WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.160 We are truly and deeply sorry 00:00:02.160 --> 00:00:04.960 and we commit to today’s apology 00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:07.360 and next week’s apology 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:10.480 and, quite frankly, all apologies. 00:00:13.040 --> 00:00:15.520 We will continue to apologize. 00:00:15.520 --> 00:00:18.240 There are many more apologies to come. 00:00:18.240 --> 00:00:18.880 Right. 00:00:18.880 --> 00:00:22.480 And indeed, I’m going to apologize again. 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:23.680 I’m really sorry. 00:00:23.680 --> 00:00:33.440 We were wrong. We apologize.  I am sorry. We are sorry. 00:00:33.440 --> 00:00:35.360 Sorry about not having done that. 00:00:37.040 --> 00:00:42.880 Whenever anyone makes an apology,  as the person apologizing— 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:43.840 Shut the fuck up! 00:00:44.139 --> 00:00:45.139 Umm... 00:00:46.480 --> 00:00:47.835 Do some damage boys! 00:01:04.160 --> 00:01:05.120 Oh hello. 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:07.440 Welcome to System Fail, 00:01:07.440 --> 00:01:10.720 the show where we agree with  flat-earthers about exactly one thing. 00:01:10.720 --> 00:01:12.080 Fuck Christopher Columbus. 00:01:12.080 --> 00:01:13.760 Christopher Columbus, the original ISIS. 00:01:16.790 --> 00:01:20.640 Christopher my boy, the earth  is as flat as this orange. 00:01:21.360 --> 00:01:22.800 But this orange is round! 00:01:22.800 --> 00:01:24.640 So is the earth, son. 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:29.120 People don’t think so, but we who know the sea are sure the earth is round. 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:30.880 Here’s the thing, globehugger! 00:01:32.160 --> 00:01:34.280 Your plane can’t go upside down! 00:01:34.280 --> 00:01:36.160 Yeah, fuck Columbus. 00:01:36.160 --> 00:01:38.080 I am your host, DeeDos, 00:01:38.080 --> 00:01:39.840 and as millions of North Americans 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:42.320 observe a religious ritual from feudal Europe, 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:45.040 by dressing up in silly costumes 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:48.160 and gorging themselves on high-fructose corn syrup 00:01:49.560 --> 00:01:52.320 Woo! That’s really stretchy! 00:01:52.320 --> 00:01:56.800 members of multiple Indigenous nations are engaged in an anti-colonial struggle 00:01:56.800 --> 00:01:58.080 with many front-lines. 00:02:00.240 --> 00:02:04.320 On October 11th, a coalition of radical Indigenous organizers 00:02:04.320 --> 00:02:08.080 called for a Day of Rage Against Colonialism. 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:12.000 The appeal for autonomous, anti-colonial, anti-capitalist, 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:16.400 and anti-fascist actions was a clear rebuke to what organizers called 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:19.280 “the uninspired assimilationist politics of 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:20.720 Indigenous Peoples Day”, 00:02:20.720 --> 00:02:25.280 a tame, progressive alternative to the official state holiday of Columbus Day. 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:28.240 Indigenous people are done with colonizers! 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:31.120 In several cities across  the so-called United States,  00:02:32.160 --> 00:02:33.360 people answered the call 00:02:33.360 --> 00:02:35.840 by toppling colonial statues and monuments. 00:02:40.320 --> 00:02:44.640 In so-called Arizona, members of the O’odham Anti-Border Collective 00:02:44.640 --> 00:02:49.600 blocked a highway immigration checkpoint to protest the construction 00:02:49.600 --> 00:02:52.320 of a border wall through Tohono O’odham territory. 00:02:53.751 --> 00:02:58.982 Does our freedom offend you that much? 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:04.560 The protest was soon set upon by Customs and Border Protection agents, 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:08.160 who fired tear gas and rubber bullets and arrested twelve people. 00:03:09.998 --> 00:03:11.185 I’m down, I’m down. 00:03:11.185 --> 00:03:13.101 Yeah, you’re gonna stay down! Got it?! 00:03:14.070 --> 00:03:16.960 Leave my mom alone. Y’all better not hurt my fucking mom! 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:20.800 Recent weeks have also seen a sharp increase in colonial tensions 00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:23.200 in the territories ruled by the Canadian State. 00:03:24.480 --> 00:03:26.480 I thought I was gonna make it through this....but I’m not. 00:03:28.720 --> 00:03:30.320 On September 28th, 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:34.800 a 37 year old Atikamekw woman named Joyce Echaquan 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:37.680 died in a hospital in Joliette, so-called Quebec. 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:42.400 After complaining of mistreatment by racist staff, 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:45.840 she livestreamed the taunts of her nurses as she lay dying. 