OGLALA SIOUX TRIBE - ISSUES PROCLAMATION FOR TWO-SPIRITS' DIGNITY & HUMAN RIGHTS
http://www.actonprinciples.org/2011/10/25/oglala-sioux-tribe-issues-proclama tion-for-two-spirits-dignity-human-rights/ WHEREAS, the unity of cultures across time have embraced the concept of inalienable human rights that derive from our relationship to nature; and, on this 24th day of October 2011 the Oglala Sioux Tribe acknowledges Richard Noble and the grassroots LGBT Civil Rights Movement; and WHEREAS, a central tenant of United States law is the principle of non-discrimination and equal protection under the law as human rights; and WHEREAS, members of the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgendered - and the two-spirits of this world - face historical and ongoing community rejection, political stigmatization and institutional discrimination based on their innate nature, causing untallied human tragedy, emotional detachment and suffering so extreme that many commit suicide; and WHEREAS, members of the grassroots LGBT community seek, via the American Equality Bill, to add "sexual orientation and gender identity" equally to all of America's non-discrimination laws, both to advance this urgent cause for justice, and to protect the inherent right of each person to develop consistent with their natural sexuality and gender as their authentic self, safely and with appropriate cultural dignity and respect; and WHEREAS, the American Equality Bill reflects the Government's duty to provide protection from discrimination for all people as a matter of public welfare, and the human rights duty to ensure legal equality for LGBT people under federal law in order to rebuke homophobia and transphobia with the full force of official United States governmental policy, including via the expenditure of all federal funds under Title VI; and WHEREAS, it is time to ignite the civil rights movement of the 21st Century to liberate the LGBT community in America, in order to reach every community, leaving no child anywhere alone suffering with discrimination or social rejection; and WHEREAS, from March to October, 2011, Richard "Rainbow" Noble will traverse the country from West Hollywood to Washington D.C. on the Civil Rights March Across America with a sacred Rainbow flag and staff to raise the collective call for freedom, showing remarkable braver and dedication to his people; and NOW, THEREFORE, the President John Yellow Bird Steele of the Oglala Sioux Tribe here by calls upon all of humanity to rise in support of the liberation of our two-spirit brothers and sisters from social and legal discrimination, and to urge all official representatives to take urgent action to protect their human rights with the full inclusion of "sexual orientation and gender identity" under all of America's Civil Rights laws. THEREFORE, I, John Yellow Bird Steele, hereby declare on this 24th day of October to honor and continue a collaborative effort with Congress for full federal equality and Civil Rights LGBT Omnibus Bill. JOHN YELLOW BIRD STEELE President Oglala Sioux Tribe REH From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed Weick Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2011 9:07 AM To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION'; [email protected] Subject: [Futurework] Fw: A distant mirror? I've been looking at a book I've had on my shelves since time immemorial: "Breakthrough - Meister Eckhart's Creation Spirituality in New Translation", by Mathew Fox. In his introductory chapter, Fox relies extensively on Barbara Tuchman's "A Distant Mirror - The Calamitous 14th Century" in which some of the main points regarding the situation in 14th Century Europe are: 1. An increasingly sharp division of rich and poor: With control of the raw materials and tools of production, the owners of land and other resources were able to reduce wages in classic exploitation. Population had grown substantially during the relatively prosperous 12th and 13th Centuries, but the good times were brought to a halt early in 14th Century when calamitous rain and flooding and the onset of colder weather brought on extensive starvation throughout Europe. The growing poor could not look after themselves and felt an increasing sense of injustice. A spirit of revolt became prevalent. 2. Corruption in high places: A second evident movement that characterized these troubled times was the rapid demise of credibility of the institutions of the day. An example that Tuchman develops is that of knighthood. Once considered the protectors of the people, the defenders of the weak, knights were now part of the problems of the time. They themselves became the oppressors, and the violence and lawlessness of the sword had become a major agency of disorder. With notable exceptions, the priesthood had also become notoriously corrupt. 3. Radical movements: In such a period of cultural upheaval and social disintegration many persons who cared about the common good became disillusioned with the structures that were failing so many and with institutional leaders who nevertheless clung to their own privilege and power. In 1320 the misery of the rural poor in the wake of the famines burst out in a strange hysterical mass movement called the Pastoureaux, for the shepherds who started it. . . The Pastoureaux spread the fear of insurrection that freezes the blood of the privileged in any era when the mob appears. 4. A spirit of despair, guilt, and the end times: A sense of frustration grew into a sense of hopelessness and despair that began to take over much of the human spirit at this time of "eschatological heave" (Norman Mailer's expression for America in the late sixties). A world was indeed coming to an end-the world of papal and temporal power equitably balanced; a world of intellectual integrity and creativity; a world of economic solidarity and development; a world of institutional credibility; a world of common values mythologized in knighthood, religious life, or law; a world of a common, shared language. I don't want to make too much of all of this, but it does sound a little like the world of today. The institutions may have changed but the processes seem more than a little similar. "A Distant Mirror", the name of Tuchman's book, may indeed be very appropriate. Ed
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