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Zebra 3 Report by Joe Anybody
Thursday, 5 November 2020
The Real Thanksgiving - Chandler's version
Mood:
 hungry
Now Playing: Chris Chandler's Muse and Whirled Retort November 2020
Topic: NATIVE AMERICANS
(copy / paste} from Chris Chandliers World Muse THE MUSE AND WHIRLED RETORT
(This is an encore edition - originally posted
November 28, 2013
VOL XIV issue vii
Oakland, CA)
But this is not the Thanksgiving we celebrate.
Pumpkin Pies, Turkey and Green-Bean Casserole, small children tracing their fingers onto construction paper in order to turn it into a turkey. dressed as Pilgrims and Indians.
Do you know what the language the Indians spoke in 1621 when they first laid eyes on the Pilgrims?
English.
Yes, the Wampanoag had been trading with Europeans for a century. There were, in fact, more native people living in North America that had been to Europe than Europeans that had been to North America! It's true.
Less than ten years after Columbus' voyage the first dozen Native Americans (not that they would have called themselves that) from what we call New England were off visiting Europe and learning European languages. Granted - this was not a sight seeing trip they chose to make like the Pilgrims did. Few would return.
By the 1600s Native slaves were the chief component of America's Gross National Product.
In 1605 the English Captain John Weymouth returned to Europe with a payload of twenty Indians chained in his cargo. Among them was Tisquantum, (The Indian that first approached the staving Pilgrims.) He managed to return to New England as a part of the cargo of Captain John Smith (yes that John Smith) in 1614 on Smith's first visit to America. However, members of his crew had other ideas. Tisquantum was again sold into slavery but freed by Friars in Spain, educated (at least to the ways of Europeans) and brought back as a guide in 1619. He had actually hung out as London as an English speaking freed slave.
But this is not the Thanksgiving we celebrate.
Understand that when the Pilgrims arrived in December of 1620 - which is incase you hadn't noticed - cold in New England. Things were not going well already. Poor piloting had wasted precious time and it was now late in the year. That first winter was not pretty.
The Pilgrims were starving. They spent their first weeks surviving by sending out armed parties who stumbled upon the remains of an Indian village that had been abandoned for the Winter. They broke into homes and stole stashes of food that had been left there. Survival.
If anything the first "Thanksgiving" consisted of an entree of looting. But that is not the one we celebrate.
Even after the Plymouth colony had a good year under her belt, the Pilgrims were still not doing so well. Neither were the Wampanoag. They were in a state of war with the Narraganset and The Massasoit. The Pilgrims had something they could use - and vice versa.
Tisquantum and friends showed up saying, "Ya know you goys look pretty hungry, maybe you should eat some of these pumpkins we raised, and maybe ya should get over that weird religious aversion to Lobster - we go plenty of them running around on the beaches - and while were at it - those guns you got... we could use a few of them... The Pequit they are really starting to piss us off."
Yes, the first thanksgiving was indeed an arms deal. And so began a series of pacts, alliances, allegiances, and affiliations that all seemed to end with Europeans on top.
But this is not the Thanksgiving we celebrate.
I like to think of Thanksgiving as -- well... just that. an almost Pagan ritual where we can celebrate the bounty of this life. Give thanks for all we have, and frankly we do have alot.
My favorite Thanksgiving took place when I was living in Canada. (where they don't celebrate it.)
I was living as a street musician in a tourist town in the early 90s living in a shack in a lumber yard, paying literally a hundred bucks a month Canadian to live there. Things were bleak.
I mean compared to that first Winter spent by the Pilgrims - I had it good, but when viewed through the Rose colored Raybans of today's standards - that little wood burning stove did not work very well. Bad weather in a tourist town meant no money for a big meal. We were hungry.
I know you think Canada is a socialist country and all - so I could have gotten some kind of assistance. But no, I was a Frost Back: an undocumented worker - working below standard wages to entertain the tourist class.
No Thanksgiving for Chandler.
But my friends, a miracle transpired.
The Canadian Postal Service!
Because they don't celebrate Thanksgiving - they deliver the mail on the fourth Thursday in November. My mother timed it perfectly.
She was distraught by the fact that I was living in land with no Thanksgiving so she mailed me a can of turkey meat, a box of stove top stuffing, a jar of cranberry sauce and a can of green beans. Holy Moley!
That was the best thanksgiving meal I ever had!
We do have so much to be thankful for.
and why not be that? Thankful.
That is the Thanksgiving day we celebrate.
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 10:32 AM PST
Friday, 25 November 2016
Fasting on Thanksgiving & Not Participating in the Holiday
Mood:
 not sure
Now Playing: Solidarity with NAtive Americans & Immigrants on Thanksgiving Day
Topic: NATIVE AMERICANS
Thanksgiving Day in 2016 I fasted for (3) three real reasons: The flyer below expalins my thoughts and reasoning  The traditional story of the first Thanksgiving feast between peaceful Pilgrims and generous Natives has been challenged by indigenous groups for decades. The United American Indians of New England began observing a “National Day of Mourning” on Thanksgiving in 1970, calling attention to the history of genocide against indigenous people that included massacres, broken treaties, and the forced assimilation of children through boarding schools that persisted into the 1970s.
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 1:19 PM PST
Updated: Friday, 25 November 2016 1:28 PM PST
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Leonard Peltier by Jim Page
Mood:
 lyrical
Now Playing: A song for Leonard Peltier
Topic: NATIVE AMERICANS
Leonard Peltier Written by Jim Page: http://www.jimpage.net/leonardpeltier.htm In the late winter of 1977 John Trudell came to the University Of Washington to speak about Leonard Peltier. I had never heard about Leonard, but John was AIM chairman and I had been doing some stuff  around the American Indian Movement, playing at rallies and so on, and thought I would check it out. Somebody I knew was probably involved, I thought, as I headed out to the campus in the early evening. Sure enough, Steve Robideau was there and I asked him if I could play a few songs. No problem, but you’ll have to ask John, and I did and it was fine with him too. Trudell was a wiry, quick looking man a few years older than me. He had that look on his face that told you he was up to something. He seemed pretty smart.
I played and John spoke, and I was impressed. Afterwards I told him, “I like how you talk,” and he said, “I like how you sing. Would you be interested in coming out to the Midwest to see what the people are doing?” “I sure would,” I said, and I handed him my phone number on a piece of paper. It was before business cards…
A few months later I got a phone call from John Trudell. He apologized for taking so long to get back to me and said that they had booked me a flight out on Northwest Airlines for the following week, would I be able to make it. I recognized a familiar sense of time and said of course. A few days later I got a one-way ticket to Minneapolis-Saint Paul.
It was early May with a scattered Seattle overcast sky as I headed out to the airport. I hadn’t flown much and all I had for my guitar was soft case that went over my shoulder. I just walked on board with it. The stewardess told me that they would put it in the closet at the rear of the plane where it would be safe. I said okay and took my seat. My neighbor was a man who trained attack dogs. He looked like an attack dog. He was on his way to testify in a case where a dog had mauled an innocent party. His job was to determine the cause. When he talked about the different kinds of wounds and the directions of the teeth marks his mouth made a wise-crack grin, and I knew that since there was only so much room in those lunatic asylums, I would have to just put up with it and hope for the best. Many of his dogs were working for police departments…
Circling over the Twin Cities airport I saw why they called it the Land Of A Thousand Lakes. The ground below looked like someone had broken a mirror and scattered the pieces all over the place. Some of the lakes looked no bigger than parking lots, and there were hundreds of them. My attack dog friend and I touched down with all that metal around us, skidding like it does, and coming to a stop outside the terminal. Because my guitar was in the rear of the plane I had to wait until everyone else got off before I could go back and get it. Consequently I was the last passenger off the airplane.
