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Lessons from the Margin: Indigenous Peace Ecology

Ecological Crisis

Deforestation

Desertification

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Widening Inequality

Alienation

Marginalisation

Racism & Discrimination

Social Injustice

Displacement: Refugees

Increasing Violence

Social and Humanitarian Crisis

Sustainable Development Ecological Regeneration

Neoliberal Economics Solidarity Economics

Alternative Paradigms, Philosophies, Practices:

‘Epistemologies of the South’, Indigenous Lessons, Peace Ecology

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DegenerationGreen

DevelopmentSustainable

DevelopmentRestorative Regeneration

Degeneration: anthropocentric, ecologically imperialistic, 98% old-growth forests

destroyed, 94% large ocean fish depleted, 80% rivers can’t support life anymore.

Green Development: green washing, focus on economic development, oxymoron,

development=growth, lip-service to green values.

Sustainable: root word—sustain which means strengthen or support. Can we

strengthen or support the current system?

Brundtland Commission--Our Common Future (1987): ‘Sustainable development is

development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of

future generations to meet their own needs.’

Criticisms of Sustainable Development:

Conceptual: Inherently contradictory, ‘oxymoron’ . Too optimistic, too

ambitious & too far-reaching. Various interpretations, empty signifier,

meaningless concept.

Implementation: Agenda not a blueprint for action. What level is SD aimed at:

local, national, global? What is it that is to be sustained? Production or

consumption?

We can not solve our

problems with the

same level of thinking

that created them.

Charles Eisenstein

Political/Ideological: Disguise for the maintenance of

the status quo. Hegemonic Discourse: ideological

(western) domination, diverts attention from other

more effective ecological solutions.

After three decades of sustainable development, we

now have more pollution, greater biodiversity loss, and

climate change which suggests that it has failed.

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https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs

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To sustain is to strengthen or support. But ecosystems are not static; they are dynamic.

So what are we sustaining?

We need to regenerate! Not just keep things as they are.

Regenerate (verb):

Grow after loss or damage (as in the

case of body tissue)

Bring new and more vigorous life to

an area, revive, revitalise, renew,

rejuvenate, resuscitate.

Implicitly, to improve not just restore.

Semai of Malaysia

Orang Asli (‘Original People’)

45,000 people, Austroasiatic speakers, mostly animists

Forest dependent swiddeners to simple commodity producers

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Shifting Cultivation, Slash & Burn Agriculture, Swiddening, Agroforestry

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Farming

Degenerative Regenerative

Intensive

Extensive use of toxic chemicals

Monoculture

Based on industrial agriculture

systems that destabilise the

climate, degrade soil, water,

biodiversity, health & local

economies

Organic & Ecological

Rejuvenate the soil, grasslands, forests.

Replenish water.

Bio-diverse

Promote food sovereignty, restore

public health & prosperity, absorb

excess carbon from the atmosphere &

storing it in the soil

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The Four G Syndrome

GLUT

GREEDGRIEVANCE

GROWTH

Accumulation

Competition

Exploitation Inequality Alienation

Neoliberal Economics

Neoliberal Economics Solidarity Economics

Linear Cyclical

Economic Growth Ecological Regeneration

More, Quantity Better, Quality

Excessive Production Redistribution

Competitive Collaborative

Individualistic Communitarian

Greed Generosity

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Kate Raworth:

Doughnut Economicsdécroissance

World Social Forum

Semai Social Ecology

Egalitarian Ethos.

‘Deliberative Democracy’: socially

inclusive, Consensual Decision-making,

Individual Autonomy.

Solidarity Economics: redistribution, sharing,

generalised reciprocity, equal access,

communal & eco-centric ‘ownership’,

collaborative

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Four Focal Areas For Transformative Action:

Localisation. “The social unit that will have the greatest stability and

resilience into the future is the local community” (Suzuki 1999, 213).

Basics: Needs versus Wants

Education: formal and informal.

Energy: Suzuki (1999, 215): “work to

get your home as ecologically benign

as possible (and) make 'disposable’

an obscene word”.

Peace ecology considers peace, nonviolence, social justice, protection

of communities, ecological regeneration of degraded environments,

recognition of human rights and the rights of species and nature as

interconnected concerns and aspirational goals.

