Decolonizing Wild Roots Feral Futures

Wild Roots Feral Futures, as an event, takes place on stolen indigenous land. In recognition of this truth, we would like to build relationships with those whose occupied land Wild Roots Feral Futures 2013 occurs on. In this spirit, we would like to reach out to indigenous communities in our area to establish direct lines of communication and extend an invitation to join us at the event in June. We recognize that protocol varies from community to community and Nation to Nation, and we feel that a good first step on our part is to simply reach out and establish contact, as we are doing now. Although we do not expect to have our hands held for us, any contacts and/or guidance regarding specific appropriate protocol would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! Feel free to contact us at feralfutures@riseup.net

For background reading on decolonization, please visit Unsettling America, particularly the Allyship & Solidarity Guidelines, as well as critical texts regarding cultural appropriation, including Wanting To Be Indian and Cultural Appreciation or Cultural Appropriation?

Wild Roots Feral Futures would also like to invite folks, indigenous & settler alike, to join us at WRFF 2013 to host and/or facilitate workshops, discussions, etc. regarding the theory & praxis of decolonization, and to work towards the formation of relationships of solidarity and allyship against all forms of domination. Settlers must not expect to have their status and privilege as settlers deconstructed for them, but we believe mutual dialogue to be foundational to true decolonization, which must listen to indigenous voices.

Here is one decolonization workshop scheduled thus-far: 

Batzarre: Decolonization and Awakening the Indigenous Self
 
Tentative Date: Begins evening of Tuesday June 18th. Picks up again in the morning of Wed. June 19th until supper. (open to suggestions to increase participation)

Beyond decolonization work in anti-oppression and academic settings lies “oiher” – the dangerous, crooked, but rewarding path of reawakening our selves and reclaiming our Indigenous cultures – particularly for people of European heritage. You are invited to join this day long mini-gathering that will explore finding our ancestors and our lost sense of place, how to know our relatives and lifeway again, and most critically – the liberating process of healing our hearts and spirits so that we may find our way back to our Indigenous selves. These are powerful understandings taught using story, discussion, experiential learning, and other tools, that has the power to disturb and change your life.

Nire izena Ana Oian Amets da, esan english Naomi Archer. I’ve been decolonizing for over 13 years– reawakening connection to my proto-Basque ancestors of the area we call southwest France. I’ve been invited to share my experiences of decolonization with people from all Four Directions, including Indigenous people of Turtle Island, as well as in Europe. I’m fully immersed in Indigenous resistance struggles as an adopted and active member of the traditional Cante Tenza Okolakiciye or Lakota Strong Heart Warrior Society, coordinator for the Lakota Solidarity Project, and former co-founder of the Four Directions Solidarity Network. You can see some of my current work at LakotaGrandmothers.org. I can be reached at tzorihou@gmail.com or 828-230-1404f

Dismantling: The Divine Right of States of the Americas

From TONATIERRA:

After two days of public engagement and discussion last week, an alliance of Confederations of Nations of Indigenous Peoples of Abya Yala [the Americas] is moving forward into a continental and global process of DISMANTLING the Doctrine of Discovery as the intellectual, religious and political justification for the raison d’Etat of the government states of the Americas, and around the world.

The Alliance of Abya Yala that participated in the DISMANTLING the Doctrine of Discovery International Conference at ASU West April 19-20, 2013 is pushing forward into the process of bringing to judgment and rectification at the local-regional, continental and global dimensions the continued institutionalization of the fundamental tenets of the Doctrine of Discovery as organizing principles that drive the policies and political relationships among the states in terms of Indigenous Peoples.  In priority among the issues in need of rectification is the question of “resource” extraction, in terms of land, water, genetic material, and indigenous labor. At the conference the connection was made between how the Doctrine of Discovery and the derivative Monroe Doctrine (aka the Divine Right of States) are implicit in the criminal collusion of government states and capitalist corporations in terms of mining concessions and immigration policies of the states.  Through the premise of the Divine Right of States (aka The Monroe Doctrine), these entities continue to perpetuate the illegal and criminal violation of the fundamental Human Rights of the Nations and Pueblos of Indigenous Peoples of Abya Yala [the Americas] at the expense of the wela, the well-being of all life on Earth.

Addressing other issues implicit in the process of DISMANTLING the Doctrine of Discovery, the two day conference last week brought forward in five thematic working groups a template of interrelated themes intended to produce collective corrective strategies for action that would be driven by grassroots constituencies in proactive manner. The themes are: Youth-Regeneration; Education-Cognition; Religion-Spirituality; Law-Harmony; and Environment-Pacha Mama.

