John Trudell: Let's Think Things Through

John Trudell is a native American activist, poet, defender of Mother Earth, and subject of the documentary "Trudell". The doc is about a life of speaking out against the corporate/government alliance. It is about a life of speaking uncomfortable truths of genocide and environmental destruction. It is about Trudell's tribe, and we are all in it.

Native Americans, being the original caretakers of North America, are in a unique position to talk about sustainability. Their people lived here sustainably for many thousands of years, a feat of incredible strength, commitment, and wisdom. We could have learned so much from these original Occupiers over the last several hundred years.

We ignore the message of Native Americans at our peril. John Trudell is reaching out to all of us, because he knows that the machine that goes by many names (civilization, progress, the economy, markets, globalism, free trade, capitalism, military/industrial complex, consumerism...) is coming for all of us, regardless of what colour we are or where we live.

The machine needs to be fed, and all of us will become its fuel if we don't pay heed to the warnings native people have been giving us since first contact.

Rarely have I heard such a staunch defender of the Earth, human rights, and basic freedoms as John. He is inviting us to join him in rethinking what it means to be human. He is inviting us to join him in revealing the lie, and re-establishing the original green economy.

"Theoretically, if everyone that disagrees with the lie that has been imposed upon us - tomorrow, if everyone got up and said, 'I'm not going to enable the lie anymore', you would have nonviolent change, and you would have quick change.

The system goes upon our self-rationalizations and self-justifications and insecurity. That's how it works, and it has turned all of us against each other through distortion.

The one thing these people fear is that we would use our minds to attempt to see clearly. Our apathy makes us the enemy of our descendants. They want us to be in a position where all we think about is ourselves. We need to use our minds to think things through."

After thinking things through, I started NBA almost 500 posts ago to help stop the lie. It was after the 2008 financial crisis made things perfectly clear for me - I would do whatever I could to prevent my actions from enabling the lie that is oppressing us, and killing our planet.

I will not work for the lie, and I am not buying anything that supports the lie. In this quest, it is good to have people like John Trudell to remind me of my commitment, and help move me a bit farther toward truth, justice, and sustainability.

Watch Trudell to see how the machine continues to attempt to neutralize the continent's caretakers, and any other voices of reason, to pave the way for private profit, and public misery. Mr. Trudell's story is a tale of tragedy, triumph, and hope for a better future.