for immediate release-an indigenous call to the human family-rio+20

7/31/2019 For Immediate Release-An Indigenous Call to the Human Family-Rio+20

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For Immediate Release

The Fourth Way-An Indigenous

Contribution to Building Sustainable andHarmonious Prosperity in the Americas and

Beyond

Presented by Sun Dance Chief Rueben George, Tsliel-Waututh NationandHereditary Chief Phil Lane Jr, Ihanktonwan Dakota and Chickasaw Nations

Rio+20, June 14, 2012, Rio de Janeiro
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface 3

Introduction 7

The Sixteen Guiding Principles 9

A Brief History of the Sixteen Principles 13

An Indigenous Perspective 14

Indigenous Response 15

Indigenous Analysis 16

Towards Implementing the Fourth World Strategy 18

An Indigenous Cultural and Spiritual Awakening and Growing Unity 20

So Whats the Fourth Way? 21

Is This Realistic? 24

Conclusion 25

An Indigenous-to-Indigenous Call For Action 26

PREFACE

The Fourth Way is movement of the Human Family to address the unfolding crisis of the

21st

century, a crisis of multiple dimensions that has slowly revealed itself over the last 12

years since the first Draft of the Fourth Way was published. The dimensions and the scope

of this crisis are unprecedented in that it is global and multifaceted involving the prospect

of economic, political, social and ecological chaos. The result of this crisis is the birthing of

a fundamental organic change on a level few Human beings now contemplate.

The inhabitants of Mother Earth now face a choice, will we will emerge from this crisis into

a new golden age of human understanding rapidly or will we will continue to witness

greater and greater social conflict, increasing human suffering, and the loss of ecological

health and democratic society until we truly believe that we can build a New World

Civilization, based in the Oneness of the Human Family and all Living Beings, free of

inequality, injustice and abuse of any form.


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This Global Transformation of consciousness will prove to be the greatest global challenge

experienced by the Human Family since the dawn of recorded Human History. This

transformation will change the very foundations of modern economics, the nation state, our

social structures, current agricultural and eating practices, religious cooperation and

respect and modern politics.

Stated simply, among other equally important dimensions, like the environment, we have

reached the end of a long cycle of credit and debt expansion increasingly characterized by

destructive asset bubbles, income stagnation, and the enormous concentration of wealth

and political power in the hands of corporate led global financial elite. The debt is now due

and it cannot be paid out of current income. In addition to un-payable debt, we face a huge

volume of derivatives on that debt that would come due if and when the debt goes into

default. Since the debt cannot be paid, we face the prospect of a global crisis that will

unravel the established financial and political order on a global basis.

If you add to the mix the impact of a hard landing in China, the potential for serious

global economic problems is now clear. The struggle of ordinary people for economicsurvival, political power, and even for the right to have a degree of personal privacy and

autonomy will characterize the next years. Modern communications, computing power,

and crowd suppression techniques have radically increased the capacity to track and

record all human interactions whether via telephone, cell phone, e-mail, car, train, bus or

plane, and to brutally suppress all dissent. This has all happened in the last 5 years.

Equally, if utilized in a collaboratively, principle-centered, purposeful manner these digital

communications technologies can be invaluable tools to for forging a whole new social,

political, economic, spiritual, cultural relationship between all Members of the Human

Family!

Our environment is increasingly unstable as our climate changes. The last several yearshave been some of the hottest on record and we are witnessing unprecedented drought

conditions in many parts of the world. The severity of storms is increasing and we have

seen several category 5 tornados wreak havoc in many parts of the world.

As the Fukushima nuclear disaster demonstrates, current designs expose us to the risk of

nuclear meltdowns if power and water are cut off to any nuclear plantand there are

thousands globally. We have entered into a new age of energy insecurity.

Modern corporate agricultural techniques destroy soil health, compromise water quality

and create huge dead zones in our gulfs and bays. Confined animal feeding operations add

to the environmental havoc. Traditional farmers are placed at a huge disadvantage as

developed economies continue crop subsidies, and other policies that destroy rural

economies in the developing world.

Meanwhile, human health is deteriorating at a rapid pace as an epidemic of diabetes,

obesity, and heart disease devastates the developed world. Food prices are rising while the

nutritional quality of food deteriorates. We need to return to a diet of fresh whole foods

such as pioneered by our Indigenous brothers and sisters.


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The Fourth Way points the way for Indigenous Peoples to return to their roots and in the

process contribute to the survival of ourHuman Family and to the protection, health and

restoration of our Mother Earth. We must relearn the contributions Indigenous Peoples

have made to human health and prosperity, to cooperative human social institutions,

democratic governance, and human dignity and equality so that we can apply those lessons

to the crisis at hand. We must re-learn to tools of human survival through cooperativeeffort, partnership, trust and reciprocity. So let us review some of this history.

After a long winter time of loss and grieving it is now time for the Indigenous Peoples of

Mother Earth to awaken and help lead us through the struggles ahead. The winter for the

Indigenous Peoples of the Americas and beyond has lasted over 500 years. It was

introduced by a great die-off of 90-95% of all indigenous Peoples in the Americas, most

as the result of European diseases which killed them before they ever saw a European.

Charles Mann, in his book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus,

quotes scholars who believe that 80-100 million Indigenous Peoples perished from disease

by the mid- 1600s, a catastrophe on an even greater scale than the black deaths inEurope. Many more died afterwards as the direct result of hostile colonial policies. Thus,

Indigenous Peoples have been subjected to profound challenges resulting from

intergenerational trauma, the loss of identity, and culture, and have experienced great

poverty and abuse. Indigenous people need to reclaim their cultures, values and traditions

and to take advantage of collective material resources to play a key role in humanitys

advancement thus fulfilling their highest potential.

