Let the Party Begin!

The day after the federal election. And it seems that the Conservative Boogey Man is at the door. YIKES! They're going to tear up agreements the Liberals made with FNs and take away programs and it's all terrible.

But then I found these insightful thoughts, written by Taiaikae Alfred, the day before the election. And since the Conservatives DID win, Dr. T.'s words actually provide some optimism. He says:

People have sent emails asking me for some comment on the election, or for the reason that I don't vote. I've written a ton on this in the past. But here we go again...

For my part, I can't see how anyone Indigenous can bring themselves to even think of voting for either the Liberal money pigs or the Conservative white supremacist jesus freaks. Hell, even the NDP are just the Colonizer's bleeding heart bad conscience. I'm Mohawk, not Canadian, so I don't vote in the white man's elections. Simple. But all the "aboriginals" who have turned their back on their ancestors and do consider themselves Canadian are panicking at the thought of an impending Conservative government. I think I even remember getting an email this week with the subject heading: "VOTE LIBERAL or Thomas Flanagan and Harper will kidnap and eat your children!!!!"

Actually, it's understandable that they fear the future under a Conservative agenda. If the narrow-of-mind and white-of-shoe crowd does get elected, it's obvious to everyone in politics that, how shall I say, "the Great White Father is now a strict and mean S.O.B.", "the teat is henceforth dry" or "it's last call at the trough!" Whatever...

It's pathetic to see how being out of an easy job means more to these aboriginals than their heritage, their rights and their dignity, all of which the Liberal Party has consistently denied or attacked over the last ten years. I want the Conservatives to win, myself. Remember the last time the Conservatives were in power? It was in the late 1980s and early 1990s. What's the main memory anyone alive and aware in a First Nation has of that era? Oka, blockades in BC, etc.... the last time we stood up for ourselves with honour.

The Liberals have been buying off our leaders for a decade now since then, and we've all been blinded by false promises and cash and sucked into thinking that we can survive without fighting, while our lands and our rights are stolen from under us. The Conservatives are greedy, hateful, racists, but at least they are open about it!

If the Conservatives are the next government of Canada, then all the better for our people because the massive cut and slash of our programs and attack on our lands and rights is just the thing we need to wake our people up to the reality of their situation. If the Conservatives win, it's gonna be political war, and I say, "Let's get the party started!". Taiaiake

And I think Taiaiake might be right . . .

I think back to the summer before Oka and Papa telling me, "It's going to be really bad over there [indicating East]. At the time Papa would have been well into his eighties, but even then, he was a good source of information from Indian country. Maybe this was from relationships he'd established in his days with the Native Indian Brotherhood, the "Brotherhood," as he called it.

I remember that time being an awakening for me and no doubt being a motivating factor for getting me thinking about law school. It was the time of 7th Fire and "Buffalo Jump," Brian Mulroney and the SQ, road blocks and Mohawks.

And maybe the Conservative Boogey Man IS at the door but he's here to wake us up and make us take off the blinders, make us motivated enough to get up off our butts and let the wild rumpus begin!