As I walked down the ramp I saw two men in suits waiting at the bottom. One of them had a camera. He took two pictures and they both walked off. Hmm, I thought, welcome to Minnesota. A few seconds later a very pretty native woman approached me and introduced herself. She was Tina Trudell, John’s wife. John, she said, was due in momentarily on another flight. He showed up carrying a small duffle bag and we walked out into the Minnesota heat, 98 degrees and 98 percent humidity. We headed into the city. They had organized for me to stay at a house in Minneapolis where some really interesting people lived. They had a printing press in the basement and ran a little operation called “Haymarket Press.” Once I was settled John and Tina went on their way but I would see them again soon, they said.
I always liked to be self supporting, so once I learned how to move around in the heat I made my way out to the university with my guitar. I figured out what would be the best place to start and what the class change times were and got to work. There was no technique really, just open your mouth and start talking real loud, rhyming and rhythming into some sort of scene where you could gather a crowd and do your thing. It took a few days to get a decent audience but pretty soon I was doing just fine. And pretty soon I began to notice those two men in suits who always seemed to be hanging around under the trees watching me work. They never put any money in the hat and they didn’t really look like professors. My escorts, I figured. How thoughtful.
Right away John began telling me stories about Pine Ridge and Leonard Peltier. About the mineral deposits and the 1855 Fort Laramie treaty, RESMURS, the GOONS and the FBI. He would take me out to where he lived, in the Little Earth Housing Project. Everybody there knew about Leonard and some of them had been involved in the events of those days. The stories began to pile up until one day I said, “maybe there’s a song in this.” John looked at me and smiled, as if to say, “it took you long enough.”
I began writing verses but there were holes in my understanding. I didn’t want to make anything up, I wanted to make a ballad that would tell the story the way it happened. I knew that objectivity was a myth, that every story teller took a side, and had I decided on my stand. Now I had to get all the parts right. Every few days I would meet up with Trudell again and read to him what I had written and ask him about certain things. He would answer and I would go off to write some more.
One evening there was a thunder storm coming in. They get great strong storms out there and you can see them coming for hundreds of miles. I was walking slowly through the campus thinking and writing lines. It began raining pretty hard and I went onto the covered foot bridge that crosses the Mississippi River where it cuts through the university. One end of it lead out into an open courtyard by the library and I stood there in the dark while it rained, working on my song and looking at the page of my pocket notebook. The rain stopped, but I was hot on a line so I kept looking at the page, my eyes adjusted to dim light. I was getting close. Suddenly – you know what it looks like when they use an arc welder? That bright flame that your not supposed to look at because it’ll hurt your eyes? Well, that’s what the page did. And that’s when the bridge blew up.
It didn’t exactly blow up but it seemed like it. A great lightning bolt had struck the metal where I was standing and I thought it was all over. It started raining buckets and lightning was striking everywhere, but I didn’t care. I ran across the open courtyard and into the library, down the stares and into the lowest part of the basement I could get to. I could hear the muffled thunderings from outside, rattling the walls of my imagination. I stayed until closing.
I got a strange gig at an ice cream parlor in Minneapolis where they paid you with dinner, which was omelets and, of course, ice cream. And all the coffee you could drink. Other than that it was strictly pass the hat. All that coffee and sugar made for a noisy crowd but I was eating just what they ate, so I could stay on their wave length. After my second time there I decided to walk home. It was several miles but the night was hot and I had a lot on my mind. There were the distant flashes of a far off thunder storm and I slowly wandered my way thinking about things. Thinking about Leonard and all that had gone down, about the strange men in suits that seemed to be showing up everywhere, and about how so many people try to keep the unpleasant things away from them. How you can make people nervous and uncomfortable by telling the wrong story, but these stories have to be told anyway. I started thinking,
you can’t make it go away
it’s gainin’ on you every day
it’s only natural anyway
and you can’t make it go away
I thought about the shiny office buildings downtown where the FBI was. And I remembered the well dressed office lady I had met at an AIM rally earlier who confided in me that she thought it was criminal how Indians were treated. You can’t judge people by looking at them. But there were those others, too. People who would stop at nothing to keep doors closed and windows barred. And I wrote,
you can laugh us off with a wave of your hand
you can look down upon us from where you stand
invent statistics to insult and degrade
you can make us illegal you can lock in the stockade
but you can’t make us go away…
And I thought about how inevitable victory really is, and how all the distractions in the world won’t keep the change from happening. And I wrote,
I can show you a dog you can call it a cat
you can do anything you want like that
you can hammer your head in a solid brick wall
and still maintain that it isn’t there at all
but you can’t make it go away…
I found a good place to take out my guitar and work up a tune. By the time I got home I had it memorized.
A few days later John picked me up early to head out to Stillwater, Minnesota. It’s a prison town. Prison is the only real industry there and everything else seems to revolve around it. Native people inside the institution were being denied freedom of religion and we were going to hold a rally outside the gates in protest. We were in an old car, worse for the wear but still running, and we rolled into town about 10 AM. I saw that all along the main street every telephone poll was flying an enormous American flag, real big like the ones outside the MacDonald’s. And this was May, nowhere near the 4th of July. What gives?
Then it hit me: when I was a kid I used to love the vampire stories, Dracula and his buddies. There’s truth in myth but I only figured that out later. The thing is, if you want to keep the vampires away, the “bad people,” you wore a crucifix and hung garlic around you doors and windows. And here we were rolling into town in this old car, the bad people. And there was the garlic, all those flags supposed to keep us away. But it wasn’t going to work. There was a pretty good crowd outside the gates that day. They played the drum and sang the honor songs. John spoke. And I sang, “you can’t make it go away.” Everything made sense and we headed back to Minneapolis.
Now the song was finished and I called it “Song For Leonard Peltier.” It was six minutes long and had a strange kind of symphonic melody. John said he liked it and so did I. I was invited to the Treaty Conference at Standing Rock, North Dakota. I didn’t have a tent or a sleeping bag so I decided to sleep in the back of the car. I was excited to get to sing my new song for these people but my luck was going to turn against me. There was a strange virus going around and I caught it. All of a sudden I completely lost my voice. All I could do was whisper. I remember whispering the song several times around the campfire, being as loud as I could, but there was no way I could be heard by any more than three people at a time. I was there for three days and spent most of it mute. But the song was done and that was the main thing.
I left the Twin Cities after a while and headed for England to play the Cambridge Folk Festival. I took Standing Rock with me. And the Little Earth Housing Project, John and Tina. And Leonard Peltier. I was traveling by myself but I wasn’t alone. Things went well and I was getting a lot of work over there.
Then I got a communication from a Swedish record company called Nacksving. They wanted to do a single of my Peltier song. Nilak Butler and Steve Robideau, two native Peltier people who I new from sate side, had gone to Europe looking to build support for the case. They had been directed to Sweden and the record company. I recorded it right away with another song, “The Time Is Now” as the B side, and sent off the tape. It was released to raise money and awareness, in Europe and the US. Leonard Peltier was international now and people were traveling around, sometimes showing up in the weirdest places.
I was playing at a youth center in Switzerland. It was a converted oil storage tank, a great big round thing. Then stage was huge. A bed was suspended from the ceiling on one side of it, and all the time I was singing a strange girl was rolling around on the mattress kicking her legs in the air, singing a song all of her own. On the dance floor down below a young man was roller skating. I was just struggling along until the gig was over when suddenly a voice came out from the other side of the room, “sing the song for Leonard!” Bill Wahpepah, Cordell Tule, and Philip Deer were in Europe doing networking and had come out to see me play. And of all the gigs to drop in on this was the one. The jokes followed me for years, how they had caught me singing on stage with strange half naked women rolling around on mattresses.
