About

The law and human and civil rights around the world is written with citizens of industrialized and post-industrialized societies in mind. The focus is on the protection of property, the prevention of violence and the right to freedoms of speech and religion within a secular society. The problem for the Secwepemc People, the Moken People, the Amazonian Indians, the Inuit, the Pygmy People, the Bushmen and the many native and indigenous tribes of the Americas and the rest of the world is that they do not want to belong to post industrialized secular civic society. They have their own values and traditions, their own means of commerce, their own laws and their own punishments.

For too long the indigenous peoples of the world have relied on outside help to maintain their way of life. They have had to play by the rules of the colonialists: to use their money, their language and their laws to get what they want. What native peoples generally want is just to be left alone to prosper. Of course nowadays it is hard to be truly in isolation. Few isolated tribes remain even in the heart of the Amazon.

If colonialists, loggers, frontiers people, adventurers, scientists etc. do wish to be among the native peoples they have a responsibility to avoid transmitting disease and negative cultural contributions such as alcohol and prostitution. Those with industrialized power hold the fate of the world in their hands. They should be enlightened enough to give autonomy and protection to those with an older way of life. Co-existence, mutual respect and self-determination must be thought of in the broadest terms. Just because many indigenous and native people do not pay taxes it does not mean they don’t have a say.