Louis Karoniaktajeh Hall - The Mohawk Warrior Society: A Handbook on Sovereignty and Survival

While many have heard of AIM and the Red Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s, most probably do not know the story of the Mohawk warriors and their influence on Indigenous struggles for land and self-determination, then and now. These include the 1974 Ganienkeh land reclamation, which still exists today as sovereign Mohawk territory, the 1990 Oka Crisis, an armed standoff that revived the fighting spirit and warrior culture of Indigenous peoples across North America, and the Warrior Unity flag, a powerful symbol of Indigenous resistance today commonly seen at blockades and rallies. The Mohawk Warrior Society: A Handbook on Sovereignty and Survival tells this history in the words of the Mohawks themselves. Comprised of interviews with some of the key participants, as well as The Warriors Handbook and Rebuilding the Iroquois Confederacy, both written by Louis Karoniaktajeh Hall, who also designed the Warrior/Unity flag. This book documents the important contributions Mohawk warriors have made to modern Indigenous resistance in North America.

Gord Hill, Kwakwakawakw, author of 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance and The Antifa Comic Book

This clear and stimulating book had me on edge from beginning to end. No matter who we are, we can learn from these histories of the Iroquois Confederacy as related by its present-day members, lessons pertaining to non-hierarchical political organization and the care of the land. In the age of Black Lives Matter, this work makes the case for autonomous life-spaces free of US or Canadian state control.

Michael Taussig, Class of 1933 Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University

The Mohawk Warrior Society: A Handbook on Sovereignty and Survival is an excellent collection of stories about colonialism and resistance on Turtle Islanda must read for settler allies seeking to learn and unlearn the histories of colonial violence that structure our contemporary relations. In providing vital histories of state repression and Indigenous resilience, the teachings in this volume can inform all contemporary efforts working towards decolonialization.

Jeffrey Monaghan, Criminology and Criminal Justice, Carleton University, coauthor of Policing Indigenous Movements: Dissent and the Security State

This book is a window into a world seldom glimpsed by Europeans and their settler descendants. Revealed to us is the inner vision of First Nations liberation movements that emerged from forms of government within which group autonomy and individual freedom have been cherished for thousands of years. Despite inspiring the US Constitution, these confederacies were heavily repressed and forced underground. At the end of the 1960s, the Warrior Society was rekindled, with seven original members who vowed to defend their people against state violence depriving them of their rights. Overnight, they were joined by hundreds throughout Mohawk lands, then thousands all over the Iroquois Confederacy, with supporters from the East Coast to the West Coast in North and South America. The Warrior Society emerged within a broader cultural renaissance that imbued traditional matrilineal cultures with new vitality, as part of the global awakening of the 1960s. Their Great Law provides an ecological and democratic framework for peaceful coexistence of all peoples.

George Katsiaficas, author of The Subversion of Politics: European Autonomous Social Movements and the Decolonization of Everyday Life and The Global Imagination of 1968: Revolution and Counterrevolution

This book takes the reader behind the masks of the Mohawk Warrior Society, exploring the deep roots of the controversial Indigenous movement that precipitated the seventy-eight-day standoff at Oka in 1990. Offering unprecedented oral histories, concept glossaries and transcripts of internal documents, this auto-history presents the perspective of the Rotihskenrakhte in their own words. All readers interested in contemporary Indigenous resistance to colonialism will find much of value in this unique compendium that goes beyond the well-known symbols to explain their origins and meaning.

Jon Parmenter, associate professor of history at Cornell University and author of The Edge of the Woods: Iroquoia, 15341701

Ive been blessed, because I came to know the Unity Flag by seeing Oka on TV when I was young. When I got married they wrapped us with the flag, it has been a part of all the spiritual ceremonies that I went to, and it has been present at every blockade. Along with the Womens Warrior Flag, it is a symbol thats embedded in our spirit, and its always been an inspiration. Louis Hall, Ganienkeh, and The Warriors Handbook were way ahead of their time, back when people were just starting to fight back and fighting to get their land back. The intention of The Warriors Handbook and Unity Flag was for all Indigenous nations throughout the hemisphere and the whole world to unite and, first and foremost, to fight. Thats why this book is so important; its something that Louis Hall has gifted to all Red nations.

Kanahus Freedom Manuel, Indigenous land defender, Secwepemc Women Warrior Society, Tiny House Warriors

This is a compelling account of the political struggle for the return of Indigenous thought through the words of those Kaianerehk:wa Mohawks affiliated with the original 1970s Warrior Society. It offers a trenchant and witty critique of settler colonialism together with a body of teachings aimed at reestablishing balance and harmony. It is for the Kanienkeh:ka, the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island and all people troubled by the state of our relations to each other and to the beings of the land that make us, as well as those who care for it.

Eduardo Kohn, associate professor of anthropology at McGill University and author of How Forests Think

A Handbook on Sovereignty and Survival

Writings and artwork by Louis Karoniaktajeh Hall

Edited, compiled and annotated by Philippe Blouin, Matt Peterson, Malek Rasamny and Kahentinetha Rotiskarewake in collaboration with the Louis Karoniaktajeh Hall Foundation

Coordinated by Philippe Blouin

The Mohawk Warrior Society: A Handbook on Sovereignty and Survival

Louis Karoniaktajeh Hall

Edited by Philippe Blouin, Matt Peterson, Malek Rasamny and Kahentinetha Rotiskarewake

This edition 2023 PM Press.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be transmitted by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.

ISBN: 9781629639413 (paperback)

ISBN: 9781629639550 (ebook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021945133

Cover by John Yates / www.stealworks.com

Interior design by briandesign

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

PM Press

PO Box 23912

Oakland, CA 94623

www.pmpress.org

Printed in the USA.

Published in Canada in 2023 by

Between the Lines

401 Richmond Street West, Studio 281, Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3A8, Canada

18007187201

www.btlbooks.com

ISBN: 9781771136013

In Canada no part of this publication may be photocopied, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher or Access Copyright www.accesscopyright.ca.