Yes...this is where the turnaround will come...from the people. “We the people.....”. Let us Americans folks learn from the indigenous folks how to defeat the big, mighty, greedy, bullies who want to sell out the earth for the almighty $$$.
Yes!! What a joy to learn of some good news, and how sad that the good news does not come from the richest, most powerful country on the planet. But there is hope - if those tribal folks can do it, what is holding us back from doing the same?!? Thanks for spreading the word, Jim.
What wonderful news. Thanks so much for letting us know that we ordinary people really can achieve so much if we just persist and band together to do what is right.
I wish it would happen on the North Slope of Alaska (The Willow project). One of Biden's failures. If it can happen in Ecuador it should be able to happen in USA........
Bravo for the brave Ecuadorians who stuck together to improve live on earth. Our Progressives should take a lesson from them, because we will never have anywhere the money to compete with the mega corporations and conservative owned "news" media who were given a free pass by the Robert's Supreme Court to buy elections by paying off politicians and swamping the air waves with misinformation.
“I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country.” – Thomas Jefferson
“I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.” – Thomas Jefferson
“A people who expect to be ignorant and free, expect what never was and never will be.” – Thomas Jefferson
Grassroots--exactly how we in the old Dem party, before the elite ditched the New Deal, used to win elections. Same for the original Populists, union organizing, civil rights.
Yet a large % of Euro Americans are unaware of their own colonist attitudes. It was a shock to me when I went back to college as a botany major to find most people born and raised in Seattle could not even identify the dominant native trees. This in an area known for outdoor sports and for supposed eco-activism. Similar story in other U.S. cities--people living superficially on the surface of the land with no roots in it.
Trees grow in obligate symbiosis with fungus on their roots in a complexity known as the mycorrhizosphere. Around which are thousands of critters in a system that alone makes cooperation the dominant mode of existence on Earth. And there are many other symbioses. So then the concept "cooperation" is rooted in concrete living examples which form in response to elements of the local environment. A mentor who knew his local ecosystem well told me he started with trees because they were large and didn't move.
It's similar with politics. Start with local history, the human roots, which is to care about the lives of real people and not merely to impose abstract political theories. This must also include the indigenous nations--THE experts on how best to relate to a locality. It is not enough to say in San Francisco "this is Ohlone land" or in Seattle "this is Suquamish/Duwamish land' as if a matter of ownership. To most indigenous groups, they are intimately formed by the land, not its landlord. Merely saying a name means little. Don't run to the nearest rez, either. Be responsible for learning local culture and respect the right of indigenous people to be by and for themselves and the land.
If we form local connections that begin in experience of the land, these will be symbiotic by definition. A rootedness that respects difference, connecting up to overgrow the exploitive rootlessness of Empire.
Thank you, Jim! This is most inspiring and, as you say, provides a clear example for environmentalists EVERYWHERE that we can win against these PetroGhouls!! Keep beating the drum, my friend, and keep us informed of these sadly-neglected victories!
More good news like this please! Too much "Bad News on the Doorstep" these days as Don McLean's lyric so aptly points out even though he was referring to the death of Buddy Holly and not news in general.
Yes...this is where the turnaround will come...from the people. “We the people.....”. Let us Americans folks learn from the indigenous folks how to defeat the big, mighty, greedy, bullies who want to sell out the earth for the almighty $$$.
Yes!! What a joy to learn of some good news, and how sad that the good news does not come from the richest, most powerful country on the planet. But there is hope - if those tribal folks can do it, what is holding us back from doing the same?!? Thanks for spreading the word, Jim.
The indigenous aren’t watching media.... they are living with the damage.
What wonderful news. Thanks so much for letting us know that we ordinary people really can achieve so much if we just persist and band together to do what is right.
Thank you, Jim, as always for being on top of good, constructive news unpublished by mainstream media.
Yes, this is the best news. The whole reason I signed up for the Lowdown. Thanks so much for all you are doing.
I wish it would happen on the North Slope of Alaska (The Willow project). One of Biden's failures. If it can happen in Ecuador it should be able to happen in USA........
It won't just 'happen' here either. 'It' must be pushed from all sides.
Bravo for the brave Ecuadorians who stuck together to improve live on earth. Our Progressives should take a lesson from them, because we will never have anywhere the money to compete with the mega corporations and conservative owned "news" media who were given a free pass by the Robert's Supreme Court to buy elections by paying off politicians and swamping the air waves with misinformation.
“I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country.” – Thomas Jefferson
“I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.” – Thomas Jefferson
“A people who expect to be ignorant and free, expect what never was and never will be.” – Thomas Jefferson
Bully for them! As a defeated windmill advocate in Pennsylvania, I applaud their success.
Thank you SO MUCH, Jim !!! Hurrah for the Waorani People !!! My spirits are muy uplifted !
Rootedness v. Rootlessness
Grassroots--exactly how we in the old Dem party, before the elite ditched the New Deal, used to win elections. Same for the original Populists, union organizing, civil rights.
Yet a large % of Euro Americans are unaware of their own colonist attitudes. It was a shock to me when I went back to college as a botany major to find most people born and raised in Seattle could not even identify the dominant native trees. This in an area known for outdoor sports and for supposed eco-activism. Similar story in other U.S. cities--people living superficially on the surface of the land with no roots in it.
Trees grow in obligate symbiosis with fungus on their roots in a complexity known as the mycorrhizosphere. Around which are thousands of critters in a system that alone makes cooperation the dominant mode of existence on Earth. And there are many other symbioses. So then the concept "cooperation" is rooted in concrete living examples which form in response to elements of the local environment. A mentor who knew his local ecosystem well told me he started with trees because they were large and didn't move.
It's similar with politics. Start with local history, the human roots, which is to care about the lives of real people and not merely to impose abstract political theories. This must also include the indigenous nations--THE experts on how best to relate to a locality. It is not enough to say in San Francisco "this is Ohlone land" or in Seattle "this is Suquamish/Duwamish land' as if a matter of ownership. To most indigenous groups, they are intimately formed by the land, not its landlord. Merely saying a name means little. Don't run to the nearest rez, either. Be responsible for learning local culture and respect the right of indigenous people to be by and for themselves and the land.
If we form local connections that begin in experience of the land, these will be symbiotic by definition. A rootedness that respects difference, connecting up to overgrow the exploitive rootlessness of Empire.
I read somewhere that most indigenous people believe that what you 'take out you renew'.
Thank you, Jim! This is most inspiring and, as you say, provides a clear example for environmentalists EVERYWHERE that we can win against these PetroGhouls!! Keep beating the drum, my friend, and keep us informed of these sadly-neglected victories!
Hurray for Ecuador’s indigenous people! If only our own had that power in this country, perhaps our performance would be better.
Fantastic news! It is like David going up against Goliath. Light will always overcome darkness.
YES!!
Exigent - nice. And perhaps the first time I've seen or heard the English version.
I learned that word years ago from a Mexican waitress. I was the bartender and she said I was 'muy exigente.'
More good news like this please! Too much "Bad News on the Doorstep" these days as Don McLean's lyric so aptly points out even though he was referring to the death of Buddy Holly and not news in general.