Our spirituality and our responsibilities define our duties. We understand the concept of sovereignty as woven through a fabric that encompasses our spirituality and responsibility. This is a cyclical view of sovereignty, incorporating it into our traditional philosophy and view of our responsibilities. There it differs greatly from the concept of western sovereignty which is based upon absolute power. For us absolute power is in the Creator and the natural order of all living things; not only human beings...Our sovereignty is related to our connections to the earth and is inherent. The idea of a nation did not simply apply to human beings. We call the buffalo, the wolves, the fish, the trees, and all are nations. Each is sovereign, and equal part of the creation, interdependent, interwoven and all related.
Sharon Venne, "The Meaning of Sovereignty," Indigenous Woman 2, no.6 (1999): 27-30
Thanks for this.
ReplyDelete(I want to reply with something more than 'thanks' but I am hunting up a quote I had here two seconds ago and now it has vanished into the chaos around my chair.)
...