Ogot and Ochieng’ in their book Decolonization and Independence in Kenya, members of Mau Mau and their allies set aside ethnic differences incited and heightened through colonialism, instead drawing on solidarity against their common imperialist enemy. In fact, although the Mau Mau movement largely drew its membership from the Kikuyu ethnic group, Luo people calling themselves Onegos also formed a Mau Mau group to fight alongside them. (p40)

Many Mau Mau militants were killed in brutal repression and reprisals including RAF bombing raids and civilian concentration camps not unlike those the British had recently liberated in the fascist-held Europe of WWII.

Ultimately Britain’s superior military resources exhausted the capacities of the armed resistance. But the fighting had also sapped the colonial government’s resources. The administration realized it would be economical to release the the Kenya colony into the hands of moderate African independence activists such as Jomo Kenyatta. Trained in the UK as a lawyer, Kenyatta successfully presented himself as the civilized alternative to armed struggle. In return for guaranteeing the undisrupted flow of capital, he was permitted to become the first president of an independent Kenya.

Unfortunately, despite the Uhuru (Independence) government’s pledges of harambee (“let’s pull together”) and “African Socialism”, full measures were not taken to build an equal and democratic society. Public control over the economy, including vital services like transportation and telecommunications, was not protected. Public assets were gradually sold to foreign-based companies more interested in making profits for European shareholders than serving the needs of people. Issues left over from the colonial period, such as uneven infrastructure development and land distribution, were never remedied.

All these factors have worsened social inequality following independence, and opened the door to continued ethnic tensions often incited by politicians. In 2007, this sort of political incitement along ethnic lines resulted in rampant horizontal violence, characterized as a “war”, following the general elections. A thousand were killed in fighting and approximately 600,000 internally displaced.

Now, with another General Election just around the corner on 04 March, it remains to be seen whether the dispossessed of Kenya will remember their tradition of resistance to exploitation and stand united in the face of those politicians who mediate public dissent against the demands of foreign and local capital. The many ongoing “peace campaigns” in poor and working-class areas of Nairobi rarely develop beyond sloganeering, and certainly do not place a class analysis at the centre of the electoral violence issue.

It is ironic that those who desire peace in Kenya might do well to think on the words of one of its chief historical detractors, the very Winston Churchill who served as British Prime Minister through much of the Mau Mau war: study history.

Resist the Criminalization of Indigenous Land Defenders!

by Laura Lepper

For information about the March 19 court support for Francine “Flower” Doxtator click this link.

In March and July 2013, two Six Nations women Francine “Flower” Doxtator and Theresa “Toad” Jamieson will be dragged through the Canadian courts once again for their defense of their nations’ lands. These women, along with other Six Nations land defenders, have consistently maintained that the Canadian courts do not have jurisdiction over Haudenosaunee peoples.

As these Haudenosaunee land defenders face the courts, they assert that the courts violates both the Two Row Wampum treaty and the rightful law – the Great Law of Peace – of the stolen land on which the courthouse stands.  Toad stressed on December 12th, 2012 to the courts: “I don’t accept your law…See this Two Row wampum flag? There’s supposed to be separate ruling.”

The charges against Flower and Toad stem from the provocations of anti-Native rights activist Gary McHale and the Ontario Provincial Police on the reclaimed land of Kanonhstaton located just outside of Caledonia, Ontario.  Kanonhstaton means “the protected place” in Kanienkehaka, the Mohawk nation’s language.

In 2006, Haudenosaunee people of Six Nations of the Grand River Territory reclaimed land in “dispute” for more than 150 years in order to stop development of a Caledonia subdivision on stolen land.

In reaction to the reclamation, Gary McHale and his followers, under the name of “Canadian Advocates for Charter Equality” (CANACE) set about a political movement against “native lawlessness,” “land claim terrorism,” and “race-based policing.” CANACE played a leading role in trying to establish a “Caledonia Militia” to stop land defenders.

Throughout the past year, several land defenders have faced charges and legal restrictions that have kept them from the reclaimed land of Kanonhstaton. Several of these charges have come as a result of provocations stemming from McHale’s incursion into Kanonhstaton.  On February 18th, 2012, escorted by OPP officers, McHale instigated conflict by marching towards the house on the reclaimed land; and on July 7th, McHale tried to grab onto land defender Sean Toulouse to place him under “citizen’s arrest.” As Toulouse pulled back, McHale called for the OPP to charge Toulouse with assault, which the OPP did.  This whole act can be seen on a YouTube video posted by McHale’s organization.