Nilak Butler and Steve Robideau showed up in Sweden one time when I was doing a TV show with Bjorn Afzelius. Also on the show was what we called the “fascist fashion show.” Hard looking mechanical acting women wearing clear plastic dresses and combat boots, marching and saluting to Pink Floyd’s “The Wall.” Even the producers thought it was too weird and cancelled their performance. We never did find out what it was all about, but the jokes followed from that one too.
I have sung that song in twelve countries and it is known, at least a little, in all of them. It used to be that I would have to do long introductions before I sang it but that’s changed. People seem to know what it’s about now. And that’s progress. I can’t tell you the whole story of Leonard Peltier and the events of those days out in Pine Ridge, there isn’t enough space here. But I will say that Leonard’s case is perhaps the clearest example of American injustice that we have before us. There is very little room for conjecture as so much is known. You can see the lies and manipulation, you can follow the power lines. You can see it all so clear. International corporations, police repression, violence. The wages of globalization are all right there to be seen.
SONG FOR LEONARD PELTIER
Loan me a minute, let me borrow your ear
and I'll sing you a song about Leonard Peltier.
He's gone so long in a federal jail,
the innocent victim of a tangled tail.
In South Dakota where the fear has grown,
where the presidents watch from a mountain of stone,
and they say all people are free to roam,
there ain't no freedom in the Indian home.
(chorus)
How many have gone before
and tell me how many more
must be lost to the Indian wars
The company spoke to the high command,
"We need the deeds to the Indian land,
to dig for oil and uranium ore.
Maybe have to start a little Indian war."
The orders came from way on high,
and it was a job for the FBI.
"It won't be hard, all we'll have to do
is cause a little trouble and follow it through."
In Oglalla where the spirit did dwell
it was a time they remember well.
There were women and children gathered there
when the wind blew a warning through the whispering air.
And Leonard Peltier was one of those
who came to the call when the time arose
and dangerous strangers were prowlin' around
bringin' trouble to the reservation ground.
And that was when the agents made their play
in a gunshot battle on a deadly day,
and three men died in the hollow sand,
two FBI and an Indian man.
(Chorus)
Joe Stuntz was a man that died that day,
but the eyes of the law didn't see it that way.
All they cared about was their own kind.
Gonna get somebody for a capitol crime.
The charge was set for homicide,
but Leonard got away to the Canada side,
where he lived for a while in the northern town
till they came up and got him and the brought him back down.
The judge and the jury, they both agreed,
two times murder in the first degree.
They pounded the gavel and they rang on the bell,
two times life in a federal cell.
Citations came from Washington,
congratulations on a job well done.
Two agents gone is a mighty price,
but if you want somethin' bad you gotta sacrifice.
Now Leonard Peltier is a captured man
with both legs taken so he cannot stand.
One more swallowed by the master plan,
to get their hands on the Indian lands.
(Chorus)
And so it's been since days of old
when Custer died for a mountain of gold.
But times have changed and passed him by.
He's been replaced by the FBI.
Oh, it's all so easy to weep and moan
for a warfare fought so far from home.
You can preach of peace from a righteous stand
but there ain't no peace on the Indian land.
When Joe Stuntz was lowered down
the winds did blow with a mighty sound,
and the answer came in the driving rain,
"this man will not have died in vain"
For the hollow power of the lock and key
ain't nothin' to the power of the raging sea,
or the lightning strikes in the angry skies
that puts the power into people's eyes.
Oh, the weather is building to a mighty storm,
and the words in the wind that come to warn
are once more spoken to your ear,
only this time the name is Leonard Peltier.
(Chorus)
If you want to know more here’s a few resources:
First Nations - Issues of Consequence: http://dickshovel.com/
The International Office of the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee: http://www.freepeltier.org/
“Spirit Of Crazy Horse” by Peter Matthiesen
“Cointelpro Papers” by Ward Churchill and Jim Vanderwall Also check this website: http://www.thepeoplespaths.net/lpeltier.html
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 11:40 AM PDT
Updated: Tuesday, 10 August 2010 11:43 AM PDT
Friday, 30 October 2009
Mohawk Nation News
Mood:
 don't ask
Now Playing: POLISH DEATH PROBED – ATTEMPT ON MOHAWK IGNORED
Topic: NATIVE AMERICANS
 Mohawk Nation News (ioriwase@mail.mohawknationnews.com) | | Fri 10/30/09 10:49 AM | | joe anybody |
POLISH DEATH PROBED – ATTEMPT ON MOHAWK IGNORED
MNN. Oct. 29, 2009. On October 14th 2007, Polish immigrant, Robert Dziekanski, was killed by the RCMP at the customs venue in Vancouver Airport. He was tasered, knocked down and hit again. He screamed in pain on the floor. They fired again, again and again until he died.
Dziekanski had come from Poland to visit his mother, who had been waiting for him at the arrivals level for 7 hours.
A bystander video taped his death with his cell phone. The RCMP were all buffed up with body armor, hand guns, pepper spray and collapsible batons. They said they feared for their safety when he picked up the stapler and waved it at them.
The state is spending millions on an highly publicized investigation into his death.
What’s the difference between this and the attack on Kahentinetha Horn at the Akwesasne border on June 14, 2009? The CBSA Canadian Border Services Agency video taped this vicious assault which they hide for reasons of National Security. Many witnesses have signed affidavits.
Horn was pulled over by the border guards to wait for hours. CBSA and a squad of heavily equipped commandos appeared. They surrounded her car, grabbed her and used stress tactics that brought on a heart attack. The border guards tried to push her to bend forward so the blood would rush into her heart and kill her. She survived.
This attack has been kept out of mainstream news. Every request to the RCMP, OPP and Attorney General of Canada to investigate this crime has been stopped.
Canada does not want a review of their agents torturing and trying to kill a 69 year old woman who was peacefully crossing the border at Akwesasne.
Horn went to the Federal Court of Canada to file an action to investigate this crime. FCC issued an order that she must pay for all of the Crown’s costs starting with a $20,000 deposit. They declared she lives in the Mohawk community of Kahnawake and therefore is not a resident of Canada. This is an admission that we are sovereign.
Many have been brutalized at this border. The colonial Akwesasne Mohawk Council is hiring a high profile lawyer, paid by Canada, to mount a class action suit against Canada, mainly to avoid the sovereignty, international border and land issues. Indigenous victims will be urged to take a settlement. The deal will probably try to absolve Canada of guilt and responsibility in the eyes of their law.
Canada knows this is an international nation-to-nation issue. The lawyer will say the ruling is a great victory for the Indigenous, blah, blah, blah. Canada will keep pretending they are in control of their Indians.
The foreigners need guns to assert their illegitimate authority.
In Akwesasne we are in our homes, doing nothing wrong. When some antagonistic armed border goon confronts us, our guard goes up. An issue is created and we could be killed. Armed camps are being created around us to force us to defend ourselves against their brutality and weapons. Since they have guns, shouldn’t we have guns to defend ourselves from them?
Any law abiding peaceful and compliant individual, black, white, yellow or brown, who shows up at the border is confronted with tasers and guns. They can become a victim, attacked and killed. Because it’s at the border the goons think they can walk away scot free with no fear of retaliation.
Is Canada at war with us? Why are they pointing us at us? The corporations, Wall Street, bankers, military and lawyers now control governments. Anyone asserting self-determination and sovereignty or questioning their lack of jurisdiction in a resource rich territory is considered an enemy. We have been declared terrorists or enemy combatants and denied civil, sovereign and human rights.
Dziekanski was a visitor with more rights to an investigation than us. He was killed to desensitize the public to what state agents will do to enforce their will. The RCMP took 7 hours to plan his killing and to work up the nerve to do it. In the Horn case, they spent over an hour and botched it.
