Reclaiming The Balance, Saving The Future with Winona LaDuke

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“In indigenous cultures a lot of the nouns are animate, and as such they have standing, they have spirit. They have whole stories. It puts you in a different relationship when you recognize them as being alive.” Winona LaDuke describes life on the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota—harvesting maple syrup, organic raspberries, wild rice and game, and organizing politically for land rights and wildlife. She describes the indigenous view of natural beings and political issues relating to our relationship with land, animals and each other. Her clear and powerful vision shows us a way to live with respect for the future of the Earth. “There’s a direct relationship between cultural diversity and biodiversity,” says LaDuke, “and sustainability is predicated on both.” (hosted by Michael Toms)

Bio

Winona LaDuke is an Anishinaabekwe (Ojibwe) enrolled member of the Mississippi Band Anishinaabeg. She lives and works on the White Earth Reservation, and is the mother of three children. She is also the Executive Director of Honor The Earth. In 1994, Winona was nominated by Time magazine as one of America's fifty most promising leaders under forty years of age. She was awarded the Thomas Merton Award in 1996, the BIHA Community Service Award in 1997, the Ann Bancroft Award for Women's Leadership Fellowship, and the Reebok Human Rights Award, with which she began the White Earth Land Recovery Project. She was the U.S. Green Party’s vice-presidential candidate in 1996 sharing the ticket with Ralph Nader.

She’s the author of:

• The Militarization of Indian Country (Makwa Enewed) (co-author Sean Aaron Cruz) (Makwa Enewed; 2nd Edition edition 2013)
• Recovering the Sacred: The Power of Naming and Claiming (South End Press 2005)
• All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life (South End Press 1999)
• Last Standing Woman (Voyageur 1997)

To learn more about Winona Laduke go to https://www.winonaladuke.com/

Topics Explored in This Dialogue

• The importance of cultural diversity
• Seeing objects in nature as alive with spirit and stories
• Life on the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota
• The controversy over removing protection of wolves
• What the U.S. founding fathers missed in learning democracy
• Corporate welfare in national forests and waters
• A “Seventh Generation Amendment” to the U.S. Constitution
• A radical definition of conservative thinking
• Winona’s gifted parents, Sun Bear and Betty LaDuke
• The complex issues around Indian casinos
• Restoring the buffalo and the ecosystem of the Great Plains

Host: Michael Toms      Interview Date: 6/20/1998      Program Number: 2738

Music Included

From Album: Following the Circle
Artist: Dik Darnell
1989 Etherean Music #ECD 70012