A Successful Re Launch! A Re-cap on Concerning Violence

Yesterday, February 18^th 2018, Anti Colonial Action Ottawa held a movie screening of Concerning Violence, a documentary based on Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth and following struggles for national liberation in Africa.

Our Concerning Violence movie screening was a large success for us, having surpassed our expectation. The event drew many people to it and we ended up filling the space we had available to us. This gave us a great opportunity to present a revolutionary indigenous political position and give out our litterer made by Anti Colonial Action and organizations that support us.

This event was also our re-launch of our organization, before the movie screening two members of Anti Colonial Action gave a short talk on what our group is, what we stand for, and how we became a group. This was followed by a reading of our statement released the same day in honor of Louis Riel and the Metis Rebellions, this statement is called “On the Commemoration of Louis Riel” and can be found here: https://acaottawa.wordpress.com/2018/02/19/on-the-commemoration-of-louis-riel/

After the showing of the movie we broke into a guided conversation and group discussion on topics raised by the film. Questions such as: What was the general thoughts of the movie and the political positions shown? What can we learn from these experiences and how can we apply them to the conditions and context of Canada? And What aspects of these experiences cannot be translated into the Canadian context or what differs from our context?

The room lit up bright with conversation and ideas on revolution and anti colonialism here in Canada. Thinking and talking on what we can learn from national liberation struggles in Africa while also reflecting back on the heroic struggles indigenous people waged here. Many people shared personal experiences with racism in Canada, knowledge on the reservation system here, and ideas of how indigenous people can over come and defeat colonialism here.

There was a lot to be learned from this night and from the people who spoke. We would like to thank every single person who shared their thoughts and personal stories with us that night, red salute!

A special thank you goes out to the Carleton Food Collective for letting us use their Garden Spot as the location of our event. We would also like to thank them for the fantastic food they provided us!

Anti Colonial Action Ottawa

 

On the Commemoration of Louis Riel

February 19th, 2018

During the lifetime of great revolutionaries, the oppressing classes constantly hounded them, received their theories with the most savage malice, the most furious hatred and the most unscrupulous campaigns of lies and slander. After their death, attempts are made to convert them into harmless icons, to canonize them… and to hallow their names to a certain extent for the “consolation” of the oppressed classes…

A year ago, the Office of the Prime Minister released a statement proclaiming that it celebrates “a man who envisioned and fought for a more diverse and more inclusive country.” What these statements want you to forget is that it was this very same office that ensured the execution of Louis Riel. Under the orders of John A. Macdonald, Riel’s trial was moved from Winnipeg—where he had the right to a 12-person jury, and where, because of the presence of sympathetic francophones, a guilty verdict might not have been unanimous—to Regina, where he was found guilty by an all-white jury of six anglophone Protestants and hanged. Today, lawyers can prevent Indigenous people from serving on juries by means of something called a “peremptory challenge,” and racist murderers like Gerald Stanley walk free. These two episodes are part of the same history of colonial-capitalist violence, one in which the killing of Indigenous people is effectively legalized.

What do we celebrate on Louis Riel Day? Politicians will claim that we celebrate “Métis culture and heritage.” They will pay lip service to a struggle for “minority rights.” They will hold up Riel as a “hero of French Canada,” in an attempt to maintain a tired political dogma which says that the primary contradiction of Canadian political life is the divide between English and French. Meanwhile, the undisguised reactionaries will attempt to erase the accomplishments of Riel by dismissing him as “insane.” In all these ways they try to obscure the true significance of Riel and his struggle.

The story of Riel then, and of Colten Boushie now, illustrates what so many Indigenous people already know intuitively: that we have rights, but that these rights mean nothing so long as the fulfillment of these rights is guaranteed by a colonial government that first and foremost serves the interests of housing developers and resource extraction companies. We know that Canada has “officially adopted” the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We know that Canada has enshrined the “protection” of Indigenous rights in its constitution. But the right to food is still an empty bowl, as Brewster Kneen has correctly observed. The right to water is still children poisoned with mercury. The right to equal protection before the law is still being beaten by the pigs and left for dead on the outskirts of town. We have rights, but these rights mean nothing when they are in conflict with the property rights of capitalists. And these two are always in conflict.

As the Cree chief Big Bear once said in an 1884 meeting of chiefs at Fort Carlton:

I have been trying to seize the promises they made to me; I have been grasping but I cannot find them. What they have promised me straightaway I have not yet seen the half of it. We have all been deceived in the same way.

In 1884, Indigenous peoples had rights too. It was the reason for the meeting at Fort Carlton: the healthcare negotiated in treaty had not been provided; the education negotiated in treaty had not been provided; the food negotiated in treaty had not been provided; they protested too that the land had been sold without their consultation. How familiar are these grievances today!