Kahentinetha MNN Mohawk Nation News, www.mohawknationnews.com kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Note: Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send your donations by check or money order to “MNN Mohawk Nation News”, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Or go to PayPal on MNN website. Nia:wen thank you very much. Go to MNN BORDER category for more stories; New MNN Books Available now!
NOTE: Charges could not be brought against the CBSA border guards unless the victims paid the crown’s court costs. Federal Court of Canada Prothonotary Mireille Tabib made an order on October 23, 2008 that Mohawks residing in Akwesasne and Kahnawake are not residents of Canada. Two supporting FCC orders were made by Judge Francois Lemieux on January 29, 2009; and Claude Morissette on March 16, 2009. FCA T-1309-08 and T-288-09.
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 11:15 AM PDT
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
CANADA PANICS AT AKWESASNE - MNN News Update
Mood:
 on fire
Now Playing: CANADA PANICS AT AKWESASNE – CSIS/CBSA extort Mohawk Cars
Topic: NATIVE AMERICANS
CANADA PANICS AT AKWESASNE – CSIS/CBSA extort Mohawk Cars
MNN. Sep. 20 2009. The Everett Report of March 17, 1922, found that, no attempt has ever been made to control the Indians on the St. Regis Reservation [Akwesasne] residing within the boundaries of Canada. The Chairman firmly believes that the St. Regis reservation lying within the boundaries of the State of New York is a separate and distinct territory from the control of the United States or State of New York as is the Canadian reservation. [p. 317]. This pertains to all of Great Turtle Island.
Just what are the rights of the aliens? Only what we gave them under the Great Law. Aliens are temporary. Should they cause loss, wrong, suffering or endanger the peace, the War Chiefs reprimand and expel them. [Wampum 74]. They have no voice in council. [Wampum 76]. Canada, US, Mexico or any foreigners cannot interfere with us.
The invaders washed up here with nothing. They stole, created money and intend to take everything from us. Their puppet band and tribal councils are more than willing to help them.
Red Jacket, Corn Planter and other Iroquois told Washington that they’re fighting over something that doesn’t belong to them - our lands, resources and waters. We own all the beds of all the waters of Great Turtle Island. [p. 186-7]
Their judicial and military hocus pocus shows they know that we never gave up anything. Canada, US, Ontario, Quebec and New York State promised to protect us from them.
International law provides that title to land is never taken away from the lawful, legal owner except in a legal and lawful manner. If it’s stolen and used for twenty years or a million years, they never get title.
At Akwesasne Canada Customs goons are desperately grabbing our cars and demanding $1000. Mohawks going home or visiting each other don’t have to report to foreign goons. It’s not enough these hoods grab us as we come over the bridge, take us out to the back and beat us up. We hear they might be advancing with a fleet of armored tow trucks to haul away more of our vehicles? Canada is threatening unarmed people with heavily armed RCMP, OPP, Cornwall and Akwesasne police forces.
CSIS mans the shack which illegally stops us. Like the Chinese water torture, Canada is trying to extort protection money from us one drop at a time.
Some of those community members who carry purple cards identifying themselves as Camel Toe Treaty people say it was signed in Central Park in New York City in 409 AD where Egyptian tombs were left behind. Their passport provides that we were signatories to the treaty that brought down the Roman Empire! This apparently gives Rotinoshonni:onwe freedom of movement. It has no basis in the Great Law or in history.
We hope Canada and US strategists are not thinking about bringing in the military that are probably hiding in the bushes. Before putting the boots to us, they want us to be confused, lost, angry and afraid. As always, we are giving a measured response. We want peace, not another 1990 Mohawk Oka Crisis style attack by 5,000 soldiers of the Canadian army. What are they afraid of? You can’t shoot the truth!
Canada, give it up. That imaginary line [border] doesn’t belong here.
We never renounced our Rotinshonni’on:we birthright. The three recent Federal Court of Canada rulings found that, because we live in Akwesasne and Kahnawake, we are not residents of Canada, and are not entitled to an investigation of brutal attacks and human rights violations by their agents. It is impossible for us to renounce our Ongwehonwe birthright. We cannot be citizens [another fancy word for slave] of Canada or the US. Who would want to be anyhow?
The Peoples Fire is purchasing lumber and materials to erect a building on the tent site. A phone list is available in case of attack or harassment.
Canada’s using mainstream media, or the hanging press, to try to turn people against us because we don’t want guns in the our community.
These attacks and threats show weakness and impotence, not strength. The predatory ruling class and their agents want to keep plundering the world with impunity. They need to steal from us, sell it and then buy more things for themselves.
Two party deals for our land signed between foreigners are illegal. The squatters of Canada and the US are afraid of being defined and giving an accounting. Hey! Show us a deed for one acre of land anywhere on Great Turtle Island that you got legally. Everybody in the world knows you can’t do it!
To help contact Akwesasne Peoples Fire 613-937-1813 akwpeoplesfire@bell.net;
Kahentinetha MNN Mohawk Nation News, www.mohawknationnews.com kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Note: Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send your donations by check or money order to “MNN Mohawk Nation News”, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Or go to PayPal on MNN website. Nia:wen thank you very much. Go to MNN AKWESASNE category for more stories; New MNN Books Available now!
Report of New York State Indian Commission to Investigate the Status of the American Indian Residing in the State of New York transmitted to the Legislators, March 17, 1922, also known as the Everett Report].
Helen Upton. The Everett Report – Historical Perspective. Albany Library.
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 12:01 AM PDT
Sunday, 18 May 2008
A minister discovers institutionalized child abuse
Mood:
 irritated
Now Playing: child abuse video tells story from Canada minister
Topic: NATIVE AMERICANS
A minister discovers
institutionalized
child abuse Unrepenetent: Canada's genocide I love Canada. Love the land. Love the people.
But I have no illusions about the government there, especially the government/church alliance.
Interestingly, the book "Thy Will Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil" traces the roots of the US "residential" school system for Native children to a Rockefeller family initiative.
After being pushed to remote areas, it was discovered that Native people were sitting on massive mineral and oil deposits.
Thus began the US program of removing Native children from their families, punishing them for speaking their native languages, and subjecting them to all forms of abuse.