00:03:52.160 --> 00:03:55.760 This footage soon went viral, provoking widespread outrage 00:03:55.760 --> 00:03:58.880 and a series of vigils, rallies and demonstrations 00:03:58.880 --> 00:04:01.440 carried out under the banner ‘Justice For Joyce’. 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:07.840 Anti-Indigenous racism has also been on display in Miꞌkmaꞌki, 00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:10.800 specifically in the area known as Nova Scotia 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:11.920 Fuck’s sake boys! 00:04:11.920 --> 00:04:15.040 where a dispute over fishing rights has boiled over into 00:04:15.040 --> 00:04:16.800 ugly scenes of mob violence. 00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:20.960 An estimated 200 commercial fishers preventing employees of a lobster 00:04:20.960 --> 00:04:24.480 holding pound from leaving, and removing crates of lobster 00:04:24.480 --> 00:04:26.400 caught by Indigenous harvesters. 00:04:27.200 --> 00:04:30.560 Canada’s colonial police force, the RCMP, 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:33.680 has stood by and watched as non-Indigenous fishers 00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:37.840 have barricaded Mi’kmaq boats, attacked lobster storage facilities, 00:04:37.840 --> 00:04:42.080 sabotaged traps, torched vehicles, and otherwise sought to terrorize 00:04:42.080 --> 00:04:47.680 members of the Sipekneꞌkatik First Nation out of exercising their inherent fishing rights. 00:04:47.680 --> 00:04:51.760 This lobster pound in southern Nova Scotia was being used by Mi’kmaq fishers 00:04:51.760 --> 00:04:53.200 to store their catch. 00:04:53.200 --> 00:04:57.680 The fire so intense that it burned the building completely to the ground. 00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:02.320 Lookie there, shootin flares at us. Good try motherfucker! 00:05:02.320 --> 00:05:09.040 Back in 2013, the Mi’kmaq Warriors Society intervened in Rexton, so-called New Brunswick, 00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:13.040 during a conflict between members of the Elsipogtog First Nation 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:15.760 and Texas-based fracking company SWN. 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:20.240 The warriors ended up clashing with an RCMP tactical squad, 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:23.440 before the community eventually pushed them out of the area, 00:05:23.440 --> 00:05:25.600 torching a number of cruisers in the process. 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:32.080 Recently, calls have been growing for the warriors to regroup 00:05:32.080 --> 00:05:34.560 Ah, c’mon! Really?! 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:38.640 to back up their fellow Mi'kmaq, who are facing the brunt of colonial violence. 00:05:39.840 --> 00:05:44.080 In the meantime, support is growing, with a number of solidarity actions 00:05:44.080 --> 00:05:45.680 taking place around the country. 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:50.480 We stand with them, and we stand proud. 00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:54.480 Keep on fighting. We’re here. We got your back. 00:05:54.480 --> 00:05:57.760 On the other side of the continent, the Secwepemc have delivered 00:05:57.760 --> 00:06:01.440 a cease and desist order to the TMX Pipeline corporation, 00:06:01.440 --> 00:06:03.360 which is now owned by the federal government. 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:06.000 Shoulda known better, but I didn’t. 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:11.200 The order demanded an immediate halt to plans to drill under the Secwepemcetkwe, 00:06:11.200 --> 00:06:14.000 or Thompson River, in so-called British Columbia. 00:06:17.520 --> 00:06:22.000 If completed, the Trans Mountain Pipeline would massively ramp up the transport 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:23.600 of bitumen from Alberta, 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:26.400 allowing for an expansion of the Tar Sands, 00:06:26.400 --> 00:06:30.080 and threatening the survival of salmon that surrounding Indigenous nations 00:06:30.080 --> 00:06:33.840 and much of the region’s wildlife depend upon. 00:06:34.960 --> 00:06:38.640 On Thursday October 15, five people were arrested 00:06:38.640 --> 00:06:41.520 while blocking workers from drilling under the river. 00:06:41.520 --> 00:06:47.840 This is unceded Secwepemc territory. Our land is not a sacrifice zone. 00:06:47.840 --> 00:06:52.400 We are going to stand and defend this water by any means. 00:06:52.400 --> 00:06:55.920 Things have also been heating back up on the Wet’suwet’en yintah, 00:06:55.920 --> 00:06:59.760 as workers with the Coastal GasLink pipeline are preparing to drill 00:06:59.760 --> 00:07:02.880 under the Wedzin Kwa, otherwise known as the Morice River. 