July 13, 2010 by Jay Taber.

Tutoring Obama

The Obama Administration is the first presidency to deny the right of travel to members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. As the six nations that tutored the founders of the United States on democratic governance, the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) have maintained their independence, including the right to issue their own passports. Now, it seems, as Obama drags his feet on abiding by international law when it comes to indigenous nations, the Haudenosaunee may have to look to international institutions to guarantee their human rights.

Update: After a five-day standoff with the State Department, they thought they were on their way, but due to power-tripping by the US and Britain, have now had to forfeit their game against England in the world championships. The Haudenosaunee dispute with Canada, home to half the team’s players, has a long involved history.

Posted in Daily | Print | No Comments »

July 13, 2010 by Jay Taber.

David M. Green looks at the subject of international governance through the lens of the International Criminal Court, an institution opposed by the United States.

The ICC is living testimony to the fact that the world is moving – slowly, to be sure – away from the anarchy of the classic Westphalian System, and dragging the most recalcitrant regressive reprobates (you know who we are) along with it. It’s not an easy trick, in part because there is a real legitimacy to the idea of not universalizing all, or even most, policy issues, but only those which absolutely must be located at a global level, retaining the rest for national, provincial and local polities to grapple with as they individually see fit. This is the doctrine of subsidiarity, a key notion in the practice of federalism, that stipulates policy decisions should always be made at the lowest level pragmatically possible, and it’s a good idea.

Posted in Daily | Print | No Comments »

July 13, 2010 by Mirjam Hirch.

There is lots of power in indigenous knowledge holders coming together at international venues such as the conference on health promotion IUHPE currently taking place at Geneva. While in 2004 indigenous representatives still were not truly taking part in this important event, nowadays, after lots of indigenous lobbying there are many indigenous oral presentation sessions, guided poster tours as well as a daily symposium in which people share their stories about health promotion activities that are greatly successful in indigenous communities and which are based on culturally appropriate approaches and interventions.

`There have been far too many of our people dying far too young,` Bernadette, an Aboriginal woman from the Northern Territories simply explains her motivation to dedicate her life to safe lives. Alexandra from Canada reflects: `My motivation going into medicine was I`ve seen all the deficits. I was drawn into it because of all the health inequalities.`

The lack of appropriate assessment tools for indigenous peoples is recognized. Carol a First nations healer promptly shares her experiences with native drug and alcohol abuse programs in Canada: `We do not assess by deficits, but by cultural strength.` Cultural identity has a big part in the assessments and healing in these programs.

In line with this Morgan from New South Wales maintains about evaluation: `We have to get accepted all forms of evidence, not just the western model. Evaluation can be a narrative or a story.` `However it is a matter of have the will to do the funding,` another indigenous delegate adds.
`We have to discuss colonization, not only passed but present Alexandra summarizes the day`s symposium in her concluding remarks.

Posted in Artby - Mirjam Hirch, Health, Daily | Print | No Comments »