The story of Riel and the 1885 Resistance is thus precisely not the story of a struggle for rights, and it is for this reason that this story is so dangerous. It is, as Frantz Fanon so accurately summarized it over 50 years ago, a story of the struggle for bread and land: “how can we obtain the land, and bread to eat.” Riel’s struggle was an organized armed struggle against the state; non-violence meant famine, assimilation, forced relocation, death. Non-violent protest means the same today.

There are, however, still lessons to be learned from the historical experience of 1885: the failure to establish a united front between First Nations and Métis people allowed the colonial government to divide and conquer; Riel’s rejection of Gabriel Dumont’s protracted guerrilla strategy illustrated the problems with a leadership more concerned with symbolism than the long-term material interests of the masses.

On Louis Riel Day, you will likely hear his now famous quote: “My people will sleep for one hundred years, but when they awake, it will be the artists who give them their spirit back.” It is less likely you will hear the following quote:

O my Metis people! You complain that your lands have been stolen. Why, how can it be that you have not yet recovered them? You hold all the cards, you are strong enough. All you have to do is take your lands.

This is the watchword we must take up again today. We cannot wait for the “reforms” of a colonial government any more than we can trust the comprador Indigenous politicians who tell us to wait for these reforms. There is no reforming a system built on, and sustained by, ongoing conquest and genocide. We hold all the cards. We are strong enough. All we have to do is take our lands.

UPHOLD THE LESSONS OF LOUIS RIEL

REJECT COLONIAL NON-VIOLENCE

Anti-Colonial Action – Ottawa

Concerning Violence Movie Screening

Join Anti Colonial Action Ottawa for a movie screening of Concerning Violence, a movie based off of Frantz Fanon’s influtial book The Wreched of the Earth.

Concerning Violence is a documentary that follows a film crew in different African countries while wars for national liberation are taking place. It shows the horros of European colonial society and the struggle to destroy it. Interviews with anti colonial fighters and organizations give us a look into why they are fighting. The documentary is to the back drop of Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/dIQwKP3j1zc

The movie screening is being put on as our relaunch of Anti Colonial Action Ottawa and a short talk on “What Is Anti Colonial Action Ottawa” will also take place.

We would like to thank our friends at the Garden Spot for lending us the space to put on this event, red salute!

This evevnt is taking place on unceded Anishinaabe Algonquin land.

Accessibility note: the building has some steps before the door to get in.

“Colonialism is not a thinking machine, nor a body endowed with reasoning faculties. It is violence in its natural state”

– Fanon

When? February 19th at 5:30

Where? 329 Bell st South

Facebook event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/170238103591584/?ti=cl

Our First Years of Work and a Call for Moving Forward!

This document is being written by Anti-Colonial Action as an attempt to shed light on our work in Ottawa, to have a critical look both at what we have created and where we did not achieve our goals. We recognize that we have not published anything concerning what we have been doing, what has been going on, and even whether or not we are still active. We understand that this leads to a lot of questions, and makes it unclear what Anti Colonial Action has done and has not done. The purpose of this document is to shed light on us, our work, our shortcomings, and why things have gone the way they did. We are also calling for the reconstruction of our group so that we can build on our foundational work and move forward with Anti-Colonial Action in Ottawa.

Though not completely successful in our work, we are still incredibly proud that we were able to put forward the politics we have so far, that we could build the organization we did, and that we still dare to struggle!

All documents referenced here will be linked at the end of this work.

 The Founding of a Truly Anti Colonial Organization: Our First Months

Anti-Colonial Action – Ottawa (ACA) was founded and began its work in the summer of 2016. This was the first attempt by revolutionary Indigenous people in Ottawa to self-organize a radical alternative to the liberalism that held down the Indigenous movement in the city. We grew from our disappointment with Indigenous leaders in the activist community. We grew from a realization of their betrayal to us and to Indigenous liberation.

The first aspects of work that we took on was officially creating Anti-Colonial Action. This entailed the creation of regular public meetings, discussion groups, and our founding document “What Is Anti-Colonial Action Ottawa?” For us, we needed to create our group and start building a working relationship with our comrades in the group. We took on promotions along with our public meetings to try and reach out to other Indigenous people in Ottawa. We set out to rallies and events in Ottawa to leaflet, to speak to people, and to show that we now existed. We also engaged in the creation of political posters and images online that reinforced a militant indigenous position. Though we received positive comments and feedback on the production of our agitational art, our recruitment efforts in Ottawa had limited success due to our group’s disorganization.

A major project that members of Anti Colonial Action took on was the creation of our understanding of colonialism on our land. This conception is outlined in our document “Decolonization Is Revolution!” Though a limited analysis, it was an important first attempt at understanding our situation, and it showed a serious intent to move our struggle forward and to put forward a concrete political position. Our intent was always to go back and edit the document on topics that we neglected.

