Very good CBC Radio [regional] one hour call-in today, going on at the same time as a major community meeting at Elsipogtog.
Fracking blockade chaos
Check out this interview clip: http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/ID/2412962477/
Its a supportive municipal official also trained as an observer in the military.
txs kens
..great discusion re the breadth of the support for the blockade. i would have liked to hear more talk re: the military might brought to elsipogtog
Is Elsipogtog the spark that will light the fracking fire?
Yesterday, Canadian Ministers were attending the World Energy Congress, delivering keynote speeches. BC Minister of Natural gas non-disclosure, Rich Coleman, was in attendance, amidst negotiations for one of the world’s largest energy deals – destined to frack northeast of BC in ways we have never seen before.
Canadian Natural resource Minister Joe Oliver told the Congress that Canada expects 650 Billion US dollars worth of investment in the energy industry. We are at the Centre of the international fracking boom and most Canadians dont know it. It is literally like being in the eye of the storm.
And then it happened.
Elsipogtog
http://commonsensecanadian.ca/elsipogtog-spark-will-light-fracking-fire/
Submedia Video: Showdown At Highway 134 - Mi'kmaq Anti-Fracking Blockade (and vid)
http://warriorpublications.wordpress.com/2013/10/20/submedia-video-showd...
"RCMP raid and Mi'kmaq resistance in New Brunswick"
Canada Anti-Fracking Protests: First Nations Confront Harper Government
http://www.globalresearch.ca/canada-anti-fracking-protests-first-nations...
"This week's anti-fracking protest has put Canada's First Nations at the forefront of Canada's political life, injecting spirit back into our moribund political scene..."
Start of Elsipogtog Solidarity March in Vancouver, CST
video
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/video/start-elsipogtog-solidarity-march-va...
.......
London, England via @FOEyoung on Twitter
friggen billy madison supporting #elsipogtog @adamsandler pic.twitter.com/0OLHpOXBBV
Some of my friends on Facebook who unfortunately think Sun News is the truth (It isn't, it's more editiorial opinions from the right wing point of view) have been posting stuff from them. Anything you can pick out from these?
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/2755140661001#.UmVgSLXK_BI.facebook
New Brunswick support: Most northern solidarity protest in Iqaluit
Joining APTN from outside the Iqaluit RCMP detachment
...........
New Brunswick support: Peaceful protest at the Highway 45
Outside Toronto people from the Alderville First Nation held a peaceful highway demonstration all in support of the people in New Brunswick.
Breaking: Judge lifts injunction against Elsipogtog fracking protest
New Brunswick Justice George Rideout declined today to extend an injunction against members of the Elsipogtog First Nation who have been protesting exploratory activities for fracking on their territory.
A video posted on facebook following today’s hearing shows several Mi’kmaq people, having just exited the courtroom, rejoicing over the judge’s decision. “There is no more injuction on the people who have been named or the Jane and John Does of New Brunswick,” one woman tells the camera.
A short-term injunction issued by the court on Oct. 3 to a subsidiary of Texas company SWN Resources resulted in last week’s heavy-handed RCMP raid of a peaceful Elsipogtog protest camp – provoking outrage and supportive rallies across the country last week.
According to CBC:
In the minutes leading up to the ruling, shale gas opponents, many from Elsipogtog First Nation, were drumming and singing in the courtroom and hallway. The court building was also crowded with supporters of protesters arrested on Thursday during a confrontation between RCMP and shale gas opponents in Rexton, N.B.
Justice Rideout declined to give a reason for today’s decision but will be issuing a written statement.
http://commonsensecanadian.ca/breaking-judge-lifts-injunction-elsipogtog...
..important point of view
Grand Chief: Unite in face of Elsipogtog, Harper ‘War on Mother Earth’
video & some text
quote:
Phillip, the president of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, told the crowd of a thousand, ”We are heading for a watershed moment in this country” – suggesting that Harper’s “petro-power” agenda to “sell out the resources of all Canadians” is coming to a head with First Nations and Canadian citizens.
