Indigenous Sovereignty and Human Rights: Idle No More as a Decolonizing Force

After reading an article called “stupid no more” from Kevin Annett posted on MNN I *felt* that it was condescending and simply not getting the real point, my gut feeling was that the man was piqued that attention was being drawn away from his pet project more than anything. The excerpt below gives a very clear and sensible counterpoint to the charges in the MNN piece, and I hope you will all go and read the entire article-I am very grateful to have found this blog!
“At first I was skeptical about the Idle No More movement. I didn’t want to lead my people to the government and beg for rights and responsibilities that the Creator gave to us. But I became involved with Idle No More because I could feel the energy of the youth rising and I did not want this energy to go to waste. I wanted to show them that the energy which we as peoples often internalize in negative ways is better directed to challenging the colonial framework that operates in all our lives. As the movement grows, the challenge of Idle No More is to continue moving beyond rhetoric and towards a fundamental reconfiguration of the colonial structure of Canada. Above and beyond, it must always be more than an emotionally frothy appeal to the Canadian government for justice and morality. We must be strategic, yet we must also act on the nation-to-nation spirit and intent of Treaty. The message of love, peace, and non-violent protest is essential to the movement. With this spirit at the forefront, we must seek to educate Settler populations and heal our Indigenous nations from the processes of genocide which we have experienced. Idle No More means re-establishing ourselves as sovereign nations, and empowering Settler people to fulfill their responsibilities as partners in sacred relationships of Treaty.”

Decolonization

by Kirstin Scansen

Last week I was compelled into a leadership role with the Prince Albert Idle No More rally. Prince Albert is a growing city in central Saskatchewan, with a population of about 35,000. The traditional Nehithaw place name is kistahpinanihk, which means “meeting place”. Prince Albert has a high Indigenous population and is surrounded by key sites in the history of Treaty 6. It would be ideal to say that Indigenous-Settler relations here have been harmonious, a peaceful meeting place of sorts, but the presence of colonialism is heavy. Surrounded by medium and maximum security prisons, housed disproportionately with Indigenous inmates, oppression can be felt strongly. Racism and racialised violence are pervasive. But there is also a strong regional history of Indigenous resurgence and resistance to colonialism; key sites of the Riel Rebellion are within a 30 minute drive from city limits, and Indigenous languages, ceremonies, and land-based…

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This is a great intro to the background of #IdleNoMore, and I would very much suggest checking out the rest of this informative blog as well.

Decolonization

by Glen Coulthard

 

This article is also available in mp3 format.

 

Much has been said recently in the media about the relationship between the inspiring expression of Indigenous resurgent activity at the core of the #IdleNoMore movement and the heightened decade of Native activism that led Canada to establish the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) in 1991. I offer this short analysis of the historical context that led to RCAP in an effort to get a better sense of the transformative political possibilities in our present moment of struggle.

The federal government was forced to launch RCAP in the wake of two national crises that erupted in the tumultuous “Indian summer” of 1990. The first involved the legislative stonewalling of the Meech Lake Accord by Cree Manitoba MLA Elijah Harper. The Meech Lake Accord was a failed constitutional amendment package negotiated in 1987 by then Prime Minister…

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Unite With Us To End Government Corruption

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cadesertvoice

 
 
Across the United States of America, citizens are disappointed in their government.

While the nation grapples with historical debt, a recession, energy dependence, inflation , terrorism, and wars we cannot afford, our politicians are asleep at the wheel.

The system is broken. Our government has been corrupted by money. We need Congress to solve the nation’s problems, instead our politicians are out raising money for re-election. The country is run by lobbyists – fighting on behalf of big oil, pharmaceuticals, military contractors, labor unions, trial lawyers, insurance companies, food corporations, and on and on. We may never get rid of lobbyists and big financial donors. But we all agree: citizens should come first.

Our government is corrupt. We need to fix it. We have a plan. We need your help.

 
 

HERE’S WHAT THE ACT DOES

For more details about the Act, click here.

• Shine a…

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It hurts my heart to hear of her passing-even tho I did not really know her. I was signed up for he emails to let me know of things to do like write letters, sign petitions etc so I saw her name and read her words(or someone’s words maybe her assistant?) many many days. I hope that as the leaders who were doing so much pass on, whether thru age or accident like this, many will rise to replace the work of each one so we can fulfill the visions so many like her have worked so hard to realize.

