MNN. Dec. 12. 2005. Today our Indigenous communities are being run by corporations called “band” and “tribal” councils. They are incorporated under federal Indian laws of the United States and Canada. They were illegally imposed on us by the colonial corporation known as the U.S. and Canadian governments. These corporations completely violate the constitutional arrangements that are in place between the original Indigenous governments and the colonial governments that were put in North America by the settlers. The corporation is the enemy of the Indigenous people and everyone else in the world. They have no jurisdiction over us. We never gave them any.
Indigenous corporations are a business owned by a group of individuals, known as “trustees”. Colonial government give them a charter to operate. The main objective is to get financial returns for the owners. Profits are their bottom line. A corporation is an artificial legal person created to avoid responsibility or liability. A corporation works for the benefit of the shareholders, not the people or the workers. Their agenda is business and personal gain at any expense, not social services, meeting the humanitarian needs of the people, working for the public good, following the law and listening to the people. Corporate citizens have no moral conscience, no soul and no body to imprison. They don’t have to listen to the people, they only take it into “advisement”. Meaning “F**k off people! I’ll do what I want.” This set up has taken over the world. Let’s hope they are at their final stage.
These monsters devour as much as possible at everyone else’s expense. For the Indigenous people this involves the tribal and band council that is illegally given powers to control our inherent rights, our lands, our resources, our lives. New York State Governor George Pataki set up a fraudulent land claim settlement by using his puppet federal Indians incorporated under New York State Law Section 8 Subsection 107:
They “may pass by-laws and ordinances … for the protection and improvement of the common land of the Nation, for the regulation of fences and for the prevention of trespasses by cattle and other domestic animals [presumably hamsters and turtles], and may collect a penalty not exceeding $5 for the violation or disobedience of any such by-law or ordinance recoverable for the benefit of such nation, by any chief or officer thereof in the name of the nation, [to be paid] in any justice’s court of the county of Franklin.
How did this pseudo municipal level entity become such big shits? Pataki realized what we had and wanted it. He has no right to give them powers to denationalize us, speak for us and sign for us without our knowledge or consent. Their new job is to funnel all the Kanienkehaka assets into the corporation. They then use this as collateral for their own private businesses. We don’t even know the worth of our inherent possessions. For a “finder’s fee” they sign off everything we have.
To strengthen the corporation lawyers worked to remove any constraints and responsibility. The courts made decisions in favor of corporations. Today corporations are more powerful than governments. They can borrow capital, buy and sell property and sue in court, which no private people can afford. These three tribal corporation heads of an entity known “Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe”, Lorraine White, Barbara Lazore, and Jim Ransom, were created by outsiders to be our gas chamber attendants. As they lead us into the showers, they ask us with a smile, “Hi, how are you? How’s your mother, my aunt?” These small time Mousselinis and Hitlers’ job is to kill off those people who are useless to their tribal corporation. The corporation managers are the bosses and they don’t answer to anybody. They can keep what they stole until they die.
Outsiders set up these tribal and band council corporations to make it appear as though the trustee own our land and can do anything they want with it. They really don’t. It belongs to the people who will never part with it.
What is the incentive for these people to go into these corporations and work against us? They say, “I’m going to change it. I’m going to do this for you”. Then they start signing away our rights and lie to us. Do they get shares? Do they get finders fees? What kinds of financial incentives do they get? Or are they threatened by the goons of their masters? There’s a lot of money at stake! For example, one of their scams is to never report those who have died and to continue collecting funds for these people which they pocket. How low can they get? If necessary, they may even get these dead people to vote for them.
No Moral Conscience. Corporations are managed by people without moral conscience. How long can they go on? What happens to them after they kill us all off? The World Health Organization has a checklist of how to determine that someone or something is a “psychopath”:
1. Callous unconcern for the feelings of others.
The three managers of SRMT are tyrannical fiends about going ahead with a casino in Monticello Raceway without asking us about our assets they are trying to liquidate. They want to put all our blood in a jar and offer it as collateral for their project. It isn’t going to happen. We still know who we are, the kind of governments we had before, one that looked out for the people. We’re still waiting to hear from them about their plans. Our visionaries always warned us about these kinds of people. Right now we sit and watch them as they spin in every direction (te ho te win ha ra am). They’re serving the wrong master.
,b>2. Incapacity to maintain enduring relationships with their people.
People like Francis Boots, Keith Mayo, Martin Laborgne, James Gabriel and many others start out with altruistic goals and end up being the worst executioners. They tell their corporate masters about our weaknesses and failings. They and even Lorraine White sit in the Longhouse and take information to their corporation to set up their illusion of true Indigenous governance. They give nothing to us. We don’t trust them. Now we even have a new super corporation called the “Iroquois Caucus”, another bunch of turds, set up by the government, of course, to usurp our inherent constitutional powers. They know we have all the power and they want it even if it’s to impersonate us.
