Biggest Climate March in History a Watershed Moment for Indigenous Peoples   
      
      
      
   Theresa Braine   
      
      
      
   9/22/14   
      
      
      
      
   Monumental. Empowering. Unifying.   
      
   Such were the strong sentiments evoked among Indigenous Peoples who helped   
   lead off the People's Climate March on September 21.   
      
   "In a word, empowering," said Casey Camp-Horinek, Ponca Nation actress and   
   activist. "Not just for personal reasons, [but] because of everyone who came   
   out and stood together. So many like-minded people."   
      
   RELATED: Indigenous Peoples Essential to Climate Movement, March Organizers Say   
      
   There were quite a few like-minded people thronging the streets of New York   
   City on Sunday. The number topped 400,000, in fact, according to the   
   organizers. They included such luminaries as former Vice President Al Gore,   
   New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio,   
    various congresspeople and none other than United Nations Secretary-General   
   Ban Ki-Moon, who has called upon the world's leaders to meet this week and   
   commit to solving the crisis.   
      
   RELATED: Indigenous Peoples at Forefront of Historic People's Climate March in   
   New York City   
      
   In addition quite a bit of celebrity power graced the proceedings, with actors   
   including Mark Ruffalo and Leonardo DiCaprio, as well as musician Sting,   
   marching alongside indigenous activists fighting further development in the   
   Alberta oil sands of    
   Canada.   
      
   The march stretched out longer than its official two-mile route, with walkers   
   streaming down Sixth Avenue from Columbus Circle for hours upon hours. They   
   periodically stopped to chant and cheer. Hundreds of thousands more marched   
   worldwide, in dozens of    
   cities, all trying to bring world leaders' attention and commitment to the   
   world's climate crisis. Excitement and determination hung electric in the air.   
   There were Buddhists and others of faith. There were trade unions. And there   
   were Indigenous Peoples    
   from all over the world.    
      
   "Today was a historic day," said Clayton Thomas-Muller, a co-director of the   
   Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign of the Polaris Institute and an organizer with   
   Defenders of the Land.   
      
   It sent a strong message clearly telling President Barack Obama that "we need   
   legally binding regulation" on pipelines and other instrusive industries. The   
   march, he said, could "usher in a new era" of solidarity.   
      
   "Never before has there been such a demonstration on climate," Thomas-Muller   
   said. "It sends a strong strong message."   
      
   Activist and comedian Dallas Goldtooth was equally inspired.   
      
   "It was most definitely empowering and monumental," said the member of the   
   1491's comedy troupe of the experience. "Amazing--very empowering to see the   
   presence of indigenous peoples."   
      
   He noted that one of the hopes for the march had been bridge-building,   
   connecting different facets of the environmental movement to find their common   
   ground. One way that that happened was that the march had room not only for   
   big issues such as the    
   Alberta oil sands, pipelines and fracking but also space for lesser known   
   issues, such as mountaintop mining.   
      
   The day also demonstrated the ways in which climate justice and social justice   
   go hand in hand, he said, adding that having indigenous peoples on the   
   frontline, starting off the march, was key to illustrating that.   
      
   "That was vital, and had a very strong purpose to it," Goldtooth said. "It was   
   such a monumental experience. It hits me really deep in a good way [that   
   everyone's] so strong, so united in this message. I have a overall sense of   
   gratitude."   
      
   RELATED: RELATED: On the Cutting Edge of Native Comedy With the 1491s   
      
   An Activist Profile: Dallas Goldtooth of the 1491's   
      
   These inspiring cross-cultural alliances will continue, Camp-Horinek said, at   
   next week's Harvest the Hope concert to be held in Nebraska on traditional   
   Ponca lands, headlined by Neil Young and Willie Nelson.   
      
   RELATED: Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Frank Waln to Play Anti-Pipeline Concert   
   in Nebraska   
      
   "We're going to stop the Keystone XL pipeline from coming," she said, as well   
   as show solidarity with "the people at Ground Zero, the tar sands," where the   
   oil would come from in Alberta, Canada.   
      
   The groundswell fit right in with the prophecies, Camp-Horinek said, which   
   have long predicted that Indigenous Peoples would be the ones to lead Turtle   
   Island, and the world, out of crisis.   
      
   "It's either this, or our children and grandchildren have no air to breath,"   
   Camp-Horinek said. "It's not for us, it's for everyone. It's not a choice."   
      
      
   Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/09/2   
   /biggest-climate-march-history-watershed-moment-indigenous-peoples-156987   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)