Warriors complete 20+ stop Tour against 2010 Olympics
Two Warriors from the Native Youth Movement (NYM) have just completed a 20 stop speaking tour against the 2010 Winter Olympics planned to be held in unceded Coast Salish Territories (Vancouver/Whistler, british columbia, klanada).
They travelled through Mohawk, Annishinabe, Algonquin, Seneca, Cayuga, Penobscott, and Wampanoag Territories. They went to Sharbot Lake and heard of the Struggle against Uranuim Mining, to Tyenindega and heard of the Struggle against the continued invasion into their territory and occupation to close down a rock quarry, to Kanawake and heard about the european invasion surrounding their community, Akwesasne fighting Home Land Security invading their Territory trying to lock down the fake boarder that runs through their community and to Six Nations and there fight against illegal development on their land.
They went to 11 major cities (so-called Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton, Windsor, Peterborough, Ottawa, Portland, Boston, MA, Binghamton, NY Ithica, NY, Guelph,) and various Native communities. NYM were Nation building, networking, and making alliances to Unite our Struggles for Land, Freedom and Life and Survival. Kanahus Pelkey of the Secwepemc/Ktnuxa Nation, and Dustin Johnson of the Ts'mksiyen Nation represented their respective Nations proudly and did the much needed groundwork to gather support against not only the 2010 Olympics but for the Native Liberation Movement in so called 'north amerikkka'. In the last week of the tour NYM members from the Mohawk and Annishinabe Nations joined their west coast comrades to spread the word and show that Warriorz are United East to West, North to South. Thanks to all those who made this possible.
The Native Youth Movement is part of the Zapatista's Other Campaign and are in full Alliance and Agreement with its Principles and Objectives, and just as our Zapatista brothers and sisters travelled the Land to Unite Native Nations, and supporters alike, we are doing the same in the North. Our Fight for life is the same, we must stop the destruction of Mother Earth, nothing can survive without Clean Air, Food, and Water.
We must call on the Natural Powers to defeat the enemy--Red People Unite, let us all be of one Mind. Indigenous Peoples join the Native Liberation Movement.
Solidarity with the Thaltan Peoples defending the sacred Headwaters from Shell. Solidarity with the Mapuche Warriorz behind Enemy Lines, and those in the Mountains. Solidarity with the Goldcorp 7, and all Mayan people fighting against evil Klanadian Mining companies on their Land. Solidarity with our Brothers and Sisters in the last jungles of the Amazon who are fighting Miners, Mercenaries, Soldiers and Pigs, you are not forgotten, your Warriors are Powerful, never believe the white man. Solidarity with brother and Sisters, of Atenco and Oaxaca, we will win. Solidarity to all Zapatista Warriors and Communities, you are a beautiful example for all Red Nations, Solidarity to those on the Longest Walk from Alcatraz to Washington D.C. Solidarity with the Kuna Youth Movement, and the Youth of the Peaks, all Young Warriorz, the future depends on our actions, let us Unite.
Solidarity with Natives fighting 2010 celebration in so-called 'jalisco mexico'. Solidarity with the Western Shoshone fighting gold mining and nuclear testing on their land, Solidarity with the Lakota fighting for the Black Hills, Solidarity with the San Francisco 8, the Prisoners of Conscious Committee, Black August Organizing Committee, MOVE, and all African Warriors Fighting, Hands off Assata. Solidarity with the Six Nations Struggle, the Warriorz in Tyenindega, and the Warriorz at Sutikalh, and most importantly we pledge our Allegiance with all the Trees, Animals, Plants, Hurricanes, Tornados, Tsunamis, Earthquakes, Floods, Lightning, Blizzards, Fires, Sun, Air, Moon, Stars, and all that contributes to Life.
Free Leonard Peltier, Free John Graham, Free Aaron Patterson! Free Imam Jalil Al-Amin! No Uranium Mining in Sharbot Lake! No to Gallore Creek Mine! No Mine in kamloops! No mining in Guatemala! No Mining Mother Earth! Shut Down Sun Peaks and Revolstoke ski Resort!! No ski resort in Sutikalh (Melvin creek) Save the Headwaters! Boycott Shell! No Olympics on Native Land! We won't stop until we win! Warriorz Unite!
Native Youth Movement Communications
Native 2010 Resistance
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Check out the following news from No 2010 Tour
Photo Essay: http://photos.cmaq.netv/no2010/
Canadian Press
MONTREAL - Kanahus Pellkey says if natives have their way, the 2010 Winter Olympics will not be all fun and games.
