Not really sure of where you're coming from on this, Ray. The people I wrote about were Inuit, not Canadian Indian. They had chosen to adapt to our way of life even if they still retained some of their traditions. It was a choice that they pretty well had to make. Had they not made it but adhered to their semi-nomadic hunting-gathering way of life, their continuity would have been at risk, perhaps even extreme risk.
Our society's intrusion into their lives is multiple and unstoppable. We've not only forced them to become clients of our various social institutions and services, but we've taken over their lands and waters in a variety of ways. We not only make national parks out of them, we explore them for oil, gas and other resorces. And we tour them and hunt on them. I recall flying down from a community on the Arctic lslands in a battered old DC-3 some years ago. Most of my fellow passengers were American hunters who very proudly kept talking about how they got "their" bear or caribou. There was something very propriety about the conversations. It was as though "their" bear or caribou had been waiting up in the high Arctic to be shot by them. Frankly, I found it disgusting, but had to accept that it was an aspect of the changing nature of the modern Arctic. Regards, Ed ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ray Harrell" <[email protected]> To: "'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION'" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 9:37 AM Subject: Re: [Futurework] The Way of Right Relationship > Sad but not mistaken? Therein lies the problem. Whether to design the > environment for the good of all or to eat it slowly like an army of > disconnected ants. You think its sad but you do not take the Native > systems alternative seriously. The Yonega alternative, to teach the > children to ignore their own identity and psycho-physical reality, only > works for a short part of their lives. Once they realize they have been > tricked out of their birthright all too often the answer is to look > reality > in the face and choose to leave with suicide or drugs. No capital, no > future, no investment in a Yonega's version of success. That's simple > basic psychology and choices that are not ir-rational but horrible. How > could free Indian foresters want to join such a group that would propagate > such a thing as an ideal? > > The Canadian government thought that creating a reservation for the plants > and animals was a respectful alternative economic structure for people > whose > systems were built on respect and balance for all of the species. It > doesn't compute except to show that the government doesn't speak in the > language of the First Nations. Those government folks are biased, afraid > and stress the active grammatical tense over the passive in their language > and communications. Same here, but when we [I] speak in their language > and > avoid the passive, the translation sends them away even though their > horrendous hubris results in genocide. > > Even today, I don't get materials from this list for discussion. [Gail > mentioned posts that I have not received.] I assume its because certain > members refused to stay and deal with blunt discussion unless I was > excluded > from their posts which were rife with inaccuracies and bias. Its OK to > overwhelm another culture but its not OK for those cultures to verbally > fight back in resistance on the internet. My childhood friends, now > Elders, > ask me not to talk to their Yonega neighbors because telling them the > truth > and defeating their argument just feedbacks to their having to deal with > powerful and hostile neighbors who strike out because their arguments are > irrational and they can't win them verbally. Jesus has forgiven them but > He has left them impotent and dangerous. > > REH > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed Weick > Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 7:49 AM > To: Gail Stewart; RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION > Subject: Re: [Futurework] The Way of Right Relationship > > I've experienced something like that in the very remotest of northern > communities in which people still apologized to the animals they had to > kill > > in order to stay alive themselves. The people were still strongly tied > into > > the ecosphere and they knew it. However, things were changing. Kids > learned our view of the world at school, and when they had finished their > primary grades they were shipped out to Yellowknife or Inuvik to do high > school. Elders were still respected, but as icons more than as sources of > ancient wisdom bearing on the ecosystem. > > In my last visit to one of those communities, about five years ago, I > stayed > > with a local family. I had work to do but found it difficult because the > TV > > was blaring for much of the day. The community was close to a national > park > > that our government had created out of the community's ancient hunting > lands, and tourism was expected to become a growing source of income. The > people still knew the land, but they expected to increasingly use it as > tour > > guides and not as harvesters. > > Even if it was all inevitable, I found it a little sad. > > Ed > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Gail Stewart" <[email protected]> > To: "RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION" > <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2011 6:28 AM > Subject: Re: [Futurework] The Way of Right Relationship > > >> >> (Incidently but not irrelevantly, has anybody on this list ever >> experienced >> themselves as active participant in the ecosphere, the thin skin of this >> spinning planet, among all its living inhabitants? Might you be willing >> to >> share something of that experience?) >> >> Regards, >> >> Gail >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Futurework mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Futurework mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework >> > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
