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Issue # 2

Issue # 2

Article Listing

Shamans, Mythmakers and Imagined places: Central Asia at the 51st Venice Biennale
by Candice Hopkins

Bounty Hunting Warrior Genes: Potential use of genetic material for a clone army
by Christine Morris

Os-sa-pah-chi-kan / Shapeshifting in the Matrices
by James Nicholas

OHEN:TON KARIWATEHKWEN greetings to the technological world
by Jason E. Lewis & Skawennati Tricia Fragnito

Bounty Hunting Warrior Genes: Potential use of genetic material for a clone army. 1

By Christine Morris2

Christine.Morris@griffith.edu.au

In 2000 I dreamt I was standing at a murder scene. A police Inspector accompanied me. We were looking at the body of a very pale translucent skinned clone whose body was hairless. The Inspector says to me ‘You’ll find the source of the murder if look close enough.’ The clone appeared to have died from a diseased gash in the side of his body.
In reality a year later I was in New Zealand on a research trip when I found myself looking across a fence at cloned cows with portholes in their sides.

Introduction

However, I have written this account in a hope that Indigenous people and especially artists will take a closer look at what is going on. I hope that by reading the following story and it’s challenging hypothesis that artists will also engage in discussions about this technology, and that engagement will not be as a victim, but as a commentator who have drawn on their own traditional law to make comment.

This paper is written within an Indigenous intellectual landscape. It is a landscape, in which dreams inform a person’s life journey just as much as the experiences of reality. A landscape in which the story reveals a message. A message which then allows the readers to make up their own mind. The following story is about my own journey into the world of genetic engineering. A world in which the Indigenous person may think they have little input other than as a victim. However, I have written this account in a hope that Indigenous people and especially artists will take a closer look at what is going on. I hope that by reading the following story and it’s challenging hypothesis that artists will also engage in discussions about this technology, and that engagement will not be as a victim, but as a commentator who have drawn on their own traditional law to make comment. My journey will take the reader through a series of events, which have brought the genetic engineering issues to my attention. In the true oral tradition I will then use the narrative to make sense of what I have seen. I will also incorporate a segment, which sets out a small over view of my understanding of traditional law in Australia - the land of my most ancient ancestors3.

However, to bring the reader into full view of the issues I will be discussing I will first turn to a quote from one of the films. This quote unfortunately contains more fact than fiction.

A few years ago, scientists shocked the world by announcing that they had cloned a sheep. Cloning had long been the stuff of science fiction, when suddenly it had become an alarming reality.. Soon after the cloning announcement was made, lawmakers, scientists, and the religious community undertook the great debate as to the legality and ethics of human cloning. The debate was laid to rest as cloning a human was said to be impossible, and that sheep had a unique series of factors that made them ideal for cloning. The debate seemed to be forgotten until scientists cloned a cow and a monkey, and later announced that human cells had been made to replicate in an early step of the cloning process. Once again the debates were raised, and once again, the cloning of a human was deemed to be an illegal and unethical practice. (Sixth Day, Gareth J. Von Kallenbach4)

In 2000 when the film was screened these facts where still fiction. At the time of writing in 2005 they are now fact. In May, 2005 the BBC reported that the cloning of the first human stem cells in the UK had now been permitted, however the cloning of a full human is still banned.5 Based on these ‘now’ facts I will make the following challenge as to what I see will be the future for genetic engineering.

This paper therefore speculates that in the future an Indigenous clone army will be created due to the lack of historical and cultural capital, especially in relation to the treatment of Indigenous peoples. Furthermore, I will speculate that — it will be the cloning of animals, which will bring down the ethical boundaries. The prototype for the clone warriors, it will be argued, will be the Maori. The ideal setting for this type of Dr Moreau-ish6 activity will be New Zealand. This supposition will be discussed firstly, through an analysis of the character Jango Fett of the Star Wars trilogy - Attack of the Clones7 played by Maori actor Temuera Morrison8 and the character Adam Gibson of the Arnie Schwarzenegger sci-fi film about pet cloning – Sixth Day9. This will be followed by a ‘conversational’ segment of a series of questions and answers relating to the films and genetic engineering. There will also be reference to famous futurists such as HG Wells10 and George Orwell11. However I will first set out my journey into the cloning world. This overall critique as mentioned at the beginning of the paper is regulated by my tradition that informs my understanding of the laws of creation and my assumptions about the direction of cloning.

