We Have Four Demands

I was blessed with the honour to speak at today’s All Out For Palestine Rally. The 21st of these rallies since October of last year. Thanks to Ramsey Zeid for the invitation.

I’m Michael, a settler here occupying the stolen Lands of so-called Canada. My spirit name, revealed by my Elder Denny, is Pimotew Muskwa, or Walking Bear in English. I’m learning how to live into this name and will be going on a long long walk soon which should teach me a little more. My ancestors have left me quite a mess to clean up, and I’m so grateful to the Indigenous Peoples in my life who have invited me into shared struggle.

From my Mother’s side I reckon with the hauntings of a faith sold out to Empire. A missionary legacy, involving a residential school from which escape cost Bobby Bird his life.

From my Father’s side I carry a lineage of colonists. Not settlers but true believers in a genocidal mission. We’ve traced our family tree back ten generations to the 1700’s and the Abenaki Lands known now as so-called Massachusetts. Statues have been built to honour their faithfulness to the blood sacrifice demanded by their colonial presence.

This colonial presence imported by my ancestors has been exported to many places including Palestine, along with the bombs and artillery which have levelled the Gaza strip.

Finding my place within the Indigenous resistance movement has taken a while. Getting behind what my friends are up to while amplifying their voices has taught me so much, and now I know what’s beckoning me. And that’s anti-colonial abolition. Abolition of the systems which oppress Indigenous Peoples both here and in Palestine.

This year during Lent, pilgrims in 145 cities (& counting) will be mapping the 42 km length of the Gaza strip onto their lands with their bodies. Winnipeg’s Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage will be happening next Saturday. We’ll be gathering at St John’s Park for 7:30 AM, then embarking on a pilgrimage of lament & repentance.

Raging against the war machine is important work. It’s necessary work which we are leaving to be done in other spaces. The Ceasefire Pilgrimage will have a different tone, a quiet yet powerful witness for peace. If you’d like to start your day with the pilgrimage in the morning and join the CPAM rally in the afternoon, that’s totally doable. We’ve divided the route into smaller segments so that peoples of all ages and abilities can participate.

While this movement is being led worldwide by Palestinian Christians people of all faiths and no faiths are welcome. If you come out no one will try to convert you. We’re not getting together for that, we’re getting together for Gaza with four demands.

1. An enduring and sustained ceasefire.
2. The immediate flow of life saving food, water, aid, fuel, and humanitarian assistance.
3. The release of all hostages — both the Israeli hostages held by Hamas — and the Palestinian hostages held in the Israeli prison system.
4. The end of occupation so a just-peace can begin.

If those four demands resonate there are four steps to get connected.

1. Visit Gaza ceasefire pilgrimage dot com, all one word.
2. Click Join a Pilgrimage.
3. Click Winnipeg.
4. Come out to St. John’s Park for 7:30 AM. We’re gathering at the medicine garden there.

Thanks for listening. Chi Miigwetch.