December, 14 2018

Anani Kaike

Now on the brink of catastrophic CLIMATE CHANGE, it is not the time to debate what climate change should be called or the more outlandish and delusional question of “is it real?” We see the examples all around us every day. For examples that are closer to home, the wildfires in California to the flooding and sinking streets in towns in Florida, the facts are indisputable. We see all this as the Climate Change Summit “COP 24” is happening in Poland.

As COP24 happens and many “important” figures from around the world talk about a plan to “fix” climate change, the actuality for many people around the world does not change with the empty talk and promises that go on around this summit. Notice that MOST of the people that are really bringing forth the answers and the real messages are indigenous people wether they are from Africa or from South America. This though, is not negating the voices of those like the 15 year old Swedish girl Greta Thunberg and others. The reality doesn’t change because a bunch of scientists are talking about climate change. The reality for those most impacted, is not being able to feed their children, it is droughts so bad they cannot grow crops, it is floods destroying everything they have ever worked for and killing their family.

The reality is conditions so bad that they would rather leave everything they have and walk through a dessert and risk being shot dead by illegal US border patrol to try and have a safe home for their children and after that be separated from the children or sprayed with gas. How often do you even stop to think how this is caused by climate change and the ongoing genocide of cultures and colonialism? Do you really think that that those indigenous people (and yes I say indigenous people) who are crossing that illegal US border have a real choice? Do you really think they want to leave their home, their lives, everything and everyone they love behind? No one wants to make that choice to have their children torn from their arms, to be sprayed with tear gas, to be told to “go back to where you came from”, to face racism on a daily basis and to be treated as less of a person than someone else even when you work as hard as you possibly can just trying to feed your family. So now take a moment to think what the conditions they came from were like, for this harsh treatment to be a better option. For those who think that the people coming from Mexico, Venezuela, Honduras, Ecuador, Panama, and many other South American countries are not indigenous people or that they are not facing colonialism and it’s effects, then here is a little history.

When Hernan Cortes happened upon the Aztec city of Tenochitlan (and yes I say happened upon because saying discovered would mean he created the civilization when he was responsible for the opposite of creating, or that he had anything to do with caretaking the earth) he was amazed at the canals, chinampas, wealth of cacao beans (the beans from the cacao tree which chocolate is made from), corn (which was cultivated by the Aztecs), and many other vegetables and fruits we now enjoy, silver and gold, as well as temples built for the sun, moon and other deities, the large healthy population and the brilliant water systems and waste management systems. All of this created by the Aztec people. Of course his first course of action was to begin stealing and looting the city and killing its people with disease and superior weaponry. After destroying and looting the city the Spaniards then spread lies about the Aztecs. The Aztec Empire was reduced to people who were forced to work as slaves and thought of as less than animals. Their ingenious chinampas, which are today recognized as the most effective and efficient agriculture method to date, were almost forgotten.

The indigenous agriculture gave back to Mother Earth, or Attabey as we Taino people call her. (This type of agriculture is now being used under the umbrella of Permaculture and is now seen as one of the solutions to climate change.) The same is true for all of the civilizations across South American and Africa All of these civilizations were looted, their people killed and their cultures destroyed. The people that are crossing the border are still indigenous people, just because these civilizations do not exist any longer, does not mean that they were erased and that there are no living descendants of the civilizations. After the near disappearance of these civilizations the land was abused, deforested, sprayed with chemicals and wild plants and animals were killed.

The link between climate change and colonialism is extremely evident. The same is evident around the world. Cultures and civilizations are destroyed, the people are killed and the cities looted. Then the land is abused and degraded. The descendants of the original caretakers of the land are treated as less than human by the stealers of the land. Now it is known as climate change and many countries are turning back to indigenous techniques and ways to heal the planet after murdering and oppressing the indigenous people for hundreds of years. Now the world is asking us indigenous peoples for help.

So in the midst of a climate summit backed by a coal company and the ongoing destruction and degradation of Mother Earth, Attabey and the deaths and displacement of millions, why are people still talking about what should be done? And where is the IMMEDIATE ACTION that is necessary to stop climate change and wake humans up before it is too late? Now is the time for ACTIONS, WORDS ARE NOT ENOUGH. Colonialism and Climate Change are intertwined in a spiral of death, pain, misery, and destruction of culture and genocide that will kill us all.