Normally when we talk about the history of "the pilgrims" and the first thanksgiving it is usually around, thanksgiving. However this story stretches across time to give us important lessons, as we repeat the story, when we need them. This is not some metaphysical process, but the natural result of learning a story, its ins and outs, and observing them from new perspectives in time that are accompanied by a plethora of new information to change what our conclusions might have previously been. The circular nature of Indigenous oral histories, is something I aim to capture with my work, and so if this sounds familiar: its because Ive probably said it before.
We of course are constantly dispelling Settler mythology that informs American jingoists, most commonly seen in the 'patsoc' but we really need to address how many people, believe the version of history taught to them in public school. Of course in communist spaces they've began to address the lies around the Cold War, but how often are they question not the information itself, but the LACK of information within the textbooks about Indigenous nations?
One of the more gruesome pieces of folklore is the idea (lied about by William Bradford himself) that the Pilgrims were giving burials to their fallen siblings, but instead they were turned into scarecrows out of paranoia to ward off any would-be attackers. They were tied to trees and armed with muskets to make the Mayflower appear well guarded, in reality so long as they weren't actively stealing, there was no risk of attack.
Their paranoia stemmed from their own ignorance or perhaps disparity, that drove them to steal from people they had never even met. The Nauset people only lived in the area during the summers (much like the rich) and so these stores were pivotal in surviving harsher weather later in the year. Once they found their stores being stolen from.
It was in the town of Patuxet, the settlers would become convinced that it was God's will that brought them here. The town had fertile fields with food growing, and the inhabitants had all become ill and died. Quickly they moved into pre-built homes that were the same quality and designs as European homes, and when the fires were lit, the smoke drew in Samoset. The people surrounding the area knew this was where the sick were being sent, and that nobody should be alive lighting fires. So when the English heard Samoset, speak English, they must have truly believe God had made these circumstances for them. The reality of this education of not only Samoset, but Tisquantum, is much darker
When looking at a guy like this I can't help but think of a variety of people who've had far too much money, like Elon Musk for example, and terrifies me to imagine what activities like Gorges they might copy. If Musk knew of aliens on Mars, it would not surprise me to learn Futurama had predicted English speaking Martians, that Elon had forcibly kidnapped and taught English. Perhaps that was a dumb joke, but the history is undeniable morbid, and before you ask: yes Matoaka (Pocahontas) was in Europe at the same time as Samoset and Tisquantum, but no they did not meet. She also died this month in 1617 on the 21st, were it not for being extremely ill and how welcoming a second child into the world, we were going to do an effort post then too. However because of the circumstances Im just trying to prevent brain damage from covid, and praying fever doesnt kill my kids.
The treaty mentioned here is what sets the precedent for the First Thanksgiving as depicted in children's stories, to come about. Really it was a response to the terms set in the treaty granting Patuxet to become Plymouth, that brought a group of warriors to the Pilgrims harvest celebrations. This included shooting guns for fun, it really is the most American thing you can do, which Ousamequin responded to believing the guns were the English fighting another group. Tisquantum would end up using his position as translator to subvert the Massasoit's traditional sphere of influence, but as soon as the English learned this was happening, they got a new translator. The peace wouldn't last of course when we would come to see the real first Thanksgiving as a celebration of the death of Ousamequin's son Metacom (King Phillip), whose head would sit in Boston's Town Square for decades.
Obviously the story we are telling this post is much larger, so I guess you will just have to follow our other social medias, or look for our effort posts on here in order to make sure you don't miss out. We have most of our podcasts already planned for the year, our organizing, and a great deal of effort posts which we are aiming for 2 a month. We are still working on videos though thats slower, but is becoming more streamlined as we grow and are able to pay people for labor. So this November you will also get a podcast episode to accompany this with the organizers of the National Day of Mourning, who are wonderful and were amazing hosts when I visited, so it will be great to talk to them again in such new context (I was still with The Red Nation when we last interviewed).
We will be launching a new GFM but for now we have a few still left unfinished that we would like to draw your attention to that you can find via linktr.ee/chunkalutanetwork. The first is a wheelchair drive where we are over halfway to our final goal to get an immigrant comrade of ours a wheel chair to prevent severe sores you can see on the GFM. She was paralyzed due to an accident during surgery and has really had a shit ton of bad luck for way too long. Had I known the fundraiser would stall out, Id have prioritized the wheelchair higher, and now Im left wrestling with the ableism implicated in that decision. As well as left to wonder how bad the ableism problem is when we get the donations for land in 2 weeks, and it takes a year to get a wheelchair.
The next fundraiser is Lost Sioux who is just a Lakota in Canada trying to survive, and survived the 60s scoop. Theyre not communist but you should help them survive anyway.
Lastly is the Winter Fundraiser which final amounts go to 3 things: the first 900 is for the loaned amount one of our organizers fronted to cover the costs of the storage container in time for our deadline. They believe we can get that money, and have kindly deferred what payments we could've given them to other important asks like housing elders. Which is the second thing the last bit of money goes to along with land, while the third thing is wood. We have seen trailers for as little as 1k this year, and think contributing to this fund is a lot more than most people do to fight the housing crisis.
We are also sending out permaculture experts this month to live on the land permanently, this means they will live and suffer with the people, and means they need our help just as much as the people on Pine Ridge do. Our goal with this group is to set up systems to combat food insecurity cheaper and more effectively at this stage in our organizing capacity then a Buffalo Prairie. However the work fundamentally reshapes the land to host Buffalo better once again. We also hope to get a jump start on the Great Green Wall project we will be starting, which will couple with bringing back the Black Footed Ferret to the area. Hopefully solving desertification issues through a two prong approach 1) planting trees along the area under desertification and 2) by supporting Black Footed Ferrets who will naturally out compete prairie dogs, whose tunnels cause more severe erosion, and whose over represented presence is the result of settler colonial terraforming of the plains into mono culture crops and grasses. All of this to say by supporting our Liberapay and Patreon you are contributing directly to the stipends of our network of incredible organizers, who deserve to be supported like so many people support podcasters on the left. I hate podcasting I do it to attract donations for mutual aid work and organizing I support or am doing myself, and to educate people before my larger projects are ready to release and prime them for better understanding of the materials being covered. As my kids come to dominate my life, my stipend should go to another organizer who needs the support I had that enabled me to start CLN. This idea comes from a study that shows if you give a houseless person 700 a month no strings attached, they will become homeowners. What happens if you give a communist 500 a month? Well I certainly did a lot over the last 2 years, and see no reasons others couldn't. The biggest thing is these stipends represent employment for our people on Pine Ridge, who have no other access to a regular "pay check" beside from government assistance. We already know the next 5 people we think deserve 500 a month, and we believe their work will speak for itself as to why they deserve that stipend. As this year goes on you will be introduced to each of these people through various ways, and some of you might already know of them because their organizing is so influential. We are daring to invent the future, we are building a mass base, and we are creating infrastructure that generations can use for resistance. Walk with us, you won't regret it
It's so funny they figured out a way to ban tiktok that sets absolutely no precedent about privacy or social media regulation. It's a fucking "if we don't like you we can force you to sell to American capital" bill lol