Article: 705 of sgi.talk.ratical From: (dave "who can do? ratmandu!" ratcliffe) Subject: Hopi Elders Knock at the doors of the UN for Peace: 4th & final try Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc. Date: Wed, 1 Jul 1992 14:17:09 GMT Lines: 272 will arrogance and the pathology of power as practiced by the "first world" governments stifle this final attempt to be heard by a people committed to the life of mother earth and all her relations? from NativeNet: Date: Sat, 20 Jun 1992 02:29:00 PDT Sender: "NATIVE-L Issues Pertaining to Aboriginal Peoples" From: NativeNet@gnosys.svle.ma.us Subject: Hopi Elders Knock for Peace To: Multiple recipients of NATIVE-L Original-Sender: Dan Winter [ I feel that, whatever one might feel about the specific prophesies talked about in the following article, or the nature of prophesy in general, this matter is an important one. We have the ability to organize a massive letter-writing campaign to the United Nations using the facilities of the various computer communications networks and our own people-to-people nets. The relative failure of the recent UNCED conference to produce meaningful agreements surely indicates the relative impotence of existing governmental structures for producing international agreements and understanding which might pave the way for real world peace and prosperity. Maybe the main value of an invitation by the U.N. to the Hopi elders would be symbolic - but it seems nonetheless a very valuable and important step toward healing the planet, does it not? Can we imagine a worldwide coalition of indigen- ous peoples speaking with one voice, calling for an end to the environmen- tal destruction and human exploitation which seem to characterize the age in which we live? I would be willing to set up a special mailing list for the purpose of helping organize the kind of campaign which this article suggests. Please write to me personally if you would be interested in taking part. --Gary (gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us) ] written by David Yarrow at 5 am on 6/20/92 The Fourth Knock on the Door: A Message from the Hopi Elders Spring 1992 Elders of the Hopi Nation have made their fourth and final pilgrimage to knock on the door of the United Nations in New York City. If the door does not open this year so that the elders may address the assembled nations of the world who gather there, then, the elders say, a time of massive upheaval is inevitable. To understand why the Hopi elders would say this, one must understand something of their history as a people. Living on arid and isolated mesas in the part of Turtle Island (North America) now known as Arizona, the traditional Hopi have a religion that is both simple and sophisticated. To a large degree, these Native Americans, whose name means "peaceful people," are guided by prophecy -- prophecy that is now widely known around the world. They have lived plainly and respectfully for thousands of years in the desert, following what they believe are the original instructions of the Creator. Hopi legend holds that, after a great flood destroyed the world before this one, the Creator appointed them guardians of certain sacred land. At that time, they say, the Creator gave them specific spiritual wisdom, along with some rocks bearing symbols depicting the way the future was likely to unfold. Those rocks are known as the Hopi Prophecy Rocks. Hopi elders agree that for hundreds of years world events have been unfolding as described by the Hopi Prophecy Rocks. In our times -- as prophesied in the rock symbols -- the world seems to be in a phase known as "koyaanisqatsi" (chaos), the next great test of human beings. This is part of the Great Purification marking a transition to a new era, a rainbow era known to the Hopi as the Fifth World. As with the myths of many other tribal cultures, Hopi teachings hold that in ancient days the rainbow of humanity was whole. All the people -- red, white, black, and yellow -- at one time recognized each other as brothers and sisters. Eventually, events forced them to part ways, but they all pledged that when they were reunited, they would clasp hands again in a sacred handshake. If there was mutual respect, then all the brothers and sisters would cooperate to bring together the material and spiritual aspects of the world. They would correct each others' faults and live side by side in fulfillment. Signs They Watched For Unfortunately, when the Red and White cultures did encounter each other 500 years ago, the European explorers had forgotten the handclasp, and evidenced no respect for the people and the ways of Turtle Island. Today, observing that the world is perilously out of balance, traditional Hopi elders say that humanity is being tested again -- just as we were tested in the world before this one. The Hopi Prophecy Rocks have given the elders signs to watch for: the rocks predicted the First World War, the Second World War, and then a "gourd of ashes poured from the sky," a metaphor most observers have correlated with the dropping of atomic bombs. Just as the world before this one need not have been destroyed by water if the people had heeded the warnings, elders say the world today need not be purified by the prophesied four elements: earth, fire, wind, and water. The stone tablets have instructed the Hopi to watch for signs that the world is on a dangerous course. The final stage of this dangerous course can be identified by famine, sickness, earthquakes, natural disasters, and, finally, by the dangerous build up of weapons that "are destructive to all mankind." By way of their prophecy rocks, the Hopi were given specific instructions. They were told that, when the modern world came to this time of great imbalance, they were to make four attempts to address the leaders of the world in a "House of Mica" that would one day stand on the eastern shore of this land. That House of Mica, the Hopi believe, is the United Nations, housed in a distinctive glass (mica) building in New York City. If the Hopi are recognized and permitted to speak, they say they can reveal some of their spiritual knowledge and thereby help the people of the world rediscover and realign themselves with the original instructions of the Creator. This knowledge likely includes the foundational Native American understanding that we exist in a universe of living spirit, that all things are sacred and related. Respect and harmony must prevail. In this latter part