WHAT IS THE WARRIOR SOCIETY?

INDIAN SURVIVAL CRISIS BULLETIN
NO. 1
SEPTEMBER, 1983
WHAT IS THE WARRIOR SOCIETY?
The Great Law Gayanerekowa called them "The War Chief and his men". The term Warrior Society was supplied by the white man. The term seems to fit nicely. The Great Law has definite functions for the War Chief and his men. They are charged with the defense and protection of the people. Their duties take many forms. Keeping the peace, teaching, public speaking, repossessing lost lands and human right, taking care of confrontations, settling dangerous disputes and international negotiations and doing work of all kinds to promote the welfare of the people.
The Rotiyaner of the National Council are Chiefs of Peace, chosen for their wisdom and intelligence to legislate laws and make decisions on political issues. They have to be mild, calm and peaceful types in order to make just laws. It's against the Great Law for a Royaner to participate in a disturbance or conflict as taking care of such is the function of the War Chief and his men. In the event of war, if a Royaner wishes to take part in the struggle, he must first depose himself from the chieftainship in the National Council and go in as a simple warrior and take orders from the War Chief. After the war is over, if he is physically intact and well, he may resume his duties as a Peace Chief.
There have been objections by some well meaning Indians against having a Warrior Society. "There is no war," they say. Nothing can be further from the truth. There has been a constant psychological warfare waged against the natives of America right from the start of the European occupation of Red Man's land and it's as deadly as the one with guns. It's a war against the minds of the people and the casualties are the drug addicts, drunks, and suicides which are at the highest rate among the Indians. The Europeans went all out on a drive to give the natives inferiority complexes which destroy the personality of the people. Oppression is an act of war against the people. Legislating the Indians into extinction by way of assimilation is an act of war against the Indians. Legal extermination of the Indians as a distinct people is an act of aggression. Genocide as practiced against the Indians is an act of war and the Indians must act in self-defense. The answer is the Warrior Society, whose task force is charged with finding the ways to protect the people against every form of aggression being waged against them.
The traditional Peace Chiefs Rotiyaner (as well as Canada's Indian Act Band Council) are not oriented to strife and confrontation violence. They are politicians and not military people. This is why the Great Law has peaceful functions for them. The War Chief, by nature and training, is fitted to deal with violence and aggression. The Warrior Society is trained to deal with every kind of emergency from an invasion to childbirth. A modern phenomenon in the Warrior Society is the presence of girls and older women within its ranks. The distaff side as taken to the study of weapons of war and have become experts in their use.
The Warrior Society is actually the power of the people in action. The Indian struggle for survival has many sides. One of the most important is to counteract the psychological warfare inflicted on the Indian people. This calls for talented men and women (yes, women have an important place in the Warrior Society) to speak publicly and write tracts describing the rights of the people and the best ways to fight for survival. It's called propaganda and it's important in any warfare, psychological and physical. Words of encouragement and pep talks are a big help. There are Indians walking around dazed and confused, suffering from identity conflict as a result of the psychological warfare. To fight any kind of war, one needs courage, gumption, knowledge of the enemy and strategic planning. The biggest simple requirement is FIGHTING SPIRIT. People with fighting spirit shall not become casualties of a psychological warfare. Only ten percent of any population will fight for their rights. How does one acquire fighting spirit? Our ancestors discovered the secret long ago. All their men were great warriors. One hundred percent. How did they do it? Were they naturally all great warriors or were they developed? They must have been developed because, at present, we who inherited their blood, are also heir to that ten percent population fighting spirit. One method that has come down to us is the War Dance. Our ancestors brought up the spirit of the people by the War Dance, even of those who did not dance. Since it works, it should be performed at every opportunity. Publicity is another important work of the Warrior Society. Artists have the job of making word and picture posters, signs and billboards giving all kinds of useful information to the general public.
Whenever and as often as necessary, a press conference should be held to acquaint the general public everywhere of the important developments among Indians so that any action by Indians shall be clear and understandable to all. Many friends and support groups were made that way.
The Warrior Society is a big entity in the life of an Indian Nation, just as the army is important to all other nations and the world. Not having an army is unthinkable to any nation. They would be speedily overcome. In any international dispute, no nation has a chance to prevail in the negotiations if it hasn't got defense and protection. It would be negotiating from a position of weakness. Likewise, Indian Nations shall find themselves, one of these days, engaged in a matter of life and death negotiations with white man's governments and if they have no bargaining power they're licked right from the start. They shall be forced to make concessions and back down on their demands. The government may even refuse to negotiate. They only negotiate when their peace is in danger. An Indian Nation with no Warrior Society presents no threat to the white man's peace. In the negotiations which shall arise when the survival dispute becomes hot, the Warrior Society is going to be the bargaining power. To have bargaining power, the negotiating nation shall not only have the power to make peace, which anyone can do, even the weakest since they can do nothing else, but the negotiating nations should also have the ability to destroy the peace of the opposition. That's bargaining power. How can the Warrior Society destroy the peace of any opposing nation no matter how powerful it may be? That's in the realm of strategy not open to discussion here. Nations negotiate to achieve peace. That's the way the world achieves peace. Negotiated peace. Temporary peace.
People tell us the only way to peace for Indians is through peaceful means. The Indians are urged to approach the peace-destroying white man with honey-dripping tones to talk to him and make him a better white man and his government a better government. Unknown to each other, all Indian groups have been doing this for the last 200 years. This is frustrating to the good folks who are doing it the Creator's way, the good way to achieve peace, justice and the good life. It should be so obvious to anyone with a grain of righteousness that peace through peaceful means is the good and only way. But it doesn't work. Why? Who has and enjoys any peace? We have seen that the meek, mild and humble people are the most trampled upon. They don't want to hurt anybody. They don't want any trouble. They are peaceful but do not have and enjoy any peace. They don't, cannot and shall not fight back against any injustice or oppression. What a sweet setup for bullies! These same bullies do not bully the strong and fighting people. They may get more that they can give. It's the strong who get any peace. The peace-destroying bullies are only peaceful when the strong are around. The world is that way. Only fear is respected. Fear inspired by the strong.
Indian nations without a Warrior Society are in a weak position. They are also fear ridden. People in fear are often very vocal and infect others with their fear. Fear is so infectious that there is a record of two Indian nations so fear ridden that they committed suicide after they killed off their young to evade the Spanish who slaughtered 12 million Native Americans in the first 20 years of their "crusade" in America. People in fear inspire no respect, only pity mixed with contempt. They are ripe for extinction for only those who struggle grow strong and achieve survival. Indians who do not have a Warrior Society do not struggle, decrease in number, die out and become extinct. Lessons of history. When an Indian nation reorganizes the Warrior Society, there is an immediate change. The nation immediately feels stronger. Hope for future survival is renewed. Their struggle is no longer weak. Their strength grows every day. It reflects in their spirit and speech. They become impressive. They soon inspire uncertainty in their oppressors. Then they inspire some fear and then respect. Hence, bargaining power. The Warrior Society works closely with the National Council of Rotiyaner and have much to negotiate for. The most important is to regain enough land to enable them to live by their own efforts, where they may exercise their own traditional government and society. for example, the land of Kahnawake and the Seigniory is not the extent of the Mohawk land. There are nine million acres in New York State and Vermont. It extends into the Province of Quebec from Canada/United States border up to and including Montreal. All Indians should work to regain whatever they can of their total areas. Indians should strive to achieve a state no less than a REPUBLIC as the term is defined in the white man's dictionary.
by: Louis Karoniaktajeh Hall
http://www.louishall.com/newsletters/warrior/no1page2.html