With the creation of our organization, we also started an official communications line with another Indigenous group in Ottawa called Decolonize Cap City. We wanted to create unity with one of the few Indigenous organizations in the city not led by a NGO, but led by Indigenous activists. We did not however want unity for unity’s sake. We wanted political unity grounded in a struggle over the positions and outlooks of the two groups. Unfortunately, we were not successful in this process, mostly due to the political positions expressed in our founding documents. Individuals in Decolonize Cap City felt unable to unite with these positions.

While this was the case, both organizations were contacted by a local and well-respected Indigenous author to organize a speaking event for them. Both Anti-Colonial Action and Decolonize Cap City agreed to work on this project. What was needed for this event was steep for a speaking event. What was asked of us was unlike other events with which organizers had experience. Although we thought that what was asked was too much given our organizational capacities, we tried our best. As time moved on, it was clear to us that we were the only ones putting work into this event. Decolonize Cap City was not lifting their weight. Due to this, our group not being able to take on both sides of the tasks, we had to back out of organizing the event.

When in the Fall we came to the end of our first few months of our creation, it was becoming clear that the organization was going to have go on hold. The main factor in this choice that was voted on at our last meeting of the year was the lack of time organizers had for Anti-Colonial Action. Main organizers in Anti-Colonial Action were also heavily involved in other fields of work in Ottawa, ranging from the student movement to the anti-fascist movement. These commitments to other areas of work in the city were the main factors in the break. These other commitments lowered capacities for Anti-Colonial Action.

This ended our first period of activity in Ottawa. This first period of our existence did not turn out the way that we wanted. We had our sights set high for ourselves in our work. We wanted to serve our people and build a movement. We were not able to reach the capacity to do anything more than our meetings, the creation of our political documents, promotion, and attempts at organizing. Though not being able to live up to our expectations, we are still incredibly proud of ourselves for our work and for the creation of our organization.

Decolonization is Revolution! But Is It Really?

The point of our document “Decolonization is Revolution!” was to present a position on what the national struggle for colonized peoples actually means and what it actually requires. Many identify the idea of national struggle with the struggle for “decolonization.” The idea of decolonization is a popular one in many Indigenous communities. It is also popular with academics, and with many postmodernists in the so-called “Left.”

Although we do not oppose decolonization as such, we have identified three tendencies that must be combated when it comes to defining what decolonization means and what it does: 1) the academics and the postmodernists; 2) the class collaboration nationalists; and 3) the utopian traditionalists.

“Decolonization,” as put forward by postmodernists and academics, concerns itself with decolonizing identities, ideas, and spaces (a vaguely-defined project that often leaves white bourgeois ownership intact). This translates into a subculture alien to the masses, one that grows and festers in universities especially. The “revolutionary” actions taken by these types are normally workshops, social media posts, and public outcry against any organization doing work that doesn’t align with their campus-based politics.

More important, however, are the Indigenous nationalists who support “decolonization.” Like the above-mentioned postmodernists, these traditionalists flatten the contradictions in the Indigenous population and struggle. The struggle of Indigenous workers is equated with the struggle of the Indigenous bosses and corrupt politicians. This leads to a class collaboration position that gives power to the aspiring Indigenous bourgeoisie. The hard core of the Indigenous proletariat and their allies are pushed out and abandoned to continued exploitation. The only difference is that Indigenous workers come to be exploited by Indigenous capitalists wielding the correct “decolonial” terminology.

This nationalist tendency is very often bound up with the traditionalist tendency. A popular sentiment from these traditionalists is wanting a way back to old ways and old times. This misunderstands the nature of colonialism. Colonialism has forever changed who we are as peoples and how we move forward. The scar is made and there is no going back to a past mode of production. No matter how hard we try, capitalism is here, and it has left its mark.

What all these tendencies have in common is the inability to truly bring about a national liberation. Their political line either advocates doing nothing, or a dead end for the struggle. Anti-colonialism without socialist revolution, without the struggle for a classless and stateless society through the rule of the working class, will only bring about neo-colonialism. We can see how anti-colonialism without socialist revolution leads to neo-colonialism in countless historical examples. These include the anti-colonial struggles in Africa from the 1950s to 1970s, as well as the failures of Red Power in Canada and the return to reformist “recognition-based” politics.

In “Decolonization is Revolution!” Anti-Colonial Action set out to draw a line of demarcation between these strategic dead ends and ourselves. We theorized that colonialism began with the birth of modern industrial capitalism in Europe and that it would not end without a revolutionary struggle for national liberation and socialist revolution.

If we are serious about anti colonialism, then we need to recognize that a struggle for national liberation is a fight, and not just the creation of phony “Indigenized” spaces (a process that is often commodified and co-opted by the State). The primary aspect of national liberation is a material one. Neglecting this class question only brings neo-colonialism.

