Recently, Tyendinaga community members discovered that not only is the Ontario Government allowing private enterprise to literally steal land that is under negotiation but they have tacitly allowed illegal dumping and burning on the property.

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Shawn Brant told reporters Thursday afternoon a district manager of the Ministry of Natural Resources was expected to visit a quarry here at noon Thursday, on the invitation of protesters, but did not attend.

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Despite clear evidence of environmental infractions MNR does nothing.

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Brant said the official instead went to the band office for Mohawks Of the Bay of Quinte and told officials there she had concerns about visiting the site.

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Seems the Ontario Government has joined with the DND in fear-mongering and public defamation of Mohawk activists.

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VIA continuing to monitor situation with respect to blockade by First Nations group at Tyendinaga

MONTREAL - VIA Rail Canada was informed earlier this morning by Canadian National that its Kingston Subdivision is now closed to all train operations, due to a track blockage by a First Nations group in the Tyendinaga area, near Belleville, Ontario. Hence, today's passenger trains operating between Toronto and Ottawa as well as between Toronto and Montreal, in both directions, will continue to be replaced by chartered buses until further notice.

These alternative arrangements are in place for passengers with existing reservations. VIA is not accepting new bookings for travel today on the affected routes at this time.

Local service between Montreal and Ottawa, in both directions, is not affected.

Buses will make all regularly scheduled stops at enroute VIA stations. VIA will attempt to respect its scheduled departure and arrival times, but delays of approximately one hour are nonetheless expected.

VIA is waiving any applicable service charges for cancellations or changes made as a result of this situation. Customers wishing further information can call 1-888-VIA-RAIL.

No decision has been taken at this time with respect to passenger train operations this weekend. A further update will be issued once more information is available.

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MOHAWKS OF THE BAY OF QUINTE DEMAND QUARRY LICENSE REVOKED: TORONTO ACTION
PLANNED IN SUPPORT

DATE: Monday, April 23
TIME: 11 am
LOCATION: Premier's Office/Ministry of Natural Resources
23 Queen's Park Cresent, Whitney Block

FRIDAY, APRIL 20: Join us as we deliver direct evidence of illegal dumping and the demands of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte to the steps of the Premier's Office and the Ministry of Natural Resources. Join us as we demand the Province of Ontario own up to its inaction and answer for its role in the devastation and pilfering of indigenous land.

One month ago, the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte reclaimed a quarry operation, part of the Culbertson Tract - 925 acres of land taken from their community, Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, in 1832.

Early this morning, the MBQ escalated their pressure on provincial officials to revoke the license of the quarry by shutting down freight and passenger rail lines that cut through the disputed Tract.

Beyond the obvious direct thieving of stolen land which quarry operations so blatantly embody - more than 100,000 tonnes of land are trucked out every year, to benefit settler Canadian business interests - Thurlow Aggregates, the quarry operators, were also carrying out illegal dumping of waste on this site. Building materials, batteries and highway asphalt have been uncovered.

Not only is the Province of Ontario responsible for licensing the quarry, but the Ministry of Natural Resources is also responsible for upholding environmental standards of such operations. The Government of Ontario, the Premier included, remain silent on this matter.

If the Ontario government is content to repeat the legacy of the Harris government, refusing to take responsibility for their role in the theft of indigenous land, it is clear that such refusal is reckless, and could end in injury or death. Join us on Monday, as we demand the Province of Ontario revoke the quarry license immediately.

This demonstration is organized by a coalition including No One Is Illegal-Toronto, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, and members of the Coalition In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty.

DATE: Monday, April 23
TIME: 11 am
LOCATION: Premier's Office/Ministry of Natural Resources
23 Queen's Park Cresent, Whitney Block

For more information, please contact:

(Tyendinaga) (613) 391-4055
(Toronto) (647) 891-7691 or (416) 997-1562

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http://p200.ezboard.com/btyendinagamohawkterritory

[ 20 April 2007: Message edited by: Bobolink ]

quote:

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The Tyendinaga First Nation has a history of peacefully and successfully settling land claims. The reassertion of Mohawk sovereignty over the village of Shannonville is a case in point. I'm wondering by what authority have band members blockaded the CN trackage? It has not been authorized by band council and the Tyendinaga BBS is totally silent about the blockade.