Apparently, the idea migrated to Canada. http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/323.html ____
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 4:53 PM PDT
Updated: Sunday, 18 May 2008 5:09 PM PDT
Sunday, 12 November 2006
READ THE DOCUMENT AND THEN TURN AROUND AND RIDE
Mood:
 energetic
Now Playing: DOCUMENT FROM 1793
Topic: NATIVE AMERICANS
In regards to the recent cases of developing, selling, stealing, and court battles over Native American land the following document explains the logic and the law, in clear to read wording
This is an exact quote from the Simcoe document of 1793 covering the protection of approximately 95,000 hectares. "It is our royal will and pleasure that no transfer, alienation, conveyance, sale, gift, exchange, lease, property or possession shall at any time be had, made or given of the said district or territory of any part or parcel thereof by and of the said chiefs, warriors, women and people of the said Six Nations or body of people, person or persons whatsoever other than among themselves, the said chiefs, warriors, women and people of the said Six Nations, but that any such transfer, alienation, conveyance, sale, gift, exchange, lease or possession shall be null and void and of no affect whatever. And that no person or persons shall possess or occupy the said district or territory or any part or parcel thereof by or under any pretense whatever under pain of severe displeasure. And that in case any person other than the chiefs, warriors, women and people of the said Six nations shall under pretense of any such title as aforesaid presume to possess or occupy the said district or territory or any part or parcel thereof that it shall and may be lawful for us, our heirs and successors at anytime hereafter to enter upon the lands so occupied and possessed by another person or persons other than the said chiefs, warriors, women and people of the Six Nations and them the said intruders thereof and there from, wholly do dispossess, evict and resume the same to
ourselves, our heirs and successors." Read The Complete Article Here
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 1:26 PM PST
Updated: Monday, 13 November 2006 10:08 PM PST
Saturday, 26 August 2006
Native Americans Speak Up About Grassy Narrows Logging
Mood:
 crushed out
Now Playing: DEVASTATION
Topic: NATIVE AMERICANS
So how far away does it have to be ...before you say
"It doesn't affect me"? ......Zebra 3 readers the world is your backyard. These are your brothers and sisters. Lets reach out and support Justice, Peace, and Love. Let us support those that are being BEAT DOWN and are political prisoners, or are being repressed and neglected. Let us stand in Solidarity, and stand up to Government abuse of its authority and abuse of the people of this beautiful Mother Earth. Let us listen to the cry of the protester .......he may indeed be justified and he may indeed be warning us all....if nothing else ask your self ....What is he yelling about? Some people are willing to die for their cause ...better hear them when they were alive than to hears the message when they are gone! At what point would "you" start protecting what is "YOURS" I ask you my fair conscientious reader? Well I hope you don't have to get off your ass, like these folks have had to do. They did what they "needed to do" Sitting on ones ass reading the Zebra 3 Report is much easier to do, huh? But let us be aware and informed at what is happening to and in.., "OUR COMMUNITIES" People will need to "Take Action" in order to not be bullied and stolen from. If you do "nothing = you get nothing" I am not willing to settle for nothing. Watch these North American Natives In the Grassy Narrows Video stand together for their cause ...to protect what is theres http://freegrassy.org/multi_media/video/ "we are here to "...Protect & Preserve WATCH THIS YOUTUBE VIDEO It shows the outcome of all this LOGGING that is going on - and its impact! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrwoUp6lb-0 Warehouser tells you the spin but this video points it all out! DO YOU CARE? or - DO YOU WANT TO KNOW?
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 8:20 PM PDT
Updated: Sunday, 3 September 2006 3:17 AM PDT
Tuesday, 8 August 2006
How about a Golf Ball Upside Your Head Ya Damn Protester!
Mood:
 down
Now Playing: 6 Nations gets rocks thrown - article is gentle in pointing who really did what
Topic: NATIVE AMERICANS
The following article is found at this link here: http://680news.com/news/local/article.jsp?content=20060808_123701_1936 I feel that given the right moment (and the wrong people) ALL HELL COULD BREAK LOOSE Interesting too is how the rock throwing is mentioned, as if both sides were as guilty I bet, that is not the truth 
Judge orders negotiations halted in contentious aboriginal land dispute August 08, 2006 - 3:39 pm
By: 680News staff and Canadian Press Cayuga, Ont. - A judge in Cayuga, Ontario says his orders over a contested tract of land have been ``blatantly disregarded.'' Justice David Marshall says there must be no more negotiation over the land between governments and the six nations until his orders are followed. Marshall is angry native protesters haven't been removed from the land at nearby Caledonia that has been occupied since February. Negotiations aimed at resolving a bitter land occupation that has, at times, turned violent must be suspended until aboriginal protesters move off the contested property, an Ontario court judge ruled Tuesday. The ``lawlessness'' that has characterized the occupation of a housing development in the southwestern Ontario community of Caledonia must end before talks with the province and the federal government can move forward, said Superior Court Justice David Marshall. "It is common knowledge that the people of Caledonia, after five months of occupation, have seen security in their town replaced by lawlessness, protesters in battle fatigues, police officers in riot in gear,'' said Marshall. When asked if the province would abide by the judge's ruling, Premier Dalton McGuinty replied ``it's the kind of thing that we're going to want take some time to carefully consider.'' "I would appeal for people to be calm,'' the premier added. Significant progress has been made in the dispute, including a deal that saw aboriginals remove a contentious highway barricade, said McGuinty. "Let's not lose ground as a result of this ruling.'' Relations between aboriginal protesters and their non-aboriginal neighbours have been marked by violence since the occupation began in February. Over the weekend, residents and protesters clashed yet again, as rocks and golf balls were thrown at each other. On Tuesday, a shouting match erupted outside court between more than a dozen protesters and non-aboriginal residents, calling each other ``squatter'' and ``terrorist'' and blaming each other for recent violence. Clyde Powless, a spokesman for the occupiers, said they planned to meet Tuesday night to discuss their next move. "As far as the judge's orders, we're still digesting that,'' he said. ``We don't like to make rash decisions.'' At the site of the occupation, protesters feared that the ruling will cause police to move in and try to remove them. Joe, who declined to give his last name, said if provincial police come, he'll be ``ready.'' "The only way they're going to get me off this land is if they drag my dead body off,'' he said. Marshall issued his order after holding several hearings to discover why his previous orders to remove aboriginal protesters have been, in his words, ``blatantly disregarded.'' "The court has been patient, but the court cannot turn a blind eye to blatant contempt of the court's lawful order,'' he said. Six Nations protesters have occupied the Douglas Creek Estates housing development since the end of February, claiming it was wrongly taken from them by the Crown more than 200 years ago. Marshall issued a court order in March to have the protesters removed by police and to have barricades lifted on nearby railway tracks. Police did raid the occupied site on April 20, and lawyers for the Ministry of the Attorney General have argued that Marshall's orders have been carried out, noting police have laid 53 charges against 28 people. Marshall took the unusual step of calling representatives from the federal government, the province, police and aboriginals into court to explain their actions. FOR MORE ON THIS SUBJECT CLICK MY BLOG LINK 6 NATIONS THE ZEBRA 3 REPORT stay tuned ..
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 9:37 PM PDT
Updated: Sunday, 27 August 2006 8:55 PM PDT
Thursday, 13 July 2006
WHAT ON EARTH IS HAPPENING AT SIX NATIONS?
Mood:
 loud
Now Playing: WAKE UP AND SMELL WHAT THE NEWS WONT TELL YOU
Topic: NATIVE AMERICANS
mY gOd 
**** RECENT UPDATES ADDED AT VERY BOTTOM OF THIS POST **** "IF THEY CAN DO THIS TO US THEY CAN DO IT TO YOU" (quote by Robin Williams of the Six Nations Tribe) Z3 readers, WATCH THIS QUICK 3 MIN VIDEO AND YOU WILL KNOW WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT --> http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8568447257874665405 What is going on up here in Canada? I am just starting to find out about this blockade up at Six Nations. From the few films that [I will put links to at the bottom of this post] I have been watching just this morning I can see what seems to be a road block by the Six Nation tribe to stop a possible land development by what appears to me as a theft of their land (duhhh we never take land from Natives) anyway this is all my interpretations and not very factual...but it looks like on and off blockades by the OPP (Ontario Police Provision) (I think?) which have installed their own blockade to prevent the two sides from getting to close, (it seems) --> my facts on this... seem to come from dated around April 2006 information Now in this film here --> http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4688726343360664195 I see that the town of Caledonia is getting pissed about the blockade on their land and want it removed ...most of these asshole protesters (yep they are assholes and racists) are new to the area and have forgotten or never had a clue, who’s land it was .....the Native blockade was to stop land development on Native Lands........The Indians are being peaceful. The townsfolk are loud and obnoxious IN GENERAL ....the OPP blockade is not needed and should be removed ...as I heard in a different video (I included its link at bottom too) most of the reason for the OPP block can be blamed on the HOT HEADS who were causing trouble. I watced this one clip from Braveheart.com that had my heart racing and my soul crying for love and peace ....this absolutly assinine group of jerks from the town, taunt and throw rocks at the Six Nations Native Blockade at night and it takes the police to remove these rascist WOW* "I am discusted, This clip below is haunting and worth watching" says Ben Waiting http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2062107048597866513 Guess what Z3 Readers? This has been going on for months and months! I need to research more on this! I Joe Anybody would love any information you want to share. To me I see this as more theft, control, and stealing, from the true landowners of North America. And these Natives I believe will stand till their death...and I do not even know them. What I Do Know Is the ever prevailing gut feeling that a real man will be called in these times to stand up and die for his country and his family and his rights to be a free man. And by gOd today on some of the last few Native Canadian and Aboriginal lands a Battle Line is drawn in the dirt. I say with full belief that the reason are as real as ever and the death of might warriors spirits are with them at these very moments in the air ....... inspiring them to stand tall, proud and peaceful, and prepared to die for what is right! I wonder who started this? I wonder how it will end? Funny how this isn't in the Corporate news huh? Of course how would I know I don’t listen to Faux news or any of the Corporate Military Supporting Stations, you know ABC, NBC, CNN, FOX oh i said FAUX already!!! all those "embedded HAHA" White House Approved stations ...so I really don’t know if this is in the news these days anyway to be truthful......But I am willing to bet you it isn’t I got to do some research on the current situation, while I have the time....... 
