This is an archive of the former website of the Maoist Internationalist Movement, which was run by the now defunct Maoist Internationalist Party - Amerika. The MIM now consists of many independent cells, many of which have their own indendendent organs both online and off. MIM(Prisons) serves these documents as a service to and reference for the anti-imperialist movement worldwide.

MIM Notes, Issue 69: October, 1992

Indigenous Nations Strive Toward Greater Unity

by MC251

October 12, 1992 marks 500 years since the start of the European invasion of this hemisphere. The imperialist governments of Europe and the colonial settler governments on this continent are pouring millions of dollars and much hype into celebrations on this happy date for oppressor nations.

Because of this, representatives from indigenous nations have begun organizing at an unprecedented level to oppose the celebration of the genocide of their nations and peoples. This fledgling unity among indigenous nations of the hemisphere has resulted in two hemispheric conferences of indigenous peoples, one in Ecuador and one in Guatemala last year. According to Chief Billy Tayac of the Piscataway Nation, this is the first time in history that representatives of indigenous nations throughout the hemisphere have met to coordinate resistance to colonial settler domination.

Within Amerika, a new organization has formed to promote this unity among indigenous nations, called the League of Indigenous Sovereign Nations (LISN). According to LISN spokesperson Dacajewiah, "the long range objective of the League is to establish a hemispheric congress to develop a constitution wherein the traditional people of all native lands and native nations would govern ourselves according to our original forms of government -- our own social, economic and political ways."(1)

MIM shares the analysis with LISN that indigenous people are not Amerikan citizens, but belong to independent indigenous nations with the right to self-determination. To MIM, this insight is fundamental to properly understanding the struggle of indigenous peoples.

To achieve true liberation, indigenous people don't need a few civil rights or charity programs from the same Amerikan settlers that have oppressed them for 500 years. Indigenous nations suffer oppression from the colonial settler Amerikan nation, which was built through the conquest of entire indigenous populations.

MIM also sees that it is not just the Amerikan ruling elites which benefits from their oppression of indigenous nations. Rather, throughout the history of Amerika, it has been the vast majority of Amerikan citizens, often led by the white working class, who have vehemently fought to run indigenous nations out of existence with the building of the vast Amerikan settler empire. [For a thorough historical account of the making of Amerika, order Settlers: The Mythology of the White Proletariat by J. Sakai]

From the understanding that indigenous people are oppressed nations comes the understanding that to achieve liberation, there needs to be a struggle for national liberation. LISN appears to recognize this; in an interview, Chief Tayac of the Piscataway Nation expressed agreement with MIM's line that the principal contradiction in the world today is between oppressor and oppressed nations.

Another LISN spokesperson, Dacajewiah, refers to their struggle as one, "to maintain our land. It is a struggle to maintain control and to redevelop our means of economic self-sufficiency."(2) He also refers to their struggle as one against" the international and domestic domination by the U.S. imperialist corporate structure," and he calls on indigenous peoples to "unite ourselves and identify the nature of U.S. colonialism as it affects the indigenous nations throughout the hemisphere and support the right of indigenous people to resist the decimation of their lands."(1)

MIM has a high level of unity with these statements. They recognize Amerikan imperialism inside and outside Amerika's borders. They identify land and territory as central to the struggle for national liberation, and call for economic self-sufficiency.

LISN is attempting to gain a voting seat in the United Nations as its main campaign. Currently, the International Indian Treaty Council is granted Non-Governmental Organization status by the U.N., but indigenous people have no voting seat. LISN believes that the struggle against U.S. imperialism for the liberation of indigenous nations will be better served by an indigenous vote in the U.N. General Assembly.

U.N.: "Voice of mankind" or prop of imperialism?

MIM supports LISN's long-range goals of getting rid of the neo-colonial tribal councils governing reservations, and of creating economic and political self-sufficiency for indigenous nations. However, the short-term goal of trying to get a voting seat in the U.N. is inconsistent with these long-term goals.

MIM differs with LISN over the basic nature of the U.N. as an institution. Underlying LISN's goal of representation in the U.N. is the idea that the U.N. is an impartial international body not inherently dominated by imperialist interests. Chief Tayac says as much: "Every race of people in the world, regardless of who they are -- black, white and yellow, have a voice in mankind. We don't. We don't have any voice in mankind whatsoever . We want a voice and we want a vote."

But does a voting seat in the U.N. General Assembly equal a voice in humanity? Is it the source of indigenous national sovereignty? MIM says no. After the Gulf War in 1991 it should be painfully clear that the U.N. serves as an international prop for imperialist interests. For the U.N. to maintain any credibility, oppressed nations are allowed to speak out a little bit.

Occasionally resolutions are passed condemning various abuses by imperialist countries. But even in these cases, the United States can just ignore the U.N. and do what it wants anyway, as it did in Nicaragua during the 1980s even after the U.S. counterinsurgency there was condemned by the U.N. World Court. The U.N. is a body that imperialist nations can rely on to give credibility to their international maneuvers. It is not a body that oppressed nations can count on to help end imperialism and bring liberation. To try to convince people otherwise by lobbying to be allowed into the U.N. is just leading people down a dead-end road.

While MIM believes that indigenous nations can do much better than gaining one seat in the U.N., we support LISN's goals of self-determination and greater unity in struggle against imperialism among indigenous peoples. MIM supports LISN's call for liberation for indigenous nations, and looks forward to seeing revolutionary strategies to achieve that liberation rather than attempts to be let into an imperialist-controlled institution.

Notes:
Washington Peace Letter 9/92, p. 5.