History shows that Indigenous Peoples made important contributions to the Human

Family before the devastation of the long foretold, great spiritual wintertime. If we start

with food we find that 85% of the foods we eat each day throughout our Mother Earth

were developed and cultivated by Indigenous agronomists in the Americas before theEuropean conquest. The development of many of these foods represented remarkable

scientific accomplishments. Europeans used these new foods to improve health and

nutrition leading to a population explosion throughout Europe, especially in Ireland and

Scotland ultimately increasing the number of colonists in the New World. These foods

include potatoes, corn, peanuts, squash, tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, chocolate, and many

types of beans, berries and fruits.

Further, tobacco, sugar cane, and rubber were developed in the Americas and had a

profound impact on global economic growth as did the North American fur trade.

Indigenous agronomists developed a form of cotton that had longer fibers and made

weaving cloth much easier. Europeans had previously worn mostly linen and wool.

Indigenous weavers wove some of the finest cotton cloth available anywhere and wore these

colorful clothes every day. Many of the great fortunes of Europe and their colonies and the

leisurely cultured lives of the economic elite were based on these Indigenous products and

on black slavery. See Jack Weatherford, Native Roots, Indian Givers.

The gold and silver of the Americas increased the supply of money and lead to great

fortunes throughout Europe. The discovery of an island off the coast of Ecuador with


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hundreds of feet of compacted bird droppings fertilized the crops of Europe until the

development of petroleum based fertilizers. The bounty of foods, timber, minerals, fertile

land, and the oil and gas found throughout the Americas truly made the developed world

we see today.

Indigenous Peoples gave the world its first view of human freedom. While most assumethat Indigenous Peoples of North America adapted to the colonists, the facts show that, at

least in the beginning in North America, the adaptation went the other way and fused into

a unique Americanism. As Ian Fraizer notes in his book On the Rez, when Columbus

landed, there were about eleven people in Europe who could do whatever they felt like

doing. In many parts of the Americas tens of millions of Indigenous Peoples customarily

lived as they pleased via the Indigenous Legal Order. The colonists saw this and concluded

that if Indigenous Peoples lived in freedom no tyranny can hold us. Every day examples

of individual freedom among the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas inspired writers

throughout Europe and helped spur the Enlightenment and the American and French

Revolutions. These writers included Rousseau, John Locke, Thomas Moore, Voltaire,

Jefferson and even Shakespeare. See Jose Barreiro, Indian Roots of American Democracy.Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington all spoke Mohawk and had

on-going dialogue with Iroquois Confederacy.

Members of the Iroquois Confederacy attended extensive meetings with the colonists in the

years before the American Revolution and advised unity based on a system of self

government similar to the Confederacy that ruled the Iroquois Confederacy. The Iroquois

Confederacy lasted for centuries, keeping the peace across a broad swath of North America

and was a fundamental influence in the manifestation of the Federal system adopted by

United States and the ideals embodied in Declaration of Independence.

In many nations women were well respected, and exercised real power. In some cases,

tribal societies were matriarchal. Most tribes were egalitarian and accepted each tribal

member for the contributions they could each make to the welfare of the tribe. Even highly

specialized civilizations like the Aztecs, Incas and Mayans, despite questions and

discussions needed to understand some of the perceived excesses of these cultures, offered

better nutrition, better hygiene, and a better standard of living than did any European

society. The largest and most prosperous cities in the world were found in the Americas

during much of early history.

Europeans were amazed at the bounty of available foods and at the fact that many

Indigenous Peoples were taller and healthier than most Europeans. Many Indigenous

Peoples learned to use such bounty in an egalitarian and sustainable way. The Iquitos area

of the Northern Peruvian Amazon is still considered one of the most bio-diverse regions of

the world. In 1542, one explorer Francisco de Orellana remarked that there was enough

food in one village to feed an army of a thousand for one year. This abundance of food was

found throughout the Americas, but has since been lost and replaced by the non-

sustainable agricultural practices and mono-cropping techniques that characterize modern


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farming. This has led to the loss of knowledge of the techniques of permaculture that

served Indigenous Peoples for centuries. Now most Indigenous Peoples suffer from levels

of malnutrition and chronic disease that were unknown before colonization. All of this

will be reversed by a revival of the farming and permaculture techniques pioneered by

Indigenous Peoples.

One example of sustainable farming technology was the development of terra preta or

Indian dark earth by Indigenous Peoples in the Amazon. This ingenious combination of

partially combusted organic material (a form of charcoal), with pottery shards stimulated

micro fauna and created high levels of microbial biomass dramatically increasing soil

fertility and allowing the soil to be worked for years with minimal fertilization. The

Kayapo in central Amazonia continue to create terra preta today. Instead of destroying

soil fertility, Indigenous people learned how to improve the soil in a sustainable way,

something that modern humans have not yet learned to do. In fact, it is now thought that

much of the Amazon basin was one huge permaculture providing a variety of healthy

sustainable foodall owing to the genius of the indigenous population that had learned to

work with and not against, Mother Earth. See, Charles C. Mann, 1491.

The Fourth Way will renew this tradition of working with Mother Nature in a way that

benefits all Members of the Human Family.

INTRODUCTION - The Fourth Way

The Fourth Way reflects the view that the Human Family is at a crossroad facing diverging

paths; on one side lays the path of conflict, militarism, economic insecurity and war, on the

other, a sacred path leading to mutual understanding, cooperation and sustainable,

harmonious prosperity. We, the likeminded Indigenous Peoples of Mother Earth, offer

the Fourth Way based on the conviction that Indigenous Peoples, in the fullest sense of ourunderstanding, have the vision, the guiding principles, the values, the growing capacity

and the collective resources to co-create a peaceful and harmonious future for our children

and grandchildren. We submit that our Indigenous Peoples who care for Mother Earth

and all living beings hold an important key to peace, security and sustainable well-being for

all members of the Human Family. In the Fourth Way we discuss the issues and outline a

strategy for the constructive engagement of all concerned. Our collective future is at stake.

The implementation of the Fourth Way requires each individual to look at the world

around us in a new way. We are accustomed to seeing the world through a prism uniquely

anchored in our own backgound, experience, and to the narrative or founding myth of

our Indigenous land or group. We are especially bound by religious belief and tradition.

We must learn to respect both religious belief and religious differences. The Fourth Way

respects all forms of religious belief, but also respects freedom of conscience. We must

learn to widen our prism to see and understand more than we did before, to see ourselves

as others see us and to see the issues we face from differing points of view. In the end we

must come to understand the true meaning of Black Elks vison, that despite our

differences, we are in fact, all related.


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BLACK ELKS VISION

Then I was standing on the highest mountain of them all, and round

about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world. And while I stood

there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I

was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit,

and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being.

And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops

that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the

center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one

mother and one father. And I saw that it was holy.

Then as I stood there, two men were coming from the east, head first

like arrows flying, and between them rose the Daybreak Star. They

came and gave a herb to me and said: "With this on earth you shall

undertake anything and do it." It was the Daybreak-Star herb, the herb

of understanding, and they told me to drop it on the earth. I saw it

falling far, and when it struck the earth it rooted and grew and

flowered, four blossoms on one stem, a blue, a white, a scarlet, and a

yellow; and the rays from these streamed upward to the heavens so

that all creatures saw it and in no place was there darkness.


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The Four Worlds Guiding Principles for Building a Sustainable and

Harmonious World

These 16 principles for building a sustainable and harmonious world community emerged

from a 40-year process of reflection, consultation and action within Indigenous

communities across the Americas. They are rooted in the concerns of hundreds of

aboriginal elders and leaders and thinkers, as well as in the best thinking of many non-

aboriginal scholars, researchers and human and community development practitioners.

These guiding principles constitute the foundation for the process of healing and

developing ourselves (mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually), our human

relationships (personal, social, political, economic, and cultural) and our relationship with

Mother Earth. They describe the way we must work and what we must protect andcherish.

We offer these principles as a gift to all who seek to build a sustainable and harmonious

world community.
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PREAMBLE

We speak as one, guided by the sacred teachings and spiritual traditions of the four

Directions that uplift, guide, protect, warn, inspire and challenge the entire human familyto live in ways that sustain and enhance human life and the lives of all who dwell on

Mother Earth, and hereby dedicate our lives and energies to healing and developing

ourselves, the web of relationships that make our world, and the way we live with Mother

Earth.

THE GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Starting from within, working in a circle, in a sacred manner,

we heal an develop ourselves, our relationships and our world.

STARTING FROM WITHIN

Human Beings Can Transform Their Worlds

The web of our relationships with others and the natural world, which has given rise to the

problems we face as a human family, can be changed.

Development Comes From Within

The process of human and community development unfolds from within each person,

relationship, family organization, community or nation.

No Vision, No Development

A vision of whom we can become and what a sustainable world would be like, works as a

powerful magnet, drawing us to our potential.


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Healing Is A Necessary Part Of Development

Healing the past, closing up old wounds and learning healthy habits of thought and action

to replace dysfunctional thinking and disruptive patterns of human relations is a necessary

part of the process of sustainable development.

WORKING IN A CIRCLE

Interconnectedness

Everything is connected to everything else; therefore, any aspect of our healing and

development is related to all the others (personal, social, cultural, political, economic, etc.).

When we work on any one part, the whole circle is affected.

No Unity, No Development

Unity means oneness. Without unity, the common oneness that makes (seemingly) separate

human beings into community is impossible. Disunity is the primary disease of

community.

No Participation, No Development

Participation is the active engagement of the minds, hearts and energy of the people in the

process of their own healing and development.


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Justice

Every person (regardless of gender, race, age, culture, religion, sexual orientation) must be

accorded equal opportunity to participate in the process of healing and development, andto receive a fair share of the benefits.

IN A SACRED MANNER

Spirit

Human beings are both material and spiritual in nature. It is therefore inconceivable that

human community could become whole and sustainable without bringing our lives intobalance with the requirements of our spiritual nature.

Morals and Ethics

Sustainable human and community development requires a moral foundation centered in

the wisdom of the heart. With the loss of this foundation, morals and ethical principles

decline and development stops.

The Hurt of One Is the Hurt of All: The Honor of One Is the Honor Of All


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The basic fact of our oneness as a human family means that development for some at the

expense of well being for others is not acceptable or sustainable.

Authentic Development Is Culturally Based

Healing and development must be rooted in the wisdom, knowledge and living processes of

the culture of the people.

WE HEAL AND DEVELOP OURSELVES, OUR RELATIONSHIPS AND OUR WORLD

Learning

Human beings are learning beings. We begin learning while we are still in our mothers

wombs, and unless something happens to close off our minds and paralyze our capacities,

we keep learning throughout our entire lives. Learning is at the core of healing and

development.

Sustainability

To sustain something means to enable it to continue for a long time. Authentic development

does not use up or undermine what it needs to keep on going.

Move to the Positive

Solving the critical problems in our lives and communities is best approached by

visualizing and moving into the positive alternative that we wish to create, and by building


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on the strengths we already have, rather than on giving away our energy fighting the

negative.

Be the Change You Want To See

The most powerful strategies for change always involve positive role modeling and the

creation of living examples of the solutions we are proposing. By walking the path, we

make the path visible.

A Brief History of the Sixteen Principles

The Sixteen Principles for Building a Harmonious and Sustainable World emerged from

an extensive process of consultation with Indigenous spiritual, cultural and community

leaders spanning more than two decades.

This consultation process began with an historic gathering that took place during the

closing days of December 1982, on the high plains of Southern Alberta. This gathering of

forty traditional elders and community leaders came together to find a solution to the

terrible darkness of substance abuse, poverty, suffering and death that seemed to have

engulfed nearly every Indigenous community in Canada and the United States, and toshare Indigenous visions and prophesies of the future.

Four core principles emerged from this traditional council that became the foundation and

guiding framework for extensive development, learning and action in hundreds of

communities around the world. These four core principles are as follows:

1. Development From Within

Healing and development must come from within the communities of people who desire

change, and must largely be directed by those people.

2. No Vision; No Development

If the people have no vision of human possibility other than the one in which they find

themselves, they cannot heal themselves, they cannot develop and, ultimately, they cannot

survive. Culture is the mother of vision. Developing people need to rediscover the life-

preserving, life-enhancing values and insights of their own traditional experience.


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3. Parallelism: Individual and Community Development are connected.

The development of individuals and the development of their families and communities go

hand-in-hand. Personal and social developments are interdependent.

4. A great Learning enterprise is required.

Learning drives the process of development. People have to learn how to live in the world

as individuals, families and communities in new ways that are life-preserving and life-

enhancing. Learning is the fundamental dynamic of human development.

Four years after the initial gathering (in 1987) another elders gathering was called to

review the work under way, and the original four principles were expanded to seven,

adding (at the direction of elders and spiritual leaders attending the second visioning

conference) such concepts as the spiritual and moral dimensions of development are

inescapable; development must be shaped and guided from within the culture of the

people, and the importance of integrating the top-down and bottom-up approaches,because both grassroots participation and strong leadership as well as effective institutions

are needed. In July, 1991, the American Indian Science and Engineering Society and Four

Worlds International sponsored a gathering of Native American elders in Loveland,

Colorado, to further discuss the Guiding Principles and Indigenous visions and prophesies

of the future.

Finally, for seven days, in the summers of 1993 and 1994, major conferences were held in

Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, attended by some five hundred Indigenous peoples each

year, for reflection and dialogue on their experiences in healing and developing their

communities. Based on this in-depth reflection and consultation process, Sixteen Guiding

Principles emerged that included past principles, but much more clearly reflected what hadbeen learned about what works, and what is needed in the process of community

transformation toward sustainable well-being and prosperity.

It is important to note that these Sixteen Guiding Principles have been tested and reviewed

by many Indigenous (and other) communities, and have been found to be an effective guide

for positive transformational processes. A principle is not a recipe, however; it is a

statement of fundamental truth. It describes the nature of things as they are, what is basic

or essential, what works and what doesnt, what must be included, and what cannot be left

out. These Sixteen Guiding Principles reflect the experiences and distilled wisdom of

hundreds of communities and Indigenous nations as they struggle to heal themselves and

develop a sustainable and harmonious pattern of life.

Finally, it is important to stress that these Sixteen Guiding Principles, as with all life, are in

draft. They are not the last word. We have certainly not learned all that we have to learn.

New guiding principles will emerge, and new insights about the meaning of the guiding

principles we already know will come to light. Consider this an invitation to dialogue.

An Indigenous Perspective


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The Indigenous Peoples of Mother Earth, who still have a connection to their land,

language, culture, history and spiritual traditions, are the poorest and most socially and

politically marginalized populations in every country in which they reside. They have the

poorest health, the worst levels of infant and child mortality, they are the most exposed and

vulnerable to environmental pollutants, they have the lowest levels of education and the

highest levels of perceived powerlessness, political oppression and frustration.

Indeed, many Indigenous Peoples have been, and are still being, pushed into extremes of

poverty and misery, or even to the brink of extinction in some regions, all in the name of

progress or development. Many have been forced to leave their traditional lands,

sometimes at gunpoint, after having been falsely accused of being rebels (or, more

recently, terrorists) by those who intended to profit from the seizure of Indigenous land.

Indigenous land holds much of the worlds remaining natural resources, including oil and

gas as well as a host of other minerals, forest products, and, of course, water which, as the

foundation of all life, is increasingly being commodified.

Millions of Indigenous Peoples have watched helplessly as their traditional means oflivelihood were wiped out by unsustainable environmental practices used by large

transnational fishing, timber, oil, and mining corporations, by plantation style agricultural

operations, and by large government-subsidized agribusiness corporations usurping

agricultural markets in their countries. Hundreds of thousands of Indigenous small

farmers can no longer earn a basic income because of the intentional destruction of local

agricultural markets through predatory global trade practices dictated by the agribusiness

industry. These farmers have joined the millions of illegal immigrants flooding into the

United States. When viewed through the eyes of Indigenous people, these conditions are

not exaggerations; they are the unembellished facts of life.

An Indigenous Response

Over the years, there have been a variety of responses among Indigenous Peoples to this

cruel set of conditions, ranging from assimilation, and passive resignation to resistance. At

the same time, there has always been a powerful core of Indigenous elders and spiritual

leaders who advocated holding on to the ancient spiritual vision of the oneness of the

human family, and the teaching that the way out of this period of oppression and suffering

Indigenous peoples have endured is not through violence, but rather through healing the

trusts that were broken, and through building constructive partnerships with all nations

and peoples. These elders and spiritual leaders have continued to believe in the ancient

prophecies, including the Reunion of the Condor and the Eagle, the Time of the Eighth

Council Fire, the Return of Quetzalcoatl, the Return of the White Buffalo, the Hopi and

Mayan Prophecies ,the Emergence of the Fourth World and the fulfillment of Black Elks

Daybreak Star Prophesy of the Human Family as the children of one mother and one

father nourished and shaded by the Tree of Life with the promise of renewal and rebirth.

In the past, their wise voices and vision were overcome by those who advocated resistance

and violence, but we believe that the time has now come to witness the fulfillment of their

vision.


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Indigenous Peoples have traditions rooted in community, sharing, reciprocity and mutual

responsibility somewhat akin to the political philosophies at the foundation of the

Canadian confederation: namely, that every person is a trust of the whole, and as such

holds rights and privileges as well as responsibilities. For example, it is likely that many

Indigenous movements will oppose private ownership of natural resources, but would

support development of these resources if the community benefits.

Policy makers need to understand that attempting to make policy without understanding

culture is a dead end and that one cannot equate culture with values. Culture is what

people share, not just what they believe. Indigenous people share BOTH culture AND a

system of values often different from that of the developed world. There is an Indigenous

Legal Order

A key factor in diffusing violence and advancing economic prosperity is developing an

understanding of what it is like to see the world (past, present and future) through the eyes

of those who believe they have nothing left to lose. With the rise of Indigenous leadership

in the Americas new hope has been created with the prospect of political power as theresult of recent successes in elections reviving the hope of changing unresponsive

governments. The old passive resignation is being replaced by social and political activism,

but chronic poverty and lack of power endure. This is a potent recipe for one of two

outcomes: conflict, or renewal and advancement. Those who hope for peaceful and

harmonious outcomes should support renewal and advancement.

An Indigenous Analysis

Conversations with Indigenous leaders across the Americas have provided the following

analysis:

1. A. Indigenous Peoples are facing grinding poverty and have endured the ongoingsuppression of self-development efforts by our own governments (i.e. the

governments of the nation states in which they reside, including many Indigenous

communities within Canada and the U.S.). Now, in some regions around Mother

Earth, there is hope for change. What will the reaction of the world community be?

Will self-development and new leadership be supported or crushed by violence,

assassination or lack of support?

2. B. Many Indigenous Peoples see only three options:1. 1.Assimilation -to give up our Indigenous identities, our history, our culture,

our spiritual beliefs and our way of life, and become part of the blended

homogenous mass. Some of our people have tried to do this, and most of

them have lost their land and remain marginalized, poor and increasingly

desperate.

2. 2.Resignation -to accept powerlessness, poverty, victimization, sickness anddespair as our destiny; in other words, to give up.

3. 3.Resistanceto enter into organized struggles to defend our lands, ourfamilies and our lives, and to win concessions from our governments.


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Resistance can range from non-violent protests to armed struggle and can

even include participation in the black market for drugs and weapons.

We believe that there is a Fourth Way: Empowerment and Constructive Development to

create organized Indigenous and related social movements focused on promoting the well-

being and prosperity of the people and on electing and supporting leaders who are trulyresponsive to the majority of the people, leaders who will not only improve education,

health care, infrastructure and economic development, but will also work to create social

and political spaces within the countries where Indigenous people reside, for true

participation in an inclusive and equitable project of rebuilding nations.

This approach is not merely political in nature. It also implies a systematic reclamation

and recovery of Indigenous cultural foundations, identity and language, and the re-

anchoring of social, economic and political change in the spiritual and cultural values and

traditional knowledge at the heart of Indigenous cultures. This approach in no way implies

a retreat into the historical past, but rather it is an active engagement in the challenge of

shaping the future of nations within the framework of life-preserving, life-enhancing, andsustainable values and patterns of action in harmony with all members of the human

family.

Indigenous leaders have noted that those Indigenous groups that take up arms get a great

deal of attention. It still remains to be seen whether or not those who participate politically

and win elections will achieve anything. If not, armed struggle will be all that is left.

This active participation not only has implications for Indigenous communities, but also for

the rest of the Hemispheres marginalized poor, many of whom have Indigenous roots and

are increasingly identifying with their Indigenous backgrounds. These relatives have

significant cultural, spiritual, economic and political contributions to make inimplementing and developing the Fourth Way strategy across the Americas.

Towards Implementing the Fourth Way Strategy

We spoke earlier of four options Indigenous people see for themselves in all of this:

Assimilation, Resignation, Resistance or Constructive Development. Empowerment and

Constructive Development is the Fourth Way that will lead to sustainable peace, social

justice and shared economic prosperity should it be vigorously and whole-heartedly

pursued. As shared earlier, this is a pathway that has always been known and advocatedby Indigenous spiritual leaders. It is the way of healing, peace and partnership building.

What is relatively new is that many leaders of Indigenous movements across the Americas

are now more open than ever to The Fourth Way because the y are beginning to see that

the other three pathways (and especially the pathway of violence and conflict) are creating

even deeper misery and suffering for their people. Many Indigenous people have tried the

other three pathways and understand that another path is necessary. The challenge is that


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The Fourth Way is not a path Indigenous people can walk solely on their own. They will

need the collaboration, support, and true partnership of their governments, the business

community, NGOs and international funding agencies.

In the work of Four Worlds across the Americas over the years, we have had the

opportunity to sit in community level meetings with thousands of Indigenous people andtheir leadership from many different tribes and nations. What we have seen and heard in

these meetings is the same consistent message:

1. The vast majority of Indigenous peoples want what most people everywhere onMother Earth want: peace, freedom from poverty and disease, an end to oppression,

a respect for their cultures, languages, and Mother Earth, a reasonable level of

sustainable prosperity and well-being for their families and communities, access to

education (including higher education), opportunities to sustainably and

harmoniously participate in the global economy, and a meaningful voice in shaping

the policies, programs and conditions that impact their lives.

2.Governments and the people who have held the reins of political and economicpower in their countries often present a stone wall of ignorance, prejudice and

greed, with no significant will to understand the appalling realities and conditions of

Indigenous peoples and no real awareness that their own wealth production

activities (in oil, gas, agriculture, forestry, mining, etc.) are, at best, cutting

Indigenous people out of any opportunity for economic advancement, and, at worst,

setting into motion environmental, economic, political and social forces that are

directly destroying the lives of Indigenous communities. With new leadership

coming to power across the hemisphere, it is important that political change be

carefully channeled to achieve positive outcomes. The current struggles in Bolivia

demonstrate the challenges political leaders face in reconciling competing interests

both nationally and internationally.

3. As viewed through the eyes of many Indigenous people, the forces of globalizationcentered in the institutions and programs of the International Monetary Fund, the

World Bank, and large transnational corporations, and manifested as well in many

so-called aid and development programs which also seem to be driven by the

policies of the wealthy and powerful, and these policies (it is perceived) are creating

and perpetuating the intolerable conditions with which Indigenous people are now

living. This perception continues despite the supposed efforts of the World Bank

and the Inter-American Development Bank to increase their focus on the role of

spirituality and culture in development.

4. Indigenous people are increasingly becoming organized and politicized in theirefforts to pressure governments and international institutions for change. Their

organizations and movements are powerful enough to directly challenge and destroy

the legitimacy and power of some governments. Indigenous people have been

successful recently in electing leaders who have pledged their support for changing

this pattern. Will these new government leaders be successful? Now, as

governments elected with Indigenous participation and leadership take power, it is

critical that they succeed, and that the movement of harmonious constructive

development through spiritual empowerment spread across the Americas.


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Indigenous people across the Americas are asking: what will be the response of the

developed world to these new political movements? Will they be supported or

undermined and opposed? Will we see constructive engagement and development

or a new cycle of militarization, assassinations and military coups?

An Indigenous Cultural and Spiritual Awakening and Growing Unity

Despite the challenges, there is a spiritual awakening occurring throughout the Indigenous

world. This awakening is coming from within Indigenous peoples in response to years of

suffering and potential destruction, as well as from their cultural and spiritual treasures of

Sacred prophecies, gifts, teachings, songs, ceremonies and the spiritual guidance of wise

teachers and elders both past and present. Throughout the Indigenous world, there is a

mosaic of prophecies that share, in essence, that after a long wintertime of suffering, a new

spiritual springtime will emerge for Indigenous tribes and peoples which will lead to a

spiritual awakening among other members of the human family throughout the Americasand around the world.

As this awakening progresses, a powerful new spirit and energy is being released within the

Indigenous world. This empowering spirit has its roots in the Indigenous peoples strong

belief in the promises of ultimate justice and renewal found within Indigenous prophecies.

However, this growing, animating, dynamic and empowering spirit can be directed towards

rapidly and systematically building a new world civilization, beginning in the Americas or

it can be co-opted and translated into further insurgencies, violence, and terror. This is the

choice we face. The ancient prophecies of an Indigenous awakening and renewal are

steadily moving toward fulfillment. This development should be welcomed, as the

prophesies also speak of how this Indigenous awakening and renewal will benefit the entirehuman family by helping to usher in an era of global peace prosperity and well being.

So what is the Fourth Way?

The Fourth Way consists of a multi-pronged strategy for empowering Indigenous peoples

to move toward sustainable peace, prosperity and well-being, taking into account the

history, culture and values of Indigenous communities. The Fourth Way entails the

following lines of action:

I.Constructive diplomatic work, both from the top down and from the bottom up, to

empower Indigenous people and to assist governments and national as well as internationalinstitutions to make critical policy and program shifts (out of enlightened self-interest) that

will help to create an enabling environment for viable partnerships to be built between

Indigenous peoples across the hemisphere and between Indigenous people and the

governments of the countries in which they reside. This diplomatic work would, as well,

assist Indigenous leaders to move past feelings of mistrust and suspicion, and into a process

of consultation leading to constructive partnerships.


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What is needed are new strategic initiatives that will allow Indigenous people to contribute

to and receive a just share of the wealth of the nation states in which they reside, but which

also do not require those now in positions of wealth and power to feel that they will lose

everything. The guiding principle of these strategic initiatives should be harmonizing the

extremes of wealth and poverty. We see each governments diplomatic corps playing a

critical role in this aspect of the work, in partnership with specialists in Indigenous peoplesdevelopment.

II.Partnership Building-Extensive and sustained partnership-building work is

needed.

1. a)Inter-Indigenous partnerships. These will entail partnerships betweenIndigenous people and nations across the Americas for mutual assistance in

development, economic cooperation and educational activities. These partnerships

and related activities should include exchange programs in English, French,

Portuguese, and Spanish through the creation of language institutes (especially for

young people); as well as scholarships and internships focused on buildingIndigenous capacity and developing Indigenous leadership necessary to implement

the Fourth Way;

2. b)Indigenous to government Partnerships. Constructive partnerships must also bedeveloped between Indigenous people and the government of the countries in which

they reside, aimed at giving Indigenous people a real voice in shaping the policies

and programs that impact them. These partnerships must ultimately result in

significant improvements in the social and economic life of the Indigenous

communities;

3. c)Indigenous institutions and international development agencies. Collaborativeworking partnerships are also required between appropriate Indigenous institutions

and selected NGOs and international development and funding agencies, focused onvarious aspects of development assistance and capacity building;

4. d)Expanded partnerships between newly elected Indigenous leadership along withthe governments they now control, and the governments of Canada and the U.S.

must be forged that include direct support and assistance in advancing development

objectives and diffusing conflict and violence, and stopping militarization,

assassinations and military coups.

5. e)North-south Indigenous Peoples partnerships. Finally, collaborative workingpartnerships need to be developed between Indigenous Peoples in the north (Canada

and the United States) and their counterparts in the south, to allow for the sharing

of knowledge, capacity and resources for mutual aid, trade and development.


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This connection existed for centuries,

before it was broken apart by European colonization and the subsequent decimation of

Indigenous nations across the Americas. For example, an ancient prophecy predicts the

Reunion of the people of the Condor (i.e., Indigenous people of the south), and the people

of the Eagle, (i.e., the Indigenous people of the north), and predicts that when this

Reunion is fully realized, a great era of peace, well-being and prosperity will follow. Sostrong is the belief in this prophecy among Indigenous people, that the Otomi people in the

state of Mexico have built a vast ceremonial amphitheatre dedicated to the Reunion of the

Condor and the Eagle. The focal point of this amazing construction (which rivals the

ancient Mayan, Aztec and Zapateca pyramids in its size, grace and beauty, and which was

built largely by the volunteer labor of thousands of poor Indigenous people out of love and

faith in the prophecy) is a gigantic stone carving of a Condor and an Eagle joined in loving

embrace. It was at this location that the first Reunion of the Condor and Eagle,

International Indigenous Trade and Social Development Agreement and Unity Pact was

signed on May 5, 1999, between Indigenous Leaders of more than 100,000 peoples from

Mexico and representatives of First Nations from Canada and the U.S.

Following the first Reunion of the Condor and Eagle Agreement and Unity Pact in Mexico,

further Sacred Agreements and Unity Pacts based in the Sixteen Principles for Building a
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Sustainable and Harmonious World were signed at the Indigenous Summit of the Americas

in Ottawa, Ontario in March 2001, and at the Reunion of the Condor and The Eagle

Indigenous Action Summit in the Commonwealth of Dominica in March 2003. These

Sacred Unity Pacts now unite Indigenous representatives and their allies from Greenland,

Canada, the United States, Mexico, Guyana, Guatemala, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia

and the Commonwealth of Dominica, with populations of more than 57 million Indigenouspeoples. As well, in April, 2002, a fourth Sacred Agreement and Unity Pact was signed in

Bern, Switzerland, with Canadian and European supporters and NGOs.

III. The creation of effective participatory governance institutions and mechanisms

through which Indigenous people can negotiate constructively with governments and the

business community to address their ongoing needs and concerns, and through which they

can manage and direct their own development programs and processes.

IV. Targeted and sustained development assistance to support comprehensive social and

economic development programs in the heart of Indigenous nations focusing on such critical

issues as education, social and economic development, leadership, governance andinstitution building, and civil society. The focus should also be on strengthening, food

production and food security, business and enterprise development, sustainable

environment and resource management, primary health care, cultural revitalization, and

building and preserving a culturally appropriate social safety net. This targeted aid must

be sustained for at least a decade, as capacity is built and a self-sustaining process of

development is fostered.

In essence, the Fourth Way (a pathway that moves beyond assimilation, resignation and

resistance to actual empowerment) works towards Indigenous nation building and

development and occurs within a context of cooperation and partnership with government,

business, and civil society in general as well as within the legal framework of each nationstate within which Indigenous peoples reside.

Is This Realistic?

Twenty years ago, such a proposal might have seemed fanciful outside the context of

Indigenous communities, but events in New York, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Libya,

Syria, Russia, Georgia., Palestine, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil,

Argentina, Colombia, the European Union and many other places have overtaken us, and

made it crystal clear that the disempowered and impoverished masses can no longer be

viewed as a neutral environmental factor to be largely ignored in the process of doing

business and running countries.

At this stage in history, no country in the Americas can afford to continue doing "business

as usual." The risks are simply too great. While it is true that to make the shifts that will

be required in a "fourth way" approach will not be without costs, the costs of failing to

invest in Indigenous Peoples development and that of those who have become the

marginalized poor will be very great indeed, and holds the potential to destabilize entire

societies.


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The Fourth Way strategy and analysis respects human dignity, calls for the empowerment

of people and comprises a framework for action that can be implemented anywhere in the

world where sustainable development and nation building constitute critical lines of action

in diffusing terror, violence and poverty, and creating conditions that lead to constructive

development, spiritual empowerment, social justice and economic prosperity.

Conclusion

Ending terror and violence cannot be accomplished by military means alone. We must also

assist in empowering people to achieve a socially just and reasonable measure of well-being

and prosperity in their lives. Recent experience in Iraq and Afghanistan seems to show

that a heavy-handed military solution may make situations much more difficult to

resolve. Indeed much of what is needed to eliminate the scourge of terror and violence

from the face of our Mother Earth is related to empowering the Human Family to become

engaged in constructive processes of change, and in bringing processes of harmonious

development and social and economic justice to the dispossessed and the poorest in every

region of Mother Earth.

The Fourth Way is not merely a strategic option or an alternative path for Indigenous

Peoples of the Americas (as well as Human Beings like them elsewhere in the world) to

take. It is the only option leading to sustainable peace and prosperity, and it is therefore an

essential component in the struggle to end violence and poverty.

