R: Be leery of leftist saviours

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> Re: Be leery of leftist saviours By Joseph Quesnel
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> Sat, April 19, 2008
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> Dear Editor:
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> Articles like this make me realize how scary we uppity Indians can
> be.  "Be Leery of Leftists?"  Like, first of all we need another white
> man's advice cause so far that's worked out really well for our
> people. 
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> Secondly, do you think we are such incompetent fools that we blindly
> follow people espousing Eurocentric philosophies like sheep to the
> slaughter?  You really believe that those of us who reject capitalist
> models of development that have impoverished our people, destroyed our
> lands and threaten future generations are in danger of being
> "converted" by Marxist, socialists and anarchists?  That all this talk
> about genocide, colonialism and recovering our cultures is a
> smokescreen and we're actually waiting in line to sign up for our
> Community Party membership cards? 
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> Thirdly, I don't seem to recall that it was leftists that deliberately
> infected our people with smallpox.  I don't think it was leftists that
> ran those residential schools.  Was it leftists that passed the Indian
> Act?  Had leftists infiltrated the RCMP when they came to depose the
> legitimate leaders of our communities, sometimes killing them, in
> order to impose band councils?  Do leftists operate the mines that
> poison our water, land and air?  Are those clear cutting operations a
> front for leftists organizations?  Are there leftists in the
> provincial governments leasing our lands and issuing permits to
> resource extraction companies? 
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> As far as I can tell our people accept allies on the basis of their
> respect for our ways, our cultures, our legitimate leadership and our
> decison-making processes. 
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> But thanks for your colonial perspective.  I really miss those "red
> baiting" days.
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> Zainab Amadahy
> 110 George Street South #103
> Toronto
> M5A 4P9
> 416-368-0348
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