Mexican standoff

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The following appeal is from one of our readers in the South. They are in the same struggle as us. Please lend them your support.Greetings Friends:I am contacting interested friends to ask your help in bringing an increased national and international eye to the critical situation in Oaxaca, where the
potential for an imminent violent blow-up is very high.

The good news from Oaxaca is that the people are standing firm against the formal announcement this morning from President Fox and Abascal, the Secretary of the Interior, that troops will be sent into Oaxaca, pending “approval” from Fox, which
locals feels is a given. There is rumor that one plane has arrived.

The people are barricading the city today and are planning their defense. The general strike planned for Thursday and Friday, is still scheduled- this will be a complete shut down of the city, all business, universities, and offices closed.

This is a pronouncement from Oaxaca, Mexico where the teacher’s strike has become a united people’s movement for basic human rights:

Pronouncement

The National Indigenous Congress CNI) “recognizes, salutes and is part of the movement of sisters and brothers of the 16 Indigenous Communities of Oaxaca. The un-postponable renouncement of Ulises Ruiz would put an end to impositions; it would result in respect and recognition of the autonomy and free determination of our Oaxacan Indigneous Communities and to the cancellation of the mega-privatization projects in the south of Mexico”.

In the Declaration of Cheran, the CNI demands the immediate liberation of Indigenous political prisoners of San Salvador Atenco and Oaxaca,
who “continue experiencing a repugnant show of “governability”, in our country. They cannot continue being political prisoners at the imposition
of neoliberal projects on our lands and territories”.

This information if translated from The Jornada out of Mexico City; Ulises Ruiz is no longer recognized by the people as the governor of the state of Oaxaca, and cannot freely walk the streets, much less govern. AMF

Some ideas: spread the word throughout the global Indigenous support networks, call radio and TV stations, newspapers and magazines, request an update on Oaxaca, and tell them what is happening; contact churches, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch; post flyers about the situation, contact Democracy Now, the only national news program with any regular information on Oaxaca, for their schedule of reports
on Oaxaca and post it as well as send it to interested people by internet; use the internet to spread the word; contact congress people, please include us in your prayers.

4000 teachers continue the walk they started last thursday from Oaxaca to Mexico City to bring yet more attention to the crisis, though Oaxaca currently dominates Mexican news. Its more than curious that we hear nothing in this in the U.S. Nor
anything about the fact that Mexico currently has two president-elects as a result of the recent fraudulent election, Andres Manuel Lopez Obredor, who has the support of the people, and Felipe Calderon, elected through Choice Point, the same company that managed Florida during the last presidential election in the U.S.

There is plenty of current information available to those who read spanish through the La Jornada, Oaxacos Citricos; and less in English from John Ross, Narco News, even some headlines through Google.

Gracias, thank you.

Un abrazote,

Ann Miller Frances
blancanegro@earthlink.net

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

“GOOD MOON RISING” ” INDIGENOUS TITLE TO WESTERN AUSTRALIA AFFIRMED ” BYE BYE COLONIALISM!

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“GOOD MOON RISING”
” INDIGENOUS TITLE TO WESTERN AUSTRALIA AFFIRMED ”
BYE BYE COLONIALISM!

MNN. Sept. 21, 2006. It’s a landmark case. The Noongar Aborigine people of Australia were affirmed as holding title to a substantial part of Western Australia, including the city of Perth. In the case of Bennell v. State of Western Australia (2006) FCA 1243, the Noongar people proved that their community continues to exist and that they are still part of the land. They continue to observe the community’s traditional laws and customs, including their relationship to their land.

The Noongar have a claim under their own laws and customs as a result of their occupation of the land before the colonial visitors arrived on the scene. This community continues to exist today. They are still guided by the spirits of their ancestors. They continue to acknowledge their laws and customs even though there have been some alternations and interference by their white visitors. In other words, the rights are possessed under traditional laws that are acknowledged and observed which maintains their connection to their lands and waters.

Those rights are recognized by common law in Australia, Canada, the United States and other commonwealth countries, including those in Africa. The major point of the decision is that the native people are identified by their own laws, not by colonial laws. Even though they have been prevented from exercising their rights for a period of time by the colonists, they still have title.

It is a persuasive decision in terms of setting a precedent for a new stage in the relationships between Indigenous people worldwide and the colonial states that have imposed themselves on our lands.

We think that the Department of Indian Affairs in Canada has become hysterical over this reaffirmation of our rights to our lands and resources. They are the only ones we can think who might be responsible for planting stories trying to make the Canadian public think that Indigenous people are trying to do them in. Last Monday there was an explosion on the 17th floor of the “Tower of Power” known as Indian Affairs at 10 Wellington Street in Hull Quebec. It’s right across the Ottawa River from the Parliament Buildings that are squatting on Algonquin land. This is the second time that the police have been called in to investigate “vandalism”.

I was home on Monday. This reminds me of the time I worked on the 17th floor until I was fired during the Mohawk Oka Crisis of 1990. In 1988 there was a Canadian soldier working on the 14th floor. Yep. The Canadian military was right there in the middle of Indian Affairs. One day the officer in charge came to see me. He wanted to talk about my opposition to the claims that Nelson Small Legs Junior had committed suicide. He died suddenly two days after testifying at the hearing against the McKenzie Valley Pipeline. I told him I wanted an investigation. He came back a month or two later. He more or less said that I was right. It was not a suicide, as his father had claimed to me. But the RCMP was not going to change the report.

He then suddenly decided to show me something extraordinary. He took me down to the 14th floor to the western side of the building which was all painted black. There was a cutout of a door with a lock. He took out a key, opened the door and invited me inside.

It was a large room. The windows were all covered with thick black drapes. In the middle was a large round table covered by a green felt cloth. He pulled off the cloth and revealed a map of Canada. On the map were small yellow, red or green flags on each Indigenous community in Canada. I noticed that the Mohawk communities and a few in Northern British Columbia and the Northwest Territories had red flags. Most had green. Were they considered to be “pushovers” who gave colonialism the green light? Were the red flags describing those stalwart defenders of Indigenous rights? Red meant that these communities had to be stopped in their tracts. I asked him what this was all about. He said it was in case of “emergencies”. I asked, “Like what”? He said like fires, floods and other catastrophies (like martial law?)

At the left side of the door there was a room full of computers. I wondered what kinds of information were being put into them. He said, “All kinds of information” was being collected. But he didn’t go further. He was in charge. In others words, this was the “war room” being run by the Canadian military in the Department of Indian Affairs. It’s obvious they never forgot that Indian Affairs began as a branch of the British military back in the days when they were plotting the “conquest” of the French in North America and dreaming that they could suck the Indians into doing all their dirty work for them. They still haven’t learned that we just don?t like “trespassers”.

Later, after the Oka Crisis, I was in the hotel adjacent to Indian Affairs. That night I looked up at the building outside my window and counted up 14 floors. Sure enough! The black curtains were still on the windows. The imperial menace was still lurking inside.

What documents is Indian Affairs trying to get rid of by setting off explosions in the building? Have they gotten caught up in the “Fight Club” mentality that’s inspiring teenagers to fake phony fights and put them on the internet. Are they giving themselves black eyes and trying to blame it on us? They expect the public to believe that we’re doing it to them. They’re trying to justify their own existence.

We’ve been asking them to produce their documents on how they got control over us, our lands and resources. We’ve been telling them all along that they just could not come here, land on our shores, rob us of everything we have, and we wouldn’t complain about it! The time has come for their heirs to face up to this monumental fraud and hoax. We’re just not buying it and they can’t make us. As Floyd Westerman sang, “We just ain’t your Indians anymore!” as if we ever were! Canada, you have no choice but to come to terms with this colonial operation called “plunder and pillage”. You helped yourselves to everything and killed 99% of us off in the process.

Well, Canada, it looks like St. Nick and the Easter Bunny have left the building. You’ll just have to follow them out. And please take with you your bag of lies and genocidal policies. We don’t want any left over explosive caps or land mines. Oh! On your way out, clean up after yourselves. Leave things in the condition you found them.

(see: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/federal_ct/2006/1243.html )

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Reader feedback: RESPONSE TO MNN “VAMPIRES STRIKE BACK: “ONE DEAD INDIAN” BLOOD AND GORE CONDITIONS THE MASSES

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At MNN we try and respond to all enquiries as that is how a website should be governed. The following is a letter from a reader and Kahentinetha’s response.

RESPONSE TO MNN “VAMPIRES STRIKE BACK: “ONE DEAD INDIAN” BLOOD AND GORE CONDITIONS THE MASSES”

MNN Sep. 7, 2006

To MNN?

“Again–I say let my people be! [GERMANS] We have nothing to do with what is going on over there! I am amazed at how you describe us Americans’ I for one was a soldier and I dont appreciate you saying that I was trained to be a sadist and am trigger happy! We do not go to war nonchalantly! As a matter of fact most of us are scared out of minds of what is going to happen to us and our buddies! Where do you get this information from? Especially about the Germans — my mom was raised during Hitlers time and her best friend was a jewish women–where do you get off with this information? Why dont you use Stalin–he killed 30 million of his own people – more than Hitler did! Talk about how and what he did or are you too scared?

Seems to me that your spouting your mouth off! Are the Mohawks called the people eaters when they go to war? Hmmmmmm? Its easier to write about someone who has all the information right in front of you than it is to do some research on another person [[stalin]]. If you have the guts to do this maybe you will find out that the older generation in Russia is terrified to even talk about Stalin!

As far as most white people feel — we dont want your land, your energy, or anything–all we want to do is live in peace. We feel that we have done enough to the Native People of the US and Canada. I especially don’t want to see this movie your talking about–“One dead Indian” from your account of the movie– it truly is frightening! We as “The Caucasian Race” do not see the mohawks or any other native people as terrorists–maybe drunks, high on crack–what ever you want to call it but there it is–the truth—

I am sure this does not go for all native people –I have a sister who is Navajo — she is near and dear to me. I have a friend [[seneca]] here in Buffalo NY who has a daughter whom I love dearly. I worked with many native american people in the casino! They are wonderful people–

SOOOO WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM? Seems to me that your trying to stir up a lot of emotional hate at your so called newspaper! Getting the Warriors and others fired up to fight? Hmmm could that be what your trying to do??? Sure its fine to warn people, sure its fine to let everyone know the truth

but dam from reading what you wrote–seems to me your just as bad as these corporate and goverment vampires spreading hate!

Sincerely? XX?

MNN response to XX?.

THANK YOU FOR SENDING YOUR THOUGHTS ON MY ARTICLE ON THE “VAMPIRES” [Sept. 7, 2006]. I AGREE WITH YOU 100% THAT HATE SHOULD NOT BE STIRRED UP AGAINST ANY PEOPLE. I HAVE EVERY SYMPATHY FOR THE “NOBLE” SENTIMENTS THAT MAKE PEOPLE WANT TO BECOME SOLDIERS. THE WILL TO PROTECT THOSE WHO ARE WEAK AND DEFENSELESS IS ALWAYS NOBLE.

UNFORTUNATELY, ARMIES ARE NOT ALWAYS USED FOR THIS PURPOSE. THEY’RE TRAINED TO TAKE ORDERS UNQUESTIONINGLY. SO THEY END UP KILLING MOSTLY INNOCENT PEOPLE. A LOT OF TIME THOSE ORDERS INVOLVE KILLING PEOPLE WHO HAVE NOT BEEN CHARGED OR CONVICTED OF ANYTHING. PLEASE KEEP IN MIND OVER A THIRD OF CASUALTIES OF CANADIANS IN AFGHANISTAN HAS BEEN BY AMERICANS. PROPER CONSULTATIVE PROCEDURES [EVEN BETWEEN ALLIES] ARE NOT USED TO SOLVE PROBLEMS IN WHAT THEY CALL THE “THEATRE OF WAR” BEFORE ARMIES ARE SENT IN “TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT” BY USING FORCE.

WE ALSO AGREE WITH YOU THAT BOTH STALIN’S AND HITLER’S REIGNS OF TERROR WERE A GREAT TRAGEDY. UNFORTUNATELY, THERE HAVE BEEN MANY OTHERS. PLEASE DON’T FORGET THAT THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF SIBERIA WERE CRUELLY COLONIZED BY THE RUSSIANS, JUST AS THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE WERE ABUSED BY STALIN.

IT’S VERY IMPORTANT TO LEAVE ASIDE NATIONALIST ACCUSATIONS AND TO JOIN OUR MINDS TOGETHER TO WORK FOR AN HONEST AND PEACEFUL WORLD. I WISH IT WERE TRUE THAT THERE WERE NO FOREIGN PEOPLE OR CORPORATIONS WHO WANT OUR LAND, RESOURCES AND ENERGY. WE HAVE SUFFERED A MASS INVASION AND ILLEGAL OCCUPATION. THERE ARE NOW TOO MANY FOREIGNERS AND THEIR ILL-INFORMED DESCENDANTS HERE WHO DON’T KNOW HOW TO GO HOME. WHAT DO YOU THINK WE SHOULD DO ABOUT THIS?

I AM SORRY TO HEAR THAT YOUR INDIGENOUS RELATIVES ARE ON CRACK AND DRUNK. I CAN ASSURE THAT MOST OF US ARE NOT.

