Armenian American Artists, Writers, and Activists Stand with Standing Rock

Yes, finally! Our community MUST take part of at least state our solidarity with any minority that faces injustice, especially regarding the plight of native nations. How can we expect others to stand with us for our cause if we don’t do the same for others?
Thank you to everyone who signed and initiated this letter.

The Arful people are always honest
they stand with the justice …
where ever they are …
in haven or hell …
Dr. Sylva’s Serenade dative Eyes

Hey add me too! Artist, activist, photojournalist! When my grandmother met a Native American for the first time she told him we were the same.

We stand with our brothers and sisters at Standing Rock.

Armenians in Armenia, too, organised a solidarity action with Standing Rock on December 10. Water fights are everywhere – here we stand against gold mining in Amulsar, which endangers the mineral waters of Jermuk, organic agriculture in Vayots Dzor and even Lake Sevan. #WaterIsLife, we are all connected, power to the peaceful protectors.
http://www.armecofront.net/en/press-releases/solidarity-with-standing-rock-nodapl/

Definitely the right cause to take a stand for!!

After the 1915 genocide, around 1923, Marie Benlian, my mother, Virginie, her sister, Agop, her father, Nectar, her mother took a little boat in the night and went from Constantinople (Istamboul) to Egypt to flee another possible massacre. My mother married Dante Artuso, and I was born in 1945, 20 days after the US used for the 1st time, the atom bomb on the civilian population of Hiroshima. In 1952, when Nasser expelled British imperialism, we left Egpt and went to Brazil, because my parents were afraid of a war against Egypt, which happened in 1956. In 1964, US imperialism organized with the Brazilian ruling classes a coup d’État and put in place a fascist dictatorship. We went to Canada, where I have been living since. I learned in Brazil, in Canada and in the other countries I went how the colonialist powers (Portuguese, Spanish, English, French, Deutch) became rich by committing a genocide against the First Nations to grab their land and introduced African slavery. The rich families of the ruling classes of the 3 Americas are the descendants of the Conquistadors and Puritans who massacred the indigenous tribes and became rich by enslaving millions of African. Today, the US are preparing to invade Russia and China. Today, the peoples of the world are fighting against the exploitation of the workers by capitalists-imperialists, the economic, political and social oppression of the peoples of the world by the capitalist State, the plunder of all the natural resources by the monopolies, the crisis (1929, 2008, etc.) organized by the bankers to become richer, the growing fascism in the world and the never ending imperialist wars, massacres, genocides to enrich the capitalists-imperialists. Few of the Armenians know who was Missak Manouchian, a hero of the Resistance against the Nazi occupation of France. Thank you for the support to the First Nations of the 3 Americas, North, Central and South. In solidarity with the peoples against colonialism and imperialism. United Front against Neoliberalism, Fascism and War. Antonio Artuso Benlian, Canada, pueblo@sympatico.ca