August 9, 2007 by Rudolph Ryser.

Pakistan’s president Pervez Musharraf is making a major mistake by not joining Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the Pashtun jirga now convened in Kabul. Musharraf is continuing to show considerable disrespect for the Pashtunistan political and cultural leadership when he should be demonstrating his commitment to work with them.

More than six hundred leaders from Pashtunistan (Pashtun territories on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border) are meeting in Kabul and this is the time for the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan to recognize and respect the powerful Pashtun country that bestrides their state border. With more than 21 million inhabitants living under Pashtun laws, neither Afghanistan nor Pakistan can afford to ignore the importance of such a country. Since it is patently the case that Karzai can be seriously said to have governing authority over only the city of Kabul and Musharraf has actual governing authority over the Punjabi eastern portion of Pakistan, neither can afford to anger the Pashtun. Their territorial control far exceeds the political reach of either Karzai or Musharraf as this map (Pashtunistan in red) illustrates.

The US based Washington Post article by Pamela Constable and Debbi Wilgoren (both good reporters I am sure) fails to reflect the importance of this balance of power–the center of which is Pashtunistan. The fact that leaders from Waziristan are not participating in the jirga should signal Musharraf that he should extend his respect to the Pashto and build closer bridges.

This mistake will reverberate in the form of greater instability for Musharraf, the region and countries like the United States and its military may decide to unilaterally intervene in the region–expanding violence and further destabilizing the already volatile area. Such intervention by the United States government aimed at particularly the eastern part of Pashtunistan invites the prospect of a bitter war not unlike the ten-year mess the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics got stuck in during the 1980s. The Pashtun won that one, just as they fended off such invasions over the past thousand years.

(c) 2007 Center for World Indigenous Studies

Powered by ScribeFire.

Technorati Tags: Pakistan, Afganistan, Pashto, Pashtun, Pashtunistan, jirga, Msuharraf, Karsai

Posted in Artby - Rudolph Ryser, People, Daily | Print | No Comments »

August 9, 2007 by Rudolph Ryser.

There is little in the public press or electronic media that doesn’t simply echo the conventional wisdom quoted from government officials or other “official sources.” The Fourth World Eye has for years served as a venue for stories behind the cryptic references you see or here in the corporate media. When a writer reports an event involving a “tribe” or “ethnic group” the story is usually obscure even when it is apparent that (as recent stories about US government negotiations with “tribes” in Anbar Province, Iraq; or when “lawless tribal areas” harbor Osama ben Laden along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan) there is something missing about those “tribes.” Fourth World Eye helps to understand the people, events, and perspectives from the Fourth World.

Why is it important understand the Fourth World perspective? First it must be understood that Fourth World Nations are a hidden reality which is only recently becoming apparent to the general public: Fourth World nations–denotes nations without states. This meaning emphasizes the non-recognition or exclusion of often ethnically or religiously defined groups from the political and economic world system. Examples of Fourth World nations include the Roma in Europe, pre-WWII Ashkenazi in the region of the Pale of Settlement, Kurds and Palestinians in the Middle East, and Native American Nations/First Nations, Alaskan Natives, Hawaiians and Indian peoples throughout the Americas.

Chief George Manuel (1929 - 1989), the noted leader of the world’s Fourth World nations gave political meaning to the expression “Fourth World” when he lead the formation of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples and advocated global recognition of the rights of Fourth World peoples.

These Fourth World nations have a direct influence over events, territories and natural resources that daily affect the lives of people world-wide. For example, the Ijaw have a great deal to do with global access to sweet crude oil in the delta region of Nigeria when some of their leaders block production of oil there (a 25% reduction in one year). Fourth World nations in Pashtunistan (read an earlier Fourth World Eye story) are the central concern of those states’ government leaders concern with finding Osama ben Laden. The views and decisions of Fourth World peoples in Pashtunistan are pivotal.

We all must understand and respect Fourth World nations for their central role in our lives, even though we are generally unaware of them. They play major roles in our political, economic, social and cultural life. They play a major part in our health whether environmental or medicinal. We can improve our understand here at Fourth World Eye. What is clear…Fourth World nations not only play an important role in
our lives, but constraints put on them by governments, corporations and the like drive them to want their freedom too.

(c) 2007 Center for World Indigenous Studies

Powered by ScribeFire.

Technorati Tags: indigenous people, culture, oil, Nigeria, Iraq, Osama ben Laden

Posted in Artby - Rudolph Ryser, Media, Daily | Print | No Comments »