00:07:03.840 --> 00:07:08.080 The Coastal GasLink pipeline is a proposed 670 kilometre, 00:07:08.080 --> 00:07:11.120 fracked gas pipeline owned by TC Energy 00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:13.520 and private equity firm KKR. 00:07:15.280 --> 00:07:18.720 Its construction through unceded Wet’suwet’en territories 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:22.720 has faced sustained and determined resistance for over a decade. 00:07:26.640 --> 00:07:30.160 As construction continues to push on towards the Wedzin Kwa, 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:33.760 Coastal GasLink workers are increasingly enlisting the RCMP 00:07:33.760 --> 00:07:37.760 as private security, harassing Wet’suwet’en and their allies, 00:07:37.760 --> 00:07:41.280 and attempting to block them from upholding Wet’suwet’en law. 00:07:41.280 --> 00:07:45.120 Don’t threaten me with an injunction if you don’t know that you don’t have permission 00:07:45.120 --> 00:07:47.920 of the authority of this territory. 00:07:50.080 --> 00:07:53.200 This past February, Wet’suwet’en supporters launched 00:07:53.200 --> 00:07:57.440 a coordinated series of decentralized rail, port and highway blockades 00:07:57.440 --> 00:07:59.600 under the banner #ShutDownCanada. 00:08:01.840 --> 00:08:05.680 These blockades lasted for weeks, causing widespread logistical 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:11.840 and economic disruption. 00:08:13.200 --> 00:08:17.760 Calls for a resumption of these solidarity actions have recently begun to circulate. 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:19.360 We all knew it was coming. 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:21.840 But we hoped it wasn’t. 00:08:22.640 --> 00:08:26.880 And in so-called Ontario, members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy 00:08:26.880 --> 00:08:29.120 from the Six Nations of the Grand River 00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:33.120 occupied a proposed development site on their territories back in July. 00:08:34.560 --> 00:08:37.920 The encampment, dubbed 1492 Land Back Lane, 00:08:37.920 --> 00:08:40.240 is located near the town of Caledonia, 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:43.200 which lies within an area known as the Haldimand Tract. 00:08:46.560 --> 00:08:48.800 This land, which spans six miles 00:08:48.800 --> 00:08:51.040 on either side of the length of the Grand River, 00:08:51.040 --> 00:08:55.760 was granted to the Haudenosaunee by treaty in 1784 as compensation 00:08:55.760 --> 00:08:59.520 for territories that their confederacy had lost in the American Revolution. 00:09:00.800 --> 00:09:05.040 The official reservation of the Six Nations of the Grand River currently accounts 00:09:05.040 --> 00:09:08.880 for only 5% of the historical Haldimand Tract. 00:09:08.880 --> 00:09:12.080 Ownership of much of the remaining lands is disputed. 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:15.360 European settlers on the Grand River: 00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:20.560 helping to create a close relationship between the people of Haldimand 00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:24.880 and their Six Nations neighbours for many years. 00:09:24.880 --> 00:09:28.880 Back in 2006, community members from Six Nations 00:09:28.880 --> 00:09:33.120 occupied a proposed development site, known as the Douglas Creek Estates, 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:35.840 leading to what became known as the Caledonia crisis, 00:09:36.560 --> 00:09:41.040 a tense stand-off that was only resolved when the Ontario government stepped in 00:09:41.040 --> 00:09:42.240 to buy off the developers. 00:09:44.640 --> 00:09:47.440 This time around, the proposed McKenzie Meadows 00:09:47.440 --> 00:09:51.120 development site, home to 1492 Land Back Lane, 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:55.600 is located directly across the street from the former Douglas Creeks Estate site. 00:09:56.560 --> 00:10:01.040 Patterns of repression and resistance have taken a similar direction as well. 00:10:01.040 --> 00:10:04.000 OK, we have some people chasing a police officer out of the way. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:05.360 Get the fuck out of here! 00:10:12.388 --> 00:10:13.600 Keep going! 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:18.800 A militarized raid on August 5th by the Ontario Provincial Police, or OPP, 00:10:19.680 --> 00:10:22.960 immediately provoked widespread community mobilization, 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:25.040 and led to burning highway blockades. 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:27.280 It’s on boys! 00:10:28.400 --> 00:10:33.840 On Thursday October 22nd, an Ontario Superior Court approved 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:36.160 a permanent injunction against the encampment. 00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:41.097 Since then, resistance has only intensified. 00:10:52.480 --> 00:10:56.000 The Ontario government has since sought to isolate the encampment, 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:58.080 heavily criminalizing supporters, 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:02.240 arresting dozens of people for breach of injunction for simply visiting the site, 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:05.200 and playing on colonial fears of Indigenous resistance. 