Category Archives: Corporations/military/industrial/ complex

Council to sell Mohawk language to Microsoft

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MNN. April 20, 2005. The band council set up by Indian Affairs Canada is
launching a ?language? auction. They?re selling the Mohawk language to the
highest bidder. They are signing an agreement with multinational corporation,
Microsoft, to ?co-develop an innovative Kanion?ke:haka language project?!SECTION 4 ? Ownership of Work by Microsoft; License to Microsoft Materials; states as follows: The Mohawks? agree to dissolve all rights that we may have to any and all copyrights in the work and assigns all rights, title and interests over to Microsoft including but not limited to ? the right to sue for infringements which may occur before the date of this Agreement, and to collect and retain damages from any such infringements??A Maori student visiting from New Zealand warned, ?Language is sacred. It is not
to be appropriated by Microsoft. This is how our culture is co-opted. You have
no river, no land, you won?t even have your own language. Your language is your
essence of being, and they are stealing it?. She said that the song of one of
their people has been copyrighted by a football team down there. Now they can?t
write about it unless they pay money to the football team.

Disgusting giveaway. The band council is giving the rights to the Mohawk language
which our ancestors have been developing since Sky Woman fell to earth. It?s an
unprecedented insult! The band council cannot sign away our rights on behalf of
us or the generations yet unborn. We will be opening ourselves up to policing and
lawsuits by this mega corp. They will become the ultimate authority on the use of
our language.

No Consultation. Is Microsoft sincere in wanting to contribute their expertise to
the Kanion?ke:haka? We want to benefit from the wisdom collected and preserved in
our language. Microsoft should present its project to a proper traditional
consultation process. This agreement was arrived at in secret with no valid
consultation with the People.

The Kanion?ke:ha language belongs to the People. It was passed down from one
generation to the next since time immemorial ? long before settlers came here to
colonize us. It establishes our tie to our land where our ancestors have lived
for thousands of years. Our duty is to learn it, preserve it and pass it on to
generations to come.

Tongue-tied! Most members of the current band council do not speak Mohawk. They
do not own it but they?re selling it. They sign agreements that continuously put
our nations, our people and our lands. Now even our language at risk.

Microsoft represents the conglomerate that massacred our ancestors, put us in
concentration camps on our homeland and forced laws and ways to eliminate us. Now
we may have to ask their permission to speak and use our language.

The Kanion?ke:haka Onkwa?wen:na Raoti?tioh:kwa Cultural Center in Kahnawake
refused to support the agreement. They accused the band council of

?knowingly and unilaterally agree[ing] to sell our intellectual property rights ..
to a foreign corporate entity that seeks to gain full ownership, monopoly and
control of language?.

The band council was illegally created by the Canadian government under the Indian
Act. They reject our traditional constitutional government. The councilors
commit themselves to defend and uphold the laws of Canada. They have discarded
their responsibility to their people.

Residential Schools. Since the settlers arrived on our shores, they have forced
colonization on us. Our children were sent to residential schools and denied the
right to speak our language. In some schools almost 100% of the children died.
Overall, around 50% did not survive these institutions. Those who did lost their
languages. In Kahnawake there were nuns and priests who had the same job, to
force the ?Indian? out of us.

Kanion?ke:ha is who we are. It?s our identity. It defines our ties to the land
and to each other. No one has any right to sell us!

Tongue tax. The agreement states,

?In the event that taxes are required to be withheld on payment made under this
Agreement by any government authority, Microsoft may deduct such taxes from the
amount owed the Mohawks and pay them to the appropriate taxing authority?.

Microsoft has agreed to serve as an instrument of colonization. They want our
tongues for breakfast. The band council has agreed to chop off bits of our flesh
to give to whatever bandit demands a slice of the action. People called us
?cannibals?!

We will now be forced to pay taxes on the unique way we flip our tongues. They
will be selling our language to other people. To them it?s a product to be sold
to Germany and elsewhere.