of the twentieth century, many people have written letters, lobbied, and demonstrated to help the Hopi gain recognition before the United Nations. The United States government, however, has vigorously opposed all attempts to have the Hopi recognized. The Final Stage of the Prophecies During a journey to the Pacific Northwest in March of this year, I met with Hopi spokesman Thomas Banyacya and other native elders. Banyacya said the signs that we have entered the final stage of the Hopi prophecies are now clear. He revealed that the Hopi made their fourth and final journey to the United Nations on October 22, 1991. At that time, they gave the United Nations until September of 1992 to respond to their request to address the General Assembly. In a letter to the Secretary General, Banyacya wrote: "As Mother Earth cries out in the pain of abuse, so I, of the Coyote Clan, add my desperate cry on her behalf, in the hope that the United Nations will soon extend an invitation to Hopi Elders and traditional leaders of the four directions. If this invitation is extended, the traditional Hopi societies and traditional leaders of the four directions will meet together to choose appropriate representatives to be sent to the United Nations, where they will be given the opportunity to present their oral message of peace to the world leaders assembled there..." "If it (the door) is not opened as we humbly request so that the red, white, yellow, and black peoples might work together for a peaceful world, then we will return to await the inevitable time of purification." When I met with him and other elder out West, Banyacya repeated the essential message of native groups all across the America: if people will all come together and follow the original instructions, the world can move through purification consciously, with minimal tumult and destruction. If the door to the United Nations is not opened, then, according to Banyacya, the Hopi will then turn elsewhere for support, perhaps joining with other indigenous people from around the world to form a spiritually based United Nations. This idea of a spiritually based United Nations has wide support among indigenous populations around the world, and may be further advanced this June when representatives of indigenous nations hold their own Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, parallel to the Earth Summit of the developed nations. Traditional Hopi elders are firm in their conviction that all the people of the Earth have both the opportunity and the responsibility to avoid destruction. For this to happen, each person and each nation must ask whether they are contributing to the imminent destruction of the Earth, either through misguided action or through indifference; then things must be set straight. "We hope they will heed our warning for their own sake," Banyacya said, "and for the sake of the native peoples who want nothing more than to rule themselves peacefully without being dictated to by anyone else. Part of the commission we received from the Creator through Maasaw is to sound this warning to the world... If the task of purification is left to natural forces, we may be all wiped out. So it is up to all people to purify themselves voluntarily." To support the Hopi elders in their efforts to address the United Nations, write to the Honorable Boutros-Ghali, Secretary General of the United Nations, United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017. published by The Chiron Communique, P.O. Box 481, New Ipwich, NH 03071 **************** prepared by David Yarrow, Crystal Hill Farm, 9411 Sandrock Road, Eden, NY 14057; 716-992-9307 -----------> FOLLOW-UP: Date: Thu, 25 Jun 1992 02:25:28 GMT Sender: "NATIVE-L Issues Pertaining to Aboriginal Peoples" From: NativeNet@gnosys.svle.ma.us Subject: Re: Hopi Elders Knock for Peace To: Multiple recipients of NATIVE-L Original-Sender: gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us (Gary S. Trujillo) I'd like to make people aware of a new special-purpose mailing list I've just established in order to facilitate communication among people working on the development of an effort to get the United Nations to issue an invi- tation to the Hopi elders. Details are given below. In <1391100274@igc.org> Dan Winter writes: > written by David Yarrow at 5 am on 6/20/92 > > The Fourth Knock on the Door: > A Message from the Hopi Elders > Spring 1992 > > Elders of the Hopi Nation have made their fourth and final > pilgrimage to knock on the door of the United Nations in New York > City. If the door does not open this year so that the elders may > address the assembled nations of the world who gather there, > then, the elders say, a time of massive upheaval is inevitable. Several people have contacted me expressing an interest in working on a letter-writing effort. Letters would go to the office of the Secretary- General of the U.N. The new mailing list, called "nn.hopi," will enable us to draft a letter which we could recommend that people wanting to support this effort could send, or to develop the outline for such a letter, at least. If the Hopi elders already have the text of such a letter prepared, it will be posted in the NATIVE-L (gen.nativenet) list (conference). Otherwise, we'll prepare one ourselves. The steps I have taken presently include: 1. setting up the new "nn.hopi" mailing list 2. taking steps to secure a FAX number for the Secretary-General 3. sending out an initial article to those people who have con- tacted me expressing an interest in working on the effort I want to get more information about the specifics of what the Hopi elders would suggest we do in support of their efforts, and to verify that we proceed only on the basis of authenticated information. If we draft our own letter, I would like to ensure that it is approved by the Hopi elders, and has the benefit of any comments or suggestions they would like to make. Anyone wishing to work on this effort should send a message to the address "nn-request@gnosys.svle.ma.us" with the text: subscribe nn.hopi Your Name (where "Your Name" is your own name). PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS ADDRESS IS NOT THE SAME AS THE LISTSERV ADDRESS FOR NATIVE-L, NAT-1492, NATCHAT, NAT-EDU, etc. If you have any questions, please get in touch with me personally. Thanks. Gary -- Gary S. Trujillo gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us Somerville, Massachusetts {wjh12,bu.edu,spdcc,ima,cdp}!gnosys!gst