Film Review: “Sami Blood”

by Kurt Seaberg

I just watched this incredible film the other night with my niece Anna. Achingly beautiful and profoundly sad at the same time, the most potent scenes of Sami Blood are like a haunting piece of music, with little or no dialogue. Yet they stick with me like a powerful dream. I’ve rarely experienced a movie that depicts the overt and subtle effects of racism, colonialism and internalized oppression in such a visceral manner.

What can you say about a system that compels one to reject their own heritage, their own language, their own family, their own identity? And yet the land itself seems to call her back.

My father, like the Sami girl in the film, was ripped from his idyllic childhood by unfortunate circumstances, a childhood where he spent his summers living in a tent. After his parents died he went to live with Swedish immigrants who “civilized” him, taught him to play the piano, enrolled him in art school. It wasn’t a boarding school but it had a similar mission.

He recalled that as a child he was “measured by doctors” who told him the shape of his head was “Lappish.” I don’t believe he felt shame. If anything it made him curious, fascinated by a unique culture he felt a personal link to. But like so many children of immigrants from Europe he was thrown into the great melting pot where the lucky ones become “white.”

And like so many Americans of his generation he bought into the racial theories–once considered “scientific”–that continue to divide human beings into categories of “superior” and “inferior.” Once these categories are regarded as “factual,” it’s only a small step before euthanasia becomes a political program deemed necessary to weed out “undesirables”–the impure, the unfit and the genetically weak–a program that promises to “improve” the human race: genetically modified, scrubbed of the past, torn from the earth, disconnected from nature, uniform, colorless, white…

Poetry: Positive Feedback & Tree Waltz

by Linh Nguyen

Positive Feedback

ever wonder why we destroy something so beautiful?

that river where our blood runs

beating in measured harmonies

to life surrounding, singing in glory

that forest of trails where we once walked joy escaping through quaking leaves,

each footstep lighting stories,

inspiring movies, music, and poetry

that ocean of our origin, waters of wisdom

of foam-swept jewels and deep blue treasures,

adorn with coral reefs and ancestral anemones,

dancing in sea-life

that laughter and bright-eyes spark,

windows to our souls, shadows to our selves,

images of our “God”

all, that gives answers to who we are

stunted by solipsism, gored through greed

hushed by bombs and bullets, silenced,

stolen and buried in graveyards

of steel, plastic, concrete, chemicals, walls,

dividing, growing, burning, feeding, revealing…

ever wonder why we destroy something so beautiful?

Tree Waltz

every tree rises within us,

their branches reach for our breath

growing within each heartbeat

calling forth the song

in each inspiration,

lungs filling to form

what cannot be seen,

but felt, here

in the wave that moves us

dissolving in exhalation

into a dance forming within a pause

and flowering in-between

finding shape in curving branches

how they hold what has fallen

awakening our skin to snow

our sternum to strangers

as resonance rises through our roots

and drums the dead to life

buds open in the listening

to wisdom hardened in heartwood

whispering through aging rings

secrets proffer in tactile invitation

the bliss of fractal unison

is it in the silence or the

language of her that moves us?

hands to air, to snow

to embody the music of the unseen

to hold in prayer

the forgotten songs of

which we waltz to

when war of words stain the cell

and pompous pixels pain the heart

peace arrives in a waltz

with trees

What Will They Tell the Children?

by Angela Nolan

What will they tell the children?

In the generations to come.

Amerika is festering

And the world festers with her.

The wound is old but the boils and pus are worsening.

Blood is pooling just below the surface – a dark purple snake.

The orange one will quicken the fall

But it was coming anyway.

We eat too much, we consume too much, we waste too much.

Too many don’t care or are still lost in a dream of manifest destiny

That was never real in the first place.

What a ridiculous notion that one is favored over another in the eyes of the creator.

Who made up this nonsense?

What will they tell the children?

In the generations to come.

When Amerika falls it will be a devastation

But might it save the world after all?

For to succumb to the death urge of our society is to die before living.

It is to starve in the lavish lap of the earth’s abundance.

It is to be silent when every nerve in your body is screaming, “NO!”

It is to hail the chief and not step out of line.

It is to give up your woman’s body as sacrifice to the irreverent god that made it ugly.

It is to watch the natural world and too many people die unloved.

