Declarations and Manifestos are "Group Speech" that build muscle into intentions and healing

We at The HealMobile proclaim our declarations are healing and healthy! People have ways of achieving group healing that are mobilized by forceful statements, be they organizational declarations, manifestos, or constitutions with by-laws. Creation of these statements signal an initiative with teeth. This kind of language is often used for United Nations "interventions" and is appropriate for healing groups of people, especially those scorned en masse by other groups.

I will be adding similar statements of various groups to this page from time to time so please do return to visit.

The International Black Summit has a great visionary statement (and a wonderful new website). We encourage you to join up as a member and get familiar with the Declaration, what's available from attending a Summit, and other offerings. The next Summit is August 6-9, 2010 in Baltimore. Below is the Declaration in a green framable certificate version. You can cut-and-paste, then print out and hang if you would like.

What wonderful words to live by.

D E C L A R A T I O N
of the
INTERNATIONAL BLACK SUMMIT

WE DECLARE ourselves, our community and all communities whole and complete. There is nothing to do except be.

WE ASSERT that we are responsible for generating community as possibility and distinction. We listen for and grant being to the possibility and creation of unpredictable results. Our conversation of, about and for those of African descent is one of pwer, self generation, abundance, responsibility, unity and integrity, with the possibility of being.

WE STAND for the expression of our spiritual; ending the murders of our men, women and children; building economies responsible for funding our community; maintaining wellness of being in our bodies; providing human services, establishing nurturing relationships; altering the conversation of who we are in the media; empowering our youth.

WE DECLARE that our community manifests itself in the world as a contribution in the transformation of the universe.

Atlanta, Georgia

October 7, 1991

The HOSW movement began as one woman’s vision to create an international forum focused on the alcohol and substance abuse issues and programs in Indigenous communities throughout the global community.

Maggie Hodgson, a Carriere First Nation woman of Canada, began her lobbying efforts with the International Congress on Alcohol and Addictions (ICAA) and the World Health Organization in the late 1980s. In 1990 the ICAA included a special track on Indigenous addictions issues at its Berlin Conference. Attended by Indigenous peoples of Canada, New Zealand and Australia, this forum led to a discussion that became the foundation for an international healing movement. Plans for this event began in 1991 with conference hosts Nechi Institute on Alcohol and Drug Abuse Education and the National Native Association of Treatment Directors inviting the National Association for Native American Children of Alcoholics as co-hosts. The event was named Healing Our Spirit Worldwide.

Named Healing Our Spirit Worldwide (HOSW), the First Gathering was held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in 1992 attracting 3,300 people from 17 countries of the world. This began the celebration of our successes, programs and stories. (We attended the 5th HOSW gathering, also held in Edmonton. This year's was held in Hawaii.)

With the Second Gathering (1994) in Sydney, Australia, and the third (1998) in Rotorua, Aotearoa (New Zealand), HOSW firmly established itself as the international cultural and spiritual movement celebrating the tenacity and resilience of Indigenous peoples around the world in the struggle against alcohol and drug abuse.

The Fourth Gathering, held in Albuquerque, New Mexico (2002), expanded the vision with the inclusion of health and governance issues, and provided two important developments:

• The Covenant . A document promoting health and healing and ensuring these issues have a prominent place in the everyday life of Indigenous peoples around the world was formulated to provide guidance and direction for Indigenous peoples in developing models of healing, self-determination and wholeness.

• The International Indigenous Council (IIC). A governing council consisting of Indigenous leaders from different countries to perpetuate the vision of HOSW from gathering to gathering.

T H E C O V E N A N T
Healing Our Spirit Worldwide

CELEBRATING that our Creator has given Indigenous Peoples, who belong to the land and the sea, a unique and rich collection of gifts including mother earth, the sky and water, or families and nations, our culture and wisdom and our own lives;

RECOGNIZING that these gifts rest at the heart of our past, our present and our future;

BELIEVING that the Spirit is the energy that empowers us to share, replenish, protect and respect these gifts according to the Creator’s design;

REMEMBERING the devastation and confusion that colonization brought, including alcohol and disease;

GRIEVING for the land taken and the loss of communal life;

We the Indigenous Peoples of the world having come together as part of the Healing Our Spirit Worldwide movement DECLARE WITH ONE VOICE AND HEART our resolve to strengthen the Spirit of our Nations and Peoples, to clear from our hearts and minds the clouds of confusion and doubt.

WE HOLD AS TRUE and as our guide the teaching of our grandmothers and grandfathers that;

WE HOLD A SACRED ROLE to protect, maintain and respect the Creator’s gifts so that our children and generations of children after them may live a healthy and rich life;

Our responsibility to address, enhance and restore our sacred role; as custodians of these gifts we need to make wise decisions because we are accountable to the Creator and to generations to come;

The health and well-being of our people and nations is built on our ability to maintain compassionate, functioning relationships within ourselves, with the earth, each other, our families and communities;

Knowledge and wisdom are our partners and we must enrich them both and use them well if our children are to build a meaningful future.

WE COMMIT OURSELVES TO WORK IN UNITY and with resolve to strengthen and heal the spirit of our Peoples.

If you know about a unique declaration or affirmative statement that may serve a larger group of people in healing themselves and articulating their vision and life goals, use the Contact form and put Declarations in the subject line. Thank you.