The Wisdom of the Elders – and Listening to Today’s Generation

As our recent conference unfolded over its two days, a number of threads and themes emerged. From all of the wisdom that the diverse speakers contributed to the event, from different continents, change-movements and indigenous earth-centered traditions, there were some strong common messages.

Combined, the speakers brought many decades of experience of activism. And one thing that was cited time and again as a reason for optimism was the enthusiasm of the latest generation of activists. From the school strikes, to the arrival of young people at different protests around the globe, here is cause for hope.

Young people are coming forward, as we were in the past, and we need to stand behind them now, said Jim Graywolf Petruzzi. He began his activist work protesting against the Vietnam War and marching with Martin Luther King. “The big difference back then was we had no one supporting us. We were being told by our elders to shut up, sit down and be nice. And I am not even pointing a finger at them. That was the way the world was then. We’ve changed dramatically. We know, we understand, we are the support.”

Another of our speakers, Indra Donfrancesco, has similarly been offering support. She describes herself as “a passionate and resilient earth warrior elder and activist of 30 years”. Her experience and knowledge range from creating and running protection camps to building movements. Currently, Indra holds the camp frontlines at HS2 and Stonehenge.

Indra’s elders were the Greenham Common women. “I take courage from history. We stand on the shoulders of giants. I feel very lucky that I have been able to see through my life the movements, the rebellions, the growing and I feel like this is another step. To be held as an elder is a great privilege.”

She spoke of “something truly magical happening” as lockdown eased at the HS2 camps. “We had this influx of incredible, young, potent, high-spirited people… they were shedding everything, it reminded me of the old protest days.” So in her elder role, Indra sought to bring structure including women’s groups, skillshares, daily check-ins, go-rounds, inductions and healing.

Protest camps can be aggressive places because people are themselves facing violence. They often bring their own traumas, perhaps from previous protests. “With anger, trauma, so many triggers, we can’t act as ourselves,” said Indra. It is easy to become too reactive so there needs to be a lot of emphasis on grounding ourselves, reminding ourselves of why we are here. “Things work when they come from the heart, that’s when the magic really happens.” The sacred part helps to deepen the courage, she felt. “Do it with a smile, I am rooted, I am nature defending itself… Take a place that you know has been stolen.”

The Wisdom of First Nations

There is so much wisdom if people take the time to listen. First Nations people from around the world have the knowledge and know-how to heal Mother Earth, pointed out Bruce Shillingsworth, prominent First Nations rights, water and lands activist, gifted artist, Muruwari and Budjiti elder (Uncle) and cultural educator. “My people go back thousands and thousands of years. The First Nations people are one of the oldest continuous cultures in the world and I think that’s worth celebrating. Our people and our culture on this land have a lot of wisdom and knowledge to teach to the next generation and non-indigenous people. We have lived on the land since time began, so we know the land. Mother Earth is our mother because she gives us everything we need.”

Bruce issued a call to arms: “I believe it is the responsibility of not just First Nations people but also all non-native people across the world to come together. No one has been listening to First Nations voices. I believe First Nations voices now need to be at the forefront, at the forefront of saving this planet and of our survival.”

Elders can now be “like a library’, said Jim Graywolf, so we don’t keep making old mistakes. People will still make mistakes, he pointed out, because they are human, but let’s make them new mistakes. However, as others also emphasised, it is not just about giving back, it is also about listening – really listening – to young people themselves.

New Tools

There are different tools and ways of grabbing a much wider audience than in the early protest days. During the last few years, Jim was one of those to create the first Standing Rock protest virtual group, which grew to 160,000 followers, and the Water is Life Movement. Youth from Standing Rock and surrounding Native American communities were central to the campaign to stop the pipeline

At Standing Rock, there were attempts to interest the mainstream media but they were not interested, said Jim, and those that were threatened were putting out lies. “It was fake news before fake news was even a term.” So ‘We are the Media’ became the rallying cry, there was no time to wait, the protestors needed to create the narrative and tell the stories, which they did to incredible effect, raising awareness across the globe. The #NoDAPL (No Dakota Access Pipeline) hashtag began to trend on social media and, gradually, the camps at Standing Rock grew to thousands of people. 

Among the tools are now the devices we carry with us. Indra said: “Mobile phones, which we didn’t have in the first road protests, they turned this kind of vanity box of loathing into a tool and they used it against the masters that gave it to them. And they turned it into, right, we’re going to use this as a way of telling the story, a way of keeping ourselves safe, and getting it out there, they used it as a tool.”

However, Jim offered a word of warning. Social media is not a substitute for being there, on the ground. “It is equally important to be at these places and to see them. We need to be able to feel them, smell them – that’s a whole different level of connection.”

To listen to all the fabulous array of speakers, as well as hearing more from Jim, Indra and Bruce, join us today as a member – and access all of the talks from the conference in our video archive, as well as joining us for all of our forthcoming talks.