“Bringing it all together, being indigenous means thinking, speaking and acting with conscious intent of regenerating one’s indigeneity. Each indigenous nation has its own way of articulating and asserting self-determination and freedom…as indigenous peoples, the way to recovering freedom and power and happiness is clear: it is time for each one of us to make the commitment to transcend colonialism as a people, and for us tot work together as peoples to become forces for Indigenous truth against the lie of colonialism” - Taiaiake Alfred.
The Americas are the last and greatest stronghold of European colonialism in the world. The colonial system, especially in North America, has assumed a position of unquestionable legitimacy within the mythology of mankind as a historical homeland for white Europeans. A complete historical revision by white nationalists and the disintegrated condition of indigenous culture, history and resistance both on a personal and national level has allowed a version of history glorifying the colonizer to be taught and presented as canon to generation after generation of invaders. While each successive generation of indigenous people have come more and more as Fanon pointed out and as indigenous people have come to understand about their nation and its situation under this system, “you will never make colonialism blush for shame by spreading out little-known cultural treasures under its eyes.”
Where does the construction of this authentic indigenous identity here in the Americas begin? An important point in all of this is to reconsider Fanon’s statement concerning behavior of colonialism toward indigenous cultures “colonialism did not dream of wasting its time in denying the existence of one national culture after another. Therefore the reply of the colonized people will be straight away continental in breadth.” This is historical process of continental solidarity is an important one to keep in mind. With the destruction of our ancient civilizations many aspects (i.e. Education, religion, family structure) that would have been important to our development both as a nation and as individuals were lost. By including into our own Xicano liberation movement the ideas, theories and beliefs of a pan indigenous effort of “resurgence” Xicanos can begin experience how their own liberation movement can become a part of the greater pan indigenous movement in the Americas through the understanding that “indigenousness is reconstructed, reshaped and actively lived as resurgence against the … processes of annihilation that are inherent to colonialism.”
This indigenous reconstruction and resurgence of will begin with “people transcending colonialism on an individual basis.” It means a fundamental shift in understanding the reality of our situation and rejecting the language and attitudes of oppression and colonization used to support the hegemony of European superiority. It is the internalization of that language of oppression through education and mass media on our part that creates and solidifies in our minds and society in general very specific personality stereotypes that work against indigenous people organizing for liberation.
Creating space for the development of an indigenous identity is paramount to the success of this liberation movement. Alfred writes about “zones of refuge” which in may ways are reminiscent of Mao’s base camps present in liberated zones. Perhaps the basic difference being for most of us there are no formally declared hostilities. He sees these zones as “powerful conceptualizations of a strategic and cultural objective that remains consistent with traditional goals,” of indigenous communities. How we begin to organize around these “zones of refuge and other breaks from colonial rule that creates spaces for freedom” finds a theoretical partner is the idea of low intensity organizing. One-way of thinking about this is to theorize organizing opportunities within the United States as potential revolutionary situations. If this is done correctly then the question of how problems should be addressed can be resolved using revolutionary methodology. Low Intensity Organizing (LIO) is non-traditional approach to solving or reforming issues within the community based on theories of Low Intensity Conflict (LIC) which gained prominence in U.S. military thought during the 1980s.
In practice Low Intensity Organizing would follow the same guidelines as LIC the emphasis being on: political considerations with the stress on ideology and ideals including propaganda and psychological operations; non-organizational and organizational mechanisms are brought into play; “conflict is viewed as a long-term endeavor and therefore strategy and tactics must be flexible and adaptive.” This model adapted by the U.S. government was derived from the theories of revolutionary war discussed earlier and is completely opposite of prevailing methods of organizing within community and labor organizing. In particular, communities, regardless of race or class, working for change have been derailed over and over again by reformist issue and needs base organizing. The following is a beginning discussion of how Low Intensity Organizing might be theorized, “into the category of indirect strategy” and then implemented as “a total strategy in the indirect mode” that views conflict “as having a dual nature” and understands strategy is like music that “can be played in two keys. One is direct strategy and the other is indirect strategy.” LIO is the second and organizes people for change through indirect resistance. Some initial thoughts on how LIO could be discussed are as follows.
LIO is educational: The primary goal of low intensity organizing is to politically educate the people. Since it has been shown that no substantial change or action can be supported to its conclusion without the understanding and support of the community this is the first step. Education and an understanding of their/our personal relationship to the greater structure are paramount. LIO builds structure through political education: Only after the people and organizers have become educated can the physical structures we need to create as a distinct people emerge. Until we work to build these institutions through political education we will be locked into the dominant reactionary activist/protestor paradigm constantly playing out the role of the squeaky wheel. LIO is total resistance: Every facet of the community must be mobilized or attempted to mobilize. LIO maintains: a constant presence and teaches resistance to accepted paradigms, creates new norms, and free spaces for the participant. LIO questions everything beginning with our personal and group relationship to the greater structure.
This is the beginning of an urban insurgency – not one with guns but an educational and organizing insurgency where colonial paradigm is exposed and challenged outside reformist liberal frameworks on a daily basis. In building this popular will to resist insurgents should understand concerning their efforts to educate the people that “revolutionary propaganda must be essentially true in order to be believed… If it is not believed, people cannot be induced to act on it, and there will be no revolution.”
As a nation we are untried. We are unformed and unorganized. We do not yet know the lengths we will go to be free. I have to wonder if we really have the courage to fight this fight to take up the flag against a nation of tested mettle. Xicanos are scared. Within the Xicano movement we expect this unrealistic level of unwavering commitment to everything we propose to believe in and use anything less as an excuse to not participate or bash others if they fall short of the mark we set. The problem is - like most people who profess their undying devotion – far to often we fall short of the mark we set ourselves. Maybe it's not for us, we say. Maybe we're not talented enough or eloquent enough to make a real contribution. Maybe my perceived failure means I don't believe as much as you do.
These are the self-recriminations of 500 years of colonial distortions. When we talk about resistance and what shape or form that resistance will take, we often have a hard time expressing our growing opposition consciousness to our oppression in concrete terms. So in addition to understanding the macro concerns of how we organize for liberation it is important to be clear on the micro or personal level. The concept of warrior is one we all understand although for many of us there may be some unease or discomfort in using this term. But when it is understood in the light of a growing Xicano indigenous liberation movement then we begin to see where we could possibly fit.
Alfred calls the reinvention of this fighting spirit “Wasase – our warriors dance” he clearly outlines the discourse of this awakening.
“Wasase is spiritual revolution and contention. It is not a path of violence. And yet, this commitment to non-violence is not pacifism either. This is an important point to make clear: I believe there is a need for morally grounded defiance and non-violent agitation combined with the development of a collective capacity for self-defense, so as to generate within the Settler society a reason and incentive to negotiate constructively in the interest of achieving a respectful coexistence.”
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