What we witnessed yesterday – the brutality of the RCMP, the heavy-handed, para-miniltary response to a peaceful protest was a message…sent to British Columbia. It was a message sent to all of us here that when the Harper government vetoes any notion on the Joint Review Panel – to approve the pipeline projects, the natural gas developments, liquified natural gas exports to Asia and other countries – the Harper government is telling us this is what we may expect, that type of brutal response from the RCMP.
http://commonsensecanadian.ca/VIDEO-detail/grand-chief-unite-face-elsipo...
''
I would like to know what the missing other half of this photo shows.
RCMP sniper pointing at crowd of youths now at #mikmaqblockade #Elsipogtog #IdleNoMore
I've been looking at this picture.
I find it odd the RCMP seem to have a unit that wears the same camoflage pattern as US and Canadian Special Forces (Special Operations)
The velcro patch is something you would generally find on a military uniform where soldiers flags, unit identifiers and other patches go.
It's also interesting how the sniper is holding the rifle in his right right shoulder with his right hand yet his pistol is holstered on his left side.
Breaking: Judge lifts injunction against Elsipogtog fracking protestNew Brunswick Justice George Rideout declined today to extend an injunction against members of the Elsipogtog First Nation who have been protesting exploratory activities for fracking on their territory.
Justice Rideout declined to give a reason for today’s decision but will be issuing a written statement.
can't wait to read it. and YES!!! it's not illegal to protest!!!!!!!!!
Apparently the judge did say in court that there did not seem to be a reason for extending the injunction becuase SWN had both taken its equipment away and was not currently operating.
Sounds so simple an obvious.
So here is where we stand in the power game.
Even the government cannot tell SWN not to operate for some length of time. They can only ask. That said, the Premeir has talked about at least a week's breather. Elsipogtog was talking about a month.
At a minimum, SWN has to stay away for a while. For all intents and purposes, they might as well still be blockaded.
When and if they choose to operate again, it is back to square one for them. The injunction against specific activists being in the area is gone. And if there is another blockade, it will take them a while to get a new injunction... still burning money with everyone and everything on idle, more money on legal costs...
The community puts a lot of people into looking for the equipment. It must be well hidden, and definitely not working. The crews may even have gone home indefinitely.
..i suspect it was less a matter of law and more a matter of the outrage expressed by folks everywhere. it threatend to create an uprising far beyond elsipogtog.
..what you said ken.
Elsipogtog regroups as chief ponders new anti-fracking leadership
The Mi’kmaq-led opposition to shale gas exploration in New Brunswick continued to regroup Monday, moving into a new phase which could also bring new leadership to the ongoing struggle.
The movement was buoyed Monday afternoon after a Court of Queen’s Bench judge ruled against a Houston-based energy company that was seeking an indefinite injunction against an encampment along Route 134 in Rexton, NB.
The judge said the injunction was no longer needed because trucks belonging to SWN Resources Canada had been freed following an RCMP raid on the encampment Thursday.
The encampment had been blocking the company’s trucks in a compound. The RCMP acted last Thursday, one day before an interim injunction was set to expire, sweeping onto the site with dogs and camouflaged tactical units, arresting 40 people and seizing three rifles, ammunition and crude explosive devices....
Fracking Indigenous Country - by Macdonald Stainsby
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/10/22/fracking-indigenous-country/
Big Green, Sun Media and Elsipogtog
"Only when community resistance speaks truth to power, as has been witnessed in Elsipogtog for the last several days, can the voice of democracy be heard - and when it is heard, it speaks with more clarity and simple truth than capital can handle."
