Recently there has been a new threat launched by the World Health
Organization and, I believe, fueled by one of the most science-obsessed
countries in the world: The People’s Republic of China. Here is a link
to the article I recently wrote on this subject, published in the
national Native American newspaper, News from Indian Country
http://www.indiancountrynews.com/index.php/news/indian-and-first-nations/14583-attempts-to-regulate-first-nations-healing-practices
Ken was trained since his youth by
traditional indigenous elders and maintains close ties with his adoptive
Cree family in Saskatchewan. His lectures and cultural programs have
been hosted by the Mayo Clinic, the Menninger Institute, medical
schools, and numerous Native American/First Nations communities. He is
currently based near San Diego, California.
I cannot help wonder if China’s policies
and attitudes towards indigenous peoples helped shape the scope and
recommendations of the WHO document.
Consider these two strange contradictions.
Firstly, although China recognizes 55 ethnic minority peoples, it does
not recognize the term “indigenous peoples.” Secondly, China signed The
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples yet will
not implement many of the provisions. As summarized by the IWGA (the
International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs), China has forcibly
relocated original peoples and virtually eliminated hunter - herder -
nomadic lifestyles that had persisted through many thousands of years.8
Why? To promote mining and property development, and in the case of the
Evenki tribe to also create the Aoluguya Ethnic Reindeer Resort, a
Disney-like theme park that displays, for Chinese tourists, the lifeways
of a “backward” people.9
In 1998, Qi Jingfu, former Minister of
Agriculture stated, “It is the PRC’s national policy to end the nomadic
way of life for all herdsmen by the end of the century.”10
Whether driven by ignorance, nationalism or
economics, China’s denial of indigenous rights and knowledge has
reached beyond its borders. I cannot count the number of times I have
argued with Chinese scholars to counter the Sinocentric and academically
unsound notion that “America’s indigenous people came from China, which
is why their healing traditions are similar.” I even met a Chinese
doctor of TCM who claimed, “Mexico belongs to China; we settled Mexico
first.” I am not trying to impugn or ascribe attitudes to the many
dedicated physicians and scholars, Chinese or other, who work for the
WHO and are sincerely trying to improve worldwide health and quality of
living. I am only advising caution, especially when a member nation, not
known for its protection of ethnic or environmental rights, may sway,
manipulate, or control opinion.
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