become ungovernable
on treaties, self-determination, and following the leadership of Indigenous people
Dear Beloved,
To preserve one’s culture and carry on ancestral ways is always an act of protest, a declaration against imperialism’s ceaseless greed and colonial consumption of land, resources, and people. Our ancestral knowledge, our languages, our spiritual traditions, and our peoples’ stories, come from generations in relationship with the land and waters. In a world that works tirelessly to separate us from each other, to divorce our understanding of nature from our sense of self, reclaiming the old ways and living in community is the only thing that will save us.
I write to you from the Denver International Airport today, Beloved, watching snow flurry around the planes as I sit here on a layover. It is Saturday, November 16, 2024, four days since Member of Parliament Hana-Rawhiti Kareariki Maipi-Clarke led a haka in a challenge against the proposed Treaty Principles Bill. I’ve rewatched it over and over again, pouring over the details: The defiant fire in her eyes. How the opening lines of the haka echo throughout the parliament chamber. The way her community immediately answered her call and joined in the haka. How non-Maori allies stood up in solidarity. The way the haka did not stop, how the people ignored demands by the Speaker of the House of Representatives because his words mean nothing - he had no power over them. The way an elder sitting beside Maipi-Clarke looked at her so proudly, how close to tears she seemed as she took in the entire room, before she, too, stood up and joined the haka.
While I’ve never been to Aotearoa, I have seen the ancestral Maori war cry quite a few times but never like this: a declaration to protect one’s community, a show of strength and unbreakable unity, and the refusal to back down.
You will not break our treaty. You will not take any more. You have done enough harm. Your time is up. We are the sovereign people belonging to this land, and we will protect ourselves.
You’re Not Our King
This comes just three weeks after an Indigenous woman MP Lidia Thorpe confronted Charles for Britain’s genocide of her people, demanding a treaty for the Indigenous people of Australia and declaring to the world that he was no king of theirs.
“Give us our land back. Give us what you stole from us – our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people. You destroyed our land. Give us a treaty. We want a treaty in this country. You are a genocidalist. This is not your land. You are not my king. You are not our king!”
This comes at a time of rising global consciousness and power building by people for the people. We are rising up as surely as the tides in response to government corruption, corporate violence, and oligarchy. Their laws are not divine law; their documents have only as much power as we give them. They do not represent any people but those who sign their checks. They serve neither people nor land nor waters. They are not in control. The time of Western imperialism is over.
This is the generation our ancestors survived for and the ones they prayed for.
Seeds for Change
Learn about the treaties. Start today with the Treaty of Waitangi. In the video below, tiriti educator Veronica Tawhai gives an excellent breakdown on the Te Tiriti o Waitangi and its importance.
Don’t stop with the Treaty of Waitangi. European colonizers forced treaties upon hundreds of Indigenous people across the world.
Dr. Bonny Ibhawoh, professor of global human rights history and African history, wrote Cultural Negotiations and Colonial Treaty-Making in Upper Canada and British West Africa 1840-1900.
Here is a beginner’s guide to treaties between the United States and Indigenous nations on Turtle Island.
Learn more about the HĪKOI MŌ TE TIRITI, share the hikoi with your pods, and support Maori sovereignty with a koha (donation). Check out this documentary.
Learn about what Indigenous sovereignty is and talk to your loved ones about its importance.
Read How Mutual Aid and Land Back Empower Us All by Arié Moyal
Radical Reciprocity: Mutual Aid, Redistribution and Protecting the Sacred by the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust.
Read Al Thawabet which are the core uncompromising principles of the Palestinian liberation struggle, established by the Palestinian National Council in 1968.
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