July 31, 2008 by Jay Taber.

As with all Native American cultures, traditional knowledge is central to Hopi culture. There is no more rewarding method of learning than the original “interactive method,” speaking and listening. For the Hopi, traditional knowledge explains not only the origin of all peoples but provides lessons for how to live today.

Multi-level learning

Most of us know at least one children’s fairy tale that has a moral lesson in it. Although the story is meant to be entertaining, it is also supposed to be educational. Hopi traditional knowledge is encoded in this way and contains messages on many different levels. In this way, listeners learn new and important lessons as their own understanding deepens. The strength of traditional knowledge lies in its ability to convey a deeper truth. Seen in this light, traditional knowledge is more than just the retelling of events, names, and dates. In this way, traditional knowledge differs from written historical accounts in style and purpose.

The Emergence Story

Hopi traditional knowledge begins with the emergence story. The world we live in now is the fourth way of life that the Hopi have lived. Different Hopi clans and animals emerged from the third into this fourth way of life. Hopis tell how the people of the world were offered ears of corn by Ma’saw. Many jumped in ahead of the Hopi and picked large ears of corn and left Hopis the smallest ear. This symbolizes the difficult but enduring life the Hopi live in the arid Southwest. Along with each ear of corn, the various peoples of the world inherited homelands, cultures, and responsibilities from the rest of creation. The Hopi fulfill their responsibilities through their daily life and ceremonies. Hopi life revolves around agriculture, in particular, corn. The Hopi way of life is the corn — humility, cooperation, respect, and universal earth stewardship.

Privacy

Because each story contains information meant specifically for one group of Hopi people, the Hopi learn only the story of their clan. The oral tradition entrusted to each Hopi is more than enough to consider and meditate upon during a lifetime. By pursuing their own understanding, it is natural that the Hopi respect the privacy and sacred nature of the traditions entrusted to other Hopi, as well as other cultures. For more about privacy and other issues affecting the Hopi today, visit our Current Issues page.

(Thank you to the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office for making this available.)

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July 30, 2008 by Jay Taber.

Sacred knowledge, archived in aboriginal cosmologies, begins with long, careful observation. This keen awareness is honed by trial and error, discussion and reflection, as well as vision and insight.

An example of a first step toward sacred knowledge is the relatively recent scientific discovery that all things are connected. I remember the revelatory delight of a neighbor who returned from a summer nature school with her daughters, telling me about the connections abundant in the ancient forest where they’d camped.

Understanding that this insight is merely the trail head of a long path to wisdom, allows us to be persistent and patient, knowing that one has to pace oneself as well as make many choices along the way. Seeking regular guidance is also a good idea.

Once a critical mass of knowledge and understanding has accumulated, it is wise to document and archive this information for others to make use of. Given the state of the world, we don’t have the luxury of starting from scratch.

One civilization that has taken this task seriously is Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico. Zuni Pueblo protector societies meet regularly to discuss threats to their social harmony and well-being, and develop means of guarding against poisonous ideas — be they economic, emotional, intellectual, medicinal, physical, political, or spiritual.

The Zuni means of preservation of memory of these tools of survival are recorded in their architecture, food, pottery, and regalia, enabling them to adapt and endure without sacrificing their core values.

For those of us who are relatively new to this continent, I find this instructive in the need to develop our storytelling through art, ceremony, dance, oratory, and ritual, if we, too, are to adapt and endure. In a simple sense, we need to live and learn.

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July 29, 2008 by Jay Taber.

On the tenth anniversary of the International Criminal Court last week, the deputy prosecutor traveled to Nigeria to hear evidence against four Central African states. Cases of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity are generally referred to the ICC by states or state-serving institutions like the UN Security Council.

Generally speaking, this is a good thing, but non-state entities like Fourth World nations and NGOs are also welcome to communicate with the court. In the case of Nigeria itself (not currently under investigation, despite a forty-year campaign of genocide against Biafra), listening to parties unrepresented by institutions like the UN is essential to lending an appearance of fairness to the court’s humanitarian mandate.

With the announced intention of escalating state-sponsored violence in Nigeria, endorsed by the UK earlier this month, relying on the US or European powers is tantamount to malign neglect. With half the world’s remaining mineral resources located in Africa, and states like China and Great Britain arming local dictators to take them, the only voice for those being plundered is mostly outside official channels.

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July 28, 2008 by Jay Taber.

