[R-G] [Edm] Emergency Short Notice Rally: Solidarity with Six Nations & in Respect of Aboriginal Day

[Macdonald Stainsby]

**please forward widely**

In respect of National Aboriginal Day and in solidarity with those 
opposing an anti-First Nations militia being formed to oppress Six 
Nations of the Grand River, there will be a short notice rally held at 
the Gazebo at 104th Street and 83rd Avenue in Edmonton at 4:00pm, June 
23rd.

National Aboriginal Day, held annually to celebrate the pride, culture 
and history of First Nations, Inuit and Metis populations across the 
country has occurred this year (Sunday, June 21st) against the backdrop 
of many struggles for self-determination being waged in the present. Of 
particular note is the demonstration being carried out on Tuesday, June 
23rd in Cayuga, Ontario against the formation of an anti-Six Nations 
militia that will “patrol” the area around the reclamation site of what 
was the so-called Douglas Creek Estates. In respect of National 
Aboriginal Day and directly in solidarity with those in Ontario who are 
opposing the founding of this racist militia, we also wish to honor the 
struggles of many other First Nations, not limited to but including:

Those nations resisting the Olympics destruction of traditional 
territories in and around Whistler and Vancouver, the struggles of the 
Algonquins of Barriere Lake for implementation of the Trilateral 
Agreement negotiated with the federal and Québec Governments, the rights 
of Lubicon Lake First Nation to control of their traditional and unceded 
territory, the demands of Fort Chipewyan to end the pollution of their 
rivers, lakes and territories that continue to be blamed for ever 
expanding deaths and disease rates in their community and the rights of 
the sovereign Mohawk community of Akwesasne to make certain that 
Canadian and Border Services Agency members not be armed with guns on 
their territory where harassment of their community members have been 
documented for years.

We also wish to respect those who struggle for full health and dignity 
that live within urban areas and continue to see racist policies that 
undermine their safety and deny their full human rights  from Regina to 
Winnipeg and Vancouver to Toronto.

Rally to start at 4:00pm at the Gazebo located at 104th Street and 83rd 
Avenue. Please alert others, and pass on this information.

For more information, contact:
Rex Johnson:  780 695 1469
Macdonald Stainsby:  780 233 4992

Backgrounder on Six Nations struggle against the “Caledonia militia”, 
including Ontario-based call out:


A call for a peaceful protest against the formation of an anti-native
“militia” in Caledonia – Tuesday, June 23rd at 6pm Outside the Lion’s
Club in Cayuga, Ontario.


Dear Friends,

As you may have heard in the mainstream media already, things are
escalating again in Caledonia. Doug Fleming (an associate of
anti-native sovereignty activist Gary McHale) who was recently
arrested for attempting to instigate a conflict with people at Six
Nations by running onto the former Douglas Creek Estates waving a
Canadian flag, has announced that he is now forming a "militia" to
directly confront "native lawlessness" in Caledonia. According to
Fleming, the militia would patrol areas in Caledonia by car and by
foot wearing uniforms and communicating with radio equipment. If
alerted to an instance of "native lawlessness" the militia would then
use "reasonable force" to effect a citizen’s arrest and would hold the
native person until such time as the OPP arrived to take the
"prisoner" to jail.

Needless to say, this represents a major escalation in regard to the
conflict at Six Nations. In addition to the OPP having already laid
over 120 charges against Six Nations activists, the formation of this
militia -- with a primary target of removing “illegal” native "smoke
shacks” near Caledonia -- points directly to the increasing of the
possibility of violent conflict between natives and non-natives.
Fleming has called for a public meeting for founding of the militia to
happen on June 23, at 7 p.m., at the Lion's Hall in Cayuga. The
announcement of the formation of the militia has received widespread
publicity in the mainstream media. (Links to the coverage can be found
below).

Although Gary McHale and his supporters have avoided making public
racist comments towards natives, there is no doubt that the formation
of the militia will draw explicitly racist individuals who have long
wanted to physically confront native protesters into activity.
Neo-Nazi groups have long participated in McHale’s various protests
since at least the fall of 2006, and there is every likelihood that
they will be drawn to this meeting if they are not already involved in
organizing it.

Put simply, this meeting cannot be allowed to happen unopposed. As
non-natives who have long supported indigenous struggles in general
and the Six Nations struggle in particular, we are issuing a call for
all who are opposed to escalation and violence inherent in Flemming’s
call for a “Caledonia Militia” to peacefully protest the holding of
this meeting.

Transportation to the protest will be organized by activists in
Toronto, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo and Guelph. Please contact
3903fnswg at gmail.com for more information, to endorse the protest, or
to reserve a space on the buses. Buses will be leaving from Toronto at
4:30pm sharp and should return by 10pm that night at the latest. You
must contact us over email to reserve a space on the bus. Please
reserve a spot immediately so we can get a sense of how many people
require transport. There is a suggested donation to help cover the
cost of transport is $10 although no-one will be turned away for lack
of funds.

