UNDRIP Report - English FINAL - International Forum on Globalization

INT ROD UCT IO N
Victor Menotti of the <strong>International</strong> <strong>Forum</strong> on Globalization (IFG) welcomed all the participants and explained
that the IFG was formed in 1994 as a counter voice to corporations and governments that promised that
economic globalization would help the poor, feed the hungry, and save the environment.
A turning point in the globalization process is now underway, he said. The failure of global trade and finance
institutions, combined with the momentum toward a new global climate deal and the recent passage of the
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, means that global civil society has a historic
opportunity to create a new international system based on public interest and universal values.
Indigenous peoples have taken on an increasingly important role in the globalization debate, and Menotti said
the IFG has helped to elevate their voices. At the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, Vicky
Tauli-Corpuz, Tom Goldtooth, and a handful of other indigenous leaders were present with the IFG, but their
issues were not as visible as other peoples’ movements on the streets of Seattle. Immediately afterward, the
IFG initiated its Indigenous Peoples’ Program to amplify their unique perspectives. In 2003, after extensive
consultations with international indigenous leaders, the IFG printed a large map of Indigenous Peoples’
Resistance to Globalization for public distribution. In 2005, the IFG released the special report, Paradigm Wars, on
this same subject, which was published in 2006 by Sierra Club Books. In 2006, IFG organized a public teach-in
in New York City to support the twenty-five- year campaign to pass <strong>UNDRIP</strong>. In 2007, the IFG organized an
emergency strategy session of nonindigenous NGO allies, mobilizing votes to secure passage of the
Declaration in the UN General Assembly.
Now it’s all about implementation, said Menotti, so that <strong>UNDRIP</strong> actually impacts policy decisions. He
stressed that as the IFG continues its work to replace today’s trade and finance institutions, and becomes
increasingly active in the UN climate process, the Declaration is a very important international instrument to
guide the transition of global governance into the future. Menotti believes that indigenous values are the
antidote to the industrial worldview that drives the global ecological crisis. Nonindigenous groups, working
with indigenous leaders, could help guide this global transition, he said.
Claire Greensfelder of the IFG presented important questions to the group, such as, “How is <strong>UNDRIP</strong> going to
impact our work? How is it going to change what we do, and the way we do what we do?” She said passing it
was the first step, but now, getting it implemented is the next step. Greensfelder said the IFG had kept the size
of this meeting to around forty people to really promote a working dialogue.
Tom Goldtooth (Diné and Mdewakanton Dakota) of the Indigenous Environmental Network in Minnesota
thanked the IFG for bringing everyone together, and for the tobacco for prayer. Goldtooth then transitioned
into a prayer intended for the group, in Dakota.
Moving along in the agenda to Introductions, Claire Greensfelder asked the indigenous delegates to introduce
themselves.
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