[IPSM] Government Indians selling Mohawk language to Microsoft

[Macdonald Stainsby]

  MNN.  April 20, 2005.  The Canadian government Department of Indian
Affairs band council in Kahnawake is launching a "language" auction.
They're selling the Mohawk language to the highest bidder.  They're
signing an agreement with multi-national corporation, Microsoft, to
"co-develop an innovative Kanienkehaka language project"!

Section 4- Ownership of Work By Microsoft; License To Microsoft
Materials states as follows:  "The Mohawks" agree to dissolve all rights
that we may have to any and all copyrights in the work and assigns all
rights, title and interests over to Microsoft including but not limited
to . the right to sue for infringements which may occur before the date
of this Agreement, and to collect and retain damages from any such
infringements.."

A Maori student visiting from New Zealand warned, "Language is a sacred
thing not to be appropriated by Microsoft.  This is how they co-opt our
culture. Microsoft will make a lot of money on this.  Now you have no
river, no land, you don't even have your own language.  Your language is
your essence of being and they are stealing it".  She said that the song
of one of their people has been copyrighted by a football team down
there. Now they can't write about it unless they pay money to the
football team.

Disgusting giveaway.  The band council of Kahnawake is giving away the
rights to the Mohawk language which our ancestors have been developing
since Sky Woman fell to earth.  This is an unprecedented insult.  The
band council cannot sign away our rights on behalf of us or the
generations yet unborn.  We will be opening ourselves up to policing and
lawsuits by this mega corp which will become the ultimate authority on
the use of our language.

No consultation.  If Microsoft sincerely wishes to contribute its
expertise to the Kanienkehaka people so that it can benefit from the
wisdom collected and preserved in our language, it needs to come and
meet with us, the People. Microsoft must present its project to a proper
traditional consultation process.  This agreement was made in secret.
It is not legal because there was no valid consultation with the People.

The Kanienkehaka language belongs to the Kanienkehaka people.  It has
been passed down from one generation to the next since time immemorial -
long before Europeans came here to colonize us.  The language contains
the collective knowledge and wisdom of all of our ancestors.  It is our
duty to learn it, preserve it and pass it on to the generations to
come.  It establishes our tie to our land where our ancestors have lived
for thousands of years.

Tongue-tied!  Most members of the current band council have neglected
their duty to learn the language.  They do not own it and yet they are
selling it. The band council is always signing agreements that
continuously put our nation, our people, our lands, and now even our
language at risk.

Microsoft represents the conglomerate that massacred our ancestors, put
us in concentration camps on our homeland, forced laws and ways meant to
eliminate us.  Now we are being forced to ask for their permission to
speak and use our language!

           The Kanienkehaka Onkwawen:na Raotitiohkwa Cultural Center in
Kahnawake refused to support the agreement.  They accused the band
council of "knowingly and unilaterally agree[ing] to sell our
intellectual property rights . to a foreign corporate entity that seeks
to gain full ownership, monopoly and control of our language".

The band council rejects our traditional governments.  They are
creatures of the Canadian government created under their illegal Indian
Act.  The councilors commit themselves to defend and uphold the laws of
Canada. This is proof that they have discarded their responsibility to
their people.

Residential schools.  From the time the Europeans arrived, our people
have been subjected to colonization.  Our children were forced into
residential schools and denied the right to speak our language! In some
schools almost 100% of the children died.  Overall, around 50% did not
come out of these institutions alive.  Those who did lost their
languages.  In Kahnawake there were nuns and priests who had the same
job, to force the Indian out of us.

Kanienkeha is who we are.  It is our identity.  It defines our ties to
the land and to each other.  No one has ANY right to sell us!

We the Kanienkehaka of Kahnawake must stand up now and defend ourselves

Tongue tax.  As the agreement states, "In the event that taxes are
required to be withheld on payment made under this Agreement by ANY
government authority, Microsoft may deduct such taxes from the amount
owed the Mohawks and pay them to the appropriate taxing authority".

In other words, Microssoft has agreed to be an instrument of
colonization parasiting on our heritage.  They want to cook our tongues
for breakfast. The band council has agreed to chop off bits of our flesh
to give to whatever bandit demands a slice of the action.  And people
called us "cannibals"!

We Kanienkehaka will now be forced to pay taxes on the unique way we
flip our tongues.  Nothing is more quintessential to Kanienkehaka
identity than the Kanienkeha language.  The colonizers stole our land
and now they are trying to steal our language.  They will be selling our
language to other people.  It's a product to them.  They will have a
market for it in Germany and elsewhere.

How do we stop this?  This is one of the richest corporations in the
world. They have all the lawyers they want at their beck and call.  We
can't afford any.  But we have tongues to speak for ourselves.  Everyone
should email Microsoft to complain.

Otkon!  Microsoft!  Go ahead and sue me.  You might get some more choice
Mohawk words from me.

Kahentinetha Horn

MNN Mohawk Nation News

Kahntineta at hotmail.com
-- 

Macdonald Stainsby
http://independentmedia.ca/survivingcanada
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green
In the contradiction lies the hope
	--Bertholt Brecht.