lazylafargue

"Australian foreign minister unveils plans for the colonial occupation of East Timor"

2006-06-08T00:53:00.000-07:00

From World Socialist Web Site:

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer visited East Timor last weekend and laid out the broad outlines of Canberra’s plans to establish a long-term colonial-style occupation of the country. Downer arrived in Dili on Saturday amid continuing looting and violence by rival street gangs, despite the presence of an Australian-led force of more than 2,000 troops and police.

It is now clear that Canberra’s military intervention was aimed, not at ending the disorder in Dili, much less at assisting the estimated 100,000 displaced persons living in squalid camps. Rather its purpose has been to enable the Howard government to dictate terms to East Timor’s leaders and preempt Australia’s Asian and European rivals, most notably the former colonial power, Portugal.

The continuing chaos in Dili is serving as a useful political lever to achieve these ends. While Downer was in Dili, Australian Justice Minister Chris Ellison was at the UN in New York pressing for agreement with an ongoing Australian-led operation, along the lines of Canberra’s takeover of the Solomon Islands in 2003. Under the guise of assisting a “failed state”, Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomons Islands (RAMSI) controls all the main levers of executive power—finance, the police, courts and prisons—in the country.

Monday’s Sydney Morning Herald provided details of Downer’s three key proposals for a new UN mandate in East Timor. He argued firstly for “a large police force, comprising officers from a broad group of countries, preferably under an Australian commander.”

“Second, it [Canberra] wants a more capable UN role in helping the East Timorese with governance and administration. East Timor has a budget surplus yet scant investment in vital infrastructure, shoddy systems of administration and justice, and no serious economic activity beyond the oil sector,” the article explained. Finally, Downer proposed that “a role for the UN in reconciliation of a shattered society”.

In effect, the Howard government is demanding control of East Timor’s administration via a large, permanent police presence, the installation of Australian officials in key positions of finance, justice and security, and the means for political manipulation via “reconciliation”. Completely absent is any desperately-needed aid to provide basic services including welfare, education and health for the poverty-stricken country—one of the poorest in the world.

What “reconciliation” means is indicated by the ongoing efforts to oust Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, regarded as too closely aligned with Portugal. In less than a fortnight, Alkatiri has been compelled to cede substantial control over the country’s security forces to President Xanana Gusmao and has lost two close allies—the defence and interior ministers—who have been forced to resign.

While Downer declared on Saturday that he would not take sides in East Timor’s political conflict, Australia is obviously backing moves against Alkatiri. Yesterday, around 2,000 anti-Alkatiri demonstrators were shepherded into Dili by Australian troops to protest outside the current session of parliament and demand the sacking of the prime minister. At the same time, Major Alfredo Reinado, an anti-government “rebel leader”, who, in other circumstances would be treated as a renegade and terrorist, is being feted by Australian military commanders, officials and media as a political leader-in-waiting.

The hypocrisy and cynicism of the military intervention is highlighted by the abrupt reversal of the Australian government’s position on extending the UN mandate for East Timor. In early May, Washington and Canberra vigorously opposed calls from the East Timorese government and the UN special representative Sukehiro Hasegawa for a one-year extension of the UN Office for Timor-Leste (UNOTIL). UNOTIL had organised police, military and civilian advisers in all the areas outlined by Downer.

Both the Bush administration and the Howard government regarded UNOTIL as being too closely aligned with Alkatiri—and with Australia’s rivals in Portugal and elsewhere. With UNOTIL’s mandate due to expire on May 20, Washington and Canberra initially opposed any renewal, then, on May 12, reluctantly accepted a one-month extension.

On the same day, without informing Dili, Prime Minister Howard announced that Australian warships would be deployed to waters near East Timor, then boarded a plane for Washington. Less than a fortnight later, using the pretext of violence stirred up by figures such as Reinado, Australian troops began landing in Dili.

Now Downer is demanding a mandate for a long term UN presence—dominated by Australian officials and police. Not surprisingly, he has also called for the current UN representative Hasegawa to be replaced and has objected to Portuguese paramilitary police operating independently of Australian military command.

At a regional security conference last weekend, Australian Defence Minister Brendan Nelson called for Asian countries, including Singapore and South Korea, to contribute to the international force on East Timor—a transparent attempt to further dilute any Portuguese or European involvement.

A “weighter role” for Australia

While Downer was careful to use diplomatic language in Dili, Murdoch’s Australian has felt no such constraint. In his comment last Saturday entitled “A weightier role in Dili”, editor-at-large Paul Kelly drew attention to Downer’s plan, endorsed by cabinet’s National Security Committee, for “an Australian military-civilian strategy for East Timor’s future”. “This envisages that Australia will control military security in the short term through the Australia-led coalition that now exists and influence East Timor’s military structure in the long run. The aim is to minimise the influence of the UN or other nations, notably Portugal, on East Timor’s military structure,” he explained. The UN could be confined to “a stronger civilian role in East Timor’s governance, its civil service and its police.”

Kelly, who had clearly been briefed by the government, made no bones about the object of the exercise. “The lesson Australia has drawn from the intervention is that its security views cannot be marginalised any longer as they were ignored at the time of independence. The feature of East Timor’s brief history is that Portugal has exercised more influence than Australia, notably on its language, constitution and institutions. This is one of the reasons for its failure. It is obvious that as ultimate security guarantor, Australia must exert a greater authority,” he wrote.

Kelly’s call for Australia to become a regional hegemon was, however, quite restrained compared to what foreign editor Greg Sheridan penned on the same day. In his column entitled “Throw Troops at Pacific Failures”, he argued for a far broader and more aggressive Australian role, writing: “Australian policy in the South Pacific has been undergoing an agonising and profound revolution, from hands-off respect for South Pacific sovereignty to deepening involvement. But it may be that we still have not conceived of our involvement in the most useful strategic terms.”

Sheridan openly called for Canberra to use its power and influence to get rid of Alkatiri. “Certainly if Alkatiri remains Prime Minister of East Timor, this is a shocking indictment of Australian impotence. If you cannot translate the leverage of 1,300 troops, 50 police, hundreds of support personnel, buckets of aid and a critical international rescue mission into enough influence to get rid of a disastrous Marxist Prime Minister, then you are just not very skilled in the arts of influence, tutelage, sponsorship and, ultimately, promoting the national interest,” he declared.

Sheridan went on to outline his vision for the region, insisting: “It is perhaps time that Australian conceived of itself as the ‘US of the South Pacific’.” He attempted to blunt the sharp edge of his message by referring to America’s post war role in East Asia, but then continued: “Like the US in Asia, we should do this in part through a system of military deployments, though naturally we would not call them Australian bases... What I am arguing is that, as part of a wider program of assistance involving lots of Australian personnel operating in South Pacific government agencies, deployments of Australian soldiers should be semi-permanently stationed in East Timor, Solomon Islands and, if necessary, other regional basket cases.”

Sheridan is simply stating what the Howard government is actually doing. Having secured the backing of the Bush administration by extending unconditional support for the US military subjugation of Afghanistan and Iraq, Australian imperialism is aggressively carving out its own sphere of influence in the South Pacific. Its strategy involves, not just transforming “failed states” into dependent vassals, but setting the course for broader inter-imperialist conflicts throughout the region.

Theatrical adaptations.

2006-05-29T18:15:00.000-07:00

"Abu Musab Zarqawi blamed for more than 700 killings in Iraq" (NBC News, 03/03/04).

"Zarqawi has warned of attacks on the majority Shia population with the aim of provoking a Sunni-Shia civil war to wreck the US plans to pull out of Iraq on 30 June" (Independent of London 03/03/04).

"Gen. John P. Abizaid said raids by American Special Operations forces and efforts by the Iraqi police against militants associated with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had thwarted a major attack in Basra" (New York Times 03/03/04).

"There is growing evidence that a terrorist [Zarqawi] with ties to al Qaeda was behind this week's bombing in Iraq" (Christian Broadcasting Network 03/04/04).

"Every soldier in Iraq is looking for Zarqawi," says Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt (Houston Chronicle 02/22/04).

...some critics of the war say the Bush Administration has deliberately skewed the level of Zarqawi's involvement in an attempt to portray the insurgency as a war waged by foreign Islamic terrorists.

The playbook:

“French imperialism is never short of arguments in favor of its privileges and its behavior. Among the thousand and one means that it uses in this domain, we should note two ways that it impresses itself upon world public opinion. The first argument consists in presenting the nationalist movements of Algeria as racist and xenophobic with a basis of religious fanaticism and chauvinism. The second set of arguments consists in presenting these movements as being foreign-inspired.”
Messali Hadj, “Mémoire aux Nations Unies” (c. 1950).

