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JOHN MOHAWK WAS RIGHT.
Rick Whaley remembers John Mohawk:
Author and Professor John Mohawk spoke at the first national Greens gathering in Amherst, Massachusetts in July 1987. He provides, to my mind, the most profound theoretical center for Green politics. Marxism, he argues, is the flip side of capitalism, not its opposite or its solution.
While he recognizes the contributions the Left has made to fighting the excesses of industrial capitalism (and the long tradition in radical culture of deconstructing capitalism), Mohawk poises the wellspring of Green theory: Industrialism in capitalist, socialist or communist countries exists in a colonial relationship to Nature and to indigenous people.
The solution is a thorough Native or Green perspective, quite different in its solutions—technological, spiritual, economic, educational, energy and consumption—than that of Labor-Left allies. Mohawk is arguing that the old-isms do not address the threat to the very biology of the planet — tears in the ozone layer (cancers); acid rain (basic chemistry of plant roots destroyed); global warming; chemicals disrupting reproduction. They can make the unresolved 20th century issues of social class and distribution appear
moot.
[Milwaukee Greens used to give out to unreconstructed Leftists joining the Green Party: John Mohawk’s “Marxism from a Native Perspective” (Akwesasne Notes, Early Spring, 1981) where he raised this cornerstone (Green) thesis on Industrial society.]
Click here to read more from this post on Stan’s blog
John Mohawk was a Contributing Editor to Yes! Magazine:
John C. Mohawk is a member of the Seneca Nation at Cattaraugus, New York. An Associate Professor of American Studies, he teaches in the American Studies Department at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He edited Exiled in the Land of the Free (Clear Light) and A Basic Call to Consciousness, and he is the author of contributed chapters as well as articles in a wide range of publications. He is the former editor of the journal Akwesasne Notes.
YES! Articles by John Mohawk:
Sobrevivir Tiempos Difíciles no es Para Cobardes – 5.000 Años de Imperio: ¿Listos para un Cambio?
Las profecias Hopi e Iroquois se basan en una larga memoria cultural, ofreciendo estratégias prácticas para sobrevivir tiempos difíciles.
Surviving Hard Times: It’s not for sissies – Summer 2006
Hopi and Iroquois prophecies draw on long cultural memories, offering practical approaches to surviving hard times.
Poder Indígena: Los Derechos Indígenas Se Globalizan – Las 10 Tendencias más Prometedoras
Los pueblos indígenas están defendiendo su derecho moral a vivir como comunidades distintas y recordándonos el poder adquirido al cooperar con la naturaleza.
7-Indigenous Power: Indigenous Rights Go Global – Spring 2006
The power of indigenous people spreads across the world. Indigenous people bring a unique argument to the world stage. The indigenous cultures’ relationship to the earth represents a real hope for the long term survival of people on any scale in the world. — Includes links to related articles over the last 10 years of YES!
Indigenous Power: Indigenous Rights Go Global – Spring 2006
Indigenous rights under international law. The relationship to the earth represents the only real hope for the long term survival of people on any scale in the world.
The Warriors Who Turned to Peace – Winter 2005
Peacemaking and progressive pragmatism. Terrorism has been with us forecver what we need now is peacemaking.
The (sometimes) Beautiful American – Spring 2002
Throughout its history the United States has shown two faces: one that’s peaceful, promoting justice and self-determination, and one that’s selfish, defining its national interests in ways that promote suffering and brutality abroad.
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