Vor 19 Jahren war ich auf ein Treffen der UNO Arbeitsgruppe indigener Völker eingeladen. Richtig wohl war mir nicht unter den vielen Menschen verschiedener Hautfarben, denn ich fragte mich, wie sie wohl Vertreter der weißen Rasse wahrnehmen mochten. Meine Botschaft in die bunte Runde dieser Volksgruppen betraf die Frage, wer von wem etwas lernen kann:
United Nations, Working Group Of Indigenous Populations, Geneva, 22 to 26 July 2002
Thank you, Mr. chairman, for the opportunity to contribute a message from the Center of Sustainable Development in Germany to the decade of indigenous people.
Dear brothers and sisters, my name is Peter Schmuck, I am psychologist in that part of the world where 20% of the people are consuming 75% of its resources. I think that this overconsumption is one of the main reasons for what we speak about at this conference: The impairment of the atmosphere, the destruction of the biosphere and especially the genocide of the ethnosphere.
BUT: Are the people in these countries happier today than 50 years ago, when they consumed much less? Not, the contrary is true: Despite the economic growth and the ever growing average consumption level in these so called „developed countries“ the percentage of happy people does not grow since many decades, and even worse, the numbers of several individual pathologies is increasing.
Thus, we people in the „developed countries“ have to admit that our way of life has pathogene aspects not only for the world but for ourselves and should not longer serve as a model for other people. What I feel we lack most are
– the spiritual connectedness with all living being of the world
– the bond connecting us with the past and the future
– the capability for empathy
– a fulfilling sense of life
And exactly these are the strengths of you, of the indigenous people of our world. Therefore, a growing number of people living in industrial countries appreciate and need more and more your traditional wisdom and your attitudes toward our planet earth, which many of us have never learned or forgotten. The decade of Indigenous people may serve to accelerate the appropriate transfer.
Mr. chairman, what happens actually in our world I consider as a „slow suicide“ of the human family. If we want to escape this process, we need the experiences of all family members. The contribution of indigenous people may be to teach us in the „developed countries“ (which I see as the emotional and spiritual slums of our world), what we have to relearn. Let us use the International Decade of the worlds indigenous people to intensify that process. A growing number of people in the northern hemisphere is sensitised for what happens and is willing to learn from you.
Thank you for your attention. Peter Schmuck, Interdisciplinary Center for Sustainable Development, University Goettingen, Germany
Finden Sie, Gedanken dieser Art sind 2021, 19 Jahre später, verjährt? Danke, Eva und Franz, dass Ihr diese Erinnerung in mir wachgerufen habt. Euer Peter
Am Rande: Seit Juli 2021 bin ich als Peace Ambassador/Friedensbotschafter bei den Vereinten Nationen tätig. Damit sehe ich mich berufen, Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit, gegen die Menschenwürde und gegen die Gesundheit zu dokumentieren und zur Anklage zu bringen. Informieren Sie mich gern, wenn Sie dazu konkrete Anliegen haben.
Lieber Peter,
danke fürs Mit-teilen deiner Gedanken und deines Briefs an die Indigenen Menschen. Verjährt ist das auf keinen Fall, sondern aktueller denn je. Hast du eine Antwort damals erhalten?
Herzliche Grüße
Eva