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THE SOUL OF THE INDIAN: An Interpretation by Charles A. Eastman, www.minteditionbooks.com.

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GOD IS RED: A Native Voice of Religion by Vine Deloria, Jr. (Author of, CUSTER DIED FOR YOUR SINS). www.fulcrum-books.com. Copyright 1992.

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RESTORING THE KINGDOM OF HAWAII: The Kanaka Maoli Route To Independence by Francis A. Boyle. Copyright 2015. www.claritypress.com.

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How many of us can find in ourselves the view from the shore? Some are so devastated that we must defend them. The injured from iatrogenesis, for instance. Those who have been despised and rejected: othered by the dominant culture, those among us whose impulse is self healing through the arts or some form of creativity, that among us can broaden into a desire to help and heal others. However we can experience healing in some form may indeed lead us to together become a spiritual force that transcends etymologies of power. I think we will need that kind of inner power to move forward and spread a deep love to everyone we can reach.

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Thank you for reposting your discussion with Steven Newcomb. I don't think I have ever listened to anything with that depth of insight.

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SPIRITS OF THE EARTH: A Guide to Native American Nature Symbols, Stories, and Ceremonies, Bobby Lake-Thom. penguinrandomhouse.com.

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MOTHER EARTH SPIRITUALITY: Native American Paths To Healing Ourselves And Our World, by Ed McGaa, (Eagle Man).

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Winner of the 2015 American Book Award:

AN INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATE, by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. Breacon Press. www.beacon.org.

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I have this book, it is really good!

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I’m so happy you reposted Steven Newcomb.

Here is another book by David E. Stanard, Ph.D:

HONOR KILLING: Race, Rape, and Clarence Darrow’s Spectacular Last Case.

In 1931 Hawai’i, Thalia Massie, the aristocratic wife of a naval officer, accused five non-white men of gang rape. When the trial ended in a hung jury, Thalia’s mother arranged for one of the suspects to be murdered—an act sanctioned by sympathetic whites as an “honor killing.”

The enduing murder trial, Clarence Darrow’s last, enthrolled the nation and exposed the shocking realities of a Hawaiian “paradise” held capitive by a racist cabal of military leaders and corporate magnets. (Penguin Books).

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AMERICAN HOLOCAUST: The Conquest Of The New World, by David E. Stannard, Ph.D. Oxford Press, Copyright 1992.

“A devastating portrait of the death, disease, misery, and apocalyptic destruction

experienced by American Indians during the centuries after 1492."

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The answer your guest didn't seem to articulate clearly is that DOMINATION can be brought to an end. It can crumble. The unfortunate part is that this process can lead to suffering and loss of life for many of us.

Howard Zinn, the American historian, likely meant that even enormous and seemingly strong systems, like authoritarian regimes or oppressive governments, can fall apart or break down relatively quickly. He wasn't specifically calling out certain regimes such as Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union, but he was making a broader point about how these kinds of systems can be surprisingly fragile.

What Zinn was getting at is that throughout history, various oppressive systems and authoritarian governments have eventually faced resistance, internal disagreements, or pressure from external sources that led to their collapse. These systems might seem stable and powerful, but they can unravel or crumble when they're challenged by factors like mass movements, public outcry, international pressure, economic issues, or changes in popular opinion.

In simpler terms, Zinn's perspective emphasizes that political and social systems are dynamic. It suggests that even the most deeply rooted powers can be susceptible to change and eventual collapse under the right circumstances.

- Luc

Encl.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/epochtv/police-state-documentary-5504121

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As a system unravels, the mindset that feeds it may persist. It actually does, in my humble[d] opinion.

I put hooks [ ] around the '-d' in *humbled* after having acknowledged that idealistic notions of mine lacked a basis in fact. The root cause of which was me being subconsciously rooted in the pervasive mindset Steven Newcomb is speaking of - the system of domination.

This became clear when I - following another lead by @Tessa Lena - looked in the mirror, noticed the tyrant-which-shouldn't-be there (although this creature IS in/out there) and asked myself the question 'What is PROGRESS?'

The answers I could come up with, while not invalid, were partial at best [: Progress is.... *seeing through the covid hoax, *lambasting the faux 1-world government, *critiquing the merging of man and machine... {bad progress} Oh, and *do not walk into a controlled opposition trap {good progress}; the list goes on and on...].

Some deem the Belt and Road Initiative on the Eurasian land-mass conducive of coordination & synergy rather than of the petty rivalries Europe wallows in; which is true, yet I am sceptical: BRICS countries never (so far) cut themselves loose from the same old domination code. Proof: They 'swallow' vaccine roll-out programs whole, i.e. they rely on mental 'colon'isation by enabling their 'dominators' [i.e. local medical priesthoods] to 'sputník' toxic juices into their serfs' digestive tracts.

