DREAMS UP IN SMOKE

Activists Who Fought For Native Autonomy Now See A Corrupt And Violent
Narco-Culture

On Nov. 14, three people died at Akwesasne in a terrible car-van crash
after a high-speed police chase with a suspected tobacco smuggler.

The collision caused one of the vehicles to explode in flames, killing
an elderly couple from Massena, N.Y. The gentleman who died in the
flames was Edward Kassian, 77, my former high-school science teacher
whom I remember as an excellent instructor, gentle in spirit and
gifted with a unique sense of humour. He was very popular.

He did not deserve to die as the latest victim of an activity that is
consuming the Mohawk people. Smuggling tobacco, narcotics, and
whatever else commands a profit has created a "narco-culture" at
Akwesasne in which the traditional values of humility, compassion,
simplicity, generosity and communal service have been replaced by
violence, intimidation, greed and death.

It was not supposed to be this way; at least not for those of us who
gave heart, mind, body and soul to the struggle to secure the vague
Nirvana called "native rights" a generation ago. I was an active
participant in virtually every standoff, conflict and rally as we
waged a decades-long campaign to secure what we called our
"indigenous" rights to self determination.

We not only sought to remove the last vestiges of Canadian and
American colonialism from our territory but to recreate a viable
Mohawk Nation that would be governed by our own laws, enacted by our
own administrative agencies, rooted in our aboriginal customs. We
wanted all alien law-enforcement authorities off Akwesasne. To
accomplish this, we revived our traditional rituals, formed
international alliances, reached out to human-rights organizations,
reinvigorated our language and created our own media.

We also sought to have the international border that dissects
Akwesasne eliminated. We would create our own peacekeeping service,
followed by a broad new economic policy that would encourage the
growth of our community through the production and marketing of
products consistent with our history.

As appealing as this sounded to us, we grossly underestimated the
internal resistance to Mohawk unity. We were stunned by the vigour
with which our own people fought against these plans.

Already, in those day-dreaming months of 1987-88, the smugglers and
gamblers were forging an alliance that would destroy our plans since
they feared, correctly, it would put them out of business. In a wave
of violence unmatched in our history, the weaponry of this cartel was
turned against other Mohawks and in 1990 we degenerated into civil
war.

Mohawks died, and in the resulting administrative anarchy the
smuggling took hold and has not relaxed its grip on our people.
Smuggling is not a benign activity. The profit from this vice is so
great as to attract criminal gangs from throughout eastern Canada. And
these gangs take no prisoners. They kill with impunity.

Many Mohawks have paid with their freedom or their lives for taking
part in midnight smuggling runs. The fast-flowing, frigid waters of
the St. Lawrence have taken more.

The easy money has led to corruption not only at Akwesasne but
throughout the region. The fragile economies of Massena and Cornwall
are now sustained by this narco-culture.

There are solutions, but it means a collective effort by the United
States, Canada and the legitimate leaders of the Mohawk people. It
means removing the border and empowering our people to enforce our own
laws. It means those who carry the contraband to our community must be
prosecuted. It means removing the political factionalism that has
crippled us for too long, and restoring a single governing entity to
Akwesasne. It means entering into a Native Free Trade Act so we can
transfer legitimate goods across the river to other native communities
without the gangs. It means legitimizing the tobacco trade.

Otherwise, Akwesasne will become an armed encampment, for Canada will
have no choice but to use its military powers and occupy Indian
territory. The resulting war that would surely come from such an
action is not what any Mohawk wants. But we cannot carry the burden of
more victims dying in the most terrible ways because we failed to act
as true human beings.

Doug George-Kanentiio, an Akwesasne Mohawk, is former editor of
Akwesasne Notes, a founder of the Native American Journalists
Association and writer for News From Indian Country.