Page 11 - GIC Manifesto.m

GIC’s founding comes from a recognition that, in the current political climate, it is imperative
that an indigenous advocacy organization exists that is free from federal political influence,
and will instead hold federal government cabinet secretaries, agency secretaries, members of
congress and corresponding parliamentary members accountable for their actions and
policies - not honor them simply for attending tribal conferences.

The Great Sioux Nation and the tribes of the Great Plains region
have been associated with defending indigenous lifeways and
sovereignty since contact with Anglo-Europeans, a responsibility
that continues today, and is seen in the defense of the sacred by
confronting pipelines, extractive industry devastation, and the
unceasing decimation of our two-legged, four-legged, winged,
amphibious, and rooted relatives.
The prevailing bureaucratic paradigm is failing to address the
critical issues facing tribal nations and their citizens. By contrast,
a foundational tenet of GIC is to organize around the geopolitical
structures and criteria formulated by our ancestors, before the
imposition of foreign borders that severed our kinship, economic
and cultural relationships with our sister indigenous nations in
the four directions.

Hokšíla - Lakota junior boys’
traditional dancer.
Opposite: Hopi Mana.

FOUNDING