[IPSM] courtroom solidarity with the J12 Kanehsata'kero:non

[hhazel at gmail.com]

(francais suit bientot)

The J12 arrestees need courtroom solidarity!
Come support the Kanehsata'kero:non
while they fight for justice!

*************
Next 3 weeks OR MORE
Monday-Friday
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m
Saint-Jérôme Courthouse
25, rue de Martigny Ouest
Saint-Jérôme (Québec)
directions available at: http://tinyurl.com/8os4m
bus information available at: http://tinyurl.com/bs8kj
                                     & http://tinyurl.com/dq2uf
*************

January 12th, 2004 is a day to be remembered forever -- the day the
community of Kanehsata:ke said NO! to the federally imposed band
council, as well as the colonial governments of quebec and canada.  When
sixty-seven heavily armed police that had been secretly recruited outside of
Kanehsata:ke, the Kanesatake Mohawk Police (KMP), laid siege to the
Kanesatake Police Station, over 300 Kanehsata'kero:non (people of
Kanehsata:ke) gathered to resist the siege.  The invading force would
eventually tear-gas community members.  A handful responded by burning
down ex-Grand Chief James Gabriel's home.  The media demonized all
protesters as criminal & presented Gabriel as a crime-fighting martyr.
While Gabriel and police chief Terry Isaac appealed to quebec to bring
in the Sureté Québec (SQ) & escalate the crisis, three Chiefs & the
Kahnawake Mohawk Police Council (KMPC) sought support from sister
Kanien'keha:ka (Mohawk) communities to finally bring a mediated peace.

For the following months, Kanehsata:ke was in a constant state of fear,
as the KMP continued to harass and brutalize community members, to race
through the territory at dangerous speeds, all the while being paid by
the canadian government and housed at the Laval Hilton.  For almost a
year, concerned Kanehsata'kero:non and their allies from within the
Haudenosaunee (Iroqouis Confederacy), from Tiohtia:ke (Montreal) and
beyond performed security duties on territory.  Together, we guarded
entrances to the community, shared food, and strategized for the future.
Now the Kanehsata'kero:non need our support again.

24 people were originally charged for allegedly rioting and forcible
confinement; now there are 19.  These 19 people were offered a buy out
of a guilty plee and $500 fine, but they have said "no".  They want
their day in court, and now it's here.  Together, our joint actions have
kept the KMP out, cut governmental support for James Gabriel, and raised
non-native awareness of the Kanien'keha:ka struggle for sovereignty.

Solidarity is mutual!

Show our allies that we mean business by sitting in court with them as
they fight for their freedom.

Let your friends and communities know that the struggle continues.

Support resistance!

-the Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement collective
contact us: IPSM [at] resist [dot] ca