Maybe not a megathread but still worth the read in my opinion, this effort post was brought to you by one of our amazing organizers with Eco Just Food Network, one of the more public parts of the CLN that operates in the Greater Toronto Area. Anyway this isn’t about that amazing org (but there is a podcast episode coming soon c: ) instead we want to discuss an extremely influential Dakota Writer named Vine Deloria Jr who was born today. We feel discussing him and his work is a good starting point, to understanding a basic sentiment in NDN country, but also one that needs to be ruthlessly criticized through educated criticism instead of knee jerk reaction. His two biggest hot takes being 1) If Israel gets its land back we should get ours (zionist argument that legitimizes Israel, and can be said far better, but Deloria was being heavily influenced by the Mormon Zionist Hank Adams who helped play a large role in the 20 Points of the Trail of Broken Treaties. Ultimately what this means is of course the 20 Points are lackluster and demand a revolutionary update, but it should be noted that its influenced by the BPPs 10 Points) 2) The Indian New Deal brought prosperity to NDN people. In reality it was some NDN people, while many more were literally washed away by floods caused by dams built, that Vine is directly talking about and saying is good because “electricity could come to the reservation” when in many cases it still has not.

Ultimately we must remember Vine is a liberal, but that doesn’t stop him from having banger quotes and relevant opinions cast decades into the future that we must update and wrestle from reaction. One of the most important things Vine set out to do, was to challenge white supremacist academia, and the false notions of history it perpetuated about Indigenous people almost always to diminish the level of “civilization” present here.

It is obscene that there are people who own homes and land in the US, that they can not work, and utilize without being forced to privatize, or forced to give it to a comprador political leader not chosen by the people and propped up by the colonial occupiers. When people have homes but freeze to death, what is a home? That’s just shelter and bad shelter at that.

Despite the milquetoast liberalism, being an Indigenous person and the chair of the National Congress of American Indians, had brought Vine into contact with radical and non radical Natives alike. Colorado was well known for its radical Indigenous scene as Denver was one of the major cities used during the relocation program that coerced Indians off our land under false promises, so to steal the land. In fact that’s where my grandma and my mom moved when leaving South Dakota, but you also already had a large Indigenous presence in the state historically so it lent itself to being a good geographic base. Floyd and my grandma actually used to hang out

My grandma is all the way on the right. She was his security during this photo, but it was this connection to Floyd that ultimately brought Vine in contact with the American Indian Movement, which had barely formed as Floyd and Vine met.

Their relationship would go on to inspire the Red Power movement, but it would also be what helped bring AIM into the Trail of Broken Treaties altogether. The Trail of Broken Treaties was a cross country caravan of people that went from California to Washington DC to demand changes, to stop the clear systemic murdering of Indigenous people and demand treaty rights be upheld. This culminated in the 1971 occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs building in Washington DC which led to incredible acts of solidarity between the Black Panthers and AIM.

It is important when we listen to Floyd’s song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWaI9UZ-LYw we recognize the amateur anthropology often deployed my Marxists, usually rooted in the anthro work of Marx and Engels themselves. The number one argument against landback (besides that they dont know what it means) is that not every Indigenous person wants that, however what we do want is everything it entails. This pointless distinction of whether agree with the slogan or not is meaningless, if you look at the content of said slogan and the masses needs and wants in this current period.

So when you see Marxist podcast, platforming but never paying Indigenous guests, that is an amateur anthro whose motives should be severely questioned. Especially when we consider the question, what have they given back with the wealth they accumulated beyond a podcast thats business model (whether for fiscal or social capital) doesnt work when you pay for peoples time and expertise?

When talking about “Indian Experts” Vine is specifically drawing on his introduction where he explains how easy it is to be an Indian expert, and when you look at the arguments people try to waste my time with, you will often see the same thing Vine describes in the following:

So much in the vein of opposing book worship, you must oppose Indian expertise! Unless you actually live with us you do not know us, and it is not enough to visit for a week. Some visit a powwow and suddenly they understand every nuance of an American flag in NDN country, albeit I think we should stop flying them.

The irony of seeing the flag is not lost on us, and it has been a central prop in many demonstrations and used many ways, to represent are discontent. It also has a deep effect on our communities when so many people gave their lives fighting a foreign war for the first time ever in our peoples history. What is worse, was we were promised we would only be national guards. This and many other tragedies will have people laughing with pain in their eyes as they recall the generational trauma, that repeats over and over, only with new lies that prey on people who are desperate

That’s what makes it easy for white organizations reformist or revolutionary, to be quickly ignored in decolonial spaces, they often have barely even done the bare minimum to participate let alone not over step their station. There is a reason why no investigation, no right to speak, is such a crucial part of being a good communist.

So often people come without an invitation, and it causes a great deal of problems, and gives people less time to plan. At any rate all these quotes came for Custer Died for Your Sins original published in 1969 and updated in 1988. We think it is time to utilize the decades of work, revolutionary experimentation, and historical development to update and harness the frameworks of this work and this is a sort of “toe dip” into the water. If you enjoyed this please find a way to support the many things we are doing via our linktr.ee/chunkalutanetwork

Currently the most important ask we have is $900 to pay back our organizer who lent us the last bit we needed to get the shipping container on time, thats under the winter drive GFM and the remaining amount will be for our own broker/trucker or for another trailer depending on how fast Direct Aid is moving with their end of things (always have a plan b). In other news our permaculture experts arrive on Pine Ridge any minute now and we will have updates from their unload and everything else happening on that end. Anyway plenty of reasons to join the patreon or liberapay, but most importantly is to pay for these amazing organizers survival, and cost of organizing. I will be foregoing my own stipend as my organizing severely reduces to focus on my newborn kid. (also yknow if you want to say congratulations and help with diaper costs $ZitkatosTinCan) Thank you all for reading and look forward to the next thing. There wouldve been more but somehow I got Covid, weakened my immune system (my entire family then got sick), at the end of covid having our baby, then my firstborn got a double ear infection from the drainage of mucus caused by COVID. So Im exhausted lol. We are also always raising money for wood so if you are donating to wood make sure to leave a note!