Lol you’re asking one Indigenous person to speak for hundreds of nations.
The reality is that returning the land and governance to Indigenous people is the only way to go. It’s our land and settlers are just squatters. It’s incredibly clear what’s being fought for: dismantling the colonial system and letting the hundreds of Indigenous nations reclaim our lands and freedom.
And yeah, you’ve heard right, Black people aren’t settlers or colonizers. They’re our relatives who have faced/are facing colonization too.
K but what does that actually mean in any concrete terms? It’s very easy to say something vague like “indigenous people deserve the restoration of their sovereignty” but what does that actually mean? Which indigenous people, which sovereignty, which land? And what does it mean to say the settlers aren’t “owed anything”? Are they not even owed any right of residency and can be expelled from the land at will? And who exactly are settlers? I’ve seen people say that the descendants of African slaves don’t count as settlers. And if so, where exactly do they go? Which land do they have a right to that settlers would not?
I want this to happen. I want all expansion of pipelines and railroads and such into indigenous lands to stop. I want indigenous people to have access to a land base or water bodies that can support any traditional lifestyles they might want to live (buffalo hunting, whaling, salmon fishing, etc.) I want important cultural sites like Mauna Kea and stuff to be returned to the control of the people they’re important to. I want indigenous polities (nations, tribes, bands) to have total political independence if they want it. And reparations on top of that.
But something concrete needs to be proposed that people can actually discuss. Just saying something vague doesn’t get us anywhere. It can’t be fought for if no one knows what we’re talking about.
Propose something specific. Which land is going to be part of a new political entity. What type of government is going to rule that entity. And what is going to happen to non-indigenous people inside of that entity?
Honestly though the thing is that Indigenous people don’t owe settlers respect. We don’t owe anything to the people who continue to inhabit our lands uninvited. We’re still facing a genocide and settlers are very much complicit in that. Even in a scenario where traditional governance is restored, we do not owe that.
I could respect them as long as they respected me, but I suppose the current governing structure doesn’t respect me at all, I’m not comfortable with new things but morally I have to agree with you, because you are right.
I think that would ultimately look very different across the continent. Returning governance to Indigenous people would mean a range of different styles and systems as we are not monolithic and there are hundreds of nations.
So in some places it might mean splitting land or leaving, in others it might not. Ultimately it means respecting the true governing structures of the land you’re on
I was wondering what that would look like! I agree that ensuring that the natives of north america are able to govern themselves should be one of the first prioritys (if not THE FIRST) but all of this land is stolen and we can’t all move back to the places our ancestors are from so would we split the land? I’m young and not very educated on this topic
Idk who needs to hear this but non-Native people who want to build a communist or socialist state to replace Canada & the US are just as colonialist as their capitalist counterparts.
If the movement doesn’t prioritize returning governance to Indigenous people it’s just colonizing but a little to the left
K well can you speak at least about your own nation then?
The reality is that returning the land and governance to Indigenous people is the only way to go. It’s incredibly clear what’s being fought for: dismantling the colonial system and letting the hundreds of Indigenous nations reclaim our lands and freedom.
I’m asking what that actually means. I’m sorry it’s not clear to me and I’m sincerely trying to understand. What exactly is the colonial system, what specifically are we talking about dismantling? What exactly does it mean for nations to reclaim lands and freedom?
For example, dissolving the nation-states of Canada, the US, and Mexico. Done. Love it. Now are they replaced by a few hundred independent countries? And do these new countries cover every inch of what was formerly CA-US-MX or are there other portions left over?
Obviously we’re also talking about property redistribution not just jurisdictional changes, so what happens there? Does all land become the state-owned property of these new countries? Or perhaps the collectively-owned property of all individual members of the indigenous nations/tribes/etc? Is this including even residences of settlers or are we only talking about useful, productive land like farmland and such?
And yeah, you’ve heard right, Black people aren’t settlers or colonizers. They’re our relatives who have faced/are facing colonization too.
Okay, so do they get a nation somewhere too? If so, where? Is that place not also on the territory of one or more indigenous nations, and if so, will they share the nation or perhaps split it?
Also who exactly is black? How is that going to be defined? For that matter, who counts officially as indigenous or as a “settler” either? Most indigenous nations and tribes have particular methods for defining who is a member, based on ancestry and stuff, but not all of them precisely define who is a member, and some indigenous people are not official members of any nation or tribe. And outside of this there’s no clear way of defining who counts as black or white, and historically it gets pretty ugly when you try.
Assuming you do categorize who counts as a settler, then what? What happens to them? Are they going to be expelled? If not, will they be citizens of these countries?
I know you said you can’t speak for all the hundreds of nations, so I’m only asking about your own. What are you proposing for your own nation and the black people and “settlers” who currently live there?
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