WE ARE DEFINITELY NOT TRYING TO STIR UP HATE AT MNN. WE ARE MERELY TRYING TO KEEP PEOPLE INFORMED OF WHAT IS HAPPENING BECAUSE THE MAINSTREAM CORPORATE MEDIA DOES NOT REPORT “OUR PERSPECTVES”. IT ALSO SUPPRESSES A GREAT DEAL OF INFORMATION ABOUT GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION THAT IS OF GENERAL INTEREST TO THE CANADIAN AND THE U.S. PUBLIC. IT IS VERY TRAUMATIC FOR PEOPLE TO FIND OUT THAT INSTITUTIONS THEY TRUST HAS COMMITTED HATE MONGERING AND OTHER ATROCITIES SUCH AS MURDER. NOBODY WANTS TO FACE UP TO THE FACT THAT 99% OF OUR PEOPLE WERE MURDERED. WE MUST NEVER LET OURSELVES FALL APART WHEN WE SEE THIS. WE HAVE TO THINK CLEARLY AND TRY TO FIND A WAY TO GET PEOPLE TO WORK TOGETHER HONESTLY. IT IS POSSIBLE FOR EVERYBODY TO LIVE TOGETHER DECENTLY IN THIS WORLD.

KAHENTINETHA

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Dekanawida and the formation of the Great Peace: Part 1

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This work was from an oral translation of John Arthur Gibson an Onondaga Chief who lived when the stories were told always. Thanks to my brother Tehonikonrathe for transcribing this most important part of our history.
This is Part 1

 

This is what happened when it originated, the Great Law. This is what happened in ancient times: There was warfare, and they habitually killed each other, the Indians of the several nations. This is what was going on: They scalped one another at the various settlements, that is, the warriors were roaming about across the bush, scalping the inhabitants. Moreover, this was happening where the Mohawks resided, at the lake shore on the northerly side of the lake, Lake Ontario, which is where a mother lived with her daughter.

The old woman was called Kaheto?ktha? (End of the Field) her daughter, as to her she was named Kah,etehsu,k (She Walks Ahead). These two left the place where they lived going far away into the bush, where they set up camp and lit a fire, at a place where no one travels; a place where the river forks, called (?); they lived there for a long time, and for several years never did any man come to visit them.

Just about then it started: She noticed, the old woman, that it was evident her daughter was going to have a child. Then the old woman was surprised at how it could be possible that her daughter was going to have a child; she was surprised at where in fact she might have gotten it, since she had never seen a man. Thereupon she questioned her daughter, saying ?Who then, is the father of the child you are going to have?? Then Kah,etehsu,k said, ?Mother I do not know what happened nor how it is,? but the old woman did not believe what she said, her daughter. Thereupon the old woman began to get angry, and said, ?Probably it is not true what she said, Kah,etehsu,k. This is how it was, every day and every night the old woman got angry, it seems, she was questioning her daughter, saying, ?Now I will question you. Moreover you will tell the truth, the real truth and nothing else, only this very true matter, that is, who is the father of the child you are going to have? Now you shall tell the truth.? Thereupon Kah,etehsu,k said, ?Mother, I will tell you that actually I do not know.?

Thereafter Kaheto?ktha? became depressed and she got angry saying, ?It is not true what she said, Kah,etehsu,k.? Thereafter the old woman, getting angry, said, ?Surely you must know who is the father of the child you are going to have.? Then her daughter became unhappy and cried , and that is the way it was for quite some time: Both the old woman and her daughter were unhappy.

This, then, is what happened when it was night and they were asleep: The old woman dreamed and she saw a man arrive where they had their house, and he said, ?I have a message along which I shall tell you: you should stop the kinds of thoughts you are having. Indeed, your thinking is that probably it is not true what she says, your daughter. This, indeed, is the reason why it is not wholesome, your preoccupation with her confinement and her saying, ?Indeed I don?t know where it came from nor how it is.? Now I will tell you what happened to your daughters life, for it is true that she does not know what happened.

This is the reason why you should now stop; don?t cause your daughter to worry. Moreover, you should ease her mind by apologizing to her. Actually a great thing has happened, for he is appointing your daughter to be the instrument of a male child?s birth. He is sending him, the one you all believe is the Ruler, and he is coming from the sky above the earth; and he will be born of Kah,etehsu,k herself. Moreover, when he is born, the boy, I will give him a name; you will say, Tekanawita?. And when you see him the two of you will be kind to him, and don?t bother him when, in the course of time, he becomes a man. In fact, he is going to be working here beneath and on the other side of the sun. Moreover, once he is born, Tekanawita?, he will grow rapidly, and it will not be long before you two will see many unusual things: He will reveal his powers, and all of the people will acknowledge them when they see Tekanawita?.

Actually, he will travel to different villages all over the bush; to small settlements of families, and there he is going to work to stop what is going on, and, indeed, what is going on is that they are killing one another, specifically they are scalping one another; in fact, they are shedding each other?s blood, people of their own kind living here on earth.

That is why he decided it, the Maker, as you say, the Ruler, who has created the world and the sun which gives light all over the earth and the islands; also the moon which gives light at night; also the rivers which keep flowing; also the lakes and the great bodies of water; and he also planted the many kinds of vegetation; also the shrubs and the forests and there, moreover he created them; that is, their shedding each others blood, just pools and flowing streams of peoples blood. This is why Haweniyo? decided to send Tekanawita? here, and his mission will be to end their killing one anther.?

As to the old woman Kaheto?ktha and her daughter Kah,etehsu,k, now another day has dawned for them. Then the old woman said, ?My daughter, I understand now that it is true, indeed, you don?t know where you got the child you are about to have, for a man I saw when I dreamed last night, told me everything, everything about where it comes from, the child you are about to have. And indeed this: It is you, especially, whom he chose and it is there from your person that Tekanawita? will be born.

This, then, is how it was and in a short time a boy was born. Thereupon the old woman said, Now, indeed, Tekanawita had arrived.? ?And it was evident that he was very healthy. Everyday he grew, and In a short while he began to walk around, and when, quite soon, he started to talk, this is what he began to speak about: It is not good for people to be unkind to one another. Every day it was evident that he was growing rapidly. Eventually it came abut that the old woman said, ?This is what I think, it is time to go to the village of our relatives.? Thereupon Kah,etehsu,k said to her son, ?My son, what will you say to your grandmother, who wants us to go to the village now?? Thereupon Tekanawita said, ?That is what I want, to see people of our own kind.? Thereupon the old woman said, ? In three days? time we will depart.? Then Tekanawita said, ? This is what will happen when I see our people: we shall converse, and I will tell them that they are now arriving, the Power and the Good Message and Peace.?

Thereupon they went home, returning to where the women had come from. When they got back to the village, one of them sent a message notifying the leading chief of the village. When he was notified, the leader, then he circulated the news and everybody gathered. Then the chief spoke, thanking them and greeting the old woman and also her daughter and also their child, and when he had completed his welcome he said, ?Now then, we will listen well to the message you two have brought along.?

Thereupon Kaheto?ktha?(?) said, ?The truth is that it is of great importance, the message we all are bringing along. This is a matter of fact, is it: For many winters we have been gone, I and my daughter, Kah,etehsu,k, and the reason we went from here was that, indeed it was too dangerous because of their killing one another. So I began to think, ?It might be possible for me and my daughter to survive somewhere by kindling a fire at a place where no one roams about.? At the place where the river forks we erected our shelter. There, moreover, an important event occurred concerning my daughter, Kah,etehsu,k , for when she had grown up, it was not long before it came to be evident that she was going to have a child. I had not seen any man, and this was the reason that I questioned her, saying, ?Who is the father of the child you are going to have?? Then she spoke saying, ?I do not know what happened.? Thereupon I, an old person, became angry, and my mind was troubled, and I was disappointed, thinking, ?It is not true what my daughter is telling me about how, then, it is happened.? This, then, is what happened: When night approached us, I dreamt I saw a man entering the place where we have our shelter. This is what he said. ? I have come to tell you to stop it, that is , indeed, your anger, your uneasiness, your disappointment at what it is like, your daughters life, in fact that she is going to have a child; it is true that she does not know where it came from and what it is that happened. This is what I came to tell you: You should repent, more specifically, you should apologize to your daughter. Actually what is happening is that a great event is taking place in that Tehaehyawa?ki, as you call the Ruler, chose your daughter Kah,etehsu,k. it is there, of her body, that he will be born, the one he sent, the one you will all see here on earth. Moreover, when he is born, you will call him Tekanawita? and he is going to work beneath the sun where the earth is located, and it will stop, the persistent matter of their slaughtering one another, their own people.? So therefore you are now seeing this one, our child, Tekanawita?, and this is the reason we came back home: we thought that you ought to hear the wonderful and important message, the message that came to us. In relation to that, you will all now see Tekanawita?.?

Thereupon the chief stood up saying, ?Truly, all of us together have heard it, every one living here. This, certainly, is true: An amazing event has taken place. It is a long time that mother and daughter have been gone, Kaheto?ktha?, that is, and her daughter, Kah,etehsu,k. Moreover, today, they have returned home; they have come back with our child. Indeed, we have been notified about how everything came about: It is from the sky that he came with his mission, an important one, for he came to work for peace to come about among the people living here on earth and for it to let up, the mutual slaughter, for it to and among us who dwell here. Now this is what will happen: We will greet them, shaking hands with Kaheto?ktha and Kah,etehsu,k and also their son, Tekanawita? — welcoming him back —which means we will thank him for visiting us and for seeking out our village first, so that we can hear the message with which he will travel to other places and different groups of people.

Now then we who live here are gathered with the one who has great power, Tekanawita?, and shortly, after he has grown to manhood here on earth, we will observe his work. So I beseech all of you to be kind to Tekanawita?. Now therefore you will stand up, now all of us living here will stand up , and furthermore we will be the first to welcome him, the children, shaking hands with Tekanawita? and also with his mother and also with his grandmother. There the whole group of old people and young people, now we will all welcome him by shaking hands with Tekanawita? and also with his mother and his grandmother.? Thereupon they all stood up, and as to Tekanawita?, all of the children welcomed him, shaking his hand and greeting him. The whole crowd came to welcome him, shaking his hand and greeting him. Thereupon their chief said, ?Now we have completed the matter,? and then they dispersed, the crowd.

Thereupon, as to Tekanawita?, this is what happened: When the children began walking around and more especially, when they played, some of the children repeatedly quarreled, and they wanted to fight. Thereupon Tekanawita? prevented them, saying, ?You will stop it because it is sinful for people to hurt one another; you especially, for you are all relatives, and so it is necessary for you to be kind to one another, as well as to other people, those you know, and those people you do not know; and you should respect them equally — all of the people ? you should be kind to everyone.?

Thereupon the children were amazed at what Tekanawita? was saying. When they got back to where they had their homes, they repeated what he had said, Tekanawita?. Thereupon the elders said, ?Now, indeed, they are beginning, the surprising events we heard about that he foretold,

Tekanawita?, for, never, in fact, has it been the case that we might hear someone say, ?It is sinful for people to hurt one another,? nor has anyone ever said, ?You should all respect one another,? nor has anyone said, ?you should be kind to the people you know as well as those you don?t know.? Now, indeed, it is coming true, the kind of thing we have heard about. As to the children, the ones with Tekanawita?, when he gathered them together, he spoke to the children, saying, ?Now you will listen well: Now it is arriving, the Good Message, also the Power and the Peace. Moreover, now it will stop, the way in which matters are proceeding here on earth beneath the sky, such that they cause pools and streams of human blood to flow. Moreover, when it stops, and when all the people are kind to one another, then all are relatives, they becoming brothers, the men, and all the women becoming sisters in future days to come, so that families will continue on.? Thereupon the children were surprised at what they heard him say, Tekanawita?.

Thereupon the children went home and when they arrived at their destination, they repeated the things he had spoken about, Tekanawita?. When the old people were informed, they said, ?Now, indeed, we hear them with amazement, these kinds of words. This we have never heard about, that someone might say, ?Good Message?, nor for someone to say ?Power?, nor for someone to say, ?Peace?, nor for someone to say, ?they are relatives, all of the people?, nor for someone to say, ? the men, all of them are brothers?, nor for someone to say, ?the women, they are all sisters?, also ?the children, they are all siblings?, nor for someone to say, ?pools and flowing streams of human blood will now cease to exist; from now on there will be peace and in the future days to come families will be ongoing?. Also there was great amazement at the kinds of words he used to speak in front of the children.

After the elders called a meeting, they invited Tekanawita?, and he joined in at the meeting when the elders decided to question Tekanawita?, saying, ?What should we do so that we might know what it means, Good Message, and also Power, and also Peace.? Thereupon Tekanawita said, ?Indeed, so be it, you shall hear about what you must do. As to that, first, as to the mothers, that is to say, the women, these will bake bread, corn bread, which they will collect. Thereupon as to you, you people, you will collect the flesh of game animals. These, then, will supply provisions of bread and meat. Then they should assemble, everyone, at the place provided; the inhabitants, all of them, will gather in the same place, and everyone will hear me tell about the matter you wish to know about.?

The older women spread the news, and everyone at the village was notified of the specific day they had chosen for them to assemble. Thereupon the inhabitants collected the corn bread and also the meat of game animals, and then they assembled. Then he joined them, Tekanawita?, who by now was a young man.

Then the older people said, ?Now then, we will ask questions about what it means for you to say ?Now it is arriving, the Good Message and this, specifically, Power and this, specifically, Peace,? so that now they will hear it, the entire crowd, when you explain what you mean.?

Thereupon Tekanawita? stood up in the center of the gathering place, and then he said, ? First I will answer what it means to say ? now it is arriving, the Good Message.? This indeed, is what it means: When it stops, the slaughter of your own people who live here on earth, then everywhere peace will come about, by day and also by night, and it will come about that as one travels around, everyone will be related. Then, indeed, (?) in future days to come.

Now again (?), secondly, I say ?now it is arriving, the Power,? and this means that the different nations, all the nations, will become just a single one, and the Great Law will come into being, so that now all will be related to each other, and there will come to be just a single family, and in the future, in days to come, this family will continue on.

