Page 12 RAIN December 1979 This is an excerpt from "an invitation written with the approval and assistance of the elders and chiefs of the Onondaga Nation" to a council at the Longhouse on the Onondaga Reservation held this past summer. It is clear that the dialectic upon which is hinged the destiny of all peoples is not between the left and the right. All futures emerging from such a polarization point a path to serfdom. The real dialectic is between the big and the small, between monolithic structures engendering politically anemic consumerism and decentralized councils engendering sovereign citizenship, regional independence, and planetary culture. There are two movements which together indicate a way whereby people can be more than effects of events. One is the emergence of nongovernmental coalitions which address the issues affecting our lives and our world. And the other is the emergence of decentralized communities as focal points of an emerging planetary culture. These major movements, or trendings, interpenetrate and indicate the primary need of our time: an effective means for facilitating the interface of planetary awareness and regional sovereignty so that future generations may enjoy a birthright of life, liberation, and wellbeing on this planet. It must be understood that unless people •can reach a clear consensus on fundamental principles transcending personal interests, all discussion of particular issues is a vain weaving of wind. Without principle, the people are blown in many directions and become puppets with no will to act. It is, therefore, both a challenge and a responsibility to insure that certain principles be agreed upon through consensus. These are principles which guarantee the responsible sovereignty of individuals, communities, regions, and nations, and through incorporation into the emerging coalitions and communities can insure that our combined actions will preserve and and protect all life for the seventh generation to come. The principles of which we speak include the following and are offered for the consideration of the council: 1. That there is a universal spiritual principle that transcends race, creed and ideology, and that this guiding principle is the common denominator of all historically viable cultures. 2. That individuals, insofar as they become attuned to this principle, are instruments for the implementation of the purposes of the same and thus enter into responsible life. 3. That the house of polity and the house of worship are one and the same. 4. That women embody the principle of the preservation of life and thus must be coequally included in decision-making. 5. That men embody the principle of the protection of life and that protection means addressing oneself to the needs of the people. 6. That local self-determination or sovereignty be guaranteed. This includes the precept that all information is available to all of the people all of the time. 7. That if or when a crisis such as encroachment upon local sovereignty (nuclear plants, strip mining, etc.) confronts any community, regional or tribal council, such councils may ask for and expect the support of the whole council network. Last spring RAIN carried an article of Steve's ("Drawing the Circle Wider," Vol. V, No. 5, p. 14) in which he wrote that social change groups would be far more effective if they analyzed and acted not only-on their own problem areas, but on the interrelatedness of their problems and, as such, a more comprehensive approach to potential solutions. In this issue we are printing two pieces which came to us from altogether different sources but which we consider fundamentally related. We print them together because the process of uniting people from very different heritages to bring about common goals is PULLING 8. That all legislative decision and effective action follow a consideration for the well-being of the seventh generation to come. 9. That leaders are servants who place the interests of their people before self-interests. 10. That all life forms are interdependent and the survival of the human species necessitates the survival of all species. 11. That if any individual community, region, or nation aspires to survive, the survival of all individuals, communities, regions, and nations must be equally considered. From the vantage point of consideration of these principles we can begin to form a consensus regarding actions that will benefit the vast majority of "stakeholders" and not simply an elite minority of "stockholders." We see and experience the cultures of the world being reformulated. We know the true political scientists and economic theorists are not the Kissingers and Keynes of the world for "by their fruits you shall know them," and we have seen their fruits. We can look at the council as a resource for those who wish to assume co-creative responsibility for the emerging world order. When we speak of communities, it is not in reference to the Utopian fantasies of those who fled the ravages of the Industrial Revolution of the past one hundred years, for there is now no place of refuge on this earth. We speak to those emerging and existing viable communities that relate to the realities of our time. These communities do not function in isolation to the surrounding social ambience, but as regional
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