Throughout September 2012, McHale and his followers repeated this charade in order to criminalize more land defenders. Gary McHale was recently nominated by the Canadian Taxpayer’s Federation and awarded a Queen’s Jubilee Medal.

As part of a campaign to resist the racist criminalization of land defenders and the fight for Indigenous land rights and sovereignty as asserted by the Two Row Wampum, the CUPE 3903 First Nations Solidarity Working Group (Toronto), the Two Row Society (Toronto), Friends of Kanonhstaton (Niagara) and Grand River Indigenous Solidarity (Kitchener-Waterloo) organize a strong supportive presence each time that Flower and Toad face the courts.

Criminalizing land defenders, disobeying treaties and violating Indigenous land rights is essential to the vested interests of the Canadian state to remove all obstacles to the exploitation of Mother Earth and her people.  McHale’s actions attempt to further pave the way towards this goal.

Uniting our struggles in defense of Indigenous land rights and the Two Row treaty builds powerful resistance to this goal of capitalist exploitation. Building a supportive force at each court date is one part of the relationship building, education and actions of resistance necessary to build the movement.

Join us for a rally, round dance and court support for Flower on March 19th at the Cayuga courthouse, and later in July 2013 for Toad.

About the Author: Laura Lepper is a non-Indigenous member of the Two Row Society, based on Haudenosaunee territory in Brantford, Ontario.

by Giibwanisi

The occasion of the 200-year anniversary of the War of 1812 has brought Tecumseh back into the spotlight. The Tecumseh that many Canadians have been presented with is a great native leader who fought for the British Crown and helped save Canada from the Americans. This victor’s image of history is presented with little detail about what Tecumseh and the great alliance of Indigenous nations he led actually fought for.

Tecumseh (March 1768 – October 5, 1813) was born near the Chillicothe, located in what is now known as Old Town, Ohio. His father Pucksinwah was the head of the Kispolotha clan, and was murdered by an American hunting party when Tecumseh was only six years old, leaving him to be raised by the Shawnee and guided by his older brother.

When Tecumseh was born, a great meteor was seen streaking across the sky. This meteor was recognized to have great significance and was called the Panther Spirit by the old men. Tecumseh’s father Pucksinwah gifted him with his name Tecumseh, meaning “Panther Across the Sky”.

At age eight Tecumseh was already exhibiting the characteristics of a great leader, and by the spring of 1783 he took part in his first battle against the whites. He continued to travel across the continent, inspiring many nations and gaining recognition as more than just a magnificent warrior, but was also a political statesman, a humanitarian, a visionary, an incredible orator, and to some a prophet.

The Shawnee, like many of the northwest nations, realized that their total elimination was imminent if they did not resist the invading nations (United States and British Canada), with their flood of frontiersmen invading their lands. Tecumseh concluded that the only possible method of opposing the advancement of invading white settlers was to successfully obtain the cooperation of all the Native Nations to act with one heart and one mind.

Over the course of a decade, Tecumseh travelled throughout Turtle Island, giving speeches that inspired the Delaware, Haudenosaunee, Wyandotts, Potawatomies, Wendakes, Ottawas, Chippewas, Winnebegos, Foxes, Sacs, Menominees, Lakota, Mandans, Cheyennes, Natchez, Choctaws, Creeks, Seminoles, Chickasaws, Alabamas, Biloxis, and Cherokees. He even met with many nations usually considered traditional enemies. Tecumseh stood strong and confident proclaiming: “Brush the slavery from your eyes and create your new power, your new society.”

Tecumseh never entered into any treaty negotiations and openly condemned those who did. In one such instance with American Governor William Henry Harrison, Tecumseh said, “How can we have confidence in the white people? When Jesus Christ came on earth, you killed him and nailed him to the cross.”

As the Americans and British were set to return to war in 1812, Tecumseh chose the lesser of two evils and allied his cause and supporters with the British.

Although he aligned with the British, he maintained a vision of an alternative society, a society where all Native Nations would come together, creating a civilization distinct from that of the white settlers. This was to be a vision where an extensive use of land would be shared by all Native peoples, solidifying their self-determination and maintaining ways of life in balance with Mother Earth.

