{"id":16297,"date":"2024-06-28T21:10:41","date_gmt":"2024-06-29T02:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mohawknationnews.com\/blog\/?p=16297"},"modified":"2024-06-28T21:10:41","modified_gmt":"2024-06-29T02:10:41","slug":"emancipation-is-here-on-this-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mohawknationnews.com\/blog\/2024\/06\/28\/emancipation-is-here-on-this-island\/","title":{"rendered":"EMANCIPATION IS HERE ON THIS ISLAND"},"content":{"rendered":"

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MNN. June 28, 2024. Everyone in the world knows that we onkwehonwe are turtle island. The colonists took up residence, and stole the land, forests, waters, resources from the natural people placed here by kasastensera kowa saoiera, creation.\u00a0 What they are doing to us is not fair, just or reasonable. They know we can never give up our mother earth. The kanienkehaka of akwesasne are carrying out their duties according to the kaianerekowa, the great peace.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Land Back at Barnhart<\/h1>\n

Contextualizing the Re-occupation of Barnhart Island in Shared Legacies of Struggle<\/h2>\n

By Jennifer Lee<\/h3>\n
\n

Views expressed in this opinion editorial do not represent those of any of the eight individuals arrested at Barnhart Island.<\/h6>\n
\n
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Some of the members of the Akwesasne 8 along with Indigenous supporters from outside of the community. (Photo by Akwesasne community member Demetri Lafrance)<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On May 21, 2024, a group of eight Kanien\u2019keh\u00e1:ka (Mohawk) community members from Akwesasne were arrested at Niionenhiasekowa:ne (Barnhart Island). Certain individuals among the \u201cAkwesasne 8\u201d had originally gone to Barnhart to exercise their right to build a hunting and gathering shelter on their own territory, in part to protest an ongoing land claim settlement that threatens to hand over Kanien\u2019keh\u00e1:ka title to this island, among other traditionally held territories, to New York State. The settlement is being negotiated between New York entities and three Akwesasne government councils.<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\u00a0Presently, the settlement negotiations would require the extinguishment of Mohawk title to Barnhart Island, which would be effectuated through an act of Congress.<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span> By asserting their right to the land, the Akwesasne 8 have sent a clear message to both negotiating parties. Barnhart Island, like all other territories illegally stolen and swindled from their community, is not for sale\u2014particularly not by collaborationist band and tribal council entities that purport to represent the full community but that were in fact historically imposed upon it at gunpoint.<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ THE STORY:<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/magazine.scienceforthepeople.org\/online\/land-back-at-barnhart\/#easy-footnote-15-16285<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Marina Johnson-Zafiris<\/h3>\n
\n

\u201c[This] is not a story of triumphs of engineering over nature, nor is it a story of masterpiece on international diplomacy, nor even a story about change. It is rather a story about the intimate relationship that the Mohawks of Akwesasne had with the environment in which they lived from time immemorial and how change was forced upon them, through really no choice of their own. It is the story of how the forces of outside government and corporate America seemingly conspired to break the identity of the Mohawk in a manner that no residential school had ever successfully accomplished\u2014by changing the environment in which Mohawk survived . . .\u201d (Elders Study<\/a>, 1995)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

READ THE BACKGROUND TO THIS ISSUE:<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/magazine.scienceforthepeople.org\/online\/akwesasne-and-the-history-of-hydropower\/<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Our minds and hearts are chained to that island for thousands of years. There is nothing that can break that chain, as Joe Cocker sings to our intruders:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unchain my heart<\/strong><\/em>
\nBaby let, let me be<\/strong><\/em>
\n‘Cause you don’t care<\/strong><\/em>
\nwell, please<\/strong><\/em>
\nSet me free<\/strong><\/em>Unchain my heart<\/strong><\/em>
\nBaby let me go<\/strong><\/em>
\nUnchain my heart<\/strong><\/em>
\n‘Cause you don’t love me no more<\/strong><\/em>Every time I call you on the phone<\/strong><\/em>
\nSome fella tells me that you’re not at home<\/strong><\/em>
\nUnchain my heart<\/strong><\/em>
\nSet me free<\/strong><\/em>Unchain my heart<\/strong><\/em>
\nBaby let me be<\/strong><\/em>
\nUnchain my heart<\/strong><\/em>
\n‘Cause you don’t care about me<\/strong><\/em>You’ve got me sewed up like a pillow case<\/strong><\/em>
\nBut you let my love go to waste<\/strong><\/em>
\nUnchain my heart<\/strong><\/em>
\nSet me free<\/strong><\/em>I’m under your spell<\/strong><\/em>
\nLike a man in a trance baby<\/strong><\/em>
\nOh but you know darn well<\/strong><\/em>
\nThat I don’t stand a chance<\/strong><\/em>Unchain my heart<\/strong><\/em>
\nLet me go my way<\/strong><\/em>
\nUnchain my heart<\/strong><\/em>
\nYou worry me night and day<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Why lead me through a life of misery<\/strong><\/em>
\nWhen you don’t care a bag of beans for me<\/strong><\/em>
\nUnchain my heart oh please<\/strong><\/em>
\nSet me free<\/strong><\/em>
\nAlright<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I’m under your spell<\/strong><\/em>
\nJust like a man in a trance, baby<\/strong><\/em>
\nBut you know darn well<\/strong><\/em>
\nThat I don’t stand a chance<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Please unchain my heart<\/strong><\/em>
\nLet me go my way<\/strong><\/em>
\nUnchain my heart<\/strong><\/em>
\nYou worry me night and day<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Why lead me through a life of misery<\/strong><\/em>
\nWhen you don’t care a bag of beans for me<\/strong><\/em>
\nUnchain my heart<\/strong><\/em>
\nPlease set me free<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Oh set me free<\/strong><\/em>
\nOh woman why don’t you do that for me<\/strong><\/em>
\nYou don’t care<\/strong><\/em>
\nWon’t you let me go<\/strong><\/em>
\nIf you don’t love me no more<\/strong><\/em>
\nLike a man in a trance<\/strong><\/em>
\nLet me go<\/strong><\/em>
\nI’m under your spell<\/strong><\/em>
\nLike a man in a trance<\/strong><\/em>
\nOh but you know darn well<\/strong><\/em>
\nThat I don’t stand a chance no<\/strong><\/em>
\nOh<\/strong><\/em>
\nYou don’t care<\/strong><\/em>
\nPlease set me free<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Joe