Now in turn, the other, my third saying, ?now it is arriving, the Peace?, this means that everyone will become related, men and also women, and also the young people and the children, and when all are relatives, every nation, there will be peace as they roam about by day and also by night. Now, also, it will become possible for them to assemble in meetings. Then there will be truthfulness, and they will uphold hope and charity, so that it is peace that will unite all the people, indeed, it will be as though they have but one mind, and they are a single person with only one body and one head and one life, which means that there will be unity.

PART 1…. (to be continued)

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

ONE DEAD INDIAN

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THE VAMPIRES STRIKE BACK: “ONE DEAD INDIAN” BLOOD AND GORE TO CONDITION THE MASSESMNN. Sept. 7, 2006. Why are CTV and APTN showing the film, “One Dead Indian” over and over again? This film is about the Ontario Provincial Police OPP attack on the Stoney Point people who were defending their land, known as “Ipperwash”. Dudley George was shot and killed in cold blood.

When they sit and watch this, who are the Canadians identifying with? Many would be with the Indigenous People, some would be neutral and a few would see the viewpoint of the cops. Then there is the lunatic fringe and some of the ordinary people who had no previous interest in Indigenous issues. These two groups would be drawn in subconsciously. They are the ones the establishment wants to reach and influence. These people who might end up watching this because they’re looking for a good action flick.

When people watch the bull fights, after seeing a few bulls ritually executed with blood flying all over the place and the matadors taking bows for the murders, the crowd screams for more blood. There is no therapeutic value in any of this.

Why aren’t they trying to stop the arousing of anti-Indian feelings? Reasonable and rational thinking about constructive ways to deal with Indigenous people and our grievances should get equal time on television, in the movies and on the media.

Canadians have been conditioned all along to see Indigenous People as the lowest rung on their hierarchical ladder. To this day they’re being taught that people who live in the natural world are “primitive”. We have been “spun” as someone they can look down and trample on to make them feel superior.

Look at the 500 Indian women who have disappeared. The police won’t do an investigation. Was this because they think they’re primitive? What about the Indigenous boys who were left out in the snow to freeze to death? The cops put them there. Only when the Indigenous People made an outcry was something done. The cops shot J.J. Harper on the streets of Winnipeg. The subsequent film gives a sympathetic view of the police officer who killed him. There were discussions about how to cover this up right in the film. After it was shown nationally, no Parliamentarians were outraged nor did they condemn such a depiction. During the Oka Mohawk Crisis of 1990 two old men were stoned to death which was shown over and over again on national news to get people used to how to treat “Indians”.

“One Dead Indian” depicts us as a problem. The viewers are being conditioned to think that the solution is to kill off all of us. They want to see us suffer and bleed. They’re being conditioned to see us as natural targets. For their fulfillment and to set us up for the corporate/government agenda, movie makers are being given millions of dollars of government funds to make gory bloody films about Indians. Never are they shown how we can sit together as equals and discuss our legitimate relationship.

During the 1920’s and 30’s Germany put out propaganda depicting Jews in caricature. German people were conditioned to accept the “final solution” which was to exterminate a race.

When people see Indians being shot, abused, beaten up and killed often enough, it makes them want to see more Indian blood. This is the old Cowboys and Indians movies paradigm.

About six months ago the New York Times did a scathing article on the Mohawks of Akwesasne, which was publicized all over the world. Their main message was that we are criminals and deserve the bad treatment we are getting and going to get more of. Akwesasne, they say, is a haven for criminals and that Mohawks are part of “organized crime”. The U.S. is trying to get people to think that our warriors are “terrorists”. Who planted the story? It’s part of the continual assault against us. It’s meant to justify whatever they do to us in their genocidal quest.

A lot of the initiatives against us seem to be coming from the United States. Why are they doing this? It’s because Indigenous People stand in the way of their exploitation of our resources. Don’t forget, most of the companies operating in Canada today are U.S. owned and controlled. They’re the same corporate giants that control the U.S. government. They’ve obviously taken control of some parts of the Canadian government.

The ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) came to Canada to work with the OPP. How long have they been here? Maybe for 20 years! Our people catching them was hardly mentioned in the corporate media. It would have been a scandal to Canada a few decades ago. This has got to be one of the biggest outcomes of the Six Nations land reclamation issue. We found out who our enemies are, that Canadian institutions are just puppets for corporate America. Who has been organizing the attacks on us? Is it a U.S. procedure that has been put in place by people in Canada who’ve been bought off or manipulated?

Could this be similar to what happened back in 1812? This is when Tecumseh and General Brock beat back the American general who declared they were taking over Canada, “Your choice is to join with us or enslavement!” This was the first time the U.S. ever invaded foreign soil. Invasions of this kind are a continuing theme in Canada-US relations. It’s obviously happening again? This time what’s shockingly different is that Canadians seem to neither notice nor care. It’s being done through control of the economy and by infiltrating the police and governmental institutions. This is how the U.S. has already marched into Canada and no one even knows. The ruthlessness of the U.S. towards Indigenous People will frighten Canadians so they will be too scared to resist the takeover.

What are the politicians and their corporate bosses getting the Canadian public ready for? They have invaded Iraq and Afganistan. They appear to be getting ready to invade Iran. The new “passport control” is probably going to end up as a “bait and switch” operation. People will get so upset about the passports, they’ll accept the “smart cards” that allow control without even noticing how much freedom they’re losing.

The U.S. is the only nation in the history of the world that dropped nuclear bombs against another nation. They are blood thirsty and brag about it when they teach history, especially their ruthless takeover of Turtle Island from the Indigenous People.

In the recent covert operations against the Six Nations land reclamation, nothing goes back onto the police forces, even though they’re behind it. Their tactic is using (un)ordinary people to do their dirty work, such as the skinheads, fascists, KKK, the Brown Shirts and the heavily state funded Caledonia Citizens Alliance to attack the Indigenous people. These groups might all have died out had they not been called back into service and funded by the state. Just what is the justification in using tax money to finance hate groups like these?

“One Dead Indian” satiates the appetite for Indian blood for this portion of the public. It’s part of their indoctrination. This is similar to the frenzy of sharks when blood is thrown among them, called “chumming the water”. The sharks can smell the blood from miles away. They speed towards it. It drives them crazy. They eat everything except each other. Then they need more and more blood. They’re driven to attack again and again.

The ancestors of the non-natives on Turtle Island did kill off 99% of the Indigenous people in the Western Hemisphere. These people today are their descendants. They’re being indoctrinated to release their self-control through video games and violent films where multitudes of people are violently killed.

The police and army are trained to shoot at targets that are replicas of their enemies. In Saskatchewan the police were caught shooting at a replica of an Indigenous woman. It’s meant to stir up their hatred for the targeted people.

How do we protect ourselves? Making people realize they have been set up as tools to eliminate the descent within their society of totalitarianism.

This is how the U.S. prepares their society for war against helpless people around the world. They use their military hardware to shoot innocent people as practice to exercise their dominance over other human beings.

At first some of the soldiers say they do not like what they are ordered to do. However, these young soldiers are trained to be sadists and are trigger happy. They go to war as nonchalantly as kids go to video arcades at the mall. To them going to Iraq is like going to a local garbage dump and shooting rats. They begin to enjoy menacing and killing defenseless people. After a while they can’t control themselves. Don’t forget, they’ve been given carte blanche to kill people without impunity. Remember the public inquiry on the Mai Lai massacre during the Vietnam War when the soldiers went on a murderous rampage killing countless innocent women and children?

Today on Turtle Island we are being used as their guinea pigs. The so-called super master race (billionaires of the world) feels they can abuse and kill those of other skin colors and languages whom they have determined to be inferior to them.

During the Oka Crisis of 1990, Canada brought over Col. Musgrave who had developed the strategies for the British in their conflict against the Irish. In a newspaper article, he bragged that he could break down the Mohawks in three weeks. They started flying jets and choppers over us all night long so we could not sleep, shot and detonated concussion bombs and flares, held back food and then gave it to us, spread fear among the public by showing threatening videos on television about all the warheads we had, spread lies and propaganda and shut lights and water off and on. It didn’t work. In fact, it backfired! Some of the soldiers involved had nervous breakdowns.

Their masters are experimenting on those they consider to be inferior and whose life isn’t worth anything to them. In fact, getting rid of us would be very beneficial to them. Then they would complete their illegal theft of our land.

“One Dead Indian” shows us hundreds of menacing cops “goose stepping” into Ipperwash, banging in unison on their shields. This reminds us of the Gestapo in movies about Nazi Germany where they marched into the Jewish areas of the cities. They must be getting the public ready for a total police state. A few former OPP officers are absolutely disgusted with the direction their force has gone.

Martial Law already exists in Indian country. As long as we behave according to their dictates, we don’t see the cops. As soon as we step out of line we see the armed forces showing up in droves. Why can Canada and other colonial nations that are squatting on Indigenous territory defend their so-called “sovereignty”? If we try to defend our human rights and our sovereignty against their brutality, we are called “terrorists” and criminalized.

Like the vampires, once they start drinking blood, they can only stay alive by drinking more blood. These corporate and government vampires are trying to suck the blood out of the people who are preaching peace to the world.

Canadians, you’re next!

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Great Law : wampum 66 to 117

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Laws of Adoption
66. The father of a child of great comeliness, learning, ability or specially loved because of some circumstance may, at the will of the child’s clan, select a name from his own (the father’s) clan and bestow it by ceremony, such as is provided. This naming shall be only temporary and shall be called, “A name hung about the neck.”67. Should any person, a member of the Five Nations’ Confederacy, specially esteem a man or woman of another clan or of a foreign nation, he may choose a name and bestow it upon that person so esteemed. The naming shall be in accord with the ceremony of bestowing names. Such a name is only a temporary one and shall be called “A name hung about the neck.” A short string of shells shall be delivered with the name as a record and a pledge.

68. Should any member of the Five Nations, a family or person belonging to a foreign nation submit a proposal for adoption into a clan of one of the Five Nations, he or they shall furnish a string of shells, a span in length, as a pledge to the clan into which he or they wish to be adopted. The Lords of the nation shall then consider the proposal and submit a decision.

69. Any member of the Five Nations who through esteem or other feeling wishes to adopt an individual, a family or number of families may offer adoption to him or them and if accepted the matter shall be brought to the attention of the Lords for confirmation and the Lords must confirm adoption.

70. When the adoption of anyone shall have been confirmed by the Lords of the Nation, the Lords shall address the people of their nation and say: “Now you of our nation, be informed that such a person, such a family or such families have ceased forever to bear their birth nation’s name and have buried it in the depths of the earth. Henceforth let no one of our nation ever mention the original name or nation of their birth. To do so will be to hasten the end of our peace.”


Laws of Emigration
71. When any person or family belonging to the Five Nations desires to abandon their birth nation and the territory of the Five Nations, they shall inform the Lords of their nation and the Confederate Council of the Five Nations shall take cognizance of it.

72. When any person or any of the people of the Five Nations emigrate and reside in a region distant from the territory of the Five Nations Confederacy, the Lords of the Five Nations at will may send a messenger carrying a broad belt of black shells and when the messenger arrives he shall call the people together or address them personally displaying the belt of shells and they shall know that this is an order for them to return to their original homes and to their council fires.

Rights of Foreign Nations
73. The soil of the earth from one end of the land to the other is the property of the people who inhabit it. By birthright the Ongwehonweh (Original beings) are the owners of the soil which they own and occupy and none other may hold it. The same law has been held from the oldest times.

The Great Creator has made us of the one blood and of the same soil he made us and as only different tongues constitute different nations he established different hunting grounds and territories and made boundary lines between them.

74. When any alien nation or individual is admitted into the Five Nations the admission shall be understood only to be a temporary one. Should the person or nation create loss, do wrong or cause suffering of any kind to endanger the peace of the Confederacy, the Confederate Lords shall order one of their war chiefs to reprimand him or them and if a similar offence is again committed the offending party or parties shall be expelled from the territory of the Five United Nations.

75. When a member of an alien nation comes to the territory of the Five Nations and seeks refuge and permanent residence, the Lords of the Nation to which he comes shall extend hospitality and make him a member of the nation. Then shall he be accorded equal rights and privileges in all matters except as after mentioned.

76. No body of alien people who have been adopted temporarily shall have a vote in the council of the Lords of the Confederacy, for only they who have been invested with Lordship titles may vote in the Council. Aliens have nothing by blood to make claim to a vote and should they have it, not knowing all the traditions of the Confederacy, might go against its Great Peace. In this manner the Great Peace would be endangered and perhaps be destroyed.

77. When the Lords of the Confederacy decide to admit a foreign nation and an adoption is made, the Lords shall inform the adopted nation that its admission is only temporary. They shall also say to the nation that it must never try to control, to interfere with or to injure the Five Nations nor disregard the Great Peace or any of its rules or customs. That in no way should they cause disturbance or injury. Then should the adopted nation disregard these injunctions, their adoption shall be annulled and they shall be expelled.

The expulsion shall be in the following manner: The council shall appoint one of their War Chiefs to convey the message of annulment and he shall say, “You (naming the nation) listen to me while I speak. I am here to inform you again of the will of the Five Nations’ Council. It was clearly made known to you at a former time. Now the Lords of the Five Nations have decided to expel you and cast you out. We disown you now and annul your adoption. Therefore you must look for a path in which to go and lead away all your people. It was you, not we, who committed wrong and caused this sentence of annulment. So then go your way and depart from the territory of the Five Nations and from the Confederacy.”

78. Whenever a foreign nation enters the Confederacy or accepts the Great Peace, the Five Nations and the foreign nation shall enter into an agreement and compact by which the foreign nation shall endeavor to persuade other nations to accept the Great Peace.

