There is nothing I can do but search for love

...closing words from a survivor of the Rwanda genocide, in the video Icyizere : Hope from the African Great Lakes Initiative of Friends Peace Teams:

AGLI workshops on Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities (HROC) take 10 people from one side of a conflict and 10 people from the other side for intensive encounters lasting three days, seeking something good in every person, a radical notion where neighbors and even family members have committed gruesome act. In Rwanda, this means Tutsi survivors of the genocide and the families of the Hutu perpetrators of the genocide. AGLI is now working in Burundi, Congo, and Kenya.

“Sense of Safety” is the first stage. It is common for participants to be wary of attending workshops fearing they might be a trap where they will be attacked, sent back to prison, or killed. Through experiential activities and cooperative exercises, participants begin to relax.

The second stage is “Remembrance and Mourning.” There are two Rwandan proverbs that emphasize the importance of speaking out about one’s pain: “The family that does not talk, dies” and “The man who is sick must tell the whole world.” Traditionally Rwandans and Burundians talk about their losses and talk through their grief with family and neighbors. Broken trust and dismantled families have impeded that intuitive process of healing, but it is widely accepted in the cultures here as an important step in the journey toward healing.

In the workshops a forum is created for participants to pay tribute to their losses and to share their grief with others. This process helps to humanize the “other” thereby laying the foundation for the third and final stage, “Reconnection.”

See also: the origin of Alternative to Violence (AVP) in prison work in the USA and Canada. "Peace cannot stay in small places", the story of its application by Friends in Rwanda since 1999. "Now, I am Human" testimonies from Rwanda and Burundi.
Andrew Petersen's blog about environmental and peace work in Burundi, All Quiet on the Quaker Front. David Zarembka's Kenya Update and previous Kenya posts tagged in this blog.

¡Una esperanza para el futuro! Manifiesto climático interconfesional Upsala 2008

Click here/cliquez pour français, or for English, Swedish, German, Arabic versions of this Uppsala Interfaith Manifesto on Climate Change. See also UNFCCC, Greenhouse Development Rights. En noviembre 2008 se expresan en Upsala, Suecia diferentes tradiciones de fe sobre el Calentamiento Global: Como liderezas y líderes religiosos de todo el mundo... hacemos un llamamiento en pos de un liderazgo y un accionar eficaces frente a la amenaza climática global.

Desde las tradiciones religiosas de las que provenimos, con sus distintos enfoques sobre las expresiones de fe en la vida, unimos nuestras voces en este momento de la historia de la humanidad para reafirmar ante el mundo lo que tenemos en común. Los y las presentes compartimos una misma responsabilidad en tanto que administradores conscientes de nuestro hogar, el planeta Tierra. Hemos reflexionado acerca de la preocupación de los científicos y líderes políticos respecto a la alarmante crisis climática que vivimos y compartimos con ellos esa preocupación.

Las religiones del mundo son promotoras para cambios en los estilos de vida y cambios en los modelos de consumo. En una gran parte de la humanidad, la fe sigue siendo una fuerza poderosa para promover el bien. Emprendemos esta misión con un espíritu de responsabilidad y fe.
Del asombro al cambio

Contemplamos la vida en el planeta Tierra con una sensación de asombro. Es un milagro. Y también un don. Las noches claras con un cielo repleto de estrellas nos llenan de estremecimiento y nos recuerdan nuestro papel dentro del universo. Nos sobran motivos para ser humildes. Meditar a la orilla del mar, en el desierto o en el bosque nos permite sentirnos en comunión con el universo, pese a nuestra pequeñez. Las tradiciones de fe, con sus diversas culturas y antecedentes, convergen para expresar su asombro y estremecimiento ante el don de la vida.

A lo largo de la historia de la Tierra, ha habido siempre cambios climáticos. Sin embargo, nos preocupa sobremanera el enorme impacto del ser humano sobre el extremadamente complejo y sensible sistema climático del planeta. Actualmente, la humanidad constituye una fuerza determinante en la alteración de las condiciones de vida y bienestar de la mayoría de las criaturas del planeta. Sabemos lo suficiente como para comprender que hemos de actuar ya por el bien de las futuras generaciones. Se trata de una situación crítica. Los glaciares y los hielos eternos se están derritiendo.

Devastadoras sequías e inundaciones azotan a personas y ecosistemas, particularmente en el Sur.

¿Se puede sanar al planeta Tierra? Estamos convencidos y convencidas de que la respuesta a esa pregunta es afirmativa. Para esto se precisa de sustanciales transformaciones en la comprensión de la vida humana, los estilos de vida, los modelos de trabajo, la economía, el comercio y la tecnología. La ética y los valores son intrínsecos al desarrollo de nuevas estructuras institucionales y a la elaboración de políticas y sistemas financieros. En el ámbito religioso, una visión a largo plazo siempre ha sido importante. Más que nunca, el mundo necesita hoy de un extraordinario liderazgo político con una clara visión a largo plazo.

Nuestra apelación en favor del proceso de copenhague

En lo que respecta a la Tierra, la salvación va más allá de nuevas tecnologías y de una economía verde. La salvación del planeta depende de la vida interior de los seres humanos. Una vida sin esperanza va en detrimento de la existencia humana. Los pueblos de este hermosísimo y valioso planeta necesitan dialogar sobre lo que significa vivir juntos, teniendo empatía global dentro de la aldea global. En este empeño las religiones pueden contribuir de manera decisiva.