She and Dustin Johnson, two members of the Native Youth Movement from British Columbia, brought that message to Montreal Thursday.
"The world is not welcome to our territories," Pellkey told reporters during a news conference held at the Olympic Stadium, the main site of the 1976 Summer Games.
"This is all stolen land, here as well as on the West Coast."
Pellkey pointed out that her father attended the opening ceremonies in Montreal in 1976 to also protest against the Olympics.
The pair say they are visiting Central Canada and parts of the United States to raise awareness about opposition to the Olympics in Vancouver and the negative effects of holding the Games.
"We're travelling around bringing awareness to the issue that indigenous people are continuing to fight for their land and freedom," she said.
Pellkey said natives also are calling for an international boycott of the 2010 Olympics and all corporations that are involved in sponsoring the events.
"The Olympics are about money, the corporate sponsors are about money, everything is about money, but native people remain the most impoverished people in the land."
She and Johnson have already visited a half-dozen native and non-native communities in Ontario and plan to be in Ottawa on Friday.
The Native Youth Movement also says the construction of infrastructure for the Olympics is adding to extensive destruction of traditional homelands of the local indigenous peoples.
Marcel Sevigny, a Montreal housing rights activist, said what is happening in Vancouver brings back memories of what occurred in Montreal before the 1976 Summer Games.
"The occupation of native land in British Columbia by organizers of the Olympics reminds me of the scandals that took place in Montreal where several hundreds of families were forced out of their homes because of the Montreal Olympics," he said, referring to expropriations that took place to get land to build facilities.
Sevigny said he wasn't surprised real estate agents and promoters were trying to make a big profit to the detriment of the local population and natives in British Columbia.
"Here in Montreal (in 1976), it was to the detriment of very poor families in Montreal who were trying to find lodging. . .it seems to be the same thing, Olympics after Olympics."
Original article at: http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jwpN1E6HIQ7kKdukuNKfFA2vP0...
:::AUDIO:::
NATIVE RESISTANCE TO DISRUPT OLYMPICS DEVELOPMENT
Two indigenous warriors spread message to shut down the 2010 Olympic Games
by David Parker
CKUT Community News Collective
Feb. 3rd, 2008
Click here for mp3 audio file:
http://www.ncra.ca/business/admin_ncra/progex/programFiles/53/No_Olympic...
+++++++++++++++++++
Although development is well underway for the 2010 Winter Olympics in
Vancouver and Whistler, Native and non-native resistance has made a
significant impact on business as usual.
Two Native warriors from West Coast territories came to visit the Great
Lakes and East Coast region of so-called Canada on a tour to spread the
message of their resistance efforts and to gain solidarity and support
from Native and non-Native communities.
On January 31st, Dustin Johnson and Kanahus Pellkey brought their
info-tour to Montreal. "The issues are land and freedom. This is what we
are fighting for, and we are letting the world know it is not welcome to
our territories." Pellkey declared.
Johnson described the tour as "a collective resistance to 2010,
representing a diversity of social struggles. The corporate media
cheerleads the Olympics without knowing the real story behind 2010."
The Olympics are scheduled to be held on sovereign indigenous nations and
territories, un-ceded to the BC government. 2010 development is
contributing to loss of territory and resources, a marked increase in
homelessness, poverty and debt; further ecological destruction, corporate
invasion, and the imposition of a 2010 police state.
RCMP are warning that 175 million dollars will not be adequate to cover
security costs at the Olympics. During the Games, over 10,000 police,
military and security personnel will occupy Vancouver and Whistler.
"The games are pushing people to a certain limit of survivability."
Johnson said of his people. "2010 is giving them a death sentence," so of
course they "are resisting by any means necessary."
Pellkey appealed to native and non-natives for a unilateral boycott of
2010 funders.
"We are calling for international boycott of Olympics and 2010, for a
boycott of the corporations behind it, visa, royal bank, General Motors,
General Electric, Coca-Cola, and others."
The tour was also an attempt to involve Great Lakes and East Coast
indigenous nations to the struggle on the West Coast. "We are also doing
this tour to unite indigenous brothers and sisters." said Pellkey. "We
visited Tyendinega, Sharbot Lake, Kahnewake and other communities. We have
got commitments from the people that they will come out for our massive
convergence, Feb. 10th to 15th, 2010, to disrupt the Olympics any way we
can. We are going to make it so elite don't have fun and games at
Olympics."
Despite Native resistance, the Olympics are nonetheless being welcomed to
Native territories by the four host nations, who are working with the
Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic games, VANOC. Dustin
Johnson explained the co-optatation of native governors and the class
struggle faced by native communities.
