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Native Americans Meet Traditional Leaders of South Africa


From Worldwide Faith News <wfn@wfn.org>
Date 07 Dec 1999 09:53:20

Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions
Mim Neal, 312 629 2990, mimneal@cpwr.org
John Dart, 818 363 3984, jdartnews@aol.com
http://www.cpwr.org

NATIVE AMERICANS MEET TRADITIONAL LEADERS
COMPARE PLIGHTS, PLAN FOR FUTURE

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA ­ After a Saturday meeting with traditional leaders
from South Africa, Native American Walter Echo-Hawk, said that this nation had
the opportunity to avoid the “mistakes made in the United States.”

South Africa could be the kind of inclusive government that Native Americans
had hoped for in the United States, he said, with traditional voices heard at
all levels of authority from local to national. He maintained that in
America, the indigenous peoples are an impoverished minority with no real
representation in the national government.

A delegation of more than 20 Native Americans is participating in the
Parliament of the World’s Religions, both in individual presentations and in
the symposium on “America’s Shadow Struggle, Native American Religious
Freedom,” chaired by world religion expert Huston Smith. Prior to coming to
Cape Town for the eight-day Parliament, they asked South African traditional
leaders for a meeting that subsequently occurred Saturday, 4 Dec, at the
Holiday Inn Waterfront.

After comparing their common challenges ­ legacies of colonialism, land claims
and religious persecution -- Nkosi/ Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana and Echo-Hawk, a
Pawnee from Oklahoma, USA, told reporters about their discussion and plans for
continued collaboration.

Nonkonyana, a Member of Parliament and the Congress of Traditional Leaders of
South Africa, said that it was an honor to engage in the dialogue. South
Africans had fully briefed their American guests “about our struggle, about
our role in the struggle for democracy, and efforts to establish the role of
traditional leaders at all levels of government,” he said.

Land was a particular focus. Individual land ownership is not a traditional
concept noted Nonkonyana but one imposed by colonialism. Information on the
treaties believed to have been made by colonists and the ancestors of
traditional leaders’ is not yet accessible to local traditional leaders. When
it is, he said, they could work with the government to incorporate peoples’
ancient connections with the land into the African Renaissance.

The two indigenous groups have different attitudes toward private property,
Africans tend to favor communal land ownership and Native Americans
traditionally affirm that noone can own the land.

He said that the afternoon’s dialogue had reinforced a dream to create a
global forum for indigenous people, protecting their rights and honoring their
legacies.

Echo-Hawk, a presenter at the Parliament, said that this had been an historic
day, a rare opportunity for the indigenous people from two hemispheres to
meet. “There are 350 million indigenous people in 72 countries, all suffering
from the legacy of colonialism. What is the responsibility of these nations
to these people?”

“We share the same problems. That makes us relatives.”

Like South Africans, Native Americans are struggling to gain access to their
ancestral lands and resources and to protect their culture and languages.
Ideally, he added, indigenous people could have their own educational system,
and collaborate in the creating the new South Africa in which the traditional
voice is heard.

When asked what will happen next, Nonkonyana said that in mid-December, they
would present a report to a meeting of traditional leaders in Mpumalanga.
Ultimately, they would like to establish a pan-African congress of traditional
leaders, and to have voice at the United Nations.

The Native American delegation included many presenters at the Parliament of
the World’s Religions. The Native Americans at the news conference included
Lenny Foster (Dine), Darlene St. Clair (Lakota), Rachel Ogoya (Pueblo),
Patricia Locke (Sioux) Herman Ogoyo (Pueblo) and Jennie Noe of the University
of Arizona at Tucson. Africans included Z. Fini; H. Ngoro; N. Gubanaca; and
Njyapha, all members of the Congress of Traditional Leaders.

#####
By Mim Neal
Parliament Media Centre: 082 858 6439
(Cape Town 011 27 21)


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