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Page added on October 18, 2013
Mi’kmaq Blockde
For over two weeks now, a coalition of people including local Mi’kmaq residents, and anglophone and Acadian settlers, have blockaded the road leading to an equipment compound leased to South Western Energy or SWN.
SWN is a Texas based energy company, that has been attempting to conduct natural gas exploration in the area’s shale formations. It is believed that if significant deposits of gas are found, SWN would then employ the controversial extraction method of hydraulic fracturing or fracking. But since this past summer, protests, direct actions and sabotage have thwarted their work, and have turned public opinion on the side of the protesters.
Throughout the summer, police arrested dozens of people conducting non-violent civil disobedience. But since the arrival of members of the Mi’kmaq warrior society, the police have not been as keen to come near protesters.
The blockade is preventing SWN from operating thumper trucks, massive vehicles that gather seismic data to determine the location of natural gas.
During my short stay here I’ve witnessed the co-operation between natives and settlers, a partnership that has kept this blockade fully stocked and operational. Food, wood, hot coffee, tents and other supplies keep streaming all the while SWN berates the police in the media for not arresting the protesters.
In two days time, several people named in a court injuction are due to appear before a judge. In the meantime supporters keep arriving, but the warriors have also issued a callout for further support.
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5 Comments on "Mi’kmaq Blockde"
Orland on Fri, 18th Oct 2013 12:19 pm
Does e else see the irony of the first nations leading the defense of our environment? Ever since white Europeans “discovered’ North America the native community has been repeatedly pushed off their land and abused in many ways. Now that the predominantly white population fears the destruction of “their’ land, the first nations are at the forefront of the defense. In fact, the first nations may represent our only hope of preventing the complete contamination of our water, land, and air. Let’s get behind them in this absolutely necessary struggle.
dsula on Fri, 18th Oct 2013 12:47 pm
Orland: Predominantly white? Where? In the USA? Looking around me all I can see is shades of brown.
Orland on Fri, 18th Oct 2013 1:46 pm
dsula, you are quite correct in stating that the population now shows a great number of ‘shades of brown’. I was referring to the great proportion of landowners who continue to be mostly white. Besides, that is hardly the point of the comment. Those who have been most persecuted are now leading in the defense of the environment. Let’s focus on the real issues.
DC on Fri, 18th Oct 2013 3:13 pm
Canadian police are little more than viscous guard dogs for the Harper regime\US fossil-fuel energy cartels. They only back down it seems, when confronted by Indians. When our protesters take to the streets, like in Toronto a few years back, its riot clubs and tear gas and kettling all the way. They never seem to try that on Indians.
Thing is though, I guess WTO really isnt on the indians radar, though dont really seem to care. The only thing that seems to get the indians riled up is taxes and infringements on ‘their land’. That aside, they do seem to be more effective at protesting than we are. Canadian police are extremely viscous when it comes to putting down protest by there own people. Indians by contrast, get the velvet glove treatment and lots of media-friendly coverage.
We just get the pepper spray and combat boots to the head from the RCMP.
GregT on Fri, 18th Oct 2013 5:33 pm
Chief Seattle’s Letter To: All THE PEOPLE
Chief Seattle, Chief of the Suquamish Indians allegedly wrote to the American Government in the 1800’s – In this letter he gave the most profound understanding of God in all Things. Here is his letter, which should be instilled in the hearts and minds of every parent and child in all the Nations of the World:
CHIEF SEATTLE’S LETTER
“The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?
Every part of the earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.
We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the dew in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man all belong to the same family.
The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each glossy reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water’s murmur is the voice of my father’s father.
The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give the rivers the kindness that you would give any brother.
If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life that it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also received his last sigh. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers.
Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.
This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.
One thing we know: our God is also your God. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator.
Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted with talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone! Where will the eagle be? Gone! And what is to say goodbye to the swift pony and then hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival.
When the last red man has vanished with this wilderness, and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of the spirit of my people left?
We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother’s heartbeat. So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it, as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children, and love it, as God loves us.
As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land. This earth is precious to us. It is also precious to you.
We obviously didn’t listen to Chief Seattle back then, and we are still not listening. We WILL reap the consequences of our ignorance, and our greed. It is unfortunate that we will destroy so much more, than only our (white) race.