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The band councils are not the legitimate government of the Haudenoshonee, the sovereign confederacy of nations of which the Mohawks belong. They were put in place by the Indian Act, in some cases through military force.

The Great Law of Peace, the constitution of the Haudenoshonee, explains the governance structure of the confederacy. All authority resides in the clan mothers of the nations who delegate authority to male chiefs.

The title to Haudenoshonee land is with the clan mothers and that responsibility can never be taken from them.

So, the "band members" have blocked the track by the authority of the Great Law of Peace and their responsibilities as Mohawks to uphold and protect the Great Law.

On another note, I noticed that in the Toronto Star front page coverage of the blockade they:

a) don't mention the reason that they have set up the blockade on the front page (not surprising)

and

b) refer to the Mohawks as "Indians" a couple times, and not in the legal sense of the term.

[ 21 April 2007: Message edited by: Le Téléspectateur ]

Are you claiming that a democratically elected government is superceded by an absolute monarchy?

Did you notice that Shawn Brandt is now uttering threats against the residents of Deseronto?

That said, it is an oral document and a lot is lost in translation.

As for the term "Indian". It's not a term that anyone I know appreciates being called by Settlers. There's no way that the Star should have used it.

[ 21 April 2007: Message edited by: Le Téléspectateur ]

[ 21 April 2007: Message edited by: Le Téléspectateur ]

This link clearly shows the word "Indian" used on commercial signage within the Tyendinaga Mohawk Nation.

Not to mention that blocking a CN track could also be considered (and would be by many) as economic terrorism.

At least that is the impression a lot of non-native people will be getting out of this.

If this was meant to create sympathy and support for the Mohawks then something has gone horribly wrong.

[ 21 April 2007: Message edited by: IgnoramusMaximus ]

But in the case of this blockade, it forms a legitimate style of protest against the government.

a) This forum is primarily for indigenous views on indigenous issues. That doesn't mean we white folks can't participate, but that DOES mean that comparing FN protesters to "terrorists" is not okay, IgnoramusMaximus.

b) Wilfred brought up an interesting issue about this action not being supported by the Band Council, and we got some interesting information about the perceived legitimacy of the Band Council from Le Téléspectateur. This is within bounds here, as we all learn something from it. But Bobolink's comment about Le Téléspectateur's "poorly researched" posts are out of line, as it appears that Bobolink is not FN but lives nearby Tyendinaga (because we don't get quite enough angry white settlers' opinions enough in the mainstream, right?), and is dragging the thread off into a debate about whether it's okay for white people to call Mohawks "Indians". As per our policy statement on babble:

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babble is NOT intended as a place where the basic and essential values of human rights, feminism, anti-racism, and labour rights are to be debated or refought.

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In this particular forum, the fact that it is problematic for white people to call First Nations people "Indians" is a basic and essential value. If you don't believe me, ask any First Nations poster on babble, I'm sure they'll tell you the same. Let's not pick fights about the obvious. This isn't your space, Bobolink, so please don't abuse it.

[ 22 April 2007: Message edited by: Michelle ]

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Did you notice that Shawn Brandt is now uttering threats against the residents of Deseronto?

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/04/21/native-blockade.html

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quote:

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I guess Michelle finds it embarrassing when I can document what I write here.
I am tired of the racism on this board presenting First Nations as quaint primitives. Tyendinaga is a modern well-educated community

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quote:

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I am tired of your paternalism disguised as "progressive" politics.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Michelle:

a) This forum is primarily for indigenous views on indigenous issues. That doesn't mean we white folks can't participate, but that DOES mean that comparing FN protesters to "terrorists" is not okay, IgnoramusMaximus.

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Michelle, I am not sure that I follow your reasoning. Does this mean that posting here is conditional upon an unquestioning acceptance of "indigenous views" of any current events?

Would you kindly point me then to the section of this forum where one is allowed to post what is likely the view of this affair by a significant portion (a majority most likely, judging from my personal interactions) of the rest of the non-indigenous Canadians?

