CALL TO ACTION: Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage Against Colonialism Oct. 11

by Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage Against Colonialism / via Indigenous Action Media

This is a call for an Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage Against Colonialism on Sunday, October 11, 2020, everywhere.

We are calling for autonomous, anti-colonial, anti-capitalist, and anti-fascist actions. We will take the streets and we will take the waters and the forests. We will intervene in settler and resource colonial violence. We will defend our communities.
We envision this Day of Rage to be decentralized, filled with creative direct action (both above ground and below ground), daring, and with extraordinary diversity of tactics.

This could look like marches, occupations, blockades, street theater, it could look like anti-colonial messages spray painted on walls, it could look like monuments falling or going after I.C.E. facilities or resource colonial corporations and their machinery. It could look like hundreds of people or just a couple of people with a targeted action. What it looks like is really up to you. Check out our site for organizing resources for more info.

Organize and list or find an action here: www.indigenouspeoplesdayofrage.org

#indigenouspeoplesdayofrage
#indigenouspeoplesday

from indigenouspeoplesdayofrage.org/about-us:

Who we are and why a Day of Rage.

It is customary to introduce ourselves yet in this day of severe state repression we also must take security culture seriously. We will state that this call for action has come from a range of radical Indigenous organizers including some from Indigenous Action, mutual aid crews, and others who are autonomous from throughout what we call Turtle Island (occupied United States). We are from many Indigenous communities who share the same rage.As the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately ravages Indigenous communities, we cannot ignore the reality that the plague of colonialism has made our more susceptible to this virus. From the fracking and poisoning of our water, mining and burning of coal, oil pipeline spills, abandoned uranium mines, garbage incinerators, building of apartheid walls, the damming of rivers, and continuing ecological devastation, our health is intrinsically tied to the health of our sacred lands. Colonizers are coming to terms with global warming, yet we have been on the front lines of this war against Mother Earth since the first colonial invasions of our lands.We have grown frustrated with the uninspired assimilationist politics of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Indigenous non-profit corporations and organizations attempt to pacify and assimilate our Peoples further into settler colonial politics. They attempt to police our rage and stifle movements of liberation (as they did at Standing Rock).
They are content with hollow land acknowledgments and empty gestures that do nothing to challenge and change the actual conditions of suffering our people face.
We do not believe that we can vote our way out of this crisis. We will not beg politicians to reform the very system that is predicated on our genocide and destruction of our Earth Mother. We urge for something more effective towards the undoing of colonialism in our lands. Please read the ‘zine Uprooting Colonialism: The Limitations of Indigenous Peoples’ Day for more insight.We have celebrated and supported the rage of spontaneous and powerful Black Lives Matters uprisings that have brought down monuments to colonizers, and brought racist institutions like the the racist Washington NFL team to their knees.In this spirit and in the spirit of our militant ancestors who attacked colonial ideas and institutions, we call on all those who share our frustrations and our rage to join us.For missing or murdered Womxn, Girls, Trans and Two-Spirit relatives. Against resource colonialism. Against colonial borders.Against the settler colonial police-state. For total liberation.

About the Day of Rage.

We are calling for autonomous, anti-colonial, anti-capitalist, and anti-fascist actions. We will take the streets and we will take the waters and the forests. We will intervene in settler and resource colonial violence. We will defend our communities.We envision this Day of Rage to be decentralized, filled with creative direct action (both above ground and below ground), daring, and with extraordinary diversity of tactics.

This could look like marches, occupations, blockades, street theater, it could look like anti-colonial messages spray painted on walls, it could look like monuments falling or taking on I.C.E. facilities, resource colonial corporations and their machinery. It could look like hundreds of people or just a couple of people with a targeted action. What it looks like is really up to you. Check out our organizing resources for more info and ideas.Our goals are:

  • to have a day of concentrated action against settler and resource colonial infrastructure, institutions, and ideas, especially those currently perpetuating violence against sacred lands and Indigenous bodies, and
  • to further radical/militant anti-colonial struggle towards liberation.

Our goals are NOT:

  • to create mobilizations that risk further transmission of COVID-19 in our communities,
  • to feed our relatives into the settler colonial police state. Arrest are not the goal of this Day of Rage.

With this in mind we have some agreements/protocols that we propose:

  • Our actions are Indigenous-led. Respect Indigenous cultural protocols.
  • We will not perpetuate recolonization, invisibilization, or direct colonialism of other Indigenous Peoples and their lands.
  • We will center radical/militant anti-colonial Trans, Two-Spirit, and Afro-Indigenous relatives.
  • We will make our actions accessible to folx of all abilities.
  • We honor the deep history of liberatory actions engaged by Indigenous Peoples.
  • We won’t put anyone at risk who does not want to be. We will consider possible long-term consequences of actions for our communities.
  • We will respect diversity of tactics. We can agree or disagree on what actions are appropriate but we will not interfere, distance, or denounce. This means no movement policing.
  • We will practice mutual aid and support each other. We won’t let anyone in this movement stand alone, in court, in jail, online, or in the streets.
  • We will check oppressive behavior. No space for neo-colonialism, white supremacy, homophobia, transphobia, cis-hetero-patriarchy, or ableism.
  • We offer no space for sexual violence & hetero-patriarchal behaviors. We will practice survivor centrism and fiercely ensure transformative & restorative justice.
  • We don’t work with cops.
  • No non-profits. We don’t seek to financially exploit the struggle for personal or organizational gain. We won’t be selling shirts or merch.

Further non-Indigenous agreements:

  • Not every space, conversation, prayer, action, etc is for you.
  • Step up, step back & curb your enthusiasm. Although you may have great _____ skills, chances are there are Indigenous folks (most likely young ones) who are adept but may lack the support.
  • Read: “Accomplices not Allies” for further info regarding roles.
Posted in Announcements, Calls to Action, Indigenous Resistance and tagged .

2 Comments

  1. It is irresponsible to declare an lndigenous peoples day of rage and not ask the tribes if they agree. It is a serious break of protocol to act in our names and not ask us if its OK to do so. I am not OK with what happened in Portland today. The organization who called for this stated they acted for the Chinook tribe. But those whom I know who are Chinook, including myself, do not agree with the actions today. It is not OK to assume you can speak or act for other indigenous peoples. We have sovereign rights and that includes the rights to decide actions and activations in our lands. Regardless of the horrendous legacy of Columbus, this still does not give people the right to riot in Portland.

    • The Day of Rage was a decentralized event across the US and Canada. Seems like you’re conflating it with the Portland action which was one of over 20 actions.

      Regarding Portland specifically, I can’t find anywhere that Generational Resistance, the group that called the action, claimed to act of behalf of the Chinook tribe. That would be incompatible with their politics. Did you actually see them saying that, or is it a rumor? They describe themselves as Indigenous-founded and “a collective of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color on stolen land of the Chinook, Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Molalla tribes and many others who traveled and rested on these lands.” They said that their action was being opposed by “one elder” but supported by “elders, AIMsters, Native veterans, youth, mothers.” This is all on their twitter @GenResistance.

      Consider taking it up with them directly since EF!J had nothing to do with calling these actions. This truly is none of our business, but it’s very strange that you think anything about that action was an attempt to speak or act for other people(s), and I’ll warn you that your attempts to shame other BIPOC into not taking autonomous anticolonial action are doomed to failure. I just want to dispel misinformation here.

      -Sable, EF!J volunteer

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