Louis-Olivier Gervais

How have Indigenous Peoples responded to globalization?

University of Northern British Columbia
December 5th, 2005

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of contents………………………………………………………..……………….p.2
Introduction………………………………………………………………….…………..p.3
1- Indigenous view on globalization…………………………………………………….p.4
1.1- Globalization is European Imperialism………………………………………….…p.4
1.2- Consequences of globalization on Indigenous people…...…………………………p.8
1.3- Images that Indigenous people have of themselves……………………………….p.11
2- Different Indigenous answers to globalization……………………………..……….p.12
2.1- The 4th World……………………………………………………………..……….p.13
2.2- Indigenous activism…………………………………………………………...…..p.15
2.3- Creation of a global voice for the recognition of Indigenous rights……………....p.18
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………..p.19
Bibliography…………………………………………….……………………………..p.22

“The question of justice only enters where the pressure of necessity is equal. The powerful exact what they can, and the weak grant what they must.” Athenian spokesman, 416 B.C.

Indigenous peoples have always had problems in dealing with the nations that came to settle over their territories. It is true that the treatments that they received, such as introduction of epidemic diseases, massive killings, assimilation, and ignorance, counts for a lot in this attitude. Throughout the world, First Nations have been suspicious about societies that European conquerors organized. Through these different plans of societies, Indigenous peoples have always had the recollection of being the victim, the ones that are left aside, and the ones that have been cheated on.

Therefore, when Indigenous peoples hear that globalization is a phenomenon that includes each and every person on the planet, they always have the same suspicion in their minds. Will the laws be able to prevent forests from being clear-cut? Is it possible to remain who we are (or who we should