Our Narrative

INTRODUCTION

What has come to be known as the “poly-crises” of Climate change, environmental destruction, deepening inequality and war leaves humanity staring at the abyss of possible extinction later this century. Though recognized for its seriousness by governments, nations and international organisations alike “the system” seems incapable of self-generating responses on a scale appropriate to the problem. Goodwill and (often) genuine effort in the form of seemingly endless initiatives, conferences and treaties only seem to leave us ever more trapped – like a man bound in wet ropes whose struggles to escape tighten the knots of his helplessness. Our contention is that a crucial part of the equation has been missing – the wisdom and science of the earth’s First Nations, whose input has been shamefully minimized in global efforts to combat the poly-crises at precisely the time when their wisdom of living as part of the planet is most needed. This paper addresses one part of that wisdom: Bridge Building between nations and draws heavily on the experience of the Kindred Spirits movement launched in Ireland in 2022.

2023 is clearly the moment in history for bridge-building among nations. The urgent need for this is taken as obvious for our purpose. Attracting little attention is the bridge-building among first nations which, we hold, can be the exemplar of universal re-membering- understood as reconstituting or reassembling that which has been dismembered.

Intra-continental bridge-building among first nations (“Intra-CBBFN” for short) is becoming increasingly common, though yet to make any significant impact in mainstream media or global power structures. Examples include the work of the Four Worlds International Institute (notably the recent and historic Union of the Eagle, Condor, Quetzal and Hummingbird), and the work led by Anne-Marie Voorhoeve centred at The Hague in the Netherlands. Perhaps the oldest and most celebrated example is the Choctaw Gift, the 175 anniversary of which was celebrated in Cork, Ireland in July 2022 with Kindred Spirits Ireland. 

The Lost Wisdom of Indigenous Peoples.

Being aware of a falsehood is not enough to ensure its overthrow but awareness is the mother of awakening and the world is awakening to the fact that something is desperately wrong with this path that we are on. Is there an alternative to the dark determinism of our western thinking? YES! 

The science of indigenous living (from the Latin verb Scientia, “to know”) is the science of living in harmony with one another and with the earth. For too many centuries this “knowing” has been considered inferior to the other kind of knowing: technology, exploitation, conquest, individualism. A re-balancing is called for: across the world peoples of all origins are recognizing that reconnecting with this indigenous knowing – accompanied with those communal, loving and harmonious sides of our own natures – is urgently needed to find coherence in our way of being. 

While the West continued down a trajectory of disconnect, the original peoples of the Americas and elsewhere cultivated an essentially opposite world view – not of reification, separation and patriarchal dominion, but rather a matriarchal worldview based on unity, integration and wholeness: the wholeness of the human species in harmony with the whole of Mother Earth.

In the past several decades, and in particular in the last several years, there has been a groundswell of appreciation, support and engagement with all things indigenous, by practically all countries and segments of society, all around the world. It is as if a prodigal son has begun to look round desperately for his separated family.

One Light: The Irish, the Choctaw, an Arrow Shot through Time in 1847

The history of Europeans in the Americas is predominantly a history of conquest and colonization: They came, they saw, they coveted, and they took – taking the lives of millions of innocent indigenous people, including the genocide of entire tribes, in the process. This was the way of the imperial Spanish, the English, the French, the Dutch, and the Portuguese, among others. But not all Europeans participated in the conquest of the Americas, and the accompanying genocide. In particular, one notable exception stands out among the rest: The Irish.

The majority of Irish suffered alongside the indigenous of the Americas, enduring not only colonization, but also forced starvation and enslavement. The story of the connections between the indigenous people of the island first nation of Ireland and the original peoples of the Americas begins 176 years ago with the Choctaw Gift of 1847. The Choctaw Nation, having suffered through her own trail of tears and after their forced relocation, began to intermarry with Irish refugees and those out of indentured servitude (slavery). Here they learned of the suffering of the Irish people due to the Great Hunger (An Gorta Mór). The Choctaw people sold everything they could to raise money to buy food for the starving in Ireland, and sent two emissaries by ship to deliver food to their kindred sisters and brothers.

The Choctaw Gift, like an arrow shot through time, continued unnoticed for the most part, on its trajectory through 176 years of the parallel histories of Ireland and the Choctaw Nation; during which each Nation gained “degrees of independence” from their respective occupiers. The arrow continued to travel, gaining more attention as it neared its mark and in 2020, the Irish People finally had the opportunity to reciprocate on the original Choctaw Gift, when it came to their attention that their sisters and brothers of the Navajo/Hopi First Nations were in urgent need of assistance.  

