First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March Anniversary

My grandmother, Lorene Standing, said the will of God is often revealed in a series of small steps. I thought that meant a series of spiritual messages and that has been my experience.

But also, looking back over our lives, the series of actions we took, the decisions we made, map the path traveled. Spiritual guidance can help us stay on the path, might tell us what action to take. Each step gives us experience needed to continue on the path. We stray from the path at times. But learn by making mistakes.

This is the third anniversary of the First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March (described below). When I learned about the March, I immediately felt a leading from the Creator this was something I should do. The experiences during the March were transformational for me.

The Spirit was important in numerous ways. One of the reasons I wanted to join the March was to learn more about Indigenous spirituality, and I did.

The article below describes how my Quaker community supported us spiritually during the March.

The Spirit created the opportunity for me to talk with my new friend, Matthew Lone Bear, about Quaker involvement with the native residential schools. And for him to share a story of the impact of those schools on his own family. (These stories are found on the First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March website https://firstnationfarmer.com/ )

Our experiences on the March have made it possible for us, native and nonnative people, to work together in many ways since.

Here is a link to the First Nation-Farmer website, where there are many stories, photos and videos from the March. And a link to the website LANDBACKFriends which is about work going on now related to the concepts of LANDBACK.

First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March	https://firstnationfarmer.com/
LANDBACK Friends	https://landbackfriends.com/

These are perilous times. Ferocious wildfires, melting glaciers and permafrost, severe drought, and devastating storms show rapidly evolving environmental chaos. Political, economic and social systems are breaking down.

There is also hope as we work together to address these challenges. Mutual Aid works because it is based upon people working and being together in their local communities, solving local problems. And LANDBACK is a framework for Indigenous peoples to teach us how to work to repair our relationships with Mother Earth and each other. It is because of the friendships that formed during the March that many of us are working together on Mutual Aid and LANDBACK.

Following is an article, written shortly after the March, published in On Creation, the publication of Quaker Earthcare Witness. The article is no longer online.

Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) Friends Peter Clay and I recently walked on the First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March. A group of about thirty that included nearly a dozen Native Americans walked 94 miles along the route of the Dakota Access Pipeline from September 1 – 8, 2018. One of the goals of the March was to bring attention to a case before the Iowa Supreme Court about the improper use of eminent domain to force Iowa farmers to allow construction of the pipeline on their land.

After walking between 9 and 15 miles, most evenings a community forum was held to discuss topics such as farming practices, or the consequences of the pipeline construction. One evening my Scattergood Friends School classmate Lee Tesdell discussed some of his progressive farming practices. Christine Nobiss discussed ways Native farming practices are better for the earth and water. This was an example of how this March helped us come together. As Manape LaMere, one of the headsmen from Standing Rock said, the purpose of the March was to make it possible for us to work together in the future. To do so, we needed to trust each other, and to trust each other we needed to understand each other.

During this March, Quakers in my local meeting, Bear Creek, often sent email messages of encouragement, and held us in their prayers. One of my Quaker friends, Liz Oppenheimer, invited people to offer spiritual support for our March in a couple of ways. One was via a telephone conference call every morning we were marching, from 8:30 to 9:00 am.

The other way Liz created for others to support us was by creating a Facebook group called “Meeting for Worship: Iowa’s Climate Unity March”. Following are a few of the messages shared on that Facebook page:

I see that Jeff has posted some of his recent writing about the march and its issues. My request is that we return to Jeff’s initial questions— sharing our reactions to the idea behind this march, as well as to the issues of pipelines, indigenous rights, misuse of eminent domain, etc.

As we share our own wonderings, questions, and struggle, I hope we can better accompany Jeff, Peter Clay, and other marchers.

George Fox suggested to us that if we answer that of god in others that we can then walk cheerfully over the earth. As I think about Jeff and Peter and the new sisters and brothers they will meet as they march, I realize that this sentiment works the other way also. As they walk over the earth they will then be able to answer to that of god in others.

This morning on the conference call for worship, we heard a vocal prayer of gratitude to Peter Clay, Jeff Kisling, and the other marchers and organizers of the march. We also heard the joyous hymn “Trees of the Field.”

