Indigenous
Peoples Forum
on the Impact of the Doctrine of Discovery
on the Impact of the Doctrine of Discovery
Call for
Collective Corrective Action
to Address Violations of
Human Rights - Indigenous Rights - Rights of Mother Earth
to Address Violations of
Human Rights - Indigenous Rights - Rights of Mother Earth
We call for this process to continue and prevail in the Spirit of Truth over the distortions of doctrine, not for merely for the purpose of redress of past violations but to actually engage in collective corrective action in order to move forward with Self Determination towards our common destiny as Humanity and in maturity as Children of the Nations and Pueblos of Mother Earth.
Phoenix, AZ – In
a historic act of presence and testament of Indigenous Nationhood and Self
Determination, an Indigenous Peoples Forum convened on the floor of the Arizona
State House of Representatives last week to address the impact of the Doctrine of Discovery on Indigenous Peoples from a range of perspectives that ranged
from the O’otham Hemuchkam to the academic, from the legal to the educational,
and from the economic to the cultural. The event was organized by the Nahuacalli, Embassy of
Indigenous Peoples as an expression of Self Determination and to move with
healing into the future of the Nican Tlacah Ilhuitl, Indigenous Peoples Day.
The event was
hosted by the Native American Caucus of the Arizona State Legislature, and
presided over by the O’otham Hemuchkam upon whose traditional territories as
O’otham Nations the capitol complex now stands. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on September 13, 2007
served as reference and standard of protocol for the Indigenous Peoples Forum.
Taking reference from the UNDRIP, one
of the official documents of the Forum read: “As Indigenous Peoples we are
Peoples, equal to all other peoples, and our histories are equally part of the weave of Human Memory globally, and as such must be taken into account on an equal basis without discrimination
to provide the necessary foundation for public policies of fairness and
justice, in education and the
delivery of services of public health
and public safety by the states.”
The
event was also streamed globally live from the floor of the state capitol
complex via internet and is now an official proceeding to be archived within
the processes of the Arizona State legislature. A report of the Indigenous Peoples Forum on the Doctrine of
Discovery, including the video record, will be submitted to the 11th
Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues(UNPFII). The Doctrine of
Discovery is to be the subject of a Special Theme for discussion on the agenda
of the next session of the UNPFII in May 2012 in New York.
Going
beyond the agenda of the UN, the Indigenous Peoples Forum also called for
Collective Corrective Actions to be taken at all levels, from the local and
community, to the regional and continental in order to bring to light the
violations of Human Rights and Indigenous Rights which have been perpetrated
and continue to damage the Spirit of Humanity under the guise of the “Doctrine
of Discovery” and the underlying “Framework of Domination”.
Among
the presenters who addressed the Indigenous Forum on the Doctrine of Discovery
on Friday March 23 was Professor Robert Miller of Lewis and Clark University
who expounded on the historical and conceptual connections between the Doctrine
of Discovery and the doctrine of Manifest Destiny, including the framing of US
jurisdiction over the Indigenous Peoples of North America based upon the
Marshall Trilogy and the Johnson v. McIntosh decision by the US Supreme Court in 1823.
Steve
Newcomb, of the Indigenous Law Institute revealed the underlying Framework of Domination that prescribes the imposition by colonization of the Doctrine of
Discovery and the Yoke of Subjugation that is the history of US Federal Indian
Law. He also revealed the lineage
of racial profiling and “white privilege” that derives from the Doctrine of
Discovery that is codified in the Federal and State Constitutions and Colonial Charters which serve to this day as the Organic Acts for the justification of
jurisdiction by the states of the Americas (Arizona included) over the inherent
rights of self determination of the Indigenous Peoples as Nations. Under the standards of the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, these regimes of conception
are now unacceptable at the global level, and at the local level it is the
intent of the Indigenous Peoples Forum to bring forward the necessary systemic
standards as collective corrective actions under the protocols of the UNDRIP
and the Prerogatives of the Peoples: Tehan Titlacah.
Attorney Julie
Cavanaugh Bill and Larson Bill of the Western Shoshone Defense Project, gave an
in depth report on how the battle of the Western Shoshone to defend their rights
of Self Determination under the 1863 Ruby Valley Treaty with the US Government
has led them into the battle fields of the US Courts, the Inter-American Court
of Human Rights, and the UN Commission for the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination (CERD) in Geneva., Switzerland.
The Western Shoshone, in particular through the efforts of Carrie Dann
and her sister Mary Dann for decades have been at the forefront of the
international struggle for Indigenous Rights and are known around the world for
their persistence and the integrity of their legal position. For the Western Shoshone the principles
of jurisprudence that provide the lens of definition for the issues are the
Sacred Laws of Relationship among the Four Elements of the Natural World:
Land-Air-Water-Spirit: LAWS.
La Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras (Indigenous Alliance Without Borders)
represented by Monica Carrasco, gave a sweeping presentation on the regional
aspects of 500 years of colonization from the perspective of the Nations and
Pueblos of Indigenous Peoples whose territories were divided by the imposition
of the international border between the US and Mexico in 1848 with the Treaty
of Guadalupe Hidalgo and then again in 1853 with the Gadsden Purchase. The lack of Free, Prior and Informed
Consent with Indigenous Peoples in the processes that led to these
international agreements among the government states in the territory is a clear
violation of the Human Rights, Indigenous Rights including rights of mobility and territorial rights
that are now inscribed in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples adopted on September 13, 2007. These violations are exacerbated even
further by the economic policies of exploitation and expropriation of the
natural resources and labor of Indigenous Peoples under the NAFTA regime.
