[rad-green] The powerful example of the Wet’suw et’en resistance

*https://www.nationalobserver.com/2020/02/13/opinion/powerful-example-wetsuweten-resistance*
<https://www.nationalobserver.com/2020/02/13/opinion/powerful-example-wetsuweten-resistance>


*National Observer | February 13th 2020*
*The powerful example of the Wet’suwet’en resistance*
*By Nora Loreto <https://www.nationalobserver.com/u/nora-loreto>*

*Wet'suwet'en man at Gidumten Checkpoint in 2019. Photograph by Michael
Toledano*

It took longer than it should have, but Canadians are finally paying
attention to the struggle at Wet’suwet’en. The hereditary chiefs and
supporters first built cabins
<https://unistoten.camp/timeline/timeline-of-the-campaign/> on their
traditional territory in 2010 to try to stop a pipeline from being built
across their land but their campaign has grown thanks to effective
solidarity actions.

In an era where despair and cynicism about the fate of the planet is
widespread, the campaign at Wet’suwet’en has been an important example of
what it takes to resist corporate projects that will further pollute the
land and air.

The camps at Wet’suwet’en are trying to stop Coastal GasLink from building
a pipeline through their traditional territory. The pipeline will carry
liquefied natural gas (LNG) to a port at Kitimat where it can be shipped
overseas, making a few people extremely rich.

In solidarity with their camps, actions and blockades
<https://www.nationalobserver.com/2020/02/13/news/story-wetsuweten-protest-line>have
been set up all over Canada. Regular protests, including in Vancouver
<https://bc.ctvnews.ca/roving-protest-in-support-of-wet-suwet-en-hereditary-chiefs-shuts-down-major-intersections-in-vancouver-1.4805908>
 and Victoria
<https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/anti-pipeline-protesters-remain-at-b-c-legislature-in-victoria-as-arrests-made-in-vancouver-1.4805267>,
have stopped traffic, disrupted
<https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/anti-pipeline-rallies-supporting-wet-suwet-en-block-train-ferry-routes-1.4806136>
ferry
service and even pushed the Throne Speech back, as politicians were
physically blocked from entering the Legislature.

In Halifax, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland was blocked
<https://www.halifaxtoday.ca/local-news/chrystia-freeland-physically-blocked-by-protesters-during-halifax-visit-3-photos-video-2089065>
from
entering city hall to meet with mayor Mike Savage.

People have occupied banks and have shut down highways. But the highest
profile actions right now are happening along rails
<https://www.nationalobserver.com/2020/02/12/news/second-blockade-set-mohawk-territory-anti-pipeline-blockades-slow-rail-traffic>:
supporters have occupied railway tracks in Toronto, at Tyendinaga Mohawk
Territory on the Toronto-Montreal and Toronto-Ottawa rail corridors, and on
the Candiac commuter rail
<https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/kahnawake-railway-blockade-candiac-train-commuters-back-on-buses>
line
just outside of Montreal.

These actions are non-violent civil disobedience at their finest: they have
caused economic disruption and, importantly, have forced Canadians to pay
attention to the fight against Coastal GasLink.

The symbolism of choosing to shut down rail is important. Canada’s railway
is entwined with our history of colonialism. Canada’s first major political
 scandal <https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/pacific-scandal> saw
Prime Minister John A. MacDonald forced to resign for having accepted
political donations in exchange for the contract that would be the railway.

The railway was the critical link that allowed Canada to flood the west
with White settlers while also sending state troops to forcibly confine
Indigenous nations to reserves. The railway played a key role in genocide.

And, the CNR was built using effectively slave labour from Chinese workers,
as many as 4000 who died
<https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/chinese-railroad-workers-memorial> as
a result extreme and dangerous working conditions.

In an era where despair and cynicism about the fate of the planet is
widespread, the campaign at Wet’suwet’en has been an important example of
what it takes to resist corporate projects that will further pollute the
land and air.

<https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A//www.nationalobserver.com/2020/02/13/opinion/powerful-example-wetsuweten-resistance&text=In%20an%20era%20where%20despair%20and%20cynicism%20about%20the%20fate%20of%20the%20planet%20is%20widespread%2C%20the%20campaign%20at%20Wet%E2%80%99suwet%E2%80%99en%20has%20been%20an%20important%20example%20of%20what%20it%20takes%20to%20resist%20corporate%20projects%20that%20will%20further%20pollute%20the%20land%20and%20air.>

When Indigenous people block rail lines, they’re targeting the veins of
colonial Canada. By stopping the flow of blood, they are forcing Canadians
to pay attention.

I love rail. Maybe it’s because my parents held early birthday parties for
me at the Toronto Railway Museum in Rockwood, Ontario. Maybe it’s because I
used to run outside, barefoot, whenever we heard the freight trains pass,
half a mile up the road from my Grandmother’s house, and count the number
of cars the train had. Maybe it was the faint memory I have of travelling
to northern Ontario by train at the age of three and watching the sun dance
through the tree branches we passed (those tracks have all been removed).
There is a sentimental quality to watching the world pass while you’re on a
train, and it symbolizes so many contradictions of living in a
settler-colonial state.

That’s why these solidarity actions can’t simply be seen as protests. As
Montreal Gazette journalist Christopher Curtis posted on Twitter, “In
Kahnawake, the blockade of a commuter rail to Montreal is about solidarity
with the #Wetsuweten but also pride in Turtle Island, in sovereignty, in
securing a future for Indigenous youth across the country.”

The desire to push through this pipeline project under the guise of
economic prosperity is another in a long list of examples where profits are
king and the damage that a pipeline will cause to the land and air don’t
matter. Our obsession with resource extraction will be our eventual demise.
We know that the atmosphere is warming. We know that LNG pipelines leak
methane into the atmosphere. We know that pipeline projects destroy forests
and waterways. So why are politicians hell-bent on ensuring this project
passes?

The LNG market is a trillion-dollar industry
<https://www.forbes.com/sites/judeclemente/2019/07/12/9-things-to-know-about-the-booming-global-liquefied-natural-gas-market/>
whose
time may be running out. Large infrastructure projects like pipelines
cannot get built without the full support of government, even if that
support means sending in militarized state agents to force people off their
land.

We need to listen to the Wet’suwet’en traditional leadership. We need to
heed their call that this project is folly and needs to be stopped. They’re
experts in knowing how to care for the land: they’ve been doing this for
time immemorial.

Yes, even when it inconveniences us. Even though my parents had their trip
to visit me this weekend cancelled by Via Rail, it’s an inconvenience that
pales in comparison to the “inconvenience” that Canada has imposed on
Indigenous nations on this land. And just wait – the “inconvenience” that
will accompany catastrophic climate change will be a different kind of
chaotic hell.

We need to act before it’s too late, and Wet’suwet’en shows us the way.

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