MNN. June 9, 2006. Is the ATF helping Canada with the “sitting duck” formation based on the “Mai Lai massacre” strategy of 1968? Are they going to surround us and do us in?
Rumor has it that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said, “The protesters are either going to kill the Indigenous people, or the Indigenous people are going to kill the protesters“. We don’t know if the Canadian Prime Minister made this irresponsible statement or not. We will comment on it because a lot of people believe he did. This statement, if true, is a big problem for the people of Caledonia. It means their elected head of state has abdicated his responsibility to protect and represent them. Also, Canada has an historical alliance with the Six Nations people. If Harper said these words, it is tantamount to a declaration of war against a traditional ally. We are not going to respond to it as such.
We firmly believe that this does not represent the will of the Canadian people. A state is supposed to help people get along together and to help them get organized so that everyone benefits. Canada has ‘officially’ endorsed the principle of human equality. Mr. Harper was raised in Alberta on Blackfoot territory. He’s come East to Rotino’shon:ni and Algonquin territory and he doesn’t understand anything about us. This sets him up to be ill-advised by the RCMP, Indian Affairs and CSIS bureaucrats. These agents are struggling to maintain their illicit jobs. Harper seems to be using these people as his advisors. If they wanted to keep peace in the Six Nations-Caledonia region and understood how to do it, we wouldn’t be having these potent problems today.
We repeat our invitation to Mr. Harper and the Governor General Michaelle Jean, if she can be found wherever she is in the world, to come and talk to us.
From our perspective equality is something that colonial society has trouble understanding. The principle was only formally recognizes in the Canadian constitution only 24 years ago. Thinking equally does not come naturally to Canadians the way it does to us Rotino’shon:ni. Some people even think that the Caledonia situation will be resolved if the Six Nations people start “obeying their chiefs”. It’s obvious they don’t understand that we don’t have a word for “chief”. Our Royaner who are often called chiefs are only voices for the people. They cannot make decisions or state their own opinions. Obviously Mr. Harper is not well advised because he does not seem to understand this.
We question why would Mr. Harper, as a member of a minority government, sell out his own voters? Why would he sell out Canada’s allies?
Why are U.S. Border Patrol and ATF operatives being invited to invade Canada? What is happening here? We don’t understand. Canadians don’t either. The Americans suffer from what is called the “Windigo Psychosis”. That’s because they’re cut off from their roots, and are like the Indigenous mythical “Windigo”. They are the ghosts with a heart of ice who died of famine because they wanted to eat everything in sight. They have an insatiable hunger which knows no bounds. When they see something, they feel they have to own it. They do not let anyone else have anything. It’s a serious illness that feeds on a spiritual void. Canada is presently in an incipient stage of the “Windigo Psychosis”.
Americans had no business going into Vietnam without being invited. No part of the Vietnamese population wanted them there. The Americans continuously bombed and shelled the province. Most homes were damaged or destroyed of the people they were pretending to save. They wanted to eliminate their fighters [warriors]. Success was not based on how much territory they acquired but by the body count, which was exaggerated. On March 16, 1968, in “May Lai”, the U.S. soldiers surrounded the people, and started to kill everybody to totally exterminate them. 68 died, mostly women and children. When they did this, they were unchained from the morality of human feeling.
We at Six Nations are civilians. Even though we are surrounded by armed forces, we have never pointed guns at the Canadians. We are being constantly subjected to harassment and reprisals being instigated by a state that is twisting the facts to try to get its citizens to attack us. They are organizing the Ontario Provincial Police OPP, now with the help of the ATF, to make us fight back. The ultimate goal is to crush us.
Who invited the ATF into Canada anyway? When did Canadian policy change? Since the birth of Canada Canadians have been defending themselves from American invasions. Now all of a sudden state institutions are inviting the Americans to invade. If we had invited the Americans, we would have escorted them onto our territory as visitors from a foreign nation and had a chat with them. We would not be skulking around and hiding in the back seat of foreign cars.
So what is going on? Our security forces are conducting a proper investigation of this bizarre and disturbing incident. The ATF were driving a Tahoe with “U.S. Border Patrol” [or was it “Sshh! Don’t tell”] written on the side. The roof was loaded with high tech communications and every kind of surveillance gear.
Our national security was breached. We could have held them prisoner, but we did not. We questioned them. We found out they were not “tourists”. They were here on official business. Not long after we let them go, the skies became inundated with choppers that flew close to us night and day. Some had their lights turned off and some had no mufflers. Some shone hot bright lights on us.
