"Much of the current resistance to Idle No More movement is rooted in fear, from the dominant culture, that Indigenous people want social change, are feeling agitated and seem determined to make this change a reality.

Agitation occurs when people outside of the normal decision-making establishment advocate significant social change and encounter a degree of resistance within the establishment such as to require more than the normal discursive means of persuasion. History shows when indigenous people, who are “outside” the normal decision making establishment, push for change the dominant culture establishment will resist and use force if necessary. W.E.B. Du Bois once wrote, "Agitation is a necessary evil to tell the ills of the suffering.

The official website for Idle No More states that the vision of the movement “revolves around Indigenous ways of knowing rooted in Indigenous sovereignty to protect water, air, land and all creation for future generations. The current reality of the indigenous people then is that the Conservative (Canadian) government bills beginning with Bill C-45 threaten treaties and this Indigenous vision of sovereignty. This gap is what has agitated us into action."

Get the Story:
Donna Ennis: The Dominant Culture Fears the Idle No More Movement (Indian Country Today 2/5)

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