It is a procession of insults too numerous to count.

It is degradation, humiliation, trauma, pain, and loss.

It is feeling oneself as the shame of the world.

What will they tell the children?

In the generations to come.

They will tell the children that people had to take sides.

They will tell them that neutrality and inaction were participation.

They will tell them that passivity and hopeful thinking were inappropriate with wolves at the door.

They will tell them how women and people of color were dehumanized and who did it.

They will tell them there was a point when it wasn’t too late and we missed it. By a lot.

They will tell them there was only one true response.

There was only resistance – pure, visceral, instinctual, and right.

We were taught to be compliant.

And then we were taught to be grateful to our oppressors.

And then we were.

They will tell them the light at the end of the tunnel was the train.

The children will know the difference.

By our words.

By our stories.

By our defiance.

Beyond grief now. Beyond hope and optimism and happy smiling faces.

We live in the betwixt and between – the festering season.

The season when everything fake is real and everything real is fake.

The season when despots and petty tyrants have their way.

The season when the snow stops and the ocean’s rise.

The season when love doesn’t conquer all, or even a little bit.

The season when misogyny is on parade and people cheer.

The season of forgetting history, again.

What will they tell the children?

In the generations to come.

They will tell them that some chose to think with all their hearts, and minds, and spirits.

They will tell of ones who put their bodies on the frontline and of those who wrote about it.

They will tell that most people on earth only wanted to live in wellness and peace.

They will tell that the evil ones were few but gathered all money and resources for themselves.

They will tell who resisted, and who sat back and watched.

They will tell how oil, and money, and gold were everything.

They will tell how the water was contaminated, the earth raped and bled dry.

Which side do you want to be on?

When they tell the children what happened

In the generations to come?

Earth At Risk 2014 Videos Available

Earth At Risk, sponsored by Fertile Ground Institute in November 2014, featured many of today’s most important activists and thinkers in environmentalism, anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism, radical feminism, and anti-racism. With keynote speakers Derrick Jensen, Alice Walker, Vandana Shiva, Chris Hedges, and Thomas Linzey; plus multiple panels, the event was full of insightful and inspiring discussions.

Besides Derrick Jensen, Deep Green Resistance members Saba Malik, Kourtney Mitchell and Doug Zachary spoke on panels; and Dominique Christina performed two sets of her award winning slam poetry.

Will Falk wrote a report-back on the event: Earth At Risk 2014: The Proper Diagnosis. Until now his writeup was the only way to experience the event vicariously for those of us who missed it, but Fertile Ground just made all 12 hours of the presentations available.

View the videos below, or visit our member appearances page and enter “earth at risk” into the filter box to browse only the presentations involving DGR members. You can also download audio files of those panels and keynotes.

Enjoy, and please share widely!

The Seed of Greed, and Want

by Christopher L. Calkins

The Seed of Greed

Greed!

Where does it come from?

It comes from a seed.

Could it really be a dirty little seed?

The seed of greed!

How can this be in the heart of humanity?

I look out on the horizon, it seems so far to me,

surrounded by a society infested with the seed!

The seed of greed.

Who? What? No, not me!

It is that dirty little seed.

The selfish seed that turns a want into a need,

and need into greed!

The seed that our society so freely distributes like a weed!

Look and you will see

a world infested with the weeds of greed,

dropping their seeds, disguised as needs!

How can this be?

All from a seed, the seed of greed!

June 1992

Want

I did not want it this way!

I do not want it this way!

It doesn’t matter what I think.

It doesn’t matter what I say.

The rich keep on making the rules

while we the working people toil through the days.

Paying, paying, paying,

for the crooks who stole it all,

away, away, away!!!

2003

Deep Green Resistance Book Online For Free

The organization DGR is founded on the ideas and analysis laid out in the book by Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, and Aric McBay. To increase the book’s accessibility, especially to international audiences, we’re now making it available for free in two ways:

Please share these links widely. Deep Green Resistance is unique amongst environmental texts in its realistic assessment of our crises and possible solutions. Now more than ever, we need people to resist effectively. Let’s get this out there!

We Are Not This Culture

Michelle Jones / Deep Green Resistance

We are not this culture. We are not this society. The culture has hijacked us. This society has imprisoned what we really are.

We are water, and land.