Putting your head in the sand and pretending that the actions of Mohawks are not likely to result in the very reactions I described is not going, am very much sorry to inform you, make those reactions go away. Nor will it lessen the palpable hostility towards the Mohawks I can sense developing in conversations around me dealing with the subject.

quote:

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Originally posted by Tommy_Paine:

Economic terrorism. Hmm. Maybe that would be a good charge to levy agaisnt those that close plants and move them, or threaten to in order to extort wage and benifit concessions from workers.

But in the case of this blockade, it forms a legitimate style of protest against the government.

CN, and many companies like it, own parliament, so they are a legitimate target for protest.

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quote:

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Would you kindly point me then to the section of this forum where one is allowed to post what is likely the view of this affair by a significant portion (a majority most likely, judging from my personal interactions) of the rest of the non-indigenous Canadians?

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Are you serious?

Do you feel cheated because we won't let you post your racist, colonialist shit in a form that is intended for Indigenous issues?

I've already had to watch countless news articles that carefully detail the inconvenience that the blockade has caused for all those poor Via Rail passengers without even mentioning the reason for the blockade.

quote:

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Originally posted by Le Téléspectateur:
Are you serious?

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Quite.

quote:

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Do you feel cheated because we won't let you post your racist, colonialist shit in a form that is intended for Indigenous issues?

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For an enlightening excercise in "racism" I would like you to make this thought experiment: replace the Mohawks on that CN crossing with, say, disgruntled non-aboriginal neighbours (caucasian, asian, black, etc) whose houses and land were appropriated incorrectly (without renumeration) via the emminent domain to make, say, a highway, which should be roughly equivalent to that contested Mohawk land claim.

I am rather positive that these new "protesters" would be in the slammer by now, and that is long before they made any threats of "escalation". Not to mention that they would be facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit by CN.

quote:

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I've already had to watch countless news articles that carefully detail the inconvenience that the blockade has caused for all those poor Via Rail passengers without even mentioning the reason for the blockade.

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That is assuming of course that such a resolution was the intended goal, which I am starting to wonder about, based on the level of vitriol coming out of the "protesters" and .... well ... some other individuals with planet-sized chips on their shoulders.

quote:

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Just because you're white doesn't mean you get whatever you want all the time.

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The corollary to this is of course: "just because you are non-white doesn't mean you get whatever you want all the time" which I hope illustrates to you the futility of employing such childlish rethoric.

Furthermore, the attitude on display here (and on that crossing) makes me think about the fact that every society has its authoritarian warmongers, and I am quite certain the Mohawks are no exception. For those warmongers a state of permanent violent confrontation is the optimal way of life as it grants them an ability to rule their society in a climate of fear and us-vs-them paranoia. I urge you to ponder this before doing any more screeching about "racist, colonialist shit" etc.

[ 22 April 2007: Message edited by: IgnoramusMaximus ]

quote:

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Originally posted by IgnoramusMaximus:
Putting your head in the sand and pretending that the actions of Mohawks are not likely to result in the very reactions I described is not going, am very much sorry to inform you, make those reactions go away. Nor will it lessen the palpable hostility towards the Mohawks I can sense developing in conversations around me dealing with the subject.

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You ain't seen nothing yet. I lived on the south shore of Montreal and worked in Lachine during the time the Kahnawake Mohawks blocked the Mercier bridge. I could not believe the sheer, utter and complete hatred towards the mohawks because people who lived in the Chateaugay/Delson area had to commute to Montreal using the Champlain bridge.

Women and children, who left Kahnesetake to take refuge in Kahnawake, because there was a real fear that the military was gonna kill everyone in Kahnesetake, were stoned as they drove through a gauntlet comprised of hundreds of "citizens" as they were returning to Kahnesetake in a convoy. The SQ was there and just stood by and watched.

quote:

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Originally posted by Maritimesea:
So, I guess the message was then and apparently still is, we the descendants of the original settlers who pushed First Nations into smaller and smaller corners of land with military force are sympathetic to present day issues that concern First Nations people, like land claims, but not if our own lives are in any small way interrupted.

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Actually you are reading into it far too specifically. It does not matter who or why is doing the interruption. What matters is the preception that someone feels that it is their right to conduct what is essentially a form of collective punishment on whole segments of population just because those individuals feel that their grievances with some governmental entity are not being addressed promptly or adequately enough.

