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Kanehsatake.
Oka.
When we were in Oka..." a friend of mine begins a sentence. She and her children had been part of the Peace Camp, the supporters of the resistance. I see her face, her body posture subtly change. Her unspoken words reach me: "When I was untainted in who I am, when I was unquestionably proud, unquestionably confident...when I did something I knew was good."
A few weeks ago in a circle of women, Oka was mentioned. Spontaneously, one after another, the women said what it meant to them. An awakening of consciousness, of purpose, a coming to grips with who they are, a radicalization, as if in a sudden shock of recognition each one suddenly knew that it was time for the tide to turn, and that she would be part of its turning.
Alanis Obomsawin was there, and her sense of having been part of something unquestionably good is communicated electrically by her film, Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance. With exquisite clarity and...