The impetus for the recent Idle No More events, lies in a centuries old resistance as Indigenous nations and their lands suffered the impacts of exploration, invasion and colonization. Idle No More seeks to assert Indigenous inherent rights to sovereignty and reinstitute traditional laws and Nation to Nation Treaties by protecting the lands and waters from corporate destruction. Each day that Indigenous rights are not honored or fulfilled, inequality between Indigenous peoples and the settler society grows.

Today we cast the spotlight on the Canadian First Nations movement Idle No More which “calls on all people to join in a peaceful revolution, to honour Indigenous sovereignty, and to protect the land and water.” Through rallies, protests & teach-ins, they creatively conspire for a whole new world that finally gives back Indigenous peoples what is rightfully theirs.

3 weeks ago, journalist Dave Zirin reported on the thousands who protested the racist NFL mascot “R*dskins” during the Minnesota-Washington matchup. He gave major credit to the work of INM:

It was a collection of confident voices, as people “across genders, ages and other social locations” were “calling shit out left and right,” signifying a movement in its ascendancy. But to understand how this anti-“Redskins,” anti-racist resistance has exploded onto the landscape, far too many people are finding its source in individual sports media members who refuse to use the name, or they identify it in a mass revulsion to [R*dskin owner] Snyder’s political halitosis. But the answer actually lies north of the border, where a new generation of First Nations people are on the march, inspiring pueblos and reservations in the United States and beyond. The movement is known as Idle No More, and if you don’t understand Idle No More, then you cannot understand why the thousands gathered to demonstrate outside of a football game.

Join in an Idle No More action soon. Check out their Events page here.