This week, a delegation from the United Nations will be in Washington, D.C. to meet with the Department of the Interior about the potential of having the United States accept the U.N.'s proposed Declaration of Indigenous Rights. It is unlikely that you will hear about this meeting in the press or elsewhere, so I thought this would be an appropriate vehicle for spreading some information...

In 1992 (the 500th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in the Americas), the United Nations declared the decade from 1995-2004 as the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People. In 2005, the U.N. decided to declare a second decade for the World's Indigenous People.

Part of the efforts of the U.N. during this time has been to develop the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. This document can be viewed by clicking here. The actual declaration begins on page 105 of the document, which contains numerous other issues on human rights. The draft declaration is very readable and direct, and I highly suggest taking the 15 minutes or so needed to digest the document.

From my discussions with Jose Carlos Morales, the director of the Kan Tan project in Boruca and a member of the group involved in the writing and ratification of this document, I was surprised to hear that the U.S. is somewhat close to accepting this document. Whether the goverment will follow the declarations of the document is questionable, considering the financial implications of adhering to the proclomations. Regardless, if the U.S. accepts this document, it will allow other countries that rely heavily upon U.S. aid and diplomacy to ratify the declaration, which they are hesitant to do at this point due to the consequences of disagreeing with the U.S. on issues with global implications.

If, after reading this document, you find yourself in agreement with the declaration and find it to be an important step in the reconciliation of the continuing conflict between "Western civilization" and indigenous culture, please call (Phone: 202-208-3100) or e-mail (webteam@ios.doi.gov) the Department of the Interior to voice your support for this important document. Hell, if you disagree with it, call as well. At least read the document and listen to some of the concerns and issues facing indigenous populations around the world.

Now for my $0.02...

I have decided to expend much of my energy during the past year or so in indigenous communities for numerous reasons. Many of these reasons cannot be explained in a short entry here... but one of my major reasons can be: PLACE. In my travels around the U.S., Canada, and now Costa Rica, I have been amazed by the number of communities that have turned their cultures over to corporations. I have seen similar buildings, built with similar materials in California, Maine, Costa Rica, and Alberta, Canada. If I had wanted to, I could have bought the same exact meal, from the same exact menu, from the same exact company in all of these places (Pizza Hut, Burger King, McDonalds, Subway, etc.). I could have shopped at Office Depot or Best Buy or Wal*Mart or Target or... in all of these places. If you are paying attention, you are witnessing the homogenization of culture.

What are the reasons for this? I have many theories... insecurity, familiarity, fear, spiritual emptiness. Whatever the reason, the current transition is a very dangerous one for the future of human societies. Homogenization and assimilation are very inefficient from a resource management standpoint. For example, eating bananas in non-tropical locales requires an enormous amount of energy for transportation and reduces the nutrition of the food because it is selected for characteristics that are more desirable for long transport than for its nourishment.

While this problem may be corrected in the future as markets crash and issues of sustainability become even more urgent, we are threatening the extinction of the ways of life that were based on place - the traditional knowledge of indigenous populations. For those that truly believe that the U.S. and its allies represent the freest nations to have ever existed on this planet, I urge then to attempt to live a lifestyle of sustenance. Unless one already has a great deal of money or land, it is nearly impossible to live a life centered on the production of foods and protection for one's family. I find this to be quite an aberration, especially when the past teaches us that the most egalitarian communities were those based on this way of life...

The U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is a critical document for humanity because it represents a step towards returning the rights of ancestral lands to those peoples whose cultures are centered on those lands, as well as autonomy to nations that have been subjected to the governmental forms of the European/U.S. worldview since 1492. If we are truly a country committed to freedom, it is the least that we can do.