The Journey

We can now transfer genes from one species to another, creating pigs with human genes and crops that make their own pesticides. Human embryos are screened for genetic illnesses. And all convicted criminals in the UK have their DNA fingerprints kept on file. DNA opens many doors, but what does it mean to you?12

At the turn of the century my dreams began to take me into the possibilities of the nightmarish future, which was more reminiscent of the great classics of The Island of Dr Moreau or Animal Farm than of fairytales. The dreams – or should I say, glimpses of the possible future nightmare reality –were of clones who had contracted some strange disease and had also been maltreated by their human designers, whilst other dreams showed images of human spare parts, including ‘wombs’13 which were being conveyed along great industrial conveyor belts. At the time my appreciation of the debate was little more than that of an interested ‘lay’ person, however, it was not long before I was sitting in the Australian Federal Capital giving evidence to a Federal Inquiry into Human Cloning and Stem Cell Research.14 I was not arguing on behalf of Indigenous interests as such, but rather reminding the Committee of the historical tendency of governments/ corporations/ institutions towards slavery and other inhumane enterprises in the name of profit – on one hand – and on the other, the unacknowledged drive to appease the gods of modernity – ‘scientific imperatives’.

The future of the apathetic human – just like the domestic animal – was there to serve man no matter how dotty he had become. The acceptance of atrocities to animals was the forerunner to that of ‘powerless’ humans, whom as depicted in Time Machine just accepted the daily assault on their population.

About a year later I found myself in the rich dairy lands of the Waikato River district of New Zealand facing the spectacle of what appeared to be cloned dairy cattle with portholes in their sides. I had been warned through the laconic humour of the local academics that the cows around those parts of the world had viewing windows in their bodies. The rational for such a bizarre undertaking was scientific convenience. Oddly this was an accepted fact of life as it pertained to New Zealand’s recent entry into the global dairy industry as a multinational. This knowledge however was no preparation for being confronted by the Orwellian spectacle. The docile cows appeared to be straight out of Orwell’s Animal Farm15. They seemed to notice my presence and just stared blankly at me. They reflected the apathetic and bovine acceptance by society of such undertakings of despicable experiments on animals. HG Well’s Time Machine16 then came to mind. The future of the apathetic human – just like the domestic animal – was there to serve man no matter how dotty he had become. The acceptance of atrocities to animals was the forerunner to that of ‘powerless’ humans, whom as depicted in Time Machine just accepted the daily assault on their population.

By 2002 I was drawn into the controversy over Genetic Use Restrictive Technology (GURTS), more popularly known as Terminator Technology. The use of gene modification technology had become a lucrative venture for multinational companies. Monsanto being the most infamous. At the Montreal meeting of the Convention on Biodiversity,17 I presented a paper entitled “Do Seeds Have A Passport?” This paper did not seek to address so much the technical issues, as to pose a rhetorical question. I argued for caution in the wholesale use of the word “seed”. I suggested that the use of the word ‘seed’ in reference to gene modification technology should be carefully monitored lest the botanical meaning of the word shift to include humans – that is – lest humans be dehumanised to be no more than an apple seed.

Later that year I found myself in Canada’s Banff New Media Institute in the Rocky Mountains as part of the Aboriginal Collaborations organized by Ahasiw Maskegon-Iskwew.18 At this conference I was able to view the latest technology in relation to cyber developments and the use of artists to help advance these innovations. Artists were being used to help the stultified scientist to open up possibilities. I had arrived there due to a presentation I had made in Australia in relation to cloning. The Converge conference dealt with the issue of the use of genetic material as a new artistic medium. The use of animal genes to make artistic designs was presented as though animals where on the earth for utilitarian purposes rather than our totemic older brothers. This seeming unending trail of events and basically – assault on my sensibilities lead me to consider in more depth the possible direction this technology was going. Furthermore, it called into question the type of ‘law’ that should be regulating the inventions. I could see no other law other than that of the Indigenous which could regulate technologists who presupposed themselves the new gods of creation.

