Intellectual Theft - Protecting Indigenous Knowledge
– 5 min read
by Djedka Zeshera
MODERN SOCIETY claims that it holds a position of expertise in every field of knowledge from math, and arts, to science and healing. It proudly positions itself as the authority on all these fields, but the truth is, modern culture wins the label of expert in one area. The one thing that the modern culture excels at is theft. Because if you trace their knowledge back far enough, you will find that everything has been usurped from cultures that have existed for much longer. This is especially true for the knowledge found in the modern medical systems. Researchers have been relying on the knowledge of traditional people who understand the intricacies of the plant life that surrounds them, to “discover” the next breakthrough drug. They steal knowledge and give little acknowledgement to the origins. The following is an excerpt from an article written by an initiate that further illustrates the way that the modern medical system works.
The modern system attempts to destroy traditional cultures very systematically and methodically. It becomes vital for the keepers of the culture to stand their ground and wage a war against the attempted assassination of their traditions, for if they are weak, the system will ambush them and destroy what is dear to their people. This happens in many ways, from the media propaganda. One of the more subtle ways of destroying a culture is the usurpation of its indigenous healing methods. The governments and corporations infiltrate the traditional healing society, discover its methods and eventually import them into the “modern” world. They gain financially, politically and “humanitarianly”, and they claim that their “discoveries” are their own, while the indigenous people continue to suffer exploitation and racism. The commercialism of traditional knowledge is felt in the social, political, and economical dimensions – not only is the culture negatively affected, but the lives and health of the people are affected as well.
Western companies have used Traditional knowledge to develop drugs, procedures and methods since the conception of the “modern” medical system. Manuals of medicine, including brain surgery and disease prevention, had been written by the Egyptians thousands of years before the modern medical system’s existed. Since its birth, medical and pharmaceutical companies have been using traditional knowledge to benefit Western consumers and businesses without providing acknowledgement or financial gain to those indigenous peoples who first developed the knowledge. Like the treasures from the pyramids that have been stolen and placed in European museums and collections, traditional healing knowledge has been stolen and placed in European hospitals, chemical companies and clinics.
Haven’t traditional healers and keepers of indigenous knowledge been exploited enough without receiving anything in return except increasing poverty, racism, and domination? Yes. Africa especially, as well as other indigenous lands and cultures, have suffered the effects of the greedy and selfish hands of the modern system for much too long. Whether it is medicine, music, artifacts or labour, we are tired of the Western plunder and the destruction of the African continent and other indigenous lands.
British Airways is one example. South African colour patterns were usurped from Africa, and the airline felt free to use them as they wished, without monetary reimbursement or acknowledgement. After being taken to court, the airline giant was forced to pay compensation.
The labour stimulator, Pitocin, is another example. In 1971, a scientist derived this drug from a Ugandan medicine that has been widely used to stimulate uterine contractions during delivery. The ingredient oxytocin was isolated, and Pitocin has since been used all over the world during delivery. The Ugandan traditional healers have received neither acknowledgement for their gift to modern medicine nor financial compensation for the use of their knowledge.
Western companies infiltrated the Ethiopian farming practises, “discovering” that a certain weed that is traditionally left to grow with crops helps to fight rust, a virus that destroys wheat and other crops. The companies usurped the knowledge freely, isolated specific genes, and planted them into wheat, resulting in a greater wheat yield. Ethiopian farmers were given neither acknowledgement of their gift to western farming nor financial gain for the use of their knowledge.
Drug companies are scrambling to find a cure for AIDS. We need only one guess to know where they are looking for their answers: Africa and other indigenous areas. They are desperately trying to “find” the answers they need - or more realistically – they are desperately trying to steal the knowledge from indigenous people that will make them heroes of the world. Traditional healers in Africa have cured AIDS, and the scientists and governments know this is a fact. Governments and businesses become threatened when this fact is revealed, and those traditional healers with the necessary knowledge suddenly disappear. Meanwhile, the tropics (more than 1/2 of the African countries are located in the tropics) are said to contain more than 75% of the ingredients used today in pharmaceutical research. But less than 1% of money spent of global drug research goes toward treating tropical diseases!
Traditional healers seem to have very few defences to protect their knowledge. Herb hunters and thieves arrive in the continent under the guise as tourists. They win the hearts of healers, who share their knowledge, and return to the European world with plants and notebooks. They patent their “inventions” and make millions, while the true inventors of the knowledge continue to suffer. Traditional culture dictates hospitality and openness, even with strangers. This allows malicious outsiders to snatch traditional knowledge easily, as healers and indigenous priests have strong values that do not allow selfishness, exploitation and theft.
Someone once asked me why an African healer who had the cure for cancer would not offer his knowledge to the drug companies (the system). How can a healer with a good conscious allow thousands upon thousands of people to die of the cancer when they have the remedy that is so very much needed? I believe his question was honest, and that he did not understand the heaviness of the situation traditional healers have been locked into. Why would a healer who knows what the modern system is doing to Black people and humanity as a whole offer his knowledge to a system that is exploiting virtually everyone? Why would a healer give the knowledge that belongs to him to a system that will use that same knowledge to benefit only those who it decides should benefit – meaning the rich, the privileged, and the so-called “White” man, while the communities that belong to the true owner of the knowledge are allowed to suffer and die while in the fangs of that same system? Why would a healer give his knowledge to a system that will usurp it and claim it as their own, create chemical drugs out of it, and sell it to consumers at an outrageous price, while knowing that those in his own community could never afford the medicines that would come of his knowledge? Why would a healer offer anything to his oppressor, to his slave master, to his jailer? Why would a healer give the system anything that belongs to him, while he must fight for his life every day? Why would a healer offer such important knowledge to the system that will deny that his people brought the knowledge to the world? Why would he help cure people who have an attitude of hatred and racism towards him and his brothers and sisters? Why would he give his knowledge to a company who is only interested in making money and to a system that supports that attitude? Why give a cure to a system that will aid only its own subjects, while the rest of the world suffers? Why would a healer with a good conscious give his knowledge to a system that is killing thousands and thousands of people everyday?
Traditional culture includes traditional medicine and healing. Authentic traditional healers cannot be bought off with money, fame, or promises of the such. We must unite all authentic healers, activists, and keepers of the culture for the protection of indigenous knowledge and rights, power, and values, before it is too late.