Click here to read more…

For background info on the conference, go to www.dismantlingdoctrineofdiscovery.org

New Issue!

Reblogged from Decolonization:

The second issue of our journal is now live at www.decolonization.org!

Check out the table of contents and then go read all the great work. And please share!

Editorial

Speaking truth to power: Indigenous storytelling as a form of living resistance - Aman Sium & Eric Ritskes

Articles

Savage representations in the discourse of modernity: Liberal ideology and the impossibility of nativist longing - S.

Read more… 139 more words

Decolonizing Our Minds and Actions

By Waziyatawin and Michael Yellow Bird, from the Introduction to For Indigenous Minds Only: A Decolonization Handbook:

Introduction and Background

In 2005, eight Indigenous intellectuals created the volume For Indigenous Eyes Only: A Decolonization Handbook, to offer hands-on suggestions and activities for Indigenous communities to engage in as they worked to develop decolonizing activities. Beginning from the assumption that Indigenous Peoples have the power, strength, and intelligence to develop culturally specific decolonization strategies to pursue our own strategies of liberation, we attempted to begin to demystify the language of colonization and decolonization. Through a step-by-step process, we hoped to help Indigenous readers identify useful concepts, terms, and intellectual frameworks that will assist all of us in our struggle toward meaningful change and self-determination. The handbook covered a wide range of topics including Indigenous governance, education, languages, oral tradition, repatriation, images and stereotypes, nutritional strategies, and truthtelling.

“The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.”

—Steve Biko

In this volume, a number of new Indigenous scholars, writers, and activists have collaborated for the creation of a sequel to the Decolonization Handbook. The title, For Indigenous Minds Only, reflects an understanding that decolonizing actions must begin in the mind, and that creative, consistent, decolonized thinking shapes and empowers the brain, which in turn provides a major prime for positive change. Undoing the effects of colonialism and working toward decolonization requires each of us to consciously consider to what degree we have been affected by not only the physical aspects of colonization, but also the psychological, mental, and spiritual aspects. Kenyan intellectual Ngugi wa Thiong’o, in his book Decolonising the Mind, describes the “cultural bomb” as the greatest weapon unleashed by imperialism:

The effect of the cultural bomb is to annihilate a people’s belief in their names, in their languages, in their environment, in their heritage of struggle, in their unity, in their capacities and ultimately in themselves. It makes them see their past as one wasteland of non-achievement and it makes them want to distance themselves from that wasteland. It makes them want to identify with that which is furthest removed from themselves; for instance, with other peoples’ languages rather than their own. It makes them identify with that which is decadent and reactionary, all those forces that would stop their own springs of life. It even plants serious doubts about the moral righteousness of struggle. Possibilities of triumph or victory are seen as remote, ridiculous dreams. The intended results are despair, despondency and a collective death-wish.

The planting and igniting of this “cultural bomb” by the colonizing forces has been essential to the colonization process, for if our minds are contaminated with self-hatred and the belief that we are inferior to our colonizers, we will believe in both the necessity and virtue of our own colonization. We will begin to diminish the wisdom and beauty of Indigenous ways of being and embrace the ways of the colonizers as inherently superior. When we believe in their superiority, our motivation to fight for our own liberation is splintered and eventually seriously damaged. However, we do not believe that it can be killed. That destiny lies within each of us. Still, if we accept the cultural bomb, why would we fight for something we perceive to be undesirable?

Working toward decolonization, then, requires us to consciously and critically assess how our minds have been affected by the cultural bomb of colonization. Only then will we be positioned to take action that reflects a rejection of the programming of self-hatred with which we have been indoctrinated. We will also learn to assess the claims of colonizer society regarding its justification for colonization and its sense of superiority. When we regain a belief in the wisdom and beauty of our traditional ways of being and reject the colonial lies that have inundated us, we will release the pent-up dreams of liberation and again realize the need for resistance to colonization. This volume is dedicated to facilitating the critical thinking that will help us work toward our collective decolonization.

Looking South

By T. Mayheart Dardar, The Raging Pelican

You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beast of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.  -- Psalm 8:6-8, English Standard Version

“We must protect the forest for our children, grandchildren and children yet to be born. We must protect the forests for those who can’t speak for themselves such as the birds, animals, fish and trees.”
– Qwatsinas, Nuxalk Nation

Economic crashes, global climate change, resource wars, and political instability are just some of the complex challenges facing the world’s peoples in these early years of the twenty-first century. As the governments of the world profess a desire to find solutions, we need to look beyond their rhetoric to their underlying philosophies to determine the sincerity of those professions.

