I love this, and it brings up a lot for me.
The pasty white guy rolling his eyes, representing colonialism and the descendants of colonialists still benefiting from the original theft of land and natural resources.
The Indigenous using the power of their tradition to stand up for themselves and what’s important to them.
The unimaginable horrors inflicted on the indigenous around the world, mainly by white Europeans, and the immense suffering that came from it. The theft, lies, rape, destruction of nature, and much more.
Colonialism is still going on, often through multinational corporations with the support of governments and the neo-liberal ideology, and the descendants of colonialists holding onto their privilege.
DOMINATION AND PARTNERSHIP CULTURES
Before the agricultural revolution, we were all indigenous. We lived in small egalitarian groups and from what nature provided. The global ecological crisis we find ourselves in today is an outcome of the agricultural revolution, including the worldview and mindset that came with it.
This is a worldview of separation and domination, imagined, promoted, and developed to justify the new gap between the wealthy and the rest, and the domination inherent in agriculture, husbandry, and having people working for you.
All cultures, worldviews, and mindsets have a mix of partnership and domination orientations. That said, and in general, agricultural cultures are on the domination side. Indigenous cultures are on the partnership side, although the ones with agriculture tend to a little in the direction of domination. Empires tend to be further over on the domination side. (We see that in the US today.) And some modern agricultural cultures, like the Nordic countries, tend to be a little more over on the partnership side.
The agricultural worldview of separation and domination, combined with our explosion in numbers and technology, has created the global ecological crisis we now find ourselves in.
THE IMPORTANCE OF INDIGENOUS RIGHTS
That’s one of many reasons it’s important with Indigenous rights.
They are human as anyone else and deserve it.
They have been marginalized, suppressed, killed, and more for centuries. It’s time to right that wrong, as much as is possible.
They were here first. They were first everywhere.
They are often far down on the list of marginalized groups to be included and given a voice in society. To me, it seems they are often prioritized near the bottom.
They have insights, knowledge, and perspectives crucial for us today. They are medicine for many of the problems inherent in the Western culture, which is now – to a large extent – a global culture.
WHY ARE THEY STILL MARGINALIZED?
Why are the Indigenous still marginalized?
There are many answers.
In most places, the Indigenous are not as many as the colonizers and other immigrants.
They have fewer resources because their land was stolen from them, their culture was suppressed, they have experienced centuries of racism, and they live with intergenerational trauma.
Acknowledging their rights brings up profound questions of reparation, returning tribal lands, the dark history of colonization, the continued privilege of the descendants of the initial colonies, and more.
Giving the Indigenous a real voice in society will shed light on the colonizer culture and its brutality, shortcomings, and ecocidal and suicidal characteristics.
Almost all historically marginalized groups are still marginalized. The system – the social system, the culture, and the mind – has inertia. Even the ones that portions of society actively strive to include are still marginalized in many ways.
THE VALUE IN THE INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVES
I am not indigenous so I can’t speak with any authority on any of this. Even if I was, I could only speak about my own culture since Indigenous cultures are diverse. So I am sure much of this is missing the mark. But I can guess, and I can also make some guesses about the value in the indigenous perspectives.
They may reflect pre-agricultural views, so they serve as a correction to the post-agricultural worldviews most of us in the world today are familiar with and have internalized.
They often come from more of a partnership orientation – to others, ourselves, nature – instead of a domination orientation. This is what we need to find solutions to our challenges today.
They often see the sacred in everyone and everything. The sacred is here, not out there in the heaven, or the afterlife, or a sky-god.
They often have reverence for nature and the gifts of nature.
They look at wholes as much as the parts, while our Western culture traditionally has focused more on parts and has operated from a fragmented understanding and view.
They know we are nature. We are nature taking these local and temporary forms. What happens with the web of life happens to us.
They may have more of a big picture and deep time perspective. Some may think over generations and at ecosystem and global levels. This is in contrast to the typical small picture and short-term thinking of Western civilization including businesses, politicians, and most organizations.
They have experience with decolonizing the mind and seeing through the ideologies of domination cultures. That’s valuable for all of us doing the same.
These are just some of the ways Indigenous perspectives can be medicine for our Western and now largely global worldview.