over the holiday/the turn of the year, i read two books~ one white, one black~ about the confluences of cultures + earlier times of destabilization
The Sea of Regret is an English translation of two 1906 short novels by Chinese authors, and
Researches on the I Ching an english translation of parts of a book by a
Russian scholar, in which he evokes two centuries of attempts by Europeans to get into the headspace of the authors of the I Ching, unflatteringly compared with the fruits of two thousands years of study by Chinese and Japanese scholars.
|
Iulian K Shchutskii
|
Perhaps because the colours of the books were evocative, the
yin yang aspects of historical cross-cultural infusions and times of social unrest have been fresh in my mind, alongside my witnessing and throughout my fascinations through the same period, in the developments of Idle No More and the immediate processes of Can Culture.
Clear to me that the Harper fedgov approach of shoving it's way through has been received as a heightening of tension across the country, and that the corresponding shift from yin to yang on our part has been led by the only group socially positioned to make a stand, as a coherent collective.
|
Wu Jianren The
Sea of Regret +Fu Lin Stones
in the Sea |
Not, as the haters would like it to be, as a monolith, or a multiplex being that all thinks, speaks, acts, rises and falls in a monotone, but through the diversity of real humans across a vast expanse of geography and historical experience and circumstance.
I expect that my family is not unusual, in encompassing the range of status Indian to Settler folk, with a wide swathe of mixed-bloods variously holding the middle space as tensions rise and fall between the perceived polarities.
I don't live in the vaunted Solitudes. I live in the Confluence.
goose teachings
Cherishing our leaders means, giving thanks to the Four Founders, Chief Spence, Shawn Atleo and Pam Palmater, and many less visible but no less indefatiguable activist-speakers, including the many non-indigenous who have added strength, face, voice, amplification to the collecting of being. It also means allowing them time to rest, as needed, surging forward to fill in the space.
In this way, those who are inherently inclined toward reducing multiplicities into polarities are kept on their toes. In this way, those who celebrate hostility by enacting it are kept busy, trying to find fertile ground for sowing division, whilst the weavers outpace them.
I appreciated receiving this letter from across the way. I think it acknowledges what is best about the soft revolution that we are currently experiencing, the fertile struggle, the fighting by many means: there is no "us" and "them." It just won't settle. There is the big shove that we have all experienced due to the choices and the blinkers of current leadership, and there is the big shove back by a multinational citizenry of many colours, religions, motivations and hues. History is long, the world both fierce and tremendous.
from the mailbag:
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Words haven't worked; time for action: Madahbee
UOI OFFICES (NIPISSING FN), Jan. 15, 2013 /CNW/ - "The best way First Nations and other Canadians can express their disappointment with federal indifference is to translate their concerns into action," says Patrick Madahbee, Grand Council Chief of the Anishinabek Nation. Madahbee said the 39 Anishinabek Nation member communities would be joining with First Nations across Canada - as well as the Idle No More movement - Wednesday in what will be the first in a series of National Days of Action.
"Canadians from all walks of life have implored the Harper government to reconsider the undemocratic manner in which they have stifled debate and rammed massive pieces of legislation through Parliament," said the Grand Council Chief. "These so-called omnibus bills threaten the safety of our lakes and rivers, the fish that inhabit them and ignore constitutional and legal requirements to work with First Nations on issues that affect our peoples. "Now other citizens understand our frustration. We have pursued all the proper political channels, but this government refuses to respect First Nations rights as referenced by Canada's Constitution, Supreme Court rulings, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, to which they are a signatory.
"Harper may have pulled the wool over some people's eyes last week in Ottawa, but Chief Theresa Spence is still fasting for justice. We call on other Canadians to be understanding and supportive of our efforts in the days ahead to demonstrate to members of the Harper caucus that they were not elected to ignore the will of the people.
|
the world is round |