New Brunswick fracking protests are the frontline of a democratic fight
The image of burning police cars played endlessly on the evening news. Television and talk radio blared out reports of "clashes" between police and indigenous protestors. Last Thursday in New Brunswick near the Elsipogtog First Nation, we were told the government had enforced an injunction against a blockade of a US shale gas company. There was nothing about the roots of a conflict years in the making. An appeal to the stereotype of indigenous violence was enough: once again, the natives were breaking the law; the police had to be sent in. Catching the headlines, Canadian could shake their heads and turn away their gaze.
But smoke and flames from police cars can only hide the truth for so long. The exact chronology is not yet settled, but this much is clear: on Thursday morning someone in government sanctioned the Canadian police to invade a peaceful protest site like an army. In a dawn raid, snipers crawled through the forest, putting children and elders in their cross-hairs. Police carried assault rifles and snarling dogs, and sprayed tear gas and shot rubber-type bullets. The result was predictable: shocked and enraged people, a day ending in chaos....
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/oct/21/new-brunswick-frackin...
A girl plays the drums as she sings a traditional First Nations song during an anti shale gas demonstration in Montreal in support of the Mikmaq people of Elsipogtog First Nations in New Brunswick.
Elsipogtog: Unity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DKaM7EGtjY
This video is posted to emphasize the solidarity and unity between First Peoples, Acadian and Anglophone communities within New Brunswick, who have united in their opposition to shale gas exploration and stand for a sustainable future for future generations. Here, you will see the round dance around the SWN "thumper" compound immediately after Elsipogtog Chief Aaron Sock's press conference, held at the blockade site on Treaty Day, October 1. Each community is represented at the encampment. Members of each community also visit us daily and provide good cheer, supplies and other support. Furthermore, *each* community was represented at the first meeting with the Premiere and each will continue to be represented at future discussions. Video filmed by Christian Peacemaker Teams- the Aboriginal Justice Team.
............
Elsipogtog Frack Off
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmH4irplxqw
Protect our lands our people and our spirits.
Elsipogtog Protest: We're Only Seeing Half the Story - by Leanne Simpson
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/leanne-simpson/elsipogtog-racism_b_4139367....
"....Our bodies should be on the land so that our grandchildren have something left to stand upon."
Operation Frack Off in Elsipogtog (and vid)
Anonymous seeks information
Overview of RCMP Deployment Against Mi'kmaq Blockade, Oct, 17, 2013 (and vid)
http://warriorpublications.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/overview-of-police-t...
"Brief overview of RCMP deployment, units, weaponry and tactics."
Fracking The Mi'kmaq: Guess Who Owns Southwestern Energy?
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.ca/2013/10/fracking-mikmaq-guess-who-owns.html
"Guess who are among the top owners of Southwestern Energy:
Philip Morris, Verizon, AT&T, Century Link, Comcast, Facebook, Google, Nike, Starbucks, Exxon, Chevron, Walmart, Macdonalds, Walt Disney, Apple, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, more..
Tell them to divest, to dump their investments!"
69% of Nova Scotians support continued ban on fracking
Only 15% want ban lifted.
We commissioned this poll to go along with the one that got the NS election results bang on.
Fracking The Mi'kmaq: Guess Who Owns Southwestern Energy?http://bsnorrell.blogspot.ca/2013/10/fracking-mikmaq-guess-who-owns.html
"Guess who are among the top owners of Southwestern Energy:
Philip Morris, Verizon, AT&T, Century Link, Comcast, Facebook, Google, Nike, Starbucks, Exxon, Chevron, Walmart, Macdonalds, Walt Disney, Apple, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, more..
Tell them to divest, to dump their investments!"
more of a question is who owns those companies? i know some. it should be the shareholders from the parent companies who should divest!!!!! not going to happen though peeps too racist and too into their portfolios.
..nice ken. everywhere you go no one wants fracking.
.............
The Minister of Aboriginal Affairs on the New Brunswick protest
video
..........
Price tag from shale gas protest expected to exceed $500K
video & text
It will be awhile before police know the total cost of Thursday’s conflict between shale gas protesters and RCMP officers, but they do know it won’t be cheap.
