#WORLD #WORLDWIDE #CANADA #ANARCHISM #News #Journal #Update - (en) Canada, Collectif Emma Goldman - Struggle for Territory: Racism, Class and Solidarity in the Defense of Six Nations Territory [Part 1] (ca, de, it, pt)[machine translation]

 A text by Jeff Shantztranslated by us and divided into several parts. The article

brings interesting reflections on the support practices of Whites and Whites
during the struggles of defense of the territory of the First Peoples. He points
to the need for a real debate in order to allow more effective complicity beyond
the "politics of allies". Within White and non-Indigenous communities, activists
may challenge the forms of racial unity constructed (the homogeneous bloc) within
the dominant group. They and they can instead raise points of convergence between
class struggles and dominated social groups against the dominant. For example,
establish links between the condition of workers, women, racialized people,
LGBTQ+ people, green people, ...and those of Aboriginal people. Shantz observes
that this form of solidarity was less common during the 2006 Grand River
struggle, with non-Indigenous activists more often preferring practices that were
less involving in some way. Through this, it is always a question of recognizing
the position of privilege of non-Indigenous people and of not taking the place of
the main actors and main actresses in the struggles. But, in this line of tension
with privileges, it is also not a question of using fallacious pretexts to step
aside and free oneself (white privilege is also that) from forms of militant
action of solidarity desired by Aboriginal activists. non-Aboriginal activists
more often prefer practices that are less involved in some way. Through this, it
is always a question of recognizing the position of privilege of non-Indigenous
people and of not taking the place of the main actors and main actresses in the
struggles. But, in this line of tension with privileges, it is also not a
question of using fallacious pretexts to step aside and free oneself (white
privilege is also that) from forms of militant action of solidarity desired by
Aboriginal activists. non-Aboriginal activists more often prefer practices that
are less involved in some way. Through this, it is always a question of
recognizing the position of privilege of non-Indigenous people and of not taking
the place of the main actors and main actresses in the struggles. But, in this
line of tension with privileges, it is also not a question of using fallacious
pretexts to step aside and free oneself (white privilege is also that) from forms
of militant action of solidarity desired by Aboriginal activists. it is always
about acknowledging the privileged position of non-Indigenous people and not
taking the place of the main actors and actors in the struggles. But, in this
line of tension with privileges, it is also not a question of using fallacious
pretexts to step aside and free oneself (white privilege is also that) from forms
of militant action of solidarity desired by Aboriginal activists. it is always
about acknowledging the privileged position of non-Indigenous people and not
taking the place of the main actors and actors in the struggles. But, in this
line of tension with privileges, it is also not a question of using fallacious
pretexts to step aside and free oneself (white privilege is also that) from forms
of militant action of solidarity desired by Aboriginal activists.

In the first presented part of this text, Shantz explains the context of the
development of this struggle by situating it in the systemic and historical
relations of domination of the Canadian state.

Photo de Fred Thornhill /Toronto Sun files
On February 28, 2006, members of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy
(Haudenosaunee) claimed 40 hectares of land belonging to their community. The
land, which was then in the midst of construction, incorporated into a new
residential development, had been sold to developer Henco Industries, despite the
fact that the government knew that it was land that was the subject of claims.
when he permitted their sale. Additionally, the government did not properly
follow the procedures specified in its own "Grand River Notification Agreement."
Signed in 1996]to adequately inform Six Nations of the actions, with their
impacts on the environment and other aspects, undertaken in the area in question.

The ongoing battle of the Douglas Creek Estates site is part of an ongoing
struggle over the territories of the Haldimand Tract, originally granted to the
Six Nations by the British Crown in 1784, following the 1783 Treaty of Paris
which ended the American Revolutionary War, in recognition of Six Nations support
for the British during the war with the Americans. Under the original grants, the
Haldimand Tract was granted to the Six Nations, Gayogohó:no' (Cayuga),
Onyota'a:ka (Oneida), Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk), Onöñda'gaga' ( Onondagas),
Onöndowa'ga (Senecas) and Skarù•re? (Tuscaroras); the British ceded control of
nearly 950,000 acres of traditional beaver hunting grounds. Both the British
Crown and later the Canadian government, however, early on supported the illegal
sale and theft of land and wealth belonging to the Six Nations. In some cases,
government officials, or "Indian Agents," simply sold the land themselves as if
it were theirs for personal gain.

