Occupy or Decolonize?

"While many people in Indian Country can sympathize with the protestors’ claims, there is also some growing criticism for the idea behind its name, which overlooks the first occupants of the Wall Street area. This has given rise to the response from Native bloggers and activists to not Occupy Wall Street but Decolonize Wall Street."

- from one of the posts on http://disoccupy.wordpress.com

| The blog's description, in part:

"Let’s begin by approaching the name of the first encampment, Occupy Wall Street, by stating what we feel should be obvious: every city on the continent is occupied indigenous land. Wall Street was built on Algonquian land, and has been occupied ever since. After African slaves built Wall Street for European settlers, it was home to the slave market, and eventually became an African burial ground for up to 20,000 bodies. Since its arrival on this continent, capitalism has always been a system of exploitation based on race. Wall Street is one example of usurped land and slave labor, stolen to quell the desires of European colonizers. To attempt to create a movement that ignores this reality is fundamentally flawed, and it is not clear to us that it will ever move forward."
...
"This blog seeks to aggregate radical critiques about Occupy around the continent (including Canada, of course). We’ve begun posting links to some of the most relevant existing analysis from people of color who have been disenfranchised from this movement, but we’re also seeking your links and/or direct entries to this blog. For the moment, we’re interested in providing an outlet for people of color who have had to fight to have their voices heard by the white mass that now controls this movement."

also see:

Beyond “Occupy”: A Reflection on the Occupy Wall St. Movement from Victoria British Columbia - http://www.smithpolitics.com/?p=92

Decolonize Wall Street! - http://unsettlingamerica.wordpress.com/2011/10/03/decolonize-wall-street...

We need more than an occupation, we need pan-secession - http://aianattackthesystem.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/we-need-more-than-an...

An Open Letter to the Occupy Wall Street Activists - http://mzzainal-straten.blogspot.com/2011/09/open-letter-to-occupy-wall-...

Occupy(ed) Canada - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupyed-Canada/222699701124676?sk=wall&f...

Andrea Smith: Native American Communities and Insights into Oppression (video) - http://theooze.tv/thinkfwd/andrea-smith-native-american-communities-and-...