The Power and the Peace is in the People.

2006-05-27T12:18:00.000-07:00

From Kahentinetha Horn:

MNN. May 27th 2006. During the past 88 days of Six Nations activism to reclaim our land near Caledonia, we have received thousands of emails and calls from people all over the world. There were days when we just could not answer them. The support and ideas that we’ve received have been tremendously gratifying and helpful. We thank you all. Without this solidarity from natives and non-natives, the Ontario Provincial Police would have had their way. Blood would have been spilt. Never mind the return of our land, though we are still waiting on that one.

This solidarity that we are experiencing between natives and non-native people is a revival. The British promised to protect the Six Nations on the Haldimand Tract that our people are defending began with this solidarity. The Six Nations were allies of the British. It was this alliance that lead to the formation of modern Canada. Because of this alliance we were pushed out of the Mohawk Valley in what is now New York State where our people had lived since the beginning of time. The Mohawks were valiant allies of the British during the American Revolution. Mohawks have always been on the front line every time Britain needed defending - in the Battle of Queenston Heights 1813, in World I and World War II and other actions. The Haldimand Tract is on traditional Rotino’shon:ni/Iroquois territory. The tract was guaranteed to the Mohawks in 1784. The Six Nations have always been willing to put ourselves on the line for our Canadian allies. It is gratifying to see that the majority of people support this alliance and are willing to stand up for us.

Our tradition has been to work together. Unfortunately, the Canadian government, particularly Indian Affairs, was taken over by people who did not want us to work together. They wanted to be boss, kings of the castle. So they betrayed us and the Canadian people. Instead of treating us honorably like allies, they abused us. They stole our land, stole our resources and schemed to kill us off. They pretended that we were children who could not look after ourselves. They depleted our trust funds with illegal investments in flaky financial schemes run by their friends.

Instead of treating us like allies, they pretended that we were British subjects. You may wonder why we did not protest over our lack of rights in Canada. That’s because we aren’t Canadians. We were minding our own business. We organized everything on our territory and paid for it ourselves.

We thought the problem was just the people in Indian Affairs and that our relationship with the Queen remained on an honorable footing. We were wrong.

The original Haldimand promise was that there was to be no encroachment ever. In the end the Canadian government, not the Canadian people, was the source of our beef.

Ontario, and the rest of Canada for that matter, is intent on diminishing Indigenous land holdings not only on the Haldimand Tract but everywhere. It is being diminished through outright theft. The aim of not giving one inch of land back is not for the benefit of the people of Ontario. It’s to support the business interests that are intent on exploiting our resources with no regard to the environment or the present and future generations of the people who must live on it. It is the billionaires who really run the governments. Welcome to the pretend democracy of Canada.
We now assume stewardship over our illegally occupied lands. Until now we have invested a lot of resources into historical and legal research and actions for the last 200 years. Anytime the facts were put on the table Canadian officials were shown to have mismanaged Canada and mistreated Indigenous people. We’ve borne the brunt of it. It is over now! This rot also affects the Canadian people. They do not have a government that looks out for them and the future generations. That’s the heart of the problem.

What is government and what are their functions? Is it a vehicle that allows a few greedy individuals to live parasitic lives off the work and possessions of others? Or should government bring people together so that we can put our minds together, solve problems and make a better life for everyone? The basic rift is between our Indigenous philosophy coming from our constitution, the Kaianereh’ko:wa/Great Law, and the philosophy of the people running the government. We’ve learned in dealing with the Canadian government that the Canadian government does not represent the Canadian people.

We never lost jurisdiction over our ancestral lands. We’ve had a deep sense of betrayal and anger over our horrific historic experience with the colonizers. Would giving us back our illegally occupied land be ''too disruptive'' to the parasites lodged in the Canadian government? Never mind that the government allowed and encouraged its own citizens to encroach on our land and gained private and institutional land titles in violation of the laws. They let Americans come up and take our land too! It’s all part of their 100 year plan to get rid of the “Indian problem” as described by that complete maniac, Duncan Campbell Scott of Indian Affairs. A lot of the early settlers on our land were Americans who had taken part in pushing us off our land in the Mohawk Valley. They came up here and liked what they saw here too and began squatting!It’s also interesting that a large percentage of Canadians consider that we got robbed and that we deserve our territories free of colonial jurisdiction. In the Six Nations issue the public in Canada, the United States and worldwide have given us strong support. We hope, for the sake of Mother Earth, it is because many in Canada realize how important our philosophy of caring for the land is?

Unless, of course, we are in the way of corporate “progress”, that is, exploitation of our lands and resources by a few foreign based interests who operate through corporations. They operate with no obligations to anyone but themselves and no concern for the people, native and non-native. We are all just pawns in their schemes. The way to overcome all this is to assert our title to Turtle Island and to turn it back to its proper role as a “cornucopia” for the people.

Even though there is wide support for us, there is tremendous opposition by the corporate interests which function through the governmental quagmire. They put pressure on any of their institutions that could give us justice. These interests manage to brainwash and manipulate their “flag-waving” super nationalists to make a lot of noise in the media and to attack us. This is what happened at the “Bread and Cheese Fight” in Caledonia on May 22nd 2006 when government instigated rioters came and tried to attack us. But the general public isn’t buying it.

The main anti-Indian argument to stop Indigenous jurisdiction from being asserted is because they don’t want us to grow, expand and become independent. Why do they think that expanded Indigenous jurisdictions would be disruptive? Would it be a problem if Indian affairs would no longer be getting a cut? They’d have to take their feet off their desks and do a day’s work. Are they afraid that it would be environmentally and economically stimulating and rewarding not just for us but for everyone else? We all need to take a unified approach, native and non-native. We are all being abused. We need to work together. But we need to be wary of those who try to shut us up in the name of unity. We need to respect our laws and adhere to the original arrangements that were made between us. Let us assert our jurisdiction. Don’t keep us mired in legalistic strategies which take up our time and money. We need to be free from the shackles of useless diversions.

Maybe what’s needed is a massive “Condolence Ceremony” in which we wipe our eyes with a soft leather so that we can see clearly and have a good look at the issues; then we need to take an eagle feather to clean out our ears so that we can hear each other; and then we need to drink a glass of water so that we can speak truthfully and as clearly as the purest water. Sometimes the solutions to difficult problems are simple. Sometimes all that’s needed is to show respect.

In the end, there’s no need to give us back the Henco Industries land. It’s ours already. It always was. All Ontario needs to do is to respect that. We need to assert the legal government-to-government relationship. We do have broad support from the public to do this. We must bring out the truth. We must stop Canada from continuing to live in sin? Grow up Canada! Colonialism is over! We’re never going back!

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
www.mohawknationnews.com

“SELF RESTRAINT” IN THE FACE OF ARMED ATTACKS ON SIX NATIONS PEOPLE.

2006-05-27T12:13:00.000-07:00

From Kahentinetha Horn:

MNN. May 27, 2006. People watching the televised attacks on our people at Six Nations are shocked to see how much self-restraint we have as a people. Don’t mistake the Indigenous self-restraint for submission to Canadian authority. It’s a lot harder to restrain oneself in the face of provocation, adversity, mistreatment, unfairness and attacks on human rights and dignity. This is what we’ve had to do throughout the confrontations that have been organized against us by the Canadian state over our reclamation of our land now known as “Kanenhstaton”, the precious land.

When we face our adversaries in just about every walk of life, it is sickening how we have to hold everything in and walk around as if we’re wearing a mask to hide our true feelings of anger and frustration. Right from the day we are born we are assaulted by the agencies of the colonial governments. Many people are trained to look at us with pity or condescension or fear. It’s as if we were some kind of reptile or untrained animal. The natural world is not respected in colonial society the way it is in ours where we learn favorable lesson from every type of creature. 25% of the species on the planet are extinct now. We had something to learn from each of them that we will never now learn.

So far we were threatened with an armed Ontario Provincial Police attack on March 22 which was aborted. Then we were physically attacked by the heavily armed OPP on April 20th. Finally their hired guns managed to organize a rabid crowd to come to the reclamation site to “kill those Indians”. They carried pepper spray, baseball bats, cherry bombs and other weapons. These are all old strategies that have become familiar to us. Where did they get the pepper spray from? The only people who normally have it are the cops.

The whole aim of these confrontations is to get us so riled up that we will do something rash. Then they can have the excuse they want to use full force against us, making it seem like thuggery is legal. This demonstration is something they want to show other Indigenous people that they’d better stay in their place, “or else”. So far, not one of our people has taken the bait. Everyone was there on their own initiative. Everyone was free to decide for themselves what to do. Everyone decided to stay and to hold our ground. In the face of the armed threat of the rioters and the police the restraint that was shown reflects the depth of the power and understanding in all of our people. No one was aggressive, no one backed down and when attacked, we defended ourselves very well.

