working together for social inclusion in America

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Leading the Way

A recent reader asked why we often focus on indigenous societies in the US. The answer is that indigenous America is inherently organized on a cooperative model. Cooperative societies do not support colonizing institutions--be they economic, religious, or political. Social inclusion by definition respects cooperation with nature and with each other. Native American tribes and nations are leading the way in creating cooperative resolution of the many problems we face, and have even initiated educational tools for that purpose.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Magic and Mystery

Exclusionary modernity, drawn from Western models, banishes all that it does not understand. Inclusive modernity understands, especially after the Chiapas rebellion, that there are many ways of being "modern," of being contemporaneous with one's own values.

---Carlos Fuentes, A New Time for Mexico