The cost of replacing the six burned-out RCMP vehicles alone will be in excess of $300,000.
“I certainly can say that it is going to be significant,” says RCMP Const. Jullie Rogers-Marsh....
http://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/price-tag-from-shale-gas-protest-expected-to-...
On October 17, 2013, Amanda Marie Polchies, a member of the Elsipogtog First Nation, was among hundreds protesting a fracking project outside Rexton, New Brunswick. Her image has since become a symbol of that movement's efforts.
First Nations warn Harper's zeal for resources makes the Elsipogtog protest part of a wider struggle
First Nations’ frustrations with government are nearing a boiling point where confrontations are increasingly likely to turn violent, B.C. aboriginal leaders warn.
In a telephone interview, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip told the Georgia Straight that recent clashes between RCMP officers and First Nations members in New Brunswick are part of a struggle shared by aboriginal people across Canada.
“I think Prime Minister Harper has done an incredible job provoking a conflict between the economy and the environment,” the president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs said. “It’s shaping up to be a war between oil and water. And it applies to the eastern part of this country as well as British Columbia.”.....
http://www.straight.com/news/514501/first-nations-warn-harpers-zeal-reso...
i love the picture put it on my facebook the day after the violence by the crown upon those Peoples whose land it is.
..i agree quizzical great pic!
.........
quote:
Khelsilem Rivers is a community organizer with the Skwxwú7mesh Nation who has worked with the Idle No More movement. Like Phillip and Hill, he also voiced concerns about the growing possibility of violence between First Nations groups and Canadian law-enforcement agencies.
Rivers lamented that for years, Canada's aboriginal people have known that the federal government regards their protest movements as illegitimate. He recounted how in 2007 the public learned that the military was using a counter-insurgency manual that listed Native groups alongside international terrorist organizations. More recently, Rivers continued, the RCMP used the Elsipogtog incident to denounce First Nations’ protests as a threat to public safety.
“It’s a tactic that’s meant to separate supporters from each other and try to create dissent, as well as a level of doubt within the Canadian public,” he said.
http://www.straight.com/news/514501/first-nations-warn-harpers-zeal-reso...
.........
quote:
"The BC RCMP responded to an interview request with an email stating its officers are impartial and uphold the law."
http://www.straight.com/news/514501/first-nations-warn-harpers-zeal-reso...
[/quote]
BC RCMP 'Crisis Management Team' Meeting, Gustafsen Lake 1995
"Smear campaigns are our specialty" - Peter Montague, RCMP BC Media Liason
Beware, as with the MSM, they still are..
Amanda Polchies, the woman in iconic photo, says image represents ‘wisp of hope’
It’s a picture that has been viewed around the world.
And helped define the events of the raid on an anti-fracking barricade in Rexton, New Brunswick last week.
It’s a photo of a Mi’kmaq mother kneeling in front of a line of riot police.
MNN: Was Fix In For Mi'kmaq Warriors At Elsipogtog?
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.ca/2013/10/mohawk-nation-news-was-fix-in-for.html
"Journalist Miles Howe was at the anti-shale protest at Elsipogtog throughout. He stood with the grassroots people and the warriors.
Read his intriguing coverage of secret behind-the-scenes intrigue of RCMP, US Forces, cops, band council, UN and other advisors, AFN helpers, pacifists and other visitors.
Signs point to some having prior knowledge October 17th was 'take down' day..."
Same old same old ...
'Len strongly feels that there is a small group, 6 warriors, that will not give up - it will require the killing of the hardliners.' RCMP Notes, Sept 1, 1995 Gustafsen Lake
http://sisis.nativeweb.org/gustlake/pamphlet.html
We Are Not Alone
A few things are clear from the events of the past week. The first is that we are not alone. The Mi’kmaq who are standing against fracking for natural gas in Elsipogtog do so not just with the courage of their own convictions but also with support from places diverse in geography, culture and ethnicity.
