Tag Archives: Canada /USA/Mexiico

WHAT IS THE ONKWEHONWE DEMOCRATIC AGENDA?

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WHAT IS THE ONKWEHONWE DEMOCRATIC AGENDA?MNN. Feb. 25, 2007. We’ve been complaining about the top-down bureaucratic agenda of the colonizers. Do we have something to replace it? Yes we do. It’s called the Kaianerehkowa/Great Law of Peace. Our philosophy can build a society based on a better understanding of peace, power and righteousness. These words have meanings that are deeply rooted in our culture and completely different from the kinds of expectations they raise among the colonized. Our understanding of these concepts has nothing in common with the command and obedience model of predatory capitalism that exploits the ordinary people for the power and profit of a few. The new (colonial) world order is incompatible with a way of life based on the principles of fully informed consent and consensus in all our relationships.

For more than a thousand years we have had a participatory democracy. In an article by Stephen Lendman, in CounterCurrent.org entitled “Hugo Chavez’s Social Democratic Agenda”, he describes how Chavez has “constructed socialism from below”, built “from the base” in the communities”. He has found a way “to carry out the battle of ideas for the socialist project to rebuild Venezuelan society. He wants a coalition of smaller parties whose power comes from the communities.

Chavez wants to build 21st century socialism using state revenues to benefit people in new and innovative ways. He wants to give more power to the people at the grass roots level which he thinks is the way democracy should work.

There are presently 16,000 regional federations of Communal Councils organized across the country dealing with local issues. Each has 200 to 400 families. That number is expected to grow to 21,000 councils by year end 2007. “They are the key to people’s power”. This looks like the embryo of a new state, driven by the same basic philosophy of egalitarian human respect that underlies the Kaianerehkowa.

An intergovernmental fund for decentralization will distribute billions to these Councils in 2007. This is more than triple the amount allocated in 2006. If the people so chose, billions can be put into a “National Development Fund” for industrial development. Yellow journalism has been attacking this thinking. They put fear into people’s minds, calling it “nationalization”, which is a dirty word to capitalist colonial economies. Capitalism is really a one way road for the privileged few. Hostile rhetoric and outright attacks can be expected when true grass roots orthodoxies are ignored. Development of democratic programs look threatening to those who have violently struggled their way to the top of the old hierarchal heap.

As we assert our sovereignty, we have lots to think about. What can we Onkwehonwe do with all our land and resources and all the squatters who are here? The land still belongs to the Indigenous people and always will. All the resource revenues can be used to compensate the colonists fairly. The rest can be put towards rebuilding a safe and healthy environment.

U.S. and Canada will, of course, become irrelevant. The old hierarchies will cling to their delusional powers. They will keep their guns pointed at us and try to invent more lethal weapons. We’ll have to bring out the feathers and start tickling them so they get real. If they don’t, we might have to ask them to leave. They have legal obligations. They are violating the Geneva Accords. Their hysterical megalomania is getting them involved in serious violations. They risk being declared persona non grata worldwide.

With all the money from our land and resources, we could buy out the big corporations so that we have the major shares, say 40%, as Chavez is doing. The rest can be joint ventures with us. In other words, we want all these companies under the control of the people. The colonists can have shares after we take everything out of private control.

The money should be put back into our hands where it belongs, out of the hands of private for-profit bankers. We would invest it into worthwhile projects that meet our priorities and that will restore and protect the land so that the coming generations can be healthy, happy and prosperous. The days of genocide and exploitation are over. We must benefit most from our resource revenues and other businesses that provide essential services like public utilities. Clean drinking water and fresh air to breathe would be one of our top priority.

Private businesses will have to be transparent and abide by new standards of fairness. This will be a big adjustment for those who are used to having their way.

We will redefine and restructure our relationships. It goes without saying that Indian Affairs has to go. Communal power at the grass roots will be the order of the day. This is the basis of the post-colonial model. Kaianerehkowa can make this happen and can be the start of a real egalitarian and humanistic society.

All social structures will have to be reorganized. Selections of local officials, the economy, finance, banking, transportation, security, public safety and policies related to energy are part of this. There is no need for a top heavy governmental structure when everyone takes responsibility at all levels.