You are right, Luc Lievre, in saying that authoritarian/totalitarian systems may crumble, due to their dynamics. But while we pray to the gods of entropy and devoutly wait for the miracle to happen, we might as well put our house (epistomology, mindset, free-roaming thoughts, traumas, notions of harmony & beauty...) in order.

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Agree.

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Thank you, Pim and Luc!!! What a beautiful exchange this is.

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Yes!!

Sometimes I can't absorb it all - the relentless bombardment of info, I mean, not to mention horizons cluttered with red (and black) flags, as well as a haze of confusion. I don't blame anyone, least of all the 'flagpole carriers'.

However, I do blame those who willfuly thicken the haze.

Like many others, I recall the relatively bright skies of 2020 - late March and early April. Nothing's left of those. Instead, the atmosphere is being dimmed by vapors that are as toxic as they are invisible (or mask as innocent clouds) - sorry, preaching to the choir.

Let me conclude by saying what a pleasure it is to read and hear inviduals who voice their concerns (and the occasional rant) in coherent sentences that last longer than half a minute. YOU!

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"being flexible in times of need is what has helped us to survive" - Tara Williamson

Of Dogma and Ceremony

August 16, 2013

tags: Anishinaabeg, ceremony, Cree, media, technology, Turtle Island

by Tara Williamson

This article is about dogma. Not Christian dogma or Western political dogma, but North American Indigenous dogma. And, particularly (because that is the tradition I am from), Ojibwe and Cree dogma.

You know what I mean. It starts off as rules. Medicine people aren’t supposed to kill things. You shouldn’t pay for medicine. Women need to wear skirts to ALL ceremony. Women don’t sit at a drum. And, ceremony should definitely, DEFINITELY, not be documented.

I want to start with some stories about my great-grandmother, Kaapiidashiik. My kookoo was a medicine woman. And she was a good medicine woman. One of those women people travelled miles to see. One of my favourite stories is about how, when my mother told her there was a strange man in the yard, Kaapiidashiik locked up the doors and windows and huddled in the corner of the house behind a rocking chair with her granddaughter (my mother) and a loaded shotgun aimed at the door. My kookoo used to sell red willow baskets to make extra money for the family. That same red willow was used for kinnickinick. She harvested her own medicine and used to make a medicine of a hundred roots that would cure TB. Although she was a traditional person, I can’t imagine that she checked her snares in a skirt or that she waited for my grandfather to come home before taking care of her own fire. In fact, the most beautiful thing my mother remembers about Kaapiidashiik and Michael (my great-grandfather) was that they shared their home responsibilities across gender roles. She remembers their partnership as respectful, loving, and kind.

And, so, when I hear people today criticizing something like the filming of segments of a ceremony like the Sundance, part of me hurts because I come from a tradition where surviving (and, indeed, thriving) involved bending rules. The other part of me is conflicted and understands peoples’ concerns.

The dilemma for me is that I cannot understand my history in terms of dogma. Nor can I understand my present in terms of dogma. Every day, I make decisions that my ancestors never had to make (where to buy my food, how to give an offering while I live in a city, etc.), and every day I benefit from decisions that they made. I believe wholeheartedly that the reason I was lucky enough to grow up with tradition is because my relatives were clever enough to bend the rules. I believe my family has the language because they learned to whisper in school. I believe we still know how to give offerings of asemaa because we learned to replace natural tobacco with cigarettes. I believe we still have ceremony because we hid ourselves so well that nobody noticed. I believe we still believe in Gichi-manidoo because we understood how much this spirit looked like GOD. And, so, it is hard for me to condemn those who try to bend the “rules” – even now.

How do we fault people who are doing the best that they can?

Recently, David Blacksmith has come under fire for allowing APTN to come to a Sundance and film parts of this ceremony. I want to be upfront and say that David Blacksmith is my cousin. He is married to Sheryl Blacksmith who is the daughter of Charlotte & (the late) Ernest Daniels who are cousins of my mother. We share a grandmother. They are my family. And, when I heard about this event, I too was conflicted. But I thought about my Uncle Joe Esquash – who passed that Sundance along to David – and my heart softened. Uncle Joe is the most respectful, kind-hearted, traditional person I know. And, I know that David would never have made a decision about this ceremony without Uncle Joe.

And, so, I was forced to contextualize this issue. How could I condemn his actions when I knew the people and intentions involved?

And, I realized I couldn’t. That is the power of our spirituality. Context matters. The potential repercussions of making such a decision were not taken lightly. Nor will they be realized in the short term. Because I know these teachers, I know that a decision was made in the best way that it could be made. It is true that I don’t think there isn’t a definitive right or wrong answer to this situation, but it is also true that being flexible in times of need is what has helped us to survive as Anishinaabeg.

For example, I have learned that people under the influence of drugs or alcohol should not be using the “sacred” medicines (sage, cedar, tobacco, sweetgrass). Yet, in my work as a social worker, and truly in my own life, it is sometimes those times that I need the help of medicine most. Who am I to say that the drunk man on the street cannot breathe the sweet smell of wiingashk? Where does this teaching come from? Furthermore, if everything we put into our body is medicine, does this mean that this same man should not eat? Should not drink water? The most sacred thing of all? I cannot believe our teachings allow this.