That’s the way we are. This shocked Canadians. As one guy from Vancouver said, “I don’t know how you people can do that!” We can do it because we know who we are. We know the way of the Kaianereh’ko:wa and the natural world.

So what’s next? If Canada wants a repeat of the Mohawk Oka crisis of 1990, or the Ipperwash standoff, or Burnt Church or Gustafsen Lake, it can go ahead with its plans. Is it doing this on purpose? Or is it just bad habit? Either way, it’s time for Canada to pull up its socks, behave like an adult, stop threatening us, obey its laws, honor its promises and deal with us as equals. Canada has a choice.

In 1990 when the politicians found they could not get us to fire the first shot so the army could complete the job, they decided that it would be a good idea to bring in some snipers. They wanted to kill off a few of those they considered to be key Mohawks. They knew that this would drive us crazy and would unleash anger like they had never seen before. Of course, we’d be as helpless as fish in a rain barrel. We’d be surrounded by the army. This is what they had to do to have the excuse to do us in.

It might have worked! I don’t know why, but I was targeted. We found out about this plan and were very careful not to come out of the Treatment Center where we had been holding out for over a month. We were surrounded by at least 2000 Canadian soldiers with more weaponry than they have in Afghanistan today. Then on September 26th 1990 the army decided to back off and let the Quebec Police come in. We were told they were going to be very aggressive. You know what that means, eh? So without a moment’s notice, the 55 of us, men, women and children, walked out and ran into the woods. The soldiers and the police were so angry with us for pulling such a surprise on them, they chased us down, beat us up and even bayoneted my then 14-year old daughter in the chest.

Even though we had weapons, we had never fired a shot at them.

Recently someone was describing to us the disgusting shame and abuse that Palestinian families are put through when they try to leave their walled compounds to go to work or school or wherever. Heavily armed young Israeli soldiers routinely mistreat and insult them. All they can do is put their heads down while the other people watch. They have no choice but to show restraint.

What does this do to self-esteem? It makes a white hot anger blow in people’s hearts. We know we don’t have any choice but to show self-restraint. But that doesn’t mean we accept subjugation. The unwieldy state apparatus that Canada has set up around us has created “prisons of grass”, both real and metaphorical. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper just made an announcement that he wants to build more prisons and hire more police. Is he building an “absolute” police state? If we are supposed to be living in a culture of peace, this shouldn’t be happening.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
www.mohawknationnews.com

UN war crimes continue in Haiti.

2006-05-24T16:22:00.000-07:00

Haiti Action Committee (via Chabert):

Displaying large banners from a high rooftop within the penitentiary compound, prisoners also shouted to journalists below that U.N. forces had killed ten protestors as they opened fire earlier in the morning. Haiti Information Project (HIP) correspondents were at the scene and Director Kevin Pina videotaped the UN action. The footage clearly shows MINUSTAH soldiers shooting at the demonstrators above on a secured catwalk inside the prison. Prisoners raised the corpses of two victims they claimed were shot by UN sharpshooters. While attempting to cover the story from the street below Pina was forcefully restrained by a contingent of Jordanian soldiers who claimed that it was too "dangerous" for anyone to enter the area.

How the prisoners got out of their cells remained unclear while some in the local Haitian press were claiming that a few guards were responsible. The breakout and protest came on the heels of the arrest of well-known Lavalas activist and community organizer Rene Civil. Civil had attempted to enter Haiti from the Dominican Republic the night before and was detained by U.N. forces and then turned over to the Haitian police. Rene Civil, along with Annette Auguste and Paul Raymond, are seen as the most popular community level leaders of Aristide's Lavalas movement among Haiti's poor. Auguste was arrested by U.S. Marines in May 2004 and Raymond was arrested last year in the Dominican Republic by police and a U.S. embassy security detachment. Auguste and Raymond have been held in prolonged detention without trial amid shifting allegations and charges. Their fates remain unclear to this day.

Canadian PM: Attack on Afghans 'unfortunate'

2006-05-24T14:05:00.000-07:00

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says an air attack by coalition forces that killed a number of civilians in Afghanistan this week was "unfortunate."

from AngryArab:

Have no mercy: a Taliban child. "A 3-year-old Afghan boy, with burns that his uncle said had come from an American bombing, was comforted Monday in a Kandahar hospital."

Good Morning from Grand River

2006-05-23T08:47:00.000-07:00

(via Sketchythoughts)

Good Morning from Grand River

Well, by now everyone has heard how our show of good faith was met.

Yesterday morning by 6:00 a.m. the main barricade on Plank Road (Argyle Street) was removed and the road was completely open ready for use. It wasn't met with good faith however, on the part of Caledonia residents, or at least those claiming to represent Caledonia. Their human barricade refused to budge and at one point, surrounded an elderly couple who were attempting to come through. The opp stood by and watched as the angry crowd refused to let our people through and when spokesman Clyde Powless and spokeswoman Janie Jamieson tried to go up and talk to the opp to get them to help our people through the line, they were surrounded by the angry caledonia representatives and shoving and pushing began. We were told that the vehicle that our elders were in had windows smashed, however, the opp said that no damage was done to the car. It was unclear at that point as to why the caledonia citizens did not meet our efforts of good faith, but later in an interview, Ken Hewitt, representing the Caledonia Citizens Alliance stated that they were not satisfied with the fact that only one of our barricades were taken down and that they wanted all of the barricades down and they wanted the Onkwehonweh people off the land that we've re-claimed.

Obviously David Peterson and the Town of Haldimand didn't inform the caledonia residents of the nature of the negotiations and the process that was being followed. Our press release of early yesterday morning with Chief Allen McNaughton and other representatives of the Confederacy Council stated the status of the negotiations and that as agreed, the main road into Caledonia was being opened up as a show of good faith. Later on that morning there was statements made by some of those on the caledonia side of things that they wanted to march down argyle street to the site of the land reclamation. This was exactly the concern of the Onkwehonweh people in their hesitation at wanting to open up the road in the first place. The intention of our people to keep the peace and open the road was being met with anger and threats to our safety.

Needless to say, because the opp were unable to convince those representing caledonia to disassemble their human blockade and go home and allow us to proceed as planned with the peaceful negotiations, the barricades were put back up. At one point, one of the elders of our people had offered a symbolic gesture to let them know that we still are upholding the peace and that they must choose which direction they wanted to proceed, but he was met with hollering and insults from the non-native protesters. I must add as well that in speaking with the opp, they had mentioned that many many caledonia residents were deeply disappointed in the people who were instigating the people on their side, and that many believe that those present who were causing the disruption, were not residents of Caledonia and that they were outsiders who's main intent was to instigate trouble. And that they did.

They were given a time frame to dismantle their people and allow the Onkwehonweh to continue with our offering of opening the road, and when they refused to move, at the end of that time frame, the consensus of the people was to dig the road up and a backhoe was brought in to begin that process. Again, the opp asked for more time to persuade their people to go home, and the digging stopped but their people refused to move. At one point in the afternoon some of the non-native protesters began trying to come around the side of the opp and rush toward our people. The men and women stood in defense of our position and at least 30 of our people were pepper sprayed, a couple of our people were taken to the hospital, and several of the caledonia people were hurt in the scuffle.

Again, we were able to bring our people back to refrain from any further escalations of violence, however, the mood at this point was indeed tense. By evening there were anywhere from 250 to 300 caledonia citizens in their human blockade and most of the people of Six Nations had gathered in solidarity behind our barricade. The opp had called in extra support from all over the surrounding areas, and at one point the riot squad had gathered in hopes of getting the caledonia people to go home. No action was taken by the opp or riot squad, and by around 2:30 this morning, most of the residents from the caledonia blockade had retreated. as of this morning at around 7:00 am., the barricade on the plank road is still there, and the people are considering now if another show of good faith will result in the same situation or worse, or whether we should once again, attempt to remove the barricades to allow the traffic to move freely through and allow our delegates to continue with the peaceful negotiations that were scheduled to continue this week.

We need our supporters to understand that we are continuing with our peaceful position, that we are unarmed, and intend to maintain that position of Peace, on our Land, and trust in our People, in our Kaierenekowah -- the Great Law, and in our Creator and the process that was given to us to resolve this situation to the best of our ability. We appreciate all of the phone calls and e-mails, and I apologize if I am unable to respond to each of your e-mails individually, but at this moment, we are working diligently to ensure the safety of our people at the site, and will keep everyone posted and updated as quickly as possible. The solidarity of the Onkwehonweh people is the most important factor in this situation and we appreciate all of those who are standing by to support in any way that is necessary if the Crown's representatives fail to keep the negotiations proceeding toward a peaceful resolution.