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:09.120 Well you just can’t go in and take over people’s future homes. 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:09.840 It’s wrong. 00:11:10.560 --> 00:11:13.920 And then when the police come, they get an outhouse, 00:11:13.920 --> 00:11:17.120 toss it over from a bridge, onto a police car. 00:11:20.880 --> 00:11:21.520 Fair play. 00:11:21.520 --> 00:11:26.400 To find out what they’re so scared of, I recently caught up with Skyler Williams, 00:11:26.400 --> 00:11:30.640 a Haudenosaunee resident of Six Nations and the official spokesperson 00:11:30.640 --> 00:11:33.200 of 1492 Land Back Lane. 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:35.360 Hey Skyler, how’s it going? 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:42.400 Holding space... and y’know, preparing for what lengthy legal battles await us. 00:11:42.400 --> 00:11:45.600 I see. Well at least the weather there looks pretty nice. 00:11:48.160 --> 00:11:51.760 How did the 1492 Land Back Lane occupation start? 00:11:51.760 --> 00:11:57.200 Myself, and some friends and family kinda knew  about this development that was about to start.   00:11:58.160 --> 00:12:06.400 And then at the very beginning of us wanting to go  in there to occupy, or reclaim our lands – it was   00:12:06.400 --> 00:12:11.280 right at the start of all the COVID stuff.  Barricades went up around the reserve, and   00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:16.880 there was lots of concern about  whether us as a community could   00:12:16.880 --> 00:12:21.040 withstand the outbreak that was coming. And so people were really worried about that. 00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:27.840 After a couple of months of letting that kind of  settle and get to where it is now, we had seen   00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:33.440 that hadn’t stopped any of the development that  was going on there. They cleared the land of every   00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:40.320 blade of grass. Every tree. Every shrub. Every  hill. So now it’s just some barren clay there. 00:12:41.280 --> 00:12:46.480 So we moved in there on July 19th. And it was  a Sunday evening. We were very deliberate about   00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:52.080 going there Sunday evening, because y’know,  we wanted it to remain a peaceful occupation   00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:58.080 of our land. And so going in there during  the day during the week meant that we were   00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:02.480 going to have lots of, y’know, workers there,  and there was gonna be confrontation and that   00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:06.560 kind of thing. So we went in on a Sunday to  try and mitigate any of that risk of having   00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:11.200 a big stand off with the developers,  and the workers of those developers. 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:17.040 We went and we were there for about an hour.  We set a fire and erected a couple of flags.   00:13:18.160 --> 00:13:24.560 After about an hour the police pulled in and  they asked how long we were gonna be there. And   00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:28.960 we said that day that our people had  been here for the last 10,000 years, and   00:13:29.520 --> 00:13:34.000 our people are gonna be here for the next  10,000. And so we kind of all laughed.   00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:40.560 And the police officer said “so I take it you’re  gonna be here for a while, then.” And they left. 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:48.480 And so two weeks of just holding space  began. Community support started to happen.   00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:52.400 Y’know, we started getting hot  meals delivered every day, and   00:13:52.400 --> 00:13:57.840 people started coming out to stay with us  to help hold that space. And so we started   00:13:57.840 --> 00:14:03.040 everybody kind of chipping in and helping out.  And more and more tents started getting erected. 00:14:03.040 --> 00:14:05.600 What has the response been  from the Canadian government? 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:17.719 On August 5th there was an injunction that was  granted to the developer. “Without notice”,  it's called. 00:14:17.719 --> 00:14:24.389 And the police moved in. In the morning. They said they had to come and read the injunction. 00:14:24.389 --> 00:14:30.246 And when they did, they blocked off both accesses to the camp to prevent anybody from  coming in. 00:14:30.246 --> 00:14:37.200 They came, they read the injunction,  and then this massive line of vans— it was like   00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:43.840 15 passenger vans —just started rolling down the  highway toward us. And the police barricade line   00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:51.120 moved back and all of the cops rolled in. 100  OPP tactical unit folks got out of those cars 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:58.080 with big guns. And they came out and said  that they’re gonna start making arrests. 