We're Still Colonized
I think this is why Indigenous excellence isn't building power
Ok, this might sting a bit.
Indigenous power is rising. But it's scattered.
We're moving. But we're still aiming short. Sharp minds. Scattered targets. We win moments. But we don't win the long game.
Last month, I sat in three different meetings. First, high seas biodiversity negotiations. Then, with Indigenous Peoples during the UNPFII. Finally, a medley of meetings of yet-to-be-realized processes. Each meeting is demanding. Each room is essential. Also, each room was unaware of what the others were building.
And that’s what happened at the UN. Then there were numerous meetings happening outside of the UN. Indigenous Peoples figuring out who COP30 is really for. Academics plugging papers and policy frameworks. In any case 476 million Indigenous Peoples needed all hands on deck.
But as I just described everything, you can tell none were talking to each other.
This is what I mean by scattered power.
The Symptoms
Without a shared vision, we fragment:
Visibility but not positioning: Everyone knows we exist, but visibility without strategic positioning is just performance
Seats but no leverage: Representation without power means you're furniture, not force
Quoted but not resourced: Our knowledge gets packaged into traditional frameworks, but resources flow elsewhere
We stay stuck in someone else's frame:
Fighting for recognition instead of building from recognition
Explaining our value instead of demonstrating it
Playing defense instead of setting terms
Why This Matters
The 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples marked a crucial milestone. We celebrated. Rightfully. But now almost 20 years later, we need to reassess something critical: Rights without infrastructure remain theoretical. Recognition without resources stays symbolic. Inclusion without power changes nothing fundamental.
I know that effective implementation of Indigenous rights isn’t like putting a hammer to a nail, I also know that every Indigenous Peoples faces unique challenges.
But we do share common opponents: Systems designed to fragment us, extract from us, erase us. These systems coordinate globally. Our resistance must too.
At this point I’m tempted to include a Star Wars reference.
But I’ll stick to Marvel’s Wakanda ;)
The Path Forward
What we need isn't more adaptation. It's alignment. A BHAG that brings all our power into focus.
Imagine coordination across all sectors. Indigenous innovations supporting sovereignty movements. Legal victories enabling economic development. Indigenous leadership driving global ecological advancement. Cultural preservation fueling diplomatic influence.
That's what alignment does. It transforms scattered excellence into focused power.
Quick flashback to the UNFCCC Platform negotiations, which taught me this: When Indigenous Peoples aligned around shared vision, not identical positions but shared direction, we achieved what decades of scattered advocacy couldn't.
We have brilliant youthful, spiritual and veteran minds. We have the knowledge. We have the rights framework (obviously). What we lack is the alignment that transforms potential into power.
Before You Go
The path is clear. The stakes are real. The question isn't whether we have the power. It's whether we'll coordinate it.
But not coordination in the traditional sense. Not the rigid alignment where every piece must fit a predetermined slot. Not Tetris, where we scramble to fill gaps in someone else's frame.
More Minecraft. Where we build worlds from blocks of our choosing. Where collaboration means creating something that never existed before. Where each Indigenous Peoples brings their own materials, their own designs, their own genius.
Because right now, while we debate jurisdiction in one room and protocol in another, the world keeps moving. Climate collapse doesn't wait for consensus. Extractive industries don't pause for our regional processes. The systems destroying our lands don't care about our meeting schedules.
We need a forcing function. One goal so ambitious it enables us to build together. So necessary it pulls every scattered effort into creative alignment. So clear that every action either adds to our shared world or doesn't.
That's why I say: We're building Wakanda.
Not because it's easy. Because it's the only ambition big enough to align our scattered power without homogenizing it. The only vision that transforms "seats at tables" into "worlds we built." The only frame that makes every Indigenous person ask the same question: What block am I adding to Wakanda?
Tomorrow morning, you'll wake up with the same choice we all face. Continue playing Tetris with colonial structures. Or start playing Minecraft for Indigenous futures.
The materials exist. The builders are ready. The blueprint is waiting.
What's missing is you picking up your blocks and starting to build.
Your move.
That’s it for today!
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