Here's an excellent article from the Comrades in the RCP/PCR Canada, Read it.
Self-determination for the First Nations!
Partisan #32 • January 11, 2013
Self-determination for the First Nations!
Partisan #32 • January 11, 2013
The emergence of the “Idle No More” movement combined with the hunger strike launched by the Chief of the Attawapiskat band council, Theresa Spence put the liberation struggle of the First Nations back at the forefront of Canadian politics. As the year 2013 begins, this is certainly good news for all those who are oppressed by the Canadian bourgeoisie.
Various actions have multiplied across the country, including “flash mobs,” street demonstrations, teach-ins, and blockades of roads, bridges and railways... These actions show the strong presence of indigenous nations throughout Canada. They dramatically remind us that the whole Canadian state was built on the theft of the First Nations territories and the dispossession of their ancestral rights.
“Idle No More” was officially established last October, after the tabling of Bill C-45 (also called “Mammoth II”) by the federal government. This new law introduces a change in the consultation process of the band councils established under the infamous Indian Act, in order to facilitate the sale or lease of reserve lands. The initiators of the movement also oppose changes to the Navigable Waters Protection Act and more generally, the weakening of federal regulations protecting the environment and natural resources, which will have a very negative impact on the future of aboriginal communities.
Following the launch in mid-December of the hunger strike of the Attawapiskat Chief (a community located on the west side of James Bay in Northern Ontario), the “Idle No More” movement expanded to almost all indigenous communities. Grassroots activists from various communities, as well as the leaders officially recognized and appointed by the Canadian government at the head of band councils and major groups such as the Assembly of First Nations are both taking part in the movement. In this regard, Idle No More is certainly facing the same basic contradictions that also characterize the relationship between First Nations peoples and the Canadian state.
The current crisis of the world capitalist system, along with the intensification of rivalries between the great imperialist powers, are forcing the Canadian bourgeoisie to expand and accelerate its exploitation of the territory it occupies and controls —especially of natural resources, which are heavily concentrated but still not yet maximized in their exploitation, in Northern Canada. Therefore, the pressures are becoming stronger to weaken or even abolish the Indian Act, since it at least “protects” some territories coveted by major Canadian and/or transnational corporations.
We have thus arrived at this tragic situation where repealing this infamous law —which constitutes the legal basis for the denial of the rights of indigenous peoples in Canada— could result in a further weakening of those rights... In this context, it is difficult to figure how a unique meeting between the Harper government and officials of Indian bands could solve the fundamental issues raised not only in the past few weeks by Idle No More, but since the emergence of the national liberation movement of indigenous peoples 30 to 40 years ago.
For Maoists, the liberation struggle of indigenous peoples is at the heart of the fight against capitalism and the imperialist bourgeoisie in Canada. This country was founded on oppression, theft and genocide of the First Nations. And this has played a fundamental role in the process of capital accumulation and the formation and further development of an imperialist Euro-Canadian bourgeoisie. First Nations constitute “internal colonies” who play a similar role for the Canadian bourgeoisie that the Third World countries generally play for the imperialist countries.
First Nations peoples' struggle for liberation is an essential component of the revolution in Canada —which requires the destruction of the reactionary Canadian state. Proletarians and all those who want to get rid of the capitalist system have a common interest in supporting the struggle for complete self-determination for the First Nations. As it is unfolding and at some point may possibly triumph, this struggle will allow the emergence of a new revolutionary alliance of all the oppressed and exploited people here.
And here we are speaking of a genuine alliance: neither submitting to each other, nor even less expressing a cheap sense of “humanism,” but a revolutionary alliance to end a system and smash a state that spawned and still commits the most atrocious crimes. The dedication of communist revolutionaries in this struggle is firm and resolute, as we are convinced that that “No nation can be free if it oppresses other nations” and that the revolution alone will set us free!
Canada, A Prison for the First Nations
- Excerpt from the Programme of the Revolutionary Communist Party (PCR-RCP)
Canada, as the other states born of European colonialism in America, was built on violence, exploitation and oppression towards the First Nations. Before the arrival of the white man in Canada, more than a million Natives lived on these lands. The arrival of the French and the English, who brought war and disease, took its toll on the Native populations killing most of them. In some cases, 80%, 90% and even 95% of some Native communities perished. The Natives needed many centuries (up until now in fact) to rebuild their populations back to their original size.
Nowadays, their situation is still very precarious. Their living conditions leave them with poverty and misery. Their life expectancy is eight years lower than that of the average Canadian. Twice as many children die, as compared to the rest of the Canadian population. Their youth are seven times more likely to commit suicide. In most regions, their level of unemployment is three, even four times higher than the Canadian average.
The living conditions on the reserves are harsh. The governments in Canada have clearly demonstrated that they are unable to solve this problem. The development of the Native struggles and their radicalization, as well as the constitutional stalemate and the dead end in negotiations around their territorial rights, have reached an explosive point.
Today in Canada, there are more and more Native struggles and Native movements putting forth their claims. This is a very important component of the current political situation. Despite the policies of assimilation and of genocide towards the Native people that have permitted Canada to become a powerful capitalist country, they have never ceased in waging struggle. Their fierce resistance, the struggle of the Mohawks in 1990, of the Ipperwash in Ontario, of Gustafsen Lake in British Columbia, the various constitutional crises in Canada, reminds us of this reality. In the last 12 years particularly, new forces have arisen amongst them and are becoming stronger and stronger. Because of those currents, their movements tend to be more radical and directed against the bourgeoisie and its state. We support and defend those currents.The revolutionary proletariat must forge an alliance with the First Nations and unite with them in a great movement of struggle against the Canadian imperialist bourgeoisie.