We are the space between the trees. We are the wind and the leaves. We are sound.

We are the energy between glances of animals, running, chasing, hiding, playing.

We are animals, laying on soil, sitting in soil, walking on soil. The soil informing us of what ground is. What our bodies are.

We are sun, the warmth radiated over thousands of miles, traveling, traveling across water and land.

We are power.

We are the rain, falling, falling, landing, streaming, rushing, penetrating.

We are billion’s of living beings cooperating flooding, swapping, picking up, putting down, merging, dividing, touching, loving, hating, dying and being born again.

We are the relationship of beings.

The relationships of life.

16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence

Originally posted by Michael Lovan on November 25

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. It’s officially recognized by the UN to raise awareness of the crimes perpetrated against women, including rape and domestic violence.

Today also begins 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, preceding December 10’s International Human Rights Day.

That means from now until then, you have sixteen days packed full of choices. When I got started, I was entirely lost. So I made a list of 16 things you can do over the next 16 days that could go a short way towards eliminating crimes perpetrated against women, or a long way towards changing you.

  1. You can read a book about the harms of pornography. I recommend you get started with Pornland by Gail Dines or Big Porn Inc by Melinda T Reist and Abigail Bray.
  2. You can donate to a charity that supports women. I highly recommend Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW).
  3. You can check out the ENTIRETY of Andrea Dworkin’s essays online for FREE. I recommend starting with Pornography: Men Possessing Women.
  4. You can abstain from pornography. I suggest you do it for forever. Trust me – it’ll change the way you look at everything.
  5. You can dive in and absorb some amazing feminist articles online. I suggest Feminist Current for the honest and brilliant articles.
  6. You can volunteer with or donate to a local shelter that promotes women’s safety.
  7. You can interrupt any sexist or misogynistic language being used in your vicinity. I know how super hard that can be, but trust me when I say that true strength lies in those who challenge those in power. Only misogynists punch downwards (which is what you’re doing when you make rape jokes or sexualize women).
  8. You can be critical of the media you consume. Don’t know how to start? Stop watching and start listening when women tell you something is offensive (i.e. Game of Thrones and unnecessary nudity – it’s okay to be critical of the things you love, people).
  9. You can listen to a podcast. Again, have to recommend the dense selection at Feminist Current.
  10. You can seek out organizations that are feminist, pro-feminist, pro-women and get to know more about their cause.
  11. You can open up communication with a woman you know who’s been harmed by domestic or sexualized violence. I heartily recommend you start by telling them something along the lines of, “I haven’t truly considered the experiences of other people. I want you to know that any time you need an ear, I would be happy to listen. And no, I will not offer you unsolicited advice or offer solutions or pretend I’m an expert at what you’ve gone through.”
  12. You can stop using sexist or misogynistic language. This includes using words like “pussy,” “bitch,” “whore,” “ho,” “son of a bitch,” “cunt,” and phrases like “… like a girl,” “be a man,” “… is a man’s job.”
  13. You can stop laughing at jokes that generalize and thus reinforce what it means “to be a woman”, such as the way women talk, dress, behave, and so onj
  14. You can defend women. Start simple, like with sharing an article on your personal timeline on the condition that you will be active in the comments section that follows. Small potatoes, share an article that’s pro-women. Medium potatoes, share an article that’s anti-porn. Large potatoes, share an article that establishes your position as an anti-porn / pro-women advocate and watch how quickly some men will hiss at you and how others in real life will begin to avoid you like you’re insane (lol you’ll get used to it).
  15. You can admit that you don’t actually know much about violence against women, but that you are open to learning more and could use a few suggestions to teach yourself (important: nobody can change you except yourself. The best you can do is be open and allow yourself a huge amount of space to accept how very, very little you know and how very, very disorienting everything becomes once that light bulb has gone off over your head).
  16. You can speak up in real life.

Deep Green Resistance also recommends reading our Feminist Solidarity Guidelines, and following the DGR Women’s Caucus

On the road to home from Standing Rock

Jennifer Murnan / Deep Green Resistance Colorado

Thin Blue Line

Flagged two times

Curious?

“The Line is what police officers protect, the barrier between anarchy and a civilized society, between order and chaos, between respect for decency and lawlessness.”