En cuanto representantes de religiones universales, instamos a gobiernos y organismos internacionales a la preparación y consensuación de una exhaustiva estrategia climática para el Acuerdo de Copenhague. Dicha estrategia ha de ser lo suficientemente ambiciosa como para contener el cambio climático por debajo de los 2° Celsius y distribuir la carga de un modo equitativo, conforme a los principios de responsabilidad común pero diferenciada y en función de las distintas capacidades. El marco GDR (Greenhouse Development Rights) propone un modelo concreto para la repartición de este esfuerzo. Llamamos a todos los actores implicados a buscar herramientas políticamente aceptables para llevar a cabo esta tarea.

El Acuerdo de Copenhague debe contrarrestar el mal uso de tierras, bosques y cultivos, recurriendo a incentivos dirigidos a propietarios de tierras, usuarios y comunidades indígenas para fomentar los bosques en crecimiento y la disminución de la producción de carbón.
Solicitamos a los líderes políticos del mundo:

• Un recorte acelerado y sustancial de las emisiones en el mundo rico. Los países desarrollados, especialmente en Europa y América del Norte, deben mostrar el camino. Estos deben reducir su contaminación ambiental con respecto a los niveles de 1990 en al menos un 40% para 2020 y en un 90% para 2050.
• Compromisos por parte del mundo rico más allá de sus obligaciones nacionales. De acuerdo a los principios de responsabilidad y capacidad, algunos países deberán financiar la reducción de la contaminación internacional además de sus propias iniciativas nacionales. Dicho financiamiento ha de ser obligatorio, no voluntario.
• Acciones paliativas medibles, verificables y notificables de los países en desarrollo, en particular de los países con economías en rápida expansión.
• Transferencia y puesta en común masiva de tecnologías relevantes. Todos los países deben estimular y facilitar la puesta en común de tecnología de importancia intrínseca en la reducción de la contaminación ambiental. Los países en desarrollo deben proveer a sus habitantes de oportunidades viables y tecnológicamente responsables para esta reducción.
• Incentivos económicos para los países en desarrollo con el fin de fomentar un desarrollo más limpio en el ámbito nacional.
• Adaptación al cambio climático. Según estos mismos principios de responsabilidad y capacidad, los países deben velar por la potenciación y apoyo de las comunidades más desfavorecidas y vulnerables. La adaptación al cambio climático no debe fracasar por escasez de dinero u otros recursos.

Humildad, resposabilidad… ¡y esperanza!

Instamos a los líderes políticos y religiosos a asumir con urgencia su responsabilidad sobre el futuro de nuestro planeta, sobre las condiciones de vida y sobre la preservación del hábitat de las nuevas generaciones. Pueden confiar en este afán con el respaldo y cooperación de las tradiciones de fe del mundo. La crisis climática es un asunto espiritual fundamental para la supervivencia de la especie humana en el planeta Tierra. Al mismo tiempo, sabemos que el mundo nunca antes ha sido tan capaz de generar un desarrollo sostenible. La humanidad posee el conocimiento y la tecnología necesarios. Además, el compromiso popular en hacer todo lo posible y necesario está creciendo.

Estamos llamados a revisar valores, filosofías, creencias y conceptos morales que han determinado e impulsado nuestro comportamiento y configurado nuestra relación disfuncional con el entorno natural.

Nos comprometemos a asumir y compartir responsabilidades a la hora de proveer un liderazgo moral dentro de nuestras distintas tradiciones de fe y a todas las personas que así lo deseen. Hacemos un llamamiento a todas las personas con poder para modelar intelectos y espíritus, a que se involucren en una profunda reorientación de la comprensión que la humanidad tiene tanto de sí misma así como del mundo. De esta manera remarcamos nuestro distanciamiento respecto a esta comprensión y afirmamos el propósito de vivir en armonía mutua y con la naturaleza.

Ofrecemos el don de nuestras distintas profesiones de fe como fuente de impulso en el desarrollo de modelos de consumo y estilos de vida sostenibles. Acometemos esta misión con un espíritu de humildad, responsabilidad, fe y urgencia.

Ha llegado el momento de movilizar a los pueblos y naciones.

En tanto que personas de distintas creencias, adoptamos los siguientes compromisos:
• Informar e inspirar a las personas inmersas en nuestros contextos religiosos y culturales para que asuman su responsabilidad e implementen medidas eficaces
• Instar a líderes políticos y empresariales de nuestro entorno vital y laboral a que desarrollen estrategias y acciones integrales
• Hacer hincapié en la lucha contra el calentamiento global y esgrimir nuestras convicciones religiosas más íntimas sobre el sentido de la vida. Este compromiso es un asunto profundamente espiritual y que está relacionado con la justicia, la paz y la esperanza en un futuro de amor y solidaridad con todos los seres humanos y con toda la creación.

En tanto que líderes y liderezas religiosos, deseamos contrarrestar la cultura del miedo con una cultura de la esperanza. Nos proponernos hacer frente al reto climático con un optimismo desafiante y enfatizando los principios esenciales de todas las grandes tradiciones sacras del mundo: justicia, solidaridad y compasión. Queremos impulsar el mejor de los liderazgos científicos y políticos. Comprometemos a nuestras comunidades a albergar un espíritu de alegría y esperanza en relación al mayor regalo que hemos recibido: ¡el don de la vida!

Blogue du FSM à Belém: news from the World Social Forum

WSF 2005: courtesy Friends of the EarthLe blogue bilingue de plusieurs québécois au FSM se trouve à UNI-alter. Voir aussi Le Devoir du 27 janvier, et les rapports quotidiens 21-31 janvier 2009 des délégués du ROJeP. Alternatives.ca 6 fév 09 rapporte en français and in English.