Rights and Powers of War
79. Skanawatih shall be vested with a double office, duty and with double authority. One-half of his being shall hold the Lordship title and the other half shall hold the title of War Chief. In the event of war he shall notify the five War Chiefs of the Confederacy and command them to prepare for war and have their men ready at the appointed time and place for engagement with the enemy of the Great Peace.

80. When the Confederate Council of the Five Nations has for its object the establishment of the Great Peace among the people of an outside nation and that nation refuses to accept the Great Peace, then by such refusal they bring a declaration of war upon themselves from the Five Nations. Then shall the Five Nations seek to establish the Great Peace by a conquest of the rebellious nation.

Rights and Powers of War
79. Skanawatih shall be vested with a double office, duty and with double authority. One-half of his being shall hold the Lordship title and the other half shall hold the title of War Chief. In the event of war he shall notify the five War Chiefs of the Confederacy and command them to prepare for war and have their men ready at the appointed time and place for engagement with the enemy of the Great Peace.

80. When the Confederate Council of the Five Nations has for its object the establishment of the Great Peace among the people of an outside nation and that nation refuses to accept the Great Peace, then by such refusal they bring a declaration of war upon themselves from the Five Nations. Then shall the Five Nations seek to establish the Great Peace by a conquest of the rebellious nation.

Now I am greatly surprised
And, therefore I shall use it —
The power of my War Song.

I am of the Five Nations
And I shall make supplication
To the Almighty Creator.

He has furnished this army.
My warriors shall be mighty
In the strength of the Creator.

Between him and my song they are
For it was he who gave the song
This war song that I sing!

82. When the warriors of the Five Nations are on an expedition against an enemy, the War Chief shall sing the War Song as he approaches the country of the enemy and not cease until his scouts have reported that the army is near the enemies’ lines when the War Chief shall approach with great caution and prepare for the attack.

83. When peace shall have been established by the termination of the war against a foreign nation, then the War Chief shall cause all the weapons of war to be taken from the nation. Then shall the Great Peace be established and that nation shall observe all the rules of the Great Peace for all time to come.

84. Whenever a foreign nation is conquered or has by their own will accepted the Great Peace their own system of internal government may continue, but they must cease all warfare against other nations.

85. Whenever a war against a foreign nation is pushed until that nation is about exterminated because of its refusal to accept the Great Peace and if that nation shall by its obstinacy become exterminated, all their rights, property and territory shall become the property of the Five Nations.

86. Whenever a foreign nation is conquered and the survivors are brought into the territory of the Five Nations’ Confederacy and placed under the Great Peace the two shall be known as the Conqueror and the Conquered. A symbolic relationship shall be devised and be placed in some symbolic position. The conquered nation shall have no voice in the councils of the Confederacy in the body of the Lords.

87. When the War of the Five Nations on a foreign rebellious nation is ended, peace shall be restored to that nation by a withdrawal of all their weapons of war by the War Chief of the Five Nations. When all the terms of peace shall have been agreed upon a state of friendship shall be established.

88. When the proposition to establish the Great Peace is made to a foreign nation it shall be done in mutual council. The foreign nation is to be persuaded by reason and urged to come into the Great Peace. If the Five Nations fail to obtain the consent of the nation at the first council, a second council shall be held and upon a second failure a third council shall be held, and this third council shall end the peaceful methods of persuasion. At the third council the War Chief of the Five nations shall address the Chief of the foreign nation and request him three times to accept the Great Peace. If refusal steadfastly follows the War Chief shall let the bunch of white lake shells drop from his outstretched hand to the ground and shall bound quickly forward and club the offending chief to death. War shall thereby be declared and the War Chief shall have his warriors at his back to meet any emergency. War must continue until the contest is won by the Five Nations.

89. When the Lords of the Five Nations propose to meet in conference with a foreign nation with proposals for an acceptance of the Great Peace, a large band of warriors shall conceal themselves in a secure place safe from the espionage of the foreign nation but as near at hand as possible. Two warriors shall accompany the Union Lord who carries the proposals and these warriors shall be especially cunning. Should the Lord be attacked, these warriors shall hasten back to the army of warriors with the news of the calamity which fell through the treachery of the foreign nation.

90. When the Five Nations’ Council declares war any Lord of the Confederacy may enlist with the warriors by temporarily renouncing his sacred Lordship title which he holds through the election of his women relatives. The title then reverts to them and they may bestow it upon another temporarily until the war is over when the Lord, if living, may resume his title and seat in the Council.

91. A certain wampum belt of black beads shall be the emblem of the authority of the Five War Chiefs to take up the weapons of war and with their men to resist invasion. This shall be called a war in defense of the territory.

Treason or Secession of a Nation
92. If a nation, part of a nation, or more than one nation within the Five Nations should in any way endeavor to destroy the Great Peace by neglect or violating its laws and resolve to dissolve the Confederacy, such a nation or such nations shall be deemed guilty of treason and called enemies of the Confederacy and the Great Peace.

It shall then be the duty of the Lords of the Confederacy who remain faithful to resolve to warn the offending people. They shall be warned once and if a second warning is necessary they shall be driven from the territory of the Confederacy by the War Chiefs and his men.

Rights of the People of the Five Nations
93. Whenever a specially important matter or a great emergency is presented before the Confederate Council and the nature of the matter affects the entire body of the Five Nations, threatening their utter ruin, then the Lords of the Confederacy must submit the matter to the decision of their people and the decision of the people shall affect the decision of the Confederate Council. This decision shall be a confirmation of the voice of the people.

94. The men of every clan of the Five Nations shall have a Council Fire ever burning in readiness for a council of the clan. When it seems necessary for a council to be held to discuss the welfare of the clans, then the men may gather about the fire. This council shall have the same rights as the council of the women.

95. The women of every clan of the Five Nations shall have a Council Fire ever burning in readiness for a council of the clan. When in their opinion it seems necessary for the interest of the people they shall hold a council and their decisions and recommendations shall be introduced before the Council of the Lords by the War Chief for its consideration.

96. All the Clan council fires of a nation or of the Five Nations may unite into one general council fire, or delegates from all the council fires may be appointed to unite in a general council for discussing the interests of the people. The people shall have the right to make appointments and to delegate their power to others of their number. When their council shall have come to a conclusion on any matter, their decision shall be reported to the Council of the Nation or to the Confederate Council (as the case may require) by the War Chief or the War Chiefs.

97. Before the real people united their nations, each nation had its council fires. Before the Great Peace their councils were held. The five Council Fires shall continue to burn as before and they are not quenched. The Lords of each nation in future shall settle their nation’s affairs at this council fire governed always by the laws and rules of the council of the Confederacy and by the Great Peace.

98. If either a nephew or a niece see an irregularity in the performance of the functions of the Great Peace and its laws, in the Confederate Council or in the conferring of Lordship titles in an improper way, through their War Chief they may demand that such actions become subject to correction and that the matter conform to the ways prescribed by the laws of the Great Peace.

Religious Ceremonies Protected
99. The rites and festivals of each nation shall remain undisturbed and shall continue as before because they were given by the people of old times as useful and necessary for the good of men.

100. It shall be the duty of the Lords of each brotherhood to confer at the approach of the time of the Midwinter Thanksgiving and to notify their people of the approaching festival. They shall hold a council over the matter and arrange its details and begin the Thanksgiving five days after the moon of Dis-ko-nah is new. The people shall assemble at the appointed place and the nephews shall notify the people of the time and place. From the beginning to the end the Lords shall preside over the Thanksgiving and address the people from time to time.

101. It shall be the duty of the appointed managers of the Thanksgiving festivals to do all that is needed for carrying out the duties of the occasions.

The recognized festivals of Thanksgiving shall be the Midwinter Thanksgiving, the Maple or Sugar-making Thanksgiving, the Raspberry Thanksgiving, the Strawberry Thanksgiving, the Corn-planting Thanksgiving, the Corn Hoeing Thanksgiving, the Little Festival of Green Corn, the Great Festival of Ripe Corn and the complete Thanksgiving for the Harvest.

Each nation’s festivals shall be held in their Long Houses.

102. When the Thanksgiving for the Green Corn comes the special managers, both the men and women, shall give it careful attention and do their duties properly.

103. When the Ripe Corn Thanksgiving is celebrated the Lords of the Nation must give it the same attention as they give to the Midwinter Thanksgiving.

104. Whenever any man proves himself by his good life and his knowledge of good things, naturally fitted as a teacher of good things, he shall be recognized by the Lords as a teacher of peace and religion and the people shall hear him.

The Installation Song
105. The song used in installing the new Lord of the Confederacy shall be sung by Adodarhoh and it shall be:

“Haii, haii Agwah wi-yoh”
“A-kon-he-watha”
“Ska-we-ye-se-go-wah”
“Yon-gwa-wih”
“Ya-kon-he-wa-tha
Haii, haii

“Haii, haii Agwah wi-yoh”
“A-kon-he-watha”
“Ska-we-ye-se-go-wah”
“Yon-gwa-wih”
“Ya-kon-he-wa-tha
Haii, haii

106. Whenever a person properly entitled desires to learn the Pacification Song he is privileged to do so but he must prepare a feast at which his teachers may sit with him and sing. The feast is provided that no misfortune may befall them for singing the song on an occasion when no chief is installed.

Protection of the House
107. A certain sign shall be known to all the people of the Five Nations which shall denote that the owner or occupant of a house is absent. A stick or pole in a slanting or leaning position shall indicate this and be the sign. Every person not entitled to enter the house by right of living within it upon seeing such a sign shall not approach the house either by day or by night but shall keep as far away as his business will permit.

Funeral Addresses
108. At the funeral of a Lord of the Confederacy, say:
“Now we become reconciled as you start away. You were once a Lord of the Five Nations’ Confederacy and the United People trusted you. Now we release you for it is true that it is no longer possible for us to walk about together on the earth. Now, therefore, we lay it (the body) here. Here we lay it away. Now then we say to you, ‘Persevere onward to the place where the Creator dwells in peace. Let not the things of the earth hinder you. Let nothing that transpired while yet you lived hinder you. In hunting you once took delight; in the game of Lacrosse you once took delight and in the feasts and pleasant occasions your mind was amused, but now do not allow thoughts of these things to give you trouble. Let not your relatives hinder you and also let not your friends and associates trouble your mind. Regard none of these things.”
“Now then, in turn, you here present who were related to this man and you who were his friends and associates, behold the path that is yours also! Soon we ourselves will be left in that place. For this reason hold yourselves in restraint as you go from place to place. In your actions and in your conversation do no idle thing. Speak not idle talk neither gossip. Be careful of this and speak not and do not give way to evil behavior. One year is the time that you must abstain from unseemly levity but if you can not do this for ceremony, ten days is the time to regard these things for respect.”

109. At the funeral of a War Chief, say:
“Now we become reconciled as you start away. You were once a War Chief of the Five Nations’ Confederacy and the United People trusted you as their guard from the enemy.” (The remainder is the same as the address at the funeral of a Lord).

110. At the funeral of a Warrior, say:
“Now we become reconciled as you start away. Once you were a devoted provider and protector of your family and you were ever ready to take part in battles for the Five Nations’ Confederacy. The United People trusted you.” (The remainder is the same as the address at the funeral of a Lord).

111. At the funeral of a young man, say:
“Now we become reconciled as you start away. In the beginning of your career you are taken away and the flower of your life is withered away.” (The remainder is the same as the address at the funeral of a Lord).

112. At the funeral of a chief woman, say:
“Now we become reconciled as you start away. You were once a chief woman in the Five Nations’ Confederacy. You once were a mother of the nations. Now we release you for it is true that it is no longer possible for us to walk about together on the earth. Now, therefore, we lay it (the body) here. Here we lay it away. Now then we say to you, ‘Persevere onward to the place where the Creator dwells in peace. Let not the things of the earth hinder you. Let nothing that transpired while you lived hinder you. Looking after your family was a sacred duty and you were faithful. You were one of the many joint heirs of the Lordship titles. Feastings were yours and you had pleasant occasions. . .” (The remainder is the same as the address at the funeral of a Lord).

113. At the funeral of a woman of the people, say:
“Now we become reconciled as you start away. You were once a woman in the flower of life and the bloom is now withered away. You once held a sacred position as a mother of the nation. (Etc.) Looking after your family was a sacred duty and you were faithful. Feastings . . . (etc.)” (The remainder is the same as the address at the funeral of a Lord).

114. At the funeral of an infant or young woman, say:
“Now we become reconciled as you start away. You were a tender bud and gladdened our hearts for only a few days. Now the bloom has withered away . . . (etc.)(6) Let none of the things that transpired on earth hinder you. Let nothing that happened while you lived hinder you.” (The remainder is the same as the address at the funeral of a Lord).

115. When an infant dies within three days, mourning shall continue only five days. Then shall you gather the little boys and girls at the house of mourning and at the funeral feast a speaker shall address the children and bid them be happy once more, though by a death, gloom has been cast over them. Then shall the black clouds roll away and the sky shall show blue once more. Then shall the children be again in sunshine.

116. When a dead person is brought to the burial place, the speaker on the opposite side of the Council Fire shall bid the bereaved family cheer their minds once again and rekindle their hearth fires in peace, to put their house in order and once again be in brightness for darkness has covered them. He shall say that the black clouds shall roll away and that the bright blue sky is visible once more. Therefore shall they be in peace in the sunshine again.

117. Three strings of shell one span in length shall be employed in addressing the assemblage at the burial of the dead. The speaker shall say:
“Hearken you who are here, this body is to be covered. Assemble in this place again ten days hence for it is the decree of the Creator that mourning shall cease when ten days have expired. Then shall a feast be made.”
Then at the expiration of ten days the speaker shall say: “Continue to listen you who are here. The ten days of mourning have expired and your minds must now be freed of sorrow as before the loss of a relative. The relatives have decided to make a little compensation to those who have assisted at the funeral. It is a mere expression of thanks. This is to the one who did the cooking while the body was lying in the house. Let her come forward and receive this gift and be dismissed from the task.” In substance this shall be repeated for every one who assisted in any way until all have been remembered.

