[IPSM] Montreal Gazette: Op-ed by Doug George-Kanentiio (Akwesasne)

[Jaggi Singh]

Original Article:
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/features/viewpoints/story.html?id=bddad4a5-1970-40ec-afc7-7582a01c8cff

  DOUG GEORGE-KANENTIIO
Freelance
Thursday, November 20, 2008

On Nov. 14, three people died at Akwesasne in a terrible car-van crash after
a high-speed police chase with a suspected tobacco smuggler.

The collision caused one of the vehicles to explode in flames, killing an
elderly couple from Massena, N.Y. The gentleman who died in the flames was
Edward Kassian, 77, my former high-school science teacher whom I remember as
an excellent instructor, gentle in spirit and gifted with a unique sense of
humour. He was very popular.

He did not deserve to die as the latest victim of an activity that is
consuming the Mohawk people. Smuggling tobacco, narcotics, and whatever else
commands a profit has created a "narco-culture" at Akwesasne in which the
traditional values of humility, compassion, simplicity, generosity and
communal service have been replaced by violence, intimidation, greed and
death.

It was not supposed to be this way; at least not for those of us who gave
heart, mind, body and soul to the struggle to secure the vague Nirvana
called "native rights" a generation ago. I was an active participant in
virtually every standoff, conflict and rally as we waged a decades-long
campaign to secure what we called our "indigenous" rights to self
determination.

We not only sought to remove the last vestiges of Canadian and American
colonialism from our territory but to recreate a viable Mohawk Nation that
would be governed by our own laws, enacted by our own administrative
agencies, rooted in our aboriginal customs. We wanted all alien
law-enforcement authorities off Akwesasne. To accomplish this, we revived
our traditional rituals, formed international alliances, reached out to
human- rights organizations, reinvigorated our language and created our own
media.

We also sought to have the international border that dissects Akwesasne
eliminated. We would create our own peacekeeping service, followed by a
broad new economic policy that would encourage the growth of our community
through the production and marketing of products consistent with our
history.

As appealing as this sounded to us, we grossly underestimated the internal
resistance to Mohawk unity. We were stunned by the vigour with which our own
people fought against these plans.

Already, in those day-dreaming months of 1987-88, the smugglers and gamblers
were forging an alliance that would destroy our plans since they feared,
correctly, it would put them out of business. In a wave of violence
unmatched in our history, the weaponry of this cartel was turned against
other Mohawks and in 1990 we degenerated into civil war.

Mohawks died, and in the resulting administrative anarchy the smuggling took
hold and has not relaxed its grip on our people. Smuggling is not a benign
activity. The profit from this vice is so great as to attract criminal gangs
from throughout eastern Canada. And these gangs take no prisoners. They kill
with impunity.

Many Mohawks have paid with their freedom or their lives for taking part in
midnight smuggling runs. The fast-flowing, frigid waters of the St. Lawrence
have taken more.

The easy money has led to corruption not only at Akwesasne but throughout
the region. The fragile economies of Massena and Cornwall are now sustained
by this narco-culture.

There are solutions, but it means a collective effort by the United States,
Canada and the legitimate leaders of the Mohawk people. It means removing
the border and empowering our people to enforce our own laws. It means those
who carry the contraband to our community must be prosecuted. It means
removing the political factionalism that has crippled us for too long, and
restoring a single governing entity to Akwesasne. It means entering into a
Native Free Trade Act so we can transfer legitimate goods across the river
to other native communities without the gangs. It means legitimizing the
tobacco trade.

Otherwise, Akwesasne will become an armed encampment, for Canada will have
no choice but to use its military powers and occupy Indian territory. The
resulting war that would surely come from such an action is not what any
Mohawk wants. But we cannot carry the burden of more victims dying in the
most terrible ways because we failed to act as true human beings.

Doug George-Kanentiio, an Akwesasne Mohawk, is former editor of Akwesasne
Notes, a founder of the Native American Journalists Association and writer
for News From Indian Country.