3. Disregard for the safety of others.
Especially their invitation to the ATTB (Alcohol, Tobacco, Trade and Tax Bureau) to invade us. They open the doors to taxation, confiscation, imprisonment and violence against our people who eke out a living for their families. If anyone gets hurt they should be individually held responsible. People are protecting their families, sovereignty and future, not just their economy. These tribal corporations are known to study our minds and ways in order to attack us and undermine us whether in the dark of night or with threats of guns. They’re especially good at pitting family against family.
4. Deceitful repeated lying and conning.
They’re masters at spreading disinformation. They have paid propagandists such as Rezz Dog Ray who infiltrate every forum around, especially the bars, including attacking corporation critics on the internet. He spreads vicious lies about us. They become totally immoral. They are whores for the pay check, even if they destroy their own people..
5. Using others for profit.
They use our sovereignty to get financial gain for themselves. The corporate tribal and band council has opened another door for many non-native entities to come into our territories and operate businesses abusing our collective rights. We can’t let this happen.
6. Unable to experience guilt.
The corporate tribal council trustees are totally amoral. That’s the nature of the beast. They bring in outside systems such as courts, police, armies, law and order and conduct “low level warfare”. They live high off the hog while our people live in slum-like ghettoes as a result of their callous policies. They want to create cheap Indian labor so they can set up sweat shops for low wages, long hours and no benefits. Once they get rid of you, you’re replaced by a non-native, usually for higher wages. They work closely with law enforcement agencies to keep people living in fear of police harassment, loss of their children, their jobs, their houses, any benefits and services. They deliberately keep the standard of living low to make us desperate.
7. Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behavior.
These corporate honchos have to maintain a phony powerful sense of self. They don’t want anyone to call them “sell-outs”. They constantly con and deceive the people. They delusionally call themselves a “nation” or a “chief” and that they are sovereign. It is the People who are sovereign. Not them! They are no different than the outsiders who use us as “mascots”. They’ll listen to us just enough to steal our cultural infrastructure and identity. They are predators. Their main interest is in grabbing power and undermining us. Barbara Lazore likes to get sympathy by acting remorseful. It’s just an act. They are remorseful only when they are caught. They don’t accept responsibility for their own gross behavior. Their excuses, “It wasn’t my fault”. “I’m not in the Longhouse”. “I was brought up Catholic”. Someone should tell us what they do behind closed doors. Their goal is to make money now! Now! Now! Here’s a clue. They enjoy short term hedonism. They don’t care what happens to others. In their quest to satisfy corporate goals, they go along for as long as they get benefits. Jim Ransom, former director of the Haudenosaunee Task Force on the Environment, working with the UN, now supports privatizing the tobacco industry, waste dumps on the territory and casinos. These are typical psychopathic behaviors at the corporate level.
The shareholders are the people whose assets fund these corporations which gives these federal Indian law idiots their power. The people get nothing out of this. But the honchos get the tax breaks and access to outside funds. The government has relinquished its responsibilities and has handed control to these psychopathic corporations! They make decisions in the name of the people but they have no loyalty to them. They owe their soul to the company store.
In Bolivia Bechtel Corporation of California went into a town, Cochabamba, and bought out all rights to their water, even the rain water. People had to pay 25% of their meager earnings to buy water to drink. The government and Bechtel used overwhelming power of the police forces and the army to maintain control. People were dying of thirst. Running out of options, they decided to do away with their fears and to keep on living. The people united to fight Bechtel and the government by withholding services. This threat wouldn’t work in Akwesasne as so few people have jobs and most workers are non-Indians. How long are Mohawks going to sit behind their computers in corporate offices and not help their people and the future children?
The Bolivians used the power of the people. They used their minds and united as one. Together they marched and took over the water and the whole system. Everybody had come to a consensus. The police and army moved out of their way when they saw their resolve. They still have problems but they come together and fix them.
Corporations are the enemy. They have no social responsibility, no morals, no ethics. There is presently no public control of these entities. These dictatorial governance models are developed at the Harvard School of Governance. (See film “The Corporation”).
The corporation is a killing machine. They are designed to deliver the results and for the public to be responsible for the fall out. They harm workers, bust up unions, set up sweatshops, hire and fire workers, some as young as 11 years of age. They keep troops, goons and spies around factories and dictate the lives of the people.
How do we defeat this? Count the corporations on Route 37. These corporate tribal councils who are setting them up have to be dismantled by the people. The government has set up this system of leadership. They are NOT our leaders. It’s a completely fraudulent set up. These corporate honchos have no right to wear ribbon shirts with their corporate logo.
Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
Kahentinetha2@yahoo.com
