We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, September 19, 2016

Solidarity from the Amazon to Standing Rock

Click here to access article from Amazon Watch.

Indigenous people all over the Americas are increasingly feeling the threats of capitalist development on lands which they have lived on for thousands of years. This article especially drew my attention because I grew up very near the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, but had limited contact with indigenous people. I mostly saw a few of them on local baseball teams, however one incident left a very strong impression upon me as a 11 year old child. I lost my wallet which contained five dollars (a very large sum in the late 1940s) and it was returned to me via a third party completely intact. Somehow I learned that the original finders were very poor Native Americans who I was unable to find to give them a reward.

The website contains a lot of information about similar issues that indigenous people are facing all over the Americas, especially in South America. It also contains some excellent videos to educate us about environmental destruction and the fight to save our habitat. Here are two:



And especially one that you can find at this link.