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Art, Solidarity and Anarchy in the Meso-american Market
Breaking Down The Power of Myths
By Maureen Nelson
nemo dat quod non habet
no one gives what one does not have
For more than 500 years the Occidental Man has attacked the Indigenous of the Americas with little impunity. First on the Occidental historical agenda is to change the names of people and places to attack identity and claim to land. The Wixarika alas are renamed by Spain, the Huichol.
In the 60's with academia's growing interest in Indigenous spirituality and psychodelia, the Huichol were once again romantically commodified to become the next "noble savage" victim to the most heinous crimes against humanity and have yet stayed intact as a people... but these last fifty years have been more like the Nazi's "Final Solution" than ever before.
Wixarika tribal unity has been eroding due to the intervention of a group of anthropologists, who thought of themselves as great caretakers of Providence, chose a profession for the Wixarika as artist to the tourist trade. These self-proclaimed apostles of doom truly see themselves as Christ-like, coming to share their wisdom and guiding hand to the lesser but beautiful people who are on the frontiers of western society. While in true western tradition, elevated a few to international notoriety while leaving the rest in abstract poverty. And those few who have acheived these heights have fallen depraved of life by what the Catholic church would call the seven deadly sins.
The traditional agrarian lifestyle of the Wixarika is jeopardized both by diminished health due to pestisides used on tobacco harvests and the patronizing marketing of their art. I propose this group learn the histories of the Huichol influences on the pre-columbian Meso-american culture while exploring alternative marketing strategies through the Popular Education Model with the question: "How can we minimize contact between the cultures while opening the current free market to the Wixarika?"
Our first session within our group:
April 9: 2pm to 4pm at the Olympia Free School. Maureen is available any day except Thursday. Other times to be announced by the group through concensus. This will be an intensive exploration of our myths and mindsets toward within the Meso-american market.
Along with our premise we will explore "Why does the Occident search for the Noble Savage?" We will bring to the table our personal goals/reasoning behind joining this learning group. Please, bring a one sentence statement to first group to be put in a bowl for a warm up/ice breaking exercise. Transparency within the group is essential for the Pop-Ed model to work within the group but outside of the group and all published work of the group will be signed by the collective name, Nemo.
We will define as a group and as individuals what we want to achieve in this study group. As we divide into smaller learning groups, the groups will morph and change until we achieve a clear view of: What are we are doing... why are we doing it... when are we going to do it... and what difference does it make? From here we continue evolving until we find the destiny behind the group.
Maureen Nelson will share her recent trip to Mexico to observe the treatment and exchange in the market with the Indigenous tribes of Nayarit and Jalisco, critically viewing the history of western exposure upon the Wixarika.
About Nemo:
Someone wrote, "The victor writes the history." As our victorious nation chooses our destinies, we, the proletariat, find our voice is never allowed although it is our children who are meted out the dirty job of war. It is our responsibility as a people standing in the shadow of this most heinous World Power to circumnavigate and disarm it, while holding strong to the wholistic motto to "Do No Harm," it is time for us to honor our creed. After nearly one hundred years since our government massacred our leaders and rewrote the dictionaries definition of Anarchy,* few today understand its true meaning or history.
"I chose "Nemo"... latin meaning "no one"... as the inclusive name for the Anarchist group/think tank/freeskool I will be facilitating. "Nemo" keeps anonymity within the group and concedes the knowledge gained as a sum greater than its parts. The talents of all are acknowledged without prejudice or glory. As facilitator, I bring to the table curriculum and oral tradition of the history and the market in meso-america to explore solutions to the current global market situation. The ideology would compare to Puelbo to People except we are not going to be the middle man between the manufactures and the market... we are going to explore a theory of direct marketing possibilities via the internet! This will be a working group of activists who are interested in a kind of sister city relationship with the Huichol people/market. I encourage people who have worked in other sister city activities to join this group to help us grow into a powerful alliance for all."
In spite of the myths of Globalization and Free Trade, we all know in our heart of hearts the destructive purpose behind its blatant buying up of global market and real estate in the name of democracy. It is up to us all to use that one heart, one mind to break the cycle of abuse to the planet and the people who live upon it. Collectively we bring to the table and analyze the situation in Jalisco and Nayarit in relation to the history, culture and disenfranchisement of the Huichol in their local market.
We are all Nemo. We all bring knowledge to the table. We bring to the group our visions, our views, hopes and dreams coming into fruition as we embrace all knowledge shared to co-create a viable strategy for opening the world market to the Indigenous peoples pushed to the fringe of society, ignored and impoverished by genocidal policies of the western world, policies that are only scrutinized by the larger society when it internalizes upon the Occident, i.e. Nazism after WWII.
*The true definition of Anarchy: "The absence of government and absolute freedom of the individual, regarded as a political ideal. From 16th century medieval latin from Greek, Anarkhia, from Anarkhos from an- 'without' + arkhos 'chief, ruler.'"