The current colonial bureaucracy will have to be dismantled. Some of it could be adjusted to the new reality. Corruption is a major problem and has to be eliminated. Social justice and economic independence will be based on equitable distribution of national wealth spent on health care, education and social security. Education is of utmost importance. Racism must be eliminated from all school curricula. Science and technology has to benefit all of the people. So must education, health, the environment, biodiversity, industry, quality of life and security. Financial sectors, including banking and insurance, will have to conform to the Kaianerehkowa. Responsibility has to be returned to the people so we can take charge of our own welfare.

Public health, rehabilitation, identification and migration regulations are all matters that we can deal with ourselves using the Kaianherehkowa methodology. We will not need a judiciary. We will be able to solve everything through consensus.

The people must control the energy sector including oil production. Private investors can still play a role. But it will be based on equitable joint ventures that include the people as decision makers, not just consumers.

Local, community and territorial organizations will be set up. The principles of the Kaianerekowa will inform all our relationships. As long as representatives are carrying out the will and the wishes of the people, they may remain in their positions. All procedures and decision making must be public and the work of all administrative officials will be subject to constant review. They can be removed from office if they do not follow the people’s directions or heed our warnings. All must be given the experience of being a representative so that we can all learn how to help the people. It is important for us to learn how difficult it is to serve.

We cannot give anyone power to harm civil or human rights of our people or even of our opponents.

We will conduct all relations with other countries. Colonial states squatting on our land do not represent us.

We will not expropriate private property. Right of occupancy can be given to people. The land continues to belong as it always has to the Onkwehonwe.

The last days of the colonial system are at hand. Democracy and colonialism cannot coexist. Colonialism is a military or civilian “dictatorship” derived from a combination of isolation, overarching greed and an attempt to pull local and global forces together to control all the people and the resources of the world.

Savage capitalism is fighting to stay alive. It is putting colonial nations on the tipping edge of fascism. It combines elements of corporatism, patriotism, nationalism and the delusion of an Almighty-directed mission while pursuing an iron-fisted militarist agenda, with thugs like “Homeland Security” enforcers that are illegally spying on everyone. In this system everything is for sale to the few who can pay.

Under our system things will be distributed fairly. No one will become desperate enough to want to sell their soul to the devil.

Colonialism is out of date, illegal and so yesterday. No longer will the armies oppress and kill for the key resources, markets and cheap labor where “might makes right” and any difference of opinion will not be tolerated. We will challenge them even though we place ourselves in jeopardy such as being made public enemy number one marked for elimination.

Our youth are precious to us. The Los Angeles Times did a story about “A wildly successful Venezuelan program that makes musical instruments and training available, free of charge, to all children”. This gives the children something constructive to do, in contrast to the U.S. model which struggles to keep guns out of the hands of kids. Chavez created a musical education program called “El Sisterna” which serves 500,000 children from all strata of society getting training at more than 120 centers around the country. From it more than 200 youth orchestras have been created. Training in music is a known way to develop math skills in the young to prepare them later for professional training.

Suddenly crime control isn’t even a problem on the horizon. It is less expensive than the multi-billion dollars state-sponsored iron-fisted prison system and militarist Homeland Security “thuggery”. Instead of punishing youth, they are inspired. As the author, Paul Cummins, put it, “We reap what we sow, and we don’t harvest what we don’t plant”.

We have always been free. No one can take our freedom from us. Many of those who come from repressive societies are unable to see a bottom-up model of relationships. We have shown that we cannot be oppressed. We have always resisted enslavement.

Another issue is homelessness. We will offer street people communal housing, drug treatment and a modest income. We cannot allow a single child or a single beggar to live on the street. We must guide our homeless to shelters and rehabilitation centers that provide medical and psychological care. They can do community service work. We have to stop planned public neglect that favors private sector gain and disinterest in educating poor inner-city children who are discarded like debris by an uncaring colonial state.

Homelessness highlights the savage effects of capitalism. It is the result of one-way wealth distribution that siphons everything upwards except for a few crumbs that are handed to the middle class while nothing goes to the millions on the bottom though they are the most in need. They all hope we will just go away. We won’t. Neither will our needs. We come from a participatory tradition which can eliminate the greedy fantasies of colonialism.

