Concerning the issue of restricting the discussion on NativeNet to
North American indigenous peoples, i would hope that we can maintain
the broader perpective that has been so enriching for me. The
problems of indigenous peoples have a striking similarity around the
world, and who knows from where a solution to our own problems here in
North America may come. After all, as communications improve between
peoples around the world, through media like electronic nets, we find
ourselves to be increasingly international citizens. When it comes to
respecting native cultures and fighting for their right to exist in a
culturally sustainable manner if they so choose, national boundaries
seem to be irrelevant. We are on the eve of a quincentenary
celebration that must certainly dwarf others in this century, a
celebration of an event which profoundly binds a whole hemisphere of
native peoples. How gratifying it would be if the quincentenary
brought a revolution in Western thought - a belated realization that
native wisdom contains solutions for tomorrow.
Art