Indigenous Youth Excluded from UN Climate Summit

On September 21 the United Nations held its first-ever Youth Climate Summit, but Indigenous youth were excluded from the sessions. They were given their own event, which was poorly attended. Makasa Looking Horse was invited to open the youth summit with a blessing. The 25-year-old leader is Lakota and Mohawk from Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. She is the daughter of Chief Arvol Looking Horse, the 19th generation keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Woman pipe.

"I did not come here to play, or this isn't for show," she said, holding the pipe ahead of her prayer.

Looking Horse told youth delegates that the White Buffalo Calf Woman "declared we treat all of creation with respect to honor our mother," adding "she warned my people of the time we are in today, and that she would return to help us as a white buffalo calf."

She said that prophesy has begun. "I will honor her today for asking, honor her today for her blessing to guide us, the seventh generation."

Beyond the blessing, the Indigenous youth felt excluded from the summit and left feeling dejected, they said.

"They need to provide space and get Indigenous people there in those spaces to truly make a difference, I think, because we already have the knowledge, we already know what we're doing. We know what we want," Looking Horse told APTN (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network) News.

"There was a disconnect," she said, adding the global youth and Indigenous youth were "both talking about the same thing, and we're in two different rooms. And I think that speaks volumes about how this topic is treated regarding Indigenous people."

Looking Horse said she valued the time she was given to open the youth summit with a blessing, but said knowledge like the teachings of the White Buffalo Calf Woman pipe will not be heard if Indigenous peoples aren't meaningfully included in plans for climate action.

"The message that the White Buffalo Calf Woman gave us was to always work in unity and keep praying together with our bundles, our pipes, because that's the only way that we will get through the tough times that are coming," she said.

Shaman Walking to Moscow to Expel Putin Arrested

According to Amnesty International, a Siberian shaman walking across Russia to Moscow and promising to use his shamanic powers to "purge" President Vladimir Putin in 2021, was abducted by a squad of masked law enforcement officials and held in an undisclosed location. When citizens disagree with their government, there are many ways to voice opposition -- whether it's through protests or voting in an election. Alexander Gabyshev, a shaman from Russia's republic of Sakha in Siberia, was taking a different approach. The shaman left Yakutsk, capital of the vast Sakha Republic, on March 6 this year. The 51-year old ethnic Yakut shaman calls his quest divinely ordained, and insists that Putin is a manifestation of dark forces which must be banished to save Russia from ruin. God had one condition: Gabyshev had to reach Moscow on foot, which would allow him to muster the strength needed for the final showdown.

Gabyshev began his odyssey in March, promising to walk more than 8,000 kilometers (4,970 miles) from his native Yakutia region to the Russian capital. To meet his goal of reaching Moscow by August 2021, Gabyshev walked 20 kilometers each day. With him, he towed an aluminum cart holding all his possessions, including a portable yurt, a stove, clothes and provisions. He stopped in towns and cities along the way, giving sermons and meeting with local opposition activists with the goal of inspiring a nationwide democratic movement. Chronicles of his journey, which take the form of short video addresses from roadside campsites and short exchanges with passing drivers and long-distance truckers, have won Gabyshev a huge following in Russia. As the shaman has gained more sympathizers, he has become something of an opposition politician.

But police in Buryatia said on Thursday they had arrested Gabyshev on a highway in Siberia in connection with an unspecified crime in Yakutia and that they would fly him there. Gabyshev had walked nearly 3,000 kilometers by Thursday. When asked about Gabyshev's arrest, the Kremlin said it was impossible to keep track of all the criminal cases in Russia.

Amnesty International condemned the arrest in eastern Siberia. "The shaman's actions may be eccentric, but the Russian authorities' response is grotesque. Alexander Gabyshev should be free to express his political views and exercise his religion just like anyone else," Amnesty's Russia Director Natalia Zviagina said in a statement.