In reality, the present praxis of governance, peace and leadership is being imposed from above by structures that have acquired global proportions with the intention of creating forced dependence and inculcating an economics of desperation, which lies in the roots of injustices. While development has supposedly brought substantial improvements in health care, housing, education and general well being of life, it has more often than not, given legitimacy to the acquirement and control of indigenous peoples’ resources, inevitably increasing poverty and suffering, ironically under the guise of eliminating them. Political structures no longer correspond to the economic base, a society where its productive forces are hampered with political ones in which the structures support centralized authority and decentralized bodies of production. The consumerist culture is oppressive to the human spirit and it has let loose a force which constructs human societies on traditions that resist new ideas, thereby inculcating conformity to the hegemonizing and homogenizing forces of consumerism.
Globalization is more than just a trend; it has become the international system that has replaced the cold-war system, which some may even argue is leading towards a world State. It has led to intensification of wealth leading to expanding gaps between rich and poor; thereby globalizing these problems while dismantling at every level the indigenous institutions that once addressed them. It has also restored much of the global dominance of former imperialist powers where the ambiguities of life are avoided in favor of what are convenient; dialogue is replaced by temporary slogans that manufacture images rather than celebrating the issues and realities of experience.
The State system has co-opted indigenous peoples into the electoral system of politics and leadership which has resulted in the collective loss of inability to confront with daily injustices. Taiaiake reminds us that “Leaders who promote non-indigenous goals and embody non-indigenous values are simply tools used by the State to maintain its control.” Hence, their ability for critical perspective is stripped away by assimilation and their decisions promote the interest and power of the State rather than strengthening the aspirations of their own people.
The pursuit and struggle for power within themselves and the accumulation of wealth through control and manipulation violates the ethos and spiritual values of indigenous tradition. Most of them know what is right; they have long known what has been wrong as well and what they need to do, but they very often teach their people the memories of the dominant forces and have chosen to suppress the history and knowledge of their own people. Inevitably, by mixing falsehood with truth it creates a more destructive lie which strengthens the “conspiracy of silence” perpetuating the historical and continuing injustice of their own people. A leader who does not link the present with the past is responsible for making tolerable what is intolerable and sapping away the will to struggle for an alternative order of things.
Globalization is more than just a trend; it has become the international system that has replaced the cold-war system, which some may even argue is leading towards a world State. It has led to intensification of wealth leading to expanding gaps between rich and poor; thereby globalizing these problems while dismantling at every level the indigenous institutions that once addressed them. It has also restored much of the global dominance of former imperialist powers where the ambiguities of life are avoided in favor of what are convenient; dialogue is replaced by temporary slogans that manufacture images rather than celebrating the issues and realities of experience.
The State system has co-opted indigenous peoples into the electoral system of politics and leadership which has resulted in the collective loss of inability to confront with daily injustices. Taiaiake reminds us that “Leaders who promote non-indigenous goals and embody non-indigenous values are simply tools used by the State to maintain its control.” Hence, their ability for critical perspective is stripped away by assimilation and their decisions promote the interest and power of the State rather than strengthening the aspirations of their own people.
The pursuit and struggle for power within themselves and the accumulation of wealth through control and manipulation violates the ethos and spiritual values of indigenous tradition. Most of them know what is right; they have long known what has been wrong as well and what they need to do, but they very often teach their people the memories of the dominant forces and have chosen to suppress the history and knowledge of their own people. Inevitably, by mixing falsehood with truth it creates a more destructive lie which strengthens the “conspiracy of silence” perpetuating the historical and continuing injustice of their own people. A leader who does not link the present with the past is responsible for making tolerable what is intolerable and sapping away the will to struggle for an alternative order of things.