The English below is freely translated from an op-ed by the Quebec delegates, published in Le Devoir 27 Jan 2009, as the forum opened in Belém, Brazil. For more reports in English, see the Theology and Liberation website, WFTL history, 2009 themes and papers, John Wilde's blog. For the WSF that followed, see World Social Forum site, Cy Gonick's and Ben Powless' blogs, Terraviva, Food First, World Council of Churches reports and photos. WSFtv.net videos.

WSF Declaration of Principles (excerpt):

The World Social Forum is an open meeting place for reflective thinking, democratic debate of ideas, formulation of proposals, free exchange of experiences and interlinking for effective action, by groups and movements of civil society that are opposed to neoliberalism and to domination of the world by capital and any form of imperialism, and are committed to building a planetary society directed towards fruitful relationships among Humankind and between it and the Earth.

Quebec delegates at Belém:

The first WSF held at Porto Alegre in January 2001 developed a vision of a different world, seeking sustainable and humane solutions to world problems in proposals by an astonishing variety of social movements, NGOs and grassroots groups -- an alternative to the world's numerous problems of poverty, pollution, pillage and privilege.

In the next few years literally hundreds of social forums have been held across Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas. They range in size from thousands to 100 or so, from global to city or neighborhood. In 2007 there was a nationwide US gathering in Atlanta; another in Montréal 5,000 strong, as well as regional forums in Chicoutimi and the Outauais. Planning this year is for a North American forum, and a second round of the Quebec SF.

The forums' primary goal is to reinforce ties between citizen movements (e.g. peace marches, rights for women, First Nations, migrant workers, and corporate social responsibility), to share social innovations (economic solidarity, co-ops, fair trade networks), to encourage popular education and citizen participation, and to show alternatives to the consumerist way of life. These forums are the seed bed of a renewed political culture -- plural, participative and inclusive.

They began as a reaction to the market fundamentalism of the Washington consensus, presented by our elites and media as the only choice possible. Economic rationalism. Lucidity. Common sense. Privatization. Deficit reduction in the First World. Structural adjustment programs in the Third World. There was no alternative. Democracy did not enter into it. The WSF slogan, “another world is possible” broke out of this mental straitjacket, liberating human hopes and popular initiatives, allowing a new creativity beyond the stale theorems of mainstream economics.

Recent events have confirmed the critics of neoliberalism. A series of social economic and financial crises which began in the global South in the 1980s, continued in the North with the bursting of one speculative bubble after another (dot.com, Enron and fossil fuels, slice-and and-dice derivatives, mortgage crisis) to the point that we are now seeing the fall of automobile and communications giants, banks, pension funds, and a longterm worldwide depression.

Must we continue down the same path of extreme consumerism and individualism? Is maximization of profits the sole rule of life? Are they compatible with sustainable development, an economy of relation between generations, between races, between all living things? How can we develop local economies, global solidarity and equity? These are some of the questions being asked at the Belém SF.

The social forums listen to the voices of groups and and movements that are often fighting for community survival, those off the radar of the political class and the media -- such as our own aboriginal people, migrant workers, and homeless, those forced to seek nourishment in soup kitchens and food banks. For this reason, the 2009 WSF puts indigenous people, especially those of the Amazon region, in the limelight.

Giving voice and recognition to the voiceless must also mean listening, opening dialogue, and working together to transform our society. It means taking responsibility for social solidarity, an awakening of civic conscience, because each of us is a member of society, a community, and a neighborhood. Social justice must be built one day at a time.

Meanwhile, things are changing fast around us. While we try to restart the engines of civic responsibility at home, there are new hopes in the South. A number of Latin American peoples have just chosen governments committed to popular democracy, economic and social transformation – Lula in Brazil, Hugo Chavez' Bolivarean revolution in Venezuela, Evo Morales in Bolivia, Correa in Ecuador.... an inspiration to us in the North.

They assert the right of the people to control their own natural resources and development. The multiple economic crises show that another world is not only possible but necessary -- nay, inevitable. And the reconstruction of the North will depend on our ability to change our governments, and nurture the participative political culture, following trails first blazed by the social forums.

-- by Professors Raphaël Canet, U d'Ottawa; Dominique Caouette, U de Montréal, Marie-Josée Massicotte, U d'Ottawa; Caterina Milani, Y du Québec International coordinator.

Aboriginal rights: the right to be consulted, and Canada's broken promises

photo: Barriere Lake arrest Nov 2008.
Canadian governments have been engaged in a decade-long sabotage of aboriginal rights, land claims, and equity in health, education and social services for native people. Deliberately allowed to die were fully-researched recommendations by the 1996 Royal Commission, and the Kelowna Accord so painfully negotiated with First Nations in 2005. The RC urged a new deal to replace the obsolete Indian Act because

• Canada's claim to be a fair and enlightened society requires it.
• The life chances of aboriginal people, which are still shamefully low, must be improved.
• Negotiation under current rules has failed to settle grievances.

At the UN, Liberal and Conservative governments voted against the aboriginal rights Declaration, contradicting the principle enshrined in Canada's 1982 Constitution Act. In 2005 an Army counterinsurgency manual called the Mohawk Warrior Society (first active at Oka) a terrorist group, although the label was withdrawn after a national outcry. Copying the Bush administration's gutting of the EPA, the Harper government has just announced plans to abolish environmental hearings for “small” (under $10 million) infrastructure projects.