Breaking Down The Power of Myths
By Maureen Nelson
nemo dat quod non habet
no one gives what one does not have
For more than 500 years the Occidental Man has attacked the Indigenous of the Americas with little impunity. First on the Occidental historical agenda is to change the names of people and places to attack identity and claim to land. The Wixarika alas are renamed by Spain, the Huichol.
In the 60's with academia's growing interest in Indigenous spirituality and psychodelia, the Huichol were once again romantically commodified to become the next "noble savage" victim to the most heinous crimes against humanity and have yet stayed intact as a people... but these last fifty years have been more like the Nazi's "Final Solution" than ever before.
Wixarika tribal unity has been eroding due to the intervention of a group of anthropologists, who thought of themselves as great caretakers of Providence, chose a profession for the Wixarika as artist to the tourist trade. These self-proclaimed apostles of doom truly see themselves as Christ-like, coming to share their wisdom and guiding hand to the lesser but beautiful people who are on the frontiers of western society. While in true western tradition, elevated a few to international notoriety while leaving the rest in abstract poverty. And those few who have acheived these heights have fallen depraved of life by what the Catholic church would call the seven deadly sins.
The traditional agrarian lifestyle of the Wixarika is jeopardized both by diminished health due to pestisides used on tobacco harvests and the patronizing marketing of their art. I propose this group learn the histories of the Huichol influences on the pre-columbian Meso-american culture while exploring alternative marketing strategies through the Popular Education Model with the question: "How can we minimize contact between the cultures while opening the current free market to the Wixarika?"
Our first session within our group:
April 9: 2pm to 4pm at the Olympia Free School. Maureen is available any day except Thursday. Other times to be announced by the group through concensus. This will be an intensive exploration of our myths and mindsets toward within the Meso-american market.
Along with our premise we will explore "Why does the Occident search for the Noble Savage?" We will bring to the table our personal goals/reasoning behind joining this learning group. Please, bring a one sentence statement to first group to be put in a bowl for a warm up/ice breaking exercise. Transparency within the group is essential for the Pop-Ed model to work within the group but outside of the group and all published work of the group will be signed by the collective name, Nemo.
We will define as a group and as individuals what we want to achieve in this study group. As we divide into smaller learning groups, the groups will morph and change until we achieve a clear view of: What are we are doing... why are we doing it... when are we going to do it... and what difference does it make? From here we continue evolving until we find the destiny behind the group.
Maureen Nelson will share her recent trip to Mexico to observe the treatment and exchange in the market with the Indigenous tribes of Nayarit and Jalisco, critically viewing the history of western exposure upon the Wixarika.
About Nemo:
Someone wrote, "The victor writes the history." As our victorious nation chooses our destinies, we, the proletariat, find our voice is never allowed although it is our children who are meted out the dirty job of war. It is our responsibility as a people standing in the shadow of this most heinous World Power to circumnavigate and disarm it, while holding strong to the wholistic motto to "Do No Harm," it is time for us to honor our creed. After nearly one hundred years since our government massacred our leaders and rewrote the dictionaries definition of Anarchy,* few today understand its true meaning or history.
"I chose "Nemo"... latin meaning "no one"... as the inclusive name for the Anarchist group/think tank/freeskool I will be facilitating. "Nemo" keeps anonymity within the group and concedes the knowledge gained as a sum greater than its parts. The talents of all are acknowledged without prejudice or glory. As facilitator, I bring to the table curriculum and oral tradition of the history and the market in meso-america to explore solutions to the current global market situation. The ideology would compare to Puelbo to People except we are not going to be the middle man between the manufactures and the market... we are going to explore a theory of direct marketing possibilities via the internet! This will be a working group of activists who are interested in a kind of sister city relationship with the Huichol people/market. I encourage people who have worked in other sister city activities to join this group to help us grow into a powerful alliance for all."
In spite of the myths of Globalization and Free Trade, we all know in our heart of hearts the destructive purpose behind its blatant buying up of global market and real estate in the name of democracy. It is up to us all to use that one heart, one mind to break the cycle of abuse to the planet and the people who live upon it. Collectively we bring to the table and analyze the situation in Jalisco and Nayarit in relation to the history, culture and disenfranchisement of the Huichol in their local market.
We are all Nemo. We all bring knowledge to the table. We bring to the group our visions, our views, hopes and dreams coming into fruition as we embrace all knowledge shared to co-create a viable strategy for opening the world market to the Indigenous peoples pushed to the fringe of society, ignored and impoverished by genocidal policies of the western world, policies that are only scrutinized by the larger society when it internalizes upon the Occident, i.e. Nazism after WWII.
*The true definition of Anarchy: "The absence of government and absolute freedom of the individual, regarded as a political ideal. From 16th century medieval latin from Greek, Anarkhia, from Anarkhos from an- 'without' + arkhos 'chief, ruler.'"
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