[rad-green] 'Colonialism In All Its Ugliness': Indigenous Land Defenders Condemn Violent Police Raid on Camp Blocking Pipeline Construction

*https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/06/colonialism-all-its-ugliness-indigenous-land-defenders-condemn-violent-police-raid
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/06/colonialism-all-its-ugliness-indigenous-land-defenders-condemn-violent-police-raid>Common
Dreams          February 6, 2020*





*'Colonialism In All Its Ugliness': Indigenous Land Defenders Condemn
Violent Police Raid on Camp Blocking Pipeline Construction"We are in
absolute outrage and a state of painful anguish as we witness the
Wet'suwet'en people having their Title and Rights brutally trampled on and
their right to self-determination denied."by Julia Conley, staff writer*

*At a rally, Indigenous land defenders showed solidarity with Wet'suwet'en
people who were violently ordered off their land in British Columbia early
Thursday morning. (Photo: @StacieASwain/Twitter)*

Climate action campaigners and Indigenous leaders on Thursday condemned a
violent pre-dawn raid by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at a camp set up
by Wet'suwet'en land defenders in British Columbia.

Dozens of RCMP officers—backed up by dog teams, drones with infrared
sensors, and tactical officers armed with "what appeared to be sniper and
assault rifles," according to
<https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qjdjaq/police-raid-indigenous-land-to-help-build-a-pipeline>
 *VICE*—arrived at the Unist'ot'en Camp near Houston, British Columbia
shortly before 5:00 am, a month after the Wet'suwet'en evicted Coastal
GasLink from their land.

"Using armed force to take Indigenous peoples off their unceded traditional
territories against their will is not reconciliation, it is colonialism in
all its ugliness and hypocrisy."
—Chief Don Tom, Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs

The company plans to clear a logging road in Wet'suwet'en territory to make
way for a pipeline which all five Wet'suwet'en clans have unanimously
opposed
<https://unistoten.camp/wetsuweten-hereditary-chiefs-evict-coastal-gaslink-from-territory/>
under
the tribe's code of laws, known as Anuc niwh'it'en. In 1997, the Canadian
Supreme Court ruled that the Wet'suwet'en had not given up rights to their
land—more than 8,000 square miles in British Columbia.

"We are in absolute outrage and a state of painful anguish as we witness
the Wet'suwet'en people having their Title and Rights brutally trampled on
and their right to self-determination denied," Grand Chief Stewart Phillip
of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) said in a statement
<https://twitter.com/pieglue/status/1225498385043599365>Thursday.

The Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs ordered
<https://www.facebook.com/wetsuwetenstrong/posts/491403495138775?__tn__=K-R>
Coastal
GasLink off their land last month, days after the British Columbia Supreme
Court ruled
<https://business.financialpost.com/commodities/b-c-s-top-court-rules-for-6-6-billion-coastal-gaslink-pipeline-against-indigenous-law>
that
Canadian law trumps tribal law and that the company had suffered
"irreparable harm" when the Wet'suwet'en built blockades and camps to stop
the construction of the $6.6 billion pipeline project.
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/01/08/shameful-day-canada-first-nations-encampment-violently-raided-land-protectors>
The
court issued an order demanding that the Wet'suwet'en leave the territory.

The hereditary chiefs were in talks with British Columbia officials earlier
this week regarding the pipeline, and, according to the tribe
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/06/%20http://www.wetsuweten.com/media-centre/news/february-4-2020-immediate-release-wetsuweten-territory-smithers-b.c>,
"Coastal GasLink agreed not to enforce the injunction for a period of seven
days" during the talks.

"Using armed force to take Indigenous peoples off their unceded traditional
territories against their will is not reconciliation, it is colonialism in
all its ugliness and hypocrisy," said
<https://twitter.com/UBCIC/status/1225494276064370688> Chief Don Tom, vice
president of the UBCIC, on Thursday.

During Thursday morning's raid, according to
<https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/939b58/iran-arrested-the-man-who-filmed-the-jet-getting-accidentally-shot-down>
 *VICE,* RCMP officers told the Wet'suwet'en land defenders they were
acting on the earlier court injunction and that they had 10 minutes to
leave the camp, under threat of being charged with obstruction of justice.

