Global Paradigm Change | Rights of Nature: Now A Global Movement
by Thomas Ivan Dahlheimer
Tom Goldtooth (Bdewakantonwan Dakota/Dine'), Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental
Network and internationally renowned Indigenous environmentalist, stated that “we cannot have
the recognition of our rights as indigenous people if we do not recognize the rights of
nature.”
Mr. Goldtooth's traditional Bdewakantonwan Dakota homeland ancestral-headquarters is
Mille Lacs Lake (Bde Wakan) in Minnesota. The "Rum" (Wakan/Wahkon) River watershed, which
includes Mille Lacs Lake, is also part of Goldtooth's Bdewakantonwan Dakota
traditional homeland, which is a large area in central Minnesota that the Bdewakantonwan
Dakota were unjustly and violently forced from. Following the evil principles of the
Doctrine of Christian Discovery and Domination of Indigenous Peoples a group
of invading European colonists tricked and used a displaced East Coast band of Ojibwe
to violently force the Bdewakantonwan Dakota from this sacred
(wahkon) watershed homeland of theirs.
Now-days, there are Bdewakantonwan Dakota rights activists and advocates
working to rectify unresolved past injustices and current injustices being committed
against the Bdewakantonwan Dakota in this sacred traditional Minnesota homeland of
theirs. I am a Bdewakantonwan Dakota rights advocate who
is promoting Dakota environmentalism
throughout the "Rum" (Wahkon) River Watershed, and as a part
of this advocacy work-I am seeking to gain legal personhood rights for the
badly
named "Rum" (Wahkon) River.
"The idea that a feature of nature, like a river, is a living being might seem like
a strange concept to some, but it is nothing new to Indigenous and other traditional
peoples around the world. While the Western philosophical
system is underpinned by the idea that man is separate from nature and in dominion over
it, Indigenous philosophical systems tend to conceive of humans as a part of nature,
often in a stewardship role to help maintain its balance." ref.
The Western philosophical system is based on the Bible passages: Genesis 1:28, ...be fruitful
and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the
sea" and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on
the earth,... and Psalms 2:8-9: "Ask of me, and I shall give thee [the pope and European Christian nations] the
heathen [Indigenous Peoples] for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth [which includes all of the
Indigenous Peoples' land] for thy possession. Thou shalt break them [commit genocide and "ethnic cleansing" against them] with
a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."
"The 'Rights of Nature,' which codifies this Indigenous philosophy, has been
in the news lately. On March 15, [2017] the New Zealand parliament passed the Te
Awa Tupua Bill, which granted the Whanganui River the rights of legal personhood.
Less than a week later, on March 20, the Ganges, and Yamuna Rivers in India were
also granted legal personhood status. Should these rights be threatened by human activity,
legal cases on behalf of these rivers can be brought before a court to uphold their
rights. [It is a Hindu and Indigenous Peoples' traditional belief that rivers are living
beings with personhood rights.]" ref.
"Recognition of personhood rights are an important step forward toward the recognition
of the full rights of the rivers to be healthy, natural ecosystems. Such rights would
include the rights of the rivers to pure water, to flow, to provide habitat for river
species, and other rights essential to the health and well-being of these ecosystems."
ref.
"In Highland Township, Pennsylvania, CELDF, ["International Center for the Rights of Nature"],
is serving as legal counsel for a local watershed to defend its rights not to have frack
waste injected in the ecosystem." ref..
"Once numbering 13,500 indigenous nations around the world, there are now 5,000 different
cultures - approximately 370 million people. Those that remain face ever increasing threats
to their natural environments. At the forefront of the threats are extractive industries:
timber and logging, gas and oil, and mineral mining. These industries not only threaten the
land, water and air, but indigenous peoples’ livelihoods and cultures."
ref.
"An increasing number of court rulings and legislation worldwide are recognizing rights of
nature to be protected and preserved. Recognizing these rights also entails the recognition
that nature has the right to stand in court and to be represented for its defense. ... Within
this doctrine, rivers seem to be on the spotlight and court rulings on the rights of rivers
are the ones setting precedent."