Earth First! Newswire

Cross Posted from Democracy Now!

Leading environmentalist and human rights champion Rebecca “Becky” Tarbotton, executive director of the organization Rainforest Action Network (RAN), has died at the age of 39.

According to RAN, Tarbotton died Wednesday on a beach in Mexico while vacationing with her husband and friends. The coroner ruled cause of death as asphyxiation from water she breathed in while swimming.

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Many thanks to Kauilapele for sharing this uplifting article. I would add that for me I also know it is happening because of what I see in the world, especially #IdleNoMore and the rapidly multiplying solidarity statements and actions around the world. COINTELPRO did not destroy Occupy, and it can not destroy the energy and spirit of the people of Earth who are rising toward their own true inner power as individuals and as collectives-and as the collective of an awakened humanity. The Earth is rising and so are we because we are parts of Her-we always have been. Nothing we have experienced has ever been in the isolation colonized culture taught us to believe we live in. We are cells in the body of Gaia and everything we think, say, feel or do is done as a completely connected part of that larger system-and other even larger systems of which Gaia is a part.
Their internet “kill switches” cannot separate us, nothing can. We are connected to one another, the Earth and ALL living beings at all times and if you look around you and listen you may notice what I have been noticing-more and more are becoming aware of that, and the peace that it brings.

This is a wonderful message-and many of the comments are also very helpful. Often change is under the surface and unseen until it comes out fully-like the way land is moving for years before the earthquake releases the pressure and the movement settles into place. I would add to all of the good stuff in aisha’s message and the comments on it-be aware of your dreams, write them down, meditate on them-pay attention to what you are experiencing on other levels whether dreams or “daydreams”-all of our life is not only expressed in the physical.

aisha north

This time, the ending of a year and the beginning of a new one will be fraught with many emotions. After all, not many of you have had the chance, or even the wish, to even consider the fact that after the fabled year of 2012 there comes another one marked as 2013. For some, the very fact that everything, including your calendar, will seem to continue as if nothing has happened at all will be a source for great disappointment. But for others, the anticipation for what this new year has in store will be great indeed. For now, you will indeed enter unchartered territory. For never before have mankind been standing before an era like this, where you enter a new year equipped with an arsenal of energies like you do today.

So you stand on the threshold of greatness dear ones, and even if some of you…

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Sweet One

If you have not yet checked out Serenity Spell, please do. This is a blog that will remind Floridians of why it is we put up with 9 months of sweat and mosquitoes;-) and make everyone elsewhere want to come here, if only for a visit. I guarantee you will learn something new, and see something beautiful that lightens your day!

Serenity Spell

The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common. —Ralph Waldo Emerson

An always lovely and vibrant Tricolored Heron (Louisiana Heron) peeks out from amid the vegetation of our protected wetlands. Here’s to a new year of saving and protecting more space for these sweet and beautiful creatures!

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Colonial No More – Turtle Island Chapter

Colonial No More – Turtle Island Chapter

A friend of mine, Ian Ki’laas Caplette. created this on facebook. The link to it is at the bottom of this post. I find his description so inspiring and beautiful that I wanted to share it with you here. Please check out the event on facebook if you use facebook, and share it with everyone you know.

We truly are the ones we have been waiting for-the time is now for the old order to end, and we are the ones who will begin the change to a wiser and more heart centered world. Join with us wherever you are-and stand up in whatever way you are inspired to. Create art, have a march or a dance, post signs, print this out and make into bookmarks and leave in books and magazines-there are as many ways to begin as there are people to do them!

No one is coming to save us, no one is kicking out the bad guys and retooling our governments, no one is giving away buckets of free money-it’s up to US!

Luckily we have so many leaders who are already starting things, all we have to do is join in, tell others, keep things moving and singing and the changes WILL come.

This is not the time to sit it out and wait any more, get up, stand up-stand up for your rights!(To paraphrase Peter Tosh;-)

Colonial No More – Turtle Island Chapter
Many have been awakened and become active through Idle No More. We have come a long way in a short time and it is necessary to confront the causes of the genocide against Indigenous peoples globally.

