Mni Ki Wakan: World Indigenous Peoples’ Decade of Water Summit
Twin Cities, Minnesota
August 8th and 9th
Across the world’s vast regions of rainforests, deserts, mountains, oceans, lakes, and river ways, flowing below ground and above, the vision of the Mni Ki Wakan: World Indigenous Peoples Decade of Water Summit seeks to co-create a collective indigenous-designed map and transformative world agenda for the future. The 10-year international indigenous water summit will bring and elevate the collective wisdom, intelligence, and futurities of indigenous peoples in the world narrative. In following the life-giving spirit of water, we will enliven a more transformative and ecologically sustainable future. Because when the inherent rights of all life are respected and protected, so too, can Mother Earth be recognized as the one true home of all life.
The Mni Ki Wakan: World Indigenous Peoples’ Decade of Water Summit is an indigenous youth-centered and indigenous peoples-oriented call for continued and deepened action. As the world witnesses the deployment of passionate water protectors pushing divestment and direct action and related land initiatives across the globe, the summit will convene indigenous peoples and allies upon a vital island of collective intelligence to explore and find innovative ways to be more available to each other. Even to expand our ability to dream each other’s dreams. Because of indigenous peoples deepening concern for Mother Earth’s survival and flourishment into the foreseeable future — hence, our decade designation — it is imperative we also experience each other’s biographies as a powerful antidote to the crisis of our current time. As a collective-oriented people the world over, we must rescale our intimacy to planetary proportions.
We see a supportive summit of intergenerational peoples who protect water and value the rights of human beings and all of creation. People who seek to restore the life and vitality of fresh and clean water. We see a summit that is intimate, meaningful, and useful to anyone who participates. We see a summit that respectfully flattens hierarchies throughout the event. We see an inclusive and interactive summit that is respectfully designed to minimize overt and covert preconceptions about whether some attendees are more important than others. We envision sessions that transcend conventional conversational barriers between attendees who may have different levels of knowledge and understanding. We seek a higher-level coherence that will make new sense out of our collective experience. At the end of each summit session, we see a newfound power of participant realizations, conclusions, and plans being equally offered.