Blue line

Slap down

Smack down

Dogs dripping blood

Mace

Tear gas

Pepper spray

Pushing

Violating your way

Breaking past

Red and Black and Brown and

Even White Protectors

Faces

Bodies

What’s left of human sanity

of human sanctity

Hellbent

for the river

What happens

Blue line

If you succeed?

Do you

Breach?

Or do you free fall

dragging all

into

a bottomless pit

of blood and oil?

Civilization conquers all.


A Prayer and a Promise

To the red and brown and black and even white protectors

faces and bodies who know no lines

those between the blue line and sacred water of life

All that remains of human sanity

of human sanctity

Peace be with you

Love be with you

Courage is in you

You are all that your ancestors prayed for

Without you our future ceases to be

Thank you

We are coming

Book Review: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

“I fear that a world made of gifts cannot coexist with a world made of commodities.”

Robin Wall Kimmerer transcends boundaries, and so does her latest book. Simultaneously a botanist and author-poet, scientist and Potowatomi Nation citizen, professor and mother, she brings together unusually diverse perspectives and ways of knowing. The result is a gift to readers: beautiful writing exploring knowledge and ideas often buried in academia or dismissed as “unscientific.” As in her first book, Gathering Moss, her enthusiasm for nature and learning comes through strongly, a joy for any nature lover to read. She softens and contextualizes modern hard facts by relating them to indigenous worldviews developed over thousands of years. She reconciles art, appreciation of the natural world, and science (in many ways just now catching up to traditional knowledge.) Rejecting human exceptionalism, she considers all the beings with whom we share the earth while addressing deep questions of ethics and morality.

Braiding Sweetgrass draws on stories from elders and on Kimmerer’s own experiences for its 32 chapters. Each could stand alone, ranging across seemingly disparate subjects: relationships between masting nut trees and squirrels, gift economies vs market economies, the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address, harvesting plants in a regenerative manner, and what it means to be a good citizen. But the chapters are tied together by recurring elements, most notably the titular sweetgrass. Sections entitled Planting, Tending, Picking, Braiding, and Burning Sweetgrass organize the individual chapters, and sweetgrass appears again and again as part of traditional legend, knowledge, and practice. The book is densely multilayered, with specific material practices seamlessly integrated into broader teachings about the physical world, and then into deep philosophy. The real magic comes from Kimmerer skillfully interweaving themes of relationship, gratitude, and responsibility into a story larger than the sum of the parts. Her art mirrors a well-lived life which has transformed individual experiences into holistic wisdom.

The overarching theme, drawn forth through the dozens of stories in hundreds of ways, is reciprocity. A fundamental difference between the culture of civilization and those of indigenous peoples is a mentality of exploitation vs one of gratitude. Derrick Jensen defines sustainability as giving back more than you take, and Kimmerer richly depicts a worldview in which that ethic is held first and foremost, even (or especially) when harvesting the lives of others. Her multiple detailed accounts, backed by science, of human interactions with other species to the benefit of all rebut the belief that humans are intrinsically destructive. We have the potential ― indeed, the responsibility ― to take up a supportive role in the web of life.

Building on this revelation, Braiding Sweetgrass challenges the reader to consider how an individual, or a culture, can become indigenous to place. With the vast majority of the earth under siege by settler cultures with a domination mindset, this is an urgent task. Sooner or later (hopefully sooner), collapse will render industrialism and globalization infeasible, reigning in civilization’s ecocide. But local cultures unable to develop reciprocal relationships with their landbases are doomed to continue the destruction, even if at a smaller scale.

Perhaps the most important lesson is that everyone has gifts. Birds have the gift of song, stars the gift of shining. But with each gift comes a responsibility to use it in the service of life. Birds have a responsibility to greet the day with music, stars to guide night travelers. What gifts do humans have, and what responsibilities? And more personally: as Carolyn Raffensperger asks, “What are the largest, most pressing problems that you can help to solve using the gifts that are unique to you in all the universe?” With the world at stake, contemplate the question. Find your answer. Then take action.


Braiding Sweetgrass is available as a paperback, ebook, and audio book.

Derrick interviewed Robin Wall Kimmerer for the September 25, 2016 episode of Resistance Radio. Readers who enjoy Braiding Sweetgrass will probably also enjoy Derrick’s The Myth of Human Supremacy, and vice versa.