After other Friends had left the call, and literally as my finger was about to hit the Hang Up button on my phone just past 9:00 am, another Friend joined the call. It was Jeff!!

He wants us to know that the marchers and organizers know we are holding them all in prayer and they are very appreciative of our support in this way. When I replied “It’s such a small thing we do,” Jeff reminded me “No, no it’s not.”

We are so blessed to be connected this way, no matter what form our march and our journey takes. And to those of you who are carving out time each day to hold the Climate Unity March in prayer, regardless of when, where, or how, all of us thank you.

Each morning of the March we gathered in a circle to hear about the day’s route and address any questions. The first morning I shared this Quaker support with my fellow marchers during our circle gathering, who expressed appreciation for this.

Some of the most powerful experiences I had during the March were times when prayers were offered. We stopped for prayers every time we crossed the route of the Dakota Access Pipeline. I was honored to be given the opportunity to give prayers at the pipeline crossing just before we reached Pilot Mound. I briefly described Quaker worship, then our circle, holding hands, worshiped in silence for a while.

20 Years of Endless War: Special Silent Reflection

The pandemic resulted in many people, including Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) staff, remaining home. So, FCNL invited people to attend weekly Quaker meetings for worship via Zoom, called Witness Wednesday Silent Reflection. There are a number of regular attenders, who often speak of how meaningful these meetings have been in these times. This Wednesday there will be a special silent reflection on 20 years of endless war, that anyone is welcome to attend. We will reflect on affirming our fervent hope that endless war will be no more. Signup to receive the Zoom link here:

20 Years of Endless War: Special Silent Reflection
District of Columbia
Wednesday, September 8, 5:15 PM Eastern

As we mark the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and the unfolding humanitarian crisis and violence in Afghanistan today, join General Secretary Diane Randall for a time of reflection.

Take a moment to reflect in keeping with the Quaker practice of silent worship. Join us virtually on Zoom or by phone in affirming our fervent hope that endless war will be no more.

War has never been the answer to the world’s most pressing problems—including terrorism. Military solutions and large-scale violence cannot lead to sustainable peace. Instead, they only make the problem worse by spawning new terrorist groups and setting off cycles of retribution.
Only through the careful, patient work of peacebuilding with local human rights and civil society leaders which includes women, and through diplomacy by regional and international stakeholders can we reach just and durable solutions to the root causes of violence.
As we grieve these deaths and the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, we hold the people of Afghanistan in the Light in the days and months ahead. We affirm our opposition to war and violence and to the ensuing destruction and chaos.
Today, it is our fervent hope that endless war will be no more.
Two Decades of War by Diane Randall, General Secretary, Friends Committee on National Legislation, September 1, 2021

War is not the Answer

It was post-9/11, and Friends in Atlanta Friends Meeting wanted to publicly witness against war. Friends listened to their hearts’ stirrings during business meeting, and “War is Not the Answer” became the Meeting’s new yard sign.

These words were taken from Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence, delivered April 4, 1967 at the Riverside Church in New York.

War is not the answer. Communism will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs or nuclear weapons. Let us not join those who shout war and, through their misguided passions, urge the United States to relinquish its participation in the United Nations. These are days which demand wise restraint and calm reasonableness. We must not engage in a negative anticommunism, but rather in a positive thrust for democracy, realizing that our greatest defense against communism is to take offensive action in behalf of justice. We must with positive action seek to remove those conditions of poverty, insecurity, and injustice, which are the fertile soil in which the seed of communism grows and develops.
These are revolutionary times. All over the globe men are revolting against old systems of exploitation and oppression, and out of the wounds of a frail world, new systems of justice and equality are being born.
Martin Luther King Jr., Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence

The message – War is Not the Answer – and the signs went viral. FCNL and Friends saw the potency and popularity of the message grew and spread, and the rest is history. With the increasing prospect for an endless war with Iran, War is Not the Answer, has become more relevant.

Friends and other people of faith act when they see broken systems. As we stand on the precipice of another war, Friends are mobilizing across the country to demand Congress halt the spiral into all-out war.

