Visiting Columbia on the territories of the Muisca people for the Network of Women Weaving the Future gathering. Honored to listen to some bad ass women talk about their work and lessons on how to take down the patriarchy, colonialism and capitalism while protecting our homelands. (No big thing..hehe) Just what I needed. So inspiring. Also, the food here is amaaaaaazing!!!
From the depths of despair something new emerges. The world we see can't last. There is beauty and love even amidst the worst parts. Feeling the love and immense rage these days and trying to remember to treasure every good thing and moment of pure love. Like the way the snow sparkles in the night like the rare jewel each snowflake is.
Fuck the patriarchy
Fuck the police
Fuck ICE
Fuck the capitalism and imperialism
POWER to the yintah. Power to the land.
What do these 3 photos have in common?
Medicine from the land (relationship and consent=natural law), water or toh (water and fire =natural law), my great great gramma (ancestral knowledge =natural law). Think about it. Its what matters. Its what is real.
Details and reflections on the Sentencing Decision for Sleydo’ Molly Wickham, Shaylynn Sampson and Corey Jocko.
“In upholding ‘anuk niwh it’en we hold close our allies and the relationships we have maintained for generations and present day alliances formed over years. We are forever grateful for all the different nations that have stood with us over the years and hold especially close our Gitxsan and Haudenosaunee relatives. By standing strong beside Sleydo’, Shaylynn and Corey have elevated and strengthened these bonds showing that we are never alone. This decision was precedent setting. Tammen stated at the beginning of these proceedings that there has never been a case with these specific factors set before the court. We know we did everything we needed to and that this is an intergenerational battle. We know this system was not made for us. And yet this is one less fight our grandchildren will have to endure.”
Read the complete blog L.I.B
*Since the decision we have taken some time to process the extent of the decision and continue to do so while starting the process of healing from all that has happened over the years. Misiyh for your patience in this reflection and know it is not a complete summary*
Recently, Carney visited the North and announced the government and industry's plan to create a 'conservation corridor' through the North to the coast and to the Yukon, opening up all the unceded Indigenous lands along the way to every type of industry that can make them billions of dollars. The reason they call it a 'conservation corridor' instead of what they called it before (energy corridor) is because they plan to use hydro electric to provide power to all these industrial projects, thereby selling it as less harmful to the environment. There will not be any protected areas attached to this plan.
In order for this to happen, the North Coast Transmission Line (twinning and extension of an existing bc hydro project) must be completed. Its always been the plan to power LNG facilities, pipelines, mines and any other extraction of our resources (remember the whole cite C dam fight?).
So, alone the extension of a power line doesn't seem too bad right? It's not an oil pipeline or an open pit coal mine right outside town...except, if this project isn't permitted to go through, the others won't immediately follow.
If you plan to oppose open pit coal mines, mines of all kinds, pipelines (oil and gas), LNG facilities creating Hell on earth conditions in your backyard, if you care about the climate crisis that is currently worsening, then THIS (transmission line) is the project to oppose and put everything you've got into stopping it. Everything else that's coming is dependent on this project.
What is coming is a whole new wave of colonization. It will provide so many new jobs destroying the land. People will likely not want for money and in return our way of life will be destroyed in the north. Good bye clean water, hello forest fires, drought. Good bye to the last remaining moose and health of the wild animals and fish. Instead we can go to the store and buy some farmed salmon. We will see increases in drugs and alcohol, domestic abuse, MMIWG2S, gang violence and a strain on our local community resources.
Or, we can do as our ancestors have done since contact and RESIST despite the personal cost because we put our future generations ahead of ourselves.
Huskies love the yintah as much as I do. Our new addition is the sweetest, loviest, fluffiest little menace you could ever imagine and he has my heart.
Supporters Cheer After Indigenous Land Defenders Avoid Jail - Judge rejects the prosecutors’ call for more jail time for protesters arrested at a Coastal GasLink pipeline work site.
New article on the @thetyee by Amanda Follett Hosgood.
“Tammen added that the “dark shadow of the legacy of colonization looms large in the broader backdrop” to the case.
“The territory on which these offences occurred is part of the unceded Wet’suwet’en lands, or yintah,” he said, referring to the Wet’suwet’en word for territory. Tammen referenced the 10-year-long Delgamuukw-Gisday’wa court case that resulted in a ruling that Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan title had never been extinguished.
The case ended with the Supreme Court of Canada encouraging the parties to reach a resolution through negotiation, Tammen said.
“In the intervening 28 years, there has been no resolution,” he said. “A fundamental issue which appears to be unresolved is recognition by both levels of government of the Hereditary Chiefs as the appropriate individuals to speak on behalf of the Wet’suwet’en as opposed to the band councils.”
Find the full article at thetyee.ca
#wetsuwetenstrong
What does rest and recovery look like to you? A nice London fog, an ocean dip, pink skies in the morning and long sleep ins on rainy days. When its stormy out you stay indoors and process all the heinous shit you just went through.
Sleydo’, Shaylynn and Corey did not go to prison! Justice Tammen in a very detailed judgement gave a suspended sentence. Tammen sentenced Sleydo’ to 17 days in prison, Corey 12 days and Shaylynn 9 days if they breach their recognizance in the next year. They also have 150 community work service.
We are all excited about this precedent setting decision and all that it encompasses. We will be sharing more details tomorrow with quotes from Justice Tammen’s oral decision and for now will be resting and celebrating this amazing victory.
Tabï misiyh to all our Dinï ze’, Tsakë ze’, family and friends that came to support and have been by our side all these years.
This is a win for all indigenous people and our ancestors that fought and died for us to be here.
N’kesïy ✊🏽❤️
This week, land defenders Sleydo’, Shaylynn and Corey will be sentenced for the criminal contempt charges received for upholding ‘Anuk niwh’iten (Wet’suwet’en Law). It has been a long four years, and Crown is seeking jail time.
Since CGL pipeline construction began, RCMP, CRU/C-IRG, and Forsythe Security have subjected Wet’suwet’en to intense surveillance, harassment, intimidation, and violence.There have been over 75 arrests since 2019, with three highly militarized police raids. Most of us have seen these horrifying images, and even the Court found that RCMP/CIRG breached canada's own colonial processes and Charter.
I have known Wet’suwet’en land defenders for 15 years, many of whom I consider beloved family and who have welcomed us to the Yintah. We met in 2010 when they traveled down to join mass anti-Olympics convergence, making connections which led to the first action camp in Unist'ot'en. For the next 15 years, largely outside what has only recently become international attention, land defenders have made immense sacrifices to defend their lands and laws. I remember for years how many mainstream environmentalists sidelined the Wet’suwet’en, saying it wasn't focused on "winnable campaigns" and was "too confrontational" etc. But their conviction that following in the path of their ancestors was just, their assertion that they were fighting for their land and jurisdiction - not a campaign, and their vision that a time would come when the world would wake up - is something I have drawn upon for my own sense of purpose and clarity.
This week, 3 land defenders are looking at possible jail time. Very few know the immense toll the past years have taken on their mental & physical health, within their personal lives, and the profound stress of facing down state violence and the ripple effects it has everywhere. I hope everyone watches closely what is happening this week, donates to the fundraiser, and is ready to throw down for whatever comes next. Reconciliation is dead, Wedzin Kwa is still under threat, and Carney and Eby's nation-building project means more extraction and destruction.
Let's keep our boots on the ground and feet in the street.
