Indigenous Knowledge Has Value

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ignore mondo in Mario en la cara
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Netanyahu who own our home where fart
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Enoch although there no clue though a
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yachtie who who might our Tokugawa
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indigenous knowledge has value
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indigenous knowledge has with most
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importantly indigenous knowledge can
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provide answers and offer solutions to
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contemporary problems by the end of my
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talk you will have a glimpse into the
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understanding of why and so my story
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begins at the Chatham Islands the
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Chatham Islands are a group of islands
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that lie roughly six hundred and eighty
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kilometers southeast of mainland New
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Zealand they are known by the mauryas
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for air cody and by the indigenous
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peoples of these islands the moriori as
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a vehicle who and scale the Chatham's
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are roughly half the size of stewart
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island and a home to around six hundred
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people of European Maori and moriori
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descent the landscape of the Chatham's
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itself is quite spectacular a mixture of
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volcanic Peaks flat swamplands lagoons
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and sandy beaches but to the uninitiated
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the Chatham's is also coldly unforgiving
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vastly deforested for sheep and cattle
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farming there are few places of shelter
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the weather changes quickly and Bower
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trees pay testament to the strong
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southerly z-- that lashed the land and
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turn the sea upon visiting the Chatham's
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our Chatham Islands it is easy to
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understand how a solitary and isolated
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location provided the perfect
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destination for the New Zealand
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government to exile and imprison its
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enemies for what is not widely known or
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widely recorded in the history of our
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country is that in the 1860s the New
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Zealand government utilized the Chatham
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Islands as a penal facility to which
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they exiled and imprisoned without
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charge or trial more than 300 mouldy men
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women and children who they had
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classified as rebel
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or in rebellion against the crown now
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these people were not just stripped of
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all lands and positions but they were
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exiled from their country of birth and
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was here on the Chatham Islands without
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hope of escape that they were imprisoned
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indefinitely now why I share their story
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with you now as that their story is my
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story my great-grandmother was just a
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young girl when she was taken from her
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home to imprisonment on the Chatham
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Islands along with their parents and her
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younger siblings and it was there that
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you would eventually lose her mother and
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her younger sister our oral tradition
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still speaks of the arrival of the
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prison bars the Chatham Island shores on
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a cold and wet winters morning and how
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the prisoners arrived to no food and no
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shelter as the government of the time
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had deemed that these very essentials
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the prisoners must provide for
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themselves and so in the wit and the
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rain and the cold they built makeshift
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shelters of fern fronds and scavenge for
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food to feed themselves and their
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children now in hindsight it is not a
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leap of the imagination to understand
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that through reasoning of the
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imprisonment that they had been
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imprisoned to die at this place but like
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so many stories of our people dying was
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something my ancestors refused to do
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they survived despite everything they
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survived and when I first visited the
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Chatham Islands in 2011 and stood at the
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place that my ancestors had lived and
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died they will wash with emotion this
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was the question which plagued me in
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particular how did they survive how did
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they survive a hostile environment to
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which they were unaccustomed and
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ill-prepared how did they survive the
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brutality of a 17th century British
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penal system how did they survive the
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beatings the floggings the rapes the
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forced hard labor malnutrition and
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illness that claimed so many of their
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lives what beliefs and values did they
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draw upon to survive and the darkness of
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their imprisonment now it was in
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contemplation
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of this question and others that I came
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to certain specific cultural
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understandings understandings of the
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principles I believe my ancestors
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utilized to survive their imprisonment
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and principles which still have
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contemporary application and can
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contribute towards positive change in
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our lives and in the lives of others but
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firstly to understand these principles
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we must understand their source now my
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ancestors look to the natural world than
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our environment as the greatest teacher
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they did this in the central
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understanding that their environment
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that surrounded us had evolved over
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billions of years and was operating in a
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state of perfection all we needed to do
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was to watch and observe and incorporate
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those teachings that was them their
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truth into our lives in doing so my
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ancestors created unique knowledge
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systems knowledge systems based upon the
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natural flows and rhythms of our
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environment knowledge systems which
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place collective and spiritual
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well-being ahead of individual and
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material need one such example was found
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in the flight of the cuckoo now the
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Kuato is renowned as having the longest
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flight path of any bird on the planet
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flying from Alaska to alter or New
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Zealand every year covering more than
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17,000 kilometres and flying nonstop for
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eight days without food without water
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without rest without sleep now the
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flight of the cuota has brought
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international scientific inquiry to our
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shores focus specifically are born how
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such a small and inconspicuous bird
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accomplishes such a monumental task now
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when my ancestors look to the caca they
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observed that it flied in a v-shape
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formation which they named takahe they
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also observed that a singular bird leads
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this flop which they named the man who
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took ether karwa or the leader of the
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flock but most importantly my ancestors
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recognized that this leader does not
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lead for the duration of
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flight well rather wind fatigue sits in
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this boy bird falls back and another
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bird rises to that place of leadership
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their position of leadership
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therefore my I are my ancestors
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understood that the co-worker does not
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reverse immense distances based upon the
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strength the will the drive of the one
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but the collective strength the
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collective will the collective vision of
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the whole through examples such as the
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flight of the Karaka my ancestors
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defined three distinct principles
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principles that enabled our people to
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collective ice to unify for common goal
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in common purpose the first of these
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principles and most important is common
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core may be defined in this instance as
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the guiding philosophy the collective
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aim the communal goal that dream that
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vision you aspire to achieve for those
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prisoners on the Chatham Islands this
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was merely survival to survive the
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brutality of their imprisonment this was
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the vision their collectivized them this
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was the goal that unified them this was