Though an attempt was made, we missed our mark and were not clear. Decolonization in not revolution in itself, national liberation is part of the revolution in a settler-colonial society but this is not the end. Class struggle continues even after the initial national struggles. Liberation, and thus revolution, continues. Revolution is when one class overthrows the old ruling class and commands all aspects of society. In capitalism, this revolution is one of the working class against the capitalist class, the outcome being socialism. Socialism becomes the rule of the working class, the mobilization of the masses in class struggle until our end goal: communism.

The revolution is one of class against class. We as Indigenous peoples already struggle against the settler-capitalist State, but we must also struggle against our own comprador and bureaucratic bourgeoisie. After national liberation, the suppression of our class enemies within our nations, along with all other class enemies, will better guard against neocolonialism. This revolution is also a cultural one. Through our struggle, a new revolutionary culture develops, a culture embracing the progressive aspects of our cultures while rejecting the ideas and practices of the old reactionary culture.

“Decolonization is Revolution!” understands that colonialism won’t end unless we make it end. It is a call to action for both Indigenous revolutionaries and the revolutionary settler population. It is a call to defeat the contradictions in society. It is a call to destroy capitalism, colonialism, and imperialism. It is nothing less than a call to destroy the old world.

The Break is Over: Back to Work!

In the following spring, just before May 2017, we started our second period of work in Anti-Colonial Action. During this time, International Workers Day (May Day) was being organized. This year the Revolutionary Communist Party, through a coalition called Anti Capitalist May Day, organized May Day to focus on anti-colonialism, and building links between the radical Left and the movement for Indigenous national liberation. Organizers from Anti-Colonial Action supported this organizing effort and played an instrumental role in its success.

With this work, we made good connections with Indigenous activists from Ottawa and Toronto, including the main speakers at May Day. Because of this experience and the good relationships we made, Anti-Colonial Action and its supporters conducted a small demonstration on Parliament on May 24th. This demonstration was about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW). At this demonstration, supporters gave speeches and held banners in support of Indigenous liberation. This was a small event that had little to no organization involved

Fuck The 150th! ACA’s Anti-Canada Day Actions

During the 150th birthday of Canada’s confederation, the Revolutionary Communist Party made a call for a coalition to conduct anti-colonial actions on July 1st, Canada Day. This went along with the Revolutionary Communist Party’s campaign called “Fuck the 150th!”

Anti-Colonial Action united with this call for action against Canada’s 150th and the celebrations of colonial genocide that would be taking place. A public statement of support for the coalition was created by Anti-Colonial Action. This document was called “FUCK THE 150TH! A CALL FOR ANTICOLONIAL ACTIONS IN OTTAWA, JULY 1ST.” The coalition that was created was made up of many different activists in Ottawa: anti-colonial Indigenous people, communists, anarchists, and others. Groups like the Revolutionary Student Movement, the Revolutionary Communist Party, Ottawa Against Fascism, Anti-Colonial Action, and the Ottawa Panhandlers Union united and took part in our actions on the first.

Many meetings took place in preparation, and through them we heard plans for an action in Ottawa being led by the Bawating Water Protectors, an Indigenous organization from outside of Ottawa. With this information, we sent organizers from the coalition to take part. The coalition backed and supported the efforts made for this event.

The action came to be called “Reoccupation” and the work we did was one of support for it. We provided transportation for elders and tipi polls. We provided supplies for the water protectors who were sleeping on the hill. We brought people and banners. We used the platform we had with the “Fuck the 150th” campaign to live stream the action, and to document the actions

taking place during the Reoccupation. We took part every day and night of this action, and we are proud of the work done there, by us and everyone else there.

Everyone left this action with high hopes, proud of what was accomplished. Unfortunately, this would not last, as an uneasy unity broke down.

A Case of Snitch – Jacketing By Pork Chop Nationalists

For a full and in-depth explanation of this case, please look to the response of the Revolutionary Communist Party. Their document on this case is called “Ottawa Reoccupation and State Repression – Against Snitch-Jacketing!” To not rewrite what we do not have to, this will just be a short over view of what happened.

Coming out of our work in the Reoccupation, an organizer with Anti-Colonial Action (who is also a supporter of the Revolutionary Communist Party) was targeted by an Indigenous activist in Ottawa. A smear campaign was started, and unfounded accusations of being a cop or a snitch were leveled. This soon also expanded to calling organizations like the Revolutionary Communist Party and the Revolutionary Student Movement snitch or cop organizations. This ostensibly started because of a Vice News article that stated that the RCMP used social media to keep the Reoccupation under surveillance. The RCMP specifically feared the Revolutionary Communist Party making connections with the Indigenous movement, and the struggle toward a United Front of Workers and Oppressed Peoples.

These accusations were unfounded, and were nothing but a campaign of slander against other Indigenous militants and organizations due to political and tactical disagreements. We reject these unprincipled accusations, and we must struggle to build a movement free from slander, and a culture where snitch jacketing cannot go unchallenged.