That is why blockades of any sort, particularly those halting operation of very busy mass-transportation, are in a vast majority of cases counter-productive, regardless of the cause or the segment of the society doing the protesting.

[ 22 April 2007: Message edited by: IgnoramusMaximus ]

quote:

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That is assuming of course that such a resolution was the intended goal, which I am starting to wonder about, based on the level of vitriol coming out of the "protesters" and .... well ... some other individuals with planet-sized chips on their shoulders.

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This, and your other comments, are not welcome in this form. It is totally ignorant to suggest that Mohawks asserting their right to their territory (after years of doing the governments dance) is in fact some conspiracy of fear to control the community. And reducing colonialism to "planet-sized chips on their shoulders"? What the fuck?

Again we see the inability of Babble to host an Indigenous issues forum.

quote:

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we the descendants of the original settlers who pushed First Nations into smaller and smaller corners of land with military force are

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It was not actually military force that created the reserve system. Canada, nor it's predecessors ever won a war against the Mohawks or any other Indigenous nation in the early days of contact. The Mohawks were actually military allies of the Crown. The reserves were created through lies, cheating, stealing and breaking international treaties. After the military force of Indigenous nations was seriously reduced by reserves, disease and tonnes of new Settlers the cowardly government felt comfortable using military force (e.g. N.W. Rebellion, Gustufsan, Ipperwash, Oka, etc)

quote:

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Originally posted by Le Téléspectateur:
This, and your other comments, are not welcome in this form.

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quote:

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It is totally ignorant to suggest that Mohawks asserting their right to their territory (after years of doing the governments dance) is in fact some conspiracy of fear to control the community.

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quote:

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And reducing colonialism to "planet-sized chips on their shoulders"? What the fuck?

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quote:

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Again we see the inability of Babble to host an Indigenous issues forum.

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quote:

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The reserves were created through lies, cheating, stealing and breaking international treaties. After the military force of Indigenous nations was seriously reduced by reserves, disease and tonnes of new Settlers the cowardly government felt comfortable using military force (e.g. N.W. Rebellion, Gustufsan, Ipperwash, Oka, etc)

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Similar to what the U.S. did to Iraq - demilitarize, impoverish, attack. Now all those Iraqi "insurgents" have planet-sized chips on their shoulders.

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Thank you for dropping all those pretenses of civility and telling us what to expect: car bombs and AK-47 fire directed at us nasty colonial racists today for the things some six-shooter packing idiots did to your great-great-grandfathers.

For your information, when this was all going on, my family was dodging one dude who used to go by a handle of "the Tzar" and thus being pre-occupied they were forced to break all those treates from afar, via mail.

[ 22 April 2007: Message edited by: IgnoramusMaximus ]

quote:

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Originally posted by EriKtheHalfaRed:
Funny how the great majority of Babblers now are actually anything BUt progressive in their views or concerns, and coincidently the discussions and debates rarely get beyond the same old same old anymore.

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quote:

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Mohawks being compared to "terrorists" now for blocking economic throughways, even After the blockade peacefully goes down, nice.

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I can be kicked out of here and the message ... well ... it will remain unaltered all the same.

But if one were to observe this with some detachment, historically, when applied to nation-states, "blocking economic throughways" is usually an act of war. So your mileage may vary.

[ 22 April 2007: Message edited by: IgnoramusMaximus ]

quote:

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Originally posted by Le Téléspectateur:
Whatever. I've tried with this forum but it never goes anywhere. I'm done.

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quote:

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Originally posted by IgnoramusMaximus:

Possibly that is because it is impossible for you to go where you want to go without leaving a rather substantial majority of Canadians behind (or more precisely sending them on a one-way trip to Europe, Asia, Africa etc).

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And this is so dumb youre starting to earn your name, no wonder LT gave up. How often have you heard Native people say we all have to go back to Europe or Asia or wherever? My guess is never. Never seriously, anyhow. And how many times have you in Winnipeg been blocked by Mohawk protestors? Never again is my bet.

Terribly sorry, but Native "Canadians" remained fairly quiet for several generations and they have nothing to show for it. So now they're trying to draw attention to their impossible situation and, yes, sometimes getting mad about the continuing blockade of their own future.