The theology of dominion came to our shores with the Columbian landfall in 1492. Armed with Papal decrees that subjected the lands under his footfall to his Christian King, Columbus established the pattern for devouring the peoples and resources of the land. For Indigenous Peoples the struggle over the centuries has been to reconcile this world view with their own and to define their position in a world that saw the increasing ascension of European man and the increasing subjugation of the native world.

As the original peoples of the Gulf Coast, how do we survive as Indigenous communities in the face of the decades of wholesale destruction brought about the unchecked economic exploitation that European dominion has brought? As we still deal with the aftereffects of the BP spill and the ongoing challenge of coastal land loss, on what will we build the foundation for our path to the future?

Josiah’s Song

By T.Mayheart Dardar

In honor of Hillis Harjo (Josiah Francis), Red Stick Creek 
prophet and patriot who gave his life this month in 1818 in 
the cause of his peoples freedom.

Josiah’s Song

Rolling across the hills
Thru forest and swamp
Faint as a whisper carried on the wind
A voice from the earth
A message forged in conflict
Blood still crying of the empire’s sin

Commerce and capital
Slaves and land
Sacrifices to the god of greed and gain
Freedom and justice the legacy
Or so says the rhetoric accompanied by Sousa
Forgotten by all the First People and their pain

The message came south with a man
The light that streaked through the sky
Calling the people to unite
Those who turned rejected his plea
Seeking a place with the Watauga
But Crazy Medicine would lead the fight

Long Knife would come to devour
Those on high would stand
The Red Eagle would take to the sky
Josiah would bring the Creator’s words
Standing as warrior and priest
America would hear the Creek war cry

The battle was joined
The cause was just
But it was not difficult to see the end
The empire was expanding
The People stood in the way
The climax arrived at Horseshoe Bend

Josiah would carry on
Hillis Harjo would still bring fear
Inspiring the fighters to carry on
Treachery and the rope would be his end
But the battle for justice must continue
Till the last Red Stick is gone

T. Mayheart Dardar was born in the Houma Indian settlement below Golden Meadow, Louisiana. He served for sixteen years on the United Houma Nation Tribal Council (retired in Oct. 2009). Currently he works with Bayou Healers, a community based group advocating for the needs of coastal Indigenous communities in south Louisiana

Decolonize This!

One of our favorite shows, subMedia‘s It’s The End Of The World As We Know It And I Feel Fine, recently did an episode dedicated to decolonization. Check it out!

This Week:

1. Super SME
2. Community Self-Defense
3. Enbridge Pipeline Fenced off
4. Rio’s World Cup Cleanup
5. Hearts are stronger than bullets

**Music Break: Savage Fam Hatred**

6. Decolonize this!

Decolonizing Links:
• Intercontinental Cry
• Unsettling America
• Warrior Publications

Download MP4 HD • Download MP4 SD • Download Torrent • Download Mp3

On Being An Immigrant Kid On Stolen Land: Some Dilemmas and Contradictions

By El Machetero

“Precisely at the point that you begin to develop a conscience, you must find yourself at war with your society.” –James Baldwin.

 ”The primary difference between the western and indigenous ways of life is that we relate to and experience a living universe, whereas western people reduce all things, living or not, to objects.” –Vine Deloria

The very concept and idea that I have anything even remotely resembling any sort of right to be on these territories is a relatively new one for me.  As the oldest son of political refugees from Chile (a nation with its own definitive set of entrenched colonizer-derived contradictions) whose ancestry can loosely and lazily be described as Basque/indigenous (Mapuche/Selk’nam)/semetic (both Arab and Ashkenazi Jew)/with probably at least a little bit of African splashed in there who comes from a highly politicized background and whose family came here during what can best be described as a highly politically charged era, I grew up perhaps exceptionally conscious and aware of the fact that we had migrated and sought refuge in a parasitical culture and society built on another collection of stolen lands.

During the earlier parts of my life, my own status as an outsider from someplace far away from here served in many different regards to form my identity and view of self, as for a very long time, I felt an overpowering sense of divestment, alienation and disconnection from much of anything having to do with this place.

At the same time, because my family was not able to return to Chile (without running the great risk of ending up dead, incarcerated, and/or tortured, or some combination of all three) for the first 17 years of my life, I have only ever gone back as a visitor just passing through for a while, and as such, I was therefore not able as a child to ever develop the types of associations, attachments and connections essential on many levels to be able to wholeheartedly claim a place as “home”.

I continue to this day to struggle with the contradiction that the one place I feel I can claim at least some level of tangible ancestral connection to was almost every bit as much a distant and remote abstraction to me as well.

