Farmer leads Idle No More teach-in

Gary Farmer: Idle No More, 'Consumerization,' Mining Fallout and Indian Humor

By Carol BerryFilm star and activist Gary Farmer wore an impish grin from time to time as he conducted an Idle No More (Idle) teach-in, but his core message defied humor: “We’re the cutting edge of the economic downturn,” he said of Indian people.

Given that resources are limited, we don’t have enough of them to sustain us at our present rate of usage, he said. On this matter, Indian people “have been trying to talk to the larger population for some time,” Farmer said. “Now it’s extremely critical for all of us.”

Farmer, who is Cayuga from Six Nations Reserve, Ontario, was doing just that in addressing students, faculty and others at an Idle No More teach-in he conducted on March 1 at the University of Colorado at Boulder, sponsored by several campus groups. He has been a prominent ally of Idle No More, a grassroots indigenous Canadian movement that has gone worldwide in its affirmation of indigenous rights, priorities and values. The prodigious actor used that as a jumping-off point, conducting a far-ranging discussion of the current economic and environmental situation.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Idle No More Not Just for Natives and Gary Farmer on Native Media.