The people united will never be divided right?

The olympic torch is set to run through Six Nations on December 21st 2009.  This is an event that is bound to meet resistance. 

August 20th a meeting was held in Six Nations to 'inform' the community about the event and representatives from the four host first nations were invited to speak to their participation in the 2010 vancouver olympics.  Though encouragement was given to the community about its participation, the majority of community members present showed opposition to the torch passing through our Grand River Territory.  Six Nations women as well as representatives from Toronto's olympics resistance network spoke to the primary issues being focused on and were present to bring voice to the olympics resistance movement.  As a range of grassroots groups, predominantly indigenous ones supported us during the reclamation on Kahnonstaton 3 years ago, so shall we the grassroots of Six Nations support our brothers and sisters on the west coast. 

As it says in the title, the people, united, will never be divided...right?

One disturbing pattern that this olympics legacy has created, is the heavy division that has occurred...I cannot speak to the divisions that have been wrought upon other cities/regions, however I have noticed and do acknowledge the divisions I have witnessed within coast salish territory amongst many groups, struggling with multiple facets of the impacts of the games.  The inclusion of the four host first nations in the games has nourished these divisions and it's quite likely that was an intended result.

Everyone has their reason, everyone has their choice...are we here to battle each other?  I would like to think that any 'resistance' to oppression is a STAND FOR EQUALITY, PEACE, JUSTICE LIBERATION AND FREEDOM.

It is unfortunate that others do not see it as so, rather this movement is at times treated as an inconvenience that will destroy 'freedoms', deny 'peace' and ultimately thats not a very 'liberating' experience now is it?

The irony makes me want to laugh and cry simultaneously.

An event that in its mere preparation has wreaked such incredible havoc over so many diverse groups of people, not to mention the land, has few results to celebrate.  The glitter of such a 'celebration' has been marred by alarming rates of homelessness coupled with the ongoing criminalization of the poor (theorized as leading to mass arrests made during the actual games), the exploitation of women (and men) in the sex trade is and will heighten to unthinkable rates, enormous public debt, building numbers of human rights violations, destruction to the land for developments sake, exploitation of indigenous peoples and culture, the fact that native peoples are being targeted as terrorists and that the 2010 games will bring the biggest military/police operation in kanada's history within its own borders...may I ask for what exactly?

Considering these stark realities, (because they are very complex, visceral, traumatizing realities for many people at this very moment) how may this torch run in our already devastated yet empowered community of Six Nations be celebrated?

I recognize that not all Six Nations community members were participants in the reclamation movement, however every individual was affected.  Our sovereign peoples have been in a battle for many centuries and we saw the battle heighten in 2006 when we took direct action to reclaim our territories and the stewardship of our lands.  Aside from our triumphs (taking a stand our most significant), we have faced much racism, police oppression and ongoing 'threats' of military oppression, state oppression (court system degrading our sovereign identities), land destruction and loss, internal community and state corruption, factionalism, and lest we forget the violence, abuse and trauma that is embarked on our younger generations as a result of all these things.  Not to mention that the conflict is far from over and has had far reaching consequences that you don't read about in the papers.

I mention the young ones specifically because they are our next leaders and are we ensuring a strong fleet of Haudenosaune if we are not reinforcing them and providing proper support in light of this era of colonial imperialism?  (And though the fight for a youth centre and more youth based services is a noble one, youth empowerment as a soveriegn indigenous person has yet to be explored with greater significance)

I feel that for some, some eyes may have glazed over 5 paragraphs ago...I mention this because it feels that as soon as even an eyelash of this 'olympic truth' is released, the statistics are overwhelming, merely hearing this knowledge is as bombarding as the issues themselves to those who are affected by them.

WHAT YOU MAY NOT REALIZE AND I HOPE THE CAPITOL LETTERS WAKE YOU UP FOR YOU TO SEE THIS BUT YOUR APATHY IS THE ROOT OF OUR DIVISION, YOUR IGNORANCE IN CHOOSING TO NOT SEE YOUR BROTHER OR SISTER WHO IS STRUGGLING IS CREATING A LEGACY OF BLINDNESS FOR OUR FUTURE GENERATIONS, YOUR COMPLIANCE WITHOUT EDUCATION PERPETUATES STUPIDITY AND IF WE DO NOT JOIN HANDS SOON, THEN I AM AFRAID WE WILL REMAIN DIVIDED!

And joining hands DOES NOT mean we agree...

or that you MUST have the same opinion as me...

Frankly, I understand why most don't have the same opinions of me!  I'm pretty opinionated and also a tad extreme, however that is meaningless.  I have a right to my perspective and so do you...WHAT DOES MATTER is that I am willing to work with you to find a place where we meet...hand to hand...

to me that IS consensus...true democracy that lacks minority and requires all voices to be heard.

May we take the time to hear one another, to really hear...behind words, behind histories and past grudges, behind whatever judgements we may project, may I see you for your struggles, for your privileges, for your true inner power...may I know WHAT IT IS YOU REALLY WANT, for this world and for your life...perhaps there is somewhere in this that we are able to meet hand to hand even if we never meet eye to eye...

if you are turning from me, putting your back to me, giving me excuses for your compliance in continuing to hurt others, shaming or blaming me or attacking in any way...then I will not be able to join hands with you...