HERE ARE THE VIDEO LINKS: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6030848900718239420 Union Support for the Natives hear how the OPP attack and arrest 16 Natives and why the labor movement supports the Native People.Very Informed Speaker named Ralph. 11min video http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8888177271521138765 4min interview with teenage girl from the city who talks about both sides and the issue of moving back the roadblock http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6543469444369226272 this local guy tells his view of the road being opened on may 22 06 interesting perspective and a good few stories he points to the Native side as causing trouble...notice as he talks about this and how he points out no leadership or explaining to the masses ..... http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9179957702253903930 lady who has lived by the SixNations for 20 years givers her opinion http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=597830631857946049 Interview with locals http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-680876537289973000&q=Six+Nations May 22 video of lots of young kids trying to get past a fence and lots of yelling at Police....police talk with kids at chain-fence line......lots of HATE in this town ...kids yell at the cops to "let the brawl go down" http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8612648908171635719&q=Six+Nations+Protest 2 min video about the lights at night...lots of yelling...lots of people at blockade(townsfolk) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3107072711881835098&q=Six+Nations+Protest 700 hundred Non-Natives show off their asshole backwoods anger RACISM and Hatered (sick) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-851267503896821826 then there is this white guy attitude and what a jerk he is! This Guy wants ACTION... http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=935411587984125276 Mike D tells of the Planned Nighttime Police Attack in a 5min video ....he tells of tazers and automatic machine guns and false arrests and chasing people in cars etc and how the Natives take back the road hours latter ... http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6929468833084740757 Tazers Barbs that the Natives were attacked with by the Police Raid Listen to an innocent Native tell how he was shot in back with Tazer http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4514970171512540483&q=Six+Nations Just video pan of all the crowd at OPP blockade http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5872956111147310589 local kids pissed about roadblocks http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1383728767173261387&q=Six+Nations close look at Six Nation block - not sure what the video guy was wanting exactly but he wals up to the block 30 sec video http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5645774187888336768 court and the mayors big mouth 30 minvideo http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6371182477781007413 after raids by the OPP Six Nations blocks road with dump truks full of gravel http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8395203966257608799 Interview with peaceful spokesman from Six Nations about cops showing up with guns http://friendsofsixnations.bravehost.com/videos_uncut.html Bravehost.com has some uncut video here June 28 2006 The Six Nations requests meeting with Governor General: http://www.firstperspective.ca/fp_template.php?path=20060628gg text-document ******UPDATE 7-12-06****** 
* UPDATES BELOW * 7-19-06 http://www.eastnorthumberland.com/article.php?id=447 SIX NATIVE PROTESTERS ARRESTED POLICE CROSS THE LINE TO SIX NATIONS NATIVE LAND WITHOUT PERMISSION Read more on INDY MEDIA here: http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/06/341080.shtml here: http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/05/339803.shtml 8-11-06 here: http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=31800ac1-d4b2-4646-aac6-3316e7958834&k=1997 here: http://www.900chml.com/news/news_local.cfm?cat=7428218912&rem=44773&red=80121823aPBIny&wids=410&gi=1&gm=news_local.cfm ********* ************ ************* 8-14-06 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060814.wcaledoniaATL14/BNStory/National/home * * * * * 8-24-06 http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1156369813706 two sides start up talks again in spite of previous judge telling the protesting natives to leave the site or no talks would proceed. Both parties agreed that it (talks) was a positive step forward. 8-27-2006 LABOR DAY ATTACK WARNING ISSUED My Portland Indy Media Link here: http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/08/345078.shtml Mohawk News webpage article *announcement here: http://www.mohawknationnews.com/news/singlenews.php?en=en&layout=mnn&newsnr=279&backurl=%2Fnews%2Fnews3.php%3Flang%3Den%26layout%3Dmnn%26sortorder%3D0&srcscript=/news/news3.php 9-9-06 UPDATE http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1157753411081&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1112876262536 Empathy and more from Six Nations on the need to protect kids! By Brant Bardy, Program Manager, Aboriginal Media, First Nations Technical Institute, Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, Deseronto
The Hamilton Spectator
(Sep 9, 2006) Re: 'Police on patrol at Caledonia school' (Sept. 6) Caledonia residents need not worry about their elementary school-aged children being harmed by the Six Nations. News reports that promote fear-mongering certainly don't help in restoring the peace that many on both sides of the issue are committed to. Although the Six Nations spokespeople in the land reclamation have made it absolutely consistent and clear that they intend to take the government to task with respect to their treaty rights, (rights which are supposedly protected under the Canadian constitution), to infer the Six Nations pose a threat to the Catholic school children is absolutely ridiculous. The Six Nations people also have children whom they care for and love. It may be a bit ironic to note that many Six Nations' children were taken from their parents by government force and placed in state- and church-sponsored residential schools where they suffered from acculturation and abuse. This is a matter of historical record. If anyone can empathize with the need for protecting children, it's Six Nations and other indigenous nations of Canada. * * * * * SEPTEMBER 27 2006 Caledonia, Ont. standoff costing $55M: John Tory Updated Wed. Sep. 27 2006 11:24 PM ET Canadian Press TORONTO -- Conservative Leader John Tory said Tuesday the ongoing aboriginal occupation in Caledonia, Ont. has cost taxpayers at least $55 million. Tory put the figure to Premier Dalton McGuinty in the Ontario legislature, asking him to give a final tally on the cost of the occupation in the town just outside of Hamilton. Tory didn't provide itemized proof of how he arrived at the $55-million figure but said it takes into account policing costs, the salary of negotiator Jane Stewart and assistance to local businesses. "I would expect as the chief trustee of taxpayers' money, you would be able to give us some estimate as to how much has been spent on that matter so far,'' Tory said. McGuinty didn't respond with a total figure, saying the province is intent on reaching an agreement with Six Nations protesters at the negotiating table. He said he's proud of how his government has handled the standoff, which started in February and has been marred by violent clashes between town residents and aboriginals. McGuinty wouldn't repeat previous comments where he said it would be "unacceptable'' for the occupation to drag on through the winter but says the government will remain at the negotiating table for "as long as it takes.'' "This particular issue predates Confederation,'' McGuinty said. "It is complex. It is fraught with challenges.'' Tory said the province should exact an agreement from Six Nations protesters, holding them to a "minimum standard of behaviour'' as long as they remain on the land. Six Nations protesters say they will stay on the site _ bought by the province and being held in trust _ until it is returned to them. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060927/caledonia_standoff_060927/20060927?hub=Canada ****************** OCT 23 2006 Six Nations to present evidence of land ownership in Caledonia October 22, 2006 - by Joseph Quesnel Six Nations officials have said they will present evidence very shortly that will prove they never surrendered land that is in dispute in Caledonia. The evidence will be presented at a public forum in early November, according to one media report. At a recent public meeting organized by the Caledonia Citizens Alliance, Aboriginal members associated with the Douglas Estates occupation said the Argyle Street South site in question was not surrendered in the 1840s. Lawyers hired by the federal government, however, also said that they have documents pointing to a surrender of the property. One lawyer indicated that if the evidence provided by the Six Nations is not persuasive, the government will not change its position, which is that the land was legally surrendered in 1844 and can be transferred. At the meeting, federal negotiators were not able to inform local residents when the negotiations would be over or when the occupation of the site would cease. http://www.firstperspective.ca/fp_template.php?path=20061022evidence ****************** November 1 2006 Nov. 1, 2006. 06:29 PM CHINTA PUXLEY AND JENNIFER DITCHBURN CANADIAN PRESS