[ 22 April 2007: Message edited by: EriKtheHalfaRed ]

quote:

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Originally posted by EriKtheHalfaRed:
And I've seen no evidence that you disagree with these sentiments.

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I am having a difficulty coming up with sane explanations of that tactic when confronted by people calling these actions as a form of borderline terrorism, yes. So I originally came here to get some sane people to explain this tactic to me, in hopes that some rational explanation exists I could use to defend them with. Apparently none does. And in the proces I found out that I am a "racist, colonial shit" directly responsible for all the suffering of the Mohawks from the day Columbus got his butt off his boat onto the shore. For which sins, I am all but explicitely told, I will be soon shot at.

quote:

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Now ask yourself this, why have the counter blockades against the Mohawks, to land they have legitimate claims on, not been caste in the same light(?)

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And this is something that I can use to temper the other guys arguments. Keep in mind however that even if those blockades occured, the Mohawks have raised the stakes by trying to retaliate against a whole bunch of innocent bystanders, instad of those who blockaded them. So this will likely be only partially effective to negate the repercussions of this event.

But this is precisely the kind of conversation I was hoping for, and instead I got accused of being anti-sem ... a colonial racist.

quote:

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Then you might understand some of the reaction here. Among some anyhow.

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Well that reaction is waaaay over the top. It not only puts off anyone who even considered any sort of sympathy towards the Mohawks, it actively seeks to make more enemies.

[ 22 April 2007: Message edited by: IgnoramusMaximus ]

quote:

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Originally posted by EriKtheHalfaRed:
And this is so dumb youre starting to earn your name, no wonder LT gave up. How often have you heard Native people say we all have to go back to Europe or Asia or wherever? My guess is never. Never seriously, anyhow.

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quote:

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Terribly sorry, but Native "Canadians" remained fairly quiet for several generations and they have nothing to show for it. So now they're trying to draw attention to their impossible situation and, yes, sometimes getting mad about the continuing blockade of their own future.

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I don't mind them making noise if the attention getting is what they believe will help them. I am objecting to the way in which they are trying to get attention.

For example, why didnn't they park that bus of theirs on the front lawn of the Minister responsible for the permit for that quarry? Same kind of media circus and no innocent bystanders involved. If they worked this right and were friendly to his neighbours, making sure they are not too outrageously affected but yet stressing to them, in a civil way, why they are doing this and who is precisely responsible, if done smart, they could have had all the media attention, possibly turn the Minister's very neighbours against him and even have grudging sympathy of the hard-core "rednecks" all over the country, because as we all know they hate all politicians with equal zeal and are keen to see one of them being worked over.

Just an example.

Why the damn CN line?!! What public-relations genius came up with that "plan"?!

[ 22 April 2007: Message edited by: IgnoramusMaximus ]

quote:

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Originally posted by IgnoramusMaximus:

Well that reaction is waaaay over the top. It not only puts off anyone who even considered any sort of sympathy towards the Mohawks, it actively seeks to make more enemies.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Legless-Marine:

Don't allow your goodwill/solidarity for the Mowhawks to be clouded by self-appointed gatekeepers of discourse, but insteads look towards these Mohawks themselves, and do your best to determine what they would wish from others in the way of terminology/support.

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I can see what you are saying, but what am I to do when a bunch of what appears to be obnoxious and menacing loudmouths apparently took over and are now appearing to speak for the Mohawks? Uttering thinly vailed threats no less.

quote:

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Originally posted by IgnoramusMaximus:
For an enlightening excercise in "racism" I would like you to make this thought experiment: replace the Mohawks on that CN crossing with, say, disgruntled non-aboriginal neighbours (caucasian, asian, black, etc) whose houses and land were appropriated incorrectly (without renumeration) via the emminent domain to make, say, a highway, which should be roughly equivalent to that contested Mohawk land claim.

I am rather positive that these new "protesters" would be in the slammer by now, and that is long before they made any threats of "escalation". Not to mention that they would be facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit by CN.

---

quote:

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Originally posted by IgnoramusMaximus:
what am I to do when a bunch of what appears to be obnoxious and menacing loudmouths apparently took over and are now appearing to speak for the Mohawks? Uttering thinly vailed threats no less.