Colonial borders and structures have been erected over our rights, our lands, and our spirits and we have taken the full force of colonization for generations. Our lands have been poisoned, our peoples have suffered torture, murder, kidnapping, forced relocations, and systemic assaults on our cultures and societies.

We have had enough.

Indigenous peoples have not been idle but we have been mired in a colonial relationship with the Crown, the Commonwealth State of Canada, the “republic” of the United States of America, and other legacies of genocide masquerading as “democricies”. This has not been of our choosing as deceptions from the colonial governments since contact have used lies, biological weaponry, forced indoctrinations of our children through residential and boarding schools, installed puppet governments through the Indian Act and other genocidal policies aimed at “civilizing” Indigenous peoples, and the denial of wrongdoing with no willingness to address this fundamental injustice.

The colonial relationship is not only an attack on Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island (North America). It is an assault on Settlers to these lands, Indigenous peoples globally, and to the biosphere as the force of colonialism is not only directed against Indigenous peoples, but the global population and the environment as well. Large-scale extractive industries are destroying ecosystems and oceans around the world and many of the lands they are destroying are the ones Indigenous peoples rely on for their sustenance and cultural survival. We are acting as the early warning system. In fact, we have been doing so for a very long time.

From the Basques to the Maori, from the Hawai’ians to the Mayans. From Chiapas to Palestine, from Kanesatake to Ireland. We have suffered from colonial domination and genocide of our cultures and murders of our peoples at the hands of our oppressors. Our experiences have shown us that even our own leadership is capable of becoming agents for the state, facilitating the destruction of our lands and weakening our societies for profits and power. Some are working right now to undermine our collective abilities to be Indigenous in our own lands, citing “progress”, or “self-governance” with colonial definitions.

We have also seen the constant gendered violence against Indigenous women, primary targets of state genocide and patriarchal ideologies forced into our societies, maintained by colonial structures while perpetuated by unhealthy men and enabled through racist and sexist policies of disempowerment.

We say no more to this.

We say no more to being subjected to colonial domination.

We say no more to colonial leadership, no matter their origins or their “race”.

We call out to the global community to form alliances between our groups for the purpose of active liberation from colonial domination and an end to the assault on the biosphere.

We call out for reciprocal support from all peoples everywhere to end imperialism.

We call for a disruption to the flow of capital, extractive industries, shipping by land, sea, and air, and for the defense of our lands, our peoples, and our futures by any means necessary.

http://www.facebook.com/events/466684460057831/

Thanks again to Jean for sharing so much interesting stuff! I like the way Gilliland can discuss things that might seem “far out” to the average person in such a calm and rational way. Knowing that there is more going on than most are aware of does not necessarily lead to believing everything you hear, or accepting things just because they are contrary to the status quo.
Apologies for only posting reblogs-it is all WordPress is allowing me. I spent 11 hours straight last night into this morning trying to publish a huge pile of info on IdleNoMore, Zapatistas and related actions but exactly none of them posted no matter how many times I hit “try again”;-/ So if you are looking for that info the link I posted in the IdleNoMore page for Colonial No More on facebook is a great place for up to the minute stuff. I’ll post more as soon as WordPress will do it!

Much thanks to Jean for sharing this! Being an aspie means having a lot of difficulty connecting with other people-and never being able to perceive WHY this is happening in order to change it. The holidays are all about people connecting and being together-another thing that doesn’t much happen if you live alone, in a bed-not able to travel to be with family etc and who the heck wants to hang out in a room with a person in a bed when everyone else is being festive? The whole holiday isolation thing is usual for me, but this year having my whole country going all out to demonize and dissect asperger’s as tho we are now to join Muslims and communists as the “stand in satans” and scapegoats for American society-whew!;-/ Cap that with facebook and wordpress having some sort of glitch that prevents me from posting, “sharing” on facebook or doing anything except reblogs and comments on worpress, and most of my emails to groups being ignored-it sure did seem like there was a message in this, but until I read this astrologer I didn’t understand what it could be. I love astrologers like this who can dissect the astrology and show how it affects our day to day reality-that is useful! we can DO something with this kind of information much more readily than most.
I hope you are all having a much happier holiday season than this discusses,and if not-I hope you can all use this to figure out what your message is and get some growth out of the discomfort. 😉