Decolonizing Indigenous Traditionalism

The Spiritual Ceremony of honoring a Chief with an Eagle feather Headdress and the sacredness of giving a Spirit Name where Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was bestowed the name by the Blood Tribe as Chief Speaker obviously exemplifies how we attach "Traditionalism" on to Colonial Institutions where we fool ourselves keeping ourselves oppressed by using our Spirituality or "Traditonalism" as a form of Colonization

An important and insightful article by Johnny Hawke of the northern Ontario based Anishinabek Confederacy to Invoke our Nationhood (ACTION). On a similar theme check out Jimmie Durham’s classic essay American Indian Culture: Traditionalism and Spiritualism in a Revolutionary Struggle.

“Traditionalism, the movement to restore the social, cultural, and political integrity of our communities by restoring ancient models of governance and social interaction, has degraded into a laughable form of self-centered New Ageism, a ceremonial show or smokescreen behind which the dark abuses of the colonial master on a personal and collective level continue.”

-    Taiaike Alfred in his book Wasase Indigenous Pathways of Action and Freedom

Should the uOMSA and the PCR-RCP Ottawa have Withdrawn from Occupy Ottawa?

By comrade JMP

Upon reading the uOMSA and PCR-RCP’s joint statement regarding their current withdrawal from Ottawa’s #occupy site, and spending a short period of time writing a post about red-baiting, I found myself considering the political efficacy of their withdrawal.  Since I still feel that the spaces opened by the “occupy” movement are possibly spaces that are filled with organizational potential, there was a part of me that wondered whether the abdication on the part of these comrades was correct.  As Morgan Finch rightly indicated, “in Toronto we’ve managed to defeat red-baiting by having lots of commies in the camp.”  Thus perhaps, as Finch argues from what logically follows from this Toronto context, the Ottawa comrades behaved in an “excessively pacifist” and non-militant way to the red-baiting by choosing withdrawal over confrontation.  I think Finch’s comments (which must also be noted were extremely respectful because they not only reject the red-baiting but end with the qualification that s/he respects the Ottawa communists’ decision to withdraw from a context where they are clearly not wanted) might be correct when judged in accordance to the Toronto situation; at the same time, however, I feel they open up questions regarding: a) the concrete context of Ottawa; b) the general concrete context of the Occupy Everything movement.

Why We Left Occupy Ottawa

The following is a joint statement from the University of Ottawa Marxist Student Association and the Revolutionary Communist Party of Canada’s Ottawa members/supporters regarding their experience with Ottawa’s version of the Occupy Location X Movement.  

I am posting this because the experiences of the PCR-RCP Ottawa and uOMSA are a lesson for all of us on how to deal with anti-communism, and also because there is a need for principled solidarity against such practices. I am also posting it though because there have been conscious efforts by forces in the United States, principally the Kasama Project, to misrepresent the PCR-RCP Ottawa and uOMSA on this issue. 

It is truly sad that this kind of crap is coming from a self-described revolutionary grouping. Kasama’s words and actions have been petty, opportunistic, unnecessarily hostile and sectarian. However they can, and should, be countered by actually reading and examining the positions of the PCR-RCP Ottawa and uOMSA.

Finally, the posting of this should not be taken as an endorsement of either the PCR-RCP or the uOMSA.

The War On Democracy

The War on Democracy is an excellent and eyeopening examination of the role of US imperialism in Latin America, especially as it has worked to keep down progressive democratic movements that have sought a path independent from imperialist white power. 

Justice and Jacobo Árbenz in Guatemala: 1954 Revisited

The news barely raised a murmur in the US media and the BBC covered it only fleetingly, but last week the Guatemalan government of Álvaro Colom formally apologized to the family of former president Jacobo Árbenz who was overthrown in a CIA-backed coup in 1954 and later died in exile in Mexico. The apology came after a lengthy case in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) that ended in a “friendly settlement” between the Guatemalan State and Árbenz’s heirs.

Through the settlement, the Guatemalan State recognizes its responsibility for “failing to comply with its obligation to guarantee, respect, and protect the human rights of the victims to a fair trial, to property, to equal protection before the law, and to judicial protection, which are protected in the American Convention on Human Rights and which were violated against former President Juan Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán, his wife, María Cristina Vilanova, and his children…”  

Immortal Technique – The Martyr

From Immortal Technique’s new free mixtape The Martyr

Philly Police Deny Black is Back March Permit to Maintain $80K Occupy Philly Budget

The Black is Back Coalition will hold a press conference and demonstration on Thursday, Oct 27 at 9am at Dilworth Plaza of City Hall to protest the Philadelphia City Commissioner’s decision to deny the Black is Back Coalition’s permit application to hold its November 5 march entitled “Stop the Wars! Build the Resistance!” which is planned to travel south down Broad Street from Susquehanna to Thompson.

