On July 14, 1923, the Hereditary Chief of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Deskaheh Levi General (Cayuga), traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, to talk earlier than the League of Nations. He sought to acquire worldwide recognition of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (traditionally often called the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, composed of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora Nations) as a sovereign Indigenous Nation ruled by a hereditary council of chiefs. To at the present time, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy is taken into account one of many oldest self-governing Peoples on the earth. They’re ruled by the Nice Regulation, established greater than 1,000 years in the past—lengthy earlier than the arrival of colonizers in North America.
Deskaheh’s attraction to the League of Nations was spurred by a long time of violations by Canada of territorial treaties, together with the stealing and promoting of treaty-guaranteed land, encroachments on the authority of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and concern for the rights of Haudenosaunee Indigenous girls and kids.
The League of Nations, which was established in 1920 and served because the predecessor to the United Nations, refused to listen to Deskaheh’s petition on the behalf of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Member states deemed it inadmissible, sustaining that Canada had jurisdiction over the Confederacy and the Six Nations. On August 6, 1923, Deskaheh tried once more with a letter to the Secretary-Basic of the League of Nations titled “The Red Man’s Appeal For Justice.” Regardless of the League of Nation’s refusal to listen to his petition, the mayor of Geneva supplied him with the house to ship his speech earlier than the individuals of the town. Deskaheh’s actions marked the start of the worldwide Indigenous rights motion to convey consciousness to injustices reminiscent of violations of Indigenous sovereignty and land dispossession by colonizing States, amongst others, on the worldwide degree.
A century later, Indigenous recognition on the worldwide degree stays an uphill battle. In 1977, the UN’s Worldwide NGO Convention on Racism Towards Indigenous Populations within the Americas initiated recognition processes of Indigenous Peoples worldwide, together with their particular person and collective rights. It could be one other 30 years earlier than the UN Basic Meeting adopted the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007; notably, the US, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, initially voted towards the Declaration, however later reversed their vote to endorse it. The Declaration is the fruits of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations, arrange by the UN Financial and Social Council in 1982.
To at the present time, Indigenous Nations are nonetheless not allowed to handle the UN Basic Meeting as sovereign governments. The Haudenosaunee Confederacy has been granted the choice to register as an NGO, thereby making it eligible to handle the meeting. Nonetheless, as many Indigenous Peoples have self-government, registering as an NGO would additional de-legitimize different Peoples’ claims to sovereignty, in response to the Confederacy’s present Deskaheh, Steve Jacobs (Cayuga).
Cultural Survival just lately spoke to veteran Indigenous rights activist Ken Deer (Mohawk) concerning the a centesimal anniversary of Deskaheh’s marketing campaign whereas Deer was attending the sixteenth session of the UN Skilled Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, held on July 17-21, 2023, in Geneva, Switzerland.
CS: Please inform us about Deskaheh and what he was making an attempt to realize in 1923.
Ken Deer: Deskaheh is a title, a chieftainship title, identical to the Prince of Wales. It is handed down from era to era. We now have 50 chiefs within the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and Deskaheh is a type of chiefs. That title has been handed down from era to era from time immemorial by the ladies. It is the ladies in our society that maintain the title of chief, and it is the ladies that bestow that title onto the chief. It is an important relationship between the lads and the ladies.
The Haudenosaunee Confederacy, also referred to as the Iroquois Confederacy or Six Nations Confederacy, is made up of six Nations: Mohawk, Oneida, Onadaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora. We now have a big neighborhood known as Six Nations in Ontario, Canada. We now have a big tract of land there and the Canadian authorities has been abusing that tract of land, promoting it, and never respecting the rights of our individuals. We tried to get reparations from the federal government. We tried to get the problem settled, however the Canadian authorities was uncooperative. We consider we’re a sovereign Folks and we now have a proper to our personal self-determination. We determined that if we had a grievance with the federal government of Canada, we’d take it to the League of Nations, as a result of that is the place sovereign entities go.
Deskaheh Cayuga chief was despatched to handle the League of Nations in 1923 and allow them to know the issues we had been having with Canada, that we’re sovereign Folks and Canada was not respecting our rights. When he got here to Geneva, he was nicely supported by the individuals right here, some dignitaries and a specific committee that supported Indigenous Peoples. He was additionally supported by States like Eire, Panama, Estonia, and Iran to handle the League. Nonetheless, Canada was fairly upset that this chief was there, they usually recruited the assistance of Nice Britain to cease Deskaheh from addressing the League of Nations as a result of they weren’t a member. So, the Haudenosaunee utilized for membership.
Deskaheh crammed out all the appliance types to hitch the League and submitted them, however that utility was by no means handled. The paperwork put the appliance in a drawer and did not take care of it as a result of, underneath the principles, anyone who utilized for membership needed to come to a vote on the ground. They did not need that vote to go to the ground as a result of they had been afraid that the Haudenosaunee may win the vote, and so it was by no means tabled. Within the meantime, the Canadian authorities, in its treachery, invaded the neighborhood of Six Nations with police drive. They went into the Council Home they usually took all their information and their emblems of authority and padlocked the Council Home, they usually held elections on the garden. It was a coup. They overthrew the normal authorities of the Six Nations. Deskaheh by no means returned dwelling as he feared arrest. He went to Rochester, after which Tuscarora, New York, the place he might see Canada from the place he lived. However he might by no means return to Canada. He turned sick.
