Notebook: Photos of Native American Resistance

Photos by Brenda Norrell: Photo 1: Cordell Tulley and Earl Tulley at Roberta Blackgoat's home in Cactus Valley near Big Mountain, waiting for the threatened forced relocation of Navajos and arrival of agents. The sign: "Sue the Creator." Photo 2: Ulali with Oneida comedian Charlie Hill and Hopi/Navajo photographer Larry Gus on Alcatraz. Photo 3: Whale jaws: Navajo filmmaker Arlene Bowman on Seri land on the coast of Sonora, Mexico, during a gathering to uphold fishing rights of Indigenous fishermen.

Photo 1: Feb. 1, 2000: Deadline Day

BIG MOUNTAIN, Ariz. -- On the morning when Kee Watchman and Roberta Blackgoat were officially declared in trespass in their own homes in this rugged canyon country, they sat by an open cookfire together and placed their faith and fate solely in the Creator.

Placing his hand firmly on his heart, Watchman said, "In my feelings in my heart, from the bottom of my heart, it doesn't feel like eviction is going to happen."

"Traditional Hopi told us don't ever take what the government offers us, and don't ever leave the land. They said if we do, 'That will be it. Black Mesa will not be safe.'

On the short wave radio at Blackgoat's stonehouse in the remote Cactus Valley area of Big Mountain, Navajo resisters were linked with Floyd Westerman and addressed a relocation protest at a federal building in San Francisco.

-- Brenda Norrell, Feb. 1, 2000

In memory of Roberta Blackgoat, Kee Watchman and Floyd Westerman.

MORE PHOTOS:

http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2009/08/notebook-photos-of-resistance.html

MNN: Capitalist moral reality

CAPITALIST MORAL REALITY

Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknatinnews.com

MNN. Aug. 13, 2009. Capitalism is based on a few ruling elite exploiting Indigenous land, stealing our resources and enslaving everybody. The worldwide economic melt down shows that people are resisting. They want something new, not a system of privilege for a few.
Capitalism does not meet human needs. It is breaking down. The oligarchs want to avoid losses. Violent struggles are breaking out. They scream the need for an international government in the hands of a few to protect their interests.
This economic collapse came at the same time as when we Indigenous began to object to the decline, decay and extreme parasitism of these greedy oligarchs. We began to resist the destruction of our environment, the dissolution of social programs, jobs and our lives.
The oligarchs do not work. They treat workers like slaves. The capitalists sit back and take at least 40% of the profit. The economy has gotten smaller with less to make, take or share. To keep money coming in, the capitalists moved companies to third world or off-shore locations to exploit cheaper labor. For a time the profits increased by reducing the cost, making more products and not raising the prices. Microsoft and Walmart used cheap labor in China.
The US encouraged spending on credit. Buying and selling increases the value of the share but not the value of the asset.
The real value of a house might be $150,000. The market inflates it to $500,000. The banks, insurance and other middle men pocket the difference of $350,000 by passing the property around and bailing each other out as if it’s a $500,000 asset. If the owner defaults on the mortgage, they foreclose on the loan and seize the house. They make money without investing a cent!
The European bourgeoisie ran world finances after WWI. After WWII global stabilization relied on the bankers to manipulate Indigenous resources. Europe and Japan became dominant through higher technology and superior production methods. The US dollar became the international currency based on $35 per oz. of gold. In 1971 it collapsed when Nixon suspended the gold standard. The U.S dollar was treated as if it was gold and became the world currency. The U.S. has deteriorated in the world economy and the dollar is now declining in value.
Mergers and acquisitions created monopolies with control in the hands of a few. A company was taken over and then put out of business, to eliminate competition and to control the market. The financiers make money in the process. Then they use the profits to buy other companies. The emphasis is on short term gain for themselves rather than long term good for the people. The taxpayers are forced to cover the fall out.
Companies pretend to own Indigenous resources. Our land and resources are put up as collateral to gouge money from the public on the stock exchange. This is fraud. Then the oligarchs pocket the money.
The capitalist system is parasitic and corrupt. The middle class have been impoverished. Workers pension schemes are being bankrupt and robbed to impoverish us in our old age. Medicare may not be around for us.
Today monopolies want unionized workers to accept a two-tier working condition and pension system, one for the older generation and another for the newly hired. The capitalists want the new workers to lower their standard of living, work harder and longer for no benefits and less money. Millions of desperate displaced workers are being created into an army of migrant slaves without any rights.
Private ownership of production and wealth is in a clash with the real needs of society. The old oligarchs are desperately clinging to their class privilege. They are obstructing sensible solutions because it would undermine their wealth, status and desires. They have control of the money, government, state machinery, army, police and prisons.
The world needs to be transformed into another level of consciousness. The resources have to be preserved and everybody has to be equitably looked after. The U.S. is falling behind. This is leading to fierce competition which could lead to war. People need to demand an anti-war government.
The strategy of corporate raiders is lay offs, union busting, wage cuts and reducing benefits to control the wealth and the people. Capitalism’s downfall will lead to violent political convulsions, dictatorships, rampant militarism, fascism and, maybe, war.
We Indigenous must stop the looting of our resources. The true custodians of the land and resources have a rich political history that is based on everybody being equal, having a voice and a concensus on how we shall proceed. The Great Law is a true democracy based on our relationship with the natural world and preserving the environment. The time will soon be here where we will have to look after each other. Stock up and grow gardens!
Kahentinetha MNN Mohawk Nation News, www.mohawknationnews.com kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Note: Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send your donations by check or money order to “MNN Mohawk Nation News”, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Or go to PayPal on website. Nia:wen thank you very much. Go to MNN “World” category for more stories; New MNN Books Available now!