Social media have made it much easier to reach across time and space. We are connecting with our Native relations from the Mohawks to the Lakota, but also the Paiute, Ojibwe, Kumeyaay and hundreds of Native people familiar and unfamiliar to us all. We may not form an ever-ready unified military force, but that is not where our strength will ever be—nor should it.
Our strengths are in each of the territories or regions that we live. For some, it is seizing the moment to take our own stand on a parallel issue that strengthens the fight for each. For others, it is simply using whatever field of play we find ourselves in to raise awareness, make a statement and build support.
As I wove the information on the raid at Elsipogtog into my previously arranged interviews in Albany, N.Y. on public radio and cable news, I was surprised at the interest that was piqued.
And as I listened to public radio on my drive back across the state from Albany to Cattaraugus, I was moved by an interview with a local non-Native elected official in New Brunswick who said,
“God bless the First Nations.” This gentleman went on to describe how municipal leaders had voted almost unanimously for a moratorium of shale gas exploration in New Brunswick because of their concerns with hydrofracking....
http://tworowtimes.com/opinions/columns/lets-talk-native/we-are-not-alone/
Mi'kmaq Anti-Fracking Update: Two Warriors Released on Bail, Four Others Remain in Jail
http://warriorpublications.wordpress.com/2013/10/25/mikmaq-anti-fracking...
"We are there for our Mother Earth. We're not there to uphold politics. Politics this, politics that, no way. Just say no, and no means no.'..."
anyhow distractions aside....i came to see if there were posts on the ownership plaques going up yesterday.
Mi'kmaq Band Council is urging its members to reclaim all Crown land in the midst of the shale gas dispute in New Brunswick.A "reclamation day" is scheduled for Saturday, Elsipogtog First Nation Warrior Chief John Levi told CBC News on Wednesday.
"Since the premier is not taking care of the land properly, we will take care of it ourselves," he said.
"Right now the government is jeopardizing our water," he said, referring to plans to develop the shale gas industry in the province and ongoing exploration by SWN Resources Canada. "What's next? That’s the most sacred thing, you know. Water is life. Without water, there is no life."
Mi'kmaq will be staking their claims to become stewards of public land in their territory by putting up plaques under the authority of the chief and grand council, said Levi.
"Are they [the provincial government] going to recognize it, or are they going to fight it? It's up to them," he said.
couldn't find any reports for after the fact in a search but i know they put 'em up!
"distractions aside"?
ps more on plagues
First Nations Say Reclaiming Crown Land a 'Desperate' Move
http://news.ca.msn.com/local/newbrunswick/first-nations-say-reclaiming-c...
"Members of the Elsipogtog First Nation will begin reclaining parcels of land in Kent County on Saturday by placing plagues on Crown land but an aboriginal law expert says it will be a symbolic exercise with no legal consequences.
Kenneth Francis says plagues will be placed on 50 seperate 100-acre lots which will be staked off..."
Indigenous Elders: No Time Left To Defend the Earth
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.ca/2013/11/indigenous-elders-no-time-left-to.html
"Indigenous Elders and Medicine People said there is no time left to defend the Earth, while AI said Canada is to blame for a police attack on Mi'kmaq defending the land from fracking.
The Indigenous Council said future life on Earth is threatened..."
"distractions aside"?
oh nothin to see here.....same old story same old song and dance my friend.
loved loved loved this
The Indigenous Council said future life on Earth is threatened.“The Fukushima nuclear crisis alone is a threat to the future of humanity. Yet, our concern goes far beyond this single threat. Our concern is with the cumulative and compounding devastation that is being wrought by the actions of human beings around the world. It is the combination of resource extraction, genetically modified organisms, moral failures, pollution, introduction of invasive species and much much more that are threatening the future of life on Earth.”
Read Indigenous Council’s statementhttp://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2013/11/indigenous-elders-and-medicine-peoples.html
Good quizzical, yes they're right - sure hope there's more attention/action paid. Some scientists think it's gone beyond the threat stage..
http://rabble.ca/babble/activism/climate-change-and-near-term-human-exti...
