Nikola Tesla

            On Monday morning I worked out the chords for “Rocking Chair” by Serge Gainsbourg.

            I did some reading on efforts to bring about Indigenous self-government in Canada.

            I took an early siesta so I would be fresh for Indigenous Studies class this afternoon.

            Even though the snowstorm had come and gone two days before it was still somewhat treacherous for a bicycle. There was a traffic jam on Brock Avenue I waited five minutes before walking my bike around an SUV that was too close to the curb.

            I took it easy along College because the covered areas pushed me out almost to the streetcar tracks. I usually turn left on Huron to get to the Ramsey-Wright Building but after the previous storm it was less clear and a lot more slippery than the side streets in Parkdale. Instead I went one block east and rode up St George to Wilcox, then walked from there. There was a wall of snow separating me from the bike post rings in front of the building. But half of the closest ring was sticking out through a snow bank and so I leaned my bike on the bank and only chained the lower part of the frame to the stand.

            White told us that the instructions for our outline, abstract and full assignment are posted on Quercus. There are abstract examples posted as well and the proposal must be 150 words. The outline needs to be sufficient to tell where we are going, what we are thinking about and why. Try to answer something. We are not locked in only to the outline. The final draft is due on March 16. We also have a reflection paper that’s due on February 10 or 17. The abstract outline had been due next week but now it’s die on February 10.

            He told us that he was going to stay close to the podium because he was going to try to record the lecture for us.

            He asked us what we thought of Belanger’s chapter on Political Organizing.

            UNDRIP is the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand all at first abstained from signing in 2007 but came on board later when the wording was changed.

            The argument began in 1924 when Levi General Deskaheh brought Iroquois concerns before the League of Nations.

            UNDRIP, like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission does not have teeth.

            The UN was struggling with the wording and at first had wanted to use the word “populations”. Indigenous people found that offensive and so it was changed to “people”.

White complains that Yale Belanger looks at Indigenous people as one group. I haven’t seen that. In every page of the book he refers to different nations.

            In the 1920s Levi was denied entry into Canada. The Jay Treaty of 1794 allows Canadian Indigenous people to live, work and trade in the United States, but when restrictions were placed on Indigenous people travelling the treaty was not honoured on the Canadian side.

            White seemed to think that there’s a toll to cross the border but that’s only where there are bridges with tolls. Some Indigenous people are to some extent exempt from paying border bridge tolls.

            The US is getting stricter at the border because of Trump. People are being asked for their citizenship.

            Clinton Rickard was a Tuscarora chief known for founding the Indian Defence League and promoting North American sovereignty. He worked for free passage of Native Americans across the US border. There is an annual parade across the Rainbow Bridge in his honour and people from both sides of the border meet in the middle.

            He showed us a video of the meeting in Geneva in 1977 of one hundred Indigenous delegates from North and South America. They were representatives of twenty million people and were there to draw attention to issues of nationhood, self-determination, land rights, the environment and genocide. The event was a United Nations Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas. The speaker in the video is Oren Lyons.

            White says Lyons asked, “Where is a seat for the bear at this gathering?”

            Indigenous land was communal. The Europeans thought of land as private property. But to be fair, at the time of first contact there was still a fair amount of communal land all over Europe, including England. The peasants of Europe had not much more of a concept of owning land than the Indigenous people of North America.

            The Royal Proclamation is important for Indigenous people because it says that only the crown has the right to buy land from Indigenous people and then to transfer it to settlers.

            The United States Constitution recognizes Indigenous treaties as more important because they came before.

            The 1823 Marshall Trilogy took away nationhood in establishing the government controlled and therefore owned the land.

            The Wet’suwet’en Nation in Northern British Columbia is occupying Unist’ot’en Camp to block the construction of a Coastal GasLink pipeline between Chetwynd and Kitimat. Elected chiefs and five band councils had signed an agreement to allow the pipeline but the hereditary chiefs say no. Two house chiefs supported the pipeline but then were stripped of their titles by the other chiefs. The argument is that the pipeline is planned to go through land unceded by the nation. White says Trudeau said, “Too bad” but I assume he was interpreting. Trudeau has said, “I understand your frustration. We will work together to resolve these issues.” It seems very strange to me that a Social Scientist would say something as if it’s a quote when it isn’t.

            In 1924 the Haudenosaunee wampum belts held in Ohsweken were confiscated by the RCMP to force a band council style government on the people of the Grand River.

            White says Belanger doesn’t talk about 1964 in Canadian Indigenous activism but I can’t find any reference to anything happening in 1964 even on Indigenous activist websites.

            In 1992 in South America there was a big event commemorating the 500^th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival. It was billed as co-existence and there was no mention of conflict.

            Is it legal or ethical to take people’s land?

            The right of occupation is not the same as title. Renters are occupants while owners can do pretty much what they want. He said he could have had a chicken coop in Rochester but didn’t find out until he left.

            The superintendent general controlled an Indigenous person’s life from cradle to grave. They were wards of the state.

            The mayor of Rochester offered Mohawks a building for a dollar. It was a dump but a lot of Indigenous people work as contractors. They couldn’t get it because of generational conflicts. There was no tax exemption.

            Assimilation was the goal. Trade land for civilization.

            Treaties are about renewing friendships. NAFTA is not the only treaty between Canada and the US.

            White read a 1925 speech by Levi General Deskaheh. Outlines: Nearly everyone listening is a paleface ... Europeans might have gotten a quarter of the land fairly if they’d tried ... We would rather you kill us than assimilate us … You got votes for women from us … We had no jails …

            White is a lousy reader.

            There is a reference to Irish Americans in the speech because in the 1920s the Irish had been dehumanized. There was open discrimination.

