By Helen Michell

I am an indigenous sovereigntist from Carrier and Wetsuweten nation. As there has been numerous thefts of indian lands and indian names in indian country including my land of Maxan Lake, I am totally against the present B.C. Treaty Process and the referendum. I would be happy to see both illegal processes eliminated forever. All those that participated in either of these scams be charged with treason and spend the rest of their lives in prison. That is exactly what they did to my family.

Many lives have been taken also, so the elite could live a prosperous life off of our backs as the ABoriginal people of North Central B.C. These are the names of some of the scammers: Grand Chief Eddy John, Chief Sophie Ogen, Chief Maureen Ogen, Grand Chief Gordon Sebastion,Grand Chief Roy Morris,Lawyer Perry Shawanna, Chief Barry Seymour. A white lady who is also the Federal Prosecutor of the supreme court in Smithers B.C., who is also married to the Grand Chief Gordon Sebastion, who is also president of the local Native Law Centre And Indian Friendship Centre. What else goes on that we don’t know about? The Federal Prosecutors name is Shirley Meldrum, and she was already prosecuting me in Burns Lake Court, for a few years before she finally got me into the Smithers Supreme court regarding a court battle over Maxan Lake B.C. which is my family’s traditional home. As we are the Bear Clan families of Maxan Lake, of whom half are now exterminated.In many of these battles the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was the one most involved in these land battles. The police was always on their side, and the justice system was always one sided. Justice has never been on our side as Indigenous Sovereigntists of British Columbia or Canada.

If I can lose our traditional lands that easy, through the illegal land transfers and the INjustice system, then I can imagine what could happen to the private land holders of today.

So be aware of the genocidal practices going on today within your own backyards. Everything leads to the World Trade Organization and N.A.F.T.A. Agreements. All the TREATIES made in the world have been BROKEN, what makes you think B.C. is not an exception?

Air , Earth, Fire and WATER are means to our survival as protectors of MOTHER EARTH. So stand up and be counted, EARTH WARRIORS. It’s now or never! Meci cho! Telqua.

Paul Robeson & The Art of Politics

"In the end the culture from which we deal comes from the people.

We have an obligation to take it back to the people, to make them understand that in fighting for their cultural heritage they fight for peace.

They fight for their own rights, for the rights of all... All of this is dependent so much upon our understanding the power… of the masses, of a world where we can all walk in complete dignity."

Paul Robeson gave a concert at the Peace Arch 50 years ago this May 18th, he stood on the American side of our undefended border to deliver a moving medley of songs about peace human rights and social justice. At the height of the cold war hysteria, jingoism and McCarthyism his message of truth and reconciliation not to mention the color of his skin so terrified our government that they took away his American passport, thereby limiting his movement.

And yet the power of his basso profundo voice penetrated a political wall that was intent on keeping it silent; progressive musicians artists and writers heard him and were inspired by him.

"Old man river, that old man river He must know somethin’ but don’t say nothin’. That old man river he just keeps rolling along..."

Unlike the river he sang about, Paul Robeson knew something and spoke out loudly and as publicly as possible to the detriment of his career, but always in defense of his people, his beliefs, is humanity. He used his musical talent to put this message across. His vision overflowed national boundaries. He saw that there are bonds between people of different cultures and traditions that come from and through their music. In a speech in 1949, he said, that it was "this likeness in music that made me understand the political growth of many peoples, that made me understand the struggles of many peoples and brought me back.... to fight here in this land."

In the early 1950's U.S. Senator Joe McCarthy’s rapid anti-communist tirades ruled the American political agenda. Paul Robeson's career was but one of thousands that McCarthyism ruined through rumor and innuendo. Denied permission to leave the U.S. and sing at the Mill Mine Conference in Vancouver in January 1952, Robeson stood on the back of a flat bed truck, on May 18, 1952 and sang songs of defiance and solidarity on the US - Canadian border.

The Paul Robeson story tells us why a festival of working class culture and politics like Mayworks is so important to carry on today. By his example he calls on all who would be artists to think critically and to raise the questions that the powerful don’t want to hear, and to search for answers that the powerful don’t want to see. As he did, we need to challenge the basic assumptions of this society, assumptions that are increasingly being driven in the direction of the all mighty bottom line.

In this present era we are confronted by right wing fear-mongers, by cowboys that are spouting racist and imperialist slogans in support of wars against the poor and the working class in both here in North America and beyond. We are confronted by a global ruling class that is pulling out all the stops to crush opposition, whether in parliaments, in unions, or on the streets. More than ever, we need to promote and support dissenting voices, and we can’t do it alone. The role of the artist in political and social struggle is to inspire by bringing image to ideology, the transformation of pain and suffering to strength and hope. Artists can be storytellers, the teachers and the historians. One can see it scrawled on the city walls and in the bathroom stalls, a cry for freedom in a society where art is constantly demoralized and forced into sterility. Art can form beauty from cultural oppression and suppressed emotion. Bridging the gap between personal experiences and external environment, art can inform, and educate.

The stories and histories of many cultures are taught through song and ritual. In this society of rape culture, marginalization and genocide art can form the most profound protest by bringing the critique of an accepted status quo, to a psychological and emotion level. Art is a weapon. Art is a tool. Art is tradition. And the artist, the soldier, the revolutionary, the healer, and the worker.

Join us on May 18th, 2002, at the Peace Arch for the Paul Robeson Memorial Concert.

Paul Robeson’s quotes come from a speech delivered at a Conference for Equal rights for Negroes sponsored by the New York Council of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions, and reprinted in part in SING OUT!