May 19, 2016 - Colonialism has Ended – Except in the Americas by Damon Corrie

COLONIALISM HAS ENDED – EXCEPT IN THE AMERICAS – WHERE THE DESCENDANT HEIRS & BENEFICIARIES TO COLONIZATION ARE STILL RULING THIS HEMISPHERE AS HEADS OF NEO-COLONIAL POLITICAL NATION-STATE CONSTRUCTS THAT ARE MORE AKIN TO 21st CENTURY MACRO PLANTATIONS!

Let me speak out once again on this topic myself – since my contemporaries seem afraid to say these things as publicly as I do, and prefer to handle ‘less government-upsetting issues’…so concerned are they about their continued access to funding for their NGO’s – they hide under the excuse of ‘diplomacy’…and never raise their voice on this principal issue.

Under International Human Rights Laws each Amerindian/American Indian/First Nations tribal nation in the Americas is a distinct ‘people‘ in it’s own right in the legal sense, and all are deserving of the recognition of their inherent right to Sovereignty the same as every other people on Earth.

Africa and Asia have been generally de-colonised and are run by governments comprised of the native peoples of those countries, why are we in the Americas still ruled by the descendants of peoples who came from other continents (with the SOLE exception of Bolivia), found us here, and invaded our lands – then brought other peoples after them who have inherited the invader’s illegal ‘right to rule by conquest’ by becoming good imitations of the Colonialists – and thus became Neo-Colonialists.

I notice that the dominant non-native ethnic groups in the Americas today are fond of highlighting how we Amerindians ‘were the first to fight against Colonialism’ and refer to some of our famous leaders as the first ‘National Heroes’ in many countries (most notably Cuba), YET – you non-Amerindians do not see that when European Colonialism ended for both of us (Amerindian & Non-Amerindian) – YOUR Neo-Colonialism began for us Amerindians. History has shown that your valiant anti-colonialism leaders merely put on the attire of the Europeans and continued to deny us – the true landlords of this Hemisphere, OUR right to ALSO be free of the domination of foreign ethnic groups.

Under International Human Rights Laws WE Amerindians have just as much right to have a seat at the United Nations as the political governments of OUR OWN peoples and states as your governments who inherited the theft of OUR lands currently enjoy. We wish to govern ourselves and not be governed by other peoples the same as you do, but in our case – we wish to enjoy our freedom in the same places we lived before anyone else – and are STILL existing in today despite over 500 years of living under a de-facto armed occupation and ethnocidal assimilation and genocidal ‘ethnic cleansing’ agendas…and we have more faith in the World Court than any of your Colonial or Neo-Colonial ‘Law Courts’.

Do not try to sell us the fictitious liberty of citizenship in a ‘democracy’ where we the first peoples of this Hemisphere will always be outnumbered and outvoted, and where your policemen and soldiers enforce your political will upon us.

We are not asking you to leave, neither are we desirous of secession (if you treat us with EQUITY) – we are only asking that our United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples enshrined & recognised equal right to self-determination, to live in a manner of our choosing not your dictates in our own territories, be respected; only then can we live in Equity and peace side by side as brothers and children of the one God, is this too much for you to bear?

Many a Neo-Colonial politician has used the invalid argument that ‘If we allow you Amerindians to govern yourselves again it will be like creating a State within a state which we will never allow” …to which I answer – “Is not the United States of America the STRONGEST country in the world the very one that was founded and is still entirely comprised of many states within the state?” There is no justification in denying us the right to establish our own micro-states in the Americas if our rights are truly ‘recognised & respected’ by the Macro States that surround us.

The REFUSAL to LISTEN and correct past mistakes is the reason why Indigenous liberation movements arose in the past and will CONTINUE to arise in the future – all over the world.

“Instead of the current violation of International Human Rights Laws concerning Indigenous Peoples that the Nation States of the Americas are famous for (by denying us our true freedom) – this Hemisphere could become a role model for the treatment of Indigenous Tribal Nations who have endured over five centuries of justice denied.”

Follow Damon Corrie at http://damongerardcorrie.blogspot.com

Damon Gerard Corrie
Descendant heir to the Hereditary Chieftaincy of the Eagle Clan Lokono-Arawaks,
Chairman of the Indigenous Democracy Defence Organization (IDDO),
President of the Caribbean Amerindian Development Organization (CADO),
Member of the Indigenous Caucus Working Group on the Creation of the Declaration of Rights of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas at the Organization of American States (OAS) from 2000-2016,
CARICOM Commissioner of the Indigenous Comission for Communications Technologies in the Americas (ICCTA),
And registered participant of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) from 2008 to the present.