Never has the issue of Indigenous voices falling on deaf ears been so consequential. The prescient warnings that have for centuries been ignored by perpetrators of colonialism – the notion that fruitful land is being invaded, disrupted and ultimately destroyed for the selfish greed of humanity – has never been more pertinent.
The environmental Aesop’s Fable which has for so long been ignored exists in the mistreatment of Indigenous lands, but such warnings now apply to the entire planet that we, too, call our home. We haven’t learnt; we’re in a state of climate crisis due to the same reckless behaviours that have for centuries made Indigenous communities homeless, helpless and, quite rightly, furious.
Now that such environmental issues are melting into the mainstream of almost every political conversation, it’s difficult to ignore the niggling, maternal-toned ‘I told you so’ that’s echoing in the depths of our social conscience. So, I began to wonder, if Indigenous communities have been silenced, ignored and defied on such a topic for so long, how else is society doing them a disservice, and what else can we learn from native people?