 The Idle No More movement reemerged on January 28 in Missoula, marching from Caras Park, through the streets, and up to the court house building. The event was attended by close to a hundred participants, and included traditional dancing and some speaking. Along with supporting the original Canadian Idle No More call for honoring treaties and indigenous rights, two themes that came up more than once were the need to protect mother Earth, and the need to pass this struggle on to the coming generations. | |
As someone who saw the Occupy Missoula movement flower and then fade, I would ask, how can transformational local movements, like Idle No More and beyond, appeal to and support a larger number of the surrounding community (however community is defined, whether it be exclusively Natives, Natives and Non-Natives, the 99%, etc). While certainly everyone need not join the movement, it is vitally important to strengthen solidarity in order to build momentum, without watering down or losing a central message or getting flat-lined by fear, disagreements, and personality conflicts. Clearly developed goals vis-a-vis strategically selected elements of the power structure is one means of communicating purpose. Another possibility is helping others in the community with their struggles, potentially under a banner of inclusivity and an orientation of sustainability, to create relevance, legitimacy, and recognition within a larger population while providing real benefits to those who need them.
Regardless, it will be necessary for people who take part in these sorts of movements today to understand the direness of the situation humanity faces, so as not to become unwitting apologists for the utterly failed status-quo. That sort of urgency needs to be communicated strongly and effectively to those who don't see the writing on the wall. Specific data points, like the projection of scientists that the Arctic sea ice is predicted to be totally gone during the summer months in four years, can be leveraged in speeches to stoke the fires of transformation. This kind of tenor could help create not simply needed empowerment, but also a wise relationship with the Earth, rather than, for example, turning a blind eye to individual patterns or selling off resources to environmentally destructive elements of Empire for short term financial gain. Another approach might be building a growing, self sufficient, self supporting community that rejects the "norms" of a destructive, materialistic, physically unhealthy, and spiritually destitute society and, by growing this community, making the current destructive system increasingly less necessary or relevant.
Whatever the vision, and however it manifests, in Idle No More and the wider social consciousness, I hope people understand that anger and unflinching determination are not only justified in the face of literal rape, murder, and environmental devastation, they are needed emotional components in a full spectrum of transformative energies. Occupying a building, shutting down a street, humiliating a politician, are not radical actions when one considers the truly radical actions of the US government and corporations. The problem is that most people in the society are unwitting (or witting) dependents on a violent, imperialist US agenda. The few who see through the lies and propaganda and who attempt to do something about it are labeled "radicals," but they are not the ones firing depleted uranium rounds in Fallujah, giving rise to the birth of horribly malformed babies. The so called "radicals" are not the ones criminally disrupting the economy through fraudulent derivatives manipulations and then going unpunished. The so called "radicals" are not the ones unleashing devastating technologies, like tar sands pipelines and hydrofracking, on a planet on the verge of ecological free fall. The "radicals" are not the ones who have set up a system of violence that marginalizes and brutalizes those who disagree with violent subjugation.
If American society had deeply contemplated the theft of land and genocide of indigenous peoples upon which this nation was built, atrocities like the Vietnam War, and the continuing wars in Iraq, and Afghanistan, as well as growing US military intervention in places like Pakistan, Iran, Mali, Syria, and others, would not be taking place. The wiping out of indigenous peoples is not "old news" from which we should "move on." The lack of care people feel toward the destruction of indigenous people of the past and the plight of indigenous people today is directly linked to the complacency society at large exhibits towards the unchecked violence the nation is committing at home and abroad, as well as the exploitation of the natural world. Everything is connected, and it is my hope that a healthy connection to the earth and across the spectrum of humanity, rather than division and usurpation, will characterize the way forward. One way or another, the tide must turn. If it does not, we will all be swept under.
Regardless, it will be necessary for people who take part in these sorts of movements today to understand the direness of the situation humanity faces, so as not to become unwitting apologists for the utterly failed status-quo. That sort of urgency needs to be communicated strongly and effectively to those who don't see the writing on the wall. Specific data points, like the projection of scientists that the Arctic sea ice is predicted to be totally gone during the summer months in four years, can be leveraged in speeches to stoke the fires of transformation. This kind of tenor could help create not simply needed empowerment, but also a wise relationship with the Earth, rather than, for example, turning a blind eye to individual patterns or selling off resources to environmentally destructive elements of Empire for short term financial gain. Another approach might be building a growing, self sufficient, self supporting community that rejects the "norms" of a destructive, materialistic, physically unhealthy, and spiritually destitute society and, by growing this community, making the current destructive system increasingly less necessary or relevant.
Whatever the vision, and however it manifests, in Idle No More and the wider social consciousness, I hope people understand that anger and unflinching determination are not only justified in the face of literal rape, murder, and environmental devastation, they are needed emotional components in a full spectrum of transformative energies. Occupying a building, shutting down a street, humiliating a politician, are not radical actions when one considers the truly radical actions of the US government and corporations. The problem is that most people in the society are unwitting (or witting) dependents on a violent, imperialist US agenda. The few who see through the lies and propaganda and who attempt to do something about it are labeled "radicals," but they are not the ones firing depleted uranium rounds in Fallujah, giving rise to the birth of horribly malformed babies. The so called "radicals" are not the ones criminally disrupting the economy through fraudulent derivatives manipulations and then going unpunished. The so called "radicals" are not the ones unleashing devastating technologies, like tar sands pipelines and hydrofracking, on a planet on the verge of ecological free fall. The "radicals" are not the ones who have set up a system of violence that marginalizes and brutalizes those who disagree with violent subjugation.
If American society had deeply contemplated the theft of land and genocide of indigenous peoples upon which this nation was built, atrocities like the Vietnam War, and the continuing wars in Iraq, and Afghanistan, as well as growing US military intervention in places like Pakistan, Iran, Mali, Syria, and others, would not be taking place. The wiping out of indigenous peoples is not "old news" from which we should "move on." The lack of care people feel toward the destruction of indigenous people of the past and the plight of indigenous people today is directly linked to the complacency society at large exhibits towards the unchecked violence the nation is committing at home and abroad, as well as the exploitation of the natural world. Everything is connected, and it is my hope that a healthy connection to the earth and across the spectrum of humanity, rather than division and usurpation, will characterize the way forward. One way or another, the tide must turn. If it does not, we will all be swept under.