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their light in their darkness and a
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contemporary context Khoa may be the
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well-being and prosperity of your father
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your family it may be social or
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political change but whatever it may be
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Kawa is where the deep thinking must
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take place for this philosophy will lead
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and guide every aspect of practice and
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endeavour that follows and without a
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clear and defined vision you were lost
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from the beginning the fit second
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principle is tequila tequila may be
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defined in this instance as the practice
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which supports the guiding philosophy at
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the core of Qigong our collective
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beliefs and values collective beliefs
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and values of which my ancestors had
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meaning
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collective beliefs and values are
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vitally important because they inform
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attitude and behavior and ensured that
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whatever endeavor was undertaken it was
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undertaken in an ethical and moral way
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collective beliefs and values were
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vitally important for those prisoners on
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the Chatham Islands for though they were
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from different tribes they shared this
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common knowledge base so when they
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engage with their skills and the
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abilities they engaged the same way in a
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contemporary context we all understand
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how easier it is to accomplish a goal
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when the people you work beside believe
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the same things value the same things
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aspire towards the same things the third
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principle is Co papa Co Papa may be
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defined in this context as the
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utilization of these beliefs and values
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for specific endeavor for those
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prisoners on the Chatham Islands this
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was merely the everyday struggle for
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survival food shelter clothing medicine
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perhaps in a contemporary context that
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is not too dissimilar but what must be
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understood is that every endeavor
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undertaken must contribute towards the
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guiding philosophy and though I have
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discussed these principles in isolation
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it must be understood that they operate
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in unison and seamless unison and the
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intangible bond which connects them all
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as way to a thong spirituality or the
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power of the spirit my ancestor
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spirituality was based upon the
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centrality and sacredness of life itself
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that all life had value that all life
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had Worth and most importantly that we
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were connected to all life through a
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multitude of universal kinship ties and
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a contemporary context the spirituality
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of connection may be understood as a
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deeper feeling or understanding one has
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when one is focused and mind and body on
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a specific endeavor an endeavor which
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takes us out of ourselves and connects
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us to others ideals causes movements
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you momentum this feeling this
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understanding as a spiritual connection
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and so these are the principles I
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believe my ancestors utilized to survive
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their imprisonment principles which
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teach the importance of being unified in
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mind body and spirit to accomplish any
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great deed and this is but one example
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one example of thousands of examples
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held within our indigenous knowledge
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answers which are knowledge which offers
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answers solutions and alternatives to
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contemporary problems and I believe that
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now now more than ever our world is in
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need of solutions and alternatives and I
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believe that this is an awakening a
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realization that is happening globally
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as globally people are realizing that
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the systems put in place by the dominant
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powers are broken systems they are
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corrupted systems there are systems that
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have caused global economic poverty and
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inequality global environmental
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degradation in exploitation globally
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people are realizing that the answers to
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these problems cannot be found in the
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same knowledge that created them and
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this is where indigenous knowledge has
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value this is where it has worth because
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it is founded upon different principles
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principles which favor connection rather
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than isolation which favor protection
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rather than exploitation principles
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which offer change principles which
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offer hope now of course there will be
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those that question the value of the
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knowledge that I have shared their
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question the worth of its contemporary
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application and in response to these
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doubts what I failed to mention at the
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beginning of my talk was that my
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ancestors goal was just not to survive
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their imprisonment it was to escape
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their imprisonment and in July 1868
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after nearly three years of imprisonment
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led by the MALDI warrior prophet Ducati
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Araki Donita to Turkey the prisoners
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arose in unison subduing the prison
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guard and commandeering
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supply shove the rifleman and despite
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the brutality to which they had been
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subject there was no violence
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there was no arson there was no looting
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there was no retribution of any kind and
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three days later on the 17th of July
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1868 the riflemen anchored in the
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sheltered Cove of 40 or more of the east
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coast of the North Island carrying in
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its hold and on a stick
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297 elderly men women and children their
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entire prison population of the Chatham
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Islands our oral tradition speaks of how
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the prisoners live from the long boats
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to the shore
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weeping increasing the land as if a
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long-lost loved one they never hoped or
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dreamed that they would see again but
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they had returned United in mind body
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and spirit they had survived their
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imprisonment they had found their
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freedom and most importantly they had
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accomplished it together no one was left
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behind now at the beginning of my talk I
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said that this was my story but this is
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not just my story this is our story for
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this is but one of the many threads that
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make up the fabric of the collective
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history of our country and my ancestors
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struggle and sacrifice for justice and
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for freedom it deserves to be
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acknowledged it deserves to be
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remembered and we are no less or are
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people of a people or a country for
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having done so for an acknowledgement of
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our past its symbols and intend for the
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prison and encapsulate our collective
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hopes dreams and desires for the future
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so in the closing of our story I would
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like to share with you the words of my
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ancestors whose teachings and wisdom I
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have drawn upon throughout my ancestors
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who stand here in spirit with me now
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these are their words the words of the
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past to the generations
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the prison HECO putahi top Italia
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heretonight filling are you filling our
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Anita 40i a day Fatiha
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we are born of the same womb tied in the
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bonds of humanity tied to the heavens
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above us tied to the earth beneath us
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these are bonds that can never be
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severed from this life into the next we
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have but one family moreda right a Papa
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wanna not Iommi here paranoia to a
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Makita kawaru ha Tenakee avoid wear a
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tow hitch watch her on a Mahima taqwa
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cooing a Mahima Takako Kyoko Tod Moreira
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occur on a Serie Tina puta tena puta who
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you know who Donato Tata for a euro he
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we my Tata Tata