The enemy that Tecumseh fought were the leadership of the white American settlers, which have since materialized into the superpower known as the United States of America, the leading imperialist force in the world today. This force wages war against nations all across the world in all aspects of life – environmental, social, physical, political and so on. The defeat of Tecumseh’s alliance only opened the way for the colonization of peoples all across the world.

Tecumseh’s temporary alliance with the British proved fatal after he was betrayed in battle. Although Tecumseh wanted to take a stand against American forces, he was encouraged to retreat to the Thames River where his forces would receive a full provision of winter supplies. Once on the Thames, General Henry Proctor promised to stand with Tecumseh, but Proctor and the other redcoats cowardly retreated, leaving the native forces to fight alone. On October 5th, 1813, Tecumseh was laid to rest in an unmarked grave. One can only wonder how different our continent would be today if Tecumseh and his alliance had survived and fulfilled its vision of an independent alliance of native nations.

At the bicentenary of Tecumseh’s death in battle, the potential to rebuild Tecumseh’s alliance not only remains, but is strengthened by the fact that many settlers and other newcomers are also under attack by capitalism. We can and must build on Tecumseh’s vision by strengthening the alliance between native nations, while also expanding it to include the unification of all nations from all directions, for the land and its people.

Giibwanisi is a founding member of the Anishinaabe Confederacy to Invoke our Nationhood (ACTION) and Oshkimaadziig Unity Camp, a land reclamation within the occupying ‘Awenda Provincial Park’ two hours north of Toronto.

by Jesse M. Zimmerman

Successive Conservative governments led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper have moved to make Canada an “energy superpower.” As a result, Alberta’s tar sands have become central to Canada’s economy.

The tar sands are a massive patch of submerged oil, totaling 140,800 square kilometers. Extracting petroleum from the tar sands requires a lengthy and expensive process that uses a large amount of fresh water and ejects an enormous amount of greenhouse gases.

Needless to say, the tar sands can cause irreversible damage to the planet. Indeed, as Dr. James Hansen, a NASA scientist, said last year: “If Canada proceeds, and we do nothing, it will be game over for the climate.” Yet, the government is currently planning to expand the tar sands project by building pipelines across Canada in order to export the petroleum to international markets.

One of the proposed pipelines is the “Northern Gateway,” which runs from Northern Alberta to the Pacific Coast of Kitimat in British Columbia. Many organizations and First Nations communities have opposed this pipelines for many reasons, including: the possibility of oil tankers capsizing near the fragile eco-system of the Pacific Coast; the possibility of pipe leaks; and that the pipe route is located on indigenous territory. It does not help that Enbridge—the company that would be developing the Northern Gateway—has had a history of major oil spills. In 2010, Enbridge spilled a total of 34,122 barrels of oil, forcing entire communities to evacuate.

The opposition to the Northern Gateway has been fierce, and the pipeline has now become a hard sell for both Enbridge and the Harper government. However, rather than abandon the project, another route is being sought — one that is much closer to home.

Since 1976, a pipeline called “Line 9,” has transported oil through Southern Ontario. Initially, Line 9 carried crude oil from Sarnia, through Ontario, and into Quebec. In the 1990s however, the flow was reversed so that oil flowed from Montreal to Sarnia. Now, Enbridge is proposing to reverse the flow once again, but this time to carry tar sands oil instead of crude oil.

The larger plan is to have Line 9 connect to other pipeline infrastructure from the West, and to carry the tar sands oil to Montreal and further on to Portland, Maine in the United States. The ultimate goal is to pump tar sands oil from Alberta to the Atlantic coast in order to bring tar sands oil to international markets.

The National Energy Board has approved the reversal of one part of the existing Line 9 infrastructures—the flow from Sarnia, Ontario to Hanover, Ontario. Enbridge is now seeking approval for the rest of the line to be reversed.

Enbridge’s Line 9 plan presents a huge threat to the communities that live alongside the route—that’s 9.1 million people who live within 50 kilometers of it. Indeed, Line 9 was originally created to transport conventional crude oil—not tar sands oil, which is a far more corrosive and acidic type of petroleum. There is no telling of what tar sands oil could do to the aging pipe.

