Part IV of "My Path to Left Biocentrism: Aboriginal
Issues and Left Biocentrism" by David Orton, Green Web
Bulletin #71, is now available on our web site
http://fox.nstn.ca/~greenweb/GW71-Path.html or directly
from the Green Web <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The bulletin is
about 5,800 words long, or 39 kb.
This bulletin aims to convey a left biocentric
perspective on issues concerning Canadian aboriginals. It
draws attention to, and brings into critical consciousness,
various taken-for-granted assumptions which are brought to
aboriginal discussions by aboriginals and non-aboriginals
alike.
Being a non-aboriginal or an aboriginal in Canada
does not define a person. What defines someone are their
values and beliefs, and how one relates to the natural
world and to other human beings. This essay shows that to
build the needed new relationship to nature and to each
other, we must unite with what is positive in both
aboriginal and non-aboriginal society and discard the
negatives. So we cannot romantically believe, that all was
beautiful in pre-contact indigenous societies in the
Americas. And, we cannot throw out everything from "Western"
society because of historical guilt about past treatment of
aboriginals, and because of the ongoing industrial destruction
of the Earth. There are many people who have been raised under
industrial capitalism, and who like me identify with a radical
ecological and social vision. There is a positive side to the
Western intellectual tradition. The way forward is to combine
the best from traditional aboriginal and non-aboriginal belief
systems. This is the promise of left biocentrism.
Here is an outline of the topics covered:
- Introduction
- Historical Guilt
- Differences or Unity?
- Who is an Aboriginal?
- One or Two Sets of Rights?
- Then and Now
- Some Academic Corroboration
- Ownership of the Earth?
- Working Together
- Learning from Aboriginals
- Conclusion
For the Earth,
David Orton
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