Students at the Palestine solidarity encampment on the McGill University campus in Montreal received a big boost on April 28, when the Kanienkehaka First Nation of Kahnawake issued the following solidarity statement.
“We stand in support with all who are occupying to divest institutions of higher learning (mcgill university montreal) from israel’s genocide upon the Palestinian Nation.
“In accord with the Two Row Wampum Peace Treaty, the Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) People of the Five Nations LongHouse Confederacy, Kahnawake, Turtle Island, have observed the behaviour of the europeans for the last 500 years. They persist in their systemic colonial genocidal wars upon our Mother Earth and all Original Peoples and our territories here in Turtle Island and abroad, including Palestine.
“Here, they were compelled into the Two Row Wampum Peace Treaty, obliging them to conduct themselves in a proper “Nation to Nation” human relation. However, they lied since they first stepped foot here in Turtle Island. They created the so-called indian act under which they kidnapped, raped, terrorized and murdered our native children in the british/nazi residential school concentration camps, with the express intent of “killing the Native out of our children” (General R.H. Pratt, so-called united states, 1892, reaffirmed by Stephen Harper, prime minister, so-called canada, 2008).
“Through britain’s worldwide colonial infrastructure, “the indian act” policy was exported to South Africa, renaming it “apartheid”, committing the same genocide upon the Original Peoples of that territory.
“Through the same colonial infrastructure, the South Africa apartheid was export to israel, to genocide upon the Palestinian People, under the united nation’s creation of the so-called state of israel.
“We are happy to see that students within universities and colleges are occupying their campuses in solidarity with the massacred Palestinian children, women and men, to force their campus administration to divest from israel’s genocide. Institutions of higher learning must not be invested in or connected to any genocide, war or military action, as they are supposed to engage students in higher levels of thought conducive to human evolution. Contrarily, any and all war or military actions are intrinsic with the most primitive and lower levels of human thought, hastening the devolution of humanity, in actions like what transpired in Kent state university in Ohio in 1969, where the national guard assassinated four people that were protesting against the vietnam war.
“Therefore, in accordance with the Two Row Wampum Peace Treaty, we grant the full right to those who are occupying McGill and other campuses throughout Turtle Island to be upon the said lands, with the expressed intent of engaging their administrations to divest from the colonial genocide of israel upon the Palestinian People and from the war machine in general.
“We encourage everyone to support these actions and stand in solidarity with the Palestinian People, within the spirt of the Two Row Wampum Peace Treaty – be peace, do not let the despise of their hatred fool you, do not engage in any activity that plays their game, do not engage in any hostile action. Be Peace, as righteous holders of the Two Row Wampum Peace Treaty, wage Peace and not war. Be love, be comprehension, be a peaceful example of collective consciousness for the world to see and learn from, and a reflection of what the colonizing world has to do to correct countless generations of colonial wrongs.
“On behalf of all the children that the canadian/american/european/israeli colonizers kidnapped, raped, terrorized and murdered around the world!
“Skennen kowa Sewakwekon! Great peace to all!”
The statement is signed by Stuart Myiow, Wolf Clan representative of the Kanienkehaka Traditional Council.
[Photo of student encampment at McGill: Yves Engler X]
Note: the above statement was transcribed by PV staff from a post on X – we have done our best to retain the writing mechanics, including capitalization and bold highlights, out of respect for the Kanienkehaka Traditional Council’s original document.
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