Posted by [EMAIL PROTECTED] : Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wed, 01 Dec 1999 14:30:08 -0500 From: Kahn-Tineta Horn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> WHAT IS THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE? MNN Mohawk Nation News. 29 Nov 99. Kahnawake Mohawk Territory. Kahn-Tineta Horn, President of the Canadian Alliance in Solidarity with the Native Peoples (CASNP), made the following comments at the Leonard Peltier Freedom Month in Washington DC on November 23rd 1999. Miss Horn was an Indian rights activist during the 1960’s and early 1970’s. She was involved in are the 1960’s Conference on Indian Poverty in Washington DC, the blocking of the International Bridge at Akwesasne Mohawk Territory in Upper New York State. Most recently she was behind the Canadian Army razor wires that surrounded the compound in the 1990 Oka Crisis. The Mohawk were protesting the town of Oka’s plans to expand a golf course over burial and ceremonial grounds called "the Pines" in the community of Kanehsatake. She focused on the conflicts facing those exercising the power of the people. "What is solved by keeping Leonard Peltier in jail? Who is being protected? Is it the people who go into Indian territory and shoot guns at Indian people? Why don’t they just stop them from going on native territories? Then there wouldn’t be all this conflict. What right does the outside government have to interfere in the internal affairs of an Indian nation, to put Leonard Peltier, a native nation citizen, in their prison system? "People have gone a long way since 1977 when Leonard Peltier was put in jail. Since then the International Court of Justice has upheld self-determination for Namibia in Africa. Yet they won’t do the same for the indigenous people in North America. We Aboriginal Nations need self-determination too and support from the international community, just like the Africans and Asians. "The root of the word "society" is ‘friendship’ and ‘companionship’. This concept is the basis of the Kaienerekowa, the Great Law of Peace, the Constitution of the Five Nations Iroquois Confederacy. "The Great Law is a way of life that was given to us as we saw it. It’s how we are to relate to the universe which is the way that I have tried to live". "The opening thanksgiving that we say before any meeting or event reminds us of the interdependent system of relations of all elements of the natural world which are equal. Women have powerful roles in the social, political and economic life and the people are the foundation of power. The Great Law shows us how to be directed by the inner core of our knowledge system and traditions. We arrive at an understanding of our universe through our own search and experience. "For a long time there had been bloody feuds between Iroquois nations which got out of hand. Their systems of law, order and social unity were threatened. According to the Iroquois, the Great Law was meant to bring peace between not only the Iroquois but everyone, a United Nations of people who united for peace, with each maintaining their own customs, laws, culture, language and identity. "The Iroquois Confederacy became a powerful force during the colonial period of North America. Its basic principles were adopted as the basis of the Constitution of the United States. The basic criteria when deliberating an issue is peace, righteousness and power. The will of each person is the most precious part of the individual, and all efforts are made to preserve and strengthen the will. No one has a right to subject another’s will under them. Different parts of the Great Law must all work together so the people can function communally in their best interests. "The man who brought the Great Law to the Iroquois, Dekanawida, saw a giant spruce tree reaching into the sky, symbolizing the sisterhood and brotherhood of all human beings. After a great deal of suffering and environmental catastrophe, Dekanawida’s message will return and the Aboriginal people will be greater than ever before. "Society cannot be held together by force. There can be no friendship when some are forced to be under the control of others. As long as one is dominating the other there can be no real society based on friendship or companionship with a minority culture. "The use of law implies the use of force. The use of force is wrong. How can we be a free and democratic society if we are being forced to behave in a certain way by threats of violence such as fines, jails, confiscation of possessions, denial of rights or death. Keeping Leonard Peltier in prison symbolizes the use of force which means there is no society in such a nation. "The Great Law was made on this soil. For those born here that which is made here is better for them. That is why the original people and the prophets in North America have valuable knowledge that sustained them for so many generations. The Indigenous peoples society was so attractive that the ancestors of the newcomers were willing to leave their families in the old country to live here. They left Europe because they had lost touch with nature and basic human values. Those human values they found so attractive are described in the Great Law. "The paradox is that in one sense people have adopted the principles of the Great Law and in another sense they don’t know they have it or they don’t fully understand it. "Recently the United States affirmed that the Iroquois Constitution influenced the United States Constitution which influenced modern international law and the United Nations. The roots of modern international law came from the Great Law, so its messages of peace should be carefully studied and fully understood to improve modern international law. "In our way everyone talks together as equals. The autonomy of each is recognized and respected. The people have the power and the leaders are their spokespeople. The Confederacy structure is not hierarchical. It is a series of circles within circles with a process to form relations between each segment of society. The most important is the individual, surrounded by a circle of the family, then by the circle of the clan, then by the circle of the community, then by the circle of the national entity and then finally by the international entity. Each segment is autonomous and independent. Sovereignty begins with the individual, and all people are recognized to be free, from the youngest to the eldest. Liberty and equality demand great moral fortitude, and it is the nature of freeman to defend freedom. It