Free expression is part of an open democratic society. No more secrecy or lies. No more corporate media support for capitalists and colonial states. No more thought-control police to mock our efforts at free expression which is vital to a healthy transition from tyranny to democracy. The “thought police” doesn’t want us to say what is on our minds. They don’t want us to think. We can and will do it because the Kaianerehkowa mandates it. Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and others to the South are being empowered by the people to get back on the natural path that has always been there, for us and for everyone. Chavez is doing it without a war and without global interference. We can do it too.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
Kahentinetha2@yahoo.com

For updates, workshops, speakers and to sign up, to to http://www.mohawknationnews.com Please sign the Women Title Holders petition. Coming soon books on Mohawk issues online.

poster: katenies

 

ONKWEHONWE YOUTH FEARLESSNESS AND RESTLESSNESS! COLONISTS, WHATCHA YA GONNA DO NOW?

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ONKWEHONWE YOUTH FEARLESSNESS AND RESTLESSNESS! COLONISTS, WHATCHA YA GONNA DO NOW?

MNN. Feb. 1, 2007. Rumor mongering by non-natives that Onkwehonwe are barbarians, still running around in loin cloths, carrying tomahawks, sneaky, untrustworthy and drunk is the culturally entrenched way of looking at us. This is fiction. This false image is a reality we face all the time.

Today when our Onkwehonwe youth try to get a job, they have a lot to overcome. The mainstream stereotypes of our people as “drunken”, “lazy” and “won’t show up for work” keeps us from getting jobs. Our women and men are seen as lascivious and easy marks. There is a presumption that social services has to intervene in our homes because we don?t know how to take care of our kids, or that we let them hang out on the streets in druggie gangs. Where did all this come from?

Someone wants to make sure our Onkwehonwe youth won’t achieve anything. What are they afraid of? The film “Apocalypto” by Mel Gibson gives us some clues. It is stereotyping at its most vicious. It melds together the colonizers’ fantasies of letting loose according to their false sense of what’s natural and their simultaneous disgust and fear of their own lusts and base desires that they project on us. They are so subject to hierarchical control that they believe if there wasn’t someone lording it over them, they would behave badly. This means they don’t believe in their own ability to control themselves. it’s not our nightmare, it’s theirs. They want to see us as barely civilized barbarians. It gives them a false feeling of superiority. At a visceral level they’re still desperately seeking justification. Or maybe they’re trying to avoid responsibility for the genocide they committed and for their destruction of the environment of Turtle Island. They know their own ability to commit atrocities and fear those who restrain themselves when attacked. They are assuming that the ax is going to fall when they least expect it.

Colonial society creates hopelessness. This way we will have no leadership and they can continue to be the “great white fadder”. Waneek Horn Miller described recently on APTN how the coach of the National Women’s Water Polo Team asked her if she was going to be like all the other “Indians” by not showing up for practice and being irresponsible. The interviewer commented, “The usual stereotypes were pinned on you?” For 15 years she got up at 5:00 am to train and in 2000 went on to compete in the Olympics in Australia.

There are many like her. Ted Nolan is now a coach of the New York Islanders hockey team in one of the most competitive areas in the world. He was fired after a sensational year. He had brought the Buffalo Sabres up from nothing to the pinnacle of success. For 9 years no NHL team would hire him. Why? They thought he was too independent minded. They were afraid he was going to poison the minds of the other players against management, which was untrue. Nolan, just prior to being rehired, took a Nova Scotia junior team to the Memorial Cup and almost won it. This proves that his Onkwehonwe methods of coaching work. One year after taking over the Islanders they are at the top.

Because of this stereotype being flung at us universities have to hire Onkwehonwe ombudsmen to bring our people into these mainstream institutions.

What are some of positive traits of our young people? For one, they show tremendous self-restraint in the face of adversity. Otherwise we would never have survived. We do not react instantly. We think about what we are going to do.

So why can’t we get jobs. Nobody will hire us. Some of us go into cigarette manufacturing and sales. For this we are criminalized. If our businesses are successful, we are pursued to pay taxes to the very corporate colonial governments that stole our lands and resources and work to keep us down. If we get any kind of money into the community, Indian Affairs sends in their “handlers” so that we never know what’s happening to our funds. Businesses are set up in our communities by non-natives using us as fronts to take advantage of our sovereignty and tax-free status and jeopardizing our rights. This is creating hatred by Canadian taxpayers against Onkwehonwe.

Creating apathy among our young people is a product of the colonial society. The idea has always been to keep us as an uneducated working class who can be used for low paying jobs that no one else will do. It did not work. Onkwehonwe have a way of expressing very deep meaningful ideas. If trained they can do this publicly. Some of the greatest natural orators in history were Onkwehonwe who came from among people who were totally uneducated in the colonial system. Statements of Cornplanter, Geronimo, Sitting Bull, Seattle and many others have stood the test of time.