Cicero and the Great Law

CICERO AND THE GREAT LAW -
Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknationnews.com

MNN. Aug. 24, 2009. History repeats itself. As Cicero said [106-43 BC], “A nation can survive its fools and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less dangerous, for he is known and he carries his banners openly against the people. But the traitor moves among those within the gates freely, his sly whispers rustling through all alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor doesn’t appear like a traitor. They speak in the accents familiar to their victims. They wear their face and their clothes and appeal to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of their people. They rot the soul of a nation. They work secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of a community. They infect the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to be feared. The traitor is the plague."
Sounds like the colonial band and tribal council system set up by the invaders, which violates the Great Law, our constitution and philosophy. The only legal national governments on Great Turtle Island are those of the Indigenous Peoples. Those band or tribal councilors secretly negotiating with these pirates are committing treason [Great Law, Wampum 58].
At the near empty U.S. border crossing on the south shore a few trucks sit while cars cross the bridge.
The Canadian border mobsters have left Akwesasne for good. The temporary checkpoint tent set up by the Canadian Border Services Agency CBSA sits on a small sliver of Akwesasne land. These robber barons sit around waiting to pounce on passers-by to confiscate money and favors.
The old abandoned Canada customs house in the middle of Kawenoke on Cornwall Island rests empty, boarded up like those foreclosed homes and businesses caused by capitalist corruption. It has a lonely sign telling us to proceed slowly. Spiders, raccoons, ants, birds, bats, coyotes, foxes and mice are sniffing around waiting to start making permanent homes. Vines and natural growth are already starting to envelope the buildings. As time goes on, this and other imperial neo-con infra structures will crumble and mother nature will take over. Great Turtle Island will once again look like a garden burying colonial ghosts. The portable checkpoint looks like those quickie cardboard stolen goods salestables on the sidewalks of Time Square.
This posse wants us to come across from the US side of Akwesasne, drive over the bridge, go through Kawenoke and over the bridge to Cornwall. Then they want us to check in with them so they can extort something and let us cross the bridge back to our homes in Kawenoke. Few actually do it. Everybody knows the checkpoints of these two invading entities are legal. Our law predominates on Great Turtle Island. [Read the Mohawk Manifesto].
On August 13th at the Canadian border tent eight Mohawks were pulled over, handcuffed and arrested. One was charged with running the port in a previous lifetime. They were kept in a compound without food or water. One was seven months pregnant. One managed to use his cell phone, “They’re detaining us”, he yelled.
The goons got angry at the detainees for speaking Mohawk. They supposedly had just finished taking cultural sensitivity training, which seems to be making them oversensitive to us. They could learn to politely say SEGO, ONEN and NIA:WEN? They probably want a law making Mohawk at the border a criminal offence.
A group of elders and people went over to see what was going on. The border goons refused to let them see the detainees. Natalie the Liar came out and told us, “Believe me, believe me”, two have been sent to Ottawa, two to the RCMP holding station and two to Cornwall. It wasn’t true.
Eventually the detainees were charged with “hindrance”, or not smiling or something, and released at 1 am, except for the one who supposedly ran the imaginary line.
In the North Shore Claim Mohawks want the land back and refuse money. The Canadian band council puppets want money. CBSA knows they will soon have to break camp and move again.
Trying to confuse the issue are a few people who declare themselves to be natural human beings, not Mohawks. These hippie types are flashing around Egyptian symbols. They say we signed the preposterous Camel Hair Treaty of 409 AD that brought down the Roman Empire!! They even carry new age camel hair identity cards. Shouldn’t they be on stone tablets? They tell us the Moors were here before us. A few of our people are being recruited to become mindless flakes to eliminate Ongwehonwe thinking. These preachers gave up and incite others to give up.
We Mohawks have a responsibility to assert our inherent relationship on Great Turtle Island and to uphold the Great Law. Those adhering to foreign doctrines are committing espionage, conspiracy and treason.
Our birthright cannot be blurred by cult followers or anyone else. Such false prophets and their illusions might be sent in to disrupt, demoralize and confuse us. We should rely on ourselves, our own laws, our language and our relationships that we can substantiate.
These foreign fantasies are trying to overshadow what we know, touch, feel and see. It’s meant to stop us from working in harmony with each other, the natural world and the Great Law.
To stop the CBSA from coming in, we need to keep our fire going and to erect a building. To help, please contact akwpeoplesfire@bell.net 613-937-1813 613-937-1813.Kahentinetha MNN Mohawk Nation News, www.mohawknationnews.com kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Note: Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send your donations by check or money order to “MNN Mohawk Nation News”, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Or go to PayPal on website. Nia:wen thank you very much. Go to MNN “BORDER” and “AKWESASNE” categories for more stories; New MNN Books Available now! Purchase t-shirts, mugs and more at our CafePressStore http://www.cafepress.com/mohawknews; Subscribe to MNN for breaking news updates http://.mohawknationnews.com/news/subscription.php; Sign Women Title Holders petition! http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Iroquois