Canadian governments remain committed to a white-colonialist policy which violates the rights and sacred places of First Nations who have lived in the land immemorially, overrides them in the name of economic “development” and invokes the full force of the law to support the religion of profit (at any cost to natives, their culture and their land) against any who protest. A few examples: the 1990 Oka Crisis, the Lubicon, airwar ranges in Nitassinan and Cold Lake (now opened for nickel and tarsands mining respectively), the Ipperwash murder, the Burnt Church claim, Gustafsen Lake, the Cayuga landfill, Caledonia, the Sea to Sky protest, Sharbot Lake, the KI 6, and Barriere Lake. In the four most recent, elders have been jailed, and one has died in jail. Their crime? To ask that their people be consulted before development begins.

Still unresolved and about to erupt again is the Oka/Kanehsatake crisis -- due not to a lack, but to political will to void the right to consultation. We reproduce in full two letters from the Mohawk negotiator (a role traditionally given to clan mothers) with explanatory links:

December 15, 2008 From: Ellen Gabriel [speaking for] Kanehsatà:ke Mohawk Territory To: the Municipalité d’Oka. Government of Canada, Government of Quebec, and Mohawk Council of Kanesatake Re: S-24, Niocan [uranium] mine, Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Shé:kon [Peace] It has been 5 months since I wrote my last letter regarding the continued development upon the lands of the Kanien’kehá:ka [Mohawk] in Kanehsatà:ke also known as “Oka”. I am disappointed that I have not heard a single response from any level of government; municipal, provincial or federal. Your silence speaks volumes of racism, discrimination and lack of respect. I am one of many Kanien’kehá:ka citizens with the opinion conveyed to you all. As you are all aware the whole issue during the “Oka Crisis of 1990” was the undermining of the authority of our traditional government the Iroquois Confederacy and our custodianship over our lands and its resources. Eighteen years later we are still at the same juncture as development continues upon Kanien’kehá:ka land without the consent of the Haudenosaunee [Longhouse people] who are the titleholders of this land. I would also like to address the issue of S-24 [the Kanesatake Interim Land Base Governance Act] and remind you that it was agreed upon by only a few individuals from Kanehsatà:ke and that the majority of community members do not agree with it. In fact most community members were not even aware of its passing in Parliament. Furthermore, this bill was not even brought to the Haudenosaunee to be discussed and therefore must be considered as invalid. There is also the issue of both levels of government, Quebec and Canada in granting Niocan the right to mine uranium on our territory. This in spite of the fact that all those who live in this area, including the non-Aboriginal population do not want this development to occur. In Kanehsatà:ke, many of us still have well water sources for our daily use and this development will contaminate it. We do not believe assurances by Niocan that the current method of mining uranium is “safe” and “environmentally friendly”. While Niocan conducted numerous consultations in this region the citizens of Pointe Calumet, St. Joseph, Kanehsatà:ke/Oka are still opposed to this development as they were not convinced that this would not adversely affect their health, contaminate the land and our drinking water. Supposedly, nuclear energy does not contribute to the level of greenhouse gas emissions but its waste is a threat to the health and well-being of the environment, this current generation and future generations. Current research only provides hypothetical estimates that the proposed storage and burial of uranium will not endanger the planet and its inhabitants 100,000 years from now. The Government of Canada must find alternatives to nuclear energy and stop its current practice of permitting the mining of uranium. While the Government of Canada refused to support the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Parliament passed a resolution on April 8th of this year directing the present government to do so. The Government of Canada has a duty to consult in good faith and not just to go through the motions of consultation. If we are to believe the June 11th apology for the Residential School experience then the current relationship we have with all levels of government must change. Canada’s current relationship with Aboriginal peoples continues to deteriorate with each passing year. One of the key factors that continues to contribute to this deterioration is the Indian Act. It is an archaic form of control over Indigenous peoples, our lands and our resources. It undermines our ability to care for Mother Earth as custodians of the land so that future generations may not only inherit a sustainable environment, but live in peace with Canadians as was the goal set out by the Two Row Wampum treaty. Consequently I am requesting that a moratorium be placed upon Niocan’s permit to mine on Kanien’kehá:ka territory and that any form of development by the Municipality of Oka also be halted. I would also like an answer to my concerns from both my letters along with an opportunity for your representatives to sit with the Longhouse people so that we may continue these discussions in person. Respectfully, Ellen Gabriel Cc: Her Excellency Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada Chief Alan McNaughton, Iroquois Confederacy Anita Neville, Liberal Party Marc Lemay, Bloq Québecois Jean Crowder, NDP Bev Jacobs, NWAC Phil Fontaine, AFN Various Media outlets