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Corporate Machine

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TELEPHONE TERRORISM: CORPORATE BULLY ROGERS IGNORES CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATION – ATTACKS FREEDOM OF SPEECHMNN. August 14, 2006. On August 9th at 3:20 pm I picked up my home phone to make a long distance call. A man came on. The first thing he said was, “This is Rogers and we’ve disconnected your long distance”. Rogers is my long distance server.

“Why?” I asked. He told me I hadn’t paid my June 2006 bill of $103.19. This is not really normally considered past due according to normal collection policy. I was surprised. I always pay my bills and had never received a “past due” notice. While he waited on the phone, I pulled out my June receipts There it was. I had indeed paid my bill at the local Caisse Populaire Bank in Kahnawake. The Rogers employee, Shawn, at 1-800-818-1248 became both nervous and nasty. He claimed the money was not in their account. As far as he was concerned it had not been paid. He wanted me to pay him again by credit card. It crossed my mind that this could be a scam of some kind. If it wasn’t, I couldn’t understand why I should pay again. I offered to fax him a copy of my receipt. He didn’t want it. He again told me he wasn’t going to do anything to check what the problem was. The long distance service would remain cut.

While he was still on the line, I called the Caisse Populaire 450-638-5464. It is the bank in my community. Sure enough they found that I had paid my bill on June 28th 2006 to Teller No. 7. The bank confirmed that the money had been sent to Rogers. The man was still on my other phone line listening to us. I explained what the bank said. He became even nastier. He informed me he wasn’t going to reconnect. To the bank employee and me, it looked like the mistake had been made at his end. But that did not matter to him. He said he had no more time or patience for us and abruptly smacked the phone down on us.

As an elder, over 65 years old, I need my long distance service to stay in touch with my family. I was greatly distressed over the way this young man spoke so angrily and rudely to me, a senior citizen. He was so offensive that I thought about changing my long distance service and telling all my friends to do the same. I wrote to the CRTC (Canadian Radio Telecommunication Commission) telling them I would appreciate it very much if they would investigate these strong arm harassment tactics by Rogers to threaten one of its helpless clients. Especially those who live alone and are desperate to maintain crucial telephone contact. I sent a copy to Rogers. To this date I still have not received any response from the CRTC.

Around noon on Friday, August 11th, the bank called me and said they had “repaid” the June bill and my service should come right back on immediately. They told me to call Rogers and confirm that they could now turn my service back on. I called. They refused to do this. They claimed they had not received this repayment. I sent my receipt to two people at Rogers. They transferred me around to five people. I had to explain everything from the beginning to each one of them. They still would not give me long distance service. I was on the phone with them for over two hours. Still no service.

I told them I needed the long distance desperately as a close family member, an ironworker, had just fallen off the job and was in a coma in a hospital. I needed to get in touch with other family members. They said that they would allow me a “courtesy” call. To get this, I had to call a certain number, go through their recorded messages, hit numbers and dial “0”. Someone finally came on. He asked me all kinds of personal questions. Who was I calling? Why? Where? And so on. Then he dialed the number for me. After ten minutes of this trouble I got through. I was told I could only speak for 5 minutes, then the call was cut without warning. Due to the family crisis I was forced to do this several times.

On Monday, August 14th, still no service. Finally about 4:30 pm I tried and got a long distance call through. Still no explanation. Still no apology. Still no rebate for the loss of one-quarter of a month’s service and all of my time. What gives? Rogers clearly breached its contract with me. Who knows why? Who knows what they’ve been doing. I am starting to get calls from people saying
“Where were you. I’ve been calling all week, leaving messages.” I never left home. I never got one long distance message though I did get some local ones.

Does anyone have any idea what’s going on. Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? How can customers defend ourselves from corporate bullies? Now, may I ask – if they reconnect, are they going to deduct the time they gave me no service and are they going to charge me for reconnection? Doesn’t it sounds like a scam? Whatever happened to old fashioned respect for people who pay their bills on time?

In my note to the CRTC I asked whether any long distance provider has a right to cut off my service when my bills have been paid. Rogers did reply. On August 10th they sent me a “Termination notice” because they allege that “my bill was severely past due” even though I have paid it twice. They are now sending this to a collection agency. They want me to pay it again for a third time, this time $172.76. In other words they want me to pay three and a half times the agreed upon rate for the phone service. You know what? They’re wearing me out. If there is freedom of speech and freedom of association in Canada, how can anyone be subjected to such mistreatment?

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

See news on Mohawk Issues at http://www.mohawknationnews.com

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

The Great Law: Wampum 1 to 65

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The Council of the Great Peace, Gayanerakowa1. I am Dekanawidah and with the Five Nations’ Confederate Lords I plant the Tree of Great Peace. I plant it in your territory, Adodarhoh, and the Onondaga Nation, in the territory of you who are Firekeepers.I name the tree the Tree of the Great Long Leaves. Under the shade of this Tree of the Great Peace we spread the soft white feathery down of the globe thistle as seats for you, Adodarhoh, and your cousin Lords.

We place you upon those seats, spread soft with the feathery down of the globe thistle, there beneath the shade of the spreading branches of the Tree of Peace. There shall you sit and watch the Council Fire of the Confederacy of the Five Nations, and all the affairs of the Five Nations shall be transacted at this place before you, Adodarhoh, and your cousin Lords, by the Confederate Lords of the Five Nations.

2. Roots have spread out from the Tree of the Great Peace, one to the north, one to the east, one to the south and one to the west. The name of these roots is The Great White Roots and their nature is Peace and Strength.

If any man or any nation outside the Five Nations shall obey the laws of the Great Peace and make known their disposition to the Lords of the Confederacy, they may trace the Roots to the Tree and if their minds are clean and they are obedient and promise to obey the wishes of the Confederate Council, they shall be welcomed to take shelter beneath the Tree of the Long Leaves.

We place at the top of the Tree of the Long Leaves an Eagle who is able to see afar. If he sees in the distance any evil approaching or any danger threatening he will at once warn the people of the Confederacy.

3. To you Adodarhoh, the Onondaga cousin Lords, I and the other Confederate Lords have entrusted the care-taking and the watching of the Five Nations Council Fire.

When there is any business to be transacted and the Confederate Council is not in session, a messenger shall be dispatched either to Adodarhoh, Hononwirehtonh or Skanawatih, Fire Keepers, or to their War Chiefs with a full statement of the case desired to be considered. Then shall Adodarhoh call his cousin (associate) Lords together and consider whether or not the case is of sufficient importance to demand the attention of the Confederate Council. If so, Adodarhoh shall dispatch messengers to summon all the Confederate Lords to assemble beneath the Tree of the Long Leaves.

When the Lords are assembled the Council Fire shall be kindled, but not with chestnut wood(3), and Adodarhoh shall formally open the Council. Then shall Adodarhoh and his cousin Lords, the Fire Keepers, announce the subject for discussion.

The Smoke of the Confederate Council Fire shall ever ascend and pierce the sky so that other nations who may be allies may see the Council Fire of the Great Peace.

Adodarhoh and his cousin Lords are entrusted with the Keeping of the Council Fire.

4. You, Adodarhoh, and your thirteen cousin Lords, shall faithfully keep the space about the Council Fire clean and you shall allow neither dust nor dirt to accumulate. I lay a Long Wing before you as a broom. As a weapon against a crawling creature I lay a staff with you so that you may thrust it away from the Council Fire. If you fail to cast it out then call the rest of the United Lords to your aid.

5. The Council of the Mohawk shall be divided into three parties as follows: Tekarihoken, Ayonhwhathah and Shadekariwade are the first party; Sharenhowaneh, Deyoenhegwenh and Oghrenghreh-gowah are the second party, and Dehennakrineh, Aghstawenserenthah and Shoskoharowaneh are the third party. The third party is to listen only to the discussion of the first and second parties and if an error is made or the proceeding is irregular they are to call attention to it, and when the case is right and properly decided by the two parties they shall confirm the decision of the two parties and refer the case to the Seneca Lords for their decision. When the Seneca Lords have decided in accord with the Mohawk Lords, the case or question shall be referred to the Cayuga and Oneida Lords on the opposite side of the house.

6. I, Dekanawidah, appoint the Mohawk Lords the heads and the leaders of the Five Nations Confederacy. The Mohawk Lords are the foundation of the Great Peace and it shall, therefore, be against the Great Binding Law to pass measures in the Confederate Council after the Mohawk Lords have protested against them.

No council of the Confederate Lords shall be legal unless all the Mohawk Lords are present.

7. Whenever the Confederate Lords shall assemble for the purpose of holding a council, the Onondaga Lords shall open it by expressing their gratitude to their cousin Lords and greeting them, and they shall make an address and offer thanks to the earth where men dwell, to the streams of water, the pools, the springs and the lakes, to the maize and the fruits, to the medicinal herbs and trees, to the forest trees for their usefulness, to the animals that serve as food and give their pelts for clothing, to the great winds and the lesser winds, to the Thunderers, to the Sun, the mighty warrior, to the moon, to the messengers of the Creator who reveal his wishes and to the Great Creator who dwells in the heavens above, who gives all the things useful to men, and who is the source and the ruler of health and life.

Then shall the Onondaga Lords declare the council open.

The council shall not sit after darkness has set in.

8. The Firekeepers shall formally open and close all councils of the Confederate Lords, and they shall pass upon all matters deliberated upon by the two sides and render their decision.

Every Onondaga Lord (or his deputy) must be present at every Confederate Council and must agree with the majority without unwarrantable dissent, so that a unanimous decision may be rendered.

If Adodarhoh or any of his cousin Lords are absent from a Confederate Council, any other Firekeeper may open and close the Council, but the Firekeepers present may not give any decisions, unless the matter is of small importance.

9. All the business of the Five Nations Confederate Council shall be conducted by the two combined bodies of Confederate Lords. First the question shall be passed upon by the Mohawk and Seneca Lords, then it shall be discussed and passed by the Oneida and Cayuga Lords. Their decisions shall then be referred to the Onondaga Lords, (Fire Keepers) for final judgement.

The same process shall obtain when a question is brought before the council by an individual or a War Chief.

10. In all cases the procedure must be as follows: when the Mohawk and Seneca Lords have unanimously agreed upon a question, they shall report their decision to the Cayuga and Oneida Lords who shall deliberate upon the question and report a unanimous decision to the Mohawk Lords. The Mohawk Lords will then report the standing of the case to the Firekeepers, who shall render a decision as they see fit in case of a disagreement by the two bodies, or confirm the decisions of the two bodies if they are identical. The Fire Keepers shall then report their decision to the Mohawk Lords who shall announce it to the open council.

11. If through any misunderstanding or obstinacy on the part of the Fire Keepers, they render a decision at variance with that of the Two Sides, the Two Sides shall reconsider the matter and if their decisions are jointly the same as before they shall report to the Fire Keepers who are then compelled to confirm their joint decision.

12. When a case comes before the Onondaga Lords (Fire Keepers) for discussion and decision, Adodarho shall introduce the matter to his comrade Lords who shall then discuss it in their two bodies. Every Onondaga Lord except Hononwiretonh shall deliberate and he shall listen only. When a unanimous decision shall have been reached by the two bodies of Fire Keepers, Adodarho shall notify Hononwiretonh of the fact when he shall confirm it. He shall refuse to confirm a decision if it is not unanimously agreed upon by both sides of the Fire Keepers.

13. No Lord shall ask a question of the body of Confederate Lords when they are discussing a case, question or proposition. He may only deliberate in a low tone with the separate body of which he is a member.

14. When the Council of the Five Nation Lords shall convene they shall appoint a speaker for the day. He shall be a Lord of either the Mohawk, Onondaga or Seneca Nation.

The next day the Council shall appoint another speaker, but the first speaker may be reappointed if there is no objection, but a speaker’s term shall not be regarded more than for the day.

15. No individual or foreign nation interested in a case, question or proposition shall have any voice in the Confederate Council except to answer a question put to him or them by the speaker for the Lords.

16. If the conditions which shall arise at any future time call for an addition to or change of this law, the case shall be carefully considered and if a new beam seems necessary or beneficial, the proposed change shall be voted upon and if adopted it shall be called, “Added to the Rafters”.



Rights, Duties and Qualifications of Lords
17. A bunch of a certain number of shell (wampum) strings each two spans in length shall be given to each of the female families in which the Lordship titles are vested. The right of bestowing the title shall be hereditary in the family of the females legally possessing the bunch of shell strings and the strings shall be the token that the females of the family have the proprietary right to the Lordship title for all time to come, subject to certain restrictions hereinafter mentioned.

18. If any Confederate Lord neglects or refuses to attend the Confederate Council, the other Lords of the Nation of which he is a member shall require their War Chief to request the female sponsors of the Lord so guilty of defection to demand his attendance of the Council. If he refuses, the women holding the title shall immediately select another candidate for the title. No Lord shall be asked more than once to attend the Confederate Council.

19. If at any time it shall be manifest that a Confederate Lord has not in mind the welfare of the people or disobeys the rules of this Great Law, the men or women of the Confederacy, or both jointly, shall come to the Council and upbraid the erring Lord through his War Chief. If the complaint of the people through the War Chief is not heeded the first time it shall be uttered again and then if no attention is given a third complaint and warning shall be given. If the Lord is contumacious the matter shall go to the council of War Chiefs. The War Chiefs shall then divest the erring Lord of his title by order of the women in whom the title-ship is vested. When the Lord is deposed the women shall notify the Confederate Lords through their War Chief, and the Confederate Lords shall sanction the act. The women will then select another of their sons as a candidate and the Lords shall elect him. Then shall the chosen one be installed by the Installation Ceremony.