When he was sick, the Canadian and American governments wouldn’t permit [him access to] his drugs, Folks, or household to come back and see him whereas he was sick. He died about 5 months later in 1925. The wrestle of Deskaheh has now change into a logo by Indigenous Peoples about our wrestle to be acknowledged as governments. Immediately, on the United Nations, solely States and NGOs can communicate. So for those who’re not a member state, then it’s a must to declare your self as a non-governmental group, an NGO, so as to register and to talk.
We’re governments. We aren’t NGOs. Indigenous Peoples’ governance shouldn’t be acknowledged by the UN. We, the Haudenosaunee, refuse to register as an NGO. It [has been] 100 years now. In 2023, Deskaheh’s identify is Steve Jacobs, and he can’t communicate within the United Nations representing his authorities. Deskaheh is right here with us in Geneva proper now, and he has entered the room. He made an announcement originally of the assembly when he did the normal opening. He did his religious duties by opening the assembly with the phrases that change into a ceremony that we do after we meet. On the finish, he says, “For the reason that UN doesn’t acknowledge me as a authorities, I cannot communicate once more.”
The imagery was very highly effective. To see this man, a really giant man, not with the ability to communicate within the United Nations, symbolizes the wrestle of Indigenous Peoples. We’re governments and we ought to be revered as such. That is the significance of Deskaheh within the worldwide Indigenous motion.
CS: How is the UN honoring the centennial?
KD: We did not ask the UN to do something, however the chairman of the Everlasting Discussion board did say some form phrases to Deskaheh and acknowledge that Deskaheh was within the room and that he wouldn’t communicate. That was essential. Nonetheless, the town of Geneva has been very welcoming. Town of Geneva has at all times had good relations with the Haudenosaunee ever since Deskaheh got here right here in 1923. On Monday night there was a reception within the Palais Eynard by the mayor of Geneva, who welcomed the Haudenosaunee, and Deskaheh particularly. He repeated the promise made a number of occasions through the years by mayors of Geneva, that the Haudenosaunee will at all times be welcome to talk. Deskaheh thanked the mayor for his heat welcome and introduced him with a friendship belt that signifies friendship between the town of Geneva and the Haudenosaunee.
The Palais Wilson in 1923 and 1924 was the seat of the League of Nations. So, with the cooperation of the town, we designed 60 photographs with textual content in French and English, and we positioned them on these 30 panels alongside the lake with one picture on both sides. These photographs inform the story of the Deskaheh, the story of the Haudenosaunee and our tradition and a few of our language, and the connection with Geneva and all of the issues which have occurred right here through the years. It is a very spectacular show and it took many months of labor to design by a lady named Jolene Rickard at Cornell College. She’s Tuscarora herself, and he or she did a wonderful job. There was an official launch of the panels and we had a march all the best way from the United Nations, down the road into the botanical gardens, [through] a tunnel that got here out alongside the lake, and we marched alongside the lake till we got here to the panels. There we noticed that a whole bunch of individuals from Geneva had joined us.
The mayor of Geneva and Deskaheh led the march and the Haudenosaunee delegation, 20 of us, women and men, adopted. Behind [us were] all these Indigenous supporters following us as we walked to the lake. Alongside the lake, there have been numerous speeches by the mayor and different dignitaries. We had a ribbon reducing to open the exhibit, and we had meals—it was known as a “standard meal,” the place the residents of Geneva introduced meals to share. It was just like the widespread individuals welcoming the sky, identical to they did in 1923. So it’s totally symbolic.
There is a marketing campaign that the Deskaheh symbolizes that Indigenous Peoples must have a standing within the UN that’s not NGO and is as near the extent of a State as doable. We had a session on that on the Skilled Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that was nicely attended. Many States help the concept, sure, Indigenous Peoples must have a greater standing within the United Nations.
CS: What has modified for Indigenous Peoples on the UN degree within the final 100 years? What else wants to alter?
KD: Lots has modified. It won’t appear to be it for those who come right here immediately, however there have been a long time when Indigenous Peoples had no entry to the UN. It wasn’t till 1982 that the Working Group on Indigenous Populations was created. It was a really distinctive group, and it was the one assembly in the whole United Nations on the time that you simply did not should be an NGO to enter the constructing or participate in a gathering. Indigenous individuals might simply come to Geneva and present up on the assembly. That was a watershed second when the Working Group on Indigenous Populations started. And as years glided by, there have been increasingly UN our bodies that opened their doorways to Indigenous Peoples, like UNESCO and others.
I am very completely satisfied to see so many elderly individuals who have been right here for a few years are right here for this session, and in addition many new faces, as a result of it is the brand new faces which are the way forward for our work. Folks like myself, we’re not going to be right here for too many extra years. It is good to see younger individuals exhibiting up who will substitute individuals like myself. That is essential. I want extra individuals may very well be right here, and perhaps that’ll occur sooner or later. There’s numerous potential right here on the Skilled Mechanism in Geneva, [and] Indigenous individuals ought to be partaking and making an attempt to make use of it to the perfect of their benefit.