By Práxedis
January 10th 2022
Indigenous anarchists in Chicago are very few and far between. We are not combined in a single organization. We are connected by our relationships, and we support each other where we can in our fight to have some stability and freedom in this hostile environment. This article is a formulation of that support.
Of us, I have not come across one voice that can sing any praise to the Chicago Public Schools system. It is a colonial crime designed to continue to break down in any way Indigenous autonomy, let alone an Indigenous anarchist way of life.
We must deepen Indigenous anarchist education, especially for the very few Indigenous youth in our care who have been gently raised in utter disdain for assimilation to capitalist-statist priorities and with the incredible kindness and capacities for empathy, a result of tremendous struggle to keep these children free from the clutches of the colonial Chicago Public Schools (which is stewarded by a colonial teachers union).
We have seen the differences in upbringing of Indigenous youth who’ve gone to and are in Chicago Public Schools, and there is a tremendous difference that has cemented the need for relationships to deepen the seeds of anarchist Indigenous education for the youth that has been hard fought for for many years.
To be clear, Indigenous education and anarchist Indigenous education are not equal to each other. Anarchist indigenous education is much likelier to retain the egalitarian practices and sensibilities of our ancestors or to fill in the gaps where anti-Authority was or is not present. For example, in MY relationships among self-organized Indigenous people (I am not connected to ALL Indigenous people in the USA), there is a “paradoxical” adoration of Indigenous Americans who are veterans and being part of the American war machine is considered good. It is a calamity that I see Indigenous people adoring peers who are doing to our siblings in the global south what has been done to our own ancestors. It is a calamity to see Indigenous youth wanting to join the US Armed Forces knowing that they will be enforcing state violence here and across the world. And that is one reason of many that Anarchy is needed in Indigenismo because Authority can be rampant even in Indigenous communities and this still plays a role in our continued losses.
We need resources for Indigenous children to participate in art, sports, technology, field trips, museums, books, work books, and graphic novels. This can come in the form of vouchers, coupons, connections for free admittance, heads ups, direct labor, and directly handing over such resources, to name a few.
Above all, what’s needed is an ongoing dialogue among new and old anarchist individuals and groups (even if it were just two people per group!) who’d wish to intentionally support autonomous Indigenous education by the efforts of their affinity groups or any organizations they can convince to relate with us within an anarchist framework that will not treat us like creatures on display. These must be individuals and groups who don’t make promises they will not keep.
Without such intentionality across oppressions, the bystander effect certainly happens and nothing happens beyond a few capitalist transactions (if any), which feeds the chasm between many anarchists and the lack of enthusiasm and homogeneity of the “movement”.
If you’d wish to begin that dialogue, email theblast [at] protonmail [dot] com with the subject “dialogue” and be sure to note how long you wish to be in dialogue, your capacity to be in dialogue for that long, and what you need from others for you to be able to be in dialogue for that long.
Whatever relationships might be built could certainly expand across Illinois. And I can see how this could blend into a general anarchist youth movement intertwined with an anarchist homeschooling movement because CPS and state-run schools in general tend to be harmful for all youth in the face of what we need and is possible if only our solidarity and intentionality met the need.