"VANOC and the BC government have bought off chiefs and governors."
Johnson said. "Only small aboriginal elite will benefit from the games
and from the corporate interests. This is the enemy we are up against. So
you see it's not just a racial issue, it's a class war. And we have a
common enemy and a common struggle."
One social woe that is normally part of an Olympic Games is the
prostitution. In Seoul 1988, there was increased prostitution for the
Games. In the Athens Games of 2004, 40,000 prostitutes were brought in
from Asian countries and elsewhere.
"We already have 500 Native women missing. 73 murdered in Vancouver's
downtown east side." said Johnson.
Community Garden, by Sara Falconer
"What differentiates the growing anti-Olympic mobilizing from earlier demonstrations in Seattle, Quebec City and elsewhere, says Johnson, is
that its leadership is primarily indigenous - "the people that are most affected by what 2010 represents."
It's a tough sell: How do you get Canadians, many of whom are diehard Dream Team fans, to say no to the 2010 Winter Olympics
in Vancouver?
According to native youth Dustin Johnson, people can be swayed if they
know what's at stake. "People are really curious," he says. "A lot of
people, especially in Ontario, only have a superficial understanding of
2010 and what it means." Johnson is travelling across Eastern Canada,
along with Native Youth Movement spokesperson Kanahus Pellkey, to expand
that understanding.
Native Youth Movement, which has joined forces with anti-Olympics groups,
worries that the Games will wreak havoc on British Columbia's finances,
natural resources, and poor and indigenous communities. Over 30 per cent
of Vancouver's growing homeless population is indigenous, despite the fact
that they account for only 2 per cent of British Columbia's overall
population.
Corporate sponsors of the 2010 Olympics include oil producers and
transporters like Petro Canada and TransCanada, as well as military
manufacturers General Electric and General Motors.
What differentiates the growing anti-Olympic mobilizing from earlier
demonstrations in Seattle, Quebec City and elsewhere, says Johnson, is
that its leadership is primarily indigenous - "the people that are most
affected by what 2010 represents."
In October, 1,500 indigenous delegates from around the world met in
Sonora, Mexico. They released a statement officially denouncing the Games
and encouraging indigenous people to travel to
Vancouver for the massive demonstrations that are planned for February 2010.
It's difficult, Johnson acknowledges, to raise a sense of urgency around
an event that is still two full years away. But CSIS and other Canadian
law enforcement agencies are already paying attention. CSIS raised the
possibility that the upcoming protests could get "violent" in its annual
report, which was submitted to Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day in
July. (A declassified and heavily censored version of the report was
obtained last week by the Canadian Press under the Access to Information
Act.)
Groups including the B.C. Civil Liberties Union quickly responded with
concerns about the infiltration of non-profit and protest groups by
Canadian security agencies. And that's not mere paranoia - the RCMP was
caught red-handed using rock-wielding agent's provocateurs at a
demonstration in Montebello last summer.
The Anti-Poverty Committee, which has led a series of headline-grabbing
demonstrations against the Olympic planning committee, went so far as to
call it the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit (V2010-ISU) - "the
public face of the police state." V2010-ISU combines members of the RCMP,
Vancouver Police Department and the Canadian Forces, and tens of millions
of tax dollars have been earmarked for miles of security fence and
high-tech surveillance toys.
As activists, Johnson and his tour mate are used to the heat. Pellkey was
previously jailed for protesting the use of Secwepemc lands for the Sun
Peaks ski resort. "We're well aware of what the state apparatus is like
for security," Johnson explains.
As many as 10,000 police and military personnel are set to patrol the
Games and demonstrations.
"Even the most moderate, conservative person will find this disturbing,"
says Johnson.
Their 20-city tour of the Great Lakes and East Coast stops in Ottawa on
Friday. To learn more, visit www.no2010.com.
No Olympics on Stolen Land! Great Lakes and East Coast Speaking Tour will
take place at Carleton University (Unicentre, room 282) at 5 p.m.
Native youth protest 2010 Olympics
Warriors embark on speaking tour to denounce impact of Vancouver Games
By Sam Bick
News Writer
The 2010 Olympic games will occur on unceded indigenous land.
The 2010 Vancouver Olympics rapidly approaching, indigenous groups in Canada are protesting that the events – to be held on unceded Salish, St'at'imc, and Squamish territory – will wreak environmental and social destruction.
