THE IROQUOIS SPEAK OUT FOR MOTHER EARTH (2002,
DVD 2009) 50 min
Exactly how do Native North American elders relate to modern environmental concerns like greenhouse gases and global warming, water pollution, corporatism and the incessant quest for material enrichment? Not too much positive to say about any of it as a matter of fact, but lots of straight advise on how human attitudes must change if 'Mother Earth' is to be saved.
In this quietly powerful film by Danny Beaton, four Elders of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Six Nations Confederacy) speak in a clear, frank and rational language of the environmental crisis and what is needed to seriously begin to deal with it by reminding us to see our planet as our relative, as our Mother, as many earth-based cultures do. These elders tell us, such a shift can motivate behaviour change and begin to heal the rift in western civilization between human and nature. The elders unfold their stories carefully, while viewers see for themselves their calm, centered, informed and deeply human concern about civilisations' global assault on the earth.
Long ago, the constitution of the United States of America was inspired and influenced by the wisdom of the Iroquois Great Law of Peace, with its system of checks and balances. Now it is time once again to listen to the wisdom of these contemporary elders of the Iroquois Confederacy.
