as small as a world and as large as alone, Proposed solution: Make no excuses for not...

8:00pm January 23, 2014

Anonymous asked: Proposed solution: Make no excuses for not recruiting indigenous people, even if they are pro-capitalist, to get indigenous people join socialist ranks and start doing some community action. Make indigenous people join workers councils. Make indigenous people leaders instead of followers. It's their land you're occupying.

amodernmanifesto:

radically-disabled:

amodernmanifesto:

Sure, I don’t think we should have excuses for not recruiting indigenous people to the party (though I might add that what I was elaborating was an explanation more than an excuse, at least that was the intention).

I agree that we should do more community action than what we currently do, absolutely.

There are no workers councils for indigenous people to join, or anyone to join, because they don’t exist currently… So that is a bit more problematic.

But definitely we should be encouraging more indigenous leadership in the party, I have absolutely no disagreements with you there.

But as I have elaborated before, these things take time. Overcoming privilege and divisions within the working class is long, hard work and can’t just drop into being.

But I am sure we can agree that what is required is a conscious effort to orient ourselves to indigenous communities and supporting their struggles in whatever form they manifest in. I think this is, at least from my experience, already starting to happen in a limited way.

This is a very simplistic view of a very complex situation. Firstly, there are indigenous radicals. We exist, and we have for quite a long time. While it would be categorically false to say that AIM was Marxist or Anarchist, AIM was greatly influenced by revolutionary politics and revolutionary groups like the Black Panthers.

As a member of a particular community, you often wonder to yourself “How do I help to radicalize folks like me?” The solution is easily said, but not so easily done. It starts with recognizing the very real material differences between a largely white radical left and a very diverse and impoverished NDN population (some of which are radical leftists).

Being able to participate in political action ( be it meetings, study groups, direct action, etc) is itself a privilege. 29.1% of Native Americans live in poverty, which is the highest percentage of all racial/ethnic groups in the US. Of this 29.1%, a significant percentage live in extreme poverty.

Another key factor is isolation. NDNs living in reservations (estimated to be around 22% of the NDN population) face a transportation nightmare as a very real limit on their ability to organize with folks outside of the reservation- public transportation is spotty to non-existent (which in my view is also a significant impediment to organizing in anything other than a major city) and in combination with poverty, which restricts the ability to purchase/maintain vehicles and places strict limits on how much gas you can use in a given week or month, there exist significant material (as well as ideological) barriers to Native participation and leadership in radical leftist spaces.

There is a particular strain of anti-leftism (at least formal leftism like Socialism and Anarchy) in Native communities. This is a very natural response from colonized peoples- to reject the ideology of the oppressors in favor of traditional knowledge. This is something that white activists can not remedy, however well-meaning they may be. Debates such as this must be fought out within the NDN community. I have to decide for myself how Native nationhood/nationalism and International Socialism interact (Native Anarchists face different struggles in terms of theory vs. tradition, but not being an Anarchist I’m not qualified to speak to that)

We also have to be able to trust white activists, especially when they consider themselves standing in “solidarity” with us. White activists, and in particular white environmentalists, have a long and frustrating history of misinterpreting our movements and prioritizing their preferred narrative of our struggles. One recent example of this is the appropriation of Idle No More as a purely environmental movement for mass consumption by white environmentalists, while ignoring the aspects of INM that are specific to indigenous people- like treaty rights, theft of Native children, the high rate of rape of Native women, poverty, lack of equal access to social safety net services, etc. While solidarity is needed, it must be all-encompassing, and too frequently only a tiny portion of Native struggle receives vocal support.

White radicals must realize that the circumstances and realities of indigenous people are different. What appeal does a working-class movement have to a population that faces devastating unemployment? It’s an important question, and indigenous people have to be able to contribute our own perspectives on the subject. Native radicals must be front and center in defining and shaping theory with regard to our own lives and experiences- which requires that we are allowed the space to make ourselves heard, and the respect to have our contributions recognized and incorporated.The idea of “making” anyone join the socialist ranks is repugnant. The job of radicals is to make our spaces a place where indigenous people want to participate and lead, which can only happen if radicals are engaging, listening, and most importantly learning what Native needs are in order to provide the solidarity we need and not just the solidarity they think we want.

Coming to the realization that you cannot shoehorn European notions and depictions into indigenous socialism is also incredibly important. Two-spirit is not the same thing as LGBT. The specific implications of class struggle are different. When a population is isolated and excluded from production the struggle organically roots itself differently, and those differences must be honored as the critical and radical moves they are without being constantly contrasted to more traditionally accepted methods of organization and mass struggle.

Obviously, the question of radicalizing Native people isn’t going to be resolved on tumblr, but these are just some thoughts on a dialogue which desperately needs to happen. There’s so much more to say here, but I’m gonna leave it at that.

Thank you so much for this contribution, it is exactly the sort of perspective lacking in the discussion… Actual indigenous perspective!

On the discussion being simplistic, while I agree, this post was the last of many in this debate which lasted for a few days, and mostly went around in circles (there might have been two people arguing slightly different cases, both on anon, which made the whole thing confusing).

I absolutely agree with you though. This is an incredibly complicated discussion that needs to be had out, and this debate was really lacking on a lot of fronts.

I am reblogging your response because it I think it is essential commentary on the issue