Ontario: Six Nations being targeted by OPP

On this day in 1877 Crazy Horse was killed. After he had been arrested for leading the rebellion of the Lakota against the United States government, he was taken into a dark building and bayoneted while still tied up. Now years later First Nations on both sides of the border are still treated without dignity and respect. It can be shown by the disregard when Aboriginal womyn go missing, or in the sad state of reservations or, through police violence.

Here in Ontario, the Six Nations are the most systematically targeted group. For the past few years in Caledonia blockades have gone on and off the most extreme of which in 2006. The most recent set of attacks by Ontario Provincial Police happened over the weekend. According to Mohawk Nation News:

[Sunday], a man was grabbed by the cops from his van and held incommunicado for hours. His 14 and 16 year old sons were arrested. The cops ransacked another van looking for something to charge the driver with. Eventually they charged him for driving without a license. Two more youths were arrested. None of the parents were allowed to speak to their children.

Today, at 7:00 am. Labor Day, the OPP raided the demonstration at the illegal construction site of the Irish company, Kingspan. This had been shut down by Six Nations defenders. Two more youths were arrested, according to sporadic reports.

These blockades result in three groups on the highway, the Six Nations blocking the section on their land, Ontario Provincial Police surrounding them and, on the other side caucasian Caledonian residents. In the past this has resulted in a lot of violence being committed by the OPP on the Six Nations as well as, increasing racism from Caledonian residents.

As we saw the brutal violence by police on demonstrators in St. Paul this past week, we forget that, that type of police brutality occurs in Canada as well. However, it is targeted at those who are already disadvantaged like the homeless, poor, and sexual or racial minorities. The worst of which First Nations experience. As is stated in the article:

Canada must start listening to our legal reasoning. The violence against Indigenous peoples has got to stop. We know what’s right and wrong. The more they beat us, the more they make it clear that they are wrong.

The Six Nations want to take these claims to a true court of law. The truth of the matter is though in international law the Six Nations would win. The Government of Ontario and despite the residential schools apology neither does the Government of Canada.

Quotes: In Memory of 1973 Wounded Knee

I was enlightened to find out the standoff at Wounded Knee in 1973 by the American Indian Movement started today. They were the same people who fought at Wounded Knee in the massacre of 1890 and the same people who today they are seperating from the US.

Quotes from the Sioux Nation:

"Western civilization, unfortunately, does not link knowledge and morality but rather, it connects knowledge and power and makes them equivalent." - Vine Deloria, Jr. (1933 - 2005)

"One does not sell the land people walk on." - Crazy Horse, Sept. 23, 1875

"You have noticed that everything as Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round..... The Sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours....

Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves. " - Black Elk Oglala (1863-1950)

And an Ancient First Nations proverb of unknown origins:

"Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children."

Image from http://themartyrindex.com

USA: Lakotah Seperates from the US

The official cessation of the Republic of Lakotah occured on December 17th, 2007. According to both United States constitutional law and international law it has a strong case. The new republic takes large portions out of the Northern Mid-west of the United States. These are descendants of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and the resisters of Wounded Knee. This is completely legal and has been done with full legal requirements. The question that it really comes down to is whether the US will follow its own constitution and international law, in a time where it is regularly broken and, against a people it has historically had no trouble violating. Below is a video by Elder Russel Means explaining the withdrawal.