Naga Solidarity Walk: One People, One Destiny
(Complete speech of Prof Rosenary Dzuvichu Co-Convenor, Global Naga Forum)
Dear Fellow Nagas & Friends:
I want to say a few words about What we did today and yesterday, and Why we did.
We have started a journey for our people. We named it Naga Solidarity Walk.
The Naga Solidarity Walk is a unity walk for all Nagas, a Walk for a better future
together as One People in an undivided ancestral homeland. It is a Walk for lasting
peace and shared prosperity, without exceptions, throughout the Naga Homeland,vwhich, even today, lies divided in two countries -- four states in India and a province in Myanmar. This we know is a gross violation of our human and indigenous peoples' rights.
The Naga Solidarity Walk may be described as a community celebration:
Celebration of our beautiful and bountiful Homeland which has given birth to and
nurtured generations of a free, brave, and generous people; and who in turn have
produced the colorful and vibrant festivals and rich cultures that Nagas are known
for in many parts of the world.
Walking together these two days from Kohima to Tahamzan (Senapati), across
Angami territory, Mao territory, Maram territory and Poumai territory, was a way
for us to emphasize the threat to our survival as a people, and therefore the need to reclaim, sustain, and grow our precious Naga heritage. It would be a real shame for Nagas of this generation to lose it all. The choice facing us today is too real and clear to ignore. So every Naga must ask oneself this question: Am I for the survival of the Nagas as a People with a precious salvageable heritage? Or with the small vested interest groups in Naga society whose main preoccupations are power and wealth? The choice lies with each of us and with all of us as a people.
Let me then restate what the Solidarity Walk is about in three short points:
First, it is a Walk for peace and transformative change. What we did yesterday and today was a hopeful physical enactment of Naga unity for an undivided Homeland across the artificial barriers and boundaries put in our way by the powers that be. Second, let's be clear about one thing. The Naga Solidarity Walk is not against other people; it is not anti-Indian or anti-Myanmarese. It is pro-Naga rights of self-determination and for peace in our homeland. Third, we hope this positive community-based action will grow into a burgeoning journey for a brighter future for all Nagas. We invite every Naga to proudly exercise your right to walk in your God-given homeland, no matter what anyone may say to the contrary.
Vested interest carcer politicians and groups may ask Why Naga Solidarity
Walk now?
First, we won't be walking for Naga Solidarity if we were united. The Naga Family is breaking apart from the stress put on us for too long from outside and from within. Physically separated from one another and politically divided, the Naga Family is growing farther apart and beginning to deny our own peoplehood. We are forgetting our common destiny. We desperately need to heal ourselves from the wounds and offenses we have inflicted on one another. It is true, the past doesn't die; it continues to live in us. But we know the present is alive in us too, even more so, in the here and now. But Nagas are abusing ourselves and destroying the Present that belongs to all of us together. The present we share wants to create a better Future for us as a people. The possibilities of that future beckon us to forgive one another and to bestow the gift of grace, which may not be deserved. This is the critical transformative choice we must make as individuals and as groups. You can keep denying the fact, but the fact is Nagas are a people with a shared history, therefore a shared destiny.
The second reason for the Naga Solidarity Walk is to honor our ancestors by walking
in their footsteps. Our Naga ancestors from multiple language and cultural families walked the length and breadth of their respective territories for hundreds of years, if not millennia. Then European colonialism and modernity arrived in these parts. And with that, colonial Britain and postcolonial India and Burma split up the Naga homeland for control of our lands and ancestors. Since then, thousands of Naga patriots have sacrificed their lives for Naga peoplehood, and generations of their families have suffered and experienced irreparable disadvantage and harm. We must honor their memory and turn their sacrifices into something beautiful, useful and admirable.
May the Naga Solidarity Walk we set in motion yesterday and today contribute
richly to a successful journey of Naga peoplehood in a thriving, undivided ancestral Homeland. Kuknalim!
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Негізгі бет Naga Solidarity Walk 2022 || One People One Destiny || Nagalim
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