Further, the pipe runs through many water sources, including both the Humber and the Don River in Toronto—the city’s primary drinking sources. The pipe also runs through many waterways near major city centers, including Kingston, Hamilton, Burlington, Ajax, and London; as well as eighteen First Nations territories. And—when we consider Enbridge’s track record—there is also the catastrophic risk to those communities in the event of a spill.

Communities that live along Line 9 have started to mobilize against Enbridge’s proposal. Considering that we live in the days of superstorms and unprecedented heat waves, mobilization may be the only way we can get out of the bind we now find ourselves in. The past few years, with the Occupy movement and Idle No More, have given us examples of how to mobilize and resist callous and short-sighted policies—examples of how people-power from the grassroots is a potent force to be reckoned with!

International League of Peoples’ Struggle – Canada Statement for Feb 14

On February 14 Spirit Sisters and those that love them will be holding vigils and marches demonstrating their commitment to “NO MORE STOLEN SISTERS”. Indigenous grassroots women and those who stand in solidarity with them will be raising their voices and rallying in the streets demanding justice and for a national public inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous women.  We at ILPS-Canada share their demands, commitments, and will be taking it to the streets in support.

The first memorial vigil was held in 1991 in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside in response to the murder of a Coast Salish woman on Powell Street. From anger, despair, and mourning women took action to create an annual march on Valentine’s Day to express compassion, community, and their commitments to end the disappearances of Indigenous women.  The women’s memorial march continues across this land to honour the lives of missing and murdered women and to demand justice in their absence.

The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) under the Sisters In Spirit Program reports that over 600 Indigenous women have been murdered or gone missing over the last 20-years within the politically constructed borders of the Canadian nation-state. The deaths and disappearances of these women have been ignored, gone unsolved, and unpunished. Despite clear evidence that this is an ongoing issue, the federal government decided in the fall of 2010 to end funding to Sisters in Spirit. Instead monies in the amount of $10 million have been dedicated to a central RCMP missing person centre; an institution that has historically failed to adequately investigate into reports of disappearing indigenous women. Building on the momentum of past actions we must rally together against the continual feminicide of Indigenous women and the impunity of Canadian state institutions and actors that stand as gatekeepers preventing justice for all indigenous peoples.

We at ILPS-Canada extend our support and solidarity to the courageous women and Indigenous organizations working to ensure that the lives of our lost sisters not be forgotten. Their memories inspire us to continue to demand more for those with whom we share a sisterhood. We encourage those in our network to promote and attend the vigils and walks taking place. For a list of the Feb. 14th Memorial Marches happing please visit: http://womensmemorialmarch.wordpress.com/national/

Additionally, we at ILPS-Canada would like to acknowledge the valiant efforts being made by grassroots women’s organizations within our network participating in the One Billion Rising Campaign taking place also on February 14 (http://onebillionrising.org/). Organizations, such as GABRIELA-Philippines have been engaging in dancing flash mobs and awareness raising events linking violence against women to our current imperialist global order. We commend those in our network who will be rising on Feb 14 highlighting the connections between existing capitalist patriarchy, economic policy, development aggression, and violence against women. We salute these organizations not only for their ability to mobilize women and men to “STRIKE, DANCE, and RISE” on the 14th, but also for their ceaseless efforts to step-by-step organize and empower marginalized peoples toward becoming agents of change striving toward genuine democracy and equality.

Hence on February 14, we at ILPS-Canada will march and dance in solidarity with the Spirit Sisters here and our global sisters aboard to end violence against women. Let this day invigorate us to push forward with our continued commitments, efforts, and actions for the realization of national liberation, genuine democracy and social liberation, which will inevitably bring about equality in its many and varied forms.

ILPS-Canada ( http://ilps-canada.ca/) is a chapter formation of the International League of Peoples’ Struggles (http://ilps.info/index.php/en/). We are an international network-alliance of anti-imperialist progressive peoples’ organizations. ILPS and it’s regional chapter formations promote, support and develop the anti-imperialist and democratic struggles of the peoples of the world.

Join us for a discussion on our relationships as Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in common struggle to protect the Land and water, as guided by the Two Row Wampum.

In the context of both an inspiring Idle No More movement and the 400th year anniversary of the Two Row Wampum agreement between Haudenosaunee people and settler authorities, it is an important time to discuss building a united front.

In Southern Ontario, Indigenous and non-Indigenous people are on treaty land, making us all treaty people. As we see that the capitalist Canadian government will not uphold the treaties it is bound by on this land, we believe that it is up to the people to educate ourselves and struggle to honour them.

