Français
home
about ipsm
events
get involved!
news
resources
links
contact info

ipsm@resist.ca
IPSM - Mandate



The Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement (IPSM) is a collective whose primary goal is to ally ourselves with indigenous peoples in the active fight for mutual self-determination. We employ a diversity of initiatives and tactics, ranging from popular education to mobilisation to direct action. 


IPSM operates out of an anti-authoritarian and anti-oppression framework.  We see the centuries-old structures of capitalism, imperialism, colonialism, patriarchy and racism as mutually reinforcing.  It is these structures that are responsible for the marginalisation, displacement, exploitation, subjugation and genocide of people worldwide.


IPSM stands in solidarity with Native peoples asserting their dignity, livelihood and lives by forging an alternative to the present hegemonic world order.  We strive to create spaces where a truly free, democratic and accountable society - based on the values of mutual aid and respect for autonomy - may emerge. 


IPSM recognises that the forces of colonialism and imperialism, under the capitalist banners of "globalisation  and "war on terror", continue to wreak havoc worldwide.  Aboriginal people have been, and continue to be, overtly exploited on this continent since the arrival of the first European colonial-settlers centuries ago.  To this day, Fortress America remains comfortably intact as a colonial state.  We view our solidarity as logical, natural and necessary, given our position within the "belly of the beast". In concretely targeting the roots of injustice here, we oppose injustice everywhere.


The process of decolonisation in a settler-state like Canada can only be achieved through an active and collaborative effort.  It involves a cessation of interventionist policies by the Canadian state and self-interested corporations.  Simultaneously, it calls for a radical deconstruction and reconfiguration of relationships between Natives and non-Natives, taking into account the politics of displacement and realities of migration. Decolonisation involves the nurturing of a culture that challenges the manner in which all our relationships are affected, and infected, by the colonial mindset. The state has long defined the relationship between Native and non-Native peoples, characterized foremost by oppression. It is time to cut the state out of this relationship, and to replace it with a new relationship - one which is mutually negotiated and premised on a core respect for autonomy and self-determination.


November, 2004