Similarly, when we find many of our people living in urban areas or struggling with addiction and the effects of residential school, who are we to say that they should not hear something of the Sundance, even from somebody on tv?

Yes, you should have your own opinions, based on your own teachings and understandings. I have mine (and, you might be surprised to learn them, given this particular piece of writing). But, do not forget that the reason you have an opinion is because our relatives before us created space for us to learn and think. And this is the most generous gift. Our teachings aren’t ten commandments etched in stone. Our ceremonies aren’t confined to Sundances and Sweats. Our teachings are gifts. And, our ceremonies are manifested in our everyday lives.

So, before we condemn others’ actions, I hope we can see:

the re-evaluation of women’s teachings in the context of colonialism, misogyny, and Christianity;

the dilemma of paying for medicine in the context of oil prices, limited harvests, and remoteness;

the documentation of ceremony given the stats of residential school and addiction we all preach about.

Because, without context our practice as Indigenous peoples becomes a dogmatic religion that can no longer adapt and survive the way we have so far through the onslaught of colonialism, nation-statehood, Christianity, and so much more. By making judgments based on dogma and insinuating that one person’s actions are opening a proverbial floodgate, we are assuming the worst of someone’s actions and we rob those people of the most important ceremony and gifts of all – our ability to think critically and exercise free will.

Hold up your relatives.

We are all doing the best that we can.

__________________________________________________________

Tara Williamson is an Anishinaabekwe/Nehayowak who was raised in Gaabishkigamaag, Swan Lake, Manitoba and is a member of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation. She has degrees in social work, law, and Indigenous governance and is currently a Professor at Fleming College in Nogojiwanong (Peterborough, Ontario). She is a musician, aunty, sister, daughter, and poet.

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Have you seen the movie (2006) Apocalypto? Irealize it is a fictionalized story & I am woefully ignorant about such things. If it is even half true, it gives me pause.

Where does the tribalism of the Native American peoples come into play here. What political right of domination was in play among the tribes of the Americas? I really wonder what Mr. Newcomb thinks about this? I think the Conquistidors and their ilk were awful people, but.......

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It is October 13, 2023 and a much has come to pass since this video was originally posted. I am a Christian-I was baptized and raised in a Christian tradition. But, I never wished to dominate anyone, their religions, or their culture. I am not alone in this. There were many injustices forced by my ancestors, I suppose. I now see this being practiced in real time, all over the world. I am nonplussed, to put it mildly. The scales have fallen from my eyes, especially, where my country's efforts at world domination, and not just world domination, but the domination of humanity. The useful idiots in the government think they are immune to being thrown out with the other "riff raff". Howvever, they will eventually be discarded. They are just playing for time, and they don't even know it. I am very frightened by the future, if these demonic people reach their goals. The drums of WW3 are getting very loud and there is a stampede of humanity headed for a cliff. Evil is on display and flaunted. I have no sollution for this.

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Very perceptive.

I come to a similar conclusion to this author in a rather different way in "Why You Should Stop Using the Concepts Left- and Right-wing".

https://whatdoino.substack.com/p/why-you-should-stop-using-the-concepts?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2

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A eugenicist God?! You are confusing the Truth Claims of the Ruler of this World, the Father of Lies, with the Truth Claims of God found in scripture. Satan has used his version of these claims to lead the world down his rabbit holes designed to discredit God and all of His creation, and to kill us, God’s most prized creation. He has used many formal church settings and “religions” to do this, including the RCC and its “Vicars”. I just ask you to watch 2 videos, the first only about the first 1/2 and the second all of it.

1) https://www.prageru.com/video/ep-307-what-does-god-care-about-most

2) https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2hhs6t

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I will watch your videos. I haven't yet done so, but I don't think he/they are saying God is a eugenecist god. I thought they meant that was the PsyOp being perpetrated by those who seek to dominate humanity & the globe.

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Oops; my bad, if so. Sometimes I jump to conclusions; a bad habit.

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Creating dogma is as simple as placing testosterones in fancy garbs decorated with rows of bright colors.

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Dear Tessa Lena, I haven't a clue as to how contact Steven Newcomb directly (apart from old ICT pages), but would like to forward to him another remarkable edition of Reiner Fuellmich's ICIC (& vice versa, your three interviews with Steve plus his documentary). This ICIC edition - among many well-known and lesser known things - an episode on a Maori judge (1) plus other first nations' resistance to "Mr. Global's Robocop." Starring among others Vera Sharav.

(1) Watch minute plm. 98,5 - 105.

https://icic.law/2023/05/08/%f0%9f%87%a9%f0%9f%87%aa%f0%9f%87%ba%f0%9f%87%b8-der-alptraum-der-nie-endete-the-nightmare-that-never-ended/ Scroll down to the undubbed English version)

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