Hazel

“BREAD AND CHEESE FIGHT” VICTORIA DAY AT SIX NATIONS - WHO WAS BEING SUCKER PUNCHED? ONTARIO DOES NOT WANT TO RECOGNIZE SIX NATIONS OR ANY ABORIGINAL

2006-05-23T08:42:00.000-07:00

From MohawkNationNews: May 23, 2006. At 6:00 am May 22nd, “Bread and Cheese Day”, the Six Nations people removed the barricade on Argyle Street in Caledonia as a gesture of goodwill. What ensued is being called, the “Bread and Cheese Fight”. It was the 83rd day of the reclamation of Six Nations land and the stopping of construction of a housing project of Henco Developers. Talks aimed at resolving the situation were scheduled to continue. Let’s not be fooled. What followed was part of somebody’s plan. It’s clear that professional instigators played a role in the rioting. David Peterson’s tactics created fuel for the flames.

The rioters were to arrive with about a dozen instigators and outsiders. Several savvy observers counted and this is what they saw. Our sources have consulted with genuine “Caledonians” and confirmed that the most active rioters were people they had not seen before. The rioters were supposed to find the native barricade still up. We think they are pro' instigators because we’ve seen the same kind of faces before. In particular the main rabble rouser looked like a 50 year old cop. He was surrounded by guys made to look like “skin heads” [as if skin heads are still around. As if they lived in a nice rural community like Caledonia]. A short guy with sun glasses who was punching a cop was recognized by a native viewer. She said he is the spitting image of a guy high up in the KKK. We’ve also seen the m.o. before. The police routinely function to get the “rabble” to do their dirty work.

Then they were to make a ruckus and start attacks on the Six Nations people. The uniformed OPP were to just stand there and watch, pretending to be neutral. Then it would turn into a melee. Then the crowd was supposed to turn on the cops for not letting them get at the Indians. A few cops would get hurt. Then there would be an excuse to bring in the riot police conveniently stationed nearby. Many would be arrested, native and non-native. The non-native would be released and we would never know who they were. The natives would be charged. All this we’ve witnessed before.

The planners got it wrong this time. The Six Nations did open the road. When the non-native rioters arrived, they found the street open. This threw their plans out the window. There was no obstacle to overcome. So they set up their own barricade so they could find a target. When a car carrying native people came along, they attacked it. When people from the site came to help, they attacked them. What ensued was not a confrontation between the native and non-native people. It was a planned attack on the native people. When the native people started defending themselves, the corporate media got the photos they wanted. Images that make the natives look like the aggressors are plastered all over the media today. They also have Caledonians saying things like, “Bring in the army”, “This is terrorism” and “Dissolve both sides and everybody should go home”. Even the power outage was part of the scheme to create what was to look like chaos between native and non-native. Are there any real journalists left in corporate media in Canada who will report the truth?

During the riots David Peterson, the so-called “negotiator”, arrived on the scene. The native people were polite. He went over to the non-native rioters and got pushed around. It was all a show. Then Peterson said, “The government wants the Caledonian and the Six Nations people to be in solidarity”. He said he was against all the people who used force to make everything generate into chaos. Who used force? It was clearly the non-native side. His most telling remark was, “The talks may not go on” [he hopes]. This is what the whole display was all about - to stop the talks and to distract attention from the validity of the Six Nations claim.

If you were to dig deep to find the underlying interests that are served by stopping the talks, you would hit the hard rock of corporate greed. What is happening in Six Nations right now is not just about a piece of land on the Grand River. It’s about all native rights to land and resources in Canada. It will set the tone for the treatment of Indigenous rights in every other part of the country. Big business absolutely does not want Canada to start respecting Indigenous rights. They had a real problem a few years ago when Justice Thomas Berger’s Report on the McKenzie Valley Pipeline raised public awareness of the relationship between environmental issues and Indigenous rights. The Berger Report is almost forgotten. The McKenzie Valley pipeline is on the negotiating table again. Corporate interests do not want to suffer another Berger type setback caused by a bunch of do-gooder Canadians who think they want to live in a clean and healthy world.

Affirmation of the Six Nations right to the Grand River land could mean the end of their reign of environmental destruction and dissolution of their illegal colonial system. What happened at Six Nations yesterday is a small distraction. We don’t know who Peterson’s clients are when he’s not at Six Nations. We do know that he is aware of the corporate interests served by the denial of Indigenous rights. We also know that he’s been double dealing telling Caledonians that Ontario has no intention of returning land to the Six Nations while assuring Six Nations people that Ontario would formally recognize our title.

Once we realized this, we knew that Peterson did not really want the talks to go on even though he sounds conciliatory in public, especially when he talks to the media. He put on a different face during the meetings with the Six Nations. He sat there with a surly expression the whole time. This is a man who is not happy when things do not go his way.

Said a Mohawk about what’s going on, “You can’t steal land. You can’t put it into your pocket and walk away with it. You can only illegally occupy it”.

Another commented, “They lost the argument about the land. When a baby doesn’t get its way, they start busting everything. That’s what they did yesterday. The media has not been telling the public or the people of Caledonia the truth”. There is no real difference between the people of Caledonia and the people of Six Nations. All agree they want to live peacefully. Let’s hope people don’t get distracted from this goal by outside instigators who don’t care spit about the people of Caledonia or Indigenous people. The real Caledonians and the Six Nations people do not want to hurt anybody. The Caledonians threw bricks of cheese at the Six Nations who threw it back at them. Maybe this can be reenacted every year after this.

Could the ‘Bread and Cheese Fight’ have been avoided? Not when there’s so much corporate “greed” at stake.

Canadian criminality

2006-05-22T11:19:00.000-07:00

from an email just received:

HELP SIX NATIONS. OPP CONDONE MOB RULE. “ALL HELL AND SHIT HAS BROKEN LOOSE”. YOUR HELP IS URGENTLY NEEDED RIGHT NOW!

1:00 Monday. May 22, 2006. Day 83 of the land reclamation. In a gesture of goodwill, Six nations people took down the barricade on Argyle Street in front of the Caledonia at 6:00 am this morning. Yesterday the Caledonians blocked the road for 6 buses of supporters from Toronto. They also blocked ambulances from going to the hospital. One man died alone because they did not let him family go to his bedside. A car with a reporter and some women from Six nations paper was surrounded by Caledonian men and women. They smashed the windows. The Ontario Provincial Police stood around shoulder to shoulder without moving, just watching, allowing the hooliganism to go on. “We are looking after it,” they told the Six Nations people. When Six Nations people went to help the people who were being attacked, they were surrounded by more Caledonians, who shoved and hit them and accused the Indigenous people of instigating the violence. When the woman was hit, the Six Nations men jumped in and about three or four big fights broke out. The OPP continued to allow these Caledonian hoodlums to keep up their attack..

The Six Nations have put up the barricade again.

There is a large police presence. But just standing there. They are not stopping the Caledonia people from coming in. Everytime we try to soften things up and deal with people on the expectation they will behave in a civilized way, look at what happens.

This is public misbehaviour which is a direct result of the way the issues are handled by the Canadian government and the Canadian press. They do not present the legitimate basis of the Six Nations people’s complaints. They make it look like we are the law breakers. They are wrong in letting the public no know of our legitimate claims. The blame for this lies squarely on the shoulders of the public officials in the way they are presenting this whole issuer.

EVERYBODY DO SOMETHING.

Try the Prime Minister, the police, the UN, anyone you can think of who may take responsibility for law and order in Ontario.

Oubliette.

2006-05-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

CIA officers soon learned one thing for sure—prisoners sent to Bright Light and [other CIA secret prisons] . . . were probably never going to be released. "The word is that once you get sent to Bright Light, you never come back," said the CIA's Counterterrorism Center veteran. James Risen, State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration

Crimes measured in death and human suffering.

2006-05-10T23:31:00.000-07:00

via Chabert:

AUMOHD [The Association of University Graduates Motivated For A Haiti With Rights] witnessed that during the Boniface/Latortue government two (2) years in power, human rights violations have tremendously increased and human rights issues have become more complex. More than 2000 people have been illegally arrested, thrown in jail with no trial. More than 3000 people have suffered bullet wounds in the popular neighborhood, where most of the violence has been directed. Among the wounded, some are crippled for life, like Samedy FRANZT, Eval DUCLAIR, Brice OSNER and many more. More than 500 to one thousand dead or disappeared, Fedia RAPHAEL, Wisny JOSEPH, Henry JOASSSAINT, Evens JOSEPH a young, fresh out of the university lawyer; Berel JEAN, Lessonne DOCIUS, Annette MOLERON, a mother of eight, to name only these few AUMOHD witnessed that over half the civilian populations of popular neighborhoods were forced to leave their homes. Forced to flee MINUSTHA’s heavy artillery as well as “armed men’s” violence.

