{"id":522,"date":"2005-04-20T20:23:31","date_gmt":"2005-04-21T00:23:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mohawknationnews.com\/blog\/?p=522"},"modified":"2012-07-25T12:56:59","modified_gmt":"2012-07-25T16:56:59","slug":"council-to-sell-mohawk-language-to-microsoft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mohawknationnews.com\/blog\/2005\/04\/20\/council-to-sell-mohawk-language-to-microsoft\/","title":{"rendered":"Council to sell Mohawk language to Microsoft"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a>MNN. April 20, 2005.\u00a0<\/strong>The band council set up by Indian Affairs Canada is
\nlaunching a ?language? auction. They?re selling the Mohawk language to the
\nhighest bidder. They are signing an agreement with multinational corporation,
\nMicrosoft, to ?co-develop an innovative Kanion?ke:haka language project?!SECTION 4 ? Ownership of Work by Microsoft; License to Microsoft Materials; states as follows: The Mohawks? agree to dissolve all rights that we may have to any and all copyrights in the work and assigns all rights, title and interests over to Microsoft including but not limited to ? the right to sue for infringements which may occur before the date of this Agreement, and to collect and retain damages from any such infringements??A Maori student visiting from New Zealand warned, ?Language is sacred. It is not
\nto be appropriated by Microsoft. This is how our culture is co-opted. You have
\nno river, no land, you won?t even have your own language. Your language is your
\nessence of being, and they are stealing it?. She said that the song of one of
\ntheir people has been copyrighted by a football team down there. Now they can?t
\nwrite about it unless they pay money to the football team.<\/p>\n

Disgusting giveaway. The band council is giving the rights to the Mohawk language
\nwhich our ancestors have been developing since Sky Woman fell to earth. It?s an
\nunprecedented insult! The band council cannot sign away our rights on behalf of
\nus or the generations yet unborn. We will be opening ourselves up to policing and
\nlawsuits by this mega corp. They will become the ultimate authority on the use of
\nour language.<\/p>\n

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

The Kanion?ke:ha language belongs to the People. It was passed down from one
\ngeneration to the next since time immemorial ? long before settlers came here to
\ncolonize us. It establishes our tie to our land where our ancestors have lived
\nfor thousands of years. Our duty is to learn it, preserve it and pass it on to
\ngenerations to come.<\/p>\n

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

Microsoft represents the conglomerate that massacred our ancestors, put us in
\nconcentration camps on our homeland and forced laws and ways to eliminate us. Now
\nwe may have to ask their permission to speak and use our language.<\/p>\n

The Kanion?ke:haka Onkwa?wen:na Raoti?tioh:kwa Cultural Center in Kahnawake
\nrefused to support the agreement. They accused the band council of<\/p>\n

?knowingly and unilaterally agree[ing] to sell our intellectual property rights ..
\nto a foreign corporate entity that seeks to gain full ownership, monopoly and
\ncontrol of language?.<\/p>\n

The band council was illegally created by the Canadian government under the Indian
\nAct. They reject our traditional constitutional government. The councilors
\ncommit themselves to defend and uphold the laws of Canada. They have discarded
\ntheir responsibility to their people.<\/p>\n

Residential Schools. Since the settlers arrived on our shores, they have forced
\ncolonization on us. Our children were sent to residential schools and denied the
\nright to speak our language. In some schools almost 100% of the children died.
\nOverall, around 50% did not survive these institutions. Those who did lost their
\nlanguages. In Kahnawake there were nuns and priests who had the same job, to
\nforce the ?Indian? out of us.<\/p>\n

Kanion?ke:ha is who we are. It?s our identity. It defines our ties to the land
\nand to each other. No one has any right to sell us!<\/p>\n

Tongue tax. The agreement states,<\/p>\n

?In the event that taxes are required to be withheld on payment made under this
\nAgreement by any government authority, Microsoft may deduct such taxes from the
\namount owed the Mohawks and pay them to the appropriate taxing authority?.<\/p>\n

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

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

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

Otkon! Microsoft! Go ahead and sue me. You might get some choice Mohawks words
\nfrom me.<\/p>\n

Kahentinetha Horn
\nMNN Mohawk Nation News<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

poster: Thahoketoteh<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

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MNN. April 20, 2005.\u00a0The band council set up by Indian Affairs Canada is launching a ?language? auction. They?re selling the Mohawk language to the highest bidder. They are signing an agreement with multinational corporation, Microsoft, to ?co-develop an innovative Kanion?ke:haka … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[698,262,700,297,381,699],"class_list":["post-522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nwoorporationsmilitaryc","tag-kahnawake-and-akwesasne","tag-kanehsatake-2","tag-microsoft","tag-six-nations","tag-tyendinaga-2","tag-wahta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mohawknationnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mohawknationnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mohawknationnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mohawknationnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mohawknationnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mohawknationnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mohawknationnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mohawknationnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mohawknationnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}