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Lessons from the Margin: Indigenous Peace

Ecological Crisis

Deforestation

Desertification

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Social and Humanitarian Crisis  Widening Inequality

 Alienation

 Marginalisation

 Racism & Discrimination

 Social Injustice

 Displacement: Refugees

 Increasing Violence

Sustainable Development Ecological Regeneration

Neoliberal Economics Solidarity Economics

Alternative Paradigms, Philosophies, Practices: ‘Epistemologies of the South’, Indigenous Lessons, Peace Ecology

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Green Sustainable Degeneration Restorative Regeneration Development Development

Degeneration: anthropocentric, ecologically imperialistic, 98% old-growth forests destroyed, 94% large fish depleted, 80% rivers can’t support anymore.

Green Development: green washing, focus on economic development, oxymoron, development=growth, lip-service to green values.

Brundtland Commission--Our Common Future (1987): ‘Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’ Sustainable: root word—sustain which means strengthen or support. Can we strengthen or support the current system?

Criticisms of Sustainable Development:

 Conceptual: Inherently contradictory, ‘oxymoron’ . Too optimistic, too ambitious & too far-reaching. Various interpretations, empty signifier, meaningless concept.

 Implementation: Agenda not a blueprint for action. What level is SD aimed at: local, national, global? What is it that is to be sustained? Production or consumption? We can not solve our  Political/Ideological: Disguise for the maintenance of problems with the the status quo. Hegemonic Discourse: ideological same level of thinking (western) domination, diverts attention from other that created them. more effective ecological solutions. Charles Eisenstein

After three decades of sustainable development, we now have more pollution, greater loss, and change which suggests that it has failed.

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https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs

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To sustain is to strengthen or support. But are not static; they are dynamic. So what are we sustaining?

We need to regenerate! Not just keep things as they are.

Regenerate (verb):

 Grow after loss or damage (as in the case of body tissue)

 Bring new and more vigorous life to an area, revive, revitalise, renew, rejuvenate, resuscitate.

Implicitly, to improve not just restore.

Semai of Malaysia Orang Asli (‘Original People’)

45,000 people, Austroasiatic speakers, mostly animists

Forest dependent swiddeners to simple commodity producers

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Shifting Cultivation, Slash & Burn Agriculture, Swiddening, Agroforestry

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Farming Degenerative Regenerative  Intensive  Organic & Ecological

 Extensive use of toxic chemicals  Rejuvenate the soil, grasslands, forests. Replenish water.

 Monoculture  Bio-diverse

 Based on industrial agriculture  Promote food sovereignty, restore systems that destabilise the public health & prosperity, absorb climate, degrade soil, water, excess carbon from the atmosphere & biodiversity, health & local storing it in the soil economies

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Neoliberal Economics The Four G Syndrome

GROWTH GLUT

Accumulation GRIEVANCE GREED Competition

Exploitation Inequality Alienation

Neoliberal Economics Solidarity Economics

Linear Cyclical

Economic Growth Ecological Regeneration

More, Quantity Better, Quality

Excessive Production Redistribution

Competitive Collaborative

Individualistic Communitarian

Greed Generosity

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Kate Raworth: décroissance Doughnut Economics

World Social Forum

Semai Social Ecology

Egalitarian Ethos.

‘Deliberative Democracy’: socially inclusive, Consensual Decision-making, Individual Autonomy.

Solidarity Economics: redistribution, sharing, generalised reciprocity, equal access, communal & eco-centric ‘ownership’, collaborative

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Peace ecology considers peace, nonviolence, social justice, protection of communities, ecological regeneration of degraded environments, recognition of human rights and the rights of species and as interconnected concerns and aspirational goals.

Four Focal Areas For Transformative Action:

 Localisation. “The social unit that will have the greatest stability and resilience into the future is the local community” (Suzuki 1999, 213).

 Basics: Needs versus Wants

: Suzuki (1999, 215): “work to get your home as ecologically benign as possible (and) make 'disposable’ an obscene word”.  Education: formal and informal.