00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:04.160 And so the group of us there, we backed up  onto the site, and asked anybody that wasn’t   00:15:04.160 --> 00:15:09.440 planning on staying through any of that, they  were told that they had the option to leave   00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:17.120 if they want. And myself and a few others said  “no, we’re not going anywhere.” And we stayed. 00:15:17.120 --> 00:15:20.160 In the process of those arrests that  were being made, nine of them that day,   00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:26.400 there was one young man that was tasered in the  neck and head. One young woman, who happened to   00:15:26.400 --> 00:15:31.840 be standing there videotaping, got in the way  of the line of cops that was coming. And she   00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:37.600 was picked up and slammed into the mud. We all got  rubber bullets fired at us. It was a hectic day. 00:15:39.040 --> 00:15:44.400 I was released about five hours later. And when  I got out, this woman came up to me and asked   00:15:44.400 --> 00:15:48.480 me if I knew what was going on. On the land  and on the roads down there. And I said no.   00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:54.960 And she showed me some video of stuff that  was going online right now. And at that moment   00:15:56.320 --> 00:16:02.080 there was highway blockades, rail  blockades, and roads were blocked. 00:16:02.080 --> 00:16:09.680 And I got back down to Caledonia, just off the  reserve. And folks asked myself and some of the   00:16:09.680 --> 00:16:16.160 other people that were, y’know, at Land Back —  at 1492 Land Back Lane. And they asked us what   00:16:16.160 --> 00:16:23.120 we wanted to do. And I think we all, almost  at the same time, said we wanted land back.   00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:30.400 We wanted to go back to our camp. And so, just like  we did on day one, there was about a dozen cars,   00:16:30.400 --> 00:16:35.520 and about 30 people jumped in those cars  and drove right back in the front door. 00:16:35.520 --> 00:16:40.480 How does this dispute fit within the broader  context of Haudenosaunee land claims? 00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:44.720 Those blockades that went up was like  – was that reaction to, y’know,   00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:51.360 an ongoing criminalization of land defence.  Canada and Ontario settling land claims through   00:16:52.160 --> 00:16:58.160 court action. Through arrests. Through putting  these heavy weighty bail conditions, and release   00:16:58.160 --> 00:17:02.880 conditions on people that they can’t defend  the land. To drag people from their families,   00:17:02.880 --> 00:17:07.600 from their homes. From arrests that are being  made in front of kids. It doesn’t matter for us.   00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:12.240 Our obligation to the land is far greater  than anything they could do to us.   00:17:13.120 --> 00:17:19.280 And to take that kind of inherent right away from  my grandchildren, great grandchildren... this is   00:17:19.280 --> 00:17:24.400 their land. Who would I be to deny them that by  me not making the stand that I’m making today? 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:26.480 Is there anything else that you want to add? 00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:30.960 When we stand together as communities, whether  that’s Indigenous folks across the country,   00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:36.880 or with our allies in all the big cities across  the country, we’re able to make our voices heard.   00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:38.480 There’s no limits to the accomplishments. 00:17:39.760 --> 00:17:40.720 Thanks Skyler. 00:17:41.760 --> 00:17:45.120 We’ve now reached the end of  this episode of System Fail. 00:17:45.120 --> 00:17:50.080 If you’d like to support any of the Indigenous-led  struggles we’ve discussed in this episode,   00:17:50.080 --> 00:17:52.880 check the show description  for links on how to do so. 00:17:53.600 --> 00:17:58.080 To support subMedia, consider making  a one-time donation or signing up to   00:17:58.080 --> 00:18:01.600 be a monthly sustainer at sub.Media/Donate. 00:18:01.600 --> 00:18:06.560 You can also support us by buying some  of our merchandise at sub.media/gear. 00:18:06.560 --> 00:18:09.360 Be sure and follow us on  your corporate data-mining   00:18:09.360 --> 00:18:12.240 platform of choice. Just search for subMedia. 00:18:12.240 --> 00:18:15.760 Or better yet, sign up to our  mailing list and get every new   00:18:15.760 --> 00:18:18.160 episode delivered directly to your inbox. 00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:19.680 Godspeed, humans.