From: M C Raj <mcraj.reds@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 6:50 PM
Subject: New Zealand Calls
This is an appraisal of our recent mission to New Zealand
Aoteroa, the landmine of inexhaustible energy! That is what it proved to be to both of us this time when we were amidst all of you, indigenous and non-indigenous peoples of the world. A big thank you to the Organizers of the International Traditional Knowledge Conference. Thank you for inviting Raj as a keynote speaker. We were amazed at the gathering and the way the Conference was planned and executed. For us it was a time of replenishing energy. It was an outburst of communication that blasted off many boundaries. The deep appreciations that came from so many hearts and the admirations that were manifested just floored us. This Conference was definitely different. Thank you Charles, Joe and Marilyn and all those who supported them to make our stay very comfortable and meaningful.
The interview with the New Zealand Radio was an exiting one too. We hope it was broadcasted and that some of you listened to it. Later we had a similar interview in the studio in Rotorua. This interview was long and highly interesting. It will be difficult to erase the memory of this interview for a long time to come. Thank you Donna, for making this possible.
Life in the Writers Retreat is something to cherish for the rest of our life. Aoteroa opened up a new Horizon of hope not only for both of us but also for our people. It was possible to identify many avenues of future cooperation and mutual interests. Living with many indigenous scholars for over a week brought torrential energy for us. We did not anticipate it but it was enjoyable all the way. The power of women intellectualism was spilling all over the place in Silver Oak Resort. No one had to struggle hard to inhale it. The connectivity made it all the easier for the life giving energy to enter each and every cell in our body and made us dance in gay abandon.
We are also grateful to the members of the National Council of Maori Party who spent almost half a day with us and other friends seriously discussing issues that will have far reaching consequences for indigenous peoples all over the world. We were gleefully delighted at the way the National Council gave its nod to the idea of the First Round Table of the World Parliament of Indigenous Peoples to take place in Tumkur in January 2010. That was something Donna. It brought back memories of our discussions with the Director of the Sami Parliament in Norway who had an instantaneous approval of the idea.
The Conference itself threw up such unanticipated connectivity. What with Pita Sharples, the Minister for Maori Affairs running to his car to bring a visiting card for us and appreciating the idea of the World Parliament! What with Senator Clayton Hee agreeing to come for the Round Table all the way from Hawaii! We remember with haughtiness what one of his colleagues told Raj in the corridor. 'It seems Clayton is coming to your place. If both of you join together you are going to create a lot of problems for the world'. That was an amazing statement for someone hailing from the unseeable community in India. What with the team from Hawaii deciding to bring a delegation not only to the Round Table but also for an exchange with REDS on her approach, strategy and methodologies of working among the Dalit people who are indigenous in India. It was not a question of lectures, talking and listening. It was question of union of hearts and minds brought together by the ancestral waves of all indigenous peoples. We have not forgotten the representation from Alaska, from Canada, from Mongolia, and possibly from Australia, all fruits of the Conference that were produced without the Organizers designing it. We do not also undermine the opportunity to take photos with the Maori King and to stealthily shake hands with him. Thank you Charles for the keen interest you took.
The visit to the Maori University at Whakatane opened up a new avenue. We have made the bold suggestion that students in Maori Universities should also be taught about the history and culture of other indigenous peoples in the rest of the world. Many of us can be invited to take classes for a week or so every year in these universities. Besides educating the students it will also strengthen the unity among many communities of the world. We are sure there will be loud vibrations from Chen Bateer approving this from Mongolia with his very powerful singing. Wow Bateer! Three Maori universities in such a short period! Not even one Dalit University in this vast country of ours with a Dalit as the Chairman of the University Grants Commission in India.
The grandma of our children! That is Raewyn Bennet from the Bay of Plenty in Thauranga. An elected member, she made it all the way to Rotorua only to meet us and spend a few hours with us. Ancestral spirits at work without us ever knowing their ways! Just one meeting last time has made permanent relationship possible not for work alone but at a very emotive level too. That was too wonderful Raewyn.
Tiny Tots in a Maori School in a village near Thauranga! What an experience that was! Sheer Maori power and determination spread out all over as red carpet for any unassuming visitor! Unending questions from the just budding stars would put to shame any assumption of intellectualism by the well dressed educated creamy layer of our societies across the world. 'Jai Bhim Ammaji! Jai Bhim Appaji! Slogans that usually rent the air in the villages of Tumkur District found reverberations in the mouths of young and old in that Maori school. Maori and Dalit – the distance seems to be reducing fast. Thank you all who made this memorable and possible. A powerful symbolism emerging from the builders of future should give us a lot of strength.
Archana and Preetam, our lawyer daughter and our son are now keen on blending Maori culture and Dalit culture to weave possible paths to the liberation of our people. Preetam is ready to take up a graduate course on Maori culture and wants to blend it with Dalit culture. Archana who is a natural dancer wants to do a short-term course on Maori song and dance forms. Thank you Huia for your approving smile. We have a lot of homework to do and will write to you and to your husband soon.
Aoteroa has not only connected the Dalits to the Maori people but also to many other indigenous peoples of the world and as far as Italy in the non-indigenous world. That is a great measure of success of the 4th International Indigenous Knowledge Conference, 2010. Congratulations once again! Thank you once again!
Jyothi and Raj
--
M C Raj
REDS, REDS Road
Shanthinagar
Tumkur 572102
Karnataka, India
Phone: ++91-816-2277026
Fax: ++91-816-2272515
Mobile: ++9845144893
Email for electoral reforms: ceri.reds@gmail.com
Email for REDS: jyothi.dalitreds@gmail.com
--
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/
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