Moving Forward: Build the Movement!

Anti-Colonial Action Ottawa stagnated for many reasons, including low capacity as a small organization, and work on other projects. Due to this we have not been able to meet for organizational meetings since the Summer of 2017 (outside of coalition work). We have not been able to build our capacities and conduct social investigation into the conditions of the Indigenous people in our city. We have not been able to expand on the ideas we published, and, most importantly, we have not been able to serve our people.

Moving forward we will be restarting regular meetings in Ottawa, beginning with study groups that will be open to any Indigenous people who agree to our points of unity. The goal is to be able to use these meetings to build and grow, and through that growth to be able to conduct social investigation. First though, we must start with be rebuilding our work ethic within Anti-Colonial Action.

We look forward to the reconstruction of our organization, working with our comrades closely, and starting to build up our capacities again. With struggle will come great work, and we are a group that is willing to conduct that work.

Now is the time to move forward! The capitalist settler colonial state has shown fear in the unity of the revolutionary working class and the indigenous movement for national liberation. It is now that we must forge ahead and build the United Front of Workers and Oppressed Peoples! This task is a historic necessity and we owe it to our people and the oppressed masses to move this work a head.

What do we have? Nothing! What do we want? Everything! We have a world to win and now is the time to start building towards this fact.

If you are an Indigenous person in or around Ottawa and want to take part in Anti-Colonial Action, please reach out to us in a private message and we can give provide you with all the necessary information.

FORWARD WITH THE ANTI-COLONIAL MOVEMENT!

FORWARD WITH ANTI-COLONIAL ACTION!

 

Referenced Documents:

What Is Anti Colonial Action Ottawa?: https://acaottawa.wordpress.com/2016/07/05/what-is-anti-colonial-action-ottawa/

Decolonization Is Revolution!: https://acaottawa.wordpress.com/2016/07/19/decolonization-is-revolution/

FUCK THE 150TH! A CALL FOR ANTI-COLONIAL ACTIONS IN OTTAWA, JULY 1ST: https://acaottawa.wordpress.com/2017/06/01/fuck-the-150th-a-call-for-anti-colonial-actions-in-ottawa-july-1st/

Ottawa Reoccupation and State Repression – Against Snitch-Jacketing!: https://www.pcrrcp.ca/en/5910

 

FUCK THE 150TH! A CALL FOR ANTI-COLONIAL ACTIONS IN OTTAWA, JULY 1ST

Anti-Colonial Action Ottawa (ACA) will be endorsing the Fuck The 150^th! Campaign initiated by the Revolutionary Communist Party – Canada. Being dedicated to our people’s struggle against colonialism and for national liberation, ACA sees this as an important campaign right now. The capitalist, settler-colonial state of Canada has been pouring half a billion dollars into the celebration of our people’s genocide and the dispossession of our land. This is an effort to promote settler nationalism among the people of Canada and to rewrite the history of Canada, erase what it actually is and what it actually has done. They are painting Canada as a free country, a peace-loving country, and a champion of social justice. In reality, our people know a different story. Our people know the true nature of Canada. Since first contact with European colonists we have faced extreme violence, we have been forced off our traditional lands, and we have been made to sign fraudulent treaties. The settler colonies that would become Canada – and the Canadian state itself – have destroyed our nations and the land on which our nations depend. They put our families in residential schools and kidnapped our people in the 60s scoop. Today, CAS takes Indigenous children away from our families in greater numbers than during the height of residential schooling. When we have stood up to this genocide we have been met with tanks, gunfire, and snipers aimed at women and children. This is the reality we know. This is the history we know. This is the Canada we know.

For these reasons we say: Fuck the 150^th!

As part of the endorsement to the Fuck the 150^th campaign, Anti-Colonial Action Ottawa will be initiating a coalition of anti-colonial and anti-capitalist organizations. This coalition we be launched to organize an anti-colonial action on July 1^st in Ottawa, the crown jewel of this colonial monster. Why do we need a coalition and why are we making this call? We believe that we can make the biggest impact through principled unity. Working together by combining our people power and resources will ensure the best outcome on July 1^st. The first coalition meeting will take place on June 10^th. We call on all organizations in and around Ottawa – as well as all progressives, revolutionaries and anti-capitalists – to unite in this coalition and organize against colonialism, and against the 150^th celebrations on July 1^st!

If you or your organization is interested in taking action July 1^st, in endorsing the Fuck the 150^th campaign, or getting involved in the coalition, please contact us!

VICTORY TO THE COLONIZED AND OPPRESSED!
FUCK CANADA 150!

– Anti Colonial Action Ottawa

Check on Fuckthe150th at fuckthe150.ca and on:

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/fckthe150/

Twitter – https://twitter.com/Fckthe150

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/fuckthe150th

Decolonization is revolution!