Was this a show of force to intimidate us because we had captured someone they thought was important? We did not beat them up. The OPP officer that was riding in the back of the U.S. vehicle got hurt because he was trying to jump off while the car was moving. He fell and hurt himself. Why was this guy panicking? Was he afraid of being caught red handed, violating our sovereignty and Canada’s agreements with us? The OPP saw too many movies. It’s obvious this guy wasn’t a trained stunt man. In the movies he would have jumped out, rolled over and landed on his feet, with his gun in his hand and a steely gaze, like Clint Eastwood. Instead he ended up in a crazy ‘Cheech and Chong’ botch-up.
The Caledonians shut down Argyle Street because they’re mad at the OPP, and they certainly don’t want to get blamed for the foolishness of cops and government officials, no matter what Harper says. There’s no doubt about it, this is an international incident. Canada and the US are invading our territory.
ATF was brought up here by Canada or sent up here by U.S. President George Bush. What was the mission? Why all the photos of the territory, the people and the lay of the land? It’s just not U.S. business! Are they helping Canada to design a Waco Texas style attack? Are they gathering intelligence and giving the Canadians pointers, “This is how it’s done, boys!”. They know how many people, men, women and children, are here, how big the encampment is and that we are unarmed.
In the incident last Friday, the men at the site remained in control. They told the intruders in the gray car to move. When they asked the occupants who were shouting racist slurs to leave, the hooligans tried to run over our men. If anyone is attacked with rocks, we have a right to defend ourselves with rocks. If we are attacked with sticks, we may defend ourselves with sticks. If we are attacked with guns, then Canada is the criminal and we have a right to defend ourselves. The law of self-defense is straight forward. We are allowed to use equal force. If we are attacked with a gun or knife, we are supposed to be able to meet force with force. Every person and every community has the power to defend our home, our person and our family. If a woman is assaulted she can rip the assailant’s eyes out, if that’s what it takes. This principle is universally recognized.
As for the photos being taken by the ATF, is this to superimpose us on some made up photos to incriminate us? These guys are so off-the-wall, who knows what they’re doing? Or are they going to superimpose us in one of those balloon baskets like they used in “Around the World in 80 days” or in “Monte Python’s Flying Circus”? Are they trying to single out certain people? If they find a Johnny Depp look alike at Six Nations, are they going to Hollywood to arrest the ‘Pirate of the Caribbean’? Are the OPP working with the “Secret Ops” from Washington DC to design an international invasion onto our Kaianereh’ho:wa territory? Isn’t Canada being suckered here?
In 1812, the Mohawks worked with British forces to keep the Americans out. The Americans have found a sneakier way to invade Canada this time. They’re pretending to help Canadians fight us! When the dust settles, Canadians will find they’ve lost not only their shirts, but also whatever tattered remnants of their so-called sovereignty they’ve managed to cling to.
Faced with the Six Nations legitimate claim, Canada has dashed into a corner. Instead of facing up to the problems from the past they’ve inherited, they’ve gone and barricaded themselves in a psychological corner. We’ve always been out front. We’ve always been ready to meet people face to face as equals. We’ve always been able to sit down with clear eyes, ears and to speak clear words so we can reach an intelligent understanding. We’ve never really understood this hysterical response of colonial society. They seem to be scared by their own reflection in the mirror.
They have no choice legally but to make amends about the theft of our lands. They don’t seem to be able to face up to it. Like an overtired 2-year old having a temper tantrum because they don’t want to go to bed, they are striking at us in an irrational way. With everyone watching, they are creating havoc. Instead of grabbing this opportunity to make things right, so there can be a strong future, they’re creating disruptions. At this rate it could take several generations more to solve the problem that should be relatively straight forward - just obey the laws and give us back our lands, Canada! They are making it look to the world as if they want to defend their genocidal practices of past colonial governments. Why are they defending these raving madmen, some of whom have been dead for half a century or more?
They seem to be under a trance. Many of their ancestors immigrated to our land under a “big lie”. They were told that this was an “empty land”, even though they saw us. They just somehow couldn’t put two and two together. Now it’s obvious to everyone that their math and their vision were bad. They want to continue with their policy, which is still genocide of the past, present and future. According to their plan, we should not be here today, at least not according to Canada and the United States. The order was given to exterminate all Indigenous people off Turtle Island and beyond. The colonists called it “the land of the free” because they never paid. They couldn’t because it was never for sale. They don’t mean the people are free. They’re referring to the theft of our land. Us resisting and standing firm reminds them of this. So they’re going nuts! There’s got to be a way to stop their genocide policy. Who likes this? Who wants to continue to live with this? If you want Canada and the United States to start treating Indigenous people decently as human equals, let’s hear from you. We need some action to stop these attacks on us.
Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
www.mohawknationnews.com
kahentinetha2@yahoo.com