In solidarity,


The CUPE 3903 First Nations Solidarity Working Group.
Some further thoughts on the importance of opposing this militia:

Firstly, the formation of this militia is not something like the
small-scale flag raising protests that McHale has organized. I agree
that we are best off not raising the profile of those flag raising
events by counter demonstrating. However, the formation of a militia
is qualitatively different. What they are essentially doing is forming
an organized goon squad who are going to physically confront and
attack people from Six Nations who are legitimately (and peacefully)
fighting for their land rights. That means that if this militia sees a
native person in or around Caledonia doing something that they don't
like or that they decide is “illegal,” they will be empowered to
physically assault that native person now that they feel that they can
get away with it by claiming that they are operating under the "rule
of law". This is a chilling development and is not unlike the "White
Citizens Councils" that sprang up across the US to terrorize black and
white supporters of the civil rights movement.

The idea of forming a militant organization to physically confront Six
Nations is not a new one. This argument has been consistently raised
by neo-Nazis who have attended McHale's protests since at least
October 2006. Their argument has constantly been that because the
police won't do the job of keeping "the natives in their place," a
group of ordinary [white] citizens needs to restore order by resorting
to physical violence to break native resistance. Although McHale has
always avoided making openly racist claims, the formation of this
militia provides a huge opportunity for neo-Nazi skinheads and other
hard-core (if formally unorganized) racists to physically assault
native people and to build their organizations.

Furthermore, we know that as neo-Nazi groups get strong in one area,
they will spread to other areas, and in addition to threatening native
people, they also pose a clear and present danger to a whole range of
other people: queer people, immigrants, people of color, leftists,
Jews, etc. I don't know to what extent (open or closeted) neo-Nazis
are actually involved in McHale's inner circle, but I do know that in
their public forms online they do closely follow his events, are
talking about the "Caledonia militia” in approving terms and have
attended many of his events in the past. I think that it is a fair bet
to assume that they will be present in significant numbers to
participate in discussion about the formation of a white militia to
put down native protests in the area.

If we consider ourselves true allies to Six Nations, we have a duty to
be there to oppose and expose the far right and not just to show up to
the fun (and safe) cultural events or public talks that activists from
Six Nations put on. This is our side of the wampum after all, and we
have a responsibility to make sure that the obligations of the Crown
and the Canadian state to indigenous people are upheld. No one else
can do it for us.

Secondly, there is going to be a major media presence in Cayuga on the
23rd. Already, the National Post, the Toronto Star, CBC, the regional
newspapers, regional TV and radio stations, and countless other media
outlets have covered this issue. The formation of a “militia” to
repress indigenous protest is shocking, and it has certainly caught
the attention of the mainstream media. If we can organize a large
public demonstration against McHale and clearly articulate a reason
why we as non-natives support the just struggles of the people of Six
Nations, we can have a major impact on transforming the media coverage
that day. Then, instead of it being a story about how the OPP's
failure to act has produced more radical elements in the local white
community who justifiably or not want to "go at it alone", we will
have a real opportunity to get across little heard perspective --
namely that there are significant numbers of non-native people who
support Six Nations for very legitimate reasons.

If we don't show up with large numbers, I think there will be very
little formal opposition to McHale, and I think we leave the platform
open to him. I think we should of course foreground local opposition
to McHale when we have speeches and the like at our rally, but we have
to stress that this is an issue that fundamentally affects all people
native and non-native, local and out-of-town in not only the province
of Ontario, but all of Canada. Let's not let McHale and the neo-Nazis
be the only "outside agitators" that have a voice in this struggle. We
have to do everything we can to turn this issue away from being seen
as a zero-sum contest between natives and (local) non-natives, and
show that it is fundamentally about social justice and overcoming
Canada's colonial past and present.

I think that our demonstration needs to be very well disciplined and
very measured in its tone, but I think that if we bring out 100 people
with colorful signs in support of Six Nations and denouncing the
formation of the militia, not only could we bring attention to
McHale's connection to neo-Nazis but we could also make links with
locals in the area who support Six Nations but have been afraid to say
anything given the overall political climate in the area. I think we
can easily fill one bus of people from Toronto, and at least bring a
dozen to 20 people from Hamilton, Brantford, Guelph, and
Kitchener-Waterloo. That makes at least 100 people. If we all get
behind this 100% and really built for it, we could probably bring
numbers up to around 200 people -- maybe more if the media runs with
news of our counter protest.

That would be qualitatively different than any previous protest
against McHale and it would decisively disrupt McHale's narrative of
white victimhood. We would also have a voice on a national stage with
millions of people watching through the media.

Ignoring McHale and the neo-Nazis is not going to make them go away,
it is just going to give them a free hand to continue to do what they
had been consistently doing for the last three years. They are getting
stronger and better organized and monopolizing the debate on this
issue. Furthermore, we cannot leave it up to usually anti-native rags
like the Sachem to make critiques of McHale, or expect that the OPP
(who after all shot Dudley George, raided the site on April 20th 2006,
and most recently beat up Mohawk protesters at Tyendenega) are going
to deal appropriately with anti-native activists like McHale. They may
justifiably dislike him and want to keep things quiet in the area, but
they are not our allies and we do not share any strategic goals with
them.

For all these reasons and more, I think that it's imperative that all
of us who support Six Nations show up at 6 PM on June 23 outside the
Cayuga Lions Hall to protest the formation of the “Caledonia militia”.