Activists Kanahus Pelkey and Dustin Johnson have embarked on a three-week speaking tour across the East Coast and Great Lakes entitled "No Olympics on Stolen Land" to illuminate the threat. The two visit Montreal's Native Friendship Centre tonight.
"By having the Olympics [outside Vancouver], it opens our land, our sacred sites, our medicine grounds," Pelkey said.
"All these big corporations are going to see the potential in our land, and we want them to know that our land is not for sale," she added.
Pelkey, a spokesperson for the Native Youth Movement (NYM), explained that NYM is opposing the Olympics not only because of unresolved land claims issues, but also due to the threat the Olympics poses to the local land and low-income communities in the city.
Sun Peaks Ski Resort recently completed a $284-million expansion project that, according to Pelkey, has destroyed land off of which many indigenous people live.
"Sun Peaks Resort has violated our basic human rights, and there have been more than 70 arrests of native people who want to prevent the expansion or take back the land," Pelkey said.
Johnson claimed that the impending games have created infrastructure that is ripe for corporate expansion into traditional land.
"There is an infrastructure being created for 2010 that will result in the further destruction of mountains and valleys that are traditionally Salish, St'at'imc, and Squamish territory. They are creating infrastructure to attract corporate businesses and large real estate operations," Johnson said.
"The Olympics have brought a destruction of the natural world and a dehumanization of the people."
In Vancouver, anticipation of the 2010 Olympics has led to rent increases and the transformation of low-income housing into upscale condos. Johnson noted that hundreds of people have been evicted from low income housing since 2003.
"It has created a more sterile, white, corporate environment," Johnson said.
Chiefs selling out
The official web site of the 2010 Olympics claims that the "Vancouver Olympic Committee's goal is to achieve unprecedented Aboriginal participation in the planning and hosting of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games."
The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (VANOC)'s closest partner in this effort is the Four Host First Nations, a group of local chiefs, but Angela Sterrit, a member of the International Indigenous Youth Network, said the Four Host First Nations were not representative of indigenous people in the region.
"These sell-out chiefs are in it for the money, not for the people," Sterrit said.
"There is a big difference between political consent and ceremonial blessings."
Pelkey agreed.
"The majority of the traditional indigenous people will not vote in this system; they refuse to respect it. We have our own system that the government does not respect," Pelkey said.
Many natives were incensed when VANOC unveiled the Olympic logo and mascot. Sterrit explained that the logo, based on the Inuit inukshuk, was not created by indigenous people.
"It bastardizes indigenous cultures and mocks our people. That is evidence about how VANOC views indigenous peoples and cultures," Sterrit said.
The speaking tour comes after over a year of actions and protests aimed at shedding light on indigenous concerns with the Olympics. Last February, indigenous groups protested the three-year countdown celebration. In October, 1,500 indigenous people attended the Gathering of the Indigenous Peoples of America in Mexico to declare a public rejection of the Olympics.
Native groups also plan to protest the two-year countdown celebration next month.
"They'll never stop us. The spirit that our people have, and the knowledge that this is our land, is something that they cannot take away," Pelkey said.
The "No Olympics on Stolen Land" speaking tour stops in Montreal tonight at 6:30 p.m. at the Native Friendship Centre, 2001 St. Laurent.
No Olympics on stolen native land! --
On January 31, 2008, two native youth warriors active in organizing against the scheduled 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver/Whistler visited Montreal as part of an awareness-raising tour of the Great Lakes and East Coast. They spoke at a press conference at Montreal's Olympic Stadium, as well as at a public talk at the Native Friendship Center of Montreal. On this month's show, we hear from Kanahus Pellkey of the Native Youth Movement, and Dustin Johnson of the Ts'mksiyen Nation in "British Columbia".
Press conference excerpts from the Olympic Stadium recorded and produced by Dave Parker of the CKUT Community News Collective. Kanahus and Dustin's talk at the Native Friendship Center recorded and produced by Charlie O'Connor of the CKUT Community News Collective.
"This is about land and freedom like any other struggle in the world. We're calling for an international boycott of the Olympics." -- Kanahus Pellkey of the Native Youth Movement (NYM)
"This is not just a racial struggle, but a class struggle as well. We have to unite to confront the common enemy."-- Dustin Johnson, Ts'mksiyen Nation
For more information:
www.no2010.com
http://harrietspirit.blogspot.com
http://nooneisillegal-montreal.blogspot.com/2008/02/2010media.html
NYM Communications
NATIVE YOUTH MOVEMENT
FIGHT FOR LIFE
WARRIORS UNITE FROM ALASKA TO ARGENTINA
