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National Campus Radio Conference -- Day One
by janine bandcroft
 in the shadow of the vancouver sun / province newspaper tower, looking north at the mountains carved with the manifestations of human existence, i was witness to a native welcoming ceremony for the ncrc conference. a native elder told us we're guests here, welcomed as family, on his ancestral lands, where magnificent maples once stood. he told us to hang any negativity on the peg outside this, the longhouse (actually a cement and glass conference centre branded with corporate logos like "fletcher challenge" or "xerox" rooms).
i don't know what it is about west coast native culture, but it always brings tears to my eyes. i couldn't possibly hang anger on that peg outside the door - i don't consider anger to be a negative feeling in situations like this. the media conglomerate dominating hearts and minds looms overhead, the concrete jungle surrounds me, images of drowned northern towns the result of human greed and over- consumption ... and here is this gentle man before me, drumming and welcoming strangers to his ancestral home.
as the woman with the cedar branch
drew nearer, brushing the aura of each in the room, carrying our
prayers which the native elder would later drop into the capilano
river, i thought of the prayer i would offer - as he had instructed.
it was all i could do, honestly, not to burst into hysterical tears
when my turn arrived. there's something about standing on the
ancestral, unceded territory with people whose heritage dates hundreds
of thousands of years into the past, that just evokes such strong
emotion - it's almost unbearable. if i were to think too long upon it,
i'd go mad - or worse, i'd be labelled an eco-terrorist after acting
upon my anger.
on my way here, on one of the new electric
buses, i listened to yesterday's 'democracy now' broadcast and the
plight of daniel mcgowan. daniel spoke of 'gypsy,' who was a friend of
shunka's, who i visited earlier this year in humboldt county. gypsy's
friends are convinced he was murdered at the hands of an angry logger,
who intentionally felled a tree onto his body. whatever happened to
that angry logger, who killed one of earth's defenders? will he look
forward to many years in prison, and the label of 'eco-terrorist' from
the not so honourable alberto gonzales, who may or may not remember
comparing those who attempt to stop earth's destruction to the ku klux
klan? daniel and his friends conspired to blow up some logging
equipment. big deal.
and so, with the beautiful energy of
hundreds of thousands of years of native tradition, i await the
commencement of this radio conference. there has been some delay this
morning, something about the donated food not being allowed into this
venerable building constructed by those blood relatives of mine. (in
my younger years i used to wish i was native ... now i accept that my
spirit just is). those controllers of hearts and minds loom in their
steel tower next door, pulp ancient forests into newspeak, while we
little alternative media folk listen, and think, and learn. and maybe,
just maybe, we'll have enough of an influence these next few years to
save this sorry species from evolving itself into extinction.
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