This discussion will be guided by reflections on the work of Haudenosaunee Land Defenders, organizers from the CUPE 3903 First Nation’s Solidarity Working Group, and the Two Row Society.

Protesting colonial plunder and ecological destruction may not be ‘legal’, but it’s right!

Indigenous Desk- 4:06pm / 9 Feb 2013

This morning around 10:00am, Montreal police reportedly arrested 36 people who were protesting outside the Palais des Congrès, where Montreal Board of Trade was hosting a natural resources conference.

The protest was dubbed ‘Protest Against Plan Nord 2.0’ on the Facebook event page. Opponents of the resource extraction plan point out that the conference’s objective is simply to advance the previous Liberal government’s Plan Nord, which is now being rebranded in the hands of the Parti Quebecois government of Pauline Marois as “Le Nord pour tous” (The North For All).  The 25-year project is estimated to bring in $80 billion in investments and create 20,000 jobs. The government scheme is being used to turn working-class people in Quebec – especially in rural and northern regions – against indigenous people’s struggles and the concerns of those who foresee the ecological damage.

People’s journalist and Basics correspondent Louisa Worrell was live on the scene and reported some 400-500 people in attendance, “a mix of generations and people including Anglophones, Francophones and Innu.”  Aaron Lakoff of the Montreal Media Co-Op recently reported on the developing resistance of Innu communities to the massive resource extraction plan.

Worrell was among the dozens arrested after police attacked the demonstration. Worrell, texting to Basics live from her holding cell on her unconfiscated phone, reported being arrested “after yelling at police to stop hurting protestors.”

“I began yelling when I noticed 4 cops on top of one person ‘arresting’ him… This reminded me of Junior Manon [18-year old killed by police in Toronto]… and others who have been victim of the ‘pain compliance’ tactics of police force.”  Worrell also reported being taken in with 9 minors “who were arrested for having sung in front of the building.”

A short video on CBC.ca shows a barrage of riot police storming a crowd of dispersing protestors.  The police attacked the demonstration after a window was broken at the conference site, which one Facebook user on the Plan Nord 2.0 page attributed to police agents.  Whether it was an of righteous anger or a police plant setting up the protest to be attacked, the whole rally was criminalized not on the basis of a broken window pane. Sgt. Ian Lafrenière of the Montreal police said 32 of the people arrested will be charged with taking part in an illegal assembly – deemed “illegal” because protestors failed to provide police with an itinerary in advance.

Speaking on behalf of Basics Community News Service, Chairperson JD Benjamin demanded the immediate release of Worrell and all the other protestors, and the dropping of all trumped up charges.  “The alleged ‘crimes’ of today’s protestors will not obscure the violence meted out by Montreal police against people exercising their basic democratic rights, nor will it divert our attention from the violence that will be conducted on the environment in northern Quebec and the Innu, Cree, and Inuit communities that will see their ancestral lands ruined by Pauline Marois’s plunderous Plan Nord 2.0.”

Preamble

On December 30th of 2012, members of both the Onkwehonwe [First Peoples] of the Haudenosaunee 6′Nations Confederacy and the Canadian Tamil community met in Scarborough. This event fulfilled an invitation extended to Tamil activists and their community in 2010 by the Men’s Fire of 6′Nations, when 6′Nations activists became aware of the Tamil community’s historic protests trying to raise awareness of the Sri Lankan state’s genocide of the Tamil people and nation.

The Onkwehonwe participants shared with the Tamil community the principles of The Great Law of Peace, The Two-Row Wampum, the traditional stories, treaties, culture and language that could be the basis of new relationship between all racialized immigrant-settlers and Onkwehonwe of Turtle Island [First People of North America]. Tamil activists connected the struggle for Tamil Eelam with the struggle of Onkwehonwe nations, especially the struggle to resist the colonialism and imperialism the Canadian state propagates locally and internationally.