To justify its decision, the City claims that the police department does not have the resources needed to properly “secure” the march because all of their resources are currently tied up in Occupy Philadelphia.

The denial of a permit to hold the march is a blatant violation of the Black is Back Coalition’s and the African community’s democratic and legal right to free speech given the fact that Occupy Philly and Philly Against War have both held recent marches without a “permit.” 

Underground Activists Stage Tribute-March for Ka Roger

October 21, 2011, Metro Manila – Over a thousand members of underground national democratic organizations from the Philippines’ Southern Tagalog region marched in EDSA to pay tribute to Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal, spokesperson of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

Ka Roger died of a heart attack on June 22, 2011 after serving as the national spokesperson of the proletarian party for almost two decades. He joined the CPP’s armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), during the 70s and have served the Philippine revolution ever since.

You can also read statements from CPP National Capital Region (Regional Committee), the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and CPP Central Committee.

Dear England

Libyan President Gaddafi Murdered by Imperialist Lynch Mob

Tune in to UhuruRadio.com on Sunday, October 23 at 11:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time for a live discussion on the imperialist assassination of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and the overthrow of the Libyan government. Call in with your questions and comments regarding the living conditions for the Libyan people under Gaddafi, the Libyan government’s involvement in economic development throughout the African continent, what is the background of the people in the National Transition Council and what is the role of international governments and military forces in planning and executing the overthrow of the Libyan government.)

Thoughts On the Death of Gaddafi & the Future of Libya and Africa

Yesterday in Libya the Great Satan, the imperialist white power beast, finally got its man. Muammar Gaddafi, leader of Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, was captured, injured but alive, and then summarily executed by imperialist white power’s “rebel” proxies when the town of Sirte was overrun by them. His last words were a question, “Do you know what’s right or wrong?” It should be obvious now that the so-called “rebels” only now what their imperialist masters want.

The blood thirsty white power beast had been after Gaddafi’s head since this past winter when they lost their proxies in Libya’s neighbours Tunisia and Egypt. They feared the spread of the revolutionary spirit that was sweeping across Africa and the Arab World and so they decided to strike back, painting a bulls-eye on Libya. Gaddafi’s principal crime, despite what you have heard and read in the Western media over and over again since the beginning of the assault on Libya, was that he continued to be a thorn in the side of US hegemony building projects in Africa.

Uhuru Movement at “Philly Against War / Occupy Philly” Rally

Ka Roger Leaves Perpetual Flame to Hearts and Minds of Urban Revolutionaries!

Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal, spokesperson of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), passed away in a guerrilla zone on June 22 after suffering a heart attack. He was 64. The Speed of Dreams extends its condolences to the the entire membership of the CPP, the red warriors of the New People’s Army (NPA), all Filipino revolutionary forces and the Filipino masses as mourn Ka Roger’s death.

The following statement comes to us from the CPP National Capital Region (Regional Committee). You can also check out read the statement from the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and from the CPP Central Committee.

For All Those Who Were Indian In A Former Life

The following by article by Andrea Smith first appeared in the “Cultural Survival Quarterly”, Winter 1994. Andrea helped to found the Women Of All Red Nations branch in Chicago as well as INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence. She is the author of one of the most important works in formation of my politics, Conquest: Sexual Violence And American Indian Genocide (cover to the right).

The New Age movement has sparked a new interest in Native American traditional spirituality among white women who claim to be feminists. Indian spirituality, with its respect for nature and the interconnectedness of all things, is often presented as the panacea for all individual and global problems. Not surprisingly, many white “feminists” see the opportunity to make a great profit from this new craze. They sell sweat lodges or sacred pipe ceremonies, which promise to bring individual and global healing. Or they sell books and records that supposedly describe Indian traditional practices so that you too, can be Indian.

“Occupy Wall Street” is a Crisis for the Ruling Class. Deepen the Crisis!

The International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement welcomes the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protestors into the historical struggle against the ruling class that we, as Africans, have been involved in for centuries.

This growing movement of mostly white protestors who are challenging the bankers, capitalists and the political rulers represents a reinforcement for the ongoing centuries-long struggles of African, Mexican and Indigenous people.

The undeniable fact is that colonized people have been victimized by the bankers, politicians and even ordinary white citizens ever since Europe enslaved Africans and committed genocide against Indigenous people.

Identifying the Enemy: The Ruling Class and Their Puppet Politicians

The thieving bankers on Wall Street and the corporations are the ones who control the politicians, hire the armies to occupy communities and steal the resources of the oppressed peoples of the world.