Federal and provincial politicians should stop acting like children and focus on ending the nine-month aboriginal occupation in Caledonia, the town’s mayor said today as Ottawa and the province traded shots about who should foot the dispute’s bill. The day after Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice refused to meet with his provincial counterpart to discuss the occupation and its costs, Haldimand County Mayor Marie Trainer said the finger-pointing is exasperating for residents who just want the ordeal to come to an end. “They are just playing games right now,” Trainer said about the escalating war of words. “We’re in the middle. We’re the ones suffering.” “I’d like them to stop acting like children. I wish they would quit holding Caledonia residents as hostages. It’s pretty frustrating.” Six Nations Chief Allen MacNaughton echoed Trainer’s sense of urgency for Prentice and the Ontario government to end their spat. “It is with great concern that the Hodiyenehsoh find the Crown, in right of Ontario and Canada, engaged in playing politics in the media,” MacNaughton said in a statement. “We sincerely hope the two levels of government in Canada will be able to work out their differences and return to the negotiating table with renewed determination.” MacNaughton urged Prentice to become directly involved in talks with Six Nations Confederacy chiefs to reach a settlement in the land dispute. Although the province purchased the land in question and is negotiating, Premier Dalton McGuinty has increasingly argued land claims are a federal responsibility, and said Tuesday that Ottawa must “step up to the plate.” That comment prompted Prentice to cancel his meeting with David Ramsay, Ontario’s minister responsible for aboriginal affairs, later that evening. Prentice said Ontario is solely responsible for paying the costs of occupation — now pegged at $40 million for policing, business compensation and the purchase of the disputed land. “The Constitution is very clear. Property and civil rights, the administration of justice and policing are all provincial responsibilities,” Prentice said in an interview. “What’s missing here is the justification for the province to say this is a federal obligation to pay for this. While the federal government has responsibility for Indians, that doesn’t override provincial law.” Prentice said he’s been working hard to end the “oldest land claim in Canada,” appointing fact finders, negotiators and meeting with key provincial and aboriginal leaders to help sort out the dispute. “I’m prepared to discuss the issues in a serious way with (the province) any time they choose, but I’m not going to be part of a media circus and political grandstanding about the issue,” he said. McGuinty responded to the snub by calling the federal Conservative thin-skinned, and said people shouldn’t get into politics if they can’t take criticism. A clearly frustrated McGuinty repeated his demand that Ottawa take a lead role in negotiating an end to the dispute. “They’ve got to understand, it’s not going to go away,” McGuinty said. “If it’s not Caledonia, it’s going to be land claims issues elsewhere across the country. This is an issue that’s been percolating on the backburner for a long time now.” People want to see the dispute resolved, McGuinty said. “They want us to meet,” he said. “And I think they want us to respect each other’s constitutional responsibilities.” But no new meeting between the two levels of government has been set. The federal government should start settling smaller side-issues with the Six Nations protesters and establish some goodwill to resolve the larger land claim issue, said Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Ramsay. “We don’t want to have these disputes,” he said. “We want to get these things settled for the people of Ontario and especially the aboriginal people in that area who — for a couple hundred years — have not had justice.” Ramsay said he didn’t know how long this dispute would take to resolve but “it should be sooner rather than later.” In the meantime, Caledonia residents are losing faith. “They have really lost focus about what this whole thing is about,” Trainer said of the politicians. “They’re forgetting about the people who are suffering every day — their nerves are shot, they’re on tranquilizers, they’re on heart medication. It’s not a good thing.” McGuinty’s ramped-up rhetoric about Ottawa’s role in the Caledonia dispute is the latest tough talk about how Ontario is getting short-changed under the federal Conservatives. That Liberal tactic has backfired, critics said. Conservative Leader John Tory said Caledonia residents were looking for progress on the standoff and are seeing “a jousting match instead.” NDP Leader Howard Hampton said the Liberal government is paralyzed and is falling back on the “tired old politics of blame and squabble.” Six Nations protesters have occupied the former housing development site in Caledonia since February. Their occupation has been marred by violent clashes with town residents and barricades that cut the town in half. The aboriginals say they are prepared to stay on the land — which they say was taken illegally from them 200 years ago — until it is returned to them. ****************************************************** NOVEMBER 13 2006 http://www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=5574 Six Nations occupation in Caledonia digs in heels for winter months Members of the Six Nations Confederacy of Indigenous People are preparing to continue their ten-month occupation of disputed land this winter, after negotiations with the government reached a new roadblock earlier this month.
The protestors intend on “maintaining a presence on the occupation site through the winter,” said Six Nations spokesperson Hazel Hill.
They began occupying the land bordering the Grand River in southern Ontario last February, to protest the federal government’s sale of what they claimed was their land to a real estate developer. At the beginning of the month, the government announced its position on the ownership dispute: according to the minutes of a set of documents from the 1840s, the Six Nations surrendered the land long ago.
However, negotiations continue, as many Six Nations people deny that the records are valid.
“These are documents made by a discredited agent,” said Lynda Powless, editor of the Turtle Island Newspaper. “The government discredited [Samuel Jarvis, an “Indian Agent”] for...stealing funds and absconding. They are fully aware of this situation.”
Six Nations spokesperson Jaqueline House went further, claiming the documents are forgeries.
“Signatures are in calligraphy, which our chiefs would never use,” she said. “Or else they have Xs on them...and you can see where they started cutting and gluing those on all over the place.”
Hill described the current occupation site as “quiet” as the protesters prepare for colder months and continuing negotiations. The summer months had been more exciting, with international visitors from other indigenous communities showing up in support of the land claim, said Powless.
However, House stressed that the dispute is less about land than about countering the racism and oppression that the Six Nations people continue to face.
“For a long time we blamed ourselves...for losing our culture, our language,” she said. “But it’s not our fault.... Now, we are fighting diplomatically for our dignity. I don’t want my children to grow up hating or being hated.”
The land-claim dispute has been marked by racial tension and violent incidents, including an April police raid on the reclamations site at four in the morning when protestors were sleeping. Both House and Powless said that many of those arrested over the past months, with charges ranging from robbery to attempted manslaughter, are still awaiting trial and have not had bail hearings.
Other violent run-ins have been with media people and neighbouring residents. Powless said that most of the racial tension in Caledonia comes from new residents who have moved to the area from larger cities and “have no clue who their neighbors are,” while House cited media misrepresentations.
“[People] come and make racial slurs and throw rocks all the time,” she said. “If one of our guys throws one back...all of a sudden [people think] the natives are attacking.”