FCNL has distributed more than 2,000,000 “War is Not the Answer” bumper stickers and yard signs since 2002. Demands for the sign are increasing so we are making it available free online for you to download and print. If you’d like to purchase a lawn sign or bumper sticker, you can do so here.

War is Not the Answer. MLK’s Words Endure as an Anti-War Sign

Militarism and LANDBACK

What triggered this blog post was learning Congress is working to require women to register for the Selective Service System (“draft”). Men have been required to do so for decades.

As I began to write about that, I had to decide whether to post this article on my blog Quakers, social justice and revolution where it would fit with what that blog is about.

Or whether it might fit with the posts on this blog that I recently started about LANDBACK. I’ve been learning about LANDBACK, and wonder how militarism fits into this idea.
(For an introduction to LANDBACK see: https://landbackfriends.com/2021/07/29/landback-movement/)

LANDBACK is about breaking away from white supremacy, the capitalist economic system and the structures that enforce them. So I updated this diagram I’ve been working on to add the military to the justice, police and prison systems that enforce colonial/corporate capitalism.

A growing number of us are working for the abolition of police and prisons. The military enforces white supremacy and capitalism beyond our borders. Thus, I think, abolition of the military, military bases and the use of weaponized drones could be considered part of LANDBACK.

Thinking about LANDBACK as an antiwar framework is intriguing. Mutual Aid is part of the LANDBACK idea. I was very interested to learn Des Moines Mutual Aid’s first public appearance was at an antiwar march:

One year ago today (2020) Des Moines Mutual Aid participated in a march protesting the potential for war or increased hostilities with Iran that followed the fallout of the assassination of Qassem Soleimani by drone strike in Baghdad.
Ronnie James

The immediate collapse of the Afghan government when U.S. troops left Afghanistan after twenty years of war has a great many of people wondering about militarism and war.

Most Quakers, such as myself, have opposed the draft in many ways, for many years. The issue resulted in a group of Quakers leaving the country called the United States and establishing a thriving community in Costa Rica, a country that does not even have a military. Numerous Quaker men either registered as conscientious objectors, or refused to cooperate with the Selective Service System. Some were sentenced to prison. This is a link to stories about Quaker men and the miltary: Young Quaker Men Face War and Conscription.

Senators on the Armed Services Committee recently approved a revision to military draft laws that would require women to register for the Selective Service System (SSS).
Proponents of the measure, which was included as part of the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), see it as a matter of gender equality. This argument misses the point: Congress should be focused on abolishing the draft entirely, not expanding it.
As laid out in a coalition letter we supported to members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, this legislation “does not represent a move forward for women; it represents a move backward, imposing on young women a burden that young men have had to bear unjustly for decades – a burden that no young person should have to bear at all.”
Congress Should Abolish the Selective Service System, Not Expand It by Alex Frandsen, Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), August 12, 2021

Mutual Aid and Hurricane Ida

It is difficult to not feel discouraged and helpless in the face of devastation from Hurricane Ida, severe drought and ferocious wildfires in the West, Coronavirus pandemic, mass incarceration, domestic terrorism, and subversion of our political and judicial systems. Clearly environmental chaos is rapidly evolving and these disasters will continue to grow in frequency and extent.

Cause for hope are mutual aid responses to Ida’s damage. “This is how we’ll forge the good, just and beloved community,” Akuno says. “We’ve got to organize that into existence.”