So what do we do? We take our positive traits, our knowledge of our rights and create our own way. There has to be encouragement of entrepreneurial skills among our youth. Many are already doing that.

The public is made to think that we don’t care about our youth. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Last weekend the Kahnawake Youth Center had a “Radiothon” to raise money to cover a deficit of $40,000. In the end the community and our supporters raised $200,000. What’s the message? The people will back up our youth and a good idea.

What about our youth? Their minds are open and sharp. They are not brainwashed to bend down to non-natives. The old methods of attacking their self-esteem just doesn’t work with this generation. They walk with their heads up and chests out. They know their rights and history. At the same time they have an uphill battle to take off the iron cloak of “stereotypism” that has been and continues to be strewn over us.

Remember, whatever we believe we are is what we become. If our youth are convinced they are victims, they will become victims. The residential school system was one of the most successful brainwashing strategies devised by the colonists. They destroyed generations with this “victim mentality”. The Onkwehonwe are no longer victims. Now we are conquerors. We are going to be in charge. No one is going to abuse us anymore.

Unfortunately the surrounding mainstream society hasn’t caught up with us or accepted our new attitude. What’s the reaction? Today the police and predators are gathering our youth and killing them. Our young men in Saskatoon and Edmonton were left outside of town to freeze to death. Hundreds of our young women are “disappearing” without a trace and they don’t think its worth looking into.

On the other hand, many see ourselves as being more capable than the colonizers we deal with. Our innate talents have yet to be utilized. The natural ability of Onkwehonwe has never changed. Thinking back about 50 years ago the big corporations and banks in Montreal used to recruit our Onkwehonwe women to be their executive assistants to help them run their corporations. They knew they were the best administrators. Some of them were my cousins. It was common back then.

Our men were able to do construction work that others could not do. In the U.S. it was known if you want to put up a skyscraper you had to call up the Mohawks who will make sure it gets done. Our men were top iron workers running big projects in the U.S. They came home and started successful businesses by translating their abilities into other directions.

How are the colonial government, their agents and mainstream society going to deal with us now? May we suggest that they talk to us? Threats won’t work anymore. Our ancestors and our older people proved that in Oka, Ipperwash, Gustafssen Lake, Six Nations and elsewhere. In the past we were necessary in their battles. They had to negotiate with us because of our positions of strength.

We can’t be ignored anymore. We want control over what is ours and benefits from anything that is happening to us and our land.

Yes, it’s hard to deal with all our educated people. The colonists don’t like it because they have to come to terms with us. They have to govern themselves according to the laws, past accords and solutions that benefit us on a long term basis. Trust funds, education, guarantees and benefits to us and our goals have to be all written down and dealt with fairly. They can’t keep closing the doors on the title holders of Turtle Island anymore.

Our youth is an important part of all this. They don’t have any of the fear that was built into the older generations. We have raised them in an atmosphere where fear wasn’t put into them. We stopped whining on and on about “doom and gloom” and how bad everything is. Indian Affairs promotes this in their ‘kneeling and healing circle” programs to push hopelessness among our people.

The powers that think they are know that if we are afraid then we are inviting people to attack us. They will get away with it if we are running scared. This is how we invite trouble onto ourselves. Canada and the U.S. raised a whole nation of terrified people that was supposed to be scared of everything. Now that’s over. We buried it. Our kids are bold, brave and talented. They want to be Onkwehonwe, not citizens of the colonial societies that are occupying our land. They’re going to find a way around these obstructions. So watch out, world!

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
Kahentinetha2@yahoo.com katenies20@yahoo.com
For updates, workshops, speakers & to sign up go to Please sign the Women Title Holders petition. Nia:wen

poster: katenies

 

“IMAGINARY LINE” ISSUE FOR ALL ONKWEHONWE OF NORTH AND SOUTH TURTLE ISLAND

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At the request of various interests, this has been reposted to register our objection to the Haudenosaunee Task Force on Border Crossing representing us in “talks” with the US and Canadian colonial governments. We also provide more contacts at the end for you to put pressure on those who are making deals with the colonists over our heads.

