An Indigenous Call For Urgent and Collective Action To All Members of the Human Family for Protecting and Restoring the Sacred



(please add names of groups to be presented in Rio)



Rio de Janeiro



June 9-23, 2012



Whether or not the nation states, multinational corporations or international development agencies that surround us are willing or able to participate with us at this time, it is clear our Indigenous Peoples and Allies are moving forward in rebuilding and reunifying the Americas and beyond, through the Natural Laws and Guiding Principles inherent in our Indigenous World View.

1. We have the ancient prophecies and the clear vision of a future of social justice and collective prosperity for the Americas and beyond that are in the process of being manifested. This new global civilization will fully honor the Natural Laws and Privileges of Mother Earth and the Unity and Diversity of Human Family. This New Spiritual Springtime foretold by our Elders is now occurring, as sure as the sun rises every morning.

2. We have a strong, enduring and unbreakable spiritual foundation of cultural values and guiding principles that have empowered us to survive and arise after a great spiritual wintertime. This wintertime was filled, at times, with the utmost human cruelty, violence, injustice, abuse, and physical and cultural genocide. Despite these challenges, throughout the Americas, our Indigenous relatives are reawakening to their spiritual and cultural identities and are healing our Sacred Relationships between ourselves, Mother Earth and all members of the Human Family.

3. Together, with our allies, we have the cultural, spiritual, scientific, technological, social, environmental, economic and agricultural capacities and wisdom needed to co-create and rebuild our Families, Tribes and Nations stronger and more unified than ever before.

4. Our Indigenous Peoples and our allies, have the growing collective social and economic capital, coupled with vast natural resources, to bring our greatest dreams and visions to reality. This includes fully protecting, preserving, and restoring our Beloved Mother as the sacred heritage of all generations yet to come! Furthermore it is crystal clear that these collective resources are in the process of empowering us to become a primary spiritual and economic force, not only in the Americas, but around Mother Earth.

We are and are destined to play a greater and greater role as key global leaders in wisely mandating the sustainable and harmonious ways Mother Earth's gifts will or will not be developed! We will insure that when the development of the natural resources of Mother Earth are not sustainable, no matter how much profit is to be made, they will not be developed! Our Sacred Places and the Healthful Life of our Beloved Mother Earth are not for sale and exploitation for any price!

5) We, the Indigenous Peoples of the Eagle of the North (Canada and the U.S.), along with our allies, have the material resources to directly support our Indigenous relatives of the Condor of the South (Latin America) in developing their collective resources, as they choose. The Condor of the South equally has critical resources to share with the Eagle of the North. Our greatest strength yet to be fully realized is our spiritual and cultural unity.

6) By utilizing digital and green technologies and economies, in harmony with our vast, collective social, economic, cultural and spiritual capacities, we are manifesting, as promised, a future with social, environmental and economic justice for all members of the Human Family and our Beloved Mother Earth!

7) The primary challenge that stands before us as Indigenous Peoples in rebuilding the Americas, and beyond, is disunity. This disunity has been directly caused by genocide and colonialism. This genocide and colonization has resulted in unresolved inter-generational trauma and internalized oppression that is the process of being fully recognized and addressed.

As we move courageously and wisely forward in greater and greater love, compassion, justice and unity we are reconnecting to our enduring and unbreakable spiritual and cultural foundation for healing, reconciliation and collective action for “Protecting and Restoring the Sacred " everywhere on Mother Earth. With the realization of this spiritual and cultural foundation for prayerful, wise and unified action, all that is needed for our ultimate victory will gracefully and assuredly unfold at the right times and places, as foretold by our Ancient Ones.





Four Worlds Guiding Principles for Co-Creating a Sustainable and Harmonious World









The Four Worlds Guiding Principles for Building a Sustainable and Harmonious World



The Sixteen Principles for building a sustainable and harmonious world community emerged from a 40-year process of reflection, consultation and action within Indigenous communities across the Americas. They are rooted in the concerns of hundreds of Indigenous Elders Spiritual Leaders and Community Members, as well as in the best thinking of many non- Indigenous scholars, researchers and human and community development practitioners.