(Kali) Akuno explained that he advocates for rational and democratic planning, decision making and resource sharing, in opposition to the laissez-faire approach of governments, which basically say, “Y’all have to fend for yourselves and good luck.” Mobilizing people and helping them gain the political confidence to demand better systems takes time and relationship-building, Akuno says, and in his decades-long experience as a community organizer he has come to know of an essential first step: “It’s important for people to know that there are other people who actually give a shit. You have to show them that you do.”
On Thursday, a van full of Cooperation Jackson’s members will embark on a mutual aid effort to distribute generators, solar-powered device chargers, potable water and canned food to people in Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi, as well as in New Orleans.
In addition to meeting people’s immediate needs, the group is delivering a message: It doesn’t have to be this way. Activists are communicating that in order to make sure that the rebuild is controlled on the ground as much as possible, it’s essential to build relationships, stay in touch and let each other know how we can support each other as we move through this crisis. They’re also emphasizing that mutual aid efforts can be paired with fights against the powerful systems that are hard to overcome, but that must be overcome.
“This is how we’ll forge the good, just and beloved community,” Akuno says. “We’ve got to organize that into existence. [Global] warming is already beating most of the models. We weren’t supposed to be at this point for another 20-25 years, but we’re already here. We have to come up with a survival plan based on what people think it will take, and what they’re willing to do.”
To that end, the petition, which integrates the United Nations principles for Internally Displaced People (IDPs), sets forth demands and guiding principles meant to be a moral compass to make sure that sweeping changes aren’t enacted without the people’s voice being central to the process. The petition asks for a plan of return: “If you’re going to evacuate people, how are they going to get home?” Bradberry asks. It further demands that any evacuation plan must adhere to the UN’s guidance for IDPs — for example, people must be evacuated as close to home as possible and families must not be separated.
Louisiana Activists Mobilize to Prevent “Shock Doctrine” Policies in Wake of Ida by Frances Madeson, Truthout, Sept 2, 2021

Organizers and activists in Louisiana and Mississippi are regionally coordinating their relief response in the wake of Hurricane Ida, and linking the immediate survival needs of people with a coherent set of political demands expressed in a petition to lawmakers including President Biden, calling for a humanitarian approach to evacuation and evacuees. Both initiatives draw on lessons learned from past disasters like Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Hurricane Ida has been another devastating blow to the New Orleans region and we would like to make sure that a just and equitable recovery is implemented. In the rush for basic needs, there are many important things that can get overlooked in the rush. We must TAKE ACTION NOW to ensure that the recovery efforts support the people in the region.

There are many organizations in Louisiana that were developed due to the failure of the government to act during Katrina. It is our goal to facilitate collaborative efforts and not attempt to override or minimize them.

Here are some things that will get lost in the rush to help. But these are no less important than clothes, food, etc.

Utilize United Nations Human Rights Commission Regulations Governing Internally Displaced Persons: Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement
Establish a communications network for messaging in and out
***Establish a network for collection and disbursement of medication, Insulin, etc***
Engage the support of local, state & national organizations
Mandate alterations for Insurance Code & Conduct after the disaster to motivate assistance over bureaucratic delay
Enforce 1st source hiring
Enforce prevailing wages in recovery
Simplify the process for reimbursing churches and individuals housing evacuees
Pass Gulf Coast Civic Works like legislation to fund the rebuilding of coast following storm
Uphold universal voting rights – UN
Moratorium on rent, utilities, etc
Evacuation, use models provided by National & International Allies
Evacuation response and procedures must be humanitarian and not militaristic
MUST include a plan for citizens to return – unlike Katrina plan
Evacuation must be in line with United Nations principles for IDP
People should be evacuated as close to home as possible
Must have access to participate in processes governing the recovery/return home
Establish governing rules to maintain families connections (no breaking up of families)

For more information contact: Stephen Bradberry, info@bennuadvisory.com
Stephen Bradberry is a founder of Bennu Advisory Group, http://bennuadvisory.com, and is a New Orleans-based advocate and organizer. He is a recipient of the RFK Human Rights Award in recognition of his work in the Gulf Coast post-Katrina and Rita.

Louisiana Activists Mobilize to Prevent “Shock Doctrine” Policies in Wake of Ida by Frances Madeson, Truthout, Sept 2, 2021

Even as President Joe Biden and Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards continue to send federal aid relief to the southeastern states, grassroots organizations have taken up the mantle to secure resources and offer localized help to those affected by the storm. As we’ve seen during the Covid-19 pandemic and in the wake of last year’s George Floyd protests, mutual aid groups and other local organizations are able to directly respond to the needs of their communities in times of crisis, thanks to volunteer efforts and donations. Here are just a few of those groups assisting in the relief efforts for Hurricane Ida.
This non-profit consortium of indigenous tribes in Louisiana has provided regular storm updates for Ida on their Facebook page and set up a Relief and Recovery Fund for local tribe members. Other tribal groups in the Delta area with Ida relief funds include the Point au Chien Tribe, United Houma Nation, Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw, and the Atakapa Ishak Nation. A longer list and map of tribes who were affected by the hurricane, along with their individual aid efforts, can be found at Bvlbancha Public Access’s Ida Relief Doc.
Hurricane Ida: How to Help Louisiana, Other Areas Hit Hardest by the Storm. Mutual aid funds are helping communities in the southeast that were devastated by the storm — and they need our help by Claire Shaffer, Rolling Stone, Sept 2, 2021

This article discusses three groups using mutual aid for disaster response.