June 6, 2008 From: Ellen Gabriel, P.O. Box 4056, Kanehsatà:ke Mohawk Territory, J0N 1E0 To: Municipality of Oka – Municipalité d’Oka, Oka Town Council – Mayor Patry, la Mairie, au 183, rue des Anges, Oka – Kanehsatà:ke, QC J0N 1E0 Re: Building of Garage near Oka Park and Housing Developments As you are aware, on September 13, 2008, the United Nations sanctioned the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) obligating states such as Canada to respect the rights of Indigenous peoples. Specifically, please refer to UNDRIP Articles 26, 27, 28, 29 and most importantly, article 32 which will bring to your attention the position at hand: Article 26 1. Indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired. 2. Indigenous peoples have the right to own, use, develop and control the lands, territories and resources that they possess by reason of traditional ownership or other traditional occupation or use, as well as those which they have otherwise acquired. 3. States shall give legal recognition and protection to these lands, territories and resources. Such recognition shall be conducted with due respect to the customs, traditions and land tenure systems of the indigenous peoples concerned. Article 28 1. Indigenous peoples have the right to redress, by means that can include restitution or, when this is not possible, just, fair and equitable compensation, for the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned or otherwise occupied or used, and which have been confiscated, taken, occupied, used or damaged without their free, prior and informed consent. 2. Unless otherwise freely agreed upon by the peoples concerned, compensation shall take the form of lands, territories and resources equal in quality, size and legal status or of monetary compensation or other appropriate redress. Article 27 States shall establish and implement, in conjunction with indigenous peoples concerned, a fair, independent, impartial, open and transparent process, giving due recognition to indigenous peoples’ laws, traditions, customs and land tenure systems, to recognize and adjudicate the rights of indigenous peoples pertaining to their lands, territories and resources, including those which were traditionally owned or otherwise occupied or used. Indigenous peoples shall have the right to participate in this process. Article 29 1. Indigenous peoples have the right to the conservation and protection of the environment and the productive capacity of their lands or territories and resources. States shall establish and implement assistance programmes for indigenous peoples for such conservation and protection, without discrimination. Article 32 1. Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for the development or use of their lands or territories and other resources. 2. States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral, water or other resources. 3. States shall provide effective mechanisms for just and fair redress for any such activities, and appropriate measures shall be taken to mitigate adverse environmental, economic, social, cultural or spiritual impact. These UN-sanctioned articles protect the further erosion of our rights to our land and territories and duly emphasize that there is a responsibility to consult with Indigenous peoples before any kind of development is conceptualized . To date, a garage has been built adjacent to the Sureté du Québec office and there is development at the Oka Inn. Furthermore, unjustifiably, the excavation of the basement at the Oka Inn has [uncovered] bones of our ancestors, the Mohawks of Kanehsatà:ke, once a burial ground for our people. All the land where development is taking place including the housing projects are situated on lands that have been under dispute for the last 300 years. Under Canadian law your council has a responsibility to consult with the Mohawks of Kanehsatà:ke. Your disregard for the international rights of the Kanienkehá:ka – Mohawk people is in clear violation of the UNDRIP article 19. Article 19 States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them. On April 8th, 2008, Parliament passed a resolution for Canada to support and implement the UNDRIP. It is understood through such conventions that a level of sincere and honest reconciliation in the relationship between Indigenous Peoples and State would be inculcated. For hundreds of years there has been a strain on the relationship between Kanienkehá:ka and the Quebecois - who were brought to live on our Territory. This strain has become even stronger since the “Oka Crisis” and such actions as development without consent of the Kanienkehá:ka continues to uphold that strain. I reiterate to the Municipalité d’Oka that it is the Longhouse people who have the legitimate and international right to such lands which you fraudulently claim as belonging to Oka or its parish. While I cannot claim to represent the nation of the Kanienkehá:ka – Mohawk people, as a citizen and Turtle Clan woman of my nation, I am reiterating what previous generations of the Mohawk nation have informed the Municipalité d’Oka and the Canadian Government which is that you cannot take nor lay claim to anymore of our land. As a Kanienkehá:ka I can no longer wait for politicians to act or wait for the divisions within my community to be healed. The Municipality of Oka has been put on notice many times over the last few decades for their fraudulent claim to the territory of the Kanienkehá:ka. How many more times do we have to restate the fact to you before you understand that you do not have the right to take by force or take through fraudulent legislation, land belonging to the Kanienkehá:ka of Kanehsatá:ke. I request that a moratorium be invoked on any further development and that an environmental assessment be undertaken. You do not have the right to provide permits to any housing developments like the Colline d’Oka and other companies that are vying for land interest in what is known as Oka but which is in fact, Kanehsatà:ke Mohawk Territory. Sincerely, Ellen Gabriel Cc: Her Excellency Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada Ministre Benoit Pelletier, Sécretariat des affaires Indien Minister Chuck Strahl, Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Anita Neville, Aboriginal Affairs critic, Liberal Party of Canada Jean Crowder, Aboriginal Affairs critic, NDP Marc Lemay, Aboriginal Affairs critic, Bloc Québecois Steven Bonspille, Mohawk Council of Kanesatake Geoffrey Kelley, member for Jacques Cartier, Liberal Party of Québec Chief Alan McNaughton, Turtle clan traditional chief

Those unfamiliar with the deep roots of these native claims should see NFB videos by Alanis Obomsawin, Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993), Rocks at Whiskey Trench (2000), Is the Crown at War With Us? (Burnt Church, 2002); and Christine Welsh, Keepers of the Fire (1994) on the role of Mohawk women at Oka.

See also previous posts tagged native in this blog; Canadian interchurch Kairos; the NGOs Survival International, Cultural Survival, Tebtebba - its Guide on Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples (2008) and its links. More indigenous organizations are listed in Wikipedia and WiserEarth.

On M.L.King day, "a stone of hope" - notes of a native daughter, by Elizabeth Ayres

Often, in the journal that is my heart, the only entry is a note about how the sun looked on the Chesapeake Bay that day. If it sparkled. If it spread across the surface like a sheet of silver silk. If it disappeared altogether into heavy leaden swells.

Other days are more eventful. Everything that’s ever happened to me is there, in the journal that is my heart, even the things I would like to erase because they cause more hurt than I want to endure, or because they fill me with a sharp and bitter anger, or because they prove I am not nearly as good a person as I’d like to believe myself to be and hence, make me ashamed.

Artists's conception of the Chesapeake crash © Virginian Pilot in A.C.Charania's blog; see also USGS: Chesapeake meteorite.

