OWE AKU INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE PROJECT

Report on the Tlahtokan Abya Yala

(Gatheirng of Indigenous Nations and Pueblos) at

Nahuacalli
(Embassy of Indigenous Peoples)
on the Territory of the Oʼodham Nation (Phoenix, Arizona)
March 13-14, 2011

The Doctrine of Discovery

and the
Wakeup Call from the Nightmare of Manifest Destiny that is Arizona
Owe Aku International Justice Project was invited to participate in a regional hearing on
the Doctrine of Discovery sponsored by Tonatierra on the traditional territories of the
Oʼodham people in what is now Phoenix, Arizona. Kent Lebsock, Owe Akuʼs
Coordinator, and Medora Woods, an elder on our Advisory Board, participated in the
two day event. The Hearing took place just before the Treaty Meeting and North
American Indigneous Peoples Caucus in Blue Lake, California on March 18, 19 and 20,
2011. It was hosed by Tonatierra at Nahuacalli or the Embassy of Indigenous Peoples
as well as at Pueblo Grande, an archaeological site of the ancestors of the Oʼodham
nation, both in Phoenix, Arizona.

Arizona is now the epicenter of the most recent wave of American imperialism and
continued myopia in the war against Indigenous peoples that has not diminished or
defused for over 500 years now.

“Arizona is a test, a front line on the assault on Indigenous and non-

Indigenous peoples of color. The border here has been condensed into
this narrow area by building the walls because the climate her eis right for
the hatred necessary to continue the war on Indigenous peoples.” (Tupac
Enrique, Tonatierra)

Tonatierra called this Hearing in order to bring our peoples together to educate and
focus on this particular crisis:

“We … here on the ground, know we are at the pivot point of not just the
history for Arizona but the future of our relationship as families of the
children of Abya Yala and Mother Earth.   The first wave of impact of the
impending climate chaos on the horizon of the global economy, which is
projected to produce 50,000,000 climate refugees globally due to climate
change exacerbated by global warming, has already broken upon the
borders of Arizona.  The climate of fear, ignorance, and insecurity which is
driving the viscous attack against the migratory workers of Arizona and
their families is signal that the climate of social relationships which should
be based on our shared human values and supported by public policies is
dangerously misguided.  We are being assaulted on a daily basis by the
dying gasp of the pathology of white privilege as determinant of the legal,
political, and cultural identity of US citizenship and nationality.” (See http://
www.nahuacalli.org/Pohualtlahtoyan.html, March 16, 2011.)

A Two Front Strategy: Corrective Rights and A New Paradigm

Owe Aku International Justice Project was struck by the emergence of a two-front
strategy that was revealed during the interaction with brothers and sisters from Abya
Yala (“continent of life” in the Kuna language). Both “fronts” are especially relevant as
we usher in a new age of human rights, based on the wisdom of Mother Earth and the
memories of Indigenous peoples.

720 West 173rd Street, #59, New York City 10032, oweakuinternational@me.com, 646-233-4406
Written March 16, 2011 - Page 2
The first is to eradicate the historical inequities that have violated the rights of
Indigenous peoples to have stewardship of our lands, territories, waters and resources.
In international parlance these tools of historical inequity would include, most
particularly, the Papal Bulls of the Roman Catholic Church that created the “legal”
justifications for genocide, domination and colonization by giving Christian nations a
mythical mandate to kill, capture, enslave and steal anything they wanted from non-
Christians. In the United States of America the words of the Roman Church have been
continually used, up until today, in order to warrant other fictions like dependent
domestic nations, trust lands, and the ultimate tool of American genocide and christian
domination, manifest destiny.

“These have created enough verbal poison to fill ten worlds” (Shannon
Rivers of the Gila River Community, Oʼodham Nation).

How else could a made-up country of immigrants (as Alex White Plume defines the
United States) find a means in the 21st century to encode such irrational, racist,
discriminatory and illusionary laws regarding immigration such as those that exist in the
human rights crisis that is the non-Indigenous mind of Euro-American Arizona?

