Decolonize: NOW! Gathering of the Drums

CONTINENTAL INDIGENOUS SOLIDARITY ACTION PLANNED AT CANADIAN CONSULATE IN PHOENIX, ARIZONA

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

 

Phoenix, AZ – Taking heed of the call for solidarity and spiritual strength as Nations of Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island, an alliance of Indigenous Peoples of Abya Yala and concerned community members will stage a ceremonial solidarity action this week in to coincide with the surging international movement ignited by Attawapiskat First Nation Chief Theresa Spence and the Idle No More Movement in Canada.

Chief Spence began a fast of protest on December 11, 2012 in demand of a meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Governor General David Johnston representing the Crown of England and First Nations leaders to address the call for respect for Treaty Rights of the Indigenous Nations.

  

The solidarity action in Phoenix will take place:

Wednesday January 9, 2013

 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM

Canadian Consulate

2415 E. Camelback Road

Phoenix, AZ

As part of the response to the call for Ceremonial Solidarity, the event in Phoenix will call upon Northern and Southern traditional drums to join share with the Heartbeat of Mother Earth, and give public and peaceful expression of the Rites of Indigenous Peoples, as is affirmed in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the UN General Assembly on September 13, 2007.

The action at the Canadian Consulate in Phoenix is the second time that such activities have been organized at the site by Indigenous Peoples.  In November of 2011, a delegation of Indigenous Peoples of Mexico delivered a position statement to the Canadian government concerning the issues of TERRACIDE and Genocide against Indigenous Peoples that have been exacerbated by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which includes Canada, the USA, and Mexico.  Specifically the systemic violations of Free, Prior and Informed Consent under the North American Free Trade Agreement which the three governments of Canada-US-Mexico operate under is viewed as criminal government-corporate collusion to the detriment, illegal exploitation and expropriation of the Natural Resources and Labor of the Nations and Pueblos of Indigenous Peoples of the entire region. 

Going back to the Wounded Knee '73 conflict between the Lakota Nation and the US Government that sent the Traditional Chiefs to the UN to demand recognition, respect, and implementation of the 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaty, the current scenario and Indigenous Uprising of Idle No More presents similar concerns, but in a new context.

Ceremonially, our Mother Earth traverses the Universe of the Four Directions in a traditional way of understanding, that is not a stance but a dance:  a Sacred Movement.  According to the counts of days, moons, seasons, years, generations of dreams and memories where these understandings are archived through the Drumbeat of Mother Earth: January 9, 2013 in the Gregorian calender marks completion of the first twenty days fulfilled since completion of the 13Baktun Maya on December 21, 2012.  A Hueycempohualli (Baktun) is a day count of the Olmeca-Tolteca-Maya-Azteca-Izkaloteka that is 144,000 days in extension, both past and future simultaneously.

A core issue across the entire hemisphere is the acknowledgement, respect, and protection of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as articulated in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted by the General Assembly on September 13, 2007.  The UN Declaration specifically addresses the Indigenous Peoples as “Peoples, equal to all other peoples”....... with Treaties Equal to All Other Treaties.

Links:

Idle No More
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Background:
Breaking Down the Indian Act
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Royal Commission Report on Aboriginal Peoples
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HUMAN RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
United Nations Study on treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements
between States and indigenous populations

Final report by Miguel Alfonso Martínez, Special Rapporteur

UN Study on Treaties