The people of Ireland heard the appeal and remembered their own loss, the suffering of their ancestors through the great hunger and those, who came to their aid by giving all they had out of the goodness of their hearts.  In 2020, $1.08 Million was donated by the Irish people to the Navajo/Hopi Covid Relief Fund in the early stages of the pandemic. (Links in the Appendix)

Kindred Spirits Ireland was formed in 2022 with a view to organize a joint Celebration and Conference in cork city, Ireland. A delegation of the Navajo/Hopi, Cherokee/Choctaw and Crow Creek Sioux nations travelled to Cork to celebrate and share in Thanks for these beautiful and compassionate Gifts; to strengthen existing bonds and to continue the story by creating more;  where together, we can brave the realities of life while supporting each other in the hard times ahead. 

The arrow had truly made its mark, through the history/story and the connections made; after the Kindred Spirits Ireland Celebration and conference, it became clear to everyone involved that the story does not end there. In March of this year 2023, representatives of Kindred Spirits Ireland were invited to travel to Palenque, to the Mayan Pyramids in the jungles of Chiapas, Mexico, for the sacred and historic Gathering and Election of the Second Indigenous Sacred Council of The Union of the  Condor, Eagle, Quetzal, and Hummingbird:

This historic gathering and ceremony occurred exactly 52 years, (one full Mayan calendar bundle) after the first Gathering and Election of the Sacred Council of the Union of the Eagle, Condor, Quetzal, and Hummingbird was elected in 1971 at Lake Titicaca, Bolivia.

During this sacred ceremony at the foot of the Mayan pyramids of Palenque, Hereditary Chief Phil Lane Jr addressed the other Chiefs, leaders and members of the South American and Pacific Island tribes who had travelled to Palenque for this historic gathering; he spoke of the Prophecy and the importance of the Indigenous way and culture; and singling out the Irish people among all the nations of the West, he honoured them as True Kindred Spirits. He told the story of the Choctaw Gift of 1847 and how the Irish people had reciprocated in 2020. 

 “The Irish people Never forgot! And in 2020 during the pandemic, when they saw their Navajo and Hopi sisters and brothers in dire need of help, they saw their opportunity to repay the kindness shown to them so many years before by the Choctaw nation. We share common history; for the Irish are not Colonizers but victims themselves of it, they too were starved and forced from their lands and fought to keep their language and their religion. They do not make War on other nations! Instead they send peace keepers and are proud of their neutrality and recognize that Unity is more powerful than separation, division and War. Though they are only a small Island country, per capita they are the biggest contributors to famine and other disaster relief efforts around the world and take in more refugees, despite their small size. They share a love and respect for nature and all beings; these are indigenous traits, inherent indigenous Irish traits, the good things in our nature. These traits are not just unique to the First Nations and the Irish, they are in all of us, because we are all indigenous! It is through Kindred Spirits Ireland and the bridge building of the Irish people that our European Sisters and Brothers may finally recognize, that we are all indigenous of Mother Earth, we are all sisters and brothers, we are all One Human Family. It is only through recognition of the latter, we will truly unite and fulfil our duty as true caretakers and stewards of Pacha Mama. (Mother Earth).”

– Hereditary Chief Phil Lane Jr. Palenque March 2023

CONCLUSION

As such and according to indigenous prophecy, Kindred Spirits Ireland and the Irish people were further honoured by being recognized as the Bridge Builders. Their mandate; to continue to build and strengthen the connections with the Indigenous nations of the Americas and beyond and by example encourage the building of bridges between the nations and tribes of Europe. 

Therefore, this paper is a call to action, as the Irish people have been woven into the fabric of this truly unique story in time and have become an integral part of indigenous prophecy; we feel it is now incumbent of the Irish people to help fulfil this mandate. The development of Kindred Spirits Ireland as an annual event can and will be the platform to give voice to the indigenous peoples while at the same time encouraging the strengthening and the building of more connections among all nations worldwide; right down to the level of local communities. 

We believe this effort can help light the way to healing all peoples by building deeper connections among all the world’s nations. Harnessing the neglected wisdom and science of indigenous peoples and coupling it to the technical (if aimless) wizardry of modernity, is the sine qua non for survival.