Culture, as a component of social power, refers to the entire panorama of conventional beliefs and practices. One cannot talk intelligently about culture if one does not also introduce the dynamics of social power. In the sociopolitical struggles of this world, culture is a key battleground.

—Michael Parenti

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July 27, 2008 by Jay Taber.

On Water looks at the Elwha Ecosystem Restoration Project, an historic undertaking to remove dams in Olympic National Park in order to save the Elwha River chinook salmon. A blog of the Water Resources Center at UC Berkeley, On Water is affiliated with the Clearinghouse for Dam Removal Information.

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July 26, 2008 by Rudolph Ryser.

Six months before the “American Surge” in Iraq…that escalation of troops in Baghdad that many credit for reducing violence in Iraq…Sunni tribal forces became the real reason for removing groups sympathetic to al Qaeda gangs from Anbar Province. There is a lesson here for defeating al Qaeda: support the local indigenous leaders to stabilize and strengthen their communities by defending themselves against al Qaeda gangs.

The United States and her allied countries would do well to recognize that they should make an alliance with indigenous nations…Pashtun communities where the Taliban and al Qaeda hide…and provide them financial, infrastructure and military support. They will clean out the cancer of al Qaeda.

This has all along been an essential truth. Indigenous nations will no longer provide a haven for al Qaeda or similar gangs if states’ governments like the United States, France, Germany and Britain take the deliberate step of recognizing the strategic role indigenous nations play in the present struggle. The “Anbar Solution” is more significant than most states’ government military and foreign policy leaders currently recognize. For a few pieces of silver, Pastu inside Afghanistan and Pakistan will become allies. It is an approach that has already demonstrated great success—more valuable than the “surge.”

(c) 2008 Center for World Indigenous Studies

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July 26, 2008 by Rudolph Ryser.

The American Democratic Party presidential nominee Barak Obama urges increasing US troop deployments in Afghanistan by two or three divisions. US Pentagon officials also suggest such an escalation. Such an increased commitment will be a serious mistake. Just as the US occupation in Iraq is primarily a political problem and not a military problem, so is the instability and violence in Afghanistan a political problem and not a military problem. If the US increases its forces, it will find itself in precisely the same situation the Russians found themselves in during Russia’s ten year Afghanistan intervention.

The political solution must rest on carrying out a sophisticated plan to break-up the failed state of Afghanistan, distribute its parts into the existing states of Tadjikistan, Uzbekistan and a new state of Pashtunistan. Cooperation between the region’s states will be necessary to achieve this monumental change, but the change will respond to historic needs and realities of separate nations.

The Taliban? The violent actions of the Taliban are more a problem of retributions for past offenses against Pashtu people than a potentially successful takeover of the Afghan government. Social, economic, cultural and political skills will be needed instead of guns and steel.

If the US government escalates the violence, it will beome a greater part of the problems in the “stans” instead of becoming a part of the solution. Russia thought its military could control Afganistan to serve Russian interests. Russian mothers bemoaned the loss of their sons as Russian military forces took successive pounding before eventually withdrawing. There is no military solution to be had in Afganistan. Seven years of war, bombing of Pastu, Tadjik, Uzbek and other lands have produced nothing but enemies and more violence. More military action will produce more violence and no solutions.

(c) 2008 Center for World Indigenous Studies

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July 25, 2008 by Jay Taber.

• Progress is a lethal concept.
• Arrogance and ignorance go hand in hand.
• Democracy is an indigenous invention.

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July 24, 2008 by Jay Taber.

Sacred Land Film Project takes us on a journey to authenticity, graciously guided by indigenous songs, dances and images from contemporary ceremony and celebration. There is much here to enjoy and inspire, so take some time to view the photos and film clips at your leisure.

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July 23, 2008 by Jay Taber.

The coastal temperate rain forest of North America, extending from Cook Inlet (Alaska) to Big Sur (California), is a magnificent incubator of Pacific salmon and steelhead trout. Historically, the Sacramento River was second only to the Columbia River in salmon production for this region. In modern times, both these and many other rivers in this rain forest have suffered from the thoughtless construction of impassable dams like Elwha, Grand Coulee and Shasta. While Elwha Dam is planned for removal, Grand Coulee remains a formidable obstacle in re-establishing the salmon economies of the Flathead, Kootenai, Shuswap, Kalispell and Spokan Indians. The proposed raising of Shasta Dam is presently opposed by the Winnemem Wintu.

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