When a Lord is to be deposed, his War Chief shall address him as follows:
“So you, __________, disregard and set at naught the warnings of your women relatives. So you fling the warnings over your shoulder to cast them behind you.

“Behold the brightness of the Sun and in the brightness of the Sun’s light I depose you of your title and remove the sacred emblem of your Lordship title. I remove from your brow the deer’s antlers, which was the emblem of your position and token of your nobility. I now depose you and return the antlers to the women whose heritage they are.”
The War Chief shall now address the women of the deposed Lord and say:
“Mothers, as I have now deposed your Lord, I now return to you the emblem and the title of Lordship, therefore repossess them.”
Again addressing himself to the deposed Lord he shall say:
“As I have now deposed and discharged you so you are now no longer Lord. You shall now go your way alone, the rest of the people of the Confederacy will not go with you, for we know not the kind of mind that possesses you. As the Creator has nothing to do with wrong so he will not come to rescue you from the precipice of destruction in which you have cast yourself. You shall never be restored to the position which you once occupied.”
Then shall the War Chief address himself to the Lords of the Nation to which the deposed Lord belongs and say:
“Know you, my Lords, that I have taken the deer’s antlers from the brow of ___________, the emblem of his position and token of his greatness.”
The Lords of the Confederacy shall then have no other alternative than to sanction the discharge of the offending Lord.

20. If a Lord of the Confederacy of the Five Nations should commit murder the other Lords of the Nation shall assemble at the place where the corpse lies and prepare to depose the criminal Lord. If it is impossible to meet at the scene of the crime the Lords shall discuss the matter at the next Council of their Nation and request their War Chief to depose the Lord guilty of crime, to “bury” his women relatives and to transfer the Lordship title to a sister family. The War Chief shall address the Lord guilty of murder and say:
“So you, __________ (giving his name) did kill __________ (naming the slain man), with your own hands! You have committed a grave sin in the eyes of the Creator. Behold the bright light of the Sun, and in the brightness of the Sun’s light I depose you of your title and remove the horns, the sacred emblems of your Lordship title. I remove from your brow the deer’s antlers, which was the emblem of your position and token of your nobility. I now depose you and expel you and you shall depart at once from the territory of the Five Nations Confederacy and nevermore return again. We, the Five Nations Confederacy, moreover, bury your women relatives because the ancient Lordship title was never intended to have any union with bloodshed. Henceforth it shall not be their heritage. By the evil deed that you have done they have forfeited it forever..”
The War Chief shall then hand the title to a sister family and he shall address it and say:
“Our mothers, ____________, listen attentively while I address you on a solemn and important subject. I hereby transfer to you an ancient Lordship title for a great calamity has befallen it in the hands of the family of a former Lord. We trust that you, our mothers, will always guard it, and that you will warn your Lord always to be dutiful and to advise his people to ever live in love, peace and harmony that a great calamity may never happen again.”

21. Certain physical defects in a Confederate Lord make him ineligible to sit in the Confederate Council. Such defects are infancy, idiocy, blindness, deafness, dumbness and impotency. When a Confederate Lord is restricted by any of these condition, a deputy shall be appointed by his sponsors to act for him, but in case of extreme necessity the restricted Lord may exercise his rights.

22. If a Confederate Lord desires to resign his title he shall notify the Lords of the Nation of which he is a member of his intention. If his co-active Lords refuse to accept his resignation he may not resign his title.

A Lord in proposing to resign may recommend any proper candidate which recommendation shall be received by the Lords, but unless confirmed and nominated by the women who hold the title the candidate so named shall not be considered.

23. Any Lord of the Five Nations Confederacy may construct shell strings (or wampum belts) of any size or length as pledges or records of matters of national or international importance.

When it is necessary to dispatch a shell string by a War Chief or other messenger as the token of a summons, the messenger shall recite the contents of the string to the party to whom it is sent. That party shall repeat the message and return the shell string and if there has been a summons he shall make ready for the journey.

Any of the people of the Five Nations may use shells (or wampum) as the record of a pledge, contract or an agreement entered into and the same shall be binding as soon as shell strings shall have been exchanged by both parties.

24. The Lords of the Confederacy of the Five Nations shall be mentors of the people for all time. The thickness of their skin shall be seven spans — which is to say that they shall be proof against anger, offensive actions and criticism. Their hearts shall be full of peace and good will and their minds filled with a yearning for the welfare of the people of the Confederacy. With endless patience they shall carry out their duty and their firmness shall be tempered with a tenderness for their people. Neither anger nor fury shall find lodgement in their minds and all their words and actions shall be marked by calm deliberation.

25. If a Lord of the Confederacy should seek to establish any authority independent of the jurisdiction of the Confederacy of the Great Peace, which is the Five Nations, he shall be warned three times in open council, first by the women relatives, second by the men relatives and finally by the Lords of the Confederacy of the Nation to which he belongs. If the offending Lord is still obdurate he shall be dismissed by the War Chief of his nation for refusing to conform to the laws of the Great Peace. His nation shall then install the candidate nominated by the female name holders of his family.

26. It shall be the duty of all of the Five Nations Confederate Lords, from time to time as occasion demands, to act as mentors and spiritual guides of their people and remind them of their Creator’s will and words. They shall say:
“Hearken, that peace may continue unto future days!
“Always listen to the words of the Great Creator, for he has spoken.
“United people, let not evil find lodging in your minds.
“For the Great Creator has spoken and the cause of Peace shall not become old.
“The cause of peace shall not die if you remember the Great Creator.”
Every Confederate Lord shall speak words such as these to promote peace.

27. All Lords of the Five Nations Confederacy must be honest in all things. They must not idle or gossip, but be men possessing those honorable qualities that make true royaneh. It shall be a serious wrong for anyone to lead a Lord into trivial affairs, for the people must ever hold their Lords high in estimation out of respect to their honorable positions.

28. When a candidate Lord is to be installed he shall furnish four strings of shells (or wampum) one span in length bound together at one end. Such will constitute the evidence of his pledge to the Confederate Lords that he will live according to the constitution of the Great Peace and exercise justice in all affairs.

When the pledge is furnished the Speaker of the Council must hold the shell strings in his hand and address the opposite side of the Council Fire and he shall commence his address saying: “Now behold him. He has now become a Confederate Lord. See how splendid he looks.” An address may then follow. At the end of it he shall send the bunch of shell strings to the opposite side and they shall be received as evidence of the pledge. Then shall the opposite side say:
“We now do crown you with the sacred emblem of the deer’s antlers, the emblem of your Lordship. You shall now become a mentor of the people of the Five Nations. The thickness of your skin shall be seven spans — which is to say that you shall be proof against anger, offensive actions and criticism. Your heart shall be filled with peace and good will and your mind filled with a yearning for the welfare of the people of the Confederacy. With endless patience you shall carry out your duty and your firmness shall be tempered with tenderness for your people. Neither anger nor fury shall find lodgement in your mind and all your words and actions shall be marked with calm deliberation. In all of your deliberations in the Confederate Council, in your efforts at law making, in all your official acts, self interest shall be cast into oblivion. Cast not over your shoulder behind you the warnings of the nephews and nieces should they chide you for any error or wrong you may do, but return to the way of the Great Law which is just and right. Look and listen for the welfare of the whole people and have always in view not only the present but also the coming generations, even those whose faces are yet beneath the surface of the ground — the unborn of the future Nation.”

29. When a Lordship title is to be conferred, the candidate Lord shall furnish the cooked venison, the corn bread and the corn soup, together with other necessary things and the labor for the Conferring of Titles Festival.

30. The Lords of the Confederacy may confer the Lordship title upon a candidate whenever the Great Law is recited, if there be a candidate, for the Great Law speaks all the rules.

31. If a Lord of the Confederacy should become seriously ill and be thought near death, the women who are heirs of his title shall go to his house and lift his crown of deer antlers, the emblem of his Lordship, and place them at one side. If the Creator spares him and he rises from his bed of sickness he may rise with the antlers on his brow.

The following words shall be used to temporarily remove the antlers:
“Now our comrade Lord (or our relative Lord) the time has come when we must approach you in your illness. We remove for a time the deer’s antlers from your brow, we remove the emblem of your Lordship title. The Great Law has decreed that no Lord should end his life with the antlers on his brow. We therefore lay them aside in the room. If the Creator spares you and you recover from your illness you shall rise from your bed with the antlers on your brow as before and you shall resume your duties as Lord of the Confederacy and you may labor again for the Confederate people.”

32. If a Lord of the Confederacy should die while the Council of the Five Nations is in session the Council shall adjourn for ten days. No Confederate Council shall sit within ten days of the death of a Lord of the Confederacy.

If the Three Brothers (the Mohawk, the Onondaga and the Seneca) should lose one of their Lords by death, the Younger Brothers (the Oneida and the Cayuga) shall come to the surviving Lords of the Three Brothers on the tenth day and console them. If the Younger Brothers lose one of their Lords then the Three Brothers shall come to them and console them. And the consolation shall be the reading of the contents of the thirteen shell (wampum) strings of Ayonhwhathah. At the termination of this rite a successor shall be appointed, to be appointed by the women heirs of the Lordship title. If the women are not yet ready to place their nominee before the Lords the Speaker shall say, “Come let us go out.” All shall leave the Council or the place of gathering. The installation shall then wait until such a time as the women are ready. The Speaker shall lead the way from the house by saying, “Let us depart to the edge of the woods and lie in waiting on our bellies.”

When the women title holders shall have chosen one of their sons the Confederate Lords will assemble in two places, the Younger Brothers in one place and the Three Older Brothers in another. The Lords who are to console the mourning Lords shall choose one of their number to sing the Pacification Hymn as they journey to the sorrowing Lords. The singer shall lead the way and the Lords and the people shall follow. When they reach the sorrowing Lords they shall hail the candidate Lord and perform the rite of Conferring the Lordship Title.

33. When a Confederate Lord dies, the surviving relatives shall immediately dispatch a messenger, a member of another clan, to the Lords in another locality. When the runner comes within hailing distance of the locality he shall utter a sad wail, thus: “Kwa-ah, Kwa-ah, Kwa-ah!” The sound shall be repeated three times and then again and again at intervals as many times as the distance may require. When the runner arrives at the settlement the people shall assemble and one must ask him the nature of his sad message. He shall then say, “Let us consider.” Then he shall tell them of the death of the Lord. He shall deliver to them a string of shells (wampum) and say “Here is the testimony, you have heard the message.” He may then return home.

It now becomes the duty of the Lords of the locality to send runners to other localities and each locality shall send other messengers until all Lords are notified. Runners shall travel day and night.

34. If a Lord dies and there is no candidate qualified for the office in the family of the women title holders, the Lords of the Nation shall give the title into the hands of a sister family in the clan until such a time as the original family produces a candidate, when the title shall be restored to the rightful owners.

No Lordship title may be carried into the grave. The Lords of the Confederacy may dispossess a dead Lord of his title even at the grave.


Election of Pine Tree Chiefs
35. Should any man of the Nation assist with special ability or show great interest in the affairs of the Nation, if he proves himself wise, honest and worthy of confidence, the Confederate Lords may elect him to a seat with them and he may sit in the Confederate Council. He shall be proclaimed a ‘Pine Tree sprung up for the Nation’ and shall be installed as such at the next assembly for the installation of Lords. Should he ever do anything contrary to the rules of the Great Peace, he may not be deposed from office — no one shall cut him down — but thereafter everyone shall be deaf to his voice and his advice. Should he resign his seat and title no one shall prevent him. A Pine Tree chief has no authority to name a successor nor is his title hereditary.


Names, Duties and Rights of War Chiefs
36. The title names of the Chief Confederate Lords’ War Chiefs shall be:

Ayonwaehs, War Chief under Lord Takarihoken (Mohawk)
Kahonwahdironh, War Chief under Lord Odatshedeh (Oneida)
Ayendes, War Chief under Lord Adodarhoh (Onondaga)
Wenenhs, War Chief under Lord Dekaenyonh (Cayuga)
Shoneradowaneh, War Chief under Lord Skanyadariyo (Seneca)

The women heirs of each head Lord’s title shall be the heirs of the War Chief’s title of their respective Lord.

The War Chiefs shall be selected from the eligible sons of the female families holding the head Lordship titles.

37. There shall be one War Chief for each Nation and their duties shall be to carry messages for their Lords and to take up the arms of war in case of emergency. They shall not participate in the proceedings of the Confederate Council but shall watch its progress and in case of an erroneous action by a Lord they shall receive the complaints of the people and convey the warnings of the women to him. The people who wish to convey messages to the Lords in the Confederate Council shall do so through the War Chief of their Nation. It shall ever be his duty to lay the cases, questions and propositions of the people before the Confederate Council.

38. When a War Chief dies another shall be installed by the same rite as that by which a Lord is installed.

39. If a War Chief acts contrary to instructions or against the provisions of the Laws of the Great Peace, doing so in the capacity of his office, he shall be deposed by his women relatives and by his men relatives. Either the women or the men alone or jointly may act in such a case. The women title holders shall then choose another candidate.

40. When the Lords of the Confederacy take occasion to dispatch a messenger in behalf of the Confederate Council, they shall wrap up any matter they may send and instruct the messenger to remember his errand, to turn not aside but to proceed faithfully to his destination and deliver his message according to every instruction.

41. If a message borne by a runner is the warning of an invasion he shall whoop, “Kwa-ah, Kwa-ah,” twice and repeat at short intervals; then again at a longer interval.

If a human being is found dead, the finder shall not touch the body but return home immediately shouting at short intervals, “Koo-weh!”


