Dear Gary, dear subscribers,
On 17 Mar 97 gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us (Gary S. Trujillo) wrote:
> There was one comment I received via e-mail that contained the statement:
>
>| We care far more about a powwow on the other side of Turtle Island
>| (where the Indians are fighting the same battles we are with the US and
>| Canadian prevailing cultures) than we do about what's happening in
>| Suriname or Siberia.
The one who wrote this comment should not forget that NativeNet and the
indig.*-newsgroups on APC are distributed world wide and they serve as an
important source of information to many indigenous organizations, human
rights groups and support groups in many different countries.
When attending indigenous peoples' meetings like e.g. the UN Working Group
in Geneva, the recent London Consultation on Mining and Indigenous Peoples
or the World Uranium Hearing in Salzburg / Austria I always found it
deeply impressing how indigenous peoples from different countries,
cultures, political systems are able to develop a deep solidarity through
understanding that they have in fact the same problems, they suffer from
the same kind of exploitation and that they often share spiritual knowledge.
It is deeply moving to experience how people from Suriname, Siberia,
Ghana, Brazil, West Papua are struggling together for a common purpose.
Many people in Siberia hope for assistance from the First Nations of both
Americas and other continents, are willing to learn from your experience
in fighting for your rights. On the other hand they have a lot they can
give you: Thousands of people still live in the old way, the traditional
way - even without calling it "traditional". They know how to feed
themselves, how to make their clothing, sledges, how to build their chums
(teepees) and houses, they just *do* it. Thousands of people still live in
a way which has become very rare in America.
In Siberia many people feel left alone. They say "Nobody cares about us.
Nobody pays attention." I often experience how great it can be for people
to learn that there is somebody who cares, especially representatives of
other indigenous peoples and nations.
So please don't be annoyed when from time to time you find an article from
Suriname or Siberia in Native-L. It might even be a good idea to read it.
Greetings from Europe
Johannes Rohr
-- http://www.koeln-online.de/infoe/ Public Key auf Anfrage - public key available.