we at canadianawareness.org have not agreed with the countless marches and rally’s of late. Not because of their causes, but rather the tactics being used. Blocking roads, highways, train tracks, the use of repetitive chanting of things like “who’s street, our streets”. These tactics are not effective. They seem to raise anger towards the events, instead of opening an opportunity to engage with the people who are not aware of the cause.
A man who calls himself Strength, who was involved in the Idle No More movement seems to feel the same way. This is why he created the Calling Creator event for this weekend.
The about section of the Facebook event page states:
My husband had a vision this past month and several dreams about the destruction of our lands. He saw animals disfigured and dying caught in slick mud that used to be our waters. These dreams happened before we had even heard of the idle no more movement. After those dreams and the idle no more movement started he had the feelings that these protests weren’t enough and we needed to include the spirituality of our peoples. He thought about pipe ceremony, he thought about sweats…nothing came to him ..nothing seemed right.
One day he stood on our porch and was thinking of being in ceremony and praying for a long time. He was thinking this and blinked and at that same moment he saw a wall of his ancestors, head dresses, all of that coming towards him. He knew that this was what he had to do. He thought it would be great to have everyone in the country to unite and pray and those who carried pipes to light them at the same time. He thought other cities could set up tipis and join in this prayer. He is writing the prayer and going to post his hopes for these sacred four days of calling Creator and send out a request. We would like to send out this request to all those who would like to do this across Canada, even across this world. You don’t have to have a tipi but just be willing to do this in your area and in solidarity with my Husband Strength Dale, Mohawk from Six Nations Ohsweken.
My husband has written a prayer he would like every one to say at the same time across the world and he would like it said four times a day. each group can say what they need too after but his prayer needs to be said immediately after smoking of the pipe and at the times posted. Strength is hoping with so many people saying the prayer at the same it will put so much good energy out there that it will echo in the spirit world and across the universe. starting at sunrise 7am then 10am,1pm,and 4pm across theses four days. all the while my husband Strength will be fasting and finishing on the 12th with a sweat.
please post what you will be doing and where it is you will be doing it and PLEASE INVITE EVERYONE that believes in Creator/God. we need to have all parts of the medicine wheel involved.
this is the prayer.
Creator we are all standing here before you to ask your help. We have put our hearts and minds together in this good way for you to see us, and for you to know our love for you because you have given to us all we need.
Creator we ask you to see that we are powerless to stop those from damaging the many things you have trusted us with. We seek your council and guidance in this matter. The enemy wants us to follow the dark path, when we know it’s your light and love that will bring true healing and understanding. Creator show us the peaceful and productive way, send us vision, direction and your blessing. And we also ask you to help us to love our brothers and sisters that have lost the meaning of love, honor, respect, humility and wisdom. We ask that you grant them the understanding they will need to change their ways. I will do my best for you creator. I love you and cherish all you have given.
I’ve read the media coverage of the teepee prayer vigil and I’m annoyed with their twist on the meaning of it and our thoughts on the Idle No More protests. Let me clarify this…Strength and I fully support the Idle No More movement and their message. We have concerns on how the protests have affected our relationships with Canadians and the effectiveness of getting the message across. We felt that we needed to pray before making decisions that could have a negative impact on those relationships. We are concerned about our emotions taking priority over our good minds. Like a feather blowing in the wind has no direction ..so do protests led by anger and frustration. ( Civil Disobedience is what made this country with freedom for women to vote, or coloured use public washrooms ). We asking for Canadians to do their research and demand the same for all nations in the land we share.
We prayed for all those affected since Harper government decisions and Strength spoke to hundreds of people over the four days. He was met with hostility but kept calm and progress was in open and non defensive discussion. Teach ins are great however many are being done in the aboriginal communities where we have the support. We pray for all the Idle No More organizers and participants. We pray Canadians will lend an open ear to the message and join us in the civil disobedience necessary to force the government to change their ways. We recognize that there are people who have been hurt and we don’t like that. We would prefer to support a peaceful resolution first. Please don’t take our kindness for weakness. If change doesn’t take place and our waters and our children’s futures continue to be destroyed we will do whatever necessary to protect them. First and foremost we would like to take this stand in solidarity with Canadians. It’s about unity and protection over profit.
Naomi Wolf would be doing a psyop. You have to ask who these people work for before you cite them.
I think that an appropriate choice of tactics depends on the goal. If the goal is simply to communicate with the public, then marches and blockades probably aren’t the best approach. If the goal is to influence government, then Naomi Wolf’s research suggests that disruptive actions are exactly what is needed.
Naomi Wolf: When Protest is Effective and When it is Not :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubeLAJjZ4wQ&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL92DE3E5F05E08A12