We Hold the Rock – Indians of All Tribes (1969)

1946-1989, Date, Defining the Enemy, Disruptive Spaces, Indigenous, Occupation, Subjectives of Refusal, Subjects Redefined, Tactics of Disruption, The 'Natural World', White Supremacy

This document was produced by the same group that wrote the Alcatraz Proclamation. In this piece, the occupiers demanded ownership of Alcatraz Island in the name of the Indians of All Tribes. They described the many injustices forced upon them by the “Whitemen” and made it clear that they are there to stay on the island. Through this piece, the authors redefined both what it meant to be “Indian” as well as their subsequent place within society.

Excerpts from a Native Women’s Liberation Front Newsletter (1970)

1946-1989, Blockade/Barricade, Capitalism, Date, Defining the Enemy, Disruptive Spaces, Indigenous, Occupation, Subjectives of Refusal, Subjects Redefined, Tactics of Disruption, The 'Natural World'

These excerpts come from a Native Women’s Liberation Front newsletter published in 1970. Four different cases of direct action land struggles waged by various Native American groups are described, including the occupation of Fort Lawson military base, Stanley Island, Alcatraz Island, and the southern tip of land previously belonging to the Pit River Indians. In each of these cases, Native American activists are seeking to reclaim the land that belongs to them and are calling on readers to join them in their fight.

Trail of Broken Treaties 20-Point Position Paper – American Indian Movement and Rosebud Sioux (1972)

1946-1989, Blockade/Barricade, Capitalism, Date, Defining the Enemy, Disruptive Spaces, Indigenous, Occupation, Subjectives of Refusal, Subjects Redefined, Tactics of Disruption, Urban Spaces, White Supremacy

In 1972, AIM activists and members of the Rosebud Sioux organized the Trail of Broken Treaties and Pan American Native Quest for Justice. This demonstration brought caravans of Native Americans from across the country to Washington D.C. where they occupied the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for six days. The group drafted a 20-point position paper that outlined major issues that needed to be addressed. All of their points centered around recognizing Native American sovereignty and restoring Indigenous rights, as set forth in previous treaties. Additionally, the paper called for the abolishment of the BIA and the creation of an Office of Federal Indian Relations and Community Reconstruction instead.

The Mandate for 1992: Resistance – Bobby Castillo (1992)

1990-2010, Date, Indigenous, Self Institution, Subjectives of Refusal, Subjects Redefined, Tactics of Disruption

This piece was published in the 1992 program of the International Tribunal of Indigenous Peoples and Oppressed Nations in the USA. Bobby Castillo, the author of the mandate as well as the coordinator of the International Tribunal, challenged the 500th anniversary of the “discovery” of America by Christopher Columbus, demanding that myth be destroyed. Furthermore, he demanded the release of political prisoners/prisoners of war and the ability of oppressed national movements to exercise their rights to self-determination. This document serves to raise awareness to the new resistance of the American Indian Movement and to reaffirm the basic human rights of indigenous groups to determine their own destiny. Additionally, both the document and the tribunal are evidence of efforts by indigenous groups to redefine themselves within the current system.

What’s Really Happening at Gustafsen Lake and Why (1995)

1990-2010, Capitalism, Date, Defining the Enemy, Disruptive Spaces, Indigenous, Occupation, Subjectives of Refusal, Tactics of Disruption, The 'Natural World'

This piece describes the conflict between sundancers of the Shuswap First Nation and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) during August and September of 1995. Members of the Shuswap Nation were engaging in their annual sundance ceremonies when individuals from the RCMP SWAT team began encircling the camp. More Shuswap sundancers as well as other nations soon arrived to defend those already there from violence. Throughout the coming weeks, the RCMP began painting these individuals as “terrorists,” blaming them for recent shootings in the area, and cutting off all communication to and from the camp, including that of the media. Those in the camp demand that an impartial third party tribunal be set up to decide on the question of jurisdiction over unceded Native American territories. They have refused to leave their defensive position until their petition has been forwarded from the Governor General of Canada to the British Privy Council and the Queen, as stipulated in the Royal Proclamation of 1763. The piece includes information on how to contact the various governments, lawyers, and other groups involved in the situation to apply pressure in support of the Shuswap, Mohawk, and all other indigenous nations.

The Alcatraz Proclamation (1969)

1946-1989, Date, Defining the Enemy, Disruptive Spaces, Indigenous, Occupation, Subjectives of Refusal, Tactics of Disruption, The 'Natural World', White Supremacy

This was a proclamation issued by the group of indigenous peoples who occupied Alcatraz Island beginning on November 20, 1969 and lasting until June 11, 1971. In the proclamation, Natives demanded the reclamation of the land based on historical precedents and called attention to the poor conditions of Indian Reservations across the country. The proclamation was addressed to the “Great White Father and All His People” with the intended audience being both the US government and the American people.

“We, the native Americans, re-claim the land known as Alcatraz Island in the name of all American Indians by right of discovery.”

