Members of the Tyendinaga community of the Mohawk Nation have maintained a camp alongside the CN Rail track for 11 days as of February the 16th. Their camp, which has the goal of impeding rail traffic, is being maintained in solidarity with the land defenders at Unist'ot'en led by the hereditary chiefs, (the traditional leadership of the Wet’suwet’en nation). The demand of the Mohawk warriors and other land defenders at the camp is for the RCMP to leave Wet’suwet’en territory and allow the land defenders to return to their camp at Unist'ot'en. Their presence has led to VIA Rail and CN Rail cancelling train service along the route, which has expanded to cancelling service across Canada or Eastern Canada respectively.

This series of events have illustrated two important facts. First, the conflict between the Canadian state and the Wet’suwet’en, Mohawk, and other indigenous land defenders is not only about a pipeline. This conflict is larger: it is about the legitimacy of the settler Canadian State and its habit of invading unceded territory. Second, the land defenders of Tyendinaga have shown a weak point of the Canadian state and Canadian capital.

The initial point of conflict that led to the Unist'ot'en encampment was the routing of the Coastal GasLink liquefied natural gas pipeline. The owners made the decision to route the pipeline through territory that is part of the Wet’suwet’en nation. This land was never ceded through treaty to the Canadian state. The leadership of its rightful inhabitants and defenders is the hereditary chiefs who represent the whole of the Wet’suwet’en nation, not only the individual bands or reserves as organized by the Indian Act.

The impact of these actions has been felt across the country causing workers to wonder if this pipeline is good or bad. But the question we should really be asking is: should a private company legitimized and physically defended by the Canadian state and the RCMP have the right to build across unceded territory?

Let’s look at an example. Say the US decides to settle a population in Canada at gunpoint. Is it right that they decide how to develop the land? That because of military power they decide our homes and lives are worth being put at risk for their profit? Would we find this acceptable?

We would not and neither do the land defenders like those at Unist'ot'en and Tyendinaga. Canada has been built on this exact logic: that because colonizers showed up and brutally displaced and crushed the indigenous nations they encountered, now Canadian capital has the right to reap profit on the land taken. The question land defenders at Unist'ot'en and Tyendinaga raise is not just what should be done about Coastal GasLink, it is about the right of Canada and Canadian capital to profit off of colonization.

Beyond this, continued presence of Mohawk land defenders has exposed the weakness of the Canadian state and Canadian capital. Modern capitalism in Canada depends on just-in-time delivery. By impeding the flow of goods they have put pressure on the pocket books of Canadian capital. This will have massive economic consequences. They have put themselves on the line to defend the rights of indigenous nations to self determination on their land. They have said it is unacceptable for the thugs in the RCMP to roll in with guns and push out the rightful residents of the land so that pipelines can be built to make the rich even richer.

There will be consequences if they are able to continue to hold out and defend their rights. There is no question as to which side is more in a worker’s interest. One side is made up of the companies that exploit us day in and day out; that claim to create jobs that in reality are temporary, underpaid, and dangerous; that use the same cops to break up picket lines as they do to break up indigenous communities’ homes and blockades. The other side are defending their homes and ways of life; are fighting to save the planet; are resisting the same forces that destroy the lives of workers across the country. Punch up, not down. Ask land defenders how you can help, and support the blockades!