The Indigenous legal regime I am referring to is that as I have learnt from my elders. The following is an extract from a paper which I wrote on Indigenous Law. The small extract is meant to give the reader a sense of the legal regime I would use to regulate this kind of technology. The quote will then be followed by my the critique of the films and the thinking behind the latest developments in genetic engineering.

From a paper19 I wrote on ancient cultures and parallel universes:

That is, the jurisprudence is designed to appreciate intellectual property, not as property but as a way of life; a way of life that aligns itself with the creative process, rather than trying to control or determine the creative process. When it is based on individual alignment with the universe and fine-tuning to the genetic material around itself, it has little need of objects. In other words the aesthetic mind combines the natural movements of its environment in all its forms of communication and activity.

In the Australian Aboriginal cultures there is no single encompassing creation story or pan theology; however, there is a generic jurisprudence based on a custodial ethic [2], known as the "Law of Relationships" [3]. The structure of this pure form of law is based on the double- helix structure, as found in DNA, the blueprint of life [4]. The phrase "The Land is the Law" is the colloquial way of explaining this deep knowing: the ancients tell us continuously that "Our story is in the land…it is written in those sacred places, that's the law. Dreaming place…you can't change it, no matter who you are" [5]. Just as there are two strands of DNA whose chemical bonds govern the growth of an organism, so too does the interactivity of these two strands govern the growth of the society under jurisprudence of the Law of Relationships [6].

Furthermore, this does not imply a gender divide. Both groupings are identical but independent, both containing the same elements – males and females, flora and fauna, animate and inanimate objects. This in turn has allowed the aborigines to continue as the oldest continuous jurisprudence in the world and one of those best versed in the notion of "intellectual property." That is, the jurisprudence is designed to appreciate intellectual property, not as property but as a way of life; a way of life that aligns itself with the creative process, rather than trying to control or determine the creative process. When it is based on individual alignment with the universe and fine-tuning to the genetic material around itself, it has little need of objects. In other words the aesthetic mind combines the natural movements of its environment in all its forms of communication and activity.”

I will now discuss these films and combine my further experiences, which relate to the films.

Attack of the Clones20

The first of the films is Attack of the Clones produced by Lucas Ltd21 as part of the Star Wars22 series. A series which in my view is the beginning of the creation of a new messianic cult which in centuries to come will take on a life of its own.

As Joseph Campbell, Lucas’ mentor taught him – ‘Myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human manifestation..."23 My speculation on the future and the influence of Campbell on Lucas – whether Lucas is aware of it or not he is in a powerful position to offer possibilities, such as a clone army for society to consider and debate. Therefore, the inclusion of an Indigenous as a clone template is worth Indigenous people also considering the meaning and place of the Indigenous in the great technological myth of the future. For it is the Indigenous more than any who should understand the implications of Campbell’s understanding of – the power of myth!

My predominant interest in the film Attack of the Clones relates to the character Jango Fett, played by Temuera Morrison24. Fett is a Bounty Hunter and the warrior-clone template for the clone army. The fact that a Maori had been cast in the role of the template immediately caught my attention. Furthermore, Temuera Morrison was already internationally famous for his role as an urban warrior in the film Once We Were Warriors25.

About a decade prior to the outbreak of the Clone Wars, a man named Tyranus approached Jango on the moons of Bogden with an intriguing proposal. In exchange for a sizable fee, Jango would become the template of a clone army. Fett agreed, but with an unusual stipulation in his contract. In addition to his fee, he would be awarded an unaltered clone of himself. Unlike his other duplicates, this clone would not undergo growthacceleration or docility tampering. It would be a pure replica of Jango.

