By Harold Henderson
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“The Indigenous Environmental Network is not simply a combination of the Native American movement with environmental activism,” writes Zoltan Grossman of Madison, Wisconsin, in Z Magazine (November). “First, there is a complete absence of the concept of ‘wilderness’–or the idea of nature devoid of human beings. Instead, humans are presented as an integral part of different natural regions, acting within them to gather their sustenance. Second, the human race is not seen as the inherent collective enemy of ecosystems. Instead, the corporate and governmental forces that destroy the environment are clearly identified. Third, animals are never presented as cute or fuzzy, but as sacred parts of Native cultures.”
Changing times. DePaul University dean of education Barbara Sizemore recalls being fired as school superintendent in Washington, D.C., in the early 1970s “for abolishing standardized tests,” writes Alex Poinsett in Catalyst (December). “Now convinced that these tests aren’t going to disappear anytime soon, she urges fellow educators to teach students the analysis, synthesis and inference skills that they presumably measure….’You cannot teach a child whose mother is a junkie and whose father is in prison the same way that you teach a child who has two PhD parents,’ the educator declares. ‘You can have the same expectations but you cannot use the same pedagogy.’”
“Progressive forces haven’t been entirely absent from the welfare debate,” writes Felicia Kornbluh in In These Times (December 11), but pretty close. In fact, “feminist and women’s groups like the Women’s Committee of 100 have been much more involved in the welfare fight than groups from the traditional left….The question now is whether other progressives will follow the tentative lead of the women’s movement. Our predominant stance of hating the Republicans, disdaining mainstream politics and avoiding the morning papers can only take us so far.”