Telegraph Journal Editorial Supports Cardy's Call For Negotiations to Begin When Unlawful Acts of Protest End
Do NOT vote for these people..
Telegraph Journal Editorial Supports Cardy's Call For Negotiations to Begin When Unlawful Acts of Protest EndDo NOT vote for these people..
what a goof he is...i just can't wrap my mind around his uglier than shit words. maybe he should bone up on some history and then he might realize all of the Atlantic provinces are really not the property of the colonizers. there's no land treaty with the Mi'kmaq
unless this guy is shut down by the NDP federally and called out Ms May just might have my vote next election!
Telegraph Journal Editorial Supports Cardy's Call For Negotiations to Begin When Unlawful Acts of Protest EndDo NOT vote for these people..
what a goof he is...i just can't wrap my mind around his uglier than shit words. maybe he should bone up on some history and then he might realize all of the Atlantic provinces are really not the property of the colonizers. there's no land treaty with the Mi'kmaq
unless this guy is shut down by the NDP federally and called out Ms May just might have my vote next election!
Here's the original NB NDP news release.
Disappointed to hear this "rule of law" crap from the NDP
[i] FREDERICTON ¬ The New Brunswick New Democratic Party is calling on Premier Alward to immediately order the end to all road blockades before starting meaningful consultations with First Nations communities on the development of the shale gas industry.NB NDP Leader Dominic Cardy said, "We echo the call of the Assembly of First Nations Chiefs to avoid violence on both sides. At a time when our province desperately needs investments and jobs companies will be watching to see if the risk of doing business in New Brunswick is too great. We need the Premier to take a stand, to defend the rule of law in our province, make sure our children can go to school and our goods get to market without any interference."Cardy stressed that the peaceful end to the blockades is only the first step in a lasting resolution to this conflict.[b] "Once the rule of law is enforced on our province's roads the same respect for the law must be applied to our legal responsibility to consult with First Nations," Cardy said. "The government has a broader political responsibility to consult with the people of our province and I hope recent events make the government realize that this issue needs further discussion, and a decision to be made in an election."-30-For media please contact Mike Girard at [email protected] or (506)999-6431 [/I]
[/b]
Prelude To the Raid - by Miles Howie
http://halifax.mediacoop.ca/story/prelude-raid/19596
"Interview with Warrior Society District chief suggests Irving owned security, RCMP, engaged in pre-October 17th charge trumping.
According to Augustine, from one side of their mouths RCMP negotiators spoke of peace, offered gifts and agreed that it was ISL security who was the incendiary side of the equation.
All the while, however, a series of pre-raid charges, which still hang over numerous members of the Warriors Society were being laid against them."
Anonymous: Private Security, RCMP and Military Executed Attack on Mi'kmaq
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.ca/2013/11/anonymous-private-security-rcmp-and...
"ANONYMOUS knows why the RCMP will neither confirm or deny that the Canadian military had forces on the ground in Elsipogtog on Oct 17...
#OpFrackOff will continue until the warriors are freed, the lawsuit is dropped, and a democratic referendum on fracking is held."
Telegraph Journal Editorial Supports Cardy's Call For Negotiations to Begin When Unlawful Acts of Protest EndDo NOT vote for these people..
what a goof he is...i just can't wrap my mind around his uglier than shit words. maybe he should bone up on some history and then he might realize all of the Atlantic provinces are really not the property of the colonizers. there's no land treaty with the Mi'kmaq
Yes, enough of this ndp 'rule of law' blather, especially given its grotesque perversion to commit high crimes of usurpation, fraud, constitutional treason, ecocide and genocide. NDP = no difference party. And just in case Cardy or other naifs should wish to 'bone up on some history', or law, here's a start:
Identification of the Conflicted Relationship Between the Indigenous Nations and the Legal Profession in North America: Bruce Clark
http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/01/an-identification-of-the-conflicted-re...