means that neutral third parties agreeable to both sides have the responsibility to encourage rational thought and behaviour between two contending parties, to bring them towards a consensus, not domination. The tyranny of the majority is a product of modern democracies which is contrary to the basic philosophy of the Great Law. In Europe the king made decisions. In North America local councils made decisions. Here everyone has a right to exist, to have space. No one has a right to take more so that another has less. "The decolonisation process that started with freedom of African countries has not been completed because the Indigenous peoples of North America are not free. Just because we are Indigenous people and a minority does not mean we have no right to our resources or control over how we live. "Leonard Peltier was supposed to have killed two FBI agents. There is doubt about this. A chronic perception in North America is that native people are breaking the laws of the dominant groups. What is really happening is that the dominant group is encroaching on native jurisdiction. If people would respect each others space and jurisdiction and allow native people their own jurisdiction, they would get along peacefully. All would be stronger. As women we know that we have a better relationship with men when we are strong. Men relate better to stronger women. Strong women create a stronger society. One dominating the other does not make a strong society. "In Wampums 5 to 11of the Great Law each nation keeps control over its own affairs, its dealings with other nations. Violence is provoked when dominant groups try to control minority cultures. The smaller the culture the harder they will fight to survive. "The international community has an important role to play. When a dispute between the dominant and minority cultures cannot be resolved to their mutual satisfaction, according to the rule of law, it should be mediated by a neutral third party. The issue cannot be taken into the court of one of the parties, usually that of the dominant culture. The conflict should be judged by a external neutral court that is not subject to pressure by the dominant culture. A culture cannot dominant a minority culture for any reason. Each has a right to form their own group and identity. Indigenous people were here when the newcomers moved in and took everything from the original culture. They learned some valuable things from Indigenous cultures but not how to relate to the natural world. "The Two Row Wampum principle, no matter their size, traveling the river of life in their own canoe or ship with their own culture, language and laws, is embedded in the Great Law and is basic to international law. It recognizes the independence of separate jurisdictions of different nations. It also recognizes that separate nations have to share the same space, that people have a freedom to remain with their own nation. "According to the Great Law if you don’t agree then you don’t change things. This is a basic rule in international law where you don’t use force. "In the case of Leonard Peltier, Canada and the United States violated international law by refusing to recognize his nation and its jurisdiction. Peltier was denied a hearing before an impartial third party and was tried by one of the parties to the dispute, the United States justice system. They’ve used the rule of force so there was no neutrality. A fundamental principles of survival is that anyone who is attacked has a right to defend themselves. All those FBI needed to do was to pick up their guns and go away. He was on his native territory and there was no reason for those deaths to happen. "The native people helped the Europeans get back to their own roots. Unfortunately they took a quick look at the Great Law and did not take time to reflect on its basic premise. Had they understood it and conditioned themselves to live according to its tenets, they would not have to waste all their tax money keeping Leonard Peltier and others in jails, buying guns and ammunition and risking their lives to keep people under control. "As a women of the First Nation I would appreciate it if they would stop attacking our men. Why can’t the newcomers be man enough to support their own families without making a huge industry out of hurting us? They are attacking men who are there to defend their families, their people and their possessions. They invade the little bit of land that is left to Indigenous people. When are good decent people worldwide going to defend these small nations that have been colonized and overwhelmed by colonists? When will the international community stop the punishment and killing of our warriors like Leonard Peltier and so many others. People have almost forgotten what it is to be public spirited and to sacrifice their lives for other people. "The Great Law is not learned. One is conditioned to it. It is not thou shall not do this or that. It is a method of getting together to solve things in equality and respect, to use consultation and consensus and not force. We are asking the international community to help the colonial cultures understand that we will all be stronger if we respect each others autonomy. We should be talking and working together, not fighting each other. "Otherwise racism will continue. Why don’t our small nations have the rights of other small nations like Litchenstein and Monaco? At this moment why is it that the Mic Mac and Oneida Nations won their cases in the dominant system and still can’t exercise their hard won rights because they are being threatened by non-native mob rule backed by who knows who. The international community should not tolerate this. "A weak society will collapse if their ability to use force is taken away. In fact people will come together a lot easier without force when they use their full energy to work together instead of against each other. Why are they afraid of talking together once the guns are buried? In North America the dominant group has to stop mistreating their own people so that these people will stop mistreating the Indigenous peoples. "The Great Law is a law of this land and we should be proud of it. Remarks by Kahn-Tineta Horn, President Canadian Alliance in Solidarity with the Native Peoples (CASNP) Box 991, Kahnawake Mohawk Territory (Quebec, Canada) J0L 1B0 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 450-635-9345 Fax 450-635-9351 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Join CASNP, see website - http://users.cyberglobe.net/~casnp
