Protecting the Sacred

These 13 amazing grandmothers are reaching out to our Indigenous people too!

Vanya

Call To Action-International Indigenous Leaders Gathering

We thought you would like to read this summary of the keynote resolution from this recent conference, where the Grandmothers Council was represented by Grandmother Mona Polacca.

For more information, visit www.fwii.net

An Indigenous-to-Indigenous Call For Action

International Indigenous Leaders Gathering

"Protecting the Sacred"

Key Note Summary : May 2, 2010 - June 8, 2010

Very Beloved Relatives,

Whether or not all the nation states, multinational corporations or international development agencies that surround us are willing or able to participate with us at this time, our Indigenous Peoples and allies need to immediately move forward in rebuilding and reunifying the Americas and beyond, utilizing the Guiding Principles of The Fourth Way.

1. We have the ancient prophecies and a clear vision of an emerging future of social justice and collective prosperity for the Americas, and beyond, which we will, as promised, co-create with all members of the Human Family. This new era will occur as sure as the sun rises every morning.

2. We have a spiritual foundation of guiding principles and values that empowered us to survive a great spiritual winter that was filled, at times, with the utmost human cruelty, violence, injustice, abuse, and physical and cultural genocide. In spite of this, throughout the Americas, increasingly, our Indigenous relatives are reawakening to their spiritual and cultural identities and are healing their Sacred Relationships with all members of the Human Family. In fact, a large majority of all the inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere have some degree of Indigenous ancestry.

3. Together, with our allies, we have the cultural, spiritual, scientific, technological, social, environmental, economic and agricultural capacities and wisdom needed to co-create and rebuild our Tribes and Nations stronger than ever before.

4. Our Indigenous Peoples, with the support of our allies, have the collective material resources to bring our greatest dreams and visions to reality and to fully protect and heal our Beloved Mother. Collectively our growing social capital, our land base, our natural resources, including water, petroleum, natural gas, timber, rare minerals and gems, fishing and hunting rights and those rights and resources we have still to justly acquire, will soon enable us to become a major economic and spiritual force not only in the Americas, but around the world. We will then mandate the wise and harmonious ways Mother Earth's gifts should be safely and sustainably developed, as well as, when development is not appropriate, no matter how much profit is to be made. Our Sacred Places and the Healthful Life of our Beloved Mother Earth are not for sale and exploitation!

The Indigenous peoples of the Eagle (Canada and the U.S.), along with our allies, have the material resources to directly support our Indigenous relatives of the Condor (Latin America) in developing their collective resources, as they choose. By utilizing digital and green technologies, and our vast social capital, in a manner that supports our collective prophecies and holistic vision, we have the capacity to manifest, as promised, a future with social, environmental and economic justice for all members of the Human Family. As it was with the original Union of the Condor and Eagle, the Indigenous peoples of the South have Sacred Gifts, of equal measure, to share with their Indigenous relatives of the North.

The primary challenge that stands before us as Indigenous Peoples in rebuilding the Americas and beyond is disunity. This has been caused by colonialism and the resulting, unresolved inter-generational trauma. Therefore, from my perspective, a primary purpose of this second ground-breaking International Indigenous Leaders Gathering is to courageously initiate the establishment of an enduring spiritual and cultural foundation for healing, reconciliation, unity in diversity and collective action for " Protecting the Sacred. " Once this spiritual foundation and healing process is manifested and fully agreed between us, with continued prayer, hard work and dedicated devotion, everything else needed, will naturally unfold, as foretold by the Ancient Ones and all of our wise Visionaries and Spiritual Leaders.

With Warm and Loving Greetings,

Phil Lane Jr.

Chairman

Four Worlds International Institute

Four Directions International

www.fwii.net

--

Grandmother Mona Polacca, M.S.W.

www.grandmotherscouncil.com

Bolivia has a long way to go to Bridge public statements and practice

On this Earth day at the historic peoples conference on climate change and rights of mother earth, Standing at the Estadio Felix Capriles de Cochabamba (Felix Capriles Stadium of Cochabamba) full of enthusiastic crowd of climate justice activists, peasants movements, anti-mining groups, and all sorts of left-leaning social formations -- numbering about 25,000 and full of vibrant energy, it would probably not be right to have any negative thoughts about anything that is happening here in Bolivia. The spirit is all pervading - yes, we can reclaim the world from an exploitative system and get it back to the hands of its caring citizens.

Yet, the last five days at Cochabamba and Bolivia at large, gives rise to some questions, if not discomfort. The President of the self-declared "pluri-national state" of Bolivia - Evo Morales Ayma, has declared that people of this world will henceforth determine the agenda of climate change discourse, and this unique world peoples conference is a bold step in that direction. But is Bolivia taking the right steps, turning in to the right path ?

The city of Cochabamba has less than one million residents, and yet the no. of cars-- big & huge cars -- on its roads is astounding. You can find single occupants in every third big car, and these are far in excess than the proportions seen even in the richest Indian city, and Bolivia is not a rich country -- even by Latin American standards!! Most cars run on gas - no doubt the cleanest of all the fossil carbon fuels, but the gas is very cheap - leading to large consumption, big driving around -- even by the middle class. This also helps keep the taxi fares cheap, but just money was never the concern in the crisis of climate change. The sheer number of trips just the 900,000 odd Cochabambans do every year would be putting in a huge amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere - and so unnecessarily. Most of the buses are old and ramshackle, and there are share taxis in fixed routes, which people prefer, again , a policy which cannot claim to be climate friendly.