These guiding principles constitute the foundation for the process of healing and developing ourselves (mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually), our human relationships (personal, social, political, economic, and cultural) and our relationship with Mother Earth. They describe the way we must work and what we must protect and cherish.

We offer these Guiding Principles as a gift to all who seek to build a sustainable and harmonious Global community.



PREAMBLE



We speak as one, guided by the sacred teachings and spiritual traditions of the Four Directions that uplift, guide, protect, warn, inspire and challenge the entire human family to live in ways that sustain and enhance human life and the lives of all who dwell on Mother Earth, and hereby dedicate our lives and energies to healing and developing ourselves, the web of relationships that make our world, and the way we live with Mother Earth.



THE GUIDING PRINCIPLES



Starting from within, working in a circle, in a sacred manner, we heal ourselves, our relationships and our world.





STARTING FROM WITHIN



Human Beings Can Transform Their Worlds

The web of our relationships with others and the natural world, which has given rise to the problems we face as a human family, can be changed.



Development Comes From Within

The process of human and community development unfolds from within each person, relationship, family organization, community or nation.



No Vision, No Development

A vision of who we can become and what a sustainable world would be like, works as a powerful magnet, drawing us to our potential.



Healing Is A Necessary Part Of Development

Healing the past, closing up old wounds and learning healthy habits of thought and action to replace dysfunctional thinking and disruptive patterns of human relations is a necessary part of the process of sustainable development.





WORKING IN A CIRCLE



Interconnectedness

Everything is connected to everything else; therefore, any aspect of our healing and development is related to all the others (personal, social, cultural, political, economic, etc.). When we work on any one part, the whole circle is affected.



No Unity, No Development

Unity means oneness. Without unity, the common oneness that makes (seemingly) separate human beings into ‘community’ is impossible. Disunity is the primary disease of community.



No Participation, No Development

Participation is the active engagement of the minds, hearts and energy of the people in the process of their own healing and development.



Justice

Every person (regardless of gender, race, age, culture, religion, sexual orientation) must be accorded equal opportunity to participate in the process of healing and development, and to receive a fair share of the benefits.





IN A SACRED MANNER



Spirit

Human beings are both material and spiritual in nature. It is therefore inconceivable that human community could become whole and sustainable without bringing our lives into balance with the requirements of our spiritual nature.



Morals and Ethics

Sustainable human and community development requires a moral foundation centered in the wisdom of the heart. When this foundation is lost, morals and ethical principles decline and development stops.



The Hurt of One Is the Hurt of All: The Honor of One Is the Honor Of All

The basic fact of our oneness as a human family means that development for some at the expense of well being for others is not acceptable or sustainable.



Authentic Development Is Culturally Based

Healing and development must be rooted in the wisdom, knowledge and living processes of the culture of the people.





WE HEAL AND DEVELOP OURSELVES, OUR RELATIONSHIPS AND OUR WORLD



Learning

Human beings are learning beings. We begin learning while we are still in our mother’s wombs, and unless something happens to close off our minds and paralyze our capacities, we keep learning throughout our entire lives. Learning is at the core of healing and development.



Sustainability

To sustain something means to enable it to continue for a long time. Authentic development does not use up or undermine what it needs to keep on going.



Move to the Positive

Solving the critical problems in our lives and communities is best approached by visualizing and moving into the positive alternative that we wish to create, and by building on the strengths we already have, rather than on giving away our energy fighting the negative.



Be the Change You Want To See

The most powerful strategies for change always involve positive role modeling and the creation of living examples of the solutions we are proposing. By walking the path, we make the path visible.





With Warm and Loving Greetings and Solidarity,





The International Indigenous Leaders Gathering????

The Four Worlds International Institute

(Other Nations and Organizations will be invited to sign!



www.fwii.net