The Kaminoans provided Fett with private accommodations in their hermetic TipocaCity, and Jango dropped out of the bounty hunting limelight. He concentrated on teaching his son, the unaltered clone he named Boba, the ropes of survival and combat while the Kaminoans extracted genetic material to build thousands of clone soldiers.26

The fact that he is a Maori triggered my memory of a question that had been posed to me a few years before at a WIPO meeting27 by a Maori nurse. Her query related to the hospital procedure of collecting umbilical cords from Maori babies. At the time I thought it was associated with the collection of stem cells for experimentation, as the obtaining of stem cells from umbilical cords is far less controversial than sourcing them from embryos.

At the same time Indigenous gene activist Debra Harry, a Northern Paiute geneticist, was expressing her concerns about the use of Indigenous genetic material.

In the area of human genetic research, indigenous peoples are currently the subjects of evolutionary genetic research, pharmaco-genetic research, the search for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), or genes associated with behavioral or health-related conditions. Indigenous peoples are finding themselves treated as objects of scientific curiosity, with very little regard for their needs or concerns about how the research may negatively impact on their lives.28

I then returned to the land of the Orwellian cows, where I had the good fortune to meet Sandy Morrison,29 a senior academic who is the sister of Maori actor Temuera Morrison. Sandy relayed the story of how her brother wanted her to meet Marlon Brando during a remake of the film The Island of Dr Moreau.30 This film was based on one of HG Wells’ great classic of the same name.31 The story tells of how a man is rescued after a shipwreck. However, he finds himself on an island where a doctor who sees himself as a visionary, experimenting on animals to try and make them human.

However, since meeting Sandy Morrison in the Orwellian setting and being reminded of her brother’s acting career and also considering the past events this paper has given me an opportunity to speculate as to what all this means. These events have lead me to re-consider the question of umbilical cords and the possible use of the stem cells in a whole new way. Therefore I will speculate that the character of Jango Fett offers much for us to consider in the way Developed Countries are utilizing this technology and their seeming lust for weapons of war on one hand and their avoidance of death on the other. And more importantly their lack of great myths to cope with their technological advancements.

In contrast to the Star War ‘inter-galactic’ moral dilemmas of a society and war, the film Sixth Day is more about the individual and cloning and in particular the seemingly ever increasing inability of the affluent individual to accept their own immorality. This dilemma is played out in Sixth Day and clearly shows the ways in which the affluent use animals to basically pave the ethical road for their own future decisions in relation to their own unwelcome death.

Sixth Day32

The title Sixth Day refers to the Biblical creation myth in which man was created on the sixth day and therefore the notion of man as the creator of humans is seen as a challenge to the authority of the biblical god. The plot of Sixth Day gives us the impression this is a wholesome family film about the little guy winning over the big impersonal multinational. In other words one man can make a difference. However, a non-WASP reviewer Alex Rieneck33 has a totally different perspective on the film and makes this chilling observation of the film.

Because this film is set in the Future, “and sooner than you think” no expense has been spared in creating a believable high tech glitzy expensive looking future. A future that, (unless I am blind,) contains no black people, no women in jobs of any importance (unless hired killers with daffy hairdos count) and no poor people. A future where women are objects and wives, and where the only non-white person is a faintly Chicano looking person wearing a bandana who plays the part of a crazed loner religious assassin. This is a REPUBLICAN future and (by god) you’d better not forget it. If you like films set in the future, this is a big budget one and nice. You’ll like it. It’s pretty. I wouldn’t guarantee that you’d enjoy living in it unless you are white, male and rich though.

He further comments:

This is the best Arnold movie for a few years. If, on the other hand you have a brain and you aren’t rich white American male you may want to think about Arnold’s close political ties with the US Republican Party and the Reagans and the Bushes and buy some property deep in the outback, and dig a bomb shelter and live in it until Bubba either blows the world up or leaves office.

Even though I agree with our witty Jewish friend, I however, have a different view of the multinationals and suggest that their decisions are more pragmatic about the ‘masses’. They are more likely to collect what is beneficial to their overall profit margin and not some ideal WASP future.

If another prototype such as the Bounty Hunter is more useful – then that is the ‘ideal human’. After all Indigenous people are said to be inherently more conservative by nature, than the ‘lawless’ Gibson, the WASP, hero of Sixth Day, fighting for his rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness… McDonalds-ised or not. Let us therefore for the sake of this argument say that the