South Central Farmers

2006-05-06T08:56:00.000-07:00

Since 1992, the 14 acres of property located at 41st and Alameda Streets in Los Angeles have been used as a community garden or farm. The land has been divided into 360 plots and is believed to be one of the largest urban gardens in the country.

Amazing video via Woman of Color.

more on:

South Central Farmers

isolated and tortured, indefinitely.

2006-04-27T14:43:00.000-07:00

A prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, held without charge for more than four years, has tried to kill himself a dozen times in an attempt to escape the misery and isolation of his incarceration. On one occasion he tried to take his life during a visit by his lawyer.

Jumah al-Dossari, 33, claims he has been repeatedly beaten and suffered intense psychological abuse during his years of incarceration at the US prison camp in Cuba. He says he has watched US guards abuse the Koran, that he has been sexually humiliated and regularly kept in isolation.
His 12 attempts to take his life - either by hanging, slitting his wrists or a combination of both - account for a third of all the suicide attempts by prisoners at Guantanamo Bay reported by the US authorities. The most recent was in March.

"The enormous horrors that my eyes have seen and continue to see, renew my anxiety and pain and my very being and feelings are shaken at the mere thought or flash of them in my memory," he wrote in a 20-page account given to his lawyer. "I have written these lines from behind the walls of the dreadful detention camps. I have written about my pain and my sadness. I do not know what will happen in the future and what fate has hidden for me, when the end will come or how it will be."

(via AngryArab)

Meanwhile, Guantanamo North in Canada is up and running. One of the people indefinitely imprisoned is Mohamed Harkat:

ALGERIAN REFUGEE MOHAMED Harkat was arrested, ironically, on Human Rights Day, on December 10, 2002, in Ottawa. Harkat has been in Canada since 1995. Working as a gas attendant and pizza delivery man, he worked an average of 18 hours a day. In 1997, he was given refugee status after successfully claiming government persecution should he return to Algeria.

Also see: Campaign to stop the secret trials in Canada.
Justice for Mohamed Harkat.
A letter from prison.

Letter from Sophie Harkat:

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Moe was able to have his first real call yesterday from the Kingston Immigration Holding Center...first thing he said was that he HATED it there!

He feels so isolated and lonely. He thinks everyone will forget about him since he's now there...I said that NO WAY IN HELL would his supporters ever forget him...and I would like to be right about this !! :-) So please send him a letter or just a postcard to remind him that he is not alone...and that we all continue to fight for him...please do so asap as he REALLY needs a pick me up !! It will be a few days before I am able to visit him and the new rules are VERY complicated...making it much harder on the families.

So here it is...Don't let me down....I've been saying we have the best supporters in the world !! :-)

MOHAMED HARKAT
Kingston Immigration Holding Centre
c/o CSC RHQ Ontario Region
440 King Street West
PO Box 1174> Kingston, ON
K7L 4Y8

I know we will be able to send personal items at another delivery addr. Once I know more about what he can have...I will let you know. Thanks for your continued support. Have a nice weekend

Take care

Sophie

Settler Community

2006-04-24T19:39:00.000-07:00

Caledonia, Ont. — An angry mob infuriated by a native protest at their doorstep rushed a police line surrounding the standoff Monday night, screaming insults and demanding the protesters leave.

A line of about 100 police officers struggled to keep the mob of about 500 residents at bay as several cars and more aboriginal protesters could be seen rushing to the other side of a police barrier that kept the two sides about 200 metres apart.
Furious residents waved Canadian flags as they chanted “Let us through!” and urged police to “Open the road” leading to a disputed tract of land featuring a new housing development.

“Go Home!” one man yelled from the residents' side.

“We are home!” a woman yelled back from the natives' side, also numbering roughly 500.
(via Sketchythoughts)

Canadian Pride.

In 1867, Canada accepted a problem from its colonial rulers - created by their dedication to the principle of racial debasement of visible minorities - and nurtured it with the utmost devotion for well over a century. Without cause, it unreasonably treated its indigenous peoples with contempt and subjected them to the depths of dehumanizing racial persecution. During this period, Canada practised a form of apartheid that would have made the former rulers of South Africa green with envy. It, by law and policy, denied its First Nations people citizenship and the right to vote; tried to brainwash them into believing that they were descended from inferior civilizations and that they were, in fact, an inferior people; it denied them education and adequate medical services; barred them from many public and private establishments; to speed up the demolition of their languages and cultures, created residential schools; barred them from performing traditional dances, etc.

“Are these settlers civilian or military, these farmers who, in South Africa, at ‘this very moment, win battles?’ In vain will we find a distinction... Of those who have been through this rude school, some turn away immediately, but in others there results a special being who is no longer military, nor civilian, but what has become, to put it simply, the Settler.”
Lt-col. Hubert Lyautey, on white settlers in Africa.

More Six Nations updates.

2006-04-22T12:26:00.000-07:00

For more updates, visit:

Simon Raven Wiki's blog.

and here:

Six Nations Solidarity (via Sketchy Thoughts)

Update

2006-04-21T22:25:00.000-07:00

I fucked up. The source at the airport told me it ended up being 'airport rumors'. It was not a military plane that landed today. Instead, it was an RCMP plane, and he saw 8 rcmp armored vehicles at the airport--though I couldn't see them tonight when I went.

What I did see at the protest late this night was typical Canadiana: fifty young white supremacists protesting the protestors. Proudly waving a big Canadian flag, hooting and hollering, blocking the road, squeeling their tires.

What were some yelling? "Nuke the Indians".

The drunken group surrounded an Ontario Provincial Police car. Was there an injunction filed to end their blockade? Did the police pepper spray them or beat them down, or drag them away?

The cops let them protest the protest.

Canadian military may be arriving at Hamilton Airport at 9:30am.

2006-04-20T22:26:00.000-07:00

According to someone I spoke with at the Hamilton Airport, located near the Six Nations blockade, preparations are presently underway for the arrival of the Canadian military at the airport in just a few hours. Hours earlier, the morning of April 20th, Ontario Provincial Police attacked protesters reclaiming land lost to them in decades of swindles and lies. Sketchy Thoughts has more on the attack by police here.

According to a provincial police spokesperson, the police invasion was the result of the growing threat of violence at the site. This is a complete fabrication. I was there the day before the invasion, and there was not a hint of any threat, at least on the side of the protestors.

The OPP had earlier "signalled that they had learned a lesson from the disastrous 1995 attack on protesters occupying Ipperwash Provincial Park. A marksman killed protester Dudley George 11 years ago, prompting accusations of police and government racism and an inquiry that is still under way." (more on Dudley George's murder here)

Background:

"On April 6th the Canadian government said that the Six Nations dispute is not about land rights. "This is not a lands-claim matter," said Deirdre McCracken, a spokesperson for Minister of Indian Affairs Jim Prentice. She also said that the blockade "has nothing to do with the federal government."

But according to a statement released on March 20th by the women of Rotinoshon'non:we (meaning Iroquois or Haudenosaunee, depending on the language being spoken), the blockade has quite a lot to do with land, and with the Canadian government.

The statement outlines how "General Haldimand confirmed that Britain would affirm the right of the Six Nations to a tract of land six miles deep on either side of the Grand River running from its mouth to its source." The piece of land immediately under dispute is only a small part of the much larger "Haldimand Tract."

This piece of history is not being debated. A plaque erected in Cayuga, Ontario by the Ontario Archaeological and Historic Sites Board says much the same thing. The sign also notes that the land was awarded in 1784 in recognition of the Six Nations' help to the British Crown during the American Revolution. What the plaque says next is where the stories diverge. "In later years, large areas of this tract... were sold to white settlers."

According to the women of the Rotinoshon'non:we, however, "None of this land [the Haldimand tract] was ever legally surrendered." The women's statement carries a great deal of weight, given that, "Women are the 'Title Holders' of the land of Rotinoshon’non:we as recalled by Wampum 44 of the Kaianereh'ko:wa."