As climate change continues to produce more intense hurricane seasons, many communities have stopped relying on federal money, which is slow to arrive, and started looking to their neighbors for hurricane relief. Here are three groups using mutual aid as a tool for natural disaster response.

Hurricane Relief Through Mutual Aid. Three groups using mutual aid as a tool for natural disaster response by Isabella Garcia, yes!, Nov 3, 2020

Cannot depend on traditional power sources

Powerful hurricane Ida which gained strength from the hot Gulf waters (from global warming) destroyed square miles of buildings as it came ashore. Then caused massive flooding as it moved through the country.

The entire electrical grid failed in New Orleans! It will be weeks or months before full power returns.

In February this year the power grid for the entire state of Texas failed.

Each hurricane also renews calls to find new ways to produce and distribute energy in the face of climate change, which experts say is leading to more frequent and more devastating storms. In New Orleans, advocates have tried to push Entergy to invest more in renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind, and technologies that provide electricity to the area where it is produced.
Those concerns, along with worries about pollution in residential neighborhoods, fueled resistance to Entergy’s plan to build the new natural gas-powered plant in New Orleans East. Even after the company admitted to playing a role in the hiring of actors to support the project at public meetings, the council approved the plant. Groups that opposed the plan sued, and the case made it to the Louisiana Supreme Court, which upheld the council’s vote.
“Over and over we have tried to say we need not only climate action for renewables, but also we need to be adaptive to what is coming, because the traditional system to move power isn’t going to be able to help us weather these storms,” said Logan Atkinson Burke, executive director of the Alliance for Affordable Energy. “We’ve been ignored by utilities and regulators, and we are concerned that now, yet again, we will have this system rebuilt the same way we’ve done it and it will do us no good the next time.”
Slow return of power raises questions about a New Orleans plant that was supposed to deliver electricity after hurricanes. Calls for an investigation of Entergy’s power outages follow a wave of complaints about the company by Jon Schuppe, NBC News, Sept 1, 2021

Hurricane Ida thoroughly wrecked New Orleans’ power supply, preying on vulnerabilities that are only likely to get worse in the future as storms like Ida become more fierce. The storm knocked out all eight transmission lines that bring power into New Orleans, plunging the city into darkness. The damage was so intense that a new gas-fired power plant — sold as something that could keep the lights on after big storms — took days to bring power to the nearest neighborhood.
To keep the lights on in the future, leaders need to abandon old strategies and build up different kinds of energy infrastructure, experts say. The fallout from Ida is yet another reminder of how fragile the country’s existing energy infrastructure is, especially as climate change brings on more extreme weather.
“We’ve been saying, you know, we can’t depend on the traditional system,” says Logan Atkinson Burke, executive director of the local consumer advocacy group Alliance for Affordable Energy. “We need to be planning for the kind of climate impacts that we know are coming, and here they are. Having not planned for them, we’re experiencing the kinds of problems we expected.”
NEW ORLEANS NEEDS A BETTER BACKUP PLAN FOR BLACKOUTS. A new gas plant still isn’t enough to solve the city’s power problems by Justine Calma, Sep 1, 2021

This is what LANDBACK is about, restoring Indigenous ways.

“How about phasing out fossil fuels and quit acting like addicts? Let’s have a new green revolution. Let’s take the green path.” Winona Laduke (in video below). Winona was arrested while protecting the water from Line 3. Honor the Earth says that the “charge of the colonial world is in conflict with the Anishinaabeg,” citing a 2019 White Earth Nation tribal law which requires the White Earth Nation to stand up for and protect the rights of wild rice and other sacred food.

https://twitter.com/quakers_seekers/status/1433422785687207937?s=20

#TreatiesNotTarSands

#LANDBACK

Indigenous led Green New Deal

The book The Red Deal is about an Indigenous led Green New Deal (GND).

