10/03/2025
'WE CALL THAT AN INVASION'
HANDS OFF TYENDINAGA!
On September 24th, the OPP began a series of raids on Indigenous owned grow ops in Tyendinaga Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) territory, seizing millions in equipment and product. Since the start of the raids they have taken to harassing Indigenous people at all times of the day entering and exiting the area, as well as opening up a mass surveillance operation with drones and spies observing nationals in their homes. They also made efforts to disrupt a meeting of the traditional people by cancelling the space booked and changing the locks on the doors in the middle of the night. The meeting went ahead anyway.
This series of raids resembles the 1989 gaming conflict in Akwesasne, and so we share a quote from Kakwirakeron, Kanien'kehá:ka warrior, negotiator, mediator, spokesperson, and ironworker who participated in that struggle:
‘My involvement had to do with jurisdiction and the issue of our sovereignty. Those opposed to gaming were so small in number that they had very little influence in the community so they went to the Canadian government, the Canadian band council, the American tribal council and New York for support… Journalists made up the idea that it was a civil war, but you cannot call it a civil war when a group in a community stands up for its territory against soldiers from a foreign country. We call that an invasion.'
Whatever disputes may or may not be going on inside the nation is not for us to weigh in on. The duty of class conscious workers is to oppose the government's oppression of the Kanien’kehá:ka nation as best we can. To that end we second Roskenrakehtekowa (War Chief) Kanenhariyo's call for legal observers to head for Tyendinaga as 'this could be bad.'
(sources: Real People’s Media, Buffalo Toronto Public Media)