“IMAGINARY LINE” ISSUE FOR ALL ONKWEHONWE OF NORTH AND SOUTH TURTLE ISLAND

MNN. Jan. 9th 2007. The international situation between Canada, U.S. and Mexico is not very complicated. There are two peoples involved. It is us (the Onkwehonwe) and them (the colonists).

We Onkwehonwe, also known as “Indigenous” people, have an inherent right to traverse Turtle Island. When human beings first appeared, Creation gave us the original instructions to be respectful, to live in harmony with the rest of the natural environment and to always adhere to the original ways.

The Haudenosaunee Task Force on Border Crossing [made up of Curtis Nelson, Oren Lyons, Leo Henry, Paul Williams, Darwin Hill and others] was set up without consultation with us. They appear to be cooperating with the colonists who want to issue “smart cards”, something like a credit card. Everything about us will be on that card. This is another straw to try to break the back of the Onkwehonwe.

Many of us who have been active and concerned for a long time found out for the first time this past weekend this committee was set up. They’ve already met with U.S. Homeland Security and Canada Customs and Immigration to work out compliance with colonial terms. We have not been allowed to question this committee. We resist their attempts to pressure us into accepting the colonial timelines and the proposed card which is a de facto recognition of the “imaginary line”.

Preamble

We Onkwehonwe face the US-Canada-Mexico border almost every day. Our nation-to-nation relationship with the colonists is through the U.S. President and the Her Majesty the Queen of Canada. It is governed by the principles of the Two Row Wampum Agreement. One condition of tolerating the presence of the colonists was that we would continue our pre-contact right to conduct trade and commerce and travel anywhere in the Western Hemisphere.

Jay Treaty (proviso)

The Jay Treaty of 1794 is a third party agreement and can have no binding effect on us. Traveling around on our homeland is a birthright, not a “privilege”. Colonists cannot interfere with our crossing of their imaginary line they call the Canada-U.S. and U.S.-Mexico borders. The Jay Treaty created the imaginary line on the 49th parallel. The Iroquois Confederacy said at the time, “It is for you, not for us”. The Confederacy would not agree to this as we were looking out for all Onkwehonwe, our friends and allies. The line between the colonies of Mexico and the U.S. was created by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. These lines allowed the colonists to illegally implement privileges and tariffs.

Article III of the Jay Treaty is a violation of international law.

“the right of aboriginal peoples (people indigenous to Canada and/or the US) to trade and travel between the United States and Canada, which was then a territory of Great Britain. This right was restated in section 289 of the 1952 Immigration and Naturalization Act: Nothing in this title shall be construed to affect the right of American Indians born in Canada to pass the borders of the United States, but such right shall extend only to persons who possess at least 50 per centum of blood of the American Indian race.

The Jay Treaty was made between two colonial corporations, Britain and the United States, to provide privileges for the colonial subjects. It did not include our political position. It contradicts itself when it stipulates that it would not be “construed” to affect who is and who is not an Onkwehonwe. In fact, it stipulates that this article applies to those who are “naturalized”. So an immigrant who becomes an American, Canadian or British is subject to the rules and privileges of the “corporation”.

Colonists and their “Indian” representatives speaking to band or tribal councils or incorporated “Indian” entities is not consultation. Once they thought they had pacified us and diminished our population, the colonists put these restrictions in place without informing, consulting or getting our consent. Now new restrictions are being imposed according to their “might makes right” paradigm.

We will tell the colonizers what we want, not what they want us to do. It tells us we can travel with personal belongings, not with “bales”. They wanted to extinguish trade and commerce between all Onkwehonwe. “Bales” referred to the fur trade. It meant anything that is more than one, and could not be resold. They set up a system of extortion to interfere with our ancient rights to sustain ourselves. It was similar to the killing off of all the Buffalo on the Plains.

The colonists have demonstrated their disregard for universal human law. Every human has the right to their existence, their own nationality, their land and their government.

The colonizers are trying to blackmail us into recognizing their borders between Canada, U.S. and Mexico. We have our own territories, our own understandings and respect for each other. We did not need standing armies to protect the borders of our territories because we practiced respect for those who inhabited the particular area. We still do.

Passports and Citizenship

Canada and the U.S. are trying to push us into getting Canadian or US passports to restrict and control our movements. We have a right to maintain a connection to our Onkwehone people throughout the Western Hemisphere. The colonizers are trying to class us as American or Canadian or Mexican “Indians” by illegally and violently forcing us to alienate ourselves from our birthright. They cannot make us something we are not. Today they tell us we need a card. Next they will tell us we need a mark on our forehead.