Five Centuries of Resistance in Argentina – Kendra Fehrer and Brad Will (2004)

1990-2010, Capitalism, Date, Defining the Enemy, Disruptive Spaces, Indigenous, Occupation, Sabotage/Ecotage, Subjectives of Refusal, Subjects Redefined, Tactics of Disruption, The 'Natural World', The Workplace

This piece describes the direct action tactics used by the Ava Guaraní indigenous peoples of Argentina and their allies against Tabacal Sugar, a subsidiary of the Seaboard Corporation. Tabacal Sugar owns the ancestral land of the Ava Guaraní, which is found in Salta, a northern province of Argentina. Despite being displaced from their land over five decades ago, members of the Ava Guaraní community have occupied the land in their ancestral homeland to harvest native fruits, vegetables, and medicinal herbs. In addition to the actions taken by the indigenous community themselves, activists from the Worcester Global Action Network, on behalf of the Ava Guaraní, disrupted Seaboard Corporation’s annual shareholders meeting to demand the corporation address the displacement of the indigenous peoples in Salta.

President of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians Letter to the Chairman of the Town of Lac du Flambeau – John Johnson Sr. (2023)

2011-Present, Date, Disruptive Spaces, Indigenous, Subjectives of Refusal, The 'Natural World', Uncategorized

This letter, written in December of 2023 by the President of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, John Johnson Sr., to the Chairman of the Town of Lac du Flambeau, Matt Gaulke, communicated that the tribe would be enacting a Road Access Permitting Ordinance applying to all roads that cross tribal land. This would allow legal access to the roads in exchange for a fee, and came after months of contentious dispute over road access on the reservation. In January of 2023, the northern Wisconsin tribe barricaded four reservation roadways they argued were being illegally used. In this letter, the tribe president demanded nearly $10 million to resolve past trespass violations, and required payment of these damages before issuance of any road permits under this new ordinance.

OCCUPY EVERYTHING!: California Valley Miwok Tribe Occupies Foreclosed House in Stockton – Modesto Anarcho (2009)

1990-2010, Date, Indigenous, Occupation, Subjectives of Refusal, Tactics of Disruption, We're Not Paying That

An interview with the California Valley Miwok Tribe in response to their occupation of their foreclosed home in Stockton, California. The group had planned to stand their ground and barricade themselves in the house until their problems were addressed by the Department of the Interior.

“We had to make our point clear that we were no longer going to be pushed out and forgotten like yesterday’s trash! We are human beings. We are not just names and/or numbers on a piece of paper.” 

The Manukan Declaration (2004)

1990-2010, Date, Disruptive Spaces, Indigenous, Subjectives of Refusal, The 'Natural World', Women

The Manukan Declaration was signed by seventeen different organizations across North America, South America, Asia, and Africa that make up the Indigenous Women’s Biodiversity Network in 2004. Generally, it advocates for indigenous voices. It highlights the importance of indigenous women in particular to indigenous culture, tradition, and environmental biodiversity.

“As Indigenous women, we have a fundamental role in environmental conservation and preservation throughout the history of our Peoples. We are the guardians of Indigenous knowledge and it is our main responsibility to protect and perpetuate this knowledge. Our weavings, music, songs, costumes, and our knowledge of agriculture, hunting or fishing are all examples of some of our contributions to the world. We are daughters of Mother Earth and to her we are obliged. Our ceremonies recognize her and we return to her the placentas of our children. She also safeguards the remains of our ancestors.”

“We are an honorable people – can you say the same?” (1973)

1946-1989, Date, Defining the Enemy, God, Country, Property, Indigenous, Subjectives of Refusal

This document was written by the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy in 1973. It states their solidarity with the occupation of Wounded Knee. It is written for the United States government. It addresses the destruction and violence that indigenous people face at the hands of the United States government.

“We have not asked you to give up your religions and beliefs for ours. We have not asked you to give up your language for ours. We have not asked you to give up your ways of life for ours. We have not asked you to give up your government for ours. We have not asked that you give up your territories to us. Why can you not accord us the same respect?”

The Longest Walk Statement (1978)

1946-1989, Date, Indigenous, Subjectives of Refusal

In 1978, a group of about 2,000 marchers – indigenous and not -, marched from Alcatraz Island, California to Washington, D.C. to protest bills that threatened indigenous rights. This document was their statement.

“Today we address you in the language of the oppressor, but the con- cepts predate the coming of the invaders. The injustice we speak of is centuries old, and has been spoken against in many tongues. We are still the original people of this land. We are the people of The Longest Walk.”

“Call Me Human” (2015)

2011-Present, Date, Indigenous, Subjectives of Refusal

This poem was written by Lyla June Johnston, a Diné activist, in 2015. It explores the meaning of “America” through a reflection of history. It can be found below and as a PDF.


“from birth we etch these lines

engrave them inside your mind

by the rockets red glare

the bombs bursting in the air

the war it begins 

to make the imaginary country

as real as your skin.

