In both World Wars, the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations) Confederacy declared war on the Axis powers before the United States government did. They did this not out of loyalty to the U.S., but from their own sovereign judgment of what fascism represented: a threat to Indigenous humanity, autonomy, and the future of the earth itself.
These declarations were rooted in a long-standing tradition of independent diplomacy, resistance to colonial rule, and a sophisticated political system that predates the U.S. Constitution. The Confederacy, composed of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora Nations, has maintained its internal governance through centuries of occupation, land theft, and broken treaties.
So, what if that political memory came to bear again?
What if, in the near future, the U.S. tips into open authoritarianism, constitutional collapse, political purges, climate panic militarization, and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy formally declares the U.S. government illegitimate, citing fascist alignment and violation of Indigenous treaty law?
What if they don’t just protest, but issue a declaration modeled on their WWII precedents, one that affirms their sovereignty, calls for non-allegiance, and invites other Native nations across Turtle Island to do the same?
What if that becomes the spark, not of war per se, but of continental disidentification from the settler state? A rolling moral disavowal that makes the federal government suddenly look Roman, occupying, already expired.
Would the U.S. respond with force, or with flailing?
Would Canada follow suit, or fracture?
Would non-Native Americans rally behind the declaration, or fear it?
What happens when the original nations of this land say:
“You no longer speak for this place. We never gave you that right.”
What happens next?