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Summit:
Doctrine of Discovery was 'political fiction'
PHOENIX -
Indigenous in the Americas are demanding that the ''doctrines of
discovery,'' the papal bulls that led to the seizure of American
Indian homelands, be rescinded.
At the Summit of
Indigenous Nations on Bear Butte in South Dakota, delegations of
indigenous nations and nongovernmental organizations passed a
strongly worded resolution condemning the historical use of the
doctrine of discovery as an instrument of genocide.
Tupac Enrique
Acosta, coordinator at Tonatierra in Phoenix, said the effort at Bear
Butte continues the indigenous battle to halt genocide of indigenous
peoples and seizures of their homelands in the Americas.
Tonatierra was
among the organizations at the Summit of Indigenous Nations taking
action to rescind the doctrines of discovery: Papal Bull Inter
Caetera of 1493 and the 1496 Royal Charter of the Church of England.
''The Indigenous
Nations have resolved, here at the base of Mato Paha [Bear Butte],
that the Pope of the Catholic Church and the Queen of England and the
Archbishop of Canterbury rescind these doctrines of discovery for
having served to justify and pave the way for the illegal
dispossession of aboriginal land title and the subjugation of
non-Christian peoples to the present day,'' according to the summit's
statement.
Forty delegations
of indigenous spiritual and political leaders, as well as NGOs,
signed the resolution.
''These papal
bulls have been the basis for the extinguishment of aboriginal land
title and the subjugation of indigenous peoples of Abya Yala [North
and South America]. The implementation of the papal bulls evolved in
the United States through the Supreme Court decision of Johnson v.
M'Intosh [1823] which established the precedent for the denial of
aboriginal title to American Indian lands in the United States,''
according to the summit.
''It has been
resolved by 23 Nations and NGO's and 100 individual signatories that
the 'Doctrine of Discovery' is a legal and political fiction in
violation of the rights of indigenous peoples and intellectual act of
oppression which continues to serve to suppress and repress the
indigenous peoples in the Western Hemisphere.''
From Ecuador at
the Bear Butte gathering was Santiago Delacruz, vice president of
CONAIE (Confederacion de Nacionalidades Indigenas del
Ecuador/Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador). CONAIE
is a formation of 28 indigenous nationalities and Pueblos of Ecuador.
''We have come
from the southern part of this continent Abya Yala which we share
with you all as indigenous nations of this hemisphere on a mission to
strengthen and re-establish our ancestral ties as a continental
confederation of nations and pueblos,'' he said.
Delacruz offered
support for rescinding the papal bulls and support from the south for
the protection of Bear Butte.
''It is with great
concern that we have come to be informed of the threatened
desecration of the Sacred Mato Paha, also known as Bear Butte, where
we now gathered in summit as indigenous nations.
''This sacred area
must not be allowed to be destroyed or desecrated by the proposed
construction projects of 'biker bars' and the like,'' Delacruz said.
Enrique pointed
out that the current demand that the papal bulls be eliminated
represents a longtime global effort.
In May, at the
United Nations in New York, the Continental Proclamation Abya Yala
was presented at the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. The
proclamation was ratified at the Continental Summit of Indigenous
Peoples in Quito, Ecuador, in 2004, and in Mar de Plata, Argentina,
in 2005.
The proclamation
stated, ''That the Papal Bull Inter Caetera of Pope Alexander VI is
hereby annulled, as well as whatever Doctrine of Discovery proceeding
from which that pretends to deform the relationship of Harmony,
Justice, and Peace of we the Indigenous Peoples of Humanity in its
entirety.''
And earlier, at
the United Nations in Geneva on Aug. 1, 1991, indigenous delegates
discussing the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples, convened by the Working Group on Indigenous People, also
issued a statement to then-Pope John Paul II, chief of the Vatican.
The 1991
declaration stated, ''We demand from the Vatican state a denunciation
of the unilateral treaty of Pope Alexander VI (Tordesillas) as being
contrary to the Universal Human Rights of Peoples.
''Whereas the year
1993 completes 500 years of a supposed spiritual conquest without
clear rectification of this universal injustice, allowing the
nation-states that have benefited from the inheritance of Pope
Alejandro VI to continue programmes of genocide and ethnocide,
denying the indigenous people the recuperation of a harmony based on
reciprocal human respect, we demand that the Papal Bull of May 3, 4,
1493 Inter Cetera be annulled.''
In Bear Butte in
August, signatories on the declaration to rescind the papal bulls
included a cross-section of indigenous and non-indigenous
organizations and nations, including the Western Shoshone Defense
Project, American Indian Law Alliance, American Indian Movement,
Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council by Chief Oliver Red Cloud and
Oglala Delegate Floyd Hand, the Confederation of Indigenous
Nationalities of Ecuador, Bring Back the Way: Owe Aku and Tonatierra.
The Summit of
Indigenous Nations was called in response to the development of
several new biker venues located within five miles of the base of
Bear Butte, near the Black Hills Mountains.
''Bear Butte is a
sacred place of worship for over 30 Native American Nations across
the Great Plains. The Native American Nations involved are asking for
a minimum five-acre buffer zone of protection from commercial
development around the sacred mountain,'' according to the summit.
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