[Indigsol] racist Sun article

[Ben Powless]

fyi.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Zainab <amadahy at rogers.com>
Date: 2009/1/15
Subject: [TIDE] racist Sun article
To: tide at lists.riseup.net


 Greetings,

My response to the Worthington's Racist article in the Sun.  Do with it as
you wish.

Skennon,

Zainab Amadahy



 To: torsun.editor at sunmedia.ca

Dear Editor,



Since the colonizers arrived on Turtle Island (North America), they have
taken our lives, our lands and our children.  Now they have the arrogance to
take our stories, reframe them, and use them to promote genocide elsewhere
in the world.



"*Israel** can learn from Iroquois*" espouses a corrupt historical narrative
that characterizes Haundenosaunee warriors (Iroquois is not what they call
themselves) as "crueler than any other" and renowned for their "savagery".  I
assume that characterization is part of the process of rationalizing
Canadian colonialism. The logic is that if Indigenous people were savage and
cruel 1) they deserve their fate and 2) the colonizers don't have to take
responsibility for the genocide they inflict.



At the same time, Worthington's opinion piece shamelessly advocates for
continued cruelty and savagery against another group of Indigenous people:
the Palestinians.  He suggests at the end of his article that we "Ask the
Iroquois".  Let's do that.



A communiqué issued by Mohawk Nation News (MNN) on January 7, 2009 states: "How
many Palestinian infants, toddlers, children and schools have been bombed by
the criminals in charge of Israeli forces in the last few days? … Mineral
resources to make these deadly bombs and destroy the world are being stolen
from our territories that have been left polluted in the process.  We
constantly object and are threatened and subjected to impoverishment."



I suspect that in Worthington's imagination Indigenous people here and
elsewhere should find no commonalities in their circumstances; no reason to
build alliances against ongoing genocides.  He imagines wrong.



The MNN communiqué further states: "The Palestinians are being forced to
live under the apartheid 'Indian Act' system of Gaza … We know how hard it
is to unify.  The colonists constantly work at dividing us.  We too were
starved and abused so they could grab our territories and wreak
environmental havoc."



Genocide is a crime; from Turtle Island to Palestine.  If Worthington wants
to advocate for war, colonialism and genocide he should take responsibility
for his own savagery and leave the Haundenosaunee out of it.



Signed,

Zainab Amadahy

Tsalagi









*Israel can learn from Iroquois*

*Savagery of their warfare won the Indian federation peace, security*

*By PETER WORTHINGTON*

13th January 2009



Israel's retaliation on Gaza for Hamas' continuing rocket assaults on
Israelis the hottest -- and arguably most controversial -- world issue
of the
moment.

Judging from news reports, some Jews are urging compassion for Palestinian
civilians in Gaza. This (in my view) is misguided humanitarianism and, if
successful, will merely guarantee that Israel's enemies will continue to
harass and attack that country.

Instead of agreeing to temporary ceasefires to allow humanitarian aid into
Gaza, Israel might consider studying policies of the old Iroquois
confederacy, established some 100 years or more before Canada's discovery by
Jacques Cartier followed by the first French settlement in 1605.

Our political leaders might also benefit from studying the Iroquois.

The Iroquois confederacy, based on five small tribes -- Mohawk, Seneca,
Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, later joined by the Tuscarora of North Carolina --
could be considered an early version of NATO.

Politically, the Iroquois were more democratic and politically advanced than
any European country at the time. The five independent tribes based their
confederacy on the theme that an attack on one was an attack on all. When
the French arrived in substantial numbers around 1635, and allied themselves
with the Huron -- an Iroquois enemy -- the total strength of the confederacy
might have been 15,000 -- each tribe vulnerable on its own.

An agricultural people based in what's now upper New York State, the
Iroquois established a reputation as warriors who fought harder and were
crueller than any other.

No Iroquois tribe was attacked casually or indiscriminately, for fear of the
savagery of the retaliation unleashed. (Israel take note.)

It worked. Iroquois tribes were rarely attacked, and usually won. By the
time the white man arrived, the Iroquois confederacy was beginning to expand
into an empire, advancing further westwards, towards the Great Plains.

Each tribe had equal influence on the grand council. Defeated enemies and
captive women and children could be incorporated into the tribe with full
rights and equality when needed to replenish fallen warriors.

The war chiefs had to answer to a council of women elders -- clan mothers --
who had the power to replace incompetent chiefs. Had not the European
invasion occurred, the Iroquois might have eventually expanded west of
the Great
Lakes. And had the French allied themselves with the Iroquois instead of the
Huron, Canada's history might have unfolded differently. The Iroquois sided
with the British and eliminated the Huron.

What's interesting about the Iroquois, apart from their sophisticated
society and politics, is how the savagery of their warfare and retaliation
won them peace and security. Again, a NATO comparison comes to mind.

If the Iroquois were Israel, it's doubtful they'd use rubber bullets, or
indulge in temporary ceasefires to extend humanitarian aid, or drop leaflets
or broadcast when, where and how they intended to attack.

If the UN and other countries broker a ceasefire in Gaza, does anyone truly
think it will be permanent? I suspect the Iroquois would have been more
successful at persuading Hamas to amend its goal of annihilating Israel,
than pleadings, scoldings and sanctions by the UN and European leaders.

POPULATION CENTRES

I suspect, too, if the Iroquois invaded Gaza they would not leave population
centres unscathed, if that was from where rockets were being fired at
Israeli settlements.

Doubtless Israel chose this moment to attack Hamas because of Israeli
elections in mid-February. Also, Israelis would be uncertain about Barack
Obama's reaction to the Gaza attack were it delayed until after his
inauguration.

The National Post seems to think wars won on the battlefield can be lost "in
the realm of public opinion." Wrong: Not if they are won decisively and
quickly. Ask the Iroquois.

http://www.torontosun.com/news/columnists/peter_worthington/2009/01/13/8004426-sun.html





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Turtle Island Defenders of the Earth

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