January 15, 1992 Response to the Minnesota Sioux Story
Dear Bruce Drew, and Contact Persons William Hardacker, Mark
Tilsen, and Jim White,
I found this story a profound tragedy. A population/environment
activist friend termed it "devastating". A people feeling
compelled to cut a deal with death. "Unfortunately, their options
are very limited." Familiar enough; that's essence of empire, be
it in the most immediate personal relationship to the furthest
global reach of a multinational: to steal and consume the options
of others, and then use the distorted power relations to make the
others sell for nothing what little remains.
What might have given the people a feeling of more options? I
need to hear, for many reasons, among them an unwillingness to
tolerate the prospect of endless repetitions of this tale.
1. Might there yet be something that can be done? If not for
Minnesota, perhaps for somewhere else.
2. This story is most likely the story of many other lands, so
let's get systematic, share information and imagination, prepare a
list, an annotated one, what worked how much where, who knows how
it was done, where can one find more information. Perhaps this
cataloguing is already being done. Can our network serve this
effort, or is it doing so already?
What is the story of the relationship of those two groups,
the Sioux and the non-Sioux environmentalists, in this situation?
Can something be learned from that story?
Can we create a model for use elsewhere? Could we create
a wide network of "indigenous" and "environmentalists" to get
accustomed to providing support for each other, get to know each
other, deliberate together issues of lifestyle change, boycott,
world population growth and how they will deal with that,
environment, energy use -- a community which would then respond
when any of them is under attack?
This is a very long range vision, and at the same time one
which we can enact in microcosm immediately, with your next
breath, by reaching in our minds and then our actions to include
more of the earth and its contents in our perspective. A friend
compliments but does not share what she calls my hopefulness. It
may be hopefulness, it surely is an assessment.
What else is there which might disrupt the imperial
program, which at its base is a disease of relationship (among
people and between people and the rest of the planet) other than
the creation of community, or rather the uncovering of the
naturally existing community among all?
Please respond, by e-mail to 'goodwork', land mail to 11622
Missouri Av., Los Angeles, CA 90025, or probably best by posting a
response here, so that we can keep the netfolk involved and
perhaps generate further discussion.