In Xinachtli, In Milpa: The Legend of Truth and the Doctrines of Power

By Tupac Enrique Acosta
September 16, 2003

Legend is the loom of history. As was narrated thousands of times by the eminent mythologist of the West, Joseph Campbell, all of the cultures and nations of the world encounter one another in the process of weaving a collective conscience, a legend of the future - a design that that emerges from the dual axis of the need of the human being to comprehend the reality of our nature, and at the same time, the nature of reality.

In the world of Legend, there is law and there is also a boundary in the form of a shoreline. The law proclaims that no one can in reality understand the world through attempted isolation; instead it is necessary to give your heart to the world to know who we are as human beings. The boundary is the horizon of all human knowledge from its historical beginnings in all parts of the planet, yet this is only a boundary which invites us to approach with respect and, if we arrive with the passport of humility, we shall cross to be received in the mysterious house of wisdom.

Should we violate the law, intending to isolate ourselves in castles of arrogance, racism, nationalism, religious prejudice, fear, ignorance and lies we must then deliver the key to our self constructed prison to the Sheriff of the Doctrines of Power. Perhaps this name is not really appropriate since in truth he HAS NO POWER only the key which we ourselves have given him that opens the door to liberation.

(In actuality, the Sheriff presents himself in global cultural matrix as the Nation State. To occupy our attention, occasionally he will toss into the cell of psychological control the games of chance which are known as electoral campaigns. Or, alternatively we are sentenced to be sent to fratricidal [all of them] or religious wars [also all of them]). In this context, within this paradigm of civilization, war and economics are synonymous.

A few intend escape. A few intend to see the world as it really is, without false borders and ordered instead by the real powers of love and justice in ecological balance. These implement a plan to wake the rest, actualizing political campaigns such as the “Dream Act” so that it shall be recognized universally that “Education is for all those who work to learn”. Others, invoking the millennial roots of humanity itself, call to the winds with the shell trumpet of the seven seas – atecocoli – and continue on the path of a global humanity.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, the Sheriff panics to discover a maiden escapee from the prison is headed for the border, and so he urgently calls to alert La Migra (Border Patrol). The maiden’s identity in the myth is AKA “Snow White”, while La Migra appears as the old, ugly witch who lives in the land of lies and for that reason cannot see - not even her own face, her personality in human terms - in the mirror of the Legend of Truth.

How the story ends everybody knows, but not yet. The maiden still sleeps; she has NOT awakened but remains captured by the forces of fear, guilt, and the darkness of isolation which derive from a collective conscience which pretends ignorance of being active accomplice to the Doctrines of Power. The spell which binds her conscience in coma is the poison of the Domain of Dominion: the prison of patriarchy.

In the traditional songs of our Izkalotlan Pueblo, there is a popular verse which goes:

Even the Suns will die, the Stars shall sacrifice themselves,

Giving their blood which is the Light, offering their flesh

Which is pure Energy,

So that the Spirit

Shall be reborn.

On Saturday September 13th, in their humble home of the NAHAUCALLI, Embassy of Indigenous Peoples, the community voices of the Izkalotekatl who bring the song to life, gathered to invoke the memory of the Legend of Truth in attendance at the Annual Human Rights Conference of TONATIERRA. The song sings of the prophecy of the Sixth Sun, the Sun of Justice which is now dawning for the Indigenous Peoples of the continent and the world.

In addition to collectively addressing the themes of active community campaigns in the field of Civil Rights such as that of the Dream Act among many others, the issue of Human Rights was presented powerfully by the Macehualli, Jornaleros (Day Laborers) of the community who provided a theatrical presentation of realities of jornalero life, the struggle to organize, and the victory of community.

The theme of this year’s annual conference was Los Hijos de Maiz y el Camino a Cancún, and so it was the youth in attendance who took the lead to implement a direct public action in support of the movement by the Indigenous and Campesino movement mobilized on the very same day in Cancún, México in opposition to the agenda of the World Trade Organization.

A report by the legation of Tlahtokan Aztlan which attended the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York last May was also brought forward and discussed, as well as the work by La Alianza Indígena Sin Fronteras led by José Matus of the Yaqui Nation. The Black Mesa Water Coalition reported on their work to preserve the sacred aquifers of Black Mesa in the Four Corners area of the Hopi and Navajo Nations, acknowledgement that the dialogue on Civil, Human and Indigenous Rights is at all times referenced by our collective obligations as Indigenous Nations of the territory.