Last year I discovered something that warranted a long entry in my journal. The Chesapeake Bay has a hole in it. Some 35 million years ago, a giant meteorite crashed to earth, gouging a deep crater in the ocean floor. Millions of tons of water, sediment and shattered rock spewed into the air for hundreds of miles along the east coast, and the resulting tsunami may have overtopped the Blue Ridge mountains.

The hole has filled in over the aeons, of course. Until 1983, no one even suspected its existence, because the crater – twice the size of Rhode Island and nearly as deep as the Grand Canyon – is buried 300 to 500 meters beneath the lower Bay and its surrounding peninsulas. Acknowledged or not, the chasm makes its presence felt. Continual slumping of rubble within it affects the course of rivers. Groundwater is easily contaminated by subsurface salt. All four major earthquakes in the region were near or inside the trace of the crater rim.

Last year I made another long entry in the journal that is my heart. An African-American was elected president of the United States. His inauguration is January 20th, which, this year, follows the day our nation celebrates the birthday of another African-American whose dream has been inscribed in the journal that is the American heart.

I’ve been re-reading Martin Luther King’s touchstone speech. I’ve also been re-reading James Baldwin’s Notes of a Native Son. And I’ve been thinking about that hole underneath the Chesapeake Bay. After the meteor struck, the sea floor around the crater became a dead zone for some 3,000 years. King and Baldwin both describe the dead zone created by slavery: segregation, discrimination, oppression, injustice. The burden of shame shouldered by generation after generation of white Americans. The loneliness endured by generation after generation of black Americans, exiles in their own land. Everyone scrabbling for so long in the hard soil of mutual fear.

These things are penned in the journals of all our hearts, we cannot erase them, but we can turn the page now and start something new. I have on my desk an announcement from the Calvert Gazette, dated June 21, 1919. It says that “the colored voters of Calvert County” -- one of the three counties that comprise Southern Maryland -- have taken stock of “the very valuable part they had taken in the war” and think themselves “entitled to some political recognition.” Consequently, “they decided to endeavor to put a colored man on the ticket this fall.” Political recognition of value and entitlement. An affirmation of equality. This inauguration is that, and more. It is, if you will, proof that life has been fully restored after a devastating impact event.

America will always be affected by her slave-owning past, just as she will always be shaped by the destruction of her indigenous culture. Forever we will be subject to slumpings of a particular kind of rubble, to unique subsurface tensions, to fault lines that invite inexorable seismic disturbances, these are our collective heritage. But something else is ours as well, yes? Something we’ve inherited as a people? It is the capacity to transform our weaknesses into strengths.

Martin Luther King prophesied that one day we would “hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.” Barack Obama insisted, “Yes, we can.” Whatever shape the stone of hope takes, I am glad I’m one of 300 million Americans carving it.

The poor of the earth - Nina Simone

Her song "Aint got no...I've got life" celebrates the pride of the poor.

Ain't got no home, ain't got no shoes
Ain't got no money, ain't got no class
Ain't got no friends, ain't got no schoolin'
Ain't got no work, ain't got no job
Ain't got no money, no place to stay...

Ain't got no father, ain't got no mother
Ain't got no children, ain't got no sisters or brothers
Ain't got no earth, no faith, no touch, no God,
Ain't got no love...

Ain't got no wine, ain't got no cigarettes...
Ain't got no earth... no water... no food... no home,
Ain't got no clothes, no job, no nothin'...
And I ain't got no love...

And what have I got?
What have I got that nobody can take away?

I got my hair, on my head, my brains, and my ears
My eyes, my nose, and my mouth,
I got my smile

I got my tongue, my chin, my neck, my boobies
My heart, my soul and my back
I got my sex

I got my arms, my hands, my fingers,
My legs, my feet, my toes, and my liver
I got my blood.

I've got life...
I've got headaches and toothaches and bad times too like you...

I've got life -- I've got my freedom and my heart -- I've got life!
*****
For her variations on these lyrics see LyricsMode and Nina Simone Web. See also Nina Simone's life in Wikipedia.

En el tercero mundo la crisis no es nueva - Adriano González, UNICEF

Nicaragua: foto por Teresa Tomassoni, Friends World Program, Long Island University entrevista hecha por El Periódico de Guatemala al Representente de UNICEF Adriano González:

¿Cómo vislumbra la situación económica del país? – ...en todo el mundo, la gente sufrirá crisis por la pérdida de empleos. En estos casos es cuando la niñez es la que más sufre. En Guatemala, la mitad de los niños sufre de desnutrición crónica, por eso son más pequeñitos de lo que deberían ser y esto también redunda en la pérdida de la capacidad intelectual. Un impacto de la crisis económica sería espantoso. Guatemala es el cuarto país del mundo y el primero de América Latina con desnutrición crónica.

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¿Se prevé entonces un futuro sombrío? – El Gobierno ha dado pasos importantes como la educación gratuita, pero si las familias necesitan más recursos puede haber necesidad de sacar a los niños y a las niñas de la escuela para que ayuden a sus familias. Esto puede llevar a un aumento de trabajos peligrosos, pornografía y prostitución infantil.

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¿Se perciben ya los efectos? – Ya se observa un aumento de migración de adolescentes de forma interna. Las remesas también están bajando. Los países que recibían migrantes favorecen a sus conciudadanos. Se come menos al día y el perfil de lo que comen también cambió. Las tortillas cada vez son más pequeñas. Incluyen menos proteínas en su dieta.Tenemos otro probema, que ante la falta de oportunidades de empleos para jóvenes y adolescentes, ciertos comportamientos delictivos puedan parecerles rentables. Se percibe que la crisis afecta más al medio urbano desfavorecido.

