From SISIS@envirolink.org Thu Mar 12 19:19:46 1998
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 01:49:38 -0800
From: "S.I.S.I.S." <SISIS@envirolink.org>
Subject: MOHAWK PEOPLE PROTEST SIGNING OF CANADA-MEXICO TRADE AGREEMENT (fwd)

    [The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set]
    [Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set]
    [Some characters may be displayed incorrectly]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 17:52:10 -0500
From: <mohawkns@cyberglobe.net>
Subject: MOHAWK PEOPLE PROTEST SIGNING OF CANADA-MEXICO TRADE AGREEMENT

PETITION OF THE PEOPLE OF KAHNAWAKE MOHAWK TERRITORY RE:  "PROJECT OK
NOT OKAY"

MNN Mohawk Nation News.  10-Mar-98.  The people of Kahnawake Mohawk
Territory are going to have a demonstration on Monday, March 16th at the
Knights of Columbus Hall at 1:00 AM to show their strong opposition to
the signing of the Convention with the Indigenous Peoples of Oaxaca
which in reality is between Canada and Mexico.  They have been asking
questions concerning this agreement and so far the answers have been
vague and misleading.  Joe Norton and Andrew Delisle of the Mohawk
Council of Kahnawake, which is the colonial system set up under the
Indian Act by the Canadian Government, refuse to reveal the date of the
signing and who will be parties to the signing, among other questions.
Of particular concern regarding the carrying out of international trade,
they want to know why are the Mohawk people not being consulted and not
asked for their consent for this agreement?  The following petition is
being circulated everywhere to be signed by Indigenous people and their
supporters of the Mohawk protesters and of the Indigenous people of
Mexico.
"We the citizens, allies, friends and supporters of the Mohawk Nation do
hereby declare as follows:
^Å The band council of Kahnawake is a part of the Canadian government and
should not sign an agreement with the Mexican government and the
Indigenous People of Oaxaca to set up trade and commerce.
^Å Right now true Indigenous nations can make legitimate nation to nation
international contracts like corporations now make with each other all
over the world, which must be honoured.  If the band council makes a
sub-agreement under the sovereignty of the Canadian government with
Indigenous people under the sovereignty of Mexico, they will be bringing
the sovereignty of Mohawk and other Indigenous nations under that of the
Canadian government, other nation-states and the North American Free
Trade Agreement.
^Å We urge the Kahnawake band council to respect nation to nation
relations so as not to be part of the erosion of the rights of all true
Indigenous nations of the Western Hemisphere.
^Å We also urge the Kahnawake band council not to deal with the Mexican
government and its agents and to condemn Mexico, along with the rest of
the world, for directly or indirectly arming para-military groups to
murder our Indigenous brothers and sister there.  We must not be part of
the exploitation of the cheap labour of our Indigenous brothers and
sisters.
^Å We demand the prosecution of those guilty of the Acteal massacre; the
demilitarization of Chiapas; international presence, including the
International Red Cross, UN monitors, to protect the displaced
Indigenous people as well as to provide humanitarian assistance;  to
start a dialogue between the EZLN and the Mexican Government, along the
lines suggested by COCOPA and CONAI, leading towards true and lasting
peace in Chiapas; and the implementation by the Mexican government of
the San Andreas Accords, reached between the EZLN and the Mexican
government in 1996.
Everyone is welcome to join the protest, to sign the petition and to
attend an information session  following the protest, place to be
announced.  Information contact:  514-635-5719

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
    S.I.S.I.S.   Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty
        P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2

        EMAIL: SISIS@envirolink.org
        WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html

    SOVERNET-L is a news-only listserv concerned with indigenous
    sovereigntist struggles around the world.  To subscribe, send
    "subscribe sovernet-l" in the body of an email message to
                     <majordomo@speakeasy.org>
          For more information on sovernet-l, contact S.I.S.I.S.
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: