an ngo in consultative status with ecosoc
american
indian law alliance
to hear the voices of our people, even unto the SEVENTH generation
We are often asked by supporters, other NGOs (non-governmental organizations working in international human rights) and our own communities, why the American Indian Law Alliance, consistent with the direction of our traditioanl leaders, pursues protection of our Indigenous cultures, environments, lands and treaties in international forums. The international venues in which we work are often located miles from our communities, they are expensive to travel to, and present hardships for our elders and leaders who must leave their homes and the communities that depend upon them. And despite extremely modest travel, bunking with generous supporters and relying upon kind friends for many meals, the expense for peoples with limited resources can be great.
So it is only natural that we are asked, what can be accomplished internationally that’s so important? Wouldn’t it be better to concentrate efforts here at home? How is this work important to our communities?
Of course, because we are Native peoples, it is first important to understand that a past which began only about 75 years ago is, for us, contemporary history. However, placing our work in an 'historic' context helps identify our efforts in the continuous strategy begun in the early 1900s. In 1923 a Cayuga Chief named Deskahe traveled to Geneva to speak to the League of Nations about Haudenosaunee treaties and their unilateral abrogation by the United States and Canadian governments. Although he was not allowed to speak to the world family of nations, Deskahe’s vision set the stage for the work of Indigenous Peoples among the western nations then consolidating their world power with a single economic and political agenda: the unquenchable quest for riches through conquest and control of land and resources usually belonging to others.
Although our elders and leaders were not idle subsequent to Deskahe's efforts, it was nearly 50 years before a delegation of Native people from the western hemisphere (Haudenosaunee, Cheyenne, Mapuche, Cree, Lakota, Maya, Ojibway and others) traveled to Geneva in 1977, at great expense to themselves and our communities, to speak to the United Nations.
They went to present our issues of survival. They left with a powerful legacy for all of us who work for our communities and Nations: access to international forums from which legal challenges can be launched against unjust law and policy. Now, as the world moves into the 21st century and, increasingly, an unbridled binge of resource consumtpion promises environmental devastation on a level humankind may not be able to deter, Indigenous nations well-recognized respect for and symbiosis with the environment makes our presence in international forums a valuable asset to all humanity.
In 1997, our relative and mentor, Chief Garfield Grass Rope, the spiritual leader of the Teton Sioux Nation Treaty Council, delivered the opening remarks at an internationa treaty gathering that AILA co-sponsored on the Lower Brule territory (present-day South Dakota) of the Lakota Nation. His words continue to live in our work today.
"For many years we lived in defeat, waiting for some miracle to come and make things change for the better. But this is a fantasy and it will never happen. We were living through oppression, but we wouldn’t give up our hopes.
"Still we felt the pain and heartbreak of this silent cry within us. We kept each other joking, laughing on the outside. Some of us cannot stand the pain and drink to cover it. I know this thing, because this is how I once lived too. But there is no miracle solution and drinking does not help.
"The problem lies within the political system. The political system of the United States . . . plays games with our lives. They have installed colonial governors, dictators, on our territory through the Indian Reorganization Act . . . The abuses pile up on us and we have no alternative but to listen to the wisdom of our treaty elders. [who directed us to take our issues into internaiotnal forums].
On October 29th, 1983, in Lower Brule, the Teton Sioux Nation Treaty Council held its regular meeting with five reservations present. At that meeting we … claimed our aboriginal human rights and our treaty rights as a part of our heritage. This was a big step towards our work at the United Nations and the World Court of Justice and a big step in our work for the future generations. Our purpose is nothing less than the restoration of our nation."
But these goals are unachievable say pragmatists. We are too small, too few, too poor, too divided, to pursue such a vision. We ask them, isn’t it our responsibility, as we have been taught, to pursue just such a vision?
Native author Vine Deloria, Jr. wrote in his 1974 book, Behind the Trail of Broken Treaties,
"...can one view the re-creation of the state of Israel after two thousand years of exile and seriously maintain that the Oglala Sioux will never again ride their beloved plains as rulers of everything they see? Or that the might of the Iroquois will not once again dominate the eastern forests?"
The world has seen more sweeping and unpredictable changes; the end of apartheid in South Africa, the fall of the Berlin wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union, Were these not changes in the human political landscape unimaginable within our lifetime? Do the courses of rivers not change as a result of quiet obstacles insidiously impeling a new future?
Deloria reminds us in the same book that many founding member nations of the United Nations, such as Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands, are smaller than the Navajo Reservation,
"...yet they have each enjoyed sovereign independence for over a hundred years … even though the largest of them is only 179 square miles in size and all are completely surrounded by other countries. Barbados … became independent in 1966 and joined the United Nations, yet it is smaller than fifty American Indian reservations and has a population of only 240,000. An examination of the population statistics for the world’s small countries … reveals some startling facts. Seven sovereign states have fewer than 100,000 population, 20 have fewer than 500,000 and 30 have less than 1,000,000."
But there is more to the logic behind our work than the compelling facts Dr. Deloria has skillfully used to dissuade the skeptics . There is the responsiblity to our own peoples' future to which we each owe allegiance. According to the traditional lessons we have learned from our teachers each of us, communally and individually, must play a role in securing a future for the Earth which sustains us and the generations to come which will depend upon that sustenance to fulfill their duty. To return to the words of Chief Grass Rope,
"...from here on, we are actively encouraging our young people to get involved and to participate in the treaty issues and our international efforts. We want you to have the opportunity to learn how to stand up for your human rights and the treaty rights of our people. We know that you will faithfully continue this work into the future and become our leaders in the next century. We know that the federal government of the United States is waiting, like buzzards, for the elders to pass on so they can say that our treaties have passed on with the elders. Working with our young people, our nation and our way of life will survive.
"Our nations define their own existence. Our way of life will survive. That is the important point. That is our vision and the purpose of our work."
The framework within which we work utilizing recognized international human rights standards, while advocating for the well documented role of our treaties, also provides a framework for our communities. Starting with the land in which our ancestors are buried, we have been taught that our way of life, our traditions and our reliance upon and responsibility to the natural world are expressions of sovereignty. That sovereignty is expressed in the self-determined activity of peoples to preserve our role as human beings in environments of which we are but a part. When humans are seen as only a part of the eco-system and not outside of or superior to that environment, the transition from local action to international advocacy and back is a smooth one. Whether we live in the canyons of New York City or the open plains of South Dakota, we are connected to our communities and to our nations to whom we are accountable for the preservation of our peoples and territories. Our work in Room XXII at the Palais des Nations in Geneva (where many Indigenous meetings are held at the United Nations) is not dramatically different from, for example, the alcohol and drug treament programs found in our community centers on our reservations.
Ultimately the greatest legacy of our work may be preservation of a life way that might bring the the world closer to the achievement of justice and equality sought by so many.
"Native peoples have an opportunity to provide leadership in breaking down the monopoly of the controlling nations and to push the United Nations towards truly becoming a forum for all peoples of the world, a forum with an identity transcending the boundaries set by lines drawn on maps."
Ingrid Washinatok, New York City Law Review, Volume 3, Number One
We agree. We believe that by taking our work to the international level, self-determination and sovereignty can become a reality for Native people. No matter how long it takes.
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