[thechat] war phase 2

Erika Meyer emeyer at lclark.edu
Tue Nov 27 18:37:42 CST 2001


Hi Andrew.

No, not surprising.  Yes there are alternatives.

I'd like to see the men step back and let the women have more power. 
And I don't mean those women who have adapted the dominant paradigm 
which are the ones who are allowed into power now.

Practical?  I don't know.  US democracy is based on the Iroquois 
Confederacy.  Only in the Iroquois Confederacy, the female council 
advised the chiefs and had the power to remove chiefs as needed.

BTW almost every American Indian tribe was matrilineal (my daughter's 
tribe is one of the few exceptions; they judged lineage based on both 
parents and the type of marriage).

Women hold political power in other Indigenous (and non-monotheistic) 
groups as well.  Or "held power" prior to colonization and the 
associated violence, oppression, abuse, and impoverishment.

We don't have to keep up this Roman-style love of war and conquest.

Erika

http://www.kahnawake.com/history/
<quote>
>The Iroquois social system is both matrilineal and a matriarchy, the 
>bulk of the political power lies with the women of the society. 
>Family names and clans are passed down through the mother to the 
>daughter and so any children then belong to the mothers clan. It 
>should be noted that in this social structure, both men and women 
>were considered equal, neither being superior to teh next. The 
>political system also relies heavily on the clan structure. The 
>decisions are made through consensus of the people, making the 
>Iroquois Confederacy one of the world's first true democracies.
</quote>

-- 




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