Indigenous Solidarity An (Un)Settler's Place

New Socialist published a special Issue on indigenous struggles, here is an example article and link to the full issue: http://www.newsocialist.org/index.php?id=1005

Anarchist-Indigenous solidarity at the Six Nations’ barricade

BY RICHARD DAY AND SEAN HABERLE

http://newsocialist.org/newsite/index.php?id=1018

Indigenous peoples and settler societies have a long and complex history of interaction in the Americas. While unequal colonial relationships have always been — and continue to be — the norm, there have also been situations in which settlers and indigenous people have worked together to resist state domination, corporate exploitation, racism, patriarchy and wanton destruction of the land. Anarchists in particular, since at least the time of Kropotkin, have noted commonalities between their values and practices and those of some indigenous communities and nations. They have found common ground in the rejection of arbitrary authority, a preference for direct action and local, consensus-based decision-making processes, and the use of non-statist federations to link communities and nations.

In recent years these commonalities have begun to be explored more deeply, self-consciously and critically from both directions. They are apparent in the anarcho-indigenist politics of certain Haudenoshonee, Dene and Nuu-chahnulth writers and activists, in the struggles of the Magonist Popular Coordinating Committee (COMPA) in Oaxaca, and in formations such as No One is Illegal and Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement. In this article, we are interested in these bourgeoning efforts to create solid and lasting political alliances between anarchists and indigenous peoples, and in the questions that arise when these disparate identities find themselves working together in solidarity and support. We feel that there is something new going on, something perhaps historic, but of course also very tenuous and fragile.

To keep the discussion grounded, we will base it on the ongoing efforts of anarchist activists to work in solidarity with the Six Nations people, who are fighting to defend their territory against capitalist development. One of the authors spent a few days behind the lines; the other worked on raising local awareness in Kingston; and we include a third voice, that of an anarchist activist named “Wil,” a non-indigenous supporter who was on the reserve for about three weeks.

We have very few answers to the questions we raise, since at this point – or perhaps at any point – the process of questioning seems more important. We are also aware that this is an evolving situation, which we discuss primarily in terms of events that occurred up to around April of 2006.

WHAT IS SOLIDARITY?

The pathways that exist between anarchist and indigenous nations and communities are by no means easy to find or to follow. They are strewn with obstacles, some which are remnants of colonial relations of power, and some that are being created even as we work towards a truly postcolonial way of coexisting. For example, the wording we are using here shows signs of tension: anarchists tend not to identify with nations, while many indigenous peoples do. Also, as a predominantly western tradition (though that is changing), anarchist conceptions of relations between communities/nations and individuals are quite different from those that are prevalent among indigenous peoples.

It is easy to say that dealing with these obstacles, of which we have named only two among many, presents a complex set of problems of solidarity. But what is solidarity, exactly? We find the definition used by anti-racist feminist Chandra Mohanty to be compelling: solidarity means that I stand with you, against another. On this definition, it is very important to note, relations of solidarity can only exist between disparate identities — if I am you, I cannot be in solidarity with you. This point is important because it helps us to highlight one of the dangers of this kind of work — that of excessively identifying with the other, of thinking that one somehow is the other, which, especially in colonial contexts, can lead to the perpetuation of unequal relations of power.

On the other hand, there are also dangers associated with taking too much distance. Again, especially in a context of hundreds of years of colonialism and a racist, apartheid state, it is all too easy to let oneself off the hook by refusing to make any effort at all to know the “other,” on the pretense that this is not what he or she desires. It just seems too difficult, too risky, to put oneself on the line as a person, that is, as one individual coming out to be met by another.

ON THE BARRICADES AT SIX NATIONS

Both of these dangers were lurking behind the Six Nations barricade. This was evident to Wil, a self-identified anarchist, when he answered a call-out for support from one of the clan mothers and went to Caledonia in early March. His reflections on his experience show that while there was an earnest attempt at support and a will to learn on both sides at Caledonia, there were are also many disconnects.

As the only non-indigenous person present for much of the time he was there, Wil encountered both curiosity and mistrust about why he had come. “Trust is something that really it takes a little while to gain with anyone… It must have taken about a week before they really started opening up to me, and that was after I was arrested with them. That showed that I wasn’t going to just piss off at the first sign of danger, because that is always a question, it is fine to sit around and eat the hamburgers and shoot the shit, but what happens when you really put yourself in danger, because talk is cheap.”

Many of the other settlers who came to act as support were not able to build this kind of relationship. “Usually when the other supporters were coming it was a couple at a time and it is not the kind of culture where people greet you with open arms… for a lot of non-natives they didn’t know how to start these conversations, they ended up just going into these jobs and working and building and cooking and then they’d sleep and then they get up and then they’d start building and cooking all day because I guess they wanted to earn their keep and they felt like they weren’t doing anything.”

There was also a difference between the European and non-European supporters. “It was actually white/European descent people who were more like into the working all the time and got caught up in that and were more awkward. I think that it was because there was a lot more tension between the indigenous people and those white people as well.”

These racialized tensions led to the reproduction of certain ways of relating that are all too common: supporters working only with other supporters, tending to “take over” decision-making processes and feeling “left out” when they are unable to do so. As Wil points out: “There was no venue for non-natives to participate or to add anything to what was going on — there was no, ‘what do our non-native supporters think about this?’ But that would be a very touchy thing, because what you have to do is build relationships with people and maybe they’ll take your suggestions to the table, or maybe they won’t.”

Building personal relationships is crucial to building trust; and trust is crucial to solidarity. Apart from attempting to make a concrete difference in a short-term situation, this is probably the most important thing one can do in an action of this sort. For, after the barricades come down, it is only the social relationships that will remain, intangible but effective, productive and lasting.

LIVING THE POSTCOLONIAL

None of us are located in exactly the same way, no matter how much we might have in common. Therefore, in order to have a productive dialogue around difficult issues, we must have the courage to speak and listen respectfully and carefully. If we orient only, or primarily, to avoiding offense, we cannot really know ourselves or each other, and we cannot change. This, we would argue, is precisely the promise of solidarity: one person or group or nation, working with other people or groups or nations, to help each other achieve common goals, and perhaps to learn something along the way.

Unfortunately, the Canadian state and the capitalist corporations it nurtures are unlikely to change their ways in the near future. Thus there will be many opportunities to further explore the possibilities we have only begun to discuss here. It is an excellent sign of things to come that so many non-indigenous people have chosen to stand with the Six Nations, in so many different ways. We know that we are very far from realizing the promise of the Two-Row Wampum agreement; yet we are compelled to strive for the nearest approximation to it that we can imagine, and that we can realize here and now.

Richard Day is an anarchist activist and scholar based in Kingston, Ontario. He teaches at Queen’s University and is associated with the Marble Rock Cooperative Centre for Rural Living and Education. Sean Haberle is an anarchist activist and graduate student at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

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