Clans and Consanguinity
42. Among the Five Nations and their posterity there shall be the following original clans: Great Name Bearer, Ancient Name Bearer, Great Bear, Ancient Bear, Turtle, Painted Turtle, Standing Rock, Large Plover, Deer, Pigeon Hawk, Eel, Ball, Opposite-Side-of-the-Hand, and Wild Potatoes. These clans distributed through their respective Nations, shall be the sole owners and holders of the soil of the country and in them is it vested as a birthright.

43. People of the Five Nations members of a certain clan shall recognize every other member of that clan, irrespective of the Nation, as relatives. Men and women, therefore, members of the same clan are forbidden to marry.

44. The lineal descent of the people of the Five Nations shall run in the female line. Women shall be considered the progenitors of the Nation. They shall own the land and the soil. Men and women shall follow the status of the mother.

45. The women heirs of the Confederated Lordship titles shall be called Royaneh (Noble) for all time to come.

46. The women of the Forty Eight (now fifty) Royaneh families shall be the heirs of the Authorized Names for all time to come.

When an infant of the Five Nations is given an Authorized Name at the Midwinter Festival or at the Ripe Corn Festival, one in the cousin-hood of which the infant is a member shall be appointed a speaker. He shall then announce to the opposite cousin-hood the names of the father and the mother of the child together with the clan of the mother. Then the speaker shall announce the child’s name twice. The uncle of the child shall then take the child in his arms and walking up and down the room shall sing: “My head is firm, I am of the Confederacy.” As he sings the opposite cousin-hood shall respond by chanting, “Hyenh, Hyenh, Hyenh, Hyenh,” until the song is ended.

47. If the female heirs of a Confederate Lord’s title become extinct, the title right shall be given by the Lords of the Confederacy to the sister family whom they shall elect and that family shall hold the name and transmit it to their (female) heirs, but they shall not appoint any of their sons as a candidate for a title until all the eligible men of the former family shall have died or otherwise have become ineligible.

48. If all the heirs of a Lordship title become extinct, and all the families in the clan, then the title shall be given by the Lords of the Confederacy to the family in a sister clan whom they shall elect.

49. If any of the Royaneh women, heirs of a title-ship, shall wilfully withhold a Lordship or other title and refuse to bestow it, or if such heirs abandon, forsake or despise their heritage, then shall such women be deemed buried and their family extinct. The title-ship shall then revert to a sister family or clan upon application and complaint. The Lords of the Confederacy shall elect the family or clan which shall in future hold the title.

50. The Royaneh women of the Confederacy heirs of the Lordship titles shall elect two women of their family as cooks for the Lord when the people shall assemble at his house for business or other purposes.

It is not good nor honorable for a Confederate Lord to allow his people whom he has called to go hungry.

51. When a Lord holds a conference in his home, his wife, if she wishes, may prepare the food for the Union Lords who assemble with him. This is an honorable right which she may exercise and an expression of her esteem.

52. The Royaneh women, heirs of the Lordship titles, shall, should it be necessary, correct and admonish the holders of their titles. Those only who attend the Council may do this and those who do not shall not object to what has been said nor strive to undo the action.

53. When the Royaneh women, holders of a Lordship title, select one of their sons as a candidate, they shall select one who is trustworthy, of good character, of honest disposition, one who manages his own affairs, supports his own family, if any, and who has proven a faithful man to his Nation.

54. When a Lordship title becomes vacant through death or other cause, the Royaneh women of the clan in which the title is hereditary shall hold a council and shall choose one from among their sons to fill the office made vacant. Such a candidate shall not be the father of any Confederate Lord. If the choice is unanimous the name is referred to the men relatives of the clan. If they should disapprove it shall be their duty to select a candidate from among their own number. If then the men and women are unable to decide which of the two candidates shall be named, then the matter shall be referred to the Confederate Lords in the Clan. They shall decide which candidate shall be named. If the men and the women agree to a candidate his name shall be referred to the sister clans for confirmation. If the sister clans confirm the choice, they shall refer their action to their Confederate Lords who shall ratify the choice and present it to their cousin Lords, and if the cousin Lords confirm the name then the candidate shall be installed by the proper ceremony for the conferring of Lordship titles.


Official Symbolism
55. A large bunch of shell strings, in the making of which the Five Nations Confederate Lords have equally contributed, shall symbolize the completeness of the union and certify the pledge of the nations represented by the Confederate Lords of the Mohawk, the Oneida, the Onondaga, the Cayuga and the Seneca, that all are united and formed into one body or union called the Union of the Great Law, which they have established.

A bunch of shell strings is to be the symbol of the council fire of the Five Nations Confederacy. And the Lord whom the council of Fire Keepers shall appoint to speak for them in opening the council shall hold the strands of shells in his hands when speaking. When he finishes speaking he shall deposit the strings on an elevated place (or pole) so that all the assembled Lords and the people may see it and know that the council is open and in progress.

When the council adjourns the Lord who has been appointed by his comrade Lords to close it shall take the strands of shells in his hands and address the assembled Lords. Thus will the council adjourn until such time and place as appointed by the council. Then shall the shell strings be placed in a place for safekeeping.

Every five years the Five Nations Confederate Lords and the people shall assemble together and shall ask one another if their minds are still in the same spirit of unity for the Great Binding Law and if any of the Five Nations shall not pledge continuance and steadfastness to the pledge of unity then the Great Binding Law shall dissolve.

56. Five strings of shell tied together as one shall represent the Five Nations. Each string shall represent one territory and the whole a completely united territory known as the Five Nations Confederate territory.

57. Five arrows shall be bound together very strong and each arrow shall represent one nation. As the five arrows are strongly bound this shall symbolize the complete union of the nations. Thus are the Five Nations united completely and enfolded together, united into one head, one body and one mind. Therefore they shall labor, legislate and council together for the interest of future generations.

The Lords of the Confederacy shall eat together from one bowl the feast of cooked beaver’s tail. While they are eating they are to use no sharp utensils for if they should they might accidentally cut one another and bloodshed would follow. All measures must be taken to prevent the spilling of blood in any way.

58. There are now the Five Nations Confederate Lords standing with joined hands in a circle. This signifies and provides that should any one of the Confederate Lords leave the council and this Confederacy his crown of deer’s horns, the emblem of his Lordship title, together with his birthright, shall lodge on the arms of the Union Lords whose hands are so joined. He forfeits his title and the crown falls from his brow but it shall remain in the Confederacy.

A further meaning of this is that if any time any one of the Confederate Lords choose to submit to the law of a foreign people he is no longer in but out of the Confederacy, and persons of this class shall be called “They have alienated themselves.” Likewise such persons who submit to laws of foreign nations shall forfeit all birthrights and claims on the Five Nations Confederacy and territory.

You, the Five Nations Confederate Lords, be firm so that if a tree falls on your joined arms it shall not separate or weaken your hold. So shall the strength of the union be preserved.

59. A bunch of wampum shells on strings, three spans of the hand in length, the upper half of the bunch being white and the lower half black, and formed from equal contributions of the men of the Five Nations, shall be a token that the men have combined themselves into one head, one body and one thought, and it shall also symbolize their ratification of the peace pact of the Confederacy, whereby the Lords of the Five Nations have established the Great Peace.

The white portion of the shell strings represent the women and the black portion the men. The black portion, furthermore, is a token of power and authority vested in the men of the Five Nations.

This string of wampum vests the people with the right to correct their erring Lords. In case a part or all the Lords pursue a course not vouched for by the people and heed not the third warning of their women relatives, then the matter shall be taken to the General Council of the women of the Five Nations. If the Lords notified and warned three times fail to heed, then the case falls into the hands of the men of the Five Nations. The War Chiefs shall then, by right of such power and authority, enter the open council to warn the Lord or Lords to return from the wrong course. If the Lords heed the warning they shall say, “we will reply tomorrow.” If then an answer is returned in favor of justice and in accord with this Great Law, then the Lords shall individually pledge themselves again by again furnishing the necessary shells for the pledge. Then shall the War Chief or Chiefs exhort the Lords urging them to be just and true.

Should it happen that the Lords refuse to heed the third warning, then two courses are open: either the men may decide in their council to depose the Lord or Lords or to club them to death with war clubs. Should they in their council decide to take the first course the War Chief shall address the Lord or Lords, saying: “Since you the Lords of the Five Nations have refused to return to the procedure of the Constitution, we now declare your seats vacant, we take off your horns, the token of your Lordship, and others shall be chosen and installed in your seats, therefore vacate your seats.”

Should the men in their council adopt the second course, the War Chief shall order his men to enter the council, to take positions beside the Lords, sitting between them wherever possible. When this is accomplished the War Chief holding in his outstretched hand a bunch of black wampum strings shall say to the erring Lords: “So now, Lords of the Five United Nations, harken to these last words from your men. You have not heeded the warnings of the women relatives, you have not heeded the warnings of the General Council of women and you have not heeded the warnings of the men of the nations, all urging you to return to the right course of action. Since you are determined to resist and to withhold justice from your people there is only one course for us to adopt.” At this point the War Chief shall let drop the bunch of black wampum and the men shall spring to their feet and club the erring Lords to death. Any erring Lord may submit before the War Chief lets fall the black wampum. Then his execution is withheld.

The black wampum here used symbolizes that the power to execute is buried but that it may be raised up again by the men. It is buried but when occasion arises they may pull it up and derive their power and authority to act as here described.

60. A broad dark belt of wampum of thirty-eight rows, having a white heart in the center, on either side of which are two white squares all connected with the heart by white rows of beads shall be the emblem of the unity of the Five Nations.

The first of the squares on the left represents the Mohawk nation and its territory; the second square on the left and the one near the heart, represents the Oneida nation and its territory; the white heart in the middle represents the Onondaga nation and its territory, and it also means that the heart of the Five Nations is single in its loyalty to the Great Peace, that the Great Peace is lodged in the heart (meaning the Onondaga Lords), and that the Council Fire is to burn there for the Five Nations, and further, it means that the authority is given to advance the cause of peace whereby hostile nations out of the Confederacy shall cease warfare; the white square to the right of the heart represents the Cayuga nation and its territory and the fourth and last white square represents the Seneca nation and its territory.

White shall here symbolize that no evil or jealous thoughts shall creep into the minds of the Lords while in Council under the Great Peace. White, the emblem of peace, love, charity and equity surrounds and guards the Five Nations.

61. Should a great calamity threaten the generations rising and living of the Five United Nations, then he who is able to climb to the top of the Tree of the Great Long Leaves may do so. When, then, he reaches the top of the tree he shall look about in all directions, and, should he see that evil things indeed are approaching, then he shall call to the people of the Five United Nations assembled beneath the Tree of the Great Long Leaves and say: “A calamity threatens your happiness.”

Then shall the Lords convene in council and discuss the impending evil.

When all the truths relating to the trouble shall be fully known and found to be truths, then shall the people seek out a Tree of Ka-hon-ka-ah-go-nah, and when they shall find it they shall assemble their heads together and lodge for a time between its roots. Then, their labors being finished, they may hope for happiness for many days after.

62. When the Confederate Council of the Five Nations declares for a reading of the belts of shell calling to mind these laws, they shall provide for the reader a specially made mat woven of the fibers of wild hemp. The mat shall not be used again, for such formality is called the honoring of the importance of the law.

63. Should two sons of opposite sides of the council fire agree in a desire to hear the reciting of the laws of the Great Peace and so refresh their memories in the way ordained by the founder of the Confederacy, they shall notify Adodarho. He then shall consult with five of his co-active Lords and they in turn shall consult with their eight brethren. Then should they decide to accede to the request of the two sons from opposite sides of the Council Fire, Adodarho shall send messengers to notify the Chief Lords of each of the Five Nations. Then they shall despatch their War Chiefs to notify their brother and cousin Lords of the meeting and its time and place.

When all have come and have assembled, Adodarhoh, in conjunction with his cousin Lords, shall appoint one Lord who shall repeat the laws of the Great Peace. Then shall they announce who they have chosen to repeat the laws of the Great Peace to the two sons. Then shall the chosen one repeat the laws of the Great Peace.

64. At the ceremony of the installation of Lords if there is only one expert speaker and singer of the law and the Pacification Hymn to stand at the council fire, then when this speaker and singer has finished addressing one side of the fire he shall go to the opposite side and reply to his own speech and song. He shall thus act for both sides of the fire until the entire ceremony has been completed. Such a speaker and singer shall be termed the “Two Faced” because he speaks and sings for both sides of the fire.

65. I, Dekanawidah, and the Union Lords, now uproot the tallest pine tree and into the cavity thereby made we cast all weapons of war. Into the depths of the earth, down into the deep underearth currents of water flowing to unknown regions we cast all the weapons of strife. We bury them from sight and we plant again the tree. Thus shall the Great Peace be established and hostilities shall no longer be known between the Five Nations but peace to the United People.

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Here Come Da Judge

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I’LL BE A FOOL FOR YOU [DEVELOPERS]”, SINGS ROGUE JUDGE DAVID MARSHALL REGARDING THE SIX NATIONS ?HALDIMAND TRACT?. HAS HE DECLARED WAR ON US?MNN. Aug. 9, 2006. ?You can?t break my heart anymore?, summarizes Judge David Marshall?s dream to kick the Six Nation people off our reclaimed land. We know you have land on the Haldimand Tract that you want developed, even if it might be in your wife?s name. As a lawyer, Judge Marshall, you should know that the title is not ?free and clear?. That title is with us. You need our permission to do anything with our property. So what gives?

In court on August 8th, one Indigenous man shouted, “You have no jurisdiction,” at which time Marshall ran out of the courtroom with his gown flapping behind him.