This question was addressed by Medora Woods, a long time ally and friend of
Indigenous peoples, who has also been trained in Jungian analysis and American legal
jurisprudence. She began her remarks by stating that:

“While I have been here, not only have I been listening to the stories of
you and your people, I am listening to the stories of Mother Earth.”

In essence, she concludes that the western mind, displaced and uprooted by its own
volition from its own heritage and connection with the Mother, so necessary to human
well-being, especially applicable to Euro-American colonizers, has suffered a kind of
trauma. Defining this as “displacement panic”, she stated that there can be no recovery
without an honest examination and acknowledgment of that trauma. As Indigenous
peoples affected by the same kind of trauma, we are well-aware of the ongoing, inter-
generational affects that a loss of connection to our territory, ceremony and ancestry
can have. The difference is we are finding ways to recover that connection and
revitalize these critical connections.

“We are awake, we are standing in defiance.” (Woman of the

Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador film presenation)

Euro-Americans have no recourse for recovery, being on foreign lands, and without
honest examination, there is little hope for healthy reintegration. The atrocities “they”
perpetuate will continue without that examination to the detriment of all humanity. Also
significant is that she traces this disassociation from an Indigenous heritage on the part
of the “western” mind as far back as three to four thousand years ago. In an ancient

720 West 173rd Street, #59, New York City 10032, oweakuinternational@me.com, 646-233-4406
Written March 16, 2011 - Page 3
text, found in what is today Mosel, Iraq, a story tells of the violent destruction of the
“Mother” by the patriarchy. The symbolic nature of the story is apparent. For a video of
her address to the representatives of Indigenous peoples, communities and nations
gathered at Pueblo Grande on March 14, 2001, please follow these YouTube links:

Medora Woods Video Part I:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6RY_yprmaQ

Medora Woods Video Part II:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oigyBfW-ldo

Steve Newcomb who reported on the history and implications of the Doctrine, coined a
phrase for the struggle to abrogate it: “corrective rights.” Deconstructing the Papal Bulls
and their bastard children, terra nullus, the doctrine of discovery, the law of nations,
manifest destiny, and nation-building, along with the devastating results of genocide,
terracide, ethnicide, and environmental destruction, is an essential aspect of ushering in
a new era.

“A movement without memory makes no history.” (Man of the

Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador film presentation)

The second front being defined in part by the work of Owe Aku International Justice
Project is that Indigenous peoples and our nations and communities are building new
laws and standards based on principles received from our ancient memories and
passed down through the generations by our ancestors. These are memories forgotten
by the “dominant” culture. The result of this loss of integrated memory is that these are
no longer issues that pertain only to the preservation of Indigneous cultures and
territories; they are issues threatening the existence of the human race and the
preservation of any relationship that remains with Mother Earth. To move into a
consciousness of preservation, away from one of destructive consumption, the only
viable solution being presented is to follow the ancient lifeways of Indigenous peoples
which are based upon the sacred inter-connection, not domination, of “all our relations”;
land, water, air, plants, trees, animals, birds, rocks, minerals, all things animate and
inanimate.

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality:  To change

something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” 
Buckminister Fuller

Indigenous peoples are building a new paradigm based upon our wisdom and
knowledge. The existing reality must be torn down and new standards put in place.

“We must go home and do something different. We must ask, ʻwhat are
we doing to help the people?” (Mona Polacca, Hopi/Havasupai/Tewa)

720 West 173rd Street, #59, New York City 10032, oweakuinternational@me.com, 646-233-4406
Written March 16, 2011 - Page 4
An example from the recent history of Indigenous peoples demonstrates how we are
making changes and defining different realities for the world to follow. Though it may
not be a perfect document, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples
nonetheless enshrines many of the principles that Indigneous peoples use to preserve
and protect our interconnection and the relationships that bind us to our communities
and territories. In terms of the “existing obsolete model” it is nothing more than a
“standard”, an aspirational document for member nations of the United Nations.
However, it contains the building blocks for a new paradigm. Mostly unenforceable or
disrespected by many member nations of the U.N., it nonetheless moves us into a
position to fight the “existing reality.”

