Indigenous Solidarity with Palestine, Always!

Editors’ Note: This piece was curated by Analú María López.

MOOSE SPEAKS

Moose Pamp comes from the state of Michigan. Moose comes from three nations, the Three Fires: Odawa (Ottawa)—Pottawatomi—Ojibway. Once it was said that this is what gives Moose the gift to be heard by so many in the Great Lakes area.

Moose Pamp is a young man but he has within him a kind of potential for wisdom that one usually finds in the elders. We pray for Moose to help him walk that Red Road that is full of hard choices and many tests.

A long time ago, The Seventh Fire asked Moose to share with us some of his views. Moose complied immediately with the article below. We feel honored to offer these insights to our readers.

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Sisters & Brothers:

When asked to write an article for The Seventh Fire, I wondered what I would write about. Should I write about culture, when culture is a part of your everyday life? Should I write about the "Movement", when, in reality, you are the "Movement"?

I have chosen instead to write about my feelings concerning the "Third World" and our role, as Native Americans, in the Third World struggle for liberation. What is the Third World? In the 1930's, a world gathering of non-white peoples was held in Bangkok, Thailand. This conference was held at a time when the world powers, including the United States, had the world in their grip. World War II was in fact a war fought to see who would dominate the world: capitalism, fascism, or communism. The forces of capitalism and communism united to defeat fascism: Adolph Hitler and his allies. It is important to remember that Hitler did have allies. Very often people tend to put all the blame on the Germans, but their allies included such countries as: Italy, Japan, Finland, Vichy France, Austria, Bulgaria, Rumania, and many other countries who all played a role in the slaughter of 12 million people, half of whom were Jews.

When we speak of Hitler, we always think of the Jews, but they are not the only people who have been subjected to a program of genocide. Genocide literally means to totally wipe out a people belonging to a particular ethnic group. Attempts at genocide have happened many times in the history of the "civilized" world. Besides Hitler and Jews, there were 1.5 million Armenians slaughtered in the early 1900’s at the hands of the Turks. But, worst of all, is the genocide that has been directed at our own People since the rape of this country began.

In 1970, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare revised their estimate of the number of Native Americans living in this country when Columbus "discovered" it. Based on recent archaeological evidence, they estimated that 10-12 million Native Americans lived in America at the time of "discovery." By 1920, we were reduced to 200,000! 11,800,000 sisters and brothers wiped out by America! A number nearly equal to the number of people murdered in World War II by the Fascists.

I point this out to show you that we are not alone. We may be a small minority in this country, which is 90% white, but on a world scale whites are only 10% of all the native people on this earth. Why should we care about people in other countries? Because the United States is doing the same thing to other people that it's doing to us.

In the 1800's, during westward expansion, Manifest Destiny was a term heard throughout the land. Basically, this meant that "Redskins" were savages and didn't utilize the land of the Great Plains. With this in mind, the United States decided that they had the God-given right to steal the land and ship us all off to Oklahoma, that was the original plan.

With our People it was Manifest Destiny, it was just another name when the U.S.A. provoked a war with Spain to gain control of Cuba, Hawaii, and the Philippines. These places were needed as fueling stations for the U.S. Navy. Today, the U.S. owns Hawaii, has Guantanamo naval base in Cuba, and owns 80% of all capital investment in the Philippines.

In South Vietnam, peasants were brought in from the countryside and herded into "strategic hamlets". Anything outside was defoliated and anyone moving in these "free fire zones" was blown away by M-60 machine guns. Remember what happened when our People left the reservation? Wounded Knee I took place when the U.S. Army was moving Big Foot and his band to the original Auschwitz.[1] Today we see U.S. jets, bearing the star of David, bombing and strafing Palestinians in their refugee camps. These people, too, were forced from their homes when the United Nations, completely ignoring the fact that it belonged to the Palestinians, turned over Palestine to the Zionist Jews, to ease a world's conscience. The right to establish the state of Israel was God-given, the same principle as Manifest Destiny.

Our own sisters and brothers in South America are being poisoned, diseased, and bombed to death. All of this is being done so the U.S. Caterpillar Tractor Company can build a highway across the Amazon jungle.

The groups mentioned, along with ourselves, are part of the Third World. We are all oppressed by the same capitalistic system. As long as one of us is oppressed we are all oppressed. Many people would say, "This is still the best country in the world to live in." I won't dispute that fact. But, the United States of America has to exploit three-fourths of the world's natural resources to maintain their life of affluence, while people in this country are starving.

We must all remember that this is not a racial struggle, but a class struggle. A poor white in Appalachia is more of a brother than that "Apple" on Wall Street or the one in the [Indian] Commissioner's office.[2] A few members of every minority are allowed to "make it" in this society. They are what is known as the Compradore class. This means a class of people who are used by the system to oppress their own people. Indian police (zoo-koosh),[3] B.I.A. bureaucrats, and the National Tribal Chairmen's Association are a few examples of this class. Is Dickie Wilson a brother just because he's a "skin"?[4] I don't mean in the altruistic sense that all men are brothers, either.

I hear my own People talking about n*****, wetbacks, and spics. Sometimes, they sound just like redneck honkies. You've got some growing to do if colors still mold your opinions of other human beings.

We must realize that we are part of a worldwide struggle. The Vietnamese people defeated the Master of Death because of Third World support. Our Palestinian brothers and sisters and those of the Irish Republican Army shall also realize a victory. Do you care about these other peoples? If our sisters were no longer raped, our brothers no longer murdered, our treaty rights restored, would you still be in the Movement? If your answers are yes, we need you. If your answers are No, you're no good to the Movement or yourself!

Charles Mouz Pamp, Turtle Clan of the Odawa, Ojibwe & Potawatomi Nations, founded the Great Lakes Indian Youth Alliance. He was a board member of National Indian Youth Council, and he believed in and supported the American Indian Movement (AIM). He had been associated with A Bridge Between Two Worlds, and was director of the Indian Health Career Recruit Program. Mouz passed away on September 12, 1979 at the age of 30.

This piece was curated by Analú María López (Huachichil/Xi'úi), who is a librarian, curator, and writer living in Šikaakonki, Zhigaagoong, Zhekagoynak, or so-called “Chicago.” López has published articles on Indigenous Librarianship, Archival theory, languages, and active learning with primary source materials, and other topics.

Notes

[1] Unpan Gleska, known to whites as “Big Foot,” was a Miniconjou leader of the Ghost Dance movement. On December 29, 1890, the Seventh Cavalry massacred Unpan Gleska’s group on the Pine Ridge Reservation, killing up to 300 people in what became known as the Wounded Knee massacre.

[2] An “apple” is a derogatory term used to describe American Indians who are “red on outside but white on the inside.”

[3] Zoo-koosh or gookoosh is the Ojibwemowin word for pig.

[4] Richard “Dick” Wilson was the President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe during the siege of Wounded Knee in 1973, when members of the American Indian Movement and a dissident faction of Oglalas from the Pine Ridge Reservation led an armed takeover of the Wounded Knee massacre site. The takeover was in response to Dick Wilson’s violent repression of his political opposition. He formed vigilante “goon squad,” armed and backed by the U.S. government, which terrorized AIM and their supporters during and after Wounded Knee.