We are not members of any of these colonial entities. We cannot carry passports of foreign corporations of which we refuse to be members. These colonists are trying to make us commit an illegal act. As independent Indigenous peoples we have a right to deal with such issues based on our own laws. The colonizers are bound by agreements they have entered into such as the UN Charter of 1948 and the International Covenant on Cultural and Political Rights.

The concept of “citizenship” does not exist for us. We are Kanion’ke:haka, not citizens. A “city” is a corporation which one becomes a part of with privileges that can be taken away by the hierarchical governing body. No nation has a right to denationalize another nation.

ID Cards

There is no consistency as to what ID the colonists want. When we produce ID they punch our name into the computer and information comes up on that screen. Now they are pushing for us to have a specific ID which they will decide on and authorize. The advisors of the colonists are conforming and misleading our people. The colonists have already made a decision and are relying on the ignorance of our people to implement it. This violates international law because we were not genuinely consulted. Our laws do not allow us to give away the birthright of our children and future generations.

We have a right to decide how we will be identified. Phil Fontaine of the AFN [Assembly of First Nations] has suggested that we use their government-issued “Indian status cards”. Many Onkwehonwe don’t have such a card. A lot of imposters do.

The colonists want the micro chip in the card to contain our DNA, retina scan and finger prints. They will put this into a data base where a satellite GPS tracking system will know our whereabouts at all times. The European countries have rejected this and still require paper passports because the U.S. recommendations violate human rights.

Today the colonial governments are forcing us to shoulder the burden of threats to their national security by bringing us under their rules. Why should we? We’ve never carried out terrorist threats or acts of violence anywhere in the world.

More and more these border guards are bullying our people, trying to ensnare and control us. Intimidating tactics are being used to entrap our people into doing something that will give them a reason to detain or charge us. Cavity searches are being carried out by the customs goons which violates human rights.

Jurisdiction

The Two Row addresses the jurisdiction issue. We never surrendered our jurisdiction over ourselves or our land. Legality requires proper procedures. If they have cause to stop one of our people they can do so according to the Two Row Wampum Agreement. They can turn them over to us. It is our responsibility to deal with those who are in violation or committing a wrong and to restore the peace between our peoples.

The colonists have no right to order us to have these pass ports or anything by January 2008 or anytime. We will tell them whether we will do something or not. To follow the rule of law, the protocol is for them to meet with us. We must polish the Silver Covenant Chain and dust the Two Row Wampum. The Two Row Agreement governs our nation-to-nation relationships with the colonizers through their heads of state.

Conclusion

We Onkwehone are here to fulfill our duties and responsibilities as the Indigenous sovereigns of Turtle Island. The colonists are trying to kidnap our people from our canoe and force us to row their boat. We are being held hostage against our will in violation of the Two Row Wampum Agreement. We can only leave our canoe by our own free will. Those being forced to live under the illegal Indian Act and federal Indian law system are hostages forced to live under an alien social, economic, political system.

When times get rough the colonizers use these violent tactics to try to control us and make us lose confidence in ourselves and our traditional system. In the past when they could not defeat our people, they destroyed the things we needed to sustain us. They disconnected us from our mother, the earth. She is always there to sustain us. We continue to stand by her to protect her.

We are not afraid to defend our birthright and to protect the next generations. Onkwehonwe throughout the world are presently fighting to protect our children, our people and our land. This entire process to undermine us is a continuation of the genocide that the colonists initiated 500 years ago. Only the names and faces in the corporation have changed.

Kahentinetha Horn kahentinetha2@yahoo.com
MNN Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknationnews.com

**Send your comments to anyone or any entity that you think is affected or should be concerned. Ask them about the action they are taking or know is being taken to protect Onkwehonwe independence:

Canada-US line: Haudenosaunee c/o haudenosaunee_online@yahoogroups.com;

Onondaga nosneaks2@msn.com;

Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force joyceking@westelcom.com

Ganienkeh Territory info@ganienkeh.net

On the US-Mexico line: International Indian Treaty Council http://www.treatycouncil.org

B.Norrell b_norrell@yahoo.com

poster: katenies

 

Prentice Power?

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“YOUR ACHY BREAKY MIND”!
IS SIX NATIONS/CALEDONIA A DIVERSION
FOR THE INDIAN AFFAIRS MINISTER?