Introduction

The question of decolonization, together with the national question, is vitally important in the context of colonial states like Kanada. Decolonization has become a popular topic in activist, academic, and Indigenous communities alike. This paper will set out the line of Anti-Colonial Action – Ottawa on these questions in order to combat incorrect ideas within these communities, ideas which defang decolonization of its revolutionary teeth and offer instead only the empty promises of liberal idealism. NOTICE: This is document is also a work in progress, there will be additions and edits made to this document until we are completely happy with the work.

What is Colonization?

Modern colonization began in earnest with the birth of industrial capitalism in Europe. As the development of new machinery threw craft and manufacturing labourers out of work, not yet industrialized markets found they could not compete with European centres in the production of finished goods. This transformed these foreign markets into markets dominated by resource extraction for the benefit of white European capitalists, and flooded these foreign markets with settlers looking for work. Many of these settlers became agents of colonial governments or militarized state enterprises (such as the East India and Hudson’s Bay Companies), thereby ensuring the theft and export of raw materials from colonized nations and thus protecting the interests of the European bourgeoisie who required those cheap raw materials for their factories.

Outpaced by capitalist commodity production and faced with mass immigration, Indigenous populations were displaced by force. While their traditional economies were infected by capitalist exploitation, Indigenous social structures and forms of governance were destroyed through conquest and replaced with the European nation-state. Kanada and the United States of Amerika are but two examples. European colonization brought with it some of the most horrifying genocides of our times; in some cases up to 90% of Indigenous populations were killed. This is settler-colonialism.

The English and the French were the first two major colonial powers to arrive in Kanada, the French claiming Lower Kanada and the English Upper Kanada. Each set up their own version of a state that would exploit, murder and displace Indigenous populations through genocide. History

would show us that the English would ultimately win the right to colonize Kanada while the French would play a back seat roll. Although the French would come to be oppressed by the English themselves, this does nothing to change the fact that Quebec has no right to Indigenous land. Genocide, theft, and displacement do not grant this right.

Kanadian Settler Colonialism

It is still assumed by many Kanadians that since 1867 Kanada has been “post”colonial. And yet, we see today the same processes operating to extract resources for the benefit of white metropolitan centres in the south. Indigenous people have been displaced and forced into concentration camps that the Kanadian state calls “reserves,” normally located away from cities and normally in north, far away from hospitals, schools, employment and social services. The Kanadian state together with the capitalist class continues to plunder and exploit Indigenous land on and around these concentration camps for oil, uranium, diamonds and gold. Industrial waste and hydroelectric dams devastate ecosystems, leading to much higher rates of cancer and other rare illnesses within these isolated Indigenous communities. Food insecurity runs rampant. Indigenous peoples are denied the ability to develop our own land and resources to serve our people and bring them out of poverty.

Kanadian colonization also brought with it the destruction of Indigenous cultures and ways of life. One of the primary methods by which the Kanadian state accomplished this was through the residential school system. Begun in the 1870s, residential schooling continued until 1996. The goal of these schools was to kidnap Indigenous children from their communities, isolating them from their culture, their language and their people. The idea behind this system was “to kill the Indian in the child” by assimilating Indigenous children into white colonial-capitalism; this would provide a solution to Kanada’s “Indian problem.” In these schools students would learn and internalize the racism taught to them by white settlers. Residential schooling led to the deaths of over 4,000 Indigenous children, with many more sexually, physically and mentally abused by the hands of the Kanadian state and the Catholic Church. Although Kanadians have now recognized residential schooling as “cultural genocide” in order to obscure the extraordinary violence committed against Indigenous people, we must remember that forcibly removing children from one population to another fits the definition of genocide proper. The intergenerational trauma that resulted from this genocide can still be felt.

Today, the majority of Indigenous people live in extreme poverty and misery. In cities, First Nations, Métis and Inuit people disproportionately experience homelessness. Indigenous people also comprise a disproportionate percentage of the prison population in Kanada. Over the past 10 years the Indigenous population in prison has increased 46.4%, with visible minorities (Black, Asian and Hispanic) experiencing an increase of 75%. In the same period, white settler incarceration has decreased 3%. Although Black people account for less than 3% of the total population of Kanada, they make up 9.5% of federal inmates (an increase of 80% from 2003/2004). It is the same with Indigenous peoples: although only comprising around 4% of the population of Kanada (This does not take into account non status Indigenous people), Indigenous people represent 23% of federal inmates.

These are the realities of Kanadian settler colonialism and the ongoing genocide of Indigenous peoples. We must remember these realities; we must remember how they happened, how they continue to happen. We must learn how settler colonialism functions. If we are serious about the struggle for decolonization and national liberation we must know the system inside and out, we must know it even better than the ones who created it. To strategize, to win, we need to know our enemy.

