Yes, the modern natural heirs to the value, cultural and psychological legacy of Christopher Columbus are clearly represented by Oil companies like Chevron, Shell, and BP. If the people of the Gulf Coast really want to see their future after coverage of the BP disaster fades from mainstream news media they can look at the ongoing legal battle between the Indigenous people of Ecuador and Chevron Oil. Or they can consider the terrifying decades long running conflict between Indigenous people and Oil companies in the Niger Delta . Recently corporations which were granted ‘personhood’ rights for political contributions have been granted immunity from legal actions for the kidnapping, torture and murder of anti-Oil activists. Yes, Oil companies get to have their cake and eat it too. Well, I guess that would be they get to pump oil without responsibility. This is just one environmental issue on which Indigenous Peoples are on the front lines facing down corporations that ‘develop’ the natural resources to the detriment of all living things, including themselves. Heads up, corporations are composed of people, human beings, and guess what –all human beings are vulnerable to toxic pollutants.
Where are the instruments of our own destruction? In our gas tanks. In our minds. In our values. In our lifestyles. In our hearts? In our DNA?
om mani padme hum jewel in the lotus wahupa qi prana universal life energy
slpmartin said,
October 11, 2010 at 2:10 am
The current fights over the Artic Region will be another area where the rights of Indigenous people will be ignored…take a look at how Canada responded to the concerns of Indigenous people when the various nations wanting to claim the Artic as their own because of the oil…which they can get to now because of global warming…is there something wrong with this picture?
47whitebuffalo said,
October 11, 2010 at 2:45 am
Oh yeah! Hey, slp! And there’s the fact of the island land masses disappearing rapidly due to rising water levels. Who is paying attention to the Indigenous people sounding the alarm on that count? Like no one!
Wrong? O, what a word to use, slpmartin.
Hi. Thanks for commenting and sharing ‘concern.’
clegyrboia said,
October 11, 2010 at 9:43 am
and it does not stop with oil companies and it still goes on cheap land deals to exploit here is an article
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/627064/sunderbans_mangroveforest_livelihoods_under_threat_from_corruption_and_resource_exploitation.html
hope it works we need to empower them people and dispower the big companies
47whitebuffalo said,
October 11, 2010 at 5:27 pm
Yes, indeed, oil companies are just ONE part of the problem. World Wide exploitation of natural resource areas inhabited by Indigenous people have been and continue to be under assualt by people with only short term monetary gain on their agendas.
Thank for the film and link-clegyrboia. It is important to realize that the entire planet is at risk–not just those areas that make it into the ‘news’ whenever there’s a media story.
Honey is indeed ‘sacred’–is there anything sweeter?
frayedges said,
October 11, 2010 at 10:55 pm
They need to put that Homeland Security poster up on every street corner to remind Americans that “us” and “them” is relative. We (collectively speaking) are terrorists to others as well as to the planet as much as any other human being.
47whitebuffalo said,
October 12, 2010 at 7:35 pm
Hey, now that’s an idea, frayedges. It just might get a few brains wondering just how far that concept flows in the ways you’ve stated. Thanks for visting. Like your post about teenagers–especially the comparison to them as squirrels. LOL.
artistatexit0 said,
October 12, 2010 at 12:47 am
Can there ever be a good end to all this? I have asked people who believe corporations are our friends…which flag do you think they salute as they export our jobs and hide money in off-shore accounts? The really big companies are multi-national structures beholding to share holders and board members who believe making a profit trumps most other values including the rights of fewer and fewer indigenous people.
47whitebuffalo said,
October 12, 2010 at 7:43 pm
Um, cough, cough, excellent question artistatexito—some times I think a serious history lesson is in order for the greed driven populace. Perhaps the most obvious historical event worth discussing would the French Revolution and why the guilty–and the innocent–lost so many heads. Cause and effect–like truth and consequences. Seems the French have been working to make their view point of austerity measures known. They know how to bring everything to a standstill in order to get the attention of those at the so called ‘top’ of the polticial heap. If no one is drivng the cabs, buses, trains and planes then NO one is going anywhere. Puts a certain spin on the ‘ruling class’, doesn’t it, Al?
It could end ‘well’–but that requires some serious attitude and value adjustments. As for those folks who think multinational corporations are our ‘friends’–what universe are they living in? Oh–Denial Stargate 177?
Cindy Kilpatrick said,
July 13, 2012 at 9:12 pm
Some days lately I not only want to deny that I’m Canadian / North American, but a member of the human race at all. Is there any hope?
47whitebuffalo said,
July 14, 2012 at 2:44 am
Hello Cindy. On a good day I say, “There’s always hope.” On a bad day I say, “Push the red button and put an end to all of us.” Good thing I don’t have access to the red buttons. Thanks for visiting.
Marylin Warner said,
August 12, 2012 at 5:38 pm
You are a strong voice, making us aware on much deeper details. Thank you.
47whitebuffalo said,
August 13, 2012 at 7:30 pm
Hello Marylin. Thank you for your kind words. Welcome to my blogcasa.