MNN. Oct. 12, 2006. Minister of Indian Affairs, Jim Prentice, you remind me of “Barney Fife” on that old television program “Mayberry”. He was a blowhard, smug and incompetent. You pretend to be analytical and over enthusiastic about Indigenous people. But you don’t know anything about us nor do you want to. When you look at us, all you see are oil wells sticking out of our heads. Is that why the oil industry in Calgary has you by the short hairs? Are we right? Do the dots join up the way we see them, Barney?

The Conservative Party realizes that they might lose the next election. So they need you to push some big changes through as fast as you can say, “We gotta get dem Injuns out of the way so we can get their oil”. You represent “Calgary North”. What does that tell us? You’re the Minister of Indian Affairs and you’ve got a big job to do. As your riding website boasts: “He also starts the assignment with top qualifications.” As one oil industry leader put it, “There has never been a minister who has been better qualified going into a portfolio than Prentice” [National Post, Feb. 27, 2006.] Of course, what they really mean is they’ve never had their man right in the “Tower of Power” in Hull, Quebec, like this before.

Barney, you have a lot of debts to those who put you in power. Calgary is the oil capital of Canada. There are Indian communities all around Calgary, like Tsuu tina, Blood, Piegan, Blackfeet, Stoney and others. The oil industry wants oil. They want to start explorations. Indigenous people and our land regime are in the way. They don’t like it when we keep telling the industry, “It’s our land and we won’t let you ruin it”. That’s the problem. We want to clean up the environment. They can’t stand our complaints about their emissions and pollution, which are going to double in the next ten years, along with the Prime Minister’s “double talk”. By the way, Alberta is already the most polluting province in Canada.

At Six Nations/Caledonia, Captain Gary [McHale’s navy] was begging for money just a few days ago. He practically called off his 20,000 “White Man’s March” onto the reclaimed Indigenous land of Kanenhstaton. He said he might even have to go back to work to maintain his lifestyle in Richmond Hill, the ritzy suburb of Toronto, which is also on Six Nations land. Suddenly he’s back in the “riot-and-violence-against-Indigenous-people” business in a big way. His parade on October 15th is on again. Is he a gun-for-hire and “back in the saddle again?” Only with corporate money can one get so much corporate media coverage as he’s getting. Also it’s expensive to bring in those busloads of paid stooges to start the kind of vicious attacks that we’ve been experiencing in the recent past. We are unarmed and we are on our land.

Now we see that the Six Nations/Caledonia firestorm has been built up to be a diversion. This is the two-step set up. Gary McHale is going to keep the attention focused in the East. The federal and Ontario governments and police want him to create a big racist fascist attack on the Six Nations people. It would seem the bigger the better, as far as you and your oil baron backers are concerned. Right on cue, Mayor Marie Trainer of Caledonia is going to cry, “No! No! No! No! No!” If anything happens, “I want to declare a state of emergency!” In other words, “Bring in the army”. Then martial law will be declared. And this will show what will happen to other Indigenous people who resist the takeover of our resources by the oil companies and corporations.

Must be getting pretty busy in the war room, eh Barney!

In the meantime, Barney, you’re getting what your want – a big diversion so that you can put through some draconian measures like privatizing Indian lands which you have already announced. You are putting us on the fast track for genocide. And the world is watching. This is “termination” with the stroke of a pen. In 20 years over 100 Indian nations were wiped out in the US. None ever got their land back. This is absolutely illegal. We’re not letting this happen. Everybody, get off the fence.

We see that you need to make it look like you have a justification for passing certain laws to remove our rights over our land. Stirring up violence against us is one way. Canada signed in 1948 the UN Convention on the Crime and Punishment of Genocide. You can personally be tried and convicted of genocide under international law, Barney. If you work for the oil industry, then they own you lock stock and barrel! If you remove Indigenous people and Indian title to help your corporate bosses steal our resources, you will put yourself on the fast track to jail for committing the crime of genocide.

We think we know where you get your orders from. Do they come from Texas, the oil capital of the world, to Calgary, the oil capital of Canada, to Indian Affairs in Ottawa? Do they make the decision to terminate all Indigenous people and our land rights in Canada so that the oil companies can rape us and the colonial country of Canada? We always knew there was oil involved in what’s happening to our rights. We smelled it. We didn’t get oil fever. We got wise. Yep. You just may be owned by the oil companies!

