Members of the Native 2010 Resistance disrupt AFN and Four Host First Nations photo op'
For More on AFN and Four Host First Nation Window Dressing:
http://www.gatheringplacefirstnationscanews.ca/Governance/070716_05OPPOSE_2010%20MOU.htm
On February 18, 2008, members of the Native 2010 Resistance disrupted an Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and Four Host First Nations (FHFN) photo op at the Sutton Hotel, located on Coast Salish Territory (Vancouver).
Indigenous women From the Native 2010 Resistance poured bags of apples onto the podium where National Chief Phil Fontaine was announcing “First Nations participation and volunteer opportunities with the 2010 Olympics”. Like apples, Phil Fontaine and the Four Host First Nations sell-out chiefs are red skinned but white on the inside, bargaining off Indigenous lands for profit. Fontaine tried to keep his composure, his podium filled with apples as Native women yelled in front of his face “No Olympics on Stolen Native Land!” and told the small crowd “You should all be ashamed of yourselves for contributing to the rape and destruction of Mother Earth!.”
Indigenous resistance against the games has been snowballing as more are learning about Olympic industrial development and destruction taking place on Skwxwú7mesh-ulh (Squamish), Lil’wat, St’at’imc, Stölo, Nlaka'Pamux, and Secwepemc Native Lands.
While the Four Host First Nations claim to have avid support, the room that the media event took place in was nearly empty for the first 20 minutes and filled to a measly 15 people with only one media personnel to take advantage of the ‘photo op’. There was also no security at the event or around the hotel during the affair.
The AFN, which is the so called “national organization representing First Nations citizens in Canada”, will assist the Four Host First Nations and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) in distributing a series of newsletters that will provide information on how to volunteer at the Winter Games. The AFN will also make available other opportunities for First Nations peoples to participate in the Games including the Vancouver 2010 Torch Relay, Cultural Olympiad, and employment and procurement opportunities.
According to conversations at the event today, Four Host First Nation’s reps expect over 350 First Nations volunteers for the 2010 Olympics. However, the prospect seems daunting given the mounting resistance against and knowledge of the negative impacts on Indigenous lands, and related Indigenous homelessness and poverty. Native youth, Elders, women, and men are growing more skeptical about participating in the 2010 Games and are fighting back.
The Native Resistance vows to continue to disrupt events that support the 2010 Olympic Games and contribute to the theft of Indigenous lands, to homelessness and poverty.
DON’T BE AN APPLE! RISE UP AND RESIST THE 2010 OLYMPICS!
Days past someone believed in me, empowering me to believe in myself and in my abilities! Do you know what it is like to be Native? Do you know what it feels like to be Native? You have come along and taken away from me, all that i have worked for. Many are afraid to speak in fear for their jobs, thier livelihood. I spoke up and since then you have been taking away everthing i have worked for. you know who you are. You say you are Native, but you are not. Your attitude and eyes tell it all. It was convenient for you to use your ancestry, to overpower the Native people. I am ashamed of working in the same environment as you. I am ashamed for my people and myself, who have learned the white way. I am sorry for you when you think you have to have all the control. I am sorry that you do not know how to share, especilly with those you call "your people". I am sorry you are so disillusioned. You don't know what it is to be Native. You don't know what it is to be Native. You don't know how it feels. If you did, you wouldn't be trying to oppress your people. Instead you would be teacher and teach them to be proud of themselves. Assit them to empower themselves, not DISEMPOWER them. I can give you an example of what being Native is all about. Caring and taking care of your people. Sharing your knowledge, not taking it away. Empowering people, not disempowering them. Working together to build a solid family foundation , not destoying it. Please take a look at what your controlling actions are causing. Take a look at who you are. Who you want to be to "your people." Are you truly Native? These are not characteristics ot the True Native Person.
This poem are words from the heart! A poem i found but no author. It made me think about the elected chiefs action and how it impacts our people today. We stand in solidarity and will be united. I remember feeling like an apple and it took a lot of courage and strength to find myself and to fit myself into my body, because of the impact of the residential school and what it did to my mother, and she did everything that was done to her to me and my sister. Once we find ourselves we will search for each other and we will become a strong force. We are slowly waking up, and some of us are already awake and that warrior is awakening and becoming more stronger as more people realize what is happening. We have to remember not to take anything at face value, to question everything, because when we don't question anything, we give our power away. We must question even what we ask for and recieve.
Posted by
carol martin |
April 4, 2008 11:45 AM