~~ written 9 am 4/21/97 by David Yarrow <dyarrow@igc.org> ~~
Democracy in the New World: Tree of Peace
Moscow Message: Human Survival
The Six Nations Address the Global Forum
reports and comment on
Earth Conference Two
of the
Global Forum of Religious & Parliamentary Leaders for Human Survival
Moscow, U.S.S.R., January 21-27, 1990
part one of three
Audrey Shenandoah
Takes Iroquois Message to Moscow
Syracuse Post Standard, Monday, January 15, 1990, by Maureen Nolan
ONONDAGA NATION, via Nedrow, NY -- Audrey Shenandoah grew up in her
grandmother's Iroquois home, where her elders spoke a language that
has no word for nature.
It doesn't need one.
"In our language we don't have a word for what everybody calls
"nature" because our ancestors and our tradition are so involved and
as one with what is called 'nature, our environment'," said
Shenandoah, a clan mother from Onondaga Nation. She hopes to invoke
the traditional Iroquois harmony with Mother Earth today in Moscow as
a keynote speaker for an environmental forum attended by more than a
thousand spiritual and parliamentary leaders from around the globe.
Shenandoah, 63, who teaches language and culture at the Onondaga
Indian School near Nedrow, will address a gathering whose luminaries
range from scientists to statesmen and clerics who will discuss the
planet's future. Duties of clanmother in the matrilineal society
include passing along the Longhouse tradition and selecting tribal
leaders.
"They don't hear much about, I guess, what they are expecting to hear
from me," Shenandoah said. "It is like reminding people of their
line to the rest of the universe--we are only a part of this
creation, and we should work along with it in harmony as much as we
can."
She left for Moscow Friday. With her at the Forum will be Onondaga
Chief Oren Lyons, who helped plan the gathering; Leon Shenandoah,
chief of the Grand Council of the Six Nations Confederacy (related to
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Article-ID: 04_1997&3930078
Score: 82
Subject: green cross: global forum in moscow