In her new book, Winona LaDuke offers insight into Indigenous water protectors and the importance of defending what you love.
“Remember, on a worldwide scale, Indigenous Peoples represent about 4% of the world’s people, but we live with 80% of the world’s biodiversity. That’s worth fighting for. My counsel is stay, make this place your home and defend this land like a patriot. I look to minobimaatisiiwin, the excellent life offered to the Anishinaabeg by the Creator. In this life, the basic teachings are elegant and resonant: care for yourself, the land and your relatives.
Remember that this world is full of spirit and life and must be reckoned with. The land of berries, wild rice, maple syrup and medicines comes with a covenant, an agreement between the Anishinaabeg, or myself, and the Creator. Keep that covenant, that agreement that we will take care of what is given to us, and your descendants will be grateful. Understand your responsibility for this moment. I understand mine. As I watched my brothers and sisters to the west at Standing Rock facing rubber bullets, tear gas and the spraying of poisons to protect the water, I was awed, inspired and reminded that I am one of them. In this moment, not unlike the Selma Moment, be present.
As the Dark Lord rises in the East, find your courage, my Hobbit brothers and sisters… (Wait, I can’t actually say that?), but remember the shire is everywhere, and your descendants would appreciate your voice, words and action.
Standing Rock is not only a place; it is a state of mind, it is a thought and it is action. In a time when the rights of corporations override the rights of humans, stay human, and remember that the law must be changed. For civil society is made, as democracy is made, by the hands of people, courageous people, and is not a spectator sport. While at one time slavery was legal; it is no longer, and soon we must free our Mother Earth from her slavery to an exploitive economy and ensure her rights. In each day there is a heartbreak of story, a constant heartache for our relatives, whether they have wings, fins, roots, paws or hands, but there is also much beauty and joy.
Remember always that in these times of covid-19, the virus brought by a bat, we retreated into our human worlds, and animals took a breath, strolled our streets with ease and enjoyed a fresh spring day. Hold your sorrow and grief to remember, but be grateful for this life. The Creator has given us a good one. And your descendants will be grateful for this good life, this minobimaatisiiwin. In this time, do not underestimate yourself, nor the power of the larger. As we saw at Standing Rock, unity, hope, a worldwide outpouring of love and support emboldens Water Protectors worldwide—and that is something we will all need, along with our Mother. How that power is actualized is up to each of us, but acknowledging our responsibility for power is how we are accountable, intergenerationally.”
Winona LaDuke is a leader in cultural-based sustainable development strategies, renewable energy, sustainable food systems and Indigenous rights. Her new book, To Be a Water Protector: Rise of the Wiindigoo Slayers, is an expansive, provocative engagement with issues that have been central to her many years of activism. LaDuke honours Mother Earth and her teachings while detailing global, Indigenous-led opposition to the enslavement and exploitation of the land and water. She discusses several elements of a New Green Economy and outlines the lessons we can take from activists outside the US and Canada. In her unique way of storytelling, Winona LaDuke is inspiring, always a teacher and an utterly fearless activist, writer and speaker.
