Whisper of Art

Whisper of Art

~ Stephanie Deplanque ~

Editor, Whisper of Art 

“Silence they say is the voice of complicity… silence is a message, just as doing nothing is an act.”~ Leonard Peltier.

One Film

Unrepentant, Kevin Annett

Kevin Annett has made the film available to watch online for free, this is how much he wants you to know the truth! He did not make this documentary film for profit, nor for fame, but simply to get the truth out there, to give the testimonies of those brave souls who lived through hell and who’s voices are being silenced by the government, the Church and other powerful entities.

The first time I watched the film, I had to stop after 30 minutes. I was crying, I was angry, I was outraged… I paused and watched the remaining hour a couple of hours later. Obviously still crying, still upset, still outraged… But it was worth watching.

Why is it worth watching if it is so difficult? Because it is real, it is the truth and what is 1 hour 48 minutes in your day, in your life? To listen to human beings who had not been given the chance to give THEIR truth yet? To see for yourself and, at the very least, have the decency to hear everyone before you make any judgment?

I recently gave the DVD to a colleague of mine. She gave it back to me a few days later and told me, eyes tearing, that though it was extremely difficult to watch, she is very happy to have watched it and now wants to become part of helping getting the truth out there. She would love to have her name somewhere near Kevin’s in history.

I was watching the film Oranges and Sunshine recently, and I thought, in the end, Margaret Humphrey’s fight was not so different. Children have always been an easy target. Children in difficult position of having to depend on the government or the Church or any charity are an even easier prey than any other as they have nobody to back them up, to speak up for them, and even if they do as children, adults will often say “oh, this kid comes from a very unreliable environment, he’d do anything to get attention! Don’t listen to his lies!” This is why it is even more difficult to face such abuse, to look it in the eyes and speak about it. We are all responsible, one way or another, especially if we know and don’t say anything.

So, watch the film, get it known around you, make your contribution. Don’t close your eyes anymore, don’t turn your back on this as history tends to repeat itself, especially when history is kept silent.

Watch Unrepentant now and learn about Kevin Annett at: http://hiddenfromhistory.org/

One Book

“Maudits Sauvages” (Damned Savages) by Bernard Clavel

“When the first Europeans arrived in Canada, the Indians

shared their food and knowledge with them, to help the white man survive.

The Indians are the ones who allowed

what we call Canada to be born.” Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 1980.

I should start by saying that this book belonged to my grandmother, and while my parents were preparing to move out of our house, lots of things resurfaced from the darkness of the super cluttered rooms… My mother thought I would like to read it so she kept it for me. She was right. I loved it. 

Bernard Clavel was a French author who lived in Quebec for many years, and this book is the last volume of the saga: Le Royaume du Nord (The Northern Kingdom). It was published in 1989, and the story is set in contemporary Canada, in Quebec more precisely. It is the story of the Wabamahigans, a fictional tribe living on the Baie James island and trying to fight against the government’s plans to build a dam on their land, dam that would be a catastrophe for their land, for the animals living there, for the forests, and therefore for the tribe.

Considering the book is quite realistic, you can imagine that the American and Canadian governments do not care about that and are simply driven by their greed.  

The book is a very interesting piece of literature and there are several well written ideas in it, but one in particular stayed with me:

 “The earth belongs to nobody. No man is big enough to own the earth. Even for a piece as large as a hand…You will be the owner of the earth like the bones of your father and those of his father’s father. The bones of all your ancestors are in the earth where they live the death that is only another life. The spirit of your ancestor moves up the trees through their roots and their leaves. It lives in the trees. It’s him that speaks to the sky, that travels with the wind and the light…The white man doesn’t want the earth to walk on, to sleep on, to hunt and to rest after his life….he doesn’t understand that the forest feeds on its own dead. When a tree dies, its body lays at the feet of younger trees. Then it slowly enters the earth. It gets into the moss and slowly gives itself to feed the forest. The white man doesn’t cut the wood that he needs to build up his house and feed his fire; he cuts everything and takes everything. If he keeps taking everything, the forest will die and the earth with it.”

This passage sounded very relevant to many things, like Global Warming or the obvious greed of man who takes everything that he can, even if he does not need it.

The book starts with the journey of a woman, Tiska, who is moving toward the North to escape certain death in the south, she is the last survivor of her tribe and therefore she must keep moving to follow the games and stay alive. During her travels, she encounters a white wolf, and they end up travelling together. After this very short story of how the tribe came to be, the book jumps to 1971 and the plans to create a huge dam in order to create clean energy from the water resources that Canada could sell to the entire world. As if it came from real politicians, this is said to be “not for the country, but for the people”!

This is followed by a fictional press release saying that the Indians of Baie James, where this is all supposed to be taking place, have not been contacted about anything…

The entire book is about greed, not only among the white men but also among the tribe, the lack of respect for the last pieces of lands left to the First Nations by the white men, and the different point of view between older and younger generations.

Well written, realistic and entertaining, this book is definitely a must read.

Photo: Kevin Annett, Courtesy Kevin Annett

Photo: Billie K. Fidlin

Banner Graphic: www.firstpeople.us