This strategy can be selectively employed in other areas of the world where the pressure of

prolonged social and economic injustice and poverty have greatly increased the

susceptibility of those populations to desperate and extreme measures, including terror and

violence.

At this uncertain crossroads in human history, Indigenous Peoples and their Allies have a

unique and powerful role to play as champions of peacemaking and sustainable

development, which are critical lines of action in diffusing violence and poverty across the

Americas and around the world. We know that the Governments of Canada and the U.S.,

as well as other Governments, face difficult and expensive decisions, and that national

security must have a very high priority.

The Fourth Way is a Strategic Security Initiative

We submit that the Fourth Way is a strategic security initiative. From an Indigenousperspective, the Fourth Way offers a strategic option for Indigenous Peoples to provide the

spiritual leadership to support the transformation of frustration, violence, hopelessness and

poverty into sustainable and harmonious processes of constructive development, initially in

the Americas and then around the world.


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An Indigenous Call for Urgent, Collective Action For Protecting and Restoring the Sacred

To All Members of the Human Family

The spiritual foundation of the International Indigenous Leadership Gathering is based in

the understanding of the fundamental oneness and unity of all life. All members of the

Human Family are all part of the ancient Sacred Circle of Life. Since we are all part of theSacred Circle of Life we are all Indigenous Peoples of our Mother Earth. This makes every

Human Being responsible for the well-being of one another and for all living things upon

our Mother Earth.

Therefore, whether or not the nation states, multinational corporations or international

development agencies that surround us are willing or able to participate with us at this

time, it is clear our Indigenous Peoples and Allies are moving forward in rebuilding and

reunifying the Americas and beyond, through the Natural Laws and Guiding Principles

that are inherent in our Indigenous World View and Legal Order on an eternal and

spiritual enduring foundation.

1. We have the ancient prophecies and the clear vision of a future of social justice and

collective prosperity for the Americas and beyond that we are in the process of manifesting.

This new global civilization that is unfolding, as promised by the Ancient Ones and the

Ancient of Days, fully honors the Natural Laws and Rights of Mother Earth and the Unity

and Diversity of Human Family. This New Spiritual Springtime foretold by our Elders is

now unfolding globally, as sure as the sun rises every morning.

2. We have a strong, enduring and unbreakable spiritual foundation of cultural values and

guiding principles that have empowered us to survive and arise, with greater strength and

wisdom than ever, after a great spiritual wintertime. This long spiritual wintertime was

filled, at times, with the utmost human cruelty, violence, injustice, abuse, and physical andcultural genocide.

Despite these challenges, throughout the Americas and around Mother Earth, our

Indigenous Peoples are reawakening to their spiritual and cultural identities and are

healing our Sacred Relationships between ourselves, Mother Earth and all members of the

Human Family.

3. Together, with our other Indigenous Peoples and other Members of the Human Family,

we have the cultural, spiritual, scientific, technological, social, environmental, economic

and agricultural capacities and wisdom needed to co-create and rebuild our Families,

Tribes and Nations stronger and more unified than ever before.

4. Our Indigenous Peoples of Mother Earth have the growing collective social and

economic capital, coupled with vast natural resources, to bring our greatest dreams and

visions to reality. This includes fully protecting, preserving, and restoring our Beloved

Mother as the sacred heritage of all generations, yet to come!


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Furthermore it is crystal clear that these collective resources are in the process of

empowering us to become a primary spiritual and economic force, not only in the

Americas, but throughout Mother Earth.

We are now and are destined in the future to play a greater and greater role as key global

leaders in wisely mandating the sustainable and harmonious ways Mother Earth's gifts andresources will or will not be developed! We will insure that when the development of the

natural resources of Mother Earth are not sustainable, no matter how much profit is to be

made, they will not be developed!

Our Sacred Places and the Healthful Life of our Beloved Mother Earth are not for sale and

exploitation for any price!

5. We, the Indigenous Peoples of the Eagle of the North (Canada and the U.S.) have the

material resources to directly support our Indigenous Relatives of the Condor of the South

(Latin America) in developing their collective resources, as they choose. The Condor of the

South equally has critical resources to share with the Eagle of the North. Our greateststrength yet to be fully realized is our spiritual and cultural unity.

6. By utilizing emerging digital communications technologies and corresponding green

technologies and economies, in harmony with our vast, collective social, economic, cultural

and spiritual capacities, we are manifesting, as promised, a future with social,

environmental and economic justice for all members of the Human Family and our

Beloved Mother Earth!

7. The primary challenge that stands before us as Indigenous Peoples and we as a Human

Family, in rebuilding the Americas, and beyond, is disunity. This disunity has been directly

caused by genocide and colonialism. This genocide and colonization has resulted inunresolved inter-generational trauma and internalized oppression that is the process of

being fully recognized and addressed.

As we move courageously and wisely forward, in greater and greater love, compassion,

justice and unity, we are reconnecting to our enduring and unbreakable spiritual and

cultural foundation for healing, reconciliation and collective action for Protecting and

Restoring the Sacred " , everywhere on Mother Earth.

With the realization of this spiritual and cultural foundation for prayerful, wise and

unified action, all that is needed for our ultimate victory will gracefully and assuredly

unfold at the right times and places, as foretold by our Ancient Ones.

With Warm and Loving Greetings and Our heartfelt Thanksgiving to All the Many

Relatives Who Contributed to the Articulation and Vision of the Fourth Way!

Sun Dance Chief Rueben George, Director of Community Development,Tsleil- Waututh

Nation


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Hereditary Chief Phil Lane Jr., Chairman -Four Worlds International Institute

Po Box 75028

Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, V4A 7A5

[email protected] www.fwii.net

Tele: 1-604-542-8991 Skype: planejr1234
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