Blessings from the Kanien’kehá:ka ~ The Sea Shepherd Summit in Vermont has been officially opened by the Mohawks from the Longhouse at Kahnawake. (pronounced [ɡahnaˈwaːɡe] in Mohawk. The Mohawks are one of the six nations of the Iroquois. Called the Kanien’kehá:ka (the People of the Flint. The Kanien’kehá:ka are the eastern most nation of the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy). These include the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora. Back in 2007, the women of the Up the Hill Longhouse at Kahnawake gave Sea Shepherd ships, permission to fly the symbols of the nation represented in the purple and white flag of the Five Nations. Sea Shepherd has been proud to fly the colors of the Iroquois Confederacy from our ships to all corners of the world. We are the only ships that fly this flag and we fly it with great pride knowing that wherever we go we bring with us the blessing and the protection of this incredible nation, a nation that understands our intimacy with our mother, this wondrous planet that we seek with all our resolve to defend and protect. The summit in Vermont is being held on Mohawk territory and thus it was a great honor to be welcomed by the people who took time away from their own summer solstice ceremonies to travel to Woodstock to be with us. They had to return late last night to be with their families for this important day today. The purpose of this summit for Sea Shepherd is to acknowledge that Sea Shepherd is not longer simply an organization. It is now a global movement. As some 200 of us gather around the standing stones in Vermont, we have over 50 crew working to protect the pilot whales in Føroyar. We have two vessels (Brigitte Bardot and Jairo Mora Sandoval searching for poachers off the coast of Senegal. We have the vessel Odyssey and her crew researching toxicity in whales in the Gulf of Mexico. We have Sea Shepherd crew patrolling for poachers in the marine reserves off of Sicily. Sea Shepherd groups are in more than 40 nations, all united by the understanding that if the oceans die, we die and that it is only through the passion, imagination, and courage of volunteers of compassion can we halt the tide of destruction and death.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 07:55:17 +0000
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