Knowledge and Education for People's Sovereignty

Sovereignty is important to many communities, including Indigenous communities which have a history of Indigenous autonomy before colonization. Living examples of people's sovereignty can illustrate the path toward positive people-centered alternatives to control by the capitalist State, wealthy private land-owners and corporations. Efforts to undermine Indigenous and other peoples' sovereignty have been deliberate and continue to take place in industrialized and "developing" countries. Yet peoples' sovereignty has the capacity to unite and educate people in important ways. Many examples of education to promote people's sovereignty are emerging, building on the knowledge that communities have generated over time and recognizing multiple ways of knowing. This is a very different educational model than the one most commonly recognized and implemented in industrialized societies. People working in higher education everywhere have the responsibility to educate our students about the history of colonization and destruction of peoples' sovereignty, so that they understand the real history of their countries (including the influence of industrialized countries on poor countries), to build alliances with other educators globally, and to form bonds of solidarity with peoples' movements.