This was another example of the importance of seeing both sides of an issue.
About six weeks ago there was considerable discussion (NATCHAT and
NATIVE-L; NY State Taxation Issue - Urgent) about a major Iroquois nation's
protest against the state of N.Y. over the taxing of cigarettes and fuel.
The Late May issue of "News from Indian Country" describes that event as
having been a protest by 50 Iroquois businessmen. An editorial in the same
issue states that the tax free sales "have made a few Iroquois millionaires"
but clarifies that most Iroquois are either "mired in poverty or leading
lower middle class lives" and that Iroquois leadership is continuing to
negotiate in terms of the sovereignty issue.
[ There may still be important issues of sovereignty involved, however.
Identifying personal interests being at stake does not in any way
detract from any legal rights that may pertain, though it is easy to
understand the tendency of the public to dismiss such matters if it
can be shown that there are individual benefits being served. I may
create a separate forum using Web conferencing software to let this
single issue be explored - please watch for my announcement on that
subject. It will appear as "Re: Another forum for discussion..."
--Gary (gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us) ]
It is, as Bill suggests, an imperative that we attempt to learn all sides of
any issue and it is important that participants and *lurkers* share whatever
information they may have that will help the rest of us understand any issue
more completely.
We continue to complain about the history books being written by the
"winners" but forget that we can have a say in the way our "future history"
will be recorded. This is the great value of e-mail; that we can hear, with
great rapidity, the voices of so many people who are both directly or
indirectly involved. This opportunity to publicly agree or disagree will get
us all thinking in greater depth about the problems and concerns of "Indian
Country." When many varied voices are heard, it makes it difficult for any
issue to be totally disorted or blown out of proportion.
Sken:nen kenhak,
Sandy
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Comments from NativeNet listowner, Gary Trujillo (gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us):
One point that this matter demonstrates all too clearly is that there are
those who are well-connected to the 'net and who are savvy about using it
for political advantage and those who are living the *most* traditional
lives who either/both cannot or do not see the point in getting "plugged-
in" to this wired world of ours. A good illustration of this fact can be
discerned from someone in Hopi country who knows these issues well and
who has a foot in both worlds who wrote to me in personal mail:
| Oh, by the way--what was holding things up before the Big Mountain debacle
| was that no one up there has a computer--phone lines can't handle it. And
| when they think "Internet," they think everything's about ads and such. So
| they were afraid these "sites" and such were going to put Hopi information
| up next to ads for Korean made katsina dolls, or do-it-yourself New Age
| prayer feather kits like Thomas Mails was selling down here at a New Age
| bookstore...
|
| It's very, very hard for most outsiders, especially non-Natives, to
| swallow the idea that two a Native Nation could deliberately be sending
| out misinformation about another one. But if you live up there, and you
| watch the systematic way this stuff is being written, taught to children,
| and then disseminated to the public...It'd scare the hell out of you.
|
| I don't know why the Navajos were able to do this, but it's working. And
| it makes big, big bucks. If I had a dollar for all the "Big Mountain
| Defense Fund" rug sales and such we see out this way every year, and in
| all the New Age and other magazines, I'd be rich.
|
| And so there are the poor, slow Hopis, putting out their little tiny
| newspaper that nobody reads, except the poor, slow Hopis...
It has become increasingly clear over the course of the past several years
that we've only been getting one side of this story and that the matter has
been reduced to a fairly simplistic "good guys vs. bad guys" kind of dispute.
All of which is not to say that there are not Dine' people who are suffering
and who have just grievances. But it seems also that there are a lot of
people - some netizens, in fact - who are being given a very superficial
understanding of what is a much more complex situation and who are very
easily mobilized into a sort of action that in the long run can do far more
harm and injury than good.
I plan to set up an experimental conference on this subject also, once I
get the software I mentioned running. My purposes are to let us try to
explore this subject in a more thoughtful and responsible way and to begin
to learn the facts of the matter and to develop and understanding of the
dynamics of the situation based on a thoughtful consideration of those
facts and the assistance of those who can help us interpret the complexities
involved. I'll make an announcement when the system is ready.
Gary