Your court has no jurisdiction to rule on Six Nations land and its People because we never gave it to the colonists according to procedures set out in the constitutions of our peoples. Judge, you are refusing to see that your order and proceedings are a nullity. We think you don?t understand your own court system. Or are you not up to it? (Did this guy get one of those 7-day law degrees from the internet?)

The government, Henco Industries, the Attorney General of Ontario, the crown attorney and the Ontario Provincial Police all want your contempt of court order set aside. The government made a settlement with Henco for the land in question. According to the Supreme Court of Canada, the parties are supposed to resolve the problem between themselves. The court only comes in when they can?t be resolved. In this case the parties have settled. So there?s no need for your judicial hysteria.

Judge, are you mad that the ?representatives of the crown and the OPP have declared that this court is now functus or spent?? Does this mean it is defunct as in ?dead?, at least insofar as this particular issue is concerned? It?s ?moot? because the issue has already been settled. The original order was taken on behalf of Henco and they are no longer involved or interested. They?ve requested that these orders be dissolved.

So now you?ve changed the order to ?criminal contempt?. This is ridiculous! Did you have a trial? No. Have you proven things beyond a reasonable doubt and that the people involved have been given an opportunity to make full answer and reply? Of course not!

Your behavior is so irrational that it is bringing your judicial competence into question. Maybe someone should make a complaint to the judicial council. It will raise the question of what standards, if any, govern the actions of a judge.

Judge, your personal opinion is irrelevant. You and your wife should come and talk to us about your plans for developing our land. Because of your personal interest, you should resign. You?re lucky you haven?t been reported to the Judicial Council for conflict of interest. The reason you have escaped such a complaint is because most people at Six Nations do not recognize the jurisdiction of the Canadian Court.

Judge, you said, ?This is a very unique crime?. Here?s one thing we can agree with. It is ?unique?. It might even be the only crime in Canadian history that has come into being by judicial decree instead through the democratic process. You made a decree to declare us all ?Jane and John Doe? criminals so that you can willy-nilly grab any of us.

You have accused us of having, ?contempt for your system of justice?. Judge, you are the one in contempt of the system of justice. You are the one who doesn?t even bother to read or think about your own Supreme Court of Canada reasoning.

In the Supreme Court of Canada in Haida Nation v. British Columbia (Minister of Forestry) 2004, it stated, ?Our task is the modest one of establishing a general framework for the duty to consult and accommodate, where indicated, before Aboriginal title or rights claimed have been decided. As this framework is applied, courts in the age-old tradition of the common law will be called on to fill in the details of the duty to consult and accommodate?. Yep! Judge, you better read up on your own law.

Yeh! You also better talk to us about the fact that Six Nations owns the Haldimand Tract that you?re living on. It is under our jurisdiction. We do agree that you have jurisdiction over your settlers who are squatting on our land. We, the title holders, are still here. So, Judge, are your declaring war against us? Or are you going to be a good boy and talk with us peacefully?

You even mention that, ?It is possible to appeal the order or otherwise legally deal with it?. You know very well that it is treasonous for us to attorn to your foreign colonial court. There is a protocol and procedure we worked out a long time. We cannot deal directly with you. You have to contact the Governor General of Canada who will inform us of your concerns. Your order is a foreign invasion of our jurisdiction. We have every right to defend ourselves against your attacks according to our constitution and the rule of law.

As for this Crown and Queen supremacy stuff, we always knew it was a hoax enforced on us at gunpoint to steal our land and resources. Only Canadians were subjects of Britain. We were never conquered. We never became subjects of Britain and we never swore an oath of allegiance to become citizens of Canada. We are sovereign. We don?t share your medieval heritage. Your attempt to depose our Confederacy government and force the Indian Act band council system on us in 1924 violated international law then just as it does today. The “lawlessness” started right at the beginning when the Ontario government started giving out phony title to our land to the squatters.

We repossessed this one piece of our land at the end of February 2006. 95% of the Haldimand Tract has been stolen. We have been complaining about it for more than 200 years. It is still all ours according to your words in the Haldimand Proclamation of 1784.

Talks aimed at resolving the land theft have, at times, become violent against us. The state has sent skin heads, KKK and other paid instigators to come to the reclamation site and attack our people. Last night choppers were flying over the reclamation site and 60 to 70 Ontario Provincial Police cruisers were swarming around. It was a fine summer evening, so the KKKlanedonians paid us a visit. They arrived by the hundreds last night to attack us. They swore at us and threw rocks at us. Guess they had nothing better to do. Missing were their professionally printed ?Bring in the army? signs.

One of the Woman Title Holders said the ruling was “an act of aggression”. We intend to stay on our land. Why should we leave something that is ours just because the thieves have abandoned their phony claim? We have always protested these thefts of our lands right from the beginning. We cannot allow it to go on any longer. We want Canada, Ontario and local governments to obey their laws and agreements.

Judge, obviously you haven?t kept up on Supreme Court reasoning. Even through the Haida Nation case was decided two years ago, you still haven?t heard of it! You may not have read the Quebec Succession Reference either which was decided over a decade ago. In that case the Supreme Court specifically stated that, ?It is not the role of the judiciary to interpose its own views on the different negotiating parties, even where it is invited to do so.? You are overstepping the role of the court and you are not up on the law. Even David Peterson, the former premier of Ontario, who was negotiating, called your ruling a ?little bizarre?.

Judge, the Women Title Holders asked you to cease and desist issuing ultra vires orders, invading Rotinoshonnion:we/Iroquois jurisdiction, trespassing on Haldimand Tract land and refusing to recognize that both Canada and Ontario have been given notice of your violations on numerous occasions in the past. So, Judge, get real!

Kahentinetha Horn, MNN Mohawk Nation News ? kahentinetha2@yahoo.com ? see daily updates on Mohawk issues at www.mohawknationnews.com

Thanks to our brothers, sisters, friends and allies who have been standing with us. To continue to help us please contact at Six Nations thebasketcase@on.aibn.on

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Reposession of outdoor education centre

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There are no settlers living year round on this part of the Haldimand Tract at the source of the Grand River. So repossessing it is a simple matter. We sent the following notice to the Etobicoke Board of Education who are in the process of selling land that belongs to us.NOTICE OF REPOSSESSION OF KANION’KE:HAKA/MOHAWK LAND KNOWN AS “OUTDOOR EDUCATION CENTER” STOLEN BY THE ETOBICOKE BOARD OF EDUCATION – LOT 1 CONCESSION 11 CLEARVIEW TOWNSHIP ON THE “HALDIMAND TRACT”DATE: August 1, 2006.

BY: Women Title Holders of the Kanion?ke:haka Nation

According to Wampum 44 of our law, the Kaianereh’ko:wa, the Women are the “progenitors of the soil” of the Kanion’ke:haka/Mohawk Nation. Title to our land is vested in the People through the Women. We are the Caretakers of the land, water and air of Turtle Island. We have the duty to safeguard our land for the coming generations. Self-determination is recognized as a universal human right.

RE: The Etobicoke Board of Education has violated our constitutional jurisdiction by stealing our property, in particular that which is within the 6 mile boundary at the source of the Grand River. This theft also violates the specific protection against encroachment provided in the Haldimand Proclamation of October 25, 1784.

TO: Etobicoke Board of Education, also known as Toronto District Board of Education, 5050 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario M2N 5N8; Toronto Board of Education; City of Toronto; Province of Ontario; Queen Elizabeth II; Government of Canada; Ministry of Natural Resources; Department of Justice Canada; Attorney General of Canada; Attorney General of Ontario; Department of Finance Canada; Indian Affairs; Six Nations Confederacy; Mohawks of Wahta, Six Nations, Tyendinaga, Akwesasne, Kahnawake, Kanehsatake, Ganienkeh and Kanatiohareke; Stock Exchanges of Toronto, Montreal, New York, Tokyo, London, Australia, Hong Kong, Australia and Zurich.

OBJECTION TO: The theft of property known as “Lot 1 Concession 11 Nottawasaga Township” located on the Noisy River near the source of the Grand River, is Kanion’ke:haka land. The Etobicoke Board of Education never consulted us nor asked us, the Title Holders, for our consent to enter our land and develop your Education Center on it. It is not only unsurrendered land but according to our constitution, it cannot be sold or alienated. The Haldimand Proclamation respects our title to southern Ontario and that there shall never be any encroachment on this tract, as follows:

FREDERICK HALDIMAND, CAPTAIN GENERAL AND GOVERNOR IN CHIEF OF THE PROV OF QUEBEC AND TERRITORIES AND COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF ‘HIS MAJESTY’S FORCES IN THE SAID PROVINCE AND THE FRONTIERS THEREOF. HADIMAND’S PROCLAMATION OF OCTOBER 25, 1785

“WHEREAS his Majesty having been pleased to direct that in consideration of the early attachment to his cause manifested by the Mohawk Indians, and of the loss of their settlement which they thereby sustained that a convenient tract of land under his protection should be chosen as a safe and comfortable retreat for them and others of Six Nations who have either lost their settlement within the territory of the American state or wish to retire from them to the British. I have at the earnest desire many of these His Majesty’s faithful allies purchased a tract of land from the Indians situated between the Lakes Ontario, Erie and Huron and I do hereby in his Majesty’s name hereby authorize and impose the said Mohawk Nation and such others of the Six Nations as wish to settle in that quarter to take possession of and settle upon the banks of the river commonly called Grand River, running into Lake Erie, allotting to them for that purpose six miles deep from each side of the river beginning at Lake Erie and extending in that proportion to the head of the said river which them and their posterity are to enjoy forever.

Given under my hand and seal at arms at the castle of St. Louis at Quebec, this 25th day of October, one thousand seven hundred and eighty four and in the twenty fifth year of the reign of our sovereign lord George III by the grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland. King, defender of the faith and so forth”.

The Board has no right to sell it or conduct any activities or business on it. We are repossessing the said land and demand that the Board vacate its illegal occupation immediately.

In taking our land the Board violated our jurisdiction as respected by the conjunction of our constitution, Kaianereh’ko:wa, the Canadian Constitution and the U.S. Constitution. According to Section 109 of the British North America Act 1867, Indigenous people?s “prior interests” supersede that of Canada and its provinces. According to Section 132 the only way to surrender Indian title is through a treaty made with the sovereign constitutional people of our nation with a clear question and a clear majority.

Our relationship is based on the Guswentha/Two Row Wampum Agreement. Our relationship can only be conducted on a nation-to-nation basis. The band council that the Canadian government has set up under the illegal Indian Act does not represent us. The Canadian constitution does not allow foreign federal, provincial and local laws on unsurrendered Indigenous land.

This invasion by the Board and its affiliates violates international law. It is illegal for the Board to override the rights of the Kanion’ke:haka. Take notice that we are repossessing our property immediately!

Any foreigner wishing to enter our territory, for any reason whatsoever, must get permission from the Governor General of Canada who must then inform us. No one individual or foreign entity can invite outsiders onto our territory to oppress a Kanion’ke:haka or misuse our sovereignty or our property. You need to understand the interests of the Six Nations people on our territory so that you will fully understand our position. Also, we have protocols and procedures you must follow to deal with us on a nation-to-nation basis now and into the future.

In Canada we took an action in the Supreme Court of Canada ? Kanion’ke:haka Kaianereh’ko:wa Kanon’ses:neh v. Attorney General of Canada and Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Ontario, Court File: 05-CV-030785.

We brought this constitutional jurisdiction issue before the U.S. Supreme Court. See No. 05-165: 2005. In the Supreme Court of the United States in re: Kanion’ke:haka Kaianereh’ko:wa Kanon’ses:neh, Non-party, Petitioner/Movant/Appellant, The Canadian St. Regis Band of Mohawk Indians, Plaintiffs, Respondents, v. The State of New York, Defendants, Respondents. Petition for Writs of Certiorari and Quo Warranto with Prohibition and Mandamus in Aid to Prevent Genocide. Rules 17.1 and 20.1. (Attached)

FURTHER OBJECTIONS:

Whereas:

1.Constitutional jurisdiction over our territory now called “Southern Ontario” and beyond, belongs to the Roti’noshon:ni/Iroquois Confederacy;

2.The Canadian and U.S. Constitutions respect that relations with us shall be conducted on a nation-to-nation basis. The Etobicoke Board of Education, federal and provincial governments do not supersede this constitution-to-constitution relationship between our nations.

3.Contact with the constitutional Indigenous people must be made only through the Governor General of Canada who must carry out her duty and support this repossession of our stolen land.

Therefore:

4.We demand that the Etobicoke Board of Education and their associates immediately vacate its illegal presence on our land.

5.We demand to know how international, federal and provincial entities can violate international law and the rule of law by superseding our jurisdiction over land that we never surrendered through a treaty or any means whatsoever.

By Kanion’ke:haka Women Title Holders

Katenies /s/ __________________________

Kahentinetha /s/ _____________________________

Iagotalona /s/ ____________________________

Contact: Thahoketoteh, 17A mill St., Hornings Mills, Ontario Canada L0N 1J0, 519-925-9695

Enclosed: Haldimand Proclamation; map; 05-165 Mohawk Manifesto.

Sent to: All Media; Etobicoke Board of Education; Toronto Board of Education; City of Toronto; Premier of Province of Ontario; Queen Elizabeth II; Government of Canada; Prime Minister of Canada; Ministry of Natural Resources; Department of Justice Canada; Attorney General of Canada; Attorney General of Ontario; Department of Finance Canada; Indian Affairs; Six Nations Confederacy; Mohawks of Wahta, Six Nations, Tyendinaga, Akwesasne, Kahnawake, Kanehsatake, Ganienkeh and Kanatiohareke; Stock Exchanges of Toronto, Montreal, Tokyo, London, Hong Kong, Zurich.

poster: Thahoketoteh