America doesn’t exist

it’s an idea men have obsessed over since 1776.

an excuse we use to manifest a reality that

destroyed the destiny of Native civilization.

they always told me I was an American

and so I said to them, 

“can you show me America?”

can you tell me where it is?

I’ve been looking for it all my life!

looking for the reason why my people had to die.

but the only place I can find America is inside of your mind. 

they said, no don’t worry… just

stand up

put your hand right there on your heart

now turn just a little bit towards the flag.

there it is. Right there. Don’t you see it?

there you go.

okay ready?

Go

I pledge allegiance to an illusion

called the United States of America

and to the non-existent boundaries

for which it stands

one deception

under a Christian god

with which we legitimize the genocide 

of its indigenous peoples

America doesn’t exist 

but it is a psychological sickness we catch with years

of exposure to our public schools to baseball games

and once we believe that America is real we believe that we have a 

reason to steal a reason to kill.

the Long Walk 1965

9,000 Navajo are marched with barrels at their backs

herded like sheep for over 400 miles 

to their own special concentration camp. 

in the name of America

Wounded Knee Massacre 1890

U.S. Calvary descend on a Lakota camp

with 530 women and children

and with “America” in their minds

and red and white stripes blinding their sight

they sunk bullets into the chests of children

that could have been their own

in the name of America

look on the twenty dollar bill my friends, see the man who

marched 15,000 Cherokee– 

pregnant women, their children, the elderly– 

marched from Georgia to Oklahoma 

in the name of America.

do we remember what has been done in the name of an abstract nation

or has it all been buried along with our hearts and our tongues.

and I should not hate fireworks on warm summer nights

and I should not hate a combination of colors

and I should not hate dead men on paper money

and I should not hate. 

so let me tell you that I love you

dear soldiers

dear president of the imaginary states of America

dear school teachers

dear man behind the curtain

let me tell you that I love you

and that I am leaving it in the past

let me tell you that I too am in love with my motherland

but know that this Earth is the foremother of your forefathers

she existed before Hancock and before Nixon

before money before America

and that she will exist long after America is forgotten.

raising hands to our hearts for a fairytale

that America is anything more than a word

we’ve drawn so many maps, we’ve put so many flags in the ground

we’ve labeled all the land

we’ve drawn imaginary lines all around the sand

but people hear me and separate your fact from fabrication

this is the projection of our imagination onto 

the holy earth.

and today we unite to remember what is real

to remember that humanity is real

a beating heart is real

the earth beneath us is real

but America is a thought that

has turned us against ourselves

history into myth

entire cultures into forgotten languages

and the free mind into a society, deceived

so please do not call me an American

please do not even call me a Native American

please, I beg you, call me human

and do not call this land America

if you listen hard she will tell you her true name

as the nighthawks dive at twilight

as the wolves howl at midnight

as the waterfalls rage cascading

when the avalanches fracture breaking

she WILL tell us her true name with earthquakes

that split states and break fences to 

remind us she does 

not belong to us.

but that we belong to her.”

Letter to President Washington (1790)

1700-1830s, Date, Defining the Enemy, God, Country, Property, Indigenous, Subjectives of Refusal

This document is a letter to President George Washington from Chiefs and Counsellors of the Seneca Nation – Big Tree, Cornplanter, and Half-Town. In this letter, the Chiefs and Counsellors address violence and deceit from the government.

“We could bear this confusion no longer and determined to press through every difficulty, and lift up our voice so that you might hear us, and to claim that security in the possession of our lands, which your commissioners so solemnly promised us; and we now entreat you to inquire into our complaints, and to redress our wrongs.”

“We are Power” – John Trudell (1980)

1946-1989, Consciousness Raising, Date, Indigenous, Subjectives of Refusal, Tactics of Disruption

John Trudell, an active member of the indigenous struggle, gave this speech on July 18, 1980 at the Black Hills Survival Gathering. In his speech, he speaks of oppression, power, and liberation.

“We have to understand that when our oppressor treats us this way and do these things to us, we allow him to do it so long as we accept his lies. As long as we make excuses for his lies, as long as we tolerate his brutality, then we allow him to mistreat us. We have been allowing it too long. That’s genocide… It’s not revolution we’re after; it’s liberation. We want to be free of a value system that’s being imposed upon us. We do not want to participate in that value system. We don’t want to change that value system. We want to remove it from our lives forever. Liberation. We want to be free.”

To the Peoples of the World – Zapatistas (2021)

2011-Present, Capitalism, Consciousness Raising, Date, Defining the Enemy, Indigenous, Subjectives of Refusal, Tactics of Disruption

This letter – written on January 1, 2021 – includes a description of what unites the people of the Zapatista movement and agreements to keep the struggle active.

Only very few things unite us:…
The understanding that a system is responsible for these pains. The executioner is an exploitative, patriarchal, pyramidal, racist, thievish and criminal system: capitalism…
The commitment to fight, everywhere and at all times – each and everyone on their own terrain – against this system until we destroy it completely. The survival of humanity depends on the destruction of capitalism. We do not surrender, we do not sell out, and we do not give up.