Randall Amster (2015, 203) provides a list of viable alternatives:

• community gardening

• organic farming

• collaborative water management

• reinvigorating the commons

• demonetizing our relationships

• decommodifying the stuff of nature

• preserving nature for its own sake and as a potential pathway to peacebuilding

• navigating crises through mutual aid

• forestalling crises through sustainable practices

• resisting militarism on all levels

• practicing compassionate and radical generosity

• moving toward green energy sources

• relocalizing the foundation of our lives

• respecting diversity both socio-politically and ecologically, and

• working across borders of all types

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Egalitarian ethos, foster equity

Abhor violence and aggressive behaviour

Foster sharing, kindness, generosity, cooperation, interdependence

Mutual respect

Empathy: ability to grasp and respect the other’s viewpoint.

Workable strategies for resolving and averting violence. Resolve and

transform conflict before it escalates into violence.

Strategies for raising children to adopt and continue non-violent

ways. Socialisation: Inculcation of peaceability or peace culture.

Defining Characteristics of Peaceful Societies

Lessons from Peaceful Societies (https://cas.uab.edu/peacefulsocieties/)

Devalue competition, self-focus, aggrandising behaviour

Indigenous Peace Ecology:

Live in harmony with nature: eco-centric living

Catherine Walsh (2010: 18): “buen vivir denotes, organizes, and constructs a system of

knowledge and living based on the communion of humans and nature and on the

spatial-temporal-harmonious totality of existence. That is, on the necessary interrelation

of beings, knowledges, logics, and rationalities of thought, action, existence, and living.”

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Indigenous Peace Ecology:

Lived and embodied modes of expression

Acquisition and transmission through lived

experience

Traditional: transmitted from generation to

generation

Not static, dynamic, adaptive to change

Indigenous knowledge: directly related to the

natural world

Sky-focused vs Earth-based

In Antiquity every tree, every spring, every stream, every hill had its own genius

loci, its guardian spirit. These spirits were accessible to men, but were very unlike

men; centaurs, fauns, and mermaids show their ambivalence. Before one cut a tree,

mined a mountain, or dammed a brook, it was important to placate the spirit in

charge of that particular situation, and to keep in placated. (White 1967: 1205)

(1) Indigenous Sacred Ecology: Spiritual Connection with Nature

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Indigenous ‘Lord of the land’

Tauli-Corpus (2001: 285), an Igorot researcher and activist observed:

‘We do not consider ourselves the owners of the ancestral territory and resources

found therein. We are but the stewards, trustees, or custodians. The beings in the spirit-

world and deities are the real owners of the land. Thus, it is imperative to consult these

spirits and deities when land is used, converted, or transferred and when resources are

harvested, planted, or hunted. The forms of consultation range from a simple petition,

prayer, or chant to elaborate rituals in which every village member participates.’

‘The beings in the spirit world are responsible for protecting the natural world from

human greed’ (Tauli-Corpus 2001: 287)

Remove absolute rights to land from the individual and places these rights in some

supernatural force which serves to sanction ‘proper’ treatment of land and nature.

Forest-human relations metaphorized as an ‘adult-child caring’ with the

forest as a parent and humans as its child.

Stark contrast from traditional western or modern view:

As Bird-David (1993: 121) argues:

“…nature and humankind have been ‘seen’ as detached and in opposition.

Furthermore, they have been viewed within a ‘subject-object’ frame: nature ‘seen’ as

a resource to be utilized, controlled, possessed, dominated, managed and (more

recently) looked after by humankind.”

Greek mythology: Pan, the Lord of the Woods. Feared inhabitant of the

forest. Malevolent

(2) Respect for nature

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Historicising ecology, Ecologising History

Temporal consciousness to spatialised consciousness of history

Land: Historical significance

Sacred---connections with the ancestors and ecology

(3) Spatialised Consciousness of History

‘Stories usually are a series of relatively autonomous episodes that are united, like

beads on a string, by winding thread of continuous movement through space, rather

than by a rising plot line that points towards its own resolution in a climax. At their

most elemental, Illongot stories may simply list a lifetime of place names where

people have gardened or erected their houseposts. More elaborate stories, often about

oratory, fishing, hunting, and headhunting, begin at home, move in gradual step-by-

step fashion toward their destinations, and conclude with a quick return to the place

of origin.’ (Rosaldo 1980: 15–6)

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