Decolonization and National Liberation

Before we move on to decolonization and what it actually means, we should first look at what it is not. There are several conceptions of decolonization that have recently gained traction within activist and academic communities that simply do not go far enough to be considered genuinely anti-colonial. One popular example is “Indigenizing the vote,” where liberal and social democratic forces in the Indigenous community call on young Native people to participate in provincial and federal elections. The “reasoning” behind this is as follows: if we vote the system will represent us and we will win concessions from above. The fundamental error in this is the inability (or unwillingness) to see the true nature of the colonial state. The liberal and reformist elements within the movement believe, or at least act as if they believe, that the state is a neutral party that can reconcile the contradictions between those who produce wealth and those who usurp it, the contractions between the colonized and the colonizer. The belief that we can join the colonial state, and work to decolonize “from the inside,” cannot be more misguided.  The state is a tool of domination where the agents of the bourgeoisie cannot but defend at all costs the interests of white capitalists, where the colonizer maintains the oppression of the colonized. A superstructural phenomenon can only grow from the ground of a material base. Its function is determined by material relations dominated by the interests of white bourgeois capitalists; thus it does all it can to mystify the consciousness of the people in order to ensure the reproduction of the capital relation between the white bourgeoisie and the exploited Indigenous labourer. We cannot hope to alter the oppressive nature of the state if we do not alter this material base.

If we do not smash all bastions of colonialism, the base along with the superstructure that reproduces it, then we cannot decolonize. We cannot decolonize spaces, nor can we decolonize ourselves. Participating more in the state, having more representation, smudging, teaching Indigenous history in schools—on their own these concessions cannot lead to liberation. On the contrary, these concessions further entrench the colonial consciousness, leading people to the false belief that Kanada is “post-colonial,” that Indigenous people are no longer oppressed.

The fundamental truth that we must understand is that decolonization is struggle, that decolonization is revolution. Frantz Fanon is correct when he says “colonialism is not a thinking machine, nor a body endowed with reasoning faculties. It is violence in its natural state, and it will only yield when confronted with greater violence.” Decolonization, as with all things, has a dual nature. First, it means destroying the colonial state and its reactionary settler culture; second, it means building a new revolutionary society, one which can bring about the end of oppression, class and social distinction. These processes, however, do not follow one after the other; rather, it is only through the first that we can achieve the second. It is only in combat, in the struggle against colonial-capitalism, that we can organize a society for ourselves which is truly anti-colonial and anti-capitalist.

Our fight for liberation against the colonial state and capitalism also is a fight against the agents of this state and that includes some sections of the indigenous population. This section of the indigenous population is the comprador class, a bureaucratic bourgeois class. This class is made up of groups like the Assembly of Fist Nations, band chiefs, their supporters and also indigenous business owners that do work and trade with the Kanadian state and the band councils. These sections of the Indigenous population interests are not aligned with the colonized people and thus not aligned with indigenous liberation.Their interests align with that of colonialism, capitalism and the state. With their support of the colonial state the colonizer grants them greater power and better standards of life than the majority of indigenous people, they are a section bought off by the state and sold out to colonial interests. The comprador are not a class that can be worked with, they are not a group that can help bring our liberation. They are a group standing in our way, one that needs to be struggled against and defeated wherever they may appear.

Our goal for decolonization also is not to go back to the way things were before colonization and before Europeans came. Old culture and old ways can be used for our liberation, reclaiming can help build our struggle for liberation or as a symbol of pride and red power but decolonization is more and we cannot ignore colonization. We must acknowledge that colonization and realize that it has left a mark and that this mark has forever changed the course of our people’s future and indigenous peoples. This new culture of resistance and revolution is just as important as maintaining our progressive culture before we had to resist. The fact that we have a national identity to each other is not something we should ever let go.

Colonialism won’t end unless we make it end, and that means we must rally all progressive and revolutionary forces to our side. This includes white workers who are willing to fight against their own colonial interests and help our cause. As Marx understood over a century ago, the ideology of racism produced by colonialism divides the masses and turns the white proletarian into a tool of his own oppression. We need their solidarity and we need their help. We need them to fight with us. That said, this is not our primary concern; this is the duty of all white revolutionaries. Our focus is on our own people. This is our fight, these are our conditions, and this will be our liberation. Organize! We have a world to win, comrades!

 

What does celebrating kanada day really mean?

It’s a celebration of colonialism and genocide! Of white nationalism, patriarchy and murder! Of exploitation, suppression and  assimilation!

We must never forget the atrocities our people and ancestors went through and what our people and other oppressed groups and nations continue to go through at the hands of the settler colonial state. Today is not a day of celebration for the indigenous nation, for us there is no Independence or celebration, day after day we are exploited, our lands stolen and polluted, we are kidnapped and murdered by the hands of the state and we live in systematic poverty forced upon our nation and peoples. We are forced into concentration camps created by the kandain state, a concentration camp system they call reservations.The colonial model South Africa’s apartheid used was also based off of the kanadian model. kanada day is a day of celebration for the colonists, that celebrates white supremacy, genocide and imperialism.