Though many people came today, there were few people on the canadian side of the barricades but gawkers this past night. The OPP has cordoned off a couple of roads off the highway (presumably also police staging areas), but the highway to Caledonia is still open. You can show your support by going there as a witness tomorrow or whenever you can, or please write or call immediately:

Stephen Harper, Prime Minister, pm@pm.gc.ca

OPP Brian Haggith 905-772-3322

OPP Indian Advisor Jim Potts 613-795-3907

RCMP London 519-640-7267, 519-756-7050

Brantford-Hamilton 905-572-2401

OPP Caledonia 905-765-2339

C. P. Wright 289-260-9345

Michaelle Jean, Governor General
Phone: (613) 993-8200
Toll Free: 1-800-465-6890
Fax: (613) 998-1664
Email: info@gg.ca

Michael Bryant,
Ontario Attorney General
Phone: (416) 326-2220 or (416) 326-2210
Toll Free: 1-800-518-7901
Fax: (416) 326-4007Email:

Ontario Provincial Police Attack Six Nations Reclamation

2006-04-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

(Please see Sketchy Thoughts for more updates and excellent analysis)

Early this morning the Ontario Provincial Police attacked the reposession at Douglas Creek, just outside of Caledonia in Ontario. The site had been occupied by members of the Mohawk Nation and their supporters for fifty one days.

Below is a lengthy report by Kahentinetha Horn who was there when the police attacked. One hopes readers will understand if it is at times slightly disjointed – it was clearly written as events unfolded.

What must be put front and center, and repeated, is that the initial police attack was repelled. Nine people were arrested and unknown numbers brutalized, but as of 8:30 am all police had been driven off as hundred of people from Six Nations reservation moved onto the site.

This may be a victory, but the day is still young. People who can are strongly urged to get themselves to the reclamation/occupation site (see Mapquest here for directions).

If you cannot get there, consider what action you ca take where you are. Pickets, demos, whatever. Or else you can always phone/fax/email the criminals responsible for this:

Stephen Harper, Prime Minister, pm@pm.gc.ca
OPP Brian Haggith 905-772-3322
OPP Indian Advisor Jim Potts 613-795-3907
RCMP London 519-640-7267, 519-756-7050
Brantford-Hamilton 905-572-2401
OPP Caledonia 905-765-2339
C. P. Wright 289-260-9345

Michaelle Jean, Governor General
Phone: (613) 993-8200
Toll Free: 1-800-465-6890
Fax: (613) 998-1664
Email: info@gg.ca

Michael Bryant, Ontario Attorney General
Phone: (416) 326-2220 or (416) 326-2210
Toll Free: 1-800-518-7901
Fax: (416) 326-4007
Email:

What follows is the report by Kahentinetha Horn (please forward far and wide):

ALERT! ALERT! OPP INVADES SIX NATIONS - AIDED BY INDIAN TRAITORS - GO AND WITNESS
Thursday, April 20th 2006

WATCH FOR FURTHER UPDATES

4:20 am the OPP attacked to arrest them. Hauled first 9 off. Some protesters took the Caledonia bridge. Reserve people arrived and repelled the cops. At least 150 heavily armed cops. Vans, trucks, paddy wagons, ambulances (for the cops). They repelled them. The cops came back. They were repelled again. Now at 9:00 am the people have taken the land in question back.

How to get there: From Niagara Falls and Toronto, take Highway 6 straight south from Hamilton to Caledonia.

From buffalo take Highway 3 west to Highway 6 and north on Highway 6 to Caledonia.

From Windsor take Highway 3 East to Highway 6 and go north. These are backways and cops are not likely to be looking at it too much

8:30 am OPP DISRUPTS PEACE IN QUIET CALEDONIA
The OPP has created an ongoing battle. They sit in their cars, give out false news reports, and wait for reinforcements to come in to squash the Six Nations people but they can't. Everyone is reporting to everyone.

All police have been chased off the perimeter of Douglas Estates for now. Cop were sneaking behind the unfinished houses. One woman went over. A women cop told her she was under arrest. "What do you mean I'm under arrest. You're violating the laws, both ours and international law". Other cops came out and wrestled her down on the ground. She fought all of them. They kneed her to handcuff her. She started booting the cops. Then other Indians arrived on the scene and chased the cops off. As they were leaving they shot her son in back with tasers. The big woman cop was carrying a big gun, something like an Ouzi. "It was a big one". Those cops were fully packed, she said. They failed to arrest her because she resisted. There are 9 arrested. They're supposed to only keep them for 2 hours. 'We haven't seen them back yet". The People are shutting Caledonia down. "We are not armed. We got our land back. Were in! We're at the fire!"

At the 6th Line where the Douglas Estates comes out on the road at the entrance, out to Highway 6 that goes onto the rez. The bypass that goes around Caledonia. At the 6th line overpass, the people there had been blocking that road, they were attacked by the cops, paddy wagons were there. They fought back. It was a brawl. People started coming from the rez and supported them. Immediately there were hydro poles around which they threw on the road and set on fire. They are cutting off Highway 6 the main supply line that goes goes to Nanticoke Hydro Electric plant down on Lake Erie. It is the main transport truck road to Hamilton. This is being blocked.

Some protesters are still holding Caledonia Bridge, the main artery of the city. It's total confusion.

If you have satellite TV, look for Hamilton CH which has a live feed. They have helicopters filming everything.

8:00 am
It is an ongoing situation. 9 people arrested.

There is fighting going on at the No. 6 Line Bridge. It is blocked off. The traditional Longhouse people put a fire there and the OPP pepper sprayed them. But the people started fighting back. The people have moved onto the main bridge in Caledonia. The people moved the police off the land and are going back to the main door and are still there holding on. The cops are still on the road shutting down the bypass. The OPP were chased off by the people and told to get out. OPP got off the land and are in their cars watching and waiting for "orders".

Get the news on the radio stations, newspapers, television.

7:05 am. Two snipers were chased off by the people. They have 50 cops trapped in, who can't get out. A media black out could work against them. More cops are going to come in. Indians don't have weapons but they do have tons of cameras.

In Ipperwash there was a media blackout. The only way the information got out was because some of the people told what they saw. That's why we need people in there. The police showed in that public inquiry there was a deliberate attempt to stop the press from finding out. There were attacks upon people with cameras, those who tried to get the story out. What the police learned is how to do this the right way next time. This is it. They learned all the weaknesses We learned the invaders are psychologically twisted people who pretend to be supporting the law. These are megalomaniacs who think they can say what the law is because they have access to guns. This time they will do it "right". The CTV have made two major movies showing what happens when these twisted personalities are allowed free reign on Indians. We get killed.

There are back room deals in police headquarters to hide the information and protect the police officers that give orders. In the case of Ipperwash, three OPP police officers died suddenly just before they were going to give evidence at the enquiry. What a strange coincidence. It is unfortunate that the poor jerks that are just "following orders" do not realize that they are putting their lives on the line. They are not at risk from Indians, so why all these coincidences?

The Six Nations people have been burning tobacco during this entire occupation for their protection. This is the only weapon that we have. We know the truth is on our side. We are calling upon the natural forces to give us wisdom and guidance through this whole siege. There are repercussions to those involved when you go against people who are innocent and justified in what they are doing. The megalomaniacs who do these kinds of things are only looking out for themselves. They are a danger to all of society. We Indigenous people are within our rights. We want Canada to obey their own laws, and to respect international norms. We want an open and fair hearing. If the colonizers think they own our land, they need to prove it. With this attack they have trashed any pretension to right and decency, democracy and the rule of law. Canada is beginning to slide quickly down the slippery slope of despotism. How can Canada decolonize. The test lies in how they feel toward people who challenge their assumptions. Are they going to use batons, guns and pepper spray? Or are they going to get out their documents and take a serious look at the evidence.

The answer is obvious. Just look at what is happening today. This is a colonial government's hard core. Canada does not believe in reasoned researched and documented solutions. We are seeing how colonial government is going to deal with any kind of questioning of their "might makes right" authority. These are the signs of how a tyrannical government is going to suppress the people from expressing legitimate dissent against a takeover by the powerful elitist interests that are involved. It appears that individual rights are being eliminated systematically all over Turtle Island. This destruction of dissent at Six Nations is done under the cover of media darkness. This is the way it will be done in the future against all people across Turtle Island. This is an experiment in police state tactics against unarmed people who are exercising our rights.

These are the lessons they learned at Gustafsen Lake in 1995 where 77,000 rounds of ammunition were shot at the Indians. In Saskatoon, where Six Indian boys were found frozen to death outside the city put there by police officers. In Winnipeg where J.J. Harper was murdered by the Winnipeg police. At Ipperwash where Dudley George was murdered in cold blood by the OPP. There are over 500 Indigenous women who have "disappeared" and the police have done nothing about it. In the 1960's there was a complaint made in British Columbia because men were looking for Indian children to have sex with them in the streets. The police did nothing about it. Child prostitution is an on-going problem in Vancouver. We don't want the blood lust of Canada's police force to be whetted by spilling the blood of Indians. This vampire regime is moving in on Indians like sharks who smell blood in the water.

