Solidarity with the Wetsuweten Against the Colonial Policies of the Canadian State
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- Published on Thursday, 13 February 2020 04:12
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 1998 ... February 13, 2020
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Solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Against the Colonial Policies of the Canadian State
The RCMP raids over the last days on the orders of the Canadian government on Wet’suwet’en protestors blocking the construction of a $6.6-billion pipeline, by Coastal GasLink for a liquefied natural gas project in Northern British Columbia, has set off a storm of blockades, protests, and occupations across the country. It is impossible not to immediately recall the troubled and often brutal history of Canadian colonialism. The clash between First Nations protestors and RCMP brings our attention back to the political scars of the more recent crises in Oka and Caledonia, among others. The huge militarized police presence that has been mobilized against the protestors all too readily illustrates how pot-holed and full of detours any path to reconciliation and restitution within the territorial boundaries of the Canadian state will be. The adoption by the BC NDP government of John Horgan in the fall of 2019 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, with its emphasis on consultations, negotiated settlements,... and Indigenous territorial control, now looks like a completely hollow gesture in the face of the demands of the oil companies and the Canadian state to keep pumping fossil fuels at record levels in the face of a global climate crisis.
We publish here a selection of calls for solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en people, and other First Nations across Canada supporting their struggle, against the Canadian and BC states, the RCMP, and the oil and gas corporations. Enough with the violence, marginalization, and colonial abuse.