Land Back

Some 175 years after the U.S. government stole land from the chief of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation while he was away visiting relatives, Illinois may soon return it to the tribe.

Nothing ever changed the 1829 treaty that Chief Shab-eh-nay signed with the U.S. government to preserve for him a reservation in northern Illinois: not subsequent accords nor the 1830 Indian Removal Act, which forced all Indigenous people to move west of the Mississippi.

But around 1848, the U.S. sold the land to White settlers while Shab-eh-nay and other members of his tribe were visiting family in Kansas.

To right the wrong, Illinois would transfer a 1,500-acre state park west of Chicago, which was named after Shab-eh-nay, to the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation. The state would continue providing maintenance while the tribe says it wants to keep the park as it is.

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cross-posted from: https://szmer.info/post/3292547

Rebellion against colonialism in New Caledonia 1878-2024

Since 1853, France has occupied the island of New Caledonia against the will of the indigenous population - the Kanaks. In the 1870s, the French government exiled there the anarchist Louise Michel and many other participants of the Paris Commune - Communards. In 1878, the Kanaks rebelled against French oppression. Ataï, one of the leaders of the rebellion, won several victories over the occupiers. When he was finally betrayed, the French colonizers cut off his head and brought it to Paris as a symbol of their triumph. They refused to return it until 2014. For the Kanaks, Ataï is a national hero. French colonialism continues in New Caledonia to this day. The French government has just sent 1,200 more police officers there from Paris to put down the current uprising. Like Louise Michel, we support the indigenous people's fight against colonialism. Expel France from New Caledonia. ✊

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