Honoring Indigenous Wisdom

Honoring indigenous wisdom was a central theme on the final day of the Democracy Convention, with the Pachamama Alliance’s three-hour-long workshop called “Awakening the Dreamer” and Debra White Plume’s speech at the convention closing plenary.  Both sessions reverberated the "Declaration” adopted by the Ecojustice People's Movement Assembly at the 2010 US Social Forum which states: "We support the conclusion that only by 'living well', in harmony with each other and with Mother Earth, rather than 'living better,' based on an economic system of unlimited growth, dominance and exploitation, will the people of this planet not only survive but thrive."  We have become tragically mistaken in our pursuit of bigger and better things, and it is time to break through our illusions for our own future and for those who come after us.  White Plume, an enrolled member of the Oglala Band of the Lakota Nation who has lived on the Pine Ridge, SD Indian Reservation all her life, said that it is an honor to protect the life-giving Mother Earth and stated that “greed is not a value”.  

During the Pachamama Alliance’s workshop, there is a video of Drew Dellinger reciting his poem “Hieroglyphic Staircase”, which begins with the following:

It's 3:23 in the morning, and I'm awake

because my great, great, grandchildren won't-let-me-sleep.

My great, great, grandchildren ask me in dreams

what did you do, while the planet was plundered?

what did you do, when the earth was unravelling?

surely you did something when the seasons started failing

as the mammals, reptiles, and birds were all dying?

did you fill the streets with protest when democracy was stolen?

what did you do

once

you

knew

The Democracy Convention included a plethora of information on how the planet is being plundered and democracy is being stolen.  It also showed ways to achieve a more enlightened society that is in harmony with this planet.  What will you do now that you know?