Participants pointed to similarities between how the Canadian state used the residential school system to destroy Onkwehonwe spiritualities, languages and cultures, European colonial and missionary education during the colonization of Ceylon which continues as Sri Lanka’s use of internationally-funded Sinhalese-medium Buddhist schools to destroy Tamils’ traditional language and cultures. Omnibus Bill C-45 (which would simultaneously abolish fundamental Onkwehonwe treaty rights, attack the rights of refugees and new immigrants, and remove environmental protections in favour of polluting development of thousands of essential rivers and lands in Onkwehonwe territory), has both given rise to the Idle No More Movement, and shown the need for practical forms of solidarity and joint struggle between racialized peoples and Onkwehonwe peoples and nations. Participants of the event, therefore, outlined four commitments and demands that should be taken up by all principled members of the Tamil community. It is our assertion that adopting these principles is crucial to both the struggle for Tamil liberation, and the liberation of indigenous peoples globally and particularly on occupied Turtle Island:

1. The Tamil community must recognize that Canada has a colonial history and present that is built on the ongoing exploitation, cultural destruction, and genocide against Onkwehonwe peoples and nations. This is a process of occupation and denial of nationhood that mirrors the experience of colonially oppressed nations around the world, including Tamil Eelam. While the Canadian state does not recognize Onkwehonwe nations or their sovereignty, we strive to make such a reciprocal recognition the basis of the Tamil nation’s relationship with Onkwehonwe peoples and nations.
2. The Tamil community must call for and work towards a decolonized future that is not built on the colonial oppression, marginalization, and destruction of Onkwehonwe peoples, nations and territories; this can only be achieved by honouring the treaties, rights, and sovereignty of Indigenous peoples and nations.
3. The Tamil community recognizes that the first step towards respecting the treaties is for the elected Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, to immediately meet with elected Chief of Attawapiskat, Theresa Spence, on a nation-to-nation basis as described in historic treaties.
4. The Tamil community should seek to create, maintain, and grow a relationship of allyship and friendship with the original peoples and nations on whose lands we live and struggle in solidarity towards the shared goals of a liberated homeland, recognition of self-determination, sovereignty, and nationhood.

Conclusion

While the Tamil participants, who came from a varied and representative cross-section of the community, came up with these four principles/demands cooperatively, several practical concerns remained. One issue was whether the Tamil community has the legitimacy or power to call for Indigenous sovereignty while being a newly arrived immigrant community with many members holding precarious residency status. The Onkwehonwe speakers pointed out that while deportation of individuals was a possibility, that the Canadian state could only threaten individuals; it couldn’t deport the thousands a mass movement would involve. Furthermore, while Bill C-45 is already establishing laws that would restrict the most precarious migrants of the Tamil community, The Great Law of Peace that underwrites Onkwehonwe sovereignty would confront such xenophobia and further de-legitimize such attacks because the Canadian state acts illegitimately and illegally as a colonial occupier. Finally the issue of the Tamil communities’ historic ‘silence’ on indigenous issues was also raised by Tamil activists. Further discussion highlighted the fact that the Tamil community in Toronto, as a relatively young immigrant community, hasn’t had much experience with or information about Onkwehonwe people and nations of this land, besides the colonial education system of the Canadian state. The importance of a program of education and cultural exchange became paramount. This program of education must be taken up by Tamil community members to the best of its capacity, as this first event was not the conclusion of such a process, but the first important step in establishing a growing and reciprocal relationship. Acknowledging this urgent need, and the literal fashion in which Bill C-45 has tied our communities struggles together, we ask these four principles and their endorsement by Tamil community organizations be taken up as a struggle to educate, decolonize and build true and lasting relationships between Onkwehonwe Nations and the Tamil Nation.

January 14, 2013 on Radio Basics: Zig Zag on Idle No More / Toronto High school teacher Luis Filipe on teachers rank-n-file resistance to Bill 115

Click here to download Mp3 or stream.

Feature interviews on today’s show with Zig Zag (warriorpublications.wordpress.com) on the “snakes in the grassroots” of #IdleNoMore and his analysis of the role of AFN Chiefs in the rising movement of grassroots Indigenous peoples; and Toronto high school teacher Luis Filipe, (a union executive member of the OSSTF local brank at Parkdale C.I. and member of Rank-n-File Education Workers of Toronto – REWT) on the ongoing resistance of teachers to Bill 115 and other attacks on the education sector.

Zig Zag interview begins 16:25.
Luis Filipe interview begins 42:10.

Six Nations hip-hop from Henny Jack, Tru Rez, Kardboard Kid, Pete Nyce & MC Sage. Filipino hip-hop from L.A., Power Struggle.