For the Next Seven Generations: The Grandmothers Speak

In the fall of 2004, thirteen indigenous grandmothers from Africa, Asia, the Arctic Circle, and the North, South and Central America gathered to explore issues of environmental degradation, climate change, war and terrorism and nuclear proliferation.

The diverse group of Elders, along with seven western Elders, among them Gloria Steinem, Alice Walker, Carol Moseley Braun and Helena Norberg-Hodge, shared ideas and sights, songs and dance, prayers and chants, mythic tales, bad jokes and a few good ones.

At the end of the first Global Women's Gathering, the grandmothers drafted a Proclamation of Formal Alliance. In May of 2005, the International Council of the 13 indigenous grandmothers met at the Pojoague Pueblo near Santa Fe, New Mexico to explore renewable resources, education for all children, preservation of cultures and species, integration of traditional and Western medicine, and environmental protection.