            The oldest league of nations founded by Haudenosaunee.

            If not for Indigenous people the French would have won Canada.

            Elected forms of government were forced on Indigenous people.

            There were five different governments in White’s community on both sides of the border.

            A pass system was enforced in some communities.

            A student said that any gathering of Indigenous people is considered an act of war in Canada. I think that might have been true at one time but I can’t find any reference to it happening today.

            Amanda Polchies of Elsipogtog First Nation held an eagle feather against the RCMP in New Brunswick when they raided their peaceful protest camp against fracking. She was arrested but the photo went viral and became the symbol later on of the Idle No More Movement.

            Yale Belanger doesn’t mention Levi General Deskaheh.

            “Basic Call to Consciousness” is a collection of essays in which Iroquois leaders discuss the importance of honouring the sacred web of life and describe the spiritual roots of their traditional government and cultural practices. It’s from a Haudenosaunee perspective but they reached out to others for input.

            UNDRIP article four is pivotal: “Indigenous peoples, in exercising their right to self-determination, have the right to autonomy or self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs as well as ways and means for financing their autonomous functions.”

            The NGO Conference attendees from 1977 still meet the UN regularly.

            Indigenous people are community based.

            White says Belanger does a bad job of talking about confederacies.

            Self-determination is inherently local.

            The Canadian government is vetting indigenous investors to delegitimize protestors. White says those Indigenous investors are traitors. I wonder if he would say it to their face. The investors think the best way to mitigate the environmental impacts of the pipeline is to be owners that have a say in the projects. He speaks of them as if they are being controlled by the government. Maybe it was their idea.

            He asked if Canada has separation of church and state. It’s relative. Canada has much more separation of church and state than the United States. It can be seen in our abortion laws. Next to Cuba and Uruguay, Canada is the least religious country in the Americas.

            Lineage by nation is not recognized.

            White doesn’t like Belanger's protocols.

            Indigenous people always had meetings with agendas.

            Everybody’s needs are different. The Haudenosaunee were never interested in the Assembly of First Nations.

            It is traditional to rest for at least a day after travelling to a meeting. Even today people feel the need to rest after travelling.

            Belanger says past transgressions were overlooked at meetings but White says they were addressed and resolved.

            What are the responsibilities of bills of rights? They are the same for Indigenous people.

            Free speech does not allow you to shout fire in a crowded place.

            Silence is a control mechanism.

            The constitution of the five nations is the great law of peace. It’s the oral constitution of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

            Arthur Parker founded the Society of American Indians from 1911 to 1923.

            The Lakota Confederacy did not want any one group in control.

            White claims there are more old growth forests in New York.

            Unlike the English and French the Dutch came here for trade rather than to build an empire.

            The Haudenosaunee are not supposed to have separate band councils on both sides of the border.

            When the Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team travelled to Israel their Haudenosaunee passport was accepted, but not in England. 

            At tutorial my boots were dripping a puddle but I didn’t see anyone else with water under their feet and so I wondered if they’d teleported there.

Safia was late.

The loudest talkers with each other are always Robin and the other Indigenous woman. They were talking about powwows and the only other guy in the room asked if people drink at powwows. The said there is no drinking allowed because when one is drinking the spirit leaves the body. But some people do show up under the influence. Robin said it’s best to not drink for at least a day before. Plus the dancer’s clothing is sacred because it’s for healing and one shouldn’t touch it while drinking.

After fifteen minutes Robin got a text from Nicole telling her Safia was on the way. But after half an hour she hadn’t arrived and so we all decided to leave. She was apparently tied up at the dentist. She sent an email later saying that no one was there when she got there but she didn’t say what time that was.

As I rode south, Huron was treacherous as I expected it to be and sometimes I had to use my feet to keep my balance. When I got down to Queen there were spots where I had to walk as well if I wanted to stay away from traffic.

I stopped at Freshco on the way home where I bought three bags of cherries and two bags of grapes.

I had a late lunch of spicy black bean soup with a bowl of potato chips.

I worked on typing my lecture notes.

For dinner I had my last three small potatoes, a chicken breast and some gravy while watching Doctor Who.

Spoiler alert!

This story, taking place in 1903, centres on the famous inventor Nikola Tesla. He is in his lab at Niagara Falls fixing his generator when a floating orb appears and then a cloaked figure begins shooting at him. The Doctor suddenly shows up to rescue Tesla and his assistant Dorothy Skerrit. They board a train bound for New York on which the Doctor’s team are already passengers. In New York there are protesters demonstrating against Tesla's alternating current electrical experiments goaded by Tesla’s rival, Thomas Edison, who uses direct current. The Doctor suspects Edison of being behind the attack in Niagara Falls but when she goes to Edison's lab all of his employees are killed by an electrical weapon. Tesla and Yasmine are teleported to an invisible Skithra ship hovering above New York. The leader is the Scorpion Queen who recognizes Tesla’s genius and wants him to fix her ship. All of her technology is stolen and so she does not know how to repair it. The Doctor teleports in, confronts the queen and then teleports her friends out. There’s a funny moment when Tesla and Edison are arguing and Graham shouts, “Hey AC DC!" Tesla and Edison help the Doctor use Tesla’s Wardenclyff Tower to transmit an electrical blast at the queen’s shape and force her to leave Earth orbit.

Apparently when Tesla used to work for Edison, Edison offered $1000 to anyone that could fix his generator. Tesla fixed it but Edison reneged on the offer. In the Doctor Who story he says, “Tesla just doesn’t understand the American sense of humour.”

It’s pretty sad that Tesla died penniless while Edison became rich from buying other people’s patents.