Coming
from Santa Maria Ocotan in the state of Durango, Mexico Virginia Flores Flores of the O’dam Nation spoke in her native language to the assembly of Indigenous
Peoples and special guests who attended the event at the State Capitol, filling
the floor of the House of Representatives and spilling into the upper level
balcony. She spoke in O’dam and
was understood by the attending O’otham Hemuchkam who nodded their heads in appreciation
for her message as she spoke.
Virginia spoke of the history of the migrations and displacements that
her O’dam relatives in Mexico have experiences going back for centuries, and
even thousands of years. She told
the story of how she came to speak at the Indigenous Peoples Forum after having
participated with the Nahuacalli, Embassy of Indigenous Peoples at a similar
event in Mexico City three years ago.
Since that first meeting in Mexico, she came to Arizona last year and
now this time she is meeting with local O’otham Peoples to realize a gathering
of the O’dam of Durango Mexico with the O’Otham of Sonora and Arizona. The O’dam of Durango possess a vast
territorial base along the eastern flank of the Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico
and number over 15,000 members many of whom are fluent O’dam speakers.
Gustavo
Gutierrez, elder of the Opata Nation brought forty years of perspective to the
event by relating the stories of the battles fought at the Arizona State
legislature during the Farm worker Movement days of Cesar Chavez, when Native
American leaders joined forces with the movement to organize for public
policies of social justice.
Gustavo strongly denounced the “ethnic cleansing” policies that would
try to define Xicano Mexicano families as “Latinos or Hispanics”, caused by the
trauma inflicted over generations by the Doctrine of Discovery. He denounced
these policies as a premeditated pogrom of “psychological mind warfare” whose
purpose is the imposition of a regime of intellectual apartheid in Arizona by
the European American elites on both sides of the border working in collusion.
One
of the specific local issues brought forward to Indigenous Peoples Forum was
the demand by two traditional Mexican indigenous communities of the territory, the Tlamanalco and the Izkaloteca. These two Callpolli presented a DEMAND to
the Arizona Department of Education culminating a ceremonial three day run from
Tucson to Phoenix earlier in the month that called for instruction on the
impact of the Doctrine of Discovery in the pubic schools across the state.
As
stated on March 12, 2012 in the Nahuacalli Educators Alliance “In Imiuh Tenamaztle” communiqué to Mr. John Huppenthal Office of Superintendent of
Public Instruction:
“In light of the fact that there is absolutely NO REFERENCE in the current Arizona State Curriculum Standards for a track of study on the relevance of the Doctrine of Discovery in terms of Social Studies, History or Public Policy:
We demand that the Preliminary Study on the Doctrine of Discovery, submitted to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues be integrated into the Social Studies Curriculum standards immediately for implementation across the spectrum of services delivered by the Arizona Department of Education at all levels across the state with no exceptions."
On
Monday March 26, 2012 the NAHUACALLI received a response to this demand from
the offices of Superintendent Huppenthal written by Andrew T. LeFevre, Director
of Public Relations Arizona Department of Education that stated:
"Per our discussion while you were at ADE, I wanted to contact you
regarding your request to meet with the Superintendent regarding the United
Nations report “Preliminary Study on the Impact of Doctrine Discovery” and the
inclusion of doctrine discovery in Arizona’s state standards and curriculum.
The Superintendent appreciates you bringing this issue to his
attention and will review the information you provided and then bring it to the
attention of the State Legislature and the State Board of Education for their
consideration. As we discussed last Friday, the Arizona Department of
Education does not set the curriculum standards for the state, that authority
is reserved for the legislature and State Board. If those bodies
determine that this should be included in the state standards, then ADE will
work to ensure compliance with their directives."
The
Indigenous Peoples Forum event concluded with a traditional meal at the
NAHUACALLI, Embassy of Indigenous Peoples. A working group based out of the Nahuacalli will continue to
compile the report of the Indigenous Peoples Forum on the Impact of the Doctrine
of Discovery for submission in May to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous
Issues.
One part of the task at hand is to disseminate the UNPFII Preliminary Report on the Impact of the Doctrine of Discovery in the Spanish language for comment and evaluation by the Indigenous Movement in Mexico, an assignment that Virginia Flores Flores has assumed with the support of the Nahuacalli.
One part of the task at hand is to disseminate the UNPFII Preliminary Report on the Impact of the Doctrine of Discovery in the Spanish language for comment and evaluation by the Indigenous Movement in Mexico, an assignment that Virginia Flores Flores has assumed with the support of the Nahuacalli.
The blog site
for the Indigenous Peoples Forum on the Impact of the Doctrine of Discovery
will remain open for submission by Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous
Organizations, and individual allies and colleagues until May 2012.
###
NAHUACALLI
Embassy of Indigenous Peoples
www.nahuacalli.org
a TONATIERRA project
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