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¿Qué acciones se deben implementar? – Hay planes nacionales como el de la estrategia nacional para combatir la desnutrición crónica, que deberá ser financiado de manera suficiente. Hay que crear una red para proteger a los menores. Estamos organizando con el INE un sistema de estadística y monitoreo para ver qué impacto se tiene.

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¿Es suficiente el presupuesto? – En algunos aspectos ha aumentado algo en términos absolutos en sectores de educación y salud.

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¿Qué sector es el más afectado? – La percepción de la crisis es más fuerte en el medio urbano desfavorecido. El Programa Mundial de Alimentos detectó que hay más nuevos pobres en sectores de clase media a zona de pobreza, y zona de pobreza absoluta aproximadamente 1 millón 200 mil personas. Esto puede ir cambiando, son mediciones basadas en los ingresos de la gente. Sin embargo, en el casco urbano hay poca ayuda– Se han dado pasos muy importantes como los comedores solidarios. Se deben incrementar los recursos para programas como este.

*****

Ver tambien UNICEF Voices of youth, Red Regional de Adolescentes Comunicadores (LACVOX) y mensajes de otros países en español; in English, Latin America / Caribbean youth network LACVOX and other life stories, Tulane University study Street Children in Guatemala.

Conscientiously Objecting or, Why I’m An Activist - by Maggie Knight

(Reprinted from from CYM-YF Sporadical fall 2008.)
photo: Canadian Young Friends To me being a Quaker has always been about acting according to my conscience. I didn’t grow up in a Bible tradition, although some of my family is Christian, and I couldn’t tell you all about the life of George Fox. Rather, I appreciate the silent worship and the opportunity it gives me to frequently re-evaluate where I am going with my life and whether that direction is in line with my conscience. I appreciate being part of a community that can acknowledge that different people have different, but equally valid, truths, and doing business in a worshipful way where Friends (ideally) set aside their personal opinions for a more spiritual sense of what is right for the group. I appreciate the traditions of speaking truth to power and of sticking to principles.

As I was starting my last year of high school, I found myself needing to write and talk about why I do the things I do — environmental and social justice activism, among others — in various scholarship essays. I found myself struggling for answers. “Because I care” just begs another “why?” and “because action is the best way of pushing back despair for the fate of our planet” seems cynical and melodramatic.

A couple years later, I am still finding it difficult to find the right words. But I think it comes down to a matter of conscience. Having spent my life growing up next to a breathtakingly beautiful ocean, witnessing it in all moods in all kinds of sunlight and moonlight, how can I not care about protecting all that is beautiful—dare I say sacred?—in our natural world? Having been lucky enough to have an education that has made me aware of issues of poverty, violence, and marginalization in Canada and abroad, how can I just sit back and do nothing? Having been blessed with abilities to write and speak and act, how can I not use them?

It seems that people do nothing for one of four reasons: because they aren’t aware, because they are too busy meeting day-to-day needs towork on a larger scale, because the magnitude of the world’s problems scares them back into apathy, or because they genuinely can’t be bothered to lend a hand and don’t see why they should. The more I talk to people the more I find that many people pretending to be in the last category are really in the third. I want to ask them why? What is so hard about admitting you care? Why is it scary to take little steps even if they won’t save the world by themselves? What is so hard about asking who made your clothes or how far away your food was grown or why the government won’t honour an agreement? Do we really care about conforming to society that much? Is it all about seeming “normal”?

Nobody is normal. Normal is just a statistic, an average, a cardboard cut-out. Normal has no depth and no concept of the past or the future. So why not make the ways you stand out be the ways your conscience says you should? As a Quaker I understand that my truth may be different from yours, so I’m not trying to be preachy. But if somewhere in your conscience there’s a prick that says you should or could be doing more, listen to it. It’s way more fun to do the things you’re passionate about, connect with other excited and passionate people, and see new people get a new appreciation for an issue, project,or event, than it is to go through the motions and hope you fit into the crowd.

Speak truth to power, whether that power is your best friend, your mother, your MP, your doctor, your school, your community, your government. Be nice, but be firm. It’s your truth, and maybe not theirs. Listen to their truths, and speak yours.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead

*****

See also FGC Quaker Youth blog, Australia YM blog Quaker Voices in the 21st Century, its YF wiki, Ottawa Valley Gathering's Culture of Peace wiki, Facebook Quakers group and previous posts tagged "networking".

For other groups, both Quaker and non-Quaker, see Wiser Earth, Taking IT global.

The ubuntu economy - by the World Council of Churches

photo: a Millenium Villages project Ubuntu is an age-old African word meaning humaneness, respect, generosity, caring, sharing and harmony with all creation. As an ideal it promotes cooperation between individuals, cultures and nations. The English terms "commonwealth" or "right sharing" cover some but not all of its meanings. The Zulu proverb umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu translates as "we become a person through persons," or more deeply, "I am because we are".

Extract from section 8, WCC Synthesis of Discussions 25-26 June 2007 in Geneva, Switzerland:

"The ubuntu economy does not promote private ownership; everyone in the community has access to resources according to his/her needs. It is an economy of "enough". In addition to relationality (which is in line with feminist ethical thought), redistribution of resources and restoration are very much part of the ubuntu economy.

"While the neoliberal market economy is based on principles of self-interest and competition, the ubuntu economy is based on cooperation and solidarity... does not define wealth solely in terms of income. It is imbedded in relationships among and between peoples and the earth. More specifically, it advances a non-utilitarian connection with the earth.