We don't want the

6:45 am
Go to Six nations. Take part in the Canadian "democratic" process. Get pepper sprayed. Get beat up. Get arrested. Get killed. No one will know what is going on. Seriously, the media black out is giving the lawless their power. They can do anything they want and who knows where it will stop. Take photos and tell your friends. We don't want another Chile. The state has been involved in murders before like Anna May Aquash. These attackers find a place where they can live out their bizarre fantasies and manias. These people have a twisted view of society and a gun is put in their hands. No psychological testing is done on these guys in police, armies, and bureaucracies. The only test for surviving is a willingness to "follow orders", not the law. These people have no concept of what the law or true democratic rule is.

6:20 AM
Cops all over the place. People are there. More people coming. Pepper sprayed. So far they let everybody go. Some might have been seized. Don't know. Canada using Gestapo tactics instead of making things right. Canada following big brother george bush mentality - invasion, containment, imprisonment and torture of Indigenous people and their families. Next Canada will start hunting down those who continue to protect and try to maintain the sov and jurisdiction of our people. lets not be surprised if Canada puts a deck of 52 for its most wanted Indigenous people and their friends and allies. Free land is our land that is free of Indians.

At 5:55 am this morning, Thursday, April 20th, over 150 heavily armed Ontario Provincial Police with Native mercenaries as body shields, invaded Six Nations land. Some carrying M-16's, in riot gear. 6th line is still open. The Rotinoshon'no are not fighting because they are unarmed. Tear gas has been thrown at them. Some were pepper sprayed. The traitors are the same kind of people who stabbed Crazy Horse, Geronimo, and those who fought for our sovereignty and our lives.

One bridge to the property has been closed.

Witnesses required. This will not be on the national news. Go there and see what is going on. This is a scary precedent. Take pictures. Make reports. Let the world know. report. REPORT. REPORT. Help the people so no one gets hurt. we never wanted violence. Canada has opened to the door to covert state violence on a scale that is unprecedented in Canada. This si the end of any pretense of negotiation with Indigenous people. they're just going to take the land. Canada came in with armaments, guns, paddy wagons (we don’t know what's in there).

Don't let Canada become another Chile. Tell the world. The Rotino'shon:we are on our own land.

MNN Mohawk Nation News
kahentinetha2@yahoo.com

Urgent call-out in support of Mohawk sovereignty.

2006-03-21T00:14:00.000-08:00

(via Sketchy Thoughts):

I am forwarding the below call to support the Mohawk Nation. The authors ask that people forward it by email or post it to their websites.

URGENT CALL TO ACTION TO PREVENT MILITARY AND POLICE INCURSION ON MOHAWK TERRITORIES

March 2006

The Coalition in Support of Indigenous Sovereignty - Native Caucus is asking that you take some time to phone, email or fax the authorities below to register your objection to a potential incursion onto Mohawk Territories this spring and at any other time.

This request comes as a result of warnings by community leaders in Akwesasne, Kahnawake, Kanehsatake and Tyendinega who are preparing for a joint Canadian Forces/RCMP raid on April 1, the latest in a series of actions designed to destroy the Mohawk tobacco trade.

Our position on this issue is as follows:

In 1876 the Indian Act imposed the band council system of government on the indigenous people of Turtle Island (North America). Among other things, this law:

1) Deposed already existing leadership to establish band councils and the areas over which they had jurisdiction. The Indian Act was passed without consultation with any indigenous leader, usurped the treaty process (nation to nation agreements) and made First Nations governments null and void, despite the fact that these governments had served our ancestors for millennia before Europeans arrived on Turtle Island. This is akin to the US government passing a law that disbanded the current Canadian government, determined what type of government Canada must have and designated the limitations of its power.

2) Made First Nations Communities economically dependent on Ottawa. The federal government controls the only sources of revenue for social programs, economic development projects or job creation in FN communities. Ottawa determines through a variety of legal and financing mechanisms what band councils can and cannot do for their communities. Even the process of pursuing a land claim is legislated by Ottawa, funded (or not) by Ottawa and decided ultimately in Canadian courts. Land usage on FN territories is determined by Ottawa. There are many examples in history when the federal government leased or sold First Nations lands or resources and consequently reaped huge profits that did not accrue to the community. Clearly, the poverty that exists in First Nations communities is, and always has been, by Ottawa's design.

3) Blatantly discriminated against women by recognizing Native descent through the male line so that First Nations citizenship rights for women were recognized only through their father's lineage and husband's status, and by prohibiting them from voting or running for office in band elections. This was a complete contradiction to traditional First Nations practices, in which descent for many communities was reckoned along the female line, and where women had significant authorities in political, economic and social life. While there were many nations and many practices, it is safe to generalize and say that women held positions of leadership directly and/or appointed male leaders and held them accountable. This was completely overturned by the Indian Act.

Although women now have the right to vote and run for band office, almost a century of being excluded from political, economic and social decision-making has left First Nations women on and off reserve in very vulnerable situations. Women are among the poorest in First Nations communities. They have been targeted through various amendments to the Indian Act and thousands were stripped of their status along with their homes, benefits and any treaty rights they may have had. The hundreds of women who are missing from our communities, dead and murdered, is a direct result of a deliberate and calculated attack on the rights and authorities of First Nations women by the Canadian government.

4) Determined who could call themselves an "Indian" and live in First Nations communities. The Indian Act established an Indian registry and with subsequent amendments there has emerged a complex set of legal categories (status & non-status Indians, Treaty Indians, Bill C-31 Indians, etc.) designed to divide and disempower First Nations families and communities. Non-status Indians are those who are not recognized by Ottawa as First Nations. They cannot live in their communities, do not enjoy benefits or treaty rights and are not permitted to participate in band council elections. Again, this is akin to the US determining who could be a Canadian and who could not, as well as who could live here and vote in Canadian elections.

Initially through the use of Indian agents with sweeping powers and more recently through purse strings, Ottawa has controlled band councils, band chiefs and the Assembly of First Nations. Whether this current control is perceived of as friendly or hostile is irrelevant and sidesteps the basic assumption that First Nations people are children who cannot manage their own affairs. To recognize that some band councils, their chiefs and police are sincerely interested in serving their communities while others are corrupt may be true but fails to recognize that the band council system is itself inherently corrupt, paternalistic and racist.

The Indian Act was and is an instrument of genocide. Likewise, the system of reserves, band councils and taxes are all tools of genocide. At best, the levying of taxes by Canada or the provinces on commercial activities within and among First Nations communities is an infringement of sovereignty as well as a violation of the treaties that exist, not to mention the inherent rights of First Nations people.

This is particularly objectionable when the levying of taxes applies to transactions involving tobacco. It was First Nations people who developed, cultivated and cared for tobacco plants. Our ancestors were the first to understand and benefit from the use of tobacco in ceremony (even in times when our ceremonies were illegal). Canada now assumes it has a right to control the tobacco trade, which is consistent with its assumption that it has a right to control the lives of First Nations people. Now that tobacco is being used to generate income and sustain First Nations-owned businesses (an anti-genocidal activity), Ottawa wants to step in and crush the initiative.

We reject the portrayal of Mohawk communities as divided between the minions of organized crime and law-abiding citizens. Mainstream media and Canadian authorities would have us believe that thugs are defying legally elected First Nations governments and Canadian laws. Such an analysis does not acknowledge the impact of a band council system, imposed, funded and controlled by Ottawa. It does nothing to educate us on the long history of genocide that remains official policy in this country. It does not examine Ottawa's historic role in sabotaging activities that contribute to the economic independence of First Nations people.

On these grounds we are asking that you and your organization fax or email the officials below and voice your concerns regarding a potential violation of Mohawk sovereignty, which would follow a systemic pattern of violations over the years. Below is a sample letter that you can edit, cut and paste into your own email if you choose.

Nia:wen / meegwich / thank you for your support. For more information contact: daryljamesbucar@yahoo.ca or amadahy@rogers.com.

Scroll down for the sample letter. To voice your concerns send an email, phone or fax:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper:
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa K1A 0A2
Fax: 613-941-6900
Email: pm@pm.gc.ca

Jim Prentice,
Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal
Interlocutor for Metis and Non-Status Indians
Parliament Hill: House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Telephone: (613) 992-4275
Fax: (613) 947-9475
E-Mail: Prentice.J@parl.gc.ca

SAMPLE LETTER

To: Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Jim Prentice, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and
Federal Interlocutor for Metis and Non-Status Indians

I am writing to register my concern regarding ongoing violations of Mohawk sovereignty and continued actions that threaten the health and safety of the residents of Akwesasne, Kahnawake, Kanehsatake and Tyendinega.