"Recognizing that nature has legal rights and accepting these rights as part of our legal
systems require not only the introduction of new laws observing these rights, but also
a shift in paradigm for them to be fit in a contemporaneous legal puzzle. Referring to
a 'shift' in paradigm and not the 'introduction' of a newly created one is intentional,
as the recognition of rights to nature has been already part of customary law for many
indigenous populations around the world for centuries. These principles, however, have
not been embedded in the development of modern environmental laws, grounded on an
anthropocentric paradigm. This paradigm, has proven to be erroneous, as humans are
irreversibly damaging the natural structures they depend on for survival despite the
existence of environmental laws. The Paris Agreement and the planetary efforts that
have been recently undertaken to move away from this approach and to develop in a
sustainable manner point towards the possibility of a shift towards an earth-centered
paradigm, where humans are part of the planetary system and aim at living in harmony with it."
ref.
A Mille Lacs Messenger newspaper letter to the editor of mine is about my global
decolonization environmental mission. An article of mine on this topic is posted
on the Mille Lacs Messenger's newspaper website/blog. It is titled New Age Globalization
And The Coming New World Order. In this article I promote a decolonization global
paradigm change based primarily on a radical transformation of Christianity, a
transformation that is already beginning to occur by way of both, the massive
infiltration of New Age/Hindu or Eastern mystical meditation and yoga into Christian
churches and the renunciation of the Doctrine of Christian Discovery and Domination
of Indigenous Peoples by the World Council Of Churches and several mainline
denominational Christian Churches.
Because of modern-day scientific discoveries that expose an essential Christian
dogma as false and the unjust Doctrine of Christian Discovery and Domination of Indigenous
Peoples as well as other reasons, I do not believe in historic and traditional
Christianity and I seek to put an end to it. However, I am a devote New Age "Christian"
follower of Jesus Christ, who I believe is a New Age/Hindu guru. I believe that there is a Bible passage
that prophecies the coming of the global paradigm change that I am promoting.
The author of the best-selling book "Gods of the New Age, the late Caryl Matrisciana (1947-2016), also
produced a popular documentary video on today's massive infiltration of New Age/Hindu or Eastern mystical meditation and yoga into
Christian churches. It is titled Yoga Uncoiled - Christ Centered Yoga False Christianity - Documentary.
Another Caryl Productions video on this topic is titled: WIDE IS THE GATE - The Emerging
New Christianity VOLUME 1 and VOLUME 2. Warning: There is a lot of Christian propaganda in these videos that distorts the truth about
what the New Age is about.
The popular Caryl Productions video titled "Yoga Uncoiled - Christ Centered Yoga
False Christianity - Documentary" includes an introductory documentary about how
the New Age spiritual philosophy entered the mainstream by way of the Beatles'
promotion of the yogic Hindu, 1960s hippie spiritual revolution. In this video
a narrator states that the 1960s spiritual revolution that the Beatles began
to promote-continued to spread throughout the '70s and succeeding decades-and
that "it is still rapidly gaining global acceptance today."
I, like the world renowned Indigenous activist Steven Newcomb, believe
that we need a decolonization global paradigm change to solve the global
climate change crisis. I am promoting this global paradigm change by (1.) advocating
for the liberation of indigenous peoples from Christendom's domination so
that they can become free Independent Indigenous Sovereign Nations once again,
and by (2.) promoting the current revival of the 1960s hippie New Age/Hindu
spiritual philosophy and counterculture eco-village communism or tribalism. I
believe that an important goal of this global decolonization paradigm change
movement is the retribalization of the world.
****************************************************************
The above article along with another article of mine titled Global Paradigm Change present a
summary of my New Age prophetic visionary mission.
NEWS
Dr. Vandana Shiva is a world renowned environmentalist. A Time magazine article recognized Dr. Shiva as an
environmental "hero" in 2003. Forbes Magazine identified Dr. Shiva as one of the Seven Most Powerful Women on the Globe.
Dr. Shiva advises governments worldwide. After I sent Dr. Shiva an email with a message that (in part)
included (1.) the title and link to the above article and (2.) the title and link to a related article she
sent me a response email wherein she (in part) wrote that she was looking forward to reading my writings.
More on this correspondents....
Tom Goldtooth's Rights Of Nature Video
Related article: UN Report Says Indigenous Sovereignty Could Save the Planet.
Related article: Amazon Synod: Pope Francis' Emerging Hippie Spiritual Philosophy.
