November/December 2000 Living Now
A Message to Younger Brother
by The Mamas Kogi
Delivered by the Mamas Koguis To the Shamanic and Ecological Association
of Colombia
The same sun illumines us
Your need is my need
Both of us feel thirst
Both of us need shelter
Both of us feel hunger
Let us be done with our individualisms
and think of the collective need
Ecology
We make an urgent call to governments and to all sectors of the
planet that they take firm actions regarding these emergency matters,
that they do not continue with the models of excessive production,
and that they return to the natural law of using only those resources
that are necessary for the maintenance of the human species.
Humanity needs to re-establish its original relations with the
laws of Mother Nature. For this reason, taking Agenda 21 signed
at the Rio de Janeiro convention to be presently the most representative
document of a global character for the preservation of the environment,
we call for the swift direct application of effective action. We
reaffirm, as recognized in Agenda 21. that a cause of the present
problems of the planet is the focus on technological development.
The indigenous concept of development is based on Original Law,
which tells us we should receive the fruits of Mother Earth with
an attitude of gratefulness rather than of exploitation. A change
of attitude about misunderstood development is urgent. We urge a
halt, a pause on the road, in order to reflect and make decisions
with more wisdom.
We send a call to governments and scientists all over the planet
for an awakening of consciousness and humanity, since we are now
in a critical moment, a time of decay in which humanity can make
the decision for life or for extinction. We make a special invitation
to the scientific community and to multinationals to work in concert
to reformulate the model of development.
Nevertheless, in our experience we have witnessed a preoccupation
with taking economic advantage of our traditional knowledge. We
ask that respect for our peoples be demonstrated by not using our
culture and tradition for commercial purposes. Our stay on this
planet must not be used for commercial or special interests. For
this reason, it is important to guarantee the protection, and to
denounce and control the violations associated with patents and
brand names, of our knowledge, sacred objects, symbols, names, and
biogenetic resources.
OUR ORIGINAL LAW TELLS US IN PRINCIPLE THAT EACH
ELEMENT OF THE NATURAL WORLD HAS ITS RESPONSIBLE MOTHER OR FATHER,
AND THEREFORE NO ONE CAN BE ITS MASTER.
In order to continue our work to conserve the environment and to
repair affected ecosystems, it is necessary to strengthen our peoples
and to facilitate the organization and recuperation of our ancestral
territories, especially sacred sites and the so-called archaological
sites. For example, in Guatemala, there exist approximately 68,480
places that are today occupied by construction, and in Colombia,
an important sacred site, Teyuna -- miscalled the "Lost City"
-- is today dedicated to tourist exploitation.
If we may be permitted, we ask that the white man fulfill his own
Original Law: the tablets of Moses. End the spirit of domination
over other nations and reduce the exploitation of the natural world.
What our ancestors left us is for the purpose of generating life,
while the inventions of man are made only for facilitating our activities,
or even for domination, subjugation, and finishing off. This is
why we ask you to reflect on the results of the invention of the
great machines. We see that they have destroyed the Earth, the air,
the water, and even human life itself. It has become impossible
to reestablish the natural course of natural phenomena, and human
beings find ourselves condemned to live in a world of suffering
and desperation.
It is urgent to work for peace, not just a peace written on treaties,
but a real peace born of a new state of consciousness about life
-- a peace not only among human beings but also in our relation
with the natural world. Otherwise there may be peace among human
beings, but there will be no survivors.
May all arise, may not even one or two groups remain behind. For
we are all brothers, like fingers on a hand. May the dawn come,
may the aurora arrive, may all people have Peace and be happy. Now
is the time that this work be finished.
May they play the great melodies,
May they play the small melodies,
May my dancers be set loose,
May my prisoners be set free.
They are my valleys, they are my mountains.
We, the Indians who have reunited in UMUMUKUNU (Sierra Nevada de
Santa Marta), declare ourselves to be the guardians of peace in
all of our territories; and though we have diverse tongues, cosmovisions,
and cultural and spiritual practices, we have one single Original
Law.
Asociación Chamánica y Ecológica de Colombia. Spreading and
supporting the knowledge of the Peoples and cultures of Pachamama
[Mother Earth]