[Imc-uk-features] Indigenous delegation: from Canada to Britain

[active solidarity]

*could someone help, put this up so it can be a bit more prominent? was put
on newswire, link is below. Speaking tour is very much first of its kind,
for these indigenous people in UK, and issue is little known compared to
some indigenous struggles, ie Zapatistas, yet is a product of British
colonialism.. I can provide pictures if that'd help,*

*thanks a million if someone has time right now (!) *

*ellie*

*http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/05/371687.html*

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*http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/05/371687.html*

**

*Indigenous action for land and sovereignty*

*Haudenosaunee Speaking Tour*

*Tour Dates:*

*Friday the 15th of June –Crossroads women's centre, 230 A Kentish Town rd
Kentish Town, London 7.30pm*

Sunday the 17th of June- Dublin (tbc)

*Monday the 18th of June- Belfast:  Cultúrlann centre at 216 Falls Road 7pm
– 9pm*

Tuesday the 19th of June- Derry (tbc)

*Thursday the 21st of June- Rossport Solidarity Camp, County Mayo.*

Saturday the 23rd of June – Cork (tbc)

*Sunday the 24th June – Kebele centre, Bristol*

*Monday the 25th of June – Dale farm (Traveller community) St Peters Hall,
Wickford, Essex 2.30 pm*

*Wednesday the 27th of June – Sumac Centre, Nottingham, 7.30 pm*

*Friday the 29th of June- Seminar at Leeds University, Masters in Activism
and Social Change course (4pm)*

**VENUE            Geography Lecture Theatre, West Building , School of
Geography , University of Leeds

*Saturday the 30th of June- Edinburgh Forum, Edinburgh.*



Two women representatives from the Six Nations on the Grand River community
in Ontario, Canada will be in England, Ireland and Scotland between June 13
th – 30 th to give talks and have meetings with other communities in
struggle.  The speakers will be a representative from the site of an ongoing
(since February 2006) land reclamation and a Oneida Nation Clan mother- a
representative from the traditional government. They will speak about the
experience of reclaiming and defending a piece of land from development.
Their action has been incredibly successful, having prevented the
development and protected the land from an armed police incursion. They will
also talk about defending their community against colonisation and the
struggle for Indigenous sovereignty. The Haudenosaunee have been living as a
Confederacy of nations organised by direct consensual democracy since 1142,
although there have been systematic attempts by the colonial state to
obliterate them as self-governed sovereign people.



* *

*Background:*

Six Nations of the Grand River (a Haudenosaunee reserve in Ontario, Canada)
reclaimed forty acres of land on the 28th of February 2006 that had been
sold by the Canadian government to a housing development company. The land
is part of the Haldimand Tract (1784) granted by the British in return for
some of the Haudenosaunee fighting against the soon to be United States, and
thereby losing their lands. Led by the Clan Mothers, (their traditional
female leadership) they set up camp on the burial ground and stopped the
bulldozers' work. A year later the land reclamation still stands and the Six
Nations community is asserting their sovereignty; not only by taking back
land that was sold by the government without title to do so, but by
practising their right to govern themselves and their community.



The land reclamation has survived due to a tremendous show of solidarity by
a large part of the 20,000 strong Grand River indigenous community.
150-armed police were walked back off the site when hundreds of people
arrived in response to the dawn raid, indignant that the police had arrested
and beaten the handful of people who were sleeping there. Blockades and
barricades were erected that protected the reclamation land from further
attack and also were a powerful tool in forcing the Canadian government to
take the reclamation seriously. In June 2006 the government bought the land
back from Henco, the developer. The site has also weathered many ongoing
right wing demonstrations that play on local, non – native peoples' fears
and racism.



The success of the reclamation at Kanonhstaton (the protected place)
encourages indigenous sovereignty struggles across Canada and the United
States. The Haudenosaunee are reasserting their traditional ways, which
include their surviving system of direct, consensus based democracy (dating
from 1142). Marx's vision of a classless society was based on a early
anthropology essay describing Haudenosaunee governance. Women take an equal
and leading role in the traditional government. On New Years Day the Clan
Mothers and Confederacy Council reoccupied the traditional government
meeting house for the first time since its forced closure in 1924, when the
Band council system was imposed on the reserve. The colonial attack on
Indigenous people has meant systematic attempts to wipe out their languages,
government and identity as distinct peoples, as well as taking their land
base. However, these things, though not undamaged still survive. Near and
far to Six Nations Onkwehonweh (original people) are taking action to halt
development, mining, and environmental destruction on their land.

* contact: better_noir at yahoo.co.uk<http://uk.f272.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=better_noir@yahoo.co.uk>
*
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