The police
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/12/20/monstrous-docs-show-canadian-mounties-wanted-snipers-ready-shoot-indigenous-land>
smashed
in the window of a truck and "dragged out a woman who was naked and had
locked herself inside," *VICE* reported. At least six people were
handcuffed and arrested.

The land defenders yelled, "Shame on the RCMP! Shame on the colonizer!"
during the raid, according to the outlet.

I just got out from #Gidimten
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/Gidimten?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> clan
territory on #Wetsuweten
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/Wetsuweten?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> yintah,
where RCMP conducted an aggressive, pre-dawn raid. Six land defenders
arrested: pic.twitter.com/JkKempHUGM <https://t.co/JkKempHUGM>

— Jesse Winter (@jwints) February 6, 2020
<https://twitter.com/jwints/status/1225449065489428480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

A few more scenes from this mornings police action on #wetsuwet
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/wetsuwet?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
 territory pic.twitter.com/u4TP14bTY9 <https://t.co/u4TP14bTY9>

— Jesse Winter (@jwints) February 6, 2020
<https://twitter.com/jwints/status/1225486910916833282?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Greenpeace Canada called on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and
British Columbia Premier John Horgan to "immediately order the RCMP to
stand down" and to "engage in peaceful discussions with the Wet'suwet'en
hereditary chiefs."

"Greenpeace condemns the violation of human rights underway against the
Wet'suwet'en camps and people, who are the rightful title holders over
their lands and waters and who are peacefully exercising their Indigenous
rights to resist the Coastal GasLink pipeline," said
<https://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/press-release/28738/greenpeace-condemns-rcmp-raid-on-wetsuweten-camps-and-calls-on-trudeau-and-horgan-to-engage-in-peaceful-talks-with-hereditary-chiefs/>Christy
Ferguson, executive director of the organization. "It is unacceptable for
Canada to deploy militarized police against Indigenous land defenders and
other peaceful protesters."

The group also called on
<https://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/story/28750/rcmp-are-raiding-wetsuweten-land-defender-camps/>
supporters
of Indigenous rights to display solidarity with the Wet'suwet'en by
contacting Trudeau and Horgan and attending events including several a
rally at the British Columbia legislature.

Indigenous youth are locked down at the British Columbia legislature in
solidarity with #Wetsuweten
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/Wetsuweten?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
https://t.co/Pbihq7d3sa

— 350 dot org (@350) February 6, 2020
<https://twitter.com/350/status/1225535019105558532?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Out here at Wet'suwet'en solidarity rally on Hastings to say removing
indigenous peoples from their territory is wrong. Simple as that but Canada
still doesn't get it. #WetsuwetenStrong
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/WetsuwetenStrong?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
#bcpoli <https://twitter.com/hashtag/bcpoli?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
pic.twitter.com/2cAQTQQO5W <https://t.co/2cAQTQQO5W>

— Wilderness Committee (@wildernews) February 6, 2020
<https://twitter.com/wildernews/status/1225532835362111504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

"We will not bow down and accommodate the systems that oppress us!"
@Goldmund8 <https://twitter.com/Goldmund8?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> speaking
truth to power at a #Wetsuweten
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/Wetsuweten?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
solidarity
rally in so-called Vancouver. #WetsuwetenStrong
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/WetsuwetenStrong?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
pic.twitter.com/q86C6JWbs0 <https://t.co/q86C6JWbs0>

— Mitchell Stookey (@mitchellstookey) February 6, 2020
<https://twitter.com/mitchellstookey/status/1225527879666143233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

"All Wet'suwet'en Clans have rejected the Coastal GasLink fracked gas
pipeline because this is our home," said the land defenders in a statement.
<https://twitter.com/HarshaWalia/status/1082347061788299269> "Our
medicines, our berries, our food, the animals, our water, our culture are
all here since time immemorial."

-- 

--- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sid-l" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected].
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sid-l/CACKppcw-L8M_SE4xvwEPSPTiiedAxL72O_g%3DNbnbR9EozdV%3DPQ%40mail.gmail.com.

---
To unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]>
List help: <https://riseup.net/lists>