"...the ubuntu economy is not the same as communism and socialism. For one, it is not a state-imposed or legislated way of living. Rather, it is more of a consciousness of how one's way of living affects others.

"In more practical terms, ubuntu is manifested in the community-based social security systems that still thrive in African villages. Without these systems, African people would not have been able to function and survive wars, famines and other natural disasters, the economic hardships accompanying structural adjustment imposed by international financial institutions, and the HIV-AIDs pandemic, among others. However, current government reforms – based on Western enlightenment and neoliberal economic thought – are increasingly undermining these community-based social security systems.

"Notions of ubuntu are present not just in the continent of Africa, but in many traditional and indigenous communities and in other societies (including in the West). These expressions, however, have been weakened, resulting in today's clear and pressing challenges: rising inequality and massive ecological destruction.

"A major limitation of the ubuntu economy is its present confinement to the micro level. Important questions arise: how do we translate ubuntu principles into macro structures, e.g. global trade and financial systems? How can we prevent the abuse of power especially at this level (e.g. in light of the Eastern European socialist experience and also from an ecological vantage)? How do we elaborate the concept of ubuntu given new developments in the international arena, e.g. emerging South-South relationships? In short, how can we be more innovative?

"As churches, one of our key tasks is to find the signs of hope, and these are usually at the micro level. We must continue to raise and communicate these peoples' stories."
*****
See also Ubuntu philosophy in Wikipedia and in an article by Dirk J. Louw; work of the youth group Ubuntu in Soweto-Thokoza, South Africa, involving green jobs, ecotourism and community gardens; the UN Millenium Villages Project started in 2004 by economist Jeffrey Sachs and now active in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda, combining aid, food, healthcare, education, earthcare, and community consultation; Judge J.Y. Mokgoro, Ubuntu and the Law in South Africa; and at a global level, Ubuntu World Forum of Civil Society Networks, founded in 2001. World Council of Churches made a Nov 2007 Dar es Salaam declaration For an ubuntu experience in global economy as part of a continuing PWE world consultation.

The Journey - a reflection for the New Year by Elizabeth Ayres

When the sun sets. When the sun sets on my river. When the sun sets on my river, and the wings of gulls turn to white gold. And the leaves of trees turn to green gold. And the clouds turn into carnelian cobblestones that pave, east to west across trembling waters, a red gold road. Then, yes, I shall find me some shoes of gold vermillion. And a sturdy gilded staff. I shall set my feet upon this crimson highway, and before too long I shall meet the evening star.

When the sun rises. When the sun rises on my river. When the sun rises on my river, and an incoming tide of light submerges, one by one, the sky’s small pebbles of light. And the leaves of trees emerge from silhouette. And the groaning onyx waters turn to flashing silver sighs. Then, yes, I shall know I have arrived, face to face with the morning star.

And yes, I think it matters. That my celestial assignation is not with a star at all but with a planet. Venus. Except for the moon, Venus is the brightest object in our sky, in closer orbit to the sun than earth. First to appear in the gloaming, last to disappear at dawn. Alpha and omega. Venus, the planet named for love and beauty, who watches over our endings and beginnings.

In Roman times, the goddess appeared in many guises. Venus Cloacina, the Purifier, giver of peace. Venus Genetrix, the great Mother, who bestowed fertility on folk and field. Venus Felix, the Lucky; Amica, the Friend; Libertina, the Free; Obsequens, the Graceful; and, Verticordia, the Changer of Hearts. Venus. Our morning and evening star. Fashioned from the same nebula that formed the planet earth, named for all our yearnings, watching over.

The sun has set on the river of time we called 2008. Rises on the same river, 2009. Pause. When you set out along this highway, where were you going? Are you sure you want to arrive there? Take stock. Is there something you might wish to put down? Something else more suited to this journey you think you might wish to take up?

Get serious. It matters. All the fields and all the folk, all the planets and the stars, we’re all made from the same stuff. Protons, neutrons, electrons. A trembling flow of atoms and molecules. Action and reaction. Electromagnetic currents that groan and sigh. One vast and mighty river, what happens to me happens to you happens to them and it forever. Ask questions. The year is just beginning. As of January 1st, you had 365 days, 8,736 hours, 524,160 minutes until it ends. Let’s say today is your morning star, still lingering in the dawn of 2009. Before your evening star appears in the year’s gloaming, what do you want to accomplish? Think. Don’t answer off the top of your head. Don’t answer for yourself alone. Look beyond family, neighborhood, country. Look beyond your own lifetime. One vast and mighty river, remember? What happens to me happens to you happens to them and it forever.

And don’t be glib. Don’t say “world peace” if you don’t mean “world peace.” If you’re not ready to do something to make this a more peaceful world. And if you’re not ready, admit it. Spend the year asking the Changer of Hearts to change yours. I’ll do the same. What happens to me happens to you happens to them and it forever.

So when the sun sets on our river of minutes, hours, days, years. When the flow of atoms ceases for you and me. We shall leave behind our trembling and our sighs, and ready ourselves to set out upon a golden highway. To meet, face to face, that from which we were fashioned. Our alpha and our omega, the sum of all our yearnings. When the sun rises.

*****

Elizabeth Ayres is the author of Know the Way (poetry, Infinity, 2005) and Writing the Wave (how-to, Perigee, 2000), and is completing Land of Our Belonging: Encounters with the Wonder of Earth, Sea and Sky, from which collection this piece is taken. She runs a Creative Writing Center with writing retreats in Chesapeake Bay country. She performs her essays on Internet radio -- wryr.org -- Saturday evenings at 6 p.m. eastern time.