The so-typical glass-concrete-aluminum buildings seen in any other capitalist metropolis is seen here in abundance also. The spread of glittering shopping malls is still not visible in a scale being seen in big Indian metros, but innumerable shops selling imported and unnecessary consumer goods in a great variety -- again an American consumerist trait - is an eyesore. Evo is an icon in the struggle against the capitalist system, but coca cola does unhindered business, even copied by local bottlers with "Coca Colla" selling from hand carts all around the market places.

While the many market places, including the mind-bogglingly large "La cancha" near the centre of Cochabamba are full of small shops run by small shop-keepers, the rule of dollars is seen every where. The goods bear an uncanny resemblance to things American -- whether original or copies, and the people feel so comfortable in "dealing in dollars"

The food consumption is glaringly dominated by very large amounts of meat, that too mostly beef (and pork). Both are known to be the worst food items in terms of their climate change impacts -- whether for energy consumption for producing the meat, for destruction of rich forest lands for industrial scale cattle farming, and for the huge water consumption and pollution from the cattle farming. yet, there was no sign that these are even on the radar of the Bolivian climate movement leaders.

Being a favorite tourist destination of Europeans and Americans, who come attracted by the Andean mountains, the unique Altiplano and the rich indigenous cultures, Bolivia has adopted all the evils of the consumerist, wasteful global north. Bottled water is staple drink -- along with bottled fruit juices. Even the poor seem to follow this strange economic logic, though the juice presses are still seen in some numbers in peripheral areas. The markets are flooded with american-company names, whether these came from those US companies or are local copies is the less important question - the cultural preference is very clear.

There are other questions about the mining policy, about the old tin mining that damaged the lake-planes, and the newly targeted Lithium mines. There are doubts about the Bolivian stand about market mechanisms as part of climate solutions -- and one sincerely hopes that these doubts prove unfounded.

A beginning on a concept level has been made by the visionary leadership of Evo. But a nation runs on its peoples cultural lives, and unless the new revolution being visualized comes down to the people on the ground in letter and spirit, it is hard to see any rael breakthrough. Great visions are those that transcends the rhetorical and can inspire spontaneous actions. That is yet to be seen in the fertile Bolivian grounds which inspirational was the last battle ground of Che .

Lets hope that the dream and the vision quickly overcomes the harsh realities, and this test will prove Evo to be a history maker -- or another one to try and wither away.

Soumya Dutta in Cochabamba, 22nd April, 2010

Health, Eduacation and Food Security: Learning from Venezualan Experience

Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy (CSSEIP), Goa University

Cordially invites you to a Lecture

On

Tackling Social Exclusion in Health, Education and Food Security: Learning from Venezuelan Experience

By

Dr. Abhay Shukla

Coordinator, SATHI-CEHAT, Pune, member of the Advisory group for community action for the National Rural Health Mission and national joint convenor, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, India.

(Excerpts of the film on Venezuela ‘inside the revolution’ will also be screened before the lecture)

The session will be chaired by

Prof. AV Afonso

Coordinator, CSSEIP and Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences,

Goa University

Date: Tuesday, 9th March, 2010

Time: 3 PM onwards

Venue: University Conference Hall, Administrative Building, Goa University, Goa.

All are Welcome!

RSVP: 6519378, csseip.gu@gmail.com

Colourful Latin America

Mathematical necessity
Brainy capacity
Hearty intensity
Leads endeavor
to probe deeply
Latin American Identity

Continent fascinating
Courageous Colorings
Revolutionary flowerings

Colonial underpinnings
valiant fight back
Red Indian Warriors

Trusted forcefully
Latin powers adventurously

Fractions of efforts
Produced Cuban Heroics
Community of traditions
gave spirit to Mexican uprising

Workers toil
Sent Chile in flames
voice arose of suppressed
prompted dictatorial crushing

Couple of decades
Brazil chained
Washington promoted
Dictatorial Candidates

Rich soil and economy
Rendered Bankrupt
Banana Republics

Brilliant French revolutionary analyzing
Set Haiti free
Victims of human trade
Centuries called them Slaves
United in consciousness
To guide destiny of a nation

European Adventures
Landed to call ‘Discovery’
Staged bee line to new world
Soon brave colonial triumph

Portugal and Spain
dominated the booty
Massacres of horror
Carried on in Western Hemisphere
Red Indians brutally assaulted,
Killed and butchered in terror.

Voice arose of Simon Boliver
Great Latin American Liberator
Let Latin America be one
from North to South forever

Boliver’s dream still a dream
Land distributed by Empires
Haciendas and Latifundias a reality
Control and pleasure of few mighty.

Fear kept mind
in chains and locks
voice rendered under status qou
Attempts often through brave surrenders

For half a thousand years
Colonial powers creates chain reactions
“Goodwill and Peace”
Slogans of next thousand years

Writers blushed in Pablo Neruda
Revolutionary excelled in Che Guevara
Radicals triumphed in Fidel Castro
Such colorful is Latin America.

Sebastian Rodrigues