In retrospect, I realize now that my Chilean identity was almost entirely formed in the shadow of our whole experience of exile from Pinochet’s military dictatorship, the traumatized wartorn weariness of my family, and the solidarity movement my family and many others just like ours helped to build. Since my parents even during their most frantically pained moments at the very least knew that they didn’t want to raise a rootless and confused child, from the time of my birth, I was taught to be well-versed in our music, our poetry, our food, our social and political history, as well as many aspects of what is commonly referred to as our “folklore” .

I knew about the mountains and the oceans and the dry desert regions of the north and the lush forest regions of the south, and the “great nothing” regions of the ends of the Earth, but since it was not yet a physical/metaphysical world I had yet had the opportunity to interact with in the ways I typically felt I needed to for a connection to feel real to me as a kid, it remained a great abstraction.  As such, while it was “easy” (relatively speaking) to connect with different realities of systematized violence and oppression, for a very long time it remained very difficult for me to feel connected to any land anywhere.

The Myth of the Non-Existent Aboriginal Working Class in Canada

By El Machetero

“Native people focusing on settler colonialism sometimes don’t see how it intersects with capitalism and white supremacy. Consequently, things get articulated as sovereignty projects that really are not that great. Your sovereignty comes to be defined as economic development by any means necessary – let’s exploit the resources, let’s build a class structure within Native communities – and that ends up destroying the land as much as multinational corporations are doing. That goes against the principle of having a radical relationship with the land. And it’s self-defeating ultimately, because multinational corporations are not going to let you do what you want to do with the land because they want the resources. It ends up hurting your communities. So I think it’s critical to see where Native struggles and class struggles intersect.”

-Andrea Smith (1)

The role which Aboriginal workers have played in the building of Canada is one which is seldom acknowledged or recognized. During the rare instances when this long-minimized role and largely untold history is engaged, it brings to the light a complex dialectic concerning some of the immense contradictions inherent to any colonial situation. In these contexts, it can be reasonably argued to be in direct contravention to the survival of any subjugated peoples in question to actively contribute to the building of an empire-society which effectively requires their wholesale displacement and “removal” in order to establish and expand itself in the cancerous manner which such systems typically tend to do.

At the same time, there is no way that this paradoxical reality can diminish or remove the basic fact that such societies have also been historically most dependent on those who they oppress with the most vigor and the least remorse, nor does it even begin to resolve the simple economic fact that even those with the least to be gained from contributing to such an ongoing colonial project still have to find the means to survive within it, greatly magnifying the basic dilemma faced by all peoples living on the receiving end of predatory capitalism, where we have come to be dependent on the very things which destroy us all in order to stay alive.

Often when the subject of Aboriginal participation in Canada’s work force comes up in the mainstream, a barrage of myths of a highly racist character comes up, conjuring up essentialist notions that Aboriginal people “don’t pay their own way or pay any taxes” and are supposedly beneficiaries of all these supposed “special rights and privileges”(2), which then typically are countered by the highlighting of the greater disadvantages faced by Aboriginal peoples as a whole in Canadian society.

For Indigenous Minds Only: A Decolonization Handbook

Edited by Waziyatawin and Michael Yellow Bird

From SAR Press:

For Indigenous Minds Only features Indigenous scholars, writers, and activists who have collaborated for the creation of a sequel to For Indigenous Eyes Only (SAR Press, 2005). The title reflects an understanding that decolonizing actions must begin in the mind, and that creative, consistent decolonized thinking shapes and empowers the brain, which in turn provides a major prime for positive change. Included in this book are discussions of global collapse, what to consider in returning to a land-based existence, demilitarization for imperial purposes and re-militarization for Indigenous purposes, survival strategies for tribal prisoners, moving beyond the nation-state model, a land-based educational model, personal decolonization, decolonization strategies for youth in custody, and decolonizing gender roles. As with For Indigenous Eyes Only, the authors do not intend to provide universal solutions for problems stemming from centuries of colonialism. Rather, they hope to facilitate and encourage critical thinking skills while offering recommendations for fostering community discussions and plans for purposeful community action. For Indigenous Minds Only will serve an important need within Indigenous communities for years to come.

Contributors: George Blue Bird, Gregory A. Cajete, Ngaropi Diane Cameron, Chaw-win-is (Ruth Ogilvie), Jeff Corntassel, Scott DeMuth, Na’cha’uaht/Kam’ayaam (Cliff Atleo Jr.), Leonie Pihama, Waziyatawin, Molly Wickham, Michael Yellow Bird

Download an excerpt (PDF, 160 KB).

“This book is absolutely for Indigenous minds and spirits; a book that challenges our minds and awakens our spirits, expands our minds and allows our spirits to soar.” —Linda Tuhiwai Smith, University of Waikato, Aotearoa (New Zealand)