Hello and Welcome to R.A.G.E.
Radio Against Global Ecocide
Coming to you from occupied Amiskwacîwâskahikan.
I am your Host Seymour Lyphe
And special hello to all those who love their land base.
Today is the first of my interviews with non-humans. My first interview is with river near my place, kisiskāciwani-sīpiy
I used to believe I was fairly good at being in touch with nature. When I walk though the forest I would walk around spider webs, careful not to step on mushrooms. Even in town I would step over ants on the sidewalk, which is tricky because ants are not very linear. I talk with chickadees, crows, and magpies; any bird that will hang around for a chat. I stop walking so a squirrel will not see me and cross the road safely. I talk with plants and yes even hugged a few trees which is a very calming feeling.
I was not until did the interview with kisiskāciwani-sīpiy that I realized that really much of my relationship the real world was, well, less than real. My connection with the kisiskāciwani-sīpiy was one of the most emotional experiences of my life.
Full Show ( to Jump to Derrick go to 13:55)
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Pretend you are a River by Derrick Jensen
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It has been very hard for me to figure out how I going to present this at the same time I believe it is important that I do.
As I was sat down (I slipped and fell in a sitting position so I stayed where I was) to do my interview with the river and record the sound it was making it become obvious, as it would to anyone who sits by a river, that a river is much more then water running over rocks. It is everything the lives in and around it. It is the beings that come in contact with no matter how briefly. I will play Derrick Jensen’s piece Pretend you are a River at the end of this as it is one of the best pieces I have every read and heard on what it is to be a river. Here is the story the river told me. The story was told to me through imagery and emotion.
The kisiskāciwani-sīpiy was born with the raise of the mountains and was shaped through the ice age. Now it told me it is dying. The glaciers that give it life are fading away.
I was shown images of a time when the forest and prairie crowded against the river when it had friends to talk with, not the strange yellow or green aliens of today.
Then it all changed.
Imagine you are being poisoned. Imagine that the life blood is being drain from you so the poison becomes stronger. Imagine that you are forced to pass this poison on to all your friends and those who live with you. Imagine you are forced to give this poison to everyone you meet one your path. Imagine that with very fibre of your soul you do not want do to this. You scream out for help but those who listen are gone. And the poison keeps coming.
I saw the death of kisiskāciwani-sīpiy friends, death of those who listened. At times the there was more blood then water, then the oldest of friends fell and soon came the strange and crazy ones.
During this time I cried as the river was crying. It seemed to becoming from a depth I have not been to before. I choked and gasped as if I was trying to rid myself of the poisons within me. At times I just writhed in pain.
Afterwards I lay there stunned by the emotions I had just witnessed. I felt as if I had just an inkling of what it must be like to be tortured or subjected to the worst concentration camp conditions.
I thought also that we who live in the dominant culture really have no idea what its doing to the world, to the living earth for the sake of comfort and ease of life. And I was going to say “those who are supposedly fighting for kisiskāciwani-sīpiy and other rivers really understood the pain the river are in would be working that much harder to protect them” but I am not sure for I have seen very little willingness on the part environmentalist to give up their comfort for any of the living world.
I also start to understand what it is to be alive in the world to feel connected to the place I live. I wonder if I came anywhere close to the connection listener and the river had. I will make every effort to does so.
After my talk with kisiskāciwani-sīpiy I have come to realize that we are meant to drink living water. The water that come form pipes is not longer living and is full of its own unknown concoctions. The problem is that the living water is now poison and we cannot drink it. Tap water is zombie water, zombie water for zombies.
We need desperately to heal the rivers, heal ourselves. We need a resistance that will make it so.