To show our point on white supremacy and racism we can look directly at what a kanadian hero and one of the founders and most important political figure in kanadian history had to say. We will then go on to see what kanada actually is to erase the mythology kanada has built for its settlers and for the global community.

“If you look around the world you will see that the Aryan races will not wholesomely amalgamate with the Africans and the Asiatics. It is not to be desired that they should come; that we should have a mongrel race; that the Aryan character of the future of British America should be destroyed by a cross or crosses of that kind…but the cross of those races, like the cross of a dog and a fox, is not successful”.

– Sir John A Macdonald, 1885

What is kanada?

“Canada, like other states founded through European colonialism, was built on the violence, exploitation, and oppression of Indigenous nations. Before the arrival of the white settler in
Canada, millions of people lived on these lands. The arrival of the French and the English, who brought war and disease, took its toll on the First Nation populations, genociding the vast majority. In some cases, 80%, 90%, and even 95% of Indigenous communities perished, their societies and ability to reproduce these societies almost completely obliterated.”

“life expectancy is eight years lower than that of the average Canadian; twice as many of their children die, as compared to the rest of the Canadian population; their youth are seven times more likely to commit suicide. In most regions, their level of unemployment is three, even four times higher than the Canadian average. The living conditions on the reserves are harsh, and the Canadian government has demonstrated that it is unwilling to solve this problem”

To truly respect our people and our ancestors, to truly respect and honor their struggles we got to work like hell organizing for liberation and the end of colonialism on our land! Let not one more indigenous person die from kandian or amerikan oppression and systematic genocide! Let not one more oppressed nation be subject to kanadian imperialist aggression and murder! We and we alone as indigenous people must decide our own future as a people and nation!

“The Red Nation shall rise again and it shall be a blessing for a sick world. A world filled with broken promises, selfishness and separations. A world longing for light again.”

– Crazy Horse

RED PEOPLE UNITED! MANY NATIONS, ONE STRUGGLE!

https://rsmtoronto.files.wordpress.com/…/what-is-canada-pri…

What is Anti Colonial Action Ottawa?

WHO ARE WE AND WHAT DO WE WANT?

Anti Colonial Action is a Ottawa based organization made up of revolutionary indigenous people. We are an anti capitalist, anti colonialist and pro proletarian feminist organization. Anti Colonial Action was created to organize and serve the indigenous masses and to inject revolutionary and leftist politics that can truly and generally struggle for self determination and  national liberation of colonized indigenous nations in kanada. We strive to make a movement capable of the struggle for our liberation and to break with the liberalism that is the corner stone of other movements. We don’t want inclusion, more compradors, an apology or a red face representing our colonial oppression. We want complete and uncompromising liberation, freedom and self determination! We demand the end to colonialism on all indigenous lands, from the south tip of the Americas to the north! From the east to the west! This is all indigenous land! This is all our land!

POINTS OF UNITY

1. We are an organization of and for indigenous peoples
2.To stay independent from the colonial and capitalist state in all our actions
3.To organize all indigenous peoples in the interests of the indigenous working class
4.The rejection of classifying indigenous people by “status”, blood quantum and skin colour
5.To struggle for the national liberation and self-determination, up to and including complete secession from Canada
6. Internationalism and Pan Indigenism
7. Anti Colonial Action follows proletarian feminism and supports 2SLGBTQ struggles

MANDATE

To ensure peace for seven generations to come we must organize for liberation now! We aim to organize our indigenous communities in the areas that we live in for self defense, service to the people and to create a movement capable of national liberation and the freedom of colonized peoples. We struggle against capitalism, colonialism, sexism and the colonialist state along with all other oppression the masses may face. We are independent from the settler colonial state we organize in, the state is a tool of oppression by the ruling class and their colonial interests and it does not serve the people or our interests. We organize in the interests of the indigenous working class, understanding that class distinctions create separate interests among our people, it is the hard-core of our people, the working class that has the most to gain and the most interest in liberation! We reject the colonial concept of blood quantum and “status” indigenous people. These ideas are only tools of the colonialists to get rid of the “Indian problem”, splitting our people and leaving large sections of our nation alienated from us making us have fewer numbers and not allowing us to unite with our people. We organize to make a movement possible of creating our liberation, a movement for complete self-determination and the struggle for national liberation, the taking back of our homelands and sacred lands. Taking back our natural resources to be used in the service of our people, not the interests of a few capitalists, to create an indigenous nation capable of feeding, housing, educating and providing to all of people, free from exploitation and oppression.

Contact us! Email: anticolonialactionottawa@gmail.com or Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Anti-Colonial-Action-Ottawa-2043493239208631/

Anti Colonial Action Ottawa is a initiative of the Revolutionary Communist Party Ottawa.