How do we stop this? This is one of the richest corporations in the world. They
have all the lawyers they want at their beck and call. We can?t afford any. But
we have tongues to speak for ourselves. Everyone should send an email Microsoft
to complain

Otkon! Microsoft! Go ahead and sue me. You might get some choice Mohawks words
from me.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Experiment on…..CONSENSUAL DECISION MAKING EXERCISE

Posted on by
MNN. March 27, 2005. In the middle of my sleep Wednesday night, I got a call from Tiokasin of WBAI Radio, New York City. He wanted me to come on his show early the next morning. He was having a discussion on the Red Lake Reservation school shooting. Apparently I agreed to do it.When I woke up Thursday morning, I did not remember a thing about it. At 9:55 am. I received a call, “It’s WBAI Radio from New York. Are you ready to go on the air in 5 minutes”? They reminded me that I had agreed to go on. “What am I suppose to talk about”? I asked. He said, “About the Red Lake school shooting in Northern Minnesota”. I had to quickly gather my thoughts and went on the air.

The first question was who to blame for it. I answered, “George Bush!” I explained how our youth are being conditioned by video games and movies to kill people without thinking. Just like they see on TV in Iraq every day! “Isn’t that what George W. Bush and his team of megalomaniacs need so he can become king of the whole wide world and head honcho of the entire corporate-military-industrial complex? They need thoughtless killers and they’re creating them.”

My heart goes out to this child. He was slashing his wrists. So the authorities put him on Prozac. What did life have to offer him? His father had already
committed suicide and his mother is permanently hospitalized following a car accident. His culture is under constant attack. What choices did American
society offer him? He could be a vegetable or he could be a killer. I remember the last question I was asked was, “What do the Indians want?” I answered, “We want to be free like we once were before the first European put his foot on our continent”.

Then I had to head out to Concordia University in Montreal to teach my class on “History of Indigenous Women”. All the students are white, except for one
Japanese.

We were doing an exercise on how to resolve an issue using our Indigenous consensual decision making process. I divided the class into three clans, Wolf,
Turtle and Bear. I explained the basic criteria that must be followed: peace, righteousness and power. They were to be people of an Indian reservation where there had been a shooting at the school. Ten people were killed. This community was going to be besieged by the FBI, social workers, an army of media, grief counselors, helpers, curious people and authorities of all sorts. They needed time to get themselves together before the spotlight of the world was put on them.

The Wolf Clan deliberated first. After discussing the many facets of the horrendous event, they come up with three good ideas. The first was to ask neutral observers to deal with the outsiders. The second was to ask the American Indian Movement to be on the front lines to be a buffer for them. The third was for the clans to deal with the victims, families and community. They wanted peace.

Their decisions were passed over to the Turtle Clan who then discussed them. They agreed with the three ideas and expanded on the third one. Then it was passed over to the Bear Clan who had to discuss it and sanction the decisions of the other two clans.

One member of the Bear Clan was noticeably upset. She expressed how she could not put herself in the place of these native people. It was too painful. This was the first time in her life that she had heard of the oppression of Indigenous people. The other students understood her feelings.

I explained that I was teaching them another way of resolving issues, a traditional Indigenous way. It requires the full participation of each person. This way the level of knowledge of each is raised. A resolution is reached which is in the best interests of all. It is essential that they come to one mind.

Looking around the classroom, I noticed that some of the students were crying because they felt attacked and blamed. I apologized and told them this was not my intent. This structure of decision making came from our constitution, the Kaianereh’ko:wa/Great Law of Peace. We feel the whole world could benefit from
using this system. The U.S. Constitution was based on our philosophy of equality and our relationship to the natural world. However, the U.S. maintained their
hierarchical system within it. The Charter of the United Nations is based on the U.S. Constitution. From our philosophy came the Rule of Law and international law. The Kanion’ke:haka/Mohawk feel that we must save the rule of law for our People and for the world.

When the class was over, I left. Many stayed behind. I could still hear some of them crying. It greatly upset me. The decision making process had given each of
them a voice, something they are not use to having. Even though they were role playing, they had little experience in having their thoughts and feelings validated. It touched a well of pent up emotions.

One of the students sent me an email that night. She said, “I do feel attacked in class, but not by you. I feel attacked by my own ignorance. I consider myself
smart and well-educated. But then why did I have all these preconceived ideas about Indigenous people? Why did I not realize what they had been subjected to? Naturally I have never been educated in indigenous history or even in the REAL history of Canada. I feel this is no longer an excuse. As I age I realize that it really is up to me to seek the truth in issues, not hope it is provided to me. Fortunately, on rare occasions, I meet someone like yourself who can provide it. Anyway, I think when most people say they feel attacked, they mean it the way I do, not in terms of you pointing a finger saying “this is your fault”. Realizing the depths of my non-knowing is the best thing about your class. Overwhelming sometimes, but necessary and welcome.”

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

poster: Thahoketoteh