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[ 24 April 2007: Message edited by: Makwa ]

quote:

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Originally posted by oldgoat:
IgnoramusMaximus: Due to the fact that I'm sort of posting on the fly here, I'll just say, "What Makwa Said"!

Don't post in this forum any more or you're history.

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Then make me history. Just do not be cowardly enough to delete this post.

I did not come to this section of Babble with any pre-conceptions of any sort, merely repeating what I have been told by people around me as they responded to the news, with an intention of getting some explanations of what is going on by those supposedly at the heart of the matter.

Instead I was instantly met with paranoiac insanity you seem to lovingly nurture here.

There is no other term I can use to describe this.

I understand now the terrible error of my ways: I naively stepped into this "forum" and was immediately found guilty of an unforgivable set of offenses: 1) I was white and 2) I did not come here groveling, begging on my knees for forgiveness for all the sins of every white settler ever committed in North America.

My bad.

And so naturally accusations of racism, colonialism, epithets, threats of violence immediately followed, and now I am being told that I, and countless other Canadians like me, should just shut the fuck up because people here are "angry"! Why, we are apparently all supposed to roll over and play dead whenever some aboriginals decide to go on some "anger" induced rampage, no matter how crazy, violent and/or counter-productive for everybody involved!

Needless to say, of course, even when playing dead we shall still remain "racist, colonialist shit" should we not grovel, beg and plead sufficiently for forgiveness for our unforgivable rudeness of daring to exist in these, here parts of the continent.

This is more then likely to fall on deaf ears but I must repeat this nevertheless: Your stance is lunatic. Truly, completely, bat-shit, out there, loco, nuts.

Fuck this. Now *I* am angry.

So I will give you what you apparently wanted all along, something which will make you tingle all warm and fuzzy inside:

You, the aboriginal “activists” here, have made a mortal enemy where there was none before, for I came to an inescapable conclusion, from this first-hand experience, that the only, true, certifiable racists around here are you, who under a pretense of victim-hood, real or imagined, are attempting to bully and subjugate the rest of us to your own selfish ends.

You wanted hostility and opposition, and so hostility and opposition is what you shall have. I am under no delusions of grandeur but I will do my absolute best to mess up your vicious agenda in places and arenas far more important then Babble.

I will reserve my judgment of those who, unlike you, do not belong to this breed of “activists”, as it is not their fault that they found themselves with the likes of you representing them, but you, screwed up “warriors” with quivers short of more then a few arrows, are getting no slack whatsoever from me ever again.

quote:

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Originally posted by IgnoramusMaximus:
You wanted hostility and opposition, and so hostility and opposition is what you shall have. I am under no delusions of grandeur but I will do my absolute best to mess up your vicious agenda in places and arenas far more important then Babble.

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Man you really are an Ignoramus. Based on a short discussion with a couple of people who likely have no connection whatsoever with the Mohawks at Tyendinaga, you, who came to this discussion to "learn" an alternative perspective, have decided you have all the information you need to form an informed opinion.

Based on what you have read in this one thread on one message board that is not affiliated in any way the the Tyendinaga Mohawks you feel sufficiently enraged to.....what, pick up a stone maybe?

At least be honest with yourself, your mind was already made up when you came in here.

Similarily in my opinon is the Dion Liberal view of workers rights not extending to anything that might cause economic harm. (voting against anti-scab legislation) I for one believe that rich and powerful people will try to use what ever means they can to defeat activists seeking economic and social justice. Unfortunately for all of us the race card has always been a powerful tool of the rich and powerful olagarchy to divide the people they want to control and rule.

[ 24 April 2007: Message edited by: EriKtheHalfaRed ]

quote:

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Man, Babble gets bizarre at times.

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What a load of crap IgnoramusMaximus is!
He named himself properly, but obviously forgets no one is interested in ignorance!

Geez, the dumbCanucks who keep whining about "If I did that..."

... should have been around to attend the residential schools with other kids with open tubercular sores and other lovely ways of death!

... should have been around for the smallpox infected blankets!

... should have been around WHEN WE STOLE THE LAND IN THE FIRST PLACE!!

At least then they would know the truth.

And the friggen racist "it's a safety issue" MNR ... don't get me started!!

