I was reflecting recently on the story of my ancestors and how we got to Turtle Island. I then started reflecting on how violence has infiltrated our every day lives to the point where we don't even realize we are doing it. Even when it comes to moving from one part of the world to another, in order to find a better life, we engage in violence to make it happen.
My ancestors came to Turtle Island in 1647. During their trip across the Atlantic, the priest urged them to change their family name in order to protect themselves. As a result of this story I can safely conclude that they were fleeing France. On the boat ride across the Atlantic my ancestors changed their family name to Pagé du-Quercy. Nobody knows what their name was before the trip, so that is as far as the Pagé family can track our ancestors through history. I was curious to explore why they fled in such fear. What could have possibly happened that drove a priest to encourage the name change on the boat ride in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean? With a little work I discovered that Europe was embroiled in the 30 year war that ran from 1618 - 1648. There is a high probability that they fled for their lives as a result of the 30 year war and settled on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, in what was called New France at the time.
Point of view on a village of the Regional Natural Park of Causses du Quercy France.
By Jojob.47 [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons
We speculate that our ancestors lived just south of this park as the area uses the name "du Quercy".
What allowed my ancestors to come to Turtle Island was a result of Jacques Cartier exploring and colonizing the St. Lawrence in 1534 for the French Crown. I wrote a post six months ago about the colonization process if you want to catch up on the concept.
The only reason my ancestors could come here is because their feudal masters engaged in violence to conquer land that was already being governed and stewarded by other people. My ancestors took advantage of that violent conquest to come live in a colony. To be clear, a colony is a concept created by the ancient Romans to define a settlement of their citizens in a hostile or newly conquered country. As the kings of Europe used the Doctrine of Discovery granted to them by the Pope and the Holy Roman Empire, they viewed anybody who was not Christian as heathens and not 'people' or even 'human'.
This demonetization of our enemies is a level of violence that is vile and repugnant. Even people here on this platform engage in that level of disgusting behaviour. So now I am confronted with finding ways to remedy the violence that my ancestors engaged in. How do I reconcile 11 generations of violence with my brothers and sisters?
Clear cut logging ... colonial examples of stewardship, violent and destructive!
Recognition is the first step
I do recognize that when people move, the honourable thing to do is to ask for permission, learn the customs and traditions of the current stewards and ensure that my own customs and traditions will not violate the level of stewardship that my brothers and sisters practice. In fact, I think it is my duty to ensure that my stewardship exceeds that of my brothers and sisters. By doing so, I can ensure that I will respect those who have stewarded this land before me and in turn show respect and honour to the other stewards and their ancestors.
However, colonization broke all those rules and used coercion, force, violence and conquest to just take the land. When people move to Turtle Island, they take advantage of the coercive power of the state to just take what they want with no regard to the stewards who look after the land. Purchasing a title is nothing more than leveraging the coercive power of the state to gain access to land. A title is nothing more than the state granting permission to me to possess the land without any of the protocols necessary to ensure I'm in good standing with the current stewards. They conquered the land to claim stewardship. They did it through violence and conquest. Even though I was born here and have 10 other generations here before me, I still feel it is my responsibility to remedy this travesty that has unfolded. Recognizing 11 generations of unconscious violence against others is the first step.
Leading by example
Once I recognized the violence of my past, it is my responsibility to remedy that violence by declaring peace and living a peaceful life. That required that I decolonize myself, remove myself from the systems of governance and commerce that are engaged in covert and overt violence. Colonization is a system, not a race. Colonization is an idea rather than a color. The sooner we realize that we are struggling against ideas and concepts that were introduced to our ancestors thousands of years ago, the sooner we can remove the barriers to our conflicts and start working together to fix these problems. I choose to do that through leadership by example. We walked away from it all in order to live off the land, learn how to have a healthy relationship with Mother Earth and connect in ways we never thought possible. That required we accept 100% responsibility and accountability for our lives. Freeing the land from the colonial systems is also a critical component of the decolonization process.
It takes years to build trust
Through our leadership by example, we had to ensure we followed that model for years before the original people of this land would start to trust us. It has taken YEARS, but that trust is starting to build. I've asked for permissions to be a co-steward of this land and I received the support from many people as a result of us leading by example. My relationship with them is healing, but it required that I recognize the violence and coercion that I was unconsciously engaged in through my participation with the state and ending it all.
I see so many people get angry and upset when confronted about their violence. Most people don't see themselves as being violent people. However, when that violence is socially acceptable and even made legal through the colonial legal systems, people refuse to recognize that their actions are indeed violent. When you purchase land without doing the work first to be a co-steward, you are engaged in violence against the current stewards of the land.
The real complexities of moving
When we move from one area to another, the complexities are real and should always be taken seriously. Each region of this planet has people on it or is being stewarded by a group of people. It is our duty to follow our due diligence and engage in proper protocol to ensure that we don't engage in coercion or violence just to get our way. We must respect those who are stewarding the land where we want to move. Asking for permission, demonstrating proper stewardship or even apprenticing under those who are the current stewards is a reasonable and healthy approach.
It takes time to build trust, but it is the duty of those who are moving to do the work to build that trust and demonstrate the will and ability to be a proper steward. We can do that by being open to learning the culture, language, customs and natural laws of the communities we are moving into. Yes, it is also imperative that we ask for permission too!
Proper stewardship ensures that ALL life is prosperous, not just ours!
These non-violent ways of having relationships with other people are foreign to most of us. It will take time. But it is important that we recognize that the colonial systems don't care about these issues and will continue to engage in violence to ensure their empires keep running. They don't think twice about invading or conquering other regions of the planet either. They are more than willing to over throw governments, use debt to enslave and manipulate others for their own benefits.
However, if we are serious about reconciling our relationships with those that have traditionally stewarded this land long before being colonized, then it is up to each individual to take the necessary steps. To be clear, that also means that the colonizers that took over the land of my ancestors in Europe through wars, conquest, killing, etc must also make reparations too.
Colonization is not a European issue. Europe just happened to be the first to be colonized. This is an idea that started with the Roman and Egyptian empires thousands of years ago. It is an idea that is rooted in violence and must be removed from our daily lives and behaviours. It is time to heal the trauma of our ancestors, reconcile our relationships with all our neighbours and find ways to co-steward this land together in peace, freedom, prosperity, joy and love. That will not happen with the current feudal state or corporate empires making the decisions. It will only happen when we lead by example and live our lives as proper, peaceful, loving, prosperous stewards of Mother Earth.
It will happen when we accept responsibility for our actions and recognize that the simple concept of moving or migration has significant consequences to others. Self governance and self restriction is in order for peace to flourish.
Oh, and don't get me started on those who own multiple properties either. Yikes! Another post is in order for that one!
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