****************************************************** DECEMBER 15 2006 Ottawa reviewing Six Nations claim(Dec 15, 2006) The federal Department of Justice is still reviewing a Six Nations claim that it never surrendered land that has been the subject of a 10-month occupation. The Six Nations Confederacy presented federal officials last month with an 80-page report on its claim for Douglas Creek Estates on Argyle Street South. It was expected Ottawa would file a response yesterday as talks at the main negotiation table resumed, but federal officials have promised to present Six Nations with a formal written response before the next meeting on Jan. 11. "We take it very seriously and it is being analyzed at the very highest level," federal negotiator Ron Doering said. Ottawa maintains Six Nations surrendered and sold the land in the 1840s, but Six Nations says its members were duped. While Doering said last month Ottawa felt pretty confident with its position, he said it can be altered, "now that we've heard their side of the story." All sides remain optimistic the dispute can be resolved. "There's building goodwill," said Mohawk Chief Allen MacNaughton. "It takes time." ****************************************************** | Jan.27.2007 09:16:55 | CROWN KEEPS FALTERING ON 6 NATIONS CLAIMS
MNN. Jan. 27, 2006. This is Hazel’s update on the goings on at Six Nations:
On Thursday we had the main table meeting as scheduled. If you watch CH TV 11, you'll see that the position of the Crown hasn't changed. They've once again utilized the media as a negotiating tool as if to proclaim something new or great. It's nothing great! It certainly doesn't offer any new evidence of any sale or lease. For that matter, it doesn't even refer to any factual cases of Canadian law. Their document is nothing more than an OPINION! It is not FACT, nor is it the LAW to which we have agreed to for the negotiation process. It is not surprising. It is exactly what we expected. Did anyone really think they were going to make some great announcement and admit that they had in fact stolen our lands, the lease monies, and made up deeds for all the fraudulent land sales and leases throughout the years for all those living within the tract. Not likely!
They will continue with their tactics of using the threat of courts to try and discourage us. What they failed to mention was that within that court system there are numerous cases in which the Department of Justice ('DOJ') has been found WRONG. This includes cases such as Guerin, Sparrow, Badger, and Dalgamuuk. All of these cases deal with indigenous rights.
In a press release earlier today, Chief Allen MacNaughton reminded the world that "Canada is trying to rely on a Department of Justice "legal" opinion, which in reality is a political position on Six Nations land rights." He further says, "The Department of Justice has taken the position, wherever possible, to limit the assertion of rights and claims by indigenous peoples to protect the Canadian public purse."
Well, we too have our own opinion on what the Crown has tabled. We have our own "legal experts" that have helped us to provide points that we tabled with the Crown on the same day. We’d like to share those points with you:
1. Relying upon the position of the Department of Justice is inconsistent with the spirit and intent of the Two Row. The Two Row sets out a Nation-to-Nation relationship. The DOJ is not a Nation.
2. Relying upon the DOJ position requires an assumption that the Canadian legal system is to apply to the resolution of disputes further to the Treaties and the relationship between the Haudenosaunee and the Crown. This is inconsistent and contrary to Two Row which does not allow one party to place itself in the others canoe nor to pull another into its ship.
3. Even IF the position of the DOJ was relevant, it would not be of assistance. DOJ takes the position that Haudenosaunee are 'Indians' or 'First Nations' which we are not.
4. DOJ takes “political” positions not “legal” positions. They have a political agenda to limit, wherever possible, the assertion of rights and claims by 'First Nations' in North America and to protect the public purse. In trying to push this political agenda through the courts, they have been consistently found wrong.
So the LAW which they are obligated to follow, according to our relationship and ancient covenants, IS the Two Row. They have just as much responsibility to it as we do. They have many generations of neglect, manipulation, corruption and genocide to answer to. There is nothing on that Two Row that leaves room for their DOJ opinion. There is nothing on the Two Row that allows them to defend their actions of the past. There is nothing that they can say to absolve themselves for violating the Laws of Creation. They can only begin to right the wrongs, IF they are serious, and continue with the process of re-polishing the covenant chain as we work our way through this peaceful negotiation process.
Does their position worry us? Not one bit. Does our position worry them? What do you think! Do you think the fact that we've had a complete oral history, backed up and supported by written documentation and historical evidence of facts presented to them; against their pathetic position of "we believe the courts would find in our favour", without an ounce of documentation to back it up - it certainly should worry them.
Their action and attitude of tabling this document is like being in a school yard fight when the bully gets busted for his actions. He desperately tries to deflect away from his own actions by pointing fingers at everyone else. He makes an issue of everything else but the issue at hand. They try to deter from the TRUTH. And that's all this is. Another smoke screen.
They need to get honest with their citizens. They know that they have frauded the Onkwehonweh, They know they have frauded the people of Caledonia, as well as the rest the people living in the municipalities, towns and townships along the Grand River. They know they can't continue to try and bully their way through this. This isn't the playground or school yard! They can no longer hide behind their unilateral acts and presumptuous law. If the Crown wants to continue to challenge the Creator by undermining the Law that we are standing in defense of, so be it. They better understand the consequences of such actions. As I've often said, The Eye of the Eagle is Upon You, Govern Yourself Accordingly!
This morning, the Confederacy Chiefs and the Elected Band Council had another meeting together. It was a good start at looking at the issue of governance in our community. By no means do they agree on all things. It was a good beginning. By sitting down and looking at things that they do agree on, brings them another step closer to the Unity that we envision for all the Onkwehonweh. It was like the first step in a process of healing. For generations we have internalized the oppression that has been created by the Crown through its genocidal practices (including the implementation of the Indian Act). We've allowed the divisions that were created as a result of that oppression to perpetuate into the weaknesses and divisions within our community. We've turned on each other and we've blamed each other for not being able to move forward. We should have been directing that energy and dealing with the originators of that oppression.
Today, we ARE dealing with our Oppressors. We are doing so in Unity & Peace. We are doing so in accordance with the Kaierenekowah, [our constitution]. Unlike them, we do so with respect and honour, even toward those who sit across the table from us at negotiations, who, all the while, continue to enforce genocide, through the Indian Act, forcing our people onto the deck of their "ship" in their court house, and by constant interference in our canoe.
If we truly believe in doing what is right, if our heart is sincere, our mind is clear and our intent is what it does for our children and our grandchildren and the generations to come, then we do have a commonality that can move forward. We can speak with one voice for the highest good of all concerned. And that really is all we can ask of each other. It’s that simple.
In Love, Light and Peace,
Hazel
thebasketcase@on.aibn.com
Posted by MNN Mohawk Nation News
www.mohawknationnews.com
katenies20@yahoo.com
kahentinetha2@yahoo.com |
July 1 2007: An email update of mine says only this :: A little more than a year a ago on February 28, 2006, Hadonashonee, Six Nations of the Grand River Territory had to take over their own lands to stop the illegal construction of a housing development (the Douglas Creek Estates), in Kanonhstaton, the protected place. To this day, men and women confront with great courage and dignity, the defense of their territory in harsh climatic conditions and economic pressures on behalf of the government in the talks to recover their land. They are in constant harassment from the police authorities, and the racist population in its surroundings. Despite all the pressures and efforts remove and divide them, Six Nations of the Grand River Territory are more solid and united as ever under the banner of truth, dignity, and solidarity of their own people, and of brotherly peoples that have not been absent from the Reclamation site.
Recently, another front of struggle has arisen from the heart of the Mohawk peoples in Tyendinaga, in defense of their territory and displacement... The taking over of land in their own territory, protest through highway and rail blockades; the different actions of the indigenous peoples have the same cause:the struggle for the defense of their ancient territories, the preservation of their culture, autonomy and the right to decide and influence in their own matters.
That is why we say with much strength: yesterday Kanonhstaton, today Tyendinaga, tomorrow Beyond the Andes. The prophesy of the Eagle and the Condor will yet be realized.
The Women's Coordinating Committee Chile-Canada
email: wccc_98@hotmail.com ********************************************************************************************** Click link for PEACEFUL SINGING & DRUMMING http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6708754649784701676 ************** ************** Peace to the Six Nations Protesters ........from joe and ben
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 1:45 PM PDT
Updated: Sunday, 1 July 2007 7:15 PM PDT
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