[ 26 April 2007: Message edited by: saga ]

quote:

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Originally posted by Téléspectateur

I've found that these times are whenever Indigenous issues, religious issues, anti-racist issues and feminist issues are discussed.

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Which shows how so-called progressives' true colours get unmaked. Mainly whites asserting their superiority because equality erodes their cherished priviledges.

quote:

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Originally posted by bohajal:

Which shows how so-called progressives' true colours get unmaked. Mainly whites asserting their superiority because equality erodes their cherished priviledges.

We may talk about "racist others" long and wide but when it comes to the group I belong too (e.g. a political Party), screw anti-racism and equality blood is thicker than water .. and facts!

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quote:

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Originally posted by saga:

... should have been around WHEN WE STOLE THE LAND IN THE FIRST PLACE!!

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Technically they're still around for those days Saga, the refusal to allow legally upheld land claims to proceed so FN can get more land back than was allotted to them when their population was one tenth what it is now could be called a form a theft. So could the refusal to allow FN people to open their own businesses, like other Canadians could.

[ 26 April 2007: Message edited by: EriKtheHalfaRed ]

quote:

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Originally posted by EriKtheHalfaRed:

Technically they're still around for those days Saga, the refusal to allow legally upheld land claims to proceed so FN can get more land back than was allotted to them when their population was one tenth what it is now could be called a form a theft. So could the refusal to allow FN people to open their own businesses, like other Canadians could.

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Oh Erik the voice of reason ... so nice to see you!

Exactly what's happening at Tyendinaga ... feds acknowledge they have 'a claim' which is governmentspeak for "Yes your title is valid and ours is not." ... but the feds don't want to return the land itself ... against their policy or somesuch ... want to just give them a few bucks and baubles instead.

The Mohawks are not having any of that!

[ 26 April 2007: Message edited by: saga ]

This applies to our Native rights concerns but ALSO to the environmental imapcts as well.

Blessings to all,

Bluejay

While the Mohawks and Ottawa negotiated for the land, the land itself was disappearing

GLOBE AND MAIL by NAOMI KLEIN

After a group of Mohawks from the Tyendinaga reserve blockaded the railway between Kingston and Toronto two weeks ago, a near unanimous cry rose up from the editorial pages of Ontario newspapers and talk radio: Get Shawn Brant. Yesterday, Mr. Brant, a beanpole of a man, walked into a packed Napanee courtroom with his wrists and ankles shackled after handing himself over to the Ontario Provincial Police.

According to court testimony, the arrest warrant on charges of mischief,
disobeying a court order and breach of recognizance violated an agreement between police and demonstrators, who were given immunity when they peacefully ended the blockade. But Mr. Brant worried that the warrant for him would be used as a pretext for raiding a gravel quarry that he and several other community members from Tyendinaga have been occupying for the past six weeks. "We don't want to bring that into the camp," he told me.

The court granted Mr. Brant bail on condition that he is not allowed to
"plan, incite, initiate, encourage or participate in any unlawful protest,"
including those "that interfere in any way with commercial or
non-commercial traffic on all public and private roads, airports, railways or waterways."

A trial date has not been set.
Why the determination to get Shawn Brant, and Shawn Brant alone? On the surface, the broken immunity agreement seems sure to inflame tensions. And whatever crimes Mr. Brant may have committed, he had plenty of company. But Mr. Brant has a theory. "Right now, I'm the voice. They think if they take away the people's voice, the people will stop. They'll see that they're wrong, and that's not all bad." Mr. Brant is more than a voice. He has become a symbol for the new militancy that is spreading through first nations communities across the country. Sitting beside the campfire at the occupied quarry a few days ago, Mr. Brant told me that since he was a kid, people in his community have been telling him to keep quiet. "It used to be, 'Shawn, shut up, don't say those things about the government, they'll cut off our funding.' Now it's 'Shawn, shut up, they'll walk away from the negotiating table.' " The reason Mr. Brant isn't willing to let the negotiations take their course is that these talks are designed to take decades. And as the time passes, the land disappears. Forests are clear-cut, mountains are carved up, suburbs creep outward. Ineffective negotiations do not hold the line on an already unacceptable status quo - they contribute to the losing of very real ground.

