UNDRIP Report - English FINAL - International Forum on Globalization

we believe that it is going to be something that will
strengthen our capacities to fight back, and also to
widen the alternatives that we think we should be
setting up,” she added.
Victoria Tauli-Corpuz said a closing prayer in her native
language.
Victor Menotti of the <strong>International</strong> <strong>Forum</strong> on
Globalization said that Tauli-Corpuz’s remarks had
reminded him about one of the most enduring
images he has about understanding his role and the
role of the organizations that he has worked with. He
recalled a story that Randy Hayes, his first employer
at the Rainforest Action Network in 1990, had told
him about a chief in the Four Corners area. Randy
had asked the chief what RAN could do to help their
land. According to Menotti, the chief just looked
Randy in the eye and said “Get your foot off my
throat.” Menotti told his indigenous colleagues that
this is how he sees his role and the role of the
organizations he works with, especially in the United
States: “to get the feet of our government, our banks,
our corporations, and so on, off the throat of you on
your lands, territories, and resources..
Menotti expressed his gratitude to all by saying, “I
want you to know that you are part of not only
advancing <strong>UNDRIP</strong> but also helping the IFG to
evolve. Because what first brought us together in
1994 was opposition to the WTO, opposition to free
trade, and the World Bank, and the IMF. But the
debate has really shifted now, because we have seen
that those institutions are failing. Their crisis of
legitimacy, their disastrous policies, their lack of
public trust, even from their own member
governments. So now that political space is more
open than ever, and we are really needing new
visions and new sets of values to guide what is going
to help us make this transition.. Menotti said that he
thinks that more than any other universal set of
rights that exists right now, the Declaration is the one
thing that gives a true vision of how humans must
relate to nature differently, if we are all going to
survive.
As to future actions, Menotti said that he felt like
there had been some clear ideas achieved and
recommendations made about how to apply the
Declaration and move it into the different
international fora and different policy-making areas.
“We have already got some commitments from some
organizations to take <strong>UNDRIP</strong> back to their
organizations to internalize it,” he said. Menotti
closed his final comment by saying that the IFG looks
forward to keeping in touch with everyone and
making sure all that really happens.
Claire Greensfelder of the IFG closed the meeting by
reflecting on some of her personal gains. “As a
Californian of five generations…I used to think was a
big deal until I started working with indigenous
peoples and then realized, well, drop in the bucket,”
she said.
Greensfelder pointed out that the meeting happened
at a very historic moment in time. “It is an incredible
moment… when there is a great threat, there is also a
time of a teachable moment, when everyone can see
that the financial markets, the environmental
situation, the climate, indigenous peoples, etc., are
threatened,” she said.
On an optimistic note, she reminded everyone that
when administrations in the United States change,
7,000 people change jobs as well. “Not that this in
itself will change everything, but it is a moment
where, if we are organized, both in the U nited States
and around the world, people are open to something
different. Greensfelder said that the combination of
these events provides multiple opportunities, both
globally and within the United States, to actualize the
Declaration. “If actualizing <strong>UNDRIP</strong> is something
that we are committed to doing, [there are] plenty of
opportunities for us,” she said.
About the idea of forming an alliance, Greensfelder
said that she does not think of it necessarily as a
formal alliance, but rather as an action network. “We
think of ourselves as an action group that will do
things. We aren’t going to just be static and state
things, we will actually think about doing things that
are real and supportive, and certainly take our
instructions from our indigenous leaders and allies,“
she said.
In her conclusion, Greensfelder announced that
although the IFG is committed to working with its
indigenous allies here within the United States and
globally, it is important to acknowledge that other
groups are doing similar work: the <strong>International</strong>
Indian Treaty Council and the Indian Law Resource
Center in the United States are both currently doing
trainings on the Declaration. She called on the
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