The fact that the document was drafted with direct input from the Indigenous nations
and communities that carry within our cultures all that is necessary to create a new
reality is itself a significant step forward. Indigenous peoples are also influencing this
paradigm shift within the Organization of American States through an InterAmerican
Declaration on Indigenous Rights. Other examples include the Study on Treaties,
Agreements and Other Constructive Arrangements which definitively places “original”
title in the hands of Indigneous nations and provides a framework for creating a new
model that rejects the illegal occupation and degradation of our lands and resources.
The studies on cultural heritage, the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the
land, as well as an important study on our rights to our intellectual property, all define
new parameters of rights based on Indigenous cosmology. They openly dismiss the
domination perpetuated by the Western mind and its reflection in the Doctrine of
Discovery and all that flows from it. At Owe Aku, our challenge to the world and to the
United States, to honor our treaties, and our surety that we will again be in a position to
protect our land and peoples, is one part of the effort to create a new paradigm, a new
reality.

Certainly there are obstacles, but when have we, as Indigneous peoples, failed to step
up to change the “existing obsolete model”? Neither we will not fail to meet this
challenge. At this critical stage in the evolution of the relationship between humanity
and all our relatives of the Earth, it seems essential that we all identify the role we are to
play, as given to us in ceremony and by our communities, and step up to meet the
challenge. This was an essential component of what came out of the reunion of
Indigenous peoples of Abya Yala in Phoenix on March 13 and 14, 2011. Owe Aku
International Justice Project is proud to have been a part o that process.

720 West 173rd Street, #59, New York City 10032, oweakuinternational@me.com, 646-233-4406
Written March 16, 2011 - Page 5
“I donʼt want to make recommendations, I want to make movements.”
(Shannon Rivers of the Gila River Community, Oʼodham Nation)

Shannon Riversʼ words suggest that we take our recommendations, a necessary part of
the process for collective societies, and ensure they become movements. Although
recommendations are words they can lead to actions and our actions are the essence
of our movements. Shannon Riversʼ words remind us that this is work requires constant
vigilance and self-examination and discipline to ensure we move forward.

Recommendations that we have pulled from the discussions that took place in Phoenix
are presented here. All of these are action items will be submitted to the North
American Indigneous Peoples Caucus Meeting held on March 18, 19, and 20, 2011 at
Blue Lake, California.

1. It has been requested that an amicus brief be submitted in Tonatierraʼs lawsuit on

immigration in U.S. District Court in Phoenix. International human rights and Indigenous
rights perspectives should be utilized addressing the issues raised during this
conference, including the abrogation of the Doctrine of Discovery and the creation of a
new paradigm based on Indigneous laws encapsulated in some United Nations
documents, studies and standards.

2. That we pursue steps through necessary Indigenous protocols, including treaties, the
exchange of ideas and wisdom, and trade, to strengthen the ties along the entire length
of our Indigenous hemisphere. This will include the need to improve communications
through the imperfect process bilingual exchanges in Spanish and English.

3. The creation of “thematic units” (areas of interest and focus) that can be presented to
young people in order to continue the work and recommendations that we are making.

4. Challenge the Doctrine of Discovery through the use of United States foundational
documents including articles 3 of the Northwest Ordinance and the Louisiana Purchase
as well as the Dakota Territorial Act (this is specifically directed at the work of Owe Aku
International Justice Project in its efforts to create a new paradigm surrounding
Indigneous treaties, i.e., enforcement and respect). (Steve Newcomb)

5. Challenge the dominant culture by posing the question, “what are your original
instructions about your existence here on Turtle Island? What is your culture of origin
and how is it respectfully expressed here on Turtle Island?” (Mona Polacca, Hopi/
Havasupai/Tewa)

Hecetu

Respectfully submitted,

Owe Aku International Justice Project

720 West 173rd Street, #59, New York City 10032, oweakuinternational@me.com, 646-233-4406
Written March 16, 2011 - Page 6