Although the Six Nations had, since long before colonization, been a
confederation of nations (and continue to be) with which the British Crown was
engaged through nation-to-nation agreements, the Canadian government violated
this status by forcibly imposing its own "Indian Act", which defines and
circumscribes the rights and institutions recognized at Six Nations to those of
an individual and those of a community. It further imposed the exclusive
sovereignty of the Crown over and against any Aboriginal sovereignty.

Originally covering 6 miles. Nearly 10 kilometres]on either side of the Grand
River and running the full length of the river, the territories were constantly
removed from the Six Nations by the Canadian government until a much smaller "Six
Nations Reserve" remained. 46,500 acres, or 4.9% of the original land granted in
the Haldimand Tract. As early as the 1830s, the Crown unilaterally determined
that the rights of the Six Nations to the territories of the Haldimand Tract were
lapsed and left them a much smaller territory as an aboriginal reserve.

These changes made today's Six Nations Canada's largest First Nation in terms of
population, with almost 11,000 people living on the reserve, confined to a small
and inadequate parcel of land. At the same time, the large and rapid growth of
town and suburban developments around the Six Nations Reserve has put incredible
pressure on the watersheds, farmlands and forests of the Grand River upon which
Indigenous Peoples depend. of the Six Nations both materially and culturally. The
Six Nations Reserve is located downstream from some of Ontario's largest urban
centers including Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo and Brantford. Public works and
services, for which Six Nations are responsible in their territories, have been
overstretched by the impacts,

Many commentators argue that the current struggle is one of Indigenous land
claim, but the Six Nations people I spoke to told me that it was the Canadian
government that was making land claims because it was clearly land belonging to
the Six Nations. Six Nations have long opposed the Crown's claims that it could
cede land in the area.

On the other hand, the Six Nations have been very clear about their intentions:
they neither currently wish, nor do they foresee in the future, taking back
previously stolen territories on which people currently reside. This is an
important point since there has been a great deal of public confusion fueled by
opponents of Six Nations who have tried to instil fear with sordid threats such
as "Natives are coming to take your land after" . The Six Nations struggle was
strictly centered on opposing new construction taking place on currently
undeveloped land.

In 1995, Six Nations filed a petition in the Ontario Superior Court regarding
nearly half of the lands whose ownership is disputed by the Crown. In 2004, the
trial was suspended, triggering negotiations on smaller subsets of cases. Little
progress has been made in these cases to date (Lawson, 2006: 12). Had the
government embarked on a more respectful and comprehensive land claims process
and honestly negotiated with Six Nations, the situation would not have been the
same today.

Indeed, the government's historic practices of breaking or ignoring its
agreements with First Peoples have continued in various ways with respect to the
Douglas Creek lands. A 1995 agreement between the Government of Canada and the
Six Nations required the completion of archaeological and ecological studies on
the disputed territories as a prerequisite for any development. While none of
these studies have been formally carried out, a preliminary excavation on the
grounds of Douglas Creek in 2000 unearthed a village dating back approximately
600 years. And yet, never a meaningful consultation of the Six Nations by the
government, as required in the 2004 protocol, has taken place to date.

With all these channels apparently closed or violated, the members of the Six
Nations understood that there was no other option to express their stakes than to
occupy the territories by themselves. Land defense dragged on, garnering little
attention outside of Indigenous communities, until the dramatic events of April
20, when the Canadian state chose its favored solution in the management of First
Peoples' land rights. In the early hours of April 20, the Ontario Provincial
Police (OPP), a racist institution whose contemporary history is marred with
violence against Indigenous communities, including the assassination of Dudley
George during the "Ipperwash Crisis raided the Douglas Creek site and arrested 16
people.

The April 20 attack by the OPP sparked a backlash against the authorities. Not
only did this event lead to the takeover of the site by an even larger and more
determined group, it also triggered a series of other solidarity actions by
Aboriginal people from other communities. The police raid, and Six Nations'
remarkably strong response to it, also drew more attention to the struggle and
encouraged many activists to take a more active part in solidarity work.

[The rest of the text is to come in the next parts]

Jeff Shantz

Translation of the blog of the Emma Goldman Anarchist Collective

http://ucl-saguenay.blogspot.com/2022/02/lutte-pour-le-territoire-le-racisme-les.html
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