Barney, here’s what we think of your plan to lock up our communities:

There once was a minister they called “Dim”

Who carried out the oil industry’s whim

His mind was all dusty

His weapons were all rusty

That’s why he did what he was told

He sold his soul for black gold

We need solidarity support this weekend, October 15th, at Six Nations/Caledonia. So come stand with us or contact thebasketcase@on.aibn.com Do whatever you can to help.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

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

 

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

 

Experiment on…..CONSENSUAL DECISION MAKING EXERCISE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Red Lake school shooting is colonial insanity.

Posted on by
27.03.2005 21:49:00
MNN #123: Red Lake school shooting is colonial insanity.
RED LAKE SCHOOL SHOOTING IS COLONIAL INSANITY

MNN. March 27, 2005. A 15-year old Chippewa shot his grandfather and step
mother. He then went to his school and shot five classmates, one security guard,
one teacher and then himself. Why? Internal colonization!

Red Lake is an isolated community in Northern Minnesota. All the purse strings
and laws to run the community come from far away. Administrators fly in and out
constantly. But the residents don?t have the funds to do this. They?re one of
the poorest Indigenous communities in the United States. There are 5,100
residents in Red Lake. All access to their natural resources has been restricted
or taken away. Right in their midst has been placed a prosperous casino. Their
unemployment rate remains one of the highest in the United States. There are few
Indigenous people working in the casino. Why?

What kind of message does this situation send to the kids? Traditionally when an
Indian wins or returns from a hunting trip, according to his culture, he must
share everything he brought home with everyone in his community. Today he sees
the colonial approach which contradicts his own culture. People come to the
casino to win money from other people and then keep it for themselves.

This was a young boy with no social support. His father committed suicide 4 years
ago. His mother was permanently hospitalized, a victim of an alcohol induced car
accident. He was vulnerable. He had no sense of what he could do with his life,
how he could be useful, how he could take part in society. So he decided to
follow the American way, to destroy it. He turned his anger and confusion on his
own people and himself.

They say he was intelligent but ?out of touch?. How can our Indigenous young
people be in touch with the colonial culture that surrounds them but excludes
them?

Like other American children, native kids play video games and watch movies. They
are socialized to shoot people without thinking of the moral consequences. How
many millions of children watch TV or play video games where people, fuzzy
creatures or scary monsters are chased and exploded to oblivion? They are
conditioned to carry out executions of people every day without attaching any
meaning to the act. The instinct to press buttons and pull triggers becomes a
conditioned response, performed automatically, without thinking. They see on
their TV daily pictures of killings of innocent civilians in Iraq. Most American
soldiers are only 2 or 3 years older than this boy. They?re children!

Perhaps the kind of society that is being paraded in front of our youth is
conditioning them to become thoughtless killers. Isn?t that what George W. Bush
and other megalomaniacs need in order to control the new worldwide
corporate-military-industrial complex that they?re setting up? Are they sad that
they lost a chance to hire him to be one of their killers?

Young people do not want to join the U.S. military services. They are not signing
up in the numbers that Bush would like to see. Recently, the United States
government sent army recruiters to Kahnawake Mohawk Territory in Canada. They
came here to entice our young people to join them in their worldwide domination
and killing spree.

Red Lake has become a prison, with nowhere to go, and with control of the society
from outside. In such circumstances of helplessness, there is an increase of
social violence in Indigenous communities. So the authorities are putting more
and more police in such communities to look over everybody?s shoulders. This is
not the answer. Criminologists have proven that increases in state violence
?precede? increases in social violence. Increased policing disturbs the peace.
It is like putting napalm on the fire.

Think about it this way. Isn?t school where you go to practice what you are going
to do later in life? The United States recruits kids to become killers overseas.
Should it surprise us that high school students emulate their older brothers and
sisters? Isn?t this why gratuitous killing breaks out at some high school almost
every year in the United States?

The United States is a sick society. It?s governed by killers. It oppresses its
own people. It prays on that oppression to recruit adolescent soldiers who are
willing to kill innocent civilians overseas. This is all in the name of ?liberty?
and ?justice?. Can this be called anything but insanity? We know who?s doing it?
They?re pushing our young people to feel that death is the only escape.

They classed this boy as sick. Was he? Was it him, or the society that made the
conditions he lived in? How do we cure this colonial insanity?

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

poster: Thahoketoteh