I was working as a youth worker in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce district of Montreal. One afternoon, when I was foraging for lunch in a local grocery store, an older woman I had never seen before approached me. With a look of dismay on her face she unexpectedly asked me, “Did you hear what happened to Stokely?” I was perplexed — I had no idea that she was referring to the Stokely. Sensing my confusion, she continued: “You know, Stokely Carmichael.” She told me she had just learned he had been diagnosed with cancer. →

Excerpt from the presentation of Molefi Kete Asante, Professor of Africology at Temple University in the USA, during Session Nine at the Multiversity International Conference on Decolonising Our Universities held in Penang, Malaysia, 27-29 June 2011. He outlined ‘The Philosophical Bases of an African University,’ pointing out that in the imposition of the Eurocentric worldview in higher education ‘there was a Greek at every corner’ but that the Greeks themselves ‘were but children to Africa, and to India and to China.’

The complete presentation is available at the TV Multiversity channel on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/channels/tvmultiversity

Conference proceedings, as well as other Multiversity related programs, are part of the broadcast lineup for the TV Multiversity channel on TVU Networks: http://pages.tvunetworks.com/watchTV/index.html#c=86332

Further information about the Penang conference and participants, including a selection of papers, is available at the conference webpage:
http://multiworldindia.org/events/

For related readings, visit the TV Multiversity blog, updated weekly: http://tvmultiversity.blogspot.com/

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In my June 26 editorial Extinguishing Sovereignty, I discussed how the extortion practiced by the Government of Canada toward its indigenous First Nations — as a means to terminate their continued existence as culturally distinct peoples — was in violation of all international law related to racial discrimination and human rights. While not a surprise, given Canada’s notorious track record in the international arena, the persistence of Canada’s government in this modern era ethnic cleansing project is nonetheless disturbing.

As Russell Diabo observes in his essay from First Nations Strategic Bulletin, Canada’s termination plan for First Nations has hit a snag, and due to its perpetual habit of reneging on both modern and older treaties, First Nations leaders may eventually determine there is no longer anything to gain and everything to lose from negotiating with Canada over its aboriginal and inherent treaty rights. If anything is to be learned from the bad faith process of negotiating with someone who only wants to destroy your people, it is that there is really only one legitimate response, and that is to resist.

As Diabo notes, to contemplate Canada’s take it or leave it approach, by compromising their constitutional and international rights, indigenous lands and resources will be auctioned off in fire sales to China and other bidders looking for bargain basement deals, that over time will leave their peoples impoverished in body, mind and spirit. Given what’s at stake, he says, it’s time for First Nations to stand up and say no.

Watch “Emergency All Nations Great Peace Gathering July 15-20, 2012 – Urgent memo to all Nations”: