Sioux Nation Defends Its Waters from Pipeline

Elder Addressing Crowd

According to the Standing Rock Sioux Chairman, the Dakota Access Pipeline "Is Threatening the Lives of My Tribe." In North Dakota, indigenous activists are continuing to protest the proposed $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline, which they say would threaten to contaminate the Missouri River. More than a thousand indigenous activists from dozens of different tribes across the country have traveled to the Sacred Stone Spirit Camp, which was launched on April 1 by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The protests have so far shut down construction along parts of the pipeline. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has also sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over its approval of the pipeline. Read more at Democracy Now. Photo by Shane Balkowitsch: Dakota Access Pipeline Native American protest site, on Highway 1806 near Cannonball, ND.

Battling for the Earth: the Huicholes

In the fight for the land against mining multinationals, the Huicholes represent us all. They are the last Peyote Guardians.

In his two-hour indie documentary, Huicholes: The Last Peyote Guardians, Hernán Vilchez captures one of the last Mesoamerican civilizations to preserve their distinctive way of life in an ever-globalizing world – still able, until now. The Huicholes tribe has been a largely resilient culture that lives in parallel to contemporary Mexico. Carbon dating proves their people’s existence long before Christ and their beliefs predate those of mainstream religions, practicing an early form of animistic and pantheistic mysticism.

Every year they perform an 800-kilometre pilgrimage to the top of the Cerro Quemado, a sacred mountain in the fertile semi-desert area of Catorce, where the hallucinogenic Peyote cactus grows. Eating the fleshy gourd is at the heart of the tribe’s spiritual knowledge and core to their existence, connecting them to their ancestors and guardian spirits through psychedelic visions.

The earth where the cacti cultivate has evaded drought – which is widespread in surrounding regions – but is now falling foul to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). N.A.F.T.A. grants mining concessions to Canadian multinationals out to quarry natural riches in the Huicholes’ holy land. Read more.

Huichol Shaman photo by Kila: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Huichol_shaman.jpg

Bolivia's Law of Mother Earth

Imagine a lake having the same rights as a landowner. Or a condor with the same rights as a child. Under Bolivia's historic Law of Mother Earth ("Ley de Derechos de La Madre Tierra"), signed into law in 2010, all entities in nature have equal rights to humans. The law holds the land as sacred and holds it as a living system with rights to be protected from exploitation. Based on Andean spiritual principles, the law was enacted in an effort to curb climate change and the exploitation of Bolivia's natural resources. It spells out seven specific rights that nature and all its constituents have. Read nature's rights and find out more about this groundbreaking, comprehensive plan to protect the environment.

For The Next 7 Generations

For The Next 7 Generations is a documentary that reveals the importance of Indigenous knowledge in our world today as shared by thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, wise elders, shamans and medicine women, from all four corners of the world. In 2004, thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers from around the world, moved by their concern for our planet, came together at a historic gathering, where they decided to form an alliance: The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers. This is their story. Four years in-the-making and shot on location in the Amazon rainforest, the mountains of Mexico, North America, and at a private meeting with the Dalai Lama in India, For the Next 7 Generations follows what happens when these wise women unite. This film reveals timeless wisdom to help us make a difference in our every day lives in service of peace, of Mother Earth and healing in the world. Watch the trailer.

Global Indigenous Wisdom Summit 2015

The second annual Global Indigenous Wisdom Summit 2015 (GIWS) is a powerful 3-day no-cost event taking place November 17-19 -- online and on the phone -- where thousands of Indigenous brothers and sisters and their kindred relations from around the world are gathering to learn how the human family can overcome our challenges and walk a unified path of healing and sacred action.

Some of the world's most esteemed Indigenous voices will share prayers, sacred songs, prophecies, spiritual teachings and pathways to healing. They'll also highlight concrete examples for birthing a new era -- one in which ALL beings are treated with respect, understanding, compassion and justice.

On Day 3, the summit will be hosting an exciting "Festival of the Americas" Video Day, featuring interviews conducted at The Indigenous Summit of the Americas in Panama. Through these powerful interviews, Indigenous leaders are able to share their sacred wisdom with our global community and ignite entire generations to launch a culturally and spiritually-based movement of unprecedented, unified action.

When you sign up for The Global Indigenous Wisdom Summit, you'll be inspired by the many positive and constructive aspects that are coming to fruition based upon sacred Indigenous principles. You'll also discover why NOW is the time to start co-creating a harmonious world that can fully realize the unlimited potential of the human family -- both individually and collectively. And it's all absolutely FREE! Get all the details, and sign up here: www.indigenouswisdomsummit.com.

A Shaman's Perspective on Western Civilization

Davi Kopenawa has been dubbed the Dalai Lama of the Rainforest and is considered one of the most influential tribal leaders in Brazil. The Yanomami number about 30,000 and occupy a vast territory stretching across northern Brazil and southern Venezuela. They only made full contact with the west in the 1950s when their lands were overrun by thousands of gold prospectors and loggers. After waves of epidemics and cultural and environmental devastation, one in three of all Yanomami, including Davi's mother, died.

Davi's experience of white people has been dreadful but he is unusual because he trained not just as a shaman but also worked with the Brazilian government as a guide and learned western languages. In the past 25 years, he has traveled widely to represent indigenous peoples in meetings and, having lived in both societies, he has a unique viewpoint of western culture. With the help of an anthropologist, Bruce Albert, who interviewed him over several years, he has written his autobiography The Falling Sky: Words of a Yanomami Shaman. It is not just an insight into what a Yanomami leader really thinks, but a devastating critique of how the west lives, showing the gulf between primordial forest and modern city world views. By way of his autobiography, and other conversations, the Guardian News recently compiled several of Kopenawa's observations. Read More.