[IPSM] Globe Article on Taiaiake

[andres at riseup.net]

 The Globe And Mail
 MARGARET WENTE
 The new warrior class
 A17
 Saturday 15 July 2006

Taiaiake Alfred does not consider himself a Canadian. He is first and
foremost Onkwehonwe , a ``true person,'' one of the original people. He
regards Phil Fontaine, most band councils, and the current native leadership
with contempt. By co-operating with the government, they are helping to
implement the assimilationist agenda of the Settlers (i.e. non-natives). He
rejects the use of violence, but he does believe in what he calls ``direct
action'' to achieve native aims. He is first and foremost a warrior, who
believes in substantive restitution for the loss of Turtle Island (also
known as North America).

The warrior is also a professor - one of a new generation of tenured
radicals who are schooling the next generation in the politics of
resistance.

``To the extent I relate to Canada, it's purely in instrumental terms,''
says Taiaiake, as he prefers to be known. ``I have a prominent position
within the university, I've got a letter from Jean Chrétien on my wall, I
have awards, recognition, I have a Canada Research Chair. But they are not
indicative of my status as a Canadian. The Canadians are people you have a
relationship with. I'd have to be a schizophrenic to say I'm a Canadian.''

Taiaiake, who has a PhD from Cornell, heads the indigenous governance
program at the University of Victoria. Now in its seventh year, its purpose
is to train future native leaders. But its focus is not so much managerial
as philosophical. It wants to ensure that those leaders are thoroughly
grounded in authentic indigenous culture. ``The core element of our
program,'' he says, ``is personal decolonization.''

If you want to understand the impasse at Caledonia, talking to Taiaiake is a
good place to start. If David Peterson, the well-meaning emissary appointed
by the Ontario government, had done that, he never would have made the
mistake of believing that charm and negotiating skills would accomplish
anything. ``We have to act in contention with the government, not in
co-operation with it,'' says Taiaiake.

For the moment, things are calm at Caledonia, where the Six Nations reserve
claims a piece of land that others sold to unsuspecting developers. Earlier
this year, activists occupied the land, erected barricades and disrupted
local traffic. Tempers flared. A cameraman was assaulted. A judge issued
arrest warrants and ordered the land to be cleared, but the Ontario
Provincial Police weren't about to get caught in that trap. They (and the
government) remember the lessons of Oka and Ipperwash all too well.
Inevitably, the government bought the land, reimbursed the developers, and
then, for good measure, shelled out compensation to inconvenienced local
residents. The government is hoping it can buy peace. At that rate, peace
could get expensive, as the Six Nations' total claims cover a good chunk of
southern Ontario.

The 1990 standoff over Oka, which produced that iconic image of two warriors
- one a native, one a soldier - facing off, was a galvanizing moment for
many young natives. Taiaiake was working for the band council there at the
time. ``Oka pretty much demonstrated to me that the way to achieve change
was not to negotiate it,'' he says. ``It left a lasting impression on me.''

Unlike the ragtag protesters at Oka, many of them with criminal records, the
young protesters at Caledonia are educated, employable, articulate, and
well-versed in their rights. For that, you can thank people such as Dawn
Martin-Hill (Mohawk, Wolf Clan). Prof Martin-Hill, who lives on the reserve,
is also the director of the Indigenous Studies program at McMaster
University in Hamilton, only a few miles away.

The official aim of McMaster's program is to ``to increase awareness of
indigenous cultures and issues.'' But the program - and the faculty who
teach it - are explicitly political, and they actively support the
``reclamation'' of the land at Caledonia. Like Taiaiake, Prof. Martin-Hill
has a very clear-cut view of the world. ``If your inheritance was stolen and
the government stole it, you have a right to get it back.'' She has taught
more than a thousand students in the past decade, both native and
non-native.

Not every native academic is as rejectionist as these two. They are Mohawks,
and the Mohawks have always claimed to be a sovereign nation. (Neither of
them votes, because Canada is not their country.) But their narrative of
oppression has a familiar ring. It is repeated ad nauseam on campuses across
the nation, in social science courses, anthropology courses, women's studies
courses, and anywhere with courses in ethnic studies or globalization.
Eurocentric white civilization is the colonial oppressor. It has exploited
its dark-skinned victims around the world by means of global capitalism.
(The word ``genocide'' usually figures in this narrative.) Only by throwing
off the white man's chains will its victims be redeemed. Compromise is not
an option. As Taiaiake writes in his latest book, Wasase (a word signifying
an ancient war ritual), ``any accommodation to liberal democracy is a
surrender of the very essence of any kind of an Onkwehonwe existence.'' The
irony that his comfortable livelihood is supplied by a liberal democracy
probably won't elude you.

Taiaiake's philosophy is heavily indebted to white men such as Chomsky and
Foucault. ``On a theoretical level, the enemy of our struggle is the noxious
mix of monotheistic religiosity, liberal political theory, neoliberal
capitalist economics and their supportive theories of racial superiority,
and the false assumption of euroamerican cultural superiority,'' he writes.
And there is another theme - the theme of the inherent superiority of
indigenous cultures, in which people are at one with the land and societies
are egalitarian. ``The ideals of peace, respect, harmony and coexistence,''
we are told, ``are at the heart of Onkwehonwe philosophies.''

Indulging in romantic primitivism is bad enough when white people do it. But
Taiaiake's version is even worse. The cover of his book features an
illustration of a tattooed, feathered warrior that could have come straight
from the pages of James Fenimore Cooper. The myth of the noble savage has
been resurrected, in academia.

Taiaiake's version of racial essentialism strikes me as - not to put too
fine a point on it - racist. But then, I'm just a Settler - a Settler who
used to think that a new wave of educated, energetic, forward-looking native
youth might begin to leave identity politics behind. How wrong I was.

``I think we have a generation of native leaders emerging who are quite
willing to use their assets in a strategic and political way,'' he says.

``You're going to see this group of young people reassert their nations
again.''

mwente at globeandmail.com