Funnily enough us activists get accused alot for doing those very things.  I find it ironic that these tactics are usually projections by small minded individuals who are content with colonization.  It is easy to CHOOSE to be colonized when you are willing to step over the truth and assimilate (exactly as they wanted you to be).

Of course that is an honest result of our oppression, many of our own immerse themselves willingly into our oppressors hands thinking they can 'change the system from within'.  My response to that is always...can you rehabilitate a psychopath?  (Not to be redundant, but really can you?)

A system with a foundation of theft and murder
A system built with our blood and bones, devouring our lands like a cannibal
A system that eats our progressiveness and regurgitates it as its own for its own selfish means
A system that never saw us as an equal, rather functions as an empire
A system that cannot exist without our oppression

And then the overwhelming bombardment hits once again...

And might I mention to those who are now uncomfortable and rustling around in your seat hoping that my next statements will be more encouraging, uplifting and indicative of hope...that I need this space for my peoples truth, my peoples fucking ugly truth...ugly in that it is painful and we are in need of relief not more judgement for merely speaking of it...

My mom commented to me today when we spoke of such issues that the olympic torch run has touched our community and instantly created more division.  It's presence in and of itself has now placed us in a position where there are only two options...

Either those of us who oppose its entry are silenced (quite unlikely)...which is an injustice to us ALL when voices are taken away...

Or we are again butting heads with one another to come to some kind of hand to hand understanding when most who are for the torch are shutting their ears, throwing accusations and unwilling to even acknowledge the struggles of others!  I heard from a cousin of mine who felt that this torch run is a relieving celebration amongst other struggles she has with her health...that her daily struggle is so overwhelming that she is unable to even begin to look at anothers struggle yet still would like to take advantage of the opportunities that contribute to that oppression.

But thats just a difference of opinion apparently?  I'm actually not so sure...

For one, I'm not confident that I was heard which was obvious in the response that contained no acknowledgement to what was said, another closed mind resulting in ignorance.  Illness itself does not necessarily create a barrier to consciousness (ask my mom about that one)...struggle may however if you have never had access to knowledge or space to absorb or process that knowledge...we would need much work to reach a place where these dots would connect...work on both our parts apparently...

Is there a way for us to come hand to hand?  Is it worth it when I am confronted with disturbing statements of "It is an honor for canada to host the games and an honor for the torch to come through our homeland" straight off a vanoc propoganda statement...I'm left with the OVERWHELMING notion that there is alot of work to be done on emancipating minds...

Bob Marley said it...

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds...

This song brings back a recent memory...

A few weeks ago at a youth arts empowerment camp, we were doing an activity that involved skits that depicted an issue created by oppression.  The youth in my group decided they wanted to focus on colonization and the lies told to new immigrants entering this country.  We created a skit that involved an orientation given to newly arrived immigrants by a representative of the crown...the crown rep proceeded to spread 'disinformation' about the indigenous peoples of canada, humorously pointing out some disturbing points.  At that point an indigenous protester storms the scene (such an unlikely scenario, have you ever seen a masked warrior storming the immigration offices??  Someday perhaps *wink wink*) and proceeded to try to voice the truth of the indigenous peoples in this country and the treatment that we recieve...asking them if they really want to pledge their allegiance to an imperialist oppressor or if they would join sovereigns in reclaiming indigenous power to the land...

We then proceeded to sing the above mentioned Bob Marley liberation classic...

At that point the audience responded and immediately the response referred to how the "representative of the state" could have "reformed" his actions to suit the needs of the new immigrants better.

Very predictable, it is unfortunate, but the point was being missed...

The overwhelming idea that someday the lands of turtle island would belong again in the power of the indigenous peoples is one that is almost unfathomable...yet at the end of the day is one of the most liberating places we would find ourselves in as human beings...

liberating yet frightening in all its uncertainty...

I told Jade yesturday that we are like cells, us individuals, we are unique and move to our own rhythms, yet we tend to be affected by the energy and movement by the whole...we are all cells in one being, how may those few change the course of us all...when the body of all life is heading down a road of death at human hands...

one cell at a time and with as much medicine as possible...we must be the medicine because it is the change from within the cells that kills cancer...

This is where it is uplifting...in order for us to be successful in this movement, in order for us to be the warriors that are needed for this moment in our story, WE HAVE TO BE OUR OWN MEDICINE, THE MEDICINE WITHIN AND WITHOUT...

Life is depending on us to be healed and then to heal...

A young comrade of mine named Dustin Rivers said that "the future generations must know that some may have participated, but that others resisted" (not sure if this is verbatim, apologies dustin if you read this)...in light of what we are creating with our present day 'compliance', what will the future generations feel when they see this legacy, when they are reaping the consequences of this generations poor choices and assimilationist compliance..what do our ancestors feel...

Liberated Haudenosaune cannot support oppression symbolized by a torch...

Healing comes from those of us who maintain that light of strength and truth that will shine far past our lifetimes and will honor those faces yet to come with our loyalty to freedom and peace...even if it is the hard road in this lifetime...

One cell at a time...

Danetoh!