Randall Amster (2015, 203) provides a list of viable alternatives: • community gardening • organic farming • collaborative water management • reinvigorating the commons • demonetizing our relationships • decommodifying the stuff of nature • preserving nature for its own sake and as a potential pathway to peacebuilding • navigating crises through mutual aid • forestalling crises through sustainable practices • resisting militarism on all levels • practicing compassionate and radical generosity • moving toward green energy sources • relocalizing the foundation of our • respecting diversity both socio-politically and ecologically, and • working across borders of all types

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Lessons from Peaceful Societies (https://cas.uab.edu/peacefulsocieties/) Defining Characteristics of Peaceful Societies  Egalitarian ethos, foster equity  Foster sharing, kindness, generosity, cooperation, interdependence  Empathy: ability to grasp and respect the other’s viewpoint.  Mutual respect  Abhor violence and aggressive behaviour  Devalue competition, self-focus, aggrandising behaviour  Workable strategies for resolving and averting violence. Resolve and transform conflict before it escalates into violence.  Strategies for raising children to adopt and continue non-violent ways. Socialisation: Inculcation of peaceability or peace culture. Indigenous Peace Ecology: Live in harmony with nature: eco-centric living

Catherine Walsh (2010: 18): “buen vivir denotes, organizes, and constructs a system of knowledge and living based on the communion of humans and nature and on the spatial-temporal-harmonious totality of existence. That is, on the necessary interrelation of beings, knowledges, logics, and rationalities of thought, action, existence, and living.”

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Indigenous Peace Ecology:

 Lived and embodied modes of expression

 Acquisition and transmission through lived experience

 Traditional: transmitted from generation to generation

 Not static, dynamic, adaptive to change

 Indigenous knowledge: directly related to the natural world

(1) Indigenous Sacred Ecology: Spiritual Connection with Nature

Sky-focused vs -based

In Antiquity every tree, every spring, every stream, every hill had its own genius loci, its guardian spirit. These spirits were accessible to men, but were very unlike men; centaurs, fauns, and mermaids show their ambivalence. Before one cut a tree, mined a mountain, or dammed a brook, it was important to placate the spirit in charge of that particular situation, and to keep in placated. (White 1967: 1205)

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Indigenous ‘Lord of the land’

Tauli-Corpus (2001: 285), an Igorot researcher and activist observed:

‘We do not consider ourselves the owners of the ancestral territory and resources found therein. We are but the stewards, trustees, or custodians. The beings in the spirit- world and deities are the real owners of the land. Thus, it is imperative to consult these spirits and deities when land is used, converted, or transferred and when resources are harvested, planted, or hunted. The forms of consultation range from a simple petition, prayer, or chant to elaborate rituals in which every village member participates.’

‘The beings in the spirit world are responsible for protecting the natural world from human greed’ (Tauli-Corpus 2001: 287)

Remove absolute rights to land from the individual and places these rights in some supernatural force which serves to sanction ‘proper’ treatment of land and nature.

(2) Respect for nature Forest-human relations metaphorized as an ‘adult-child caring’ with the forest as a parent and humans as its child.

Stark contrast from traditional western or modern view: As Bird-David (1993: 121) argues: “…nature and humankind have been ‘seen’ as detached and in opposition. Furthermore, they have been viewed within a ‘subject-object’ frame: nature ‘seen’ as a resource to be utilized, controlled, possessed, dominated, managed and (more recently) looked after by humankind.”

Greek mythology: Pan, the Lord of the Woods. Feared inhabitant of the forest. Malevolent

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(3) Spatialised Consciousness of History

‘Stories usually are a series of relatively autonomous episodes that are united, like beads on a string, by winding thread of continuous movement through , rather than by a rising plot line that points towards its own resolution in a climax. At their most elemental, Illongot stories may simply list a lifetime of place names where people have gardened or erected their houseposts. More elaborate stories, often about oratory, fishing, hunting, and headhunting, begin at home, move in gradual step-by- step fashion toward their destinations, and conclude with a quick return to the place of origin.’ (Rosaldo 1980: 15–6)

Temporal consciousness to spatialised consciousness of history

Land: Historical significance Sacred---connections with the ancestors and ecology Historicising ecology, Ecologising History

www.globaldeepnetwork.org

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