Dismay, Dissembly and Geocide:Ways Through the Maze of Trumpist Geopolitics

Written in the still-unfolding aftermath of Donald Trump's accession to the office of President of the United States, this article picks up and expands upon some of the key points raised by Kyle McGee's Heathen Earth, particularly concerning the forms of political violence emergent in an age ever-increasingly defined by climate change and the strategies of analysis, theorisation and critique that these geohistorical developments demand. Much like McGee's book, it takes a particularly troubling contemporary political event as a spur to develop thoughts deriving from more long-term projects concerning the way we have come to divide up the world and the manner in which these divisions are contestedpublishersversionNon peer reviewe

The Iroquois and the Nature of American Government

The British Government cannot be our model. We have no materials for a similar one. Our manners, our laws . . .and. . .the whole genius of the people are opposed to it. -James Wilson (delegate to the Constitutional Convention from Pennsylvania), 7 June 1787 We have gone back to ancient history for models of Government, and examined different forms of those Republics which having been formed with the seeds of their dissolution now no longer exist. And we have viewed Modern States all round Europe, but find none of their Constitutions suitable to our circumstance. -Benjamin Franklin's speech in the Constitutional Convention, 28 June 1787 As John Rutledge, delegate to the Constitutional Convention from South Carolina and chairman of the Committee of Detail, finished writing the first draft of the United States Constitution, Thomas Jefferson wrote him a letter revealing a sentiment that was present among many of the Founders and the American people. In observing the "civilized" European governments such as France, Jefferson wrote to Rutledge that most of the European societies were autocratic monarchies and thus not comparable to the more egalitarian governments of the United States. However, Jefferson went further in his observations on the nature of American government when he wrote Rutledge that "[t]he only condition on earth to be compared with [American government] . . . is that of the Indians, where they still have less law than we.” Furthermore, according to his letter, Jefferson believed that American government and its Native American aspects were a vast improvement over the European models, which he viewed as "governments of kites over pidgeons. "When Jefferson wrote of American Indian governments to Rutledge, he had the League of the Haudenosaunee, or the Iroquois Confederacy, in mind. Before the Constitutional Convention, Jefferson had published an account of the Mingo, or Iroquois, Confederacy in his Notes on the State of Virginia

Reaching the Grassroots: The Worldwide Diffusion of Iroquois Democratic Traditions

After many years of intense debate, the idea that the Iroquois helped shape democracy has passed into the realm of general knowledge the length and breadth of “Turtle Island,” and beyond. Although a few brushfires of criticism remain in academia, many people and organizations have been applying Iroquois political principles in their daily lives. As of 21 November 2003 our roster of annotations had reached 1,404 items. According to our records, the issue of Iroquois influence had appeared in 350 books; 184 articles in scholarly journals, including commentaries, letters to the editor, book and film reviews, and bibliographies; 169 other periodical articles, including book reviews; 377 newspaper or news-service articles, columns, letters, or book reviews, and 189 websites. Additionally, influence has been raised in 82 other venues, including several documentary films; a commencement speech at Wellesley College by Gloria Steinem; a radio essay by Hugh Downs; a presidential proclamation by Bill Clinton, several college course outlines and other school curricula; a segment of Larry King Live on Cable News Network; a speech by Canadian Minister of Constitutional Affairs Joe Clark; and a feature film, The Indian in the Cupboard, in 1995. The subject now has its own Library of Congress classification, citations in three dozen legal journals, and was mentioned by Janet Reno in a speech when she was U.S. Attorney General