This Saturday

[Saya]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Lacking a DeLorean with a fluxx capacitor, there is fuck all I can do about shit that happened hundreds of years ago. Sorry I am not outraged enough on your behalf. Got shit going on in the here and now

On my behalf? I'm white, dude. And they had a list of things you could do about it that take fucking no time at all.

[Jonathan]

White or not, you seemed to take quite an exception to what I had written.

In any event, are these the demands you're referring to?

We call on Occupy Denver to adopt, as a starting point, the following:1. To repudiate the Doctrine of Christian Discovery, to endorse the repealof the papal bull Inter Caetera (1493) to work for the reversal of the U.S.Supreme Court case of Johnson v. M’Intosh 1823), and call for a repeal of theColumbus Day holiday as a Colorado and United States holiday.2. To endorse the right of all indigenous peoples to the international right of self-determination, by virtue of which they freely determine their politicalstatus, and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural futures.3. To demand the recognition, observance and enforcement of all treaties andagreements freely entered into between indigenous nations and the UnitedStates. Treaties should be recognized as binding international instruments.Disputes should be recognized as a proper concern of international law, andshould be arbitrated by impartial international bodies.

4. To insist that Indigenous people shall never be forcibly relocated from theirlands or territories.5. To acknowledge that Indigenous peoples have the right to practice and teachtheir spiritual and religious traditions customs and ceremonies, including ininstitutions of the State, e.g. prisons, jails and hospitals, and to have access inprivacy their religious and cultural sites, and the right to the repatriation of their human remains and funeral objects.6. To recognize that Indigenous peoples and nations are entitled to the permanentcontrol and enjoyment of their aboriginal-ancestral territories. This includessurface and subsurface rights, inland and coastal waters, renewable andnon-renewable resources, and the economies based on these resources. Inadvancement of this position, to stand in solidarity with the Cree nations, whose territories are located in occupied northern Alberta, Canada, in theiropposition to the Tar Sands development, the largest industrial project onearth. Further, to demand that President Barack Obama deny the permit forthe Keystone XL Pipeline, proposed to run from the tar sands in Canada intothe United States, and that the United States prohibit the use or transportationof Tar Sands oil in the United States.7. To assert that Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protectand develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditionalcultural expressions. They have the right to maintain, control, protect anddevelop their intellectual property over such cultural heritage, traditionalknowledge, and traditional cultural expressions. Further, indigenous peopleshave the right to the ownership and protection of their human biologicaland genetic materials, samples, and stewardship of non-human biological andgenetic materials found in indigenous territories.8. To recognize that the settler state boundaries in the Americas are colonialfabrications that should not limit or restrict the ability of indigenous peoplesto travel freely, without inhibition or restriction, throughout the Americas. This is especially true for indigenous nations whose people and territorieshave been separated by the acts of settler states that established internationalborders without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenouspeoples affected.9. To demand that the United States shall take no adverse action regarding theterritories, lands, resources or people of indigenous nations without the free,prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples affected.10. To demand the immediate release of American Indian political prisoner,Leonard Peltier, U.S. Prisoner #89637-132, from U.S. federal custody.

I'm not really in a position to do any of the things they are asking for.

[Saya]

Voicing your support for them is all that is needed. As collectives organize, there will be mandates and constitutions and manifestos, we included several anti-colonialist points in the Rebelles Manifesto. Even though people like you would probably consider it TOO OFF TOPIC when fighting patriarchy.

[Miss Absynthe]

"'I cannot be an Asian American on Monday, a woman on Tuesday, a lesbian on Wednesday, a worker/student on Thursday, and a political radical on Friday... I am all these things-every-day. We are discriminated against as workers on the economic plane, as racial minorities on the economic and social planes, and as women on all three planes - economic, social, and domestic/family'"
- Emily Woo Yamasaki

[Solumina]

Originally Posted by Saya

Voicing your support for them is all that is needed.

According to you that is all that is needed but that is already being done and certainly is not all that is being asked.

[Saya]

Originally Posted by Solumina

According to you that is all that is needed but that is already being done and certainly is not all that is being asked.

"Adopt the viewpoint, insist on.." I don't think they think that OWS has direct power to do all that, and aren't just to be dicks. They're saying this stuff needs to be voiced too.

[Solumina]

But this stuff is being voiced too, lots of different dialogues are playing out, there is no real unified script and various viewpoints are welcomed and embraced, people just have to try and work together and to find common ground.

[Saya]

Originally Posted by Solumina

But this stuff is being voiced too, lots of different dialogues are playing out, there is no real unified script and various viewpoints are welcomed and embraced, people just have to try and work together and to find common ground.

Well, calling it a pet issue that is off topic and beside the point isn't a good way to be an ally. Saying there is nothing you can do about it is not being a good ally. Accuse them, baselessly, of trying to take over the movement and make it about them, is not being a good ally. These things are silencing and will do nothing but feel that Natives are not welcome. Their point is that their issues are very relevant and if you're dedicated to anti-oppression and anti-capitalism, why wouldn't you also be considerate of Native rights?

[Alan]

See, the problem here is that each side sounds like they're saying "the priority is..."

The Occupy movement is still very whitebread, and it can't just be as easy as saying "minorities are welcome too". Minorities have to feel an incentive to be a part of the movement, and right now there isn't much. That's why critiques of the movement are essential to the movement itself, but the link we all saw didn't sound like "where is our space of empowerment?" so much as "these kids are kidding themselves"