The Sunrise Movement was launched as a national campaign for a Green New Deal (GND) in 2017. From the beginning I heard my native friends talk about the importance of a green new deal to be Indigenous led but didn’t have a clear idea of what that meant. In 2019 Sunrise’s Green New Deal tour included a stop in Des Moines. There my friends Trisha Cax-Sep-Gu-Wiga Etringer and Lakasha Yooxot Likipt spoke about Indigenous leadership as part of the GND.

So I’m glad to be reading the recently published book, The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth by the Red Nation.

“The Red Nation is a coalition of Native and non-Native activists, educators, students, and community organizers advocating Native liberation that formed to address the marginalization and invisibility of Native struggles within mainstream social justice organizing, and to foreground the targeted destruction and violence towards Native life and land.”

Inspired by the appeals to divest from the financial institutions funding oil pipelines during the Standing Rock uprising and the Movement for Black Lives’ divest-invest strategy, the Red Deal also targets the institutions of the military, police, and prisons for divestment. Imagine divesting from these institutions and opening up $1 trillion to accomplish the task of saving this Earth for everyone.
In 2018, Winona LaDuke pushed for an Indigenous-led GND. The former Green Party vice-presidential candidate inspired us to think about how divesting from fossil fuel infrastructure—such as billion-dollar oil pipelines—could be reinvested into building wind and solar farms and sustainable agriculture on reservations. Indeed, the most radical appraisals of the GND come from Indigenous people. According to the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), the GND, as is, “will leave incentives by industries and governments to continue causing harms to Indigenous communities.” Before endorsing the GND, IEN called for a clear commitment to keep fossil fuels in the ground; reject carbon pricing schemes; strengthen language on Indigenous peoples and uphold Indigenous rights; and stop, not prolong, our current exploitative and abusive economic and political systems.
Nation, The Red. The Red Deal (pp. 18-19). Common Notions. Kindle Edition.

… what if the question all water protectors and land defenders asked was, why don’t we just overturn the system that makes development a threat in the first place? This system, again, is capitalism. Rather than taking an explicitly conservationist approach, the Red Deal instead proposes a comprehensive, full-scale assault on capitalism, using Indigenous knowledge and tried-and-true methods of mass mobilization as its ammunition. In this way, it addresses what are commonly thought of as single issues like the protection of sacred sites—which often manifest in specific uprisings or insurrections—as structural in nature, which therefore require a structural (i.e., non-reformist reform) response that has the abolition of capitalism via revolution as its central goal. We must be straightforward about what is necessary. If we want to survive, there are no incremental or “non-disruptive” ways to reduce emissions. Reconciliation with the ruling classes is out of the question. Market-based solutions must be abandoned. We have until 2050 to reach net-zero carbon emissions. That’s it. Thirty years. The struggle for a carbon-free future can either lead to revolutionary transformation or much worse than what Marx and Engels imagined in 1848, when they forewarned that “the common ruin of the contending classes” was a likely scenario if the capitalist class was not overthrown. The common ruin of entire peoples, species, landscapes, grasslands, waterways, oceans, and forests—which has been well underway for centuries—has intensified more in the last three decades than in all of human existence.

Nation, The Red. The Red Deal (pp. 21-22). Common Notions. Kindle Edition.

I’m of the firm opinion that a system that was built by stolen bodies on stolen land for the benefit of a few is a system that is not repairable. It is operating as designed, and small changes (which are the result of huge efforts) to lessen the blow on those it was not designed for are merely half measures that can’t ever fully succeed.
So the question is now, where do we go from here? Do we continue to make incremental changes while the wealthy hoard more wealth and the climate crisis deepens, or do we do something drastic that has never been done before? Can we envision and create a world where a class war from above isn’t a reality anymore?”
Ronnie James, Des Moines Mutual Aid, Great Plains Action Society

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War is not the Answer

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