an interesting example of a civil disobedience action taken as an anti-olympic protest (the building of the bridge), the destruction of a sacred burial ground (during construction of the bridge) and the interference of the salmon runs and destruction of ancient fishing grounds due to the insensitivity of the canadian govt. and the builders.
there is even recognition of the downside (is there an upside?) of globalisation to first nations and other aboriginal groups around the world.
such blind destruction by govts., mining companies, oil and gas multinationals and others seeking profits at all (our) costs is well known and is not restricted to canada. we here in australia have been fighting for 222 years, since the invasion, for our lands and our rights as the traditional owners of those lands for more than 40 000 years.
the mineral and fossil fuel wealth of this country appears to be boundless and that wealth continues to be stolen from us everyday. it is estimated that some 30 billion dollars of that wealth is exported from australia every year. probably much much more during the mining booms, as we are in now.
what is 'given' to us in the form of health, housing, education, etc. is an insulting pittance in comparison to the 222 years of theft. what is grudgingly given to us now is expected to be spent on the services that the govts. of this country give to all non-aboriginal citizens as a matter of right. we are expected to absolve the thieves of their history of genocide and to supply our communities with the requirements of existence with the small and insignificant royalties that we are granted from the theft of our resources and our lands.
whilst some of our communities have been given access only to our traditional lands we do not own the resources of those lands. they are 'owned' (stolen) by the govts., state, territory and federal. the same theft applies to our traditional water and sea rights. like the members of the katzie first nations we are restricted on what we can hunt, trap and fish.
without proper and legal sovereignty, treaties and social justice the indigenous peoples of the world will always remain third class citizens in their own lands. that must change and here in australia we are actively working towards that goal.
To view the recorded proceedings of the New Way Summit,
which was live streamed, go to:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wgar
and, personally, as an avid advocate of civil disobedience i would have wanted to block the bridge for more than 10 minutes. but perhaps that may have been enough, as the youtube shows it to be a busy place.
fkj
ray jackson
president
indigenous social justice association.
Blockade of Golden Ears Bridge, Unceded Katzie Coast Salish territory
Saturday, February 20 2010 @ 10:51 PM UTC
Contributed by: Anonymous
As part of the No 2010 Olympics Convergence, members of Katzie First Nation and supporters took part in blocking the Golden Ears Bridge spanning the Frazer River between Pitt Meadows and Langley B.C. - Coast Salish Territories.
Blockade of Golden Ears Bridge, Unceded Katzie Coast Salish territory
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMhBo1wonA0
Building Bridges and Highways for greed!
As part of the No 2010 Olympics Convergence, members of Katzie First Nation and supporters took part in blocking the Golden Ears Bridge spanning the Frazer River between Pitt Meadows and Langley B.C. - Coast Salish Territories.
February 13, 2010
Early this morning members of Katzie First Nations and supporters took part in blocking the Golden Ears Bridge for 10 minutes in protest of the creation of this unwanted infrastructure. Its purpose is to transport stolen resources from other sovereign native nations, to be shipped out throughout Asia, and ship in unnecessary sweatshop made merchandise for chain stores. This bridge has desecrated a traditional site that dates back over 3000 years, and negatively impacts our sacred food source, the salmon.
My people have been told when to fish and how big our net can be since our book of rules (Indian act) in 1896. My family has been arrested for fishing when they were not allowed.
The bridge affects my family in many ways. For thousands of years my family has been fishing on the Fraser River. The exact same spot where they built the Golden Ears Bridge is where my father, my grandfather and so on, is where we were taught to fish. The exact same spot we have been fishing is where there is a 6 lane bridge right in between Katzie 1 (Pitt meadows) and Katzie 2 (Langley).
That bridge has caused hurt and pain with me and my family.
The bridge is built on my peoples sacred burial grounds.
That bridge has destroyed the river far beyond Katzies boundaries
Because of the bridge Im forced to change my teachings and ways of fishing.
That bridge has destroyed the natural path for the salmon to continue up the river for indigenous people to eat to survive.
Dredging gravel out of the river to build bridges and highways for the Olympics is destroying the delicate ecosystem and putting declining fish stocks at further risk.
These people worked on the site where the bridge is now built - they asked to be anonymous because they would lose their jobs:
We dug up history of our ancestors - human remains, arrow heads and beads. They gave us a choice: either we dig up our peoples history or they were going to send non-native people to do it. We were forced and no options from our community!
~Anonymous hired archeologist worker.
After the remains were found, members of Katzie First Nations people were paid to build tiny coffins and bury the bones where they were found. Many of the workers thought this meant they wouldnt build the bridge at that spot.
So many bones were found, in fetal position, and scattered bones were found These are my people; these bones are my grandfathers and grandmothers. After we had a ceremony to bury the bones in small coffins we made, they went ahead and built the bridge anyway right over top of our sacred burial ground
~Anonymous Katzie First Nations worker.
Defending the land now for future generations
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/sites/m...sheet6.pdf
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