I strongly urge you to put a stop to government-sponsored activities that portray these communities as being bastions of "organized crime" engaged in an illegal tobacco trade. Furthermore, I suggest your government cease operating under the assumption that Band Councils and the Assembly of First Nations, which are funded and controlled by the federal government, are the only legitimate representatives of First Nations communities.

Many studies, some commissioned by the federal government (such as the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal People), have determined that the issues confronting First Nations communities include sub-standard health care, inadequate and sub-standard housing, inadequate employment opportunities, poverty, violence, racism, etc. These studies clearly attribute this set of deplorable conditions to the actions and inactions of consecutive Canadian governments.

Raiding Mohawk communities and seizing tobacco products does nothing to address the day-to-day issues confronting First Nations people. In fact, such activities actually contribute to worsening the oppressive conditions under which First Nations people live by depriving families of their livelihood as well as assaulting their dignity and violating their inherent rights.

Military and police incursions onto First Nations territories are not a solution to the long standing issues confronting these communities. Moreover such actions shame non-First Nations people, many of whom reject complicity in a centuries-old genocide project.

Your government has the option of creating a disaster that would rival the Oka Crisis, Gustafson Lake and the murder of Dudley George put together. Or you can decide to deal with First Nations communities in a way that is proactive, peaceful and respectful, for the first time in Canadian history. I strongly urge you opt for the latter of the two choices.

Signed,

If at first they don't succeed.

2006-03-17T00:49:00.000-08:00

"UN agency retreats on plan for Haitian police"
by Tim Pelzer

The United Nations mission in Haiti has decided to postpone a tentative agreement that would have placed the Haitian National Police under direct UN control. The move, announced on March 10, came in the wake of widespread criticism that the agreement, if implemented, would undermine Haiti’s sovereignty.

On Feb. 22, Gerard Latortue, the U.S.-installed Haitian prime minister, and Juan Gabriel Valdes, head of the UN stabilization forces in Haiti (Minustah), signed the accord in New York City. The agreement would have obligated the Haitian National Police (HNP) to consult with Minustah before undertaking police operations, and would have given the UN agency veto power over police promotions.

The new pact would have also given Minustah access to the files of any government or court official or entity relating to the HNP, including the private papers of the president, for example, as well as unrestricted access to police offices and prisons. It further stipulated that future governments would be obligated to honor the accord.

As popular pressure against the accord mounted, President Boniface Alexandre, Foreign Minister Herard Abraham and Justice Minister Henri Dorleans condemned it, claiming Latortue never informed them he was going to sign it. The Haitian News Agency reported that Alexandre asked Abraham on March 6 to write to the UN, asking that the accord’s implementation be halted until its unconstitutional provisions were removed. The UN action on March 10 was apparently a response to that request.

According to Brian Concannon Jr. of the Oregon-based Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, the deal, if it were to go through, would decrease the powers of President-elect Rene Preval and give the international community much more leverage over him.

“The deal was signed a week after the announcement of Preval’s victory, and five weeks before his [then] scheduled inauguration,” Concannon said. “If the agreement was appropriate to negotiate at all, it would have been appropriate to negotiate it with the president who would have to abide by it, and who also had the electoral and constitutional legitimacy to bind his country.”

“There was no reason why the deal could not have been negotiated with elected president, other than a fear that the voters’ choice would not agree to it,” he said. “The UN should be above such underhanded stunts.”

Concannon continued: “Time and again Minustah stood by while the police massacred prisoners, invaded neighborhoods and made illegal arrests, insisting that their mandate prevented them from interfering in the police force’s internal affairs.” He said the UN mission did not issue a single investigative report in almost two years of Latortue’s reign, yet now it sought extraordinary powers, including the right to read Preval’s personal diary if it touches on police matters.

Human rights groups such as Amnesty International have accused the HNP of carrying out widespread illegal arrests and extrajudicial killings.

In response to critics, Latortue said that when he signed the document, which he admitted is unconstitutional and “places the HNP further under the tutelage of Minustah,” he did not understand all of its provisions. He later said the UN corrected any would-be problems in the agreement, and that Haiti should “move forward.”

Minustah’s Valdes defended the accord, saying it was not intended to put Haiti under international tutelage, but merely to ensure that anything the government does is in harmony with the HNP’s development.

Anthony Fenton, a Canada-based journalist who closely follows developments in Haiti, said the proposed agreement “appears to be the first official acknowledgment that Haiti is under a foreign tutelage similar to the ‘Kosovo model.’” He noted that such ideas have been floated before, notably at a high-level meeting in January 2003 in Ottawa, Canada. “Of course, the reality is that Haiti has been under a de facto trusteeship since Feb. 29, 2004,” he said, referring to the date of Aristide’s ouster by U.S. Marines.

break.

2006-01-27T17:30:00.000-08:00

Lazylafargue is going to sleep for a few months. We're overworked, money's tight, and other things are keeping us too busy to do more than an occasional post.

But PLEASE, visit Canada Haiti Action Network for updates and ideas on how to get involved to stop the mass murder of Haitian people—made possible by Canada, the US, France, and corporations like Gildan Activewear.

Also, visit Le Colonel Chabert and Lenin's Tomb. Please read them for updates on Haiti, as well as excellent commentary, passion, humour, and a love of people.

"The war against humanity is not over there but everywhere, all the time."

2006-01-24T22:48:00.000-08:00

The connection which Lenin established—in Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism—between imperialist exploitation of the dominated peoples and social-democratic ideological hegemony over the working class of the imperialist centers has already been forgotten. Social-democratic ideology (social-imperialist would be a more appropriate term) implies the existence of “socialism” at home and imperialism abroad...

...The global development of capitalism in an imperialist framework has decisive consequences for the destiny of socialism. Most important is the fact that the center of gravity of the exploitation of labor by capital (and, in the first place, by monopoly capital which dominates the system as a whole) has been displaced from the center of the system to its periphery. The mass of surplus value (in all its forms—absolute and relative, apparent and masked by price structures) extracted from labor in the periphery has been increasing steadily since the end of [the nineteenth] century. This simple fact explains why the periphery plays an increasingly active role in the global socialist revolution, by giving a new impetus to one of the possible outcomes of the uneven development of societies: the development of socialism starting from the lagging zones of capitalism...

...Social-imperialist collusion gives way to Third Worldist outbursts. For Third Worldism is a strictly European phenomenon. Its proponents seize on literary expressions, such as “the East wind will prevail over the West wind” or “the storm centers,” to illustrate the impossibility of struggle for socialism in the West, rather than grasping the fact that the necessary struggle for socialism passes, in the West, also by way of anti-imperialist struggle in Western society itself.

-from Samir Amin, Imperialism & Unequal Development (o.v. 1976).

"Let me speak for just a few minutes about the prospects of the opposition. I never said that the student opposition today is by itself a revolutionary force, nor have I ever seen in the hippies the "heir of the proletariat"! Only the national liberation fronts of the developing countries are today in a revolutionary struggle. But even they do not by themselves constitute an effective revolutionary threat to the system of advanced capitalism. All forces of opposition today are working at preparation and only at preparation--but toward necessary preparation for a possible crisis of the system. And precisely the national liberation fronts and the ghetto rebellion contribute to this crisis, not only as military but also as political and moral opponents--the living, human negation of the system. For the preparation and eventuality of such a crisis perhaps the working class, too, can be politically radicalized. But we must not conceal from ourselves that in this situation the question whether such radicalization will be to the left or the right is an open one. The acute danger of fascism or neo-fascism has not at all been overcome.

I have spoken of a possible crisis, of the eventuality of a crisis of the system. The forces that contribute to such a crisis would have to be discussed in great detail. I believe that we must see this crisis as the confluence of very disparate subjective and objective tendencies of an economic, political, and moral nature, in the East as well as the West. These forces are not yet organized on a basis of solidarity. They have no mass basis in the developed countries of advanced capitalism. Even the ghettos in the United States are in the initial stage of attempted politicization. And under these conditions it seems to me that the task of the opposition is first the liberation of consciousness outside of our own social group. For in fact the life of everyone is at stake, and today everyone is part of what Veblen called the "underlying population," namely the dominated. They must become conscious of the horrible policy of a system whose power and pressure grow with the threat of total annihilation. They must learn that the available productive forces are used for the reproduction of exploitation and oppression and that the so-called free world equips itself with military and police dictatorships in order to protect its surplus."

-from Herbert Marcuse "The problem of violence and the radical opposition" (1967) (via Afterthepurge)