Endurance

As Center for World Indigenous Studies chair Rudolph C. Ryser states in his op-ed at IC Magazine,

I have been working with indigenous leaders for decades and arguing that indigenous nations must take the initiative to take back that which is and always has been theirs: land, resources and freedom to move... Asking for rights from those who have no interest in recognizing those rights is a defeated policy. Taking back your land and resources they stole, as Chief George Manuel urged, is the only alternative to self-destruction.

He goes on to say,

During the last four years, many UN member states have switched from liberal democracy to reactionary fascism as global economic collapse stirs deep fears among the working class and billionaires who willingly give autocrats and dictators license to rule... Fourth World nations have three alternatives: become chameleon nation’s to hide from attacks; join the scapegoating; or form coalitions with other nations and with states to establish defenses and take control of lands and their wealth.

Sounding a note of dire warning, Dr. Ryser observes,

Virtually all of the work by indigenous leaders in the United States to build constructive relationships with states and central governments and the United Nations are now utterly at risk of collapse and reversal. Trumplicans will likely become the ultimate “Anti-Indian Movement” in the United States since leaders of that movement now hold seats in Congress, the Senate, the Supreme Court and the Executive Branch as well as thirty of the fifty states.