The Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs have by absolutely no means agreed to let the Coastal GasLink pipeline tear through our traditional territories.
On January 7th at the Gidumt’en access point, the RCMP used excessive and brutal force. We expected a large response, we did not expect a military level invasion where our unarmed women and elders were faced with automatic weapons and bulldozers.
While the chiefs have a responsibility to protect the land, they also have a duty to protect our land defenders. Our people faced an incredible risk of injury or death and that is not a risk we are willing to take for an interim injunction. The agreement we made allows Coastal GasLink to temporarily work behind the Unist’ot’en gate. This will continue to be a waste of their time and resources as they will not be building a pipeline in our traditional territory.
This injunction was against Warner Naziel, Freda Huson, and Jane and John Doe as individuals. Our efforts over the past month made the RCMP, Coastal GasLink, and the colonial governments recognize that this is not an issue of individual “protestors” but rather an issue of our house chiefs’ jurisdiction to make decisions on our own lands. We have fought for many years to make this point by politely telling it like it is. Now, with the world watching, with our voices reverberating around the globe, we have turned the tables.
There can be no question now that this is an issue of Wet’suwet’en Rights and Title. We have demonstrated that this fight is about more than a pipeline; it is about the right of Indigenous peoples around the world to exercise Free, Prior, and Informed Consent.
We have the power to tell the governments of the world that enough is enough, rather than being plowed down by force today or tomorrow. We will use our voice to continue this battle by asserting our Rights and Title.
This week, the Canadian state laid siege to our land behind the smokescreen of “reconciliation.” We see through their attempts to further colonial violence and remove us from our territories. We remain undeterred, unafraid, and unceded.
This fight is far from over.
We paved the way with the Delgamuuk’w court case and the time has come for Delgamuuk’w II. We have never had the financial resources to challenge the colonial court system, due to the enormous price tag of an Aboriginal title case.
Who will stand with us to make sure this pipeline does not go through?
Who will support our work to reclaim our territories and assert our right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent?
Who will insist that Indigenous peoples have the right to say NO to projects that inflict violence on our people and territories?
WAYS TO SUPPORT:
We are are humbled by the outpouring of solidarity and support for our Wet’suwet’en people. We expect RCMP aggression at any time. We are still fundraising for our legal battle in the colonial courts. Please donate.
COME TO CAMP: Supporters in the local area wanting to do something should head to KM 27 now. Meet at the junction of Morice River Road and Morice West where people are gathering to plan additional responses to this incursion.
HOST A SOLIDARITY EVENT: See the International Solidarity with Wet’suwet’en event page. We are conducting peaceful actions as sovereign peoples on our territories, and ask that all actions taken in solidarity are conducted peacefully and according to the traditional laws of other Indigenous Nations. Forcible trespass onto Wet’suwet’en territories and the removal of Indigenous peoples from their lands must be stopped. Provincial and federal governments must be confronted.
CONTACT REPRESENTATIVES: This page has been set up so you can send an email directly to relevant Federal cabinet ministers and BC Provincial cabinet ministers calling on the RCMP and Coastal Gas Link to respect Unist’ot’en/Giltseyu-Dark House on their unceded lands.
Madame Popovawas a contract murderer in Russia in the late 1800s until the early 1900s. She has, at the very least, three hundred known victims.
This hit-woman-for-hire specialized in executing men who were entrapping women in severely abusive relationships. She would poison her targets with arsenic for a small fee and was considered to be one of the first advocates of women’s liberation long before the cause was widely recognized.
She was apprehended after one of her clients became remorseful for ordering the death of her husband. An angry mob set out to burn Popova at the stake, but she was rescued by soldiers at the last minute. Her only attempt at a defense was her proud statement that she never murdered a woman. Madame Popova was sentenced to death and was executed by a firing squad.
source: the killer book of true crime by tom and michael philbin
1985: National Geo make millions from ‘Afghan Girl’ portrait
2016: Still has the status of a refugee and may spend 14 years in jail because of her papers
I fucking hate this picture and everything it represents. Steve McCurry made millions off of this picture and its what launched his photojournalism career into the spotlight. While the woman in this picture got absolutely NOTHING and lived an awful and horrific existence. And calling her “Afghan Girl” is so disrespectful. Her name is Sharbat Gula and her life could have been made 1000X easier had McCurry shared his wealth with her - or even if he couldn’t find her, to share it with of refugees who he exploited. And honestly the idea of a white man going into wartorn nations (that are that way bc of american imperialism) to take pictures of refugees to profit off of their pain and trauma is gross
“American kids are immersed in a ruthless culture of violence through entertainment and television, but unless they’ve grown up terrorized by gangs or poverty, they have no idea what war feels like, how it affects every aspect of your life and psyche. They have no idea what kind of harm this ‘cowboy’ culture perpetuates against human beings around the world, let alone in their own towns and cities. War is the natural extension of American popular culture and values. Look at the camouflage clothing parents are drowning their children in. This military clothing is at once a symbol of sex appeal and naive, rebellion without context. And it’s shamelessly flaunted while people are being slaughtered in the Middle East as a result of American aggression. We are objects of indoctrination and recruitment the moment we’re born.”