"...Since my traditional government never agreed by any treaty to be governed by your government, why does your legal system apply your government's laws to me on my indigenous nation's unceded national territory?"
Contact For media please contact Mike Girard at [email protected].
For Our Nations To Live, Capitalism Must Die - by Glenn Coulthard
http://nationsrising.org/for-our-nations-to-live-capitalism-must-die/
"The question I want to explore here, albeit very briefly, is this: how might we begin to scale-up these often localized, resurgent-land-based direct actions to produce a transformation in the colonial economy more generally?
Said slightly differently, how might we move beyond a resurgent Indigeous politics that seeks to inhibit the destructive effects of capital - to one that strives to create indigenous alterations to it?"
Cardy, as most must know, is a Blairite.
SWN returning to thump Wednesday: Elsipogtog War Chief
SWN Resources Canada is planning to resume its controversial shale gas seismic exploration work on Wednesday, according to Elsipogtog War Chief John Levi
Levi said SWN’s lawyer Michael Connors, who is a partner with East Coast law firm McInnes Cooper, met with several dozen people from Elsipogtog First Nation and the surrounding communities late Sunday afternoon.
Levi said Connors told the people that SWN would withdraw a lawsuit against several community members if the Houston-based firm was allowed to finish its exploration work unimpeded.
“We said no, we are going to be there,” said Levi, in an interview with APTN National News. “What we told him was we are going to be there Wednesday.”
The meeting was held at a longhouse erected at an anti-fracking encampment used over the past summer. The area sits off Hwy 116 near Elsipogtog First Nation.
Connors told the people in the longhouse that SWN would be working for 14 days and warned them not to block the company’s movements or they would face violence....
First: They Value Differences and Rather than Suggest they be Erased
Genuine allies know that when people claim their differences within the social hierarchy of “white male heterosexual able-bodied” power, such as an Indigenous person or a person of colour, within the context of challenging the oppressive power structure, that this should not be perceived and argued as being divisive and thus disruptive to the larger goal and needed solidarity. Genuine allies know we are only humans within relationships of good social mirroring and affirmation of who we are and how we feel. This includes recognizing our differences with the context of a common goal rather than erasing them.....
Second: They Respect the Exhausting Energy of Structural Oppression
I have found that some people who live closer to the top of the social hierarchy and who thus embody and live with more privilege, are unable to critically think about and thus really appreciate the incredible amount of intra-psychic energy required for a less privileged person to navigate the structural and institutional oppression inherent in our society.
For example, an Indigenous person or person of colour is forced to dedicate a large quantity of their consciousness navigating structures and institutions built primarily by white people with white people in mind. This is similar to women’s situation, in particular Indigenous women and women of colour – again they are forced to dedicate an additional large quantity of their consciousness to navigating the oppressive structures and institutions built primarily by white men for white men. Further, persons with disabilities are forced to dedicate yet even more intra-psychic energy to the process of navigating structures and institutions built primarily by able-bodied white men for able-bodied white men. Of course the same can be said for all people who exist outside the heterosexual normative as well as transgendered people....
http://www.lynngehl.com/2/post/2013/11/two-things-genuine-allies-know.html
Idle No More group in Akwesasne protests fracking
About a dozen people from an Idle No More group based on the Akwesasne Mohawk reserve are marching today against shale gas exploration.
They blocked the Seaway International Bridge, also known as the Three Nations Bridge, connecting Cornwall, Ont. and Massena, NY for about an hour early on Saturday afternoon.
The group gathered to raise public awareness about the dangers of fracking, the process used to extract gas from the earth by injecting fluid into shale rocks to release the natural gas inside.
The demonstrators also wanted to show solidarity with the Mi’kmaq protesters in Rexton, N.B., where tensions exploded three weeks ago after the RCMP tried to dismantle a blockade set up by protesters....
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/idle-no-more-group-in-akwesasne-p...