At the gravel quarry near Deseronto, the loss of land is painfully,
insultingly literal. The quarry is on land never ceded by the Mohawks of
the Bay of Quinte, a fact the federal government has acknowledged.

The only question is what form compensation for the theft will take.

The Tyendinaga band council and Ottawa have been negotiating over that question since last November. The problem arose because, as the two parties talked, trucks were carrying 10,000 loads of newly crushed gravel out of the pit every year - an estimated 100,000 tons. While they bargained for the land, the land itself was disappearing.

When 150 people from the reservation took over the quarry and planted the Mohawk flag at the top of a mount of gravel, they had, and continue to have a single demand: Revoke the quarry's licence until the negotiations have concluded. Or, as 28-year-old Jason Maracle put it to me, rather
succinctly:
"You're not hauling away the very land we're talking about." But it got
worse. There was a pile of wood on the edge of the gravel pit that the
people occupying the quarry used to feed their bonfire. As the pile
depleted, it became apparent the wood had been covering up a large pile of garbage: old washing machines, leaking industrial batteries, oil filters,
hydraulic fluid, bed frames, antifreeze. They explored some more and
discovered it was all over the pit: piles of hastily covered junk, some of
it half-burned, much of it toxic, including broken up pieces of asphalt
from the highway. (You can still see the yellow lines.) "When it rains, the
whole mountain turns into a rainbow of chemical fluids and oils, all flowing down into the water. Then it all leeches into the ground water," Mr. Maracle told me, pointing to the murky green pool at the bottom of the pit.

Not surprisingly, the mine has become a powerful metaphor, a vivid
illustration of the failures of the negotiation process, and the problems
with being patient. While the experts talk, good land is trucked out and
toxic junk is trucked in - and without direct action, there would have been
nothing left to talk about.

It's an image with resonance on reservations across the country.

With commodities from fuels to metals commanding record prices on the world market, the slow erosion of land has suddenly jumped into fast-forward, with a frantic push to open new mines and pipelines.

Add to that the race to cut new ski hills and highways out of pristine
mountains for the B.C. Olympics in 2010 and to build new town homes to feed Ontario's housing boom and it's easy to see why more and more native people are telling Shawn Brant to keep talking.

The final insult came when the federal Tories handed down a budget with
next to nothing new in it to address first nations poverty.

Mr. Brant makes an analogy between the way land disappears while
negotiations stall and the way lives are degraded while funding is frozen.
Birth rates are high, he points out, "so getting nothing means moving
backward - more suicides, more disease, more contamination." When "nothing" happens at the negotiation table, mountains and trees disappear; when "nothing" is in the budget, lives are extinguished.

The budget blow prompted Assembly of First Nations Chief Phil Fontaine to call for a national day of action on June 29. Though Mr. Fontaine insists he is not calling for cross-country blockades, many first nations are already planning them, with talk of a co-ordinated targeting of key infrastructure, from rails to roads. "It's the same notion as a general strike," Mr. Brant explains with a smile.

If the blockade strategy goes ahead, one thing is certain: There will be
rivers of ink spilled explaining that, while native grievances are
legitimate, there is no excuse for such disruptive tactics.

Protesters will be told they are discrediting their cause, and they will be
described as "violent" whether or not violence takes place.

Mr. Fontaine has taken this finger-wagging to heart. "Let's face it, if you
irritate Canadians, they're not going to listen to your message," his
spokesperson said recently.

Mr. Brant has a different message for non-native Canada - don't just listen to us, join us. He points out that Canadians, even those who tell themselves they support native rights, "still treat them as a government problem." But that's not how social issues ever gain the kind of critical mass that leads to real change. "The environment is an issue right now because people told the government it was an issue," Mr. Brant says. "If they said our concerns were an issue, they would be addressed too." Right now, everything is lining up for June 29 to be a day for natives to act and the rest of us to whine about late trains and traffic jams. But listening to Mr. Brant, it struck me that it could be something else: a day of action on native rights for the entire country, one when we all refuse to shut up.

Naomi Klein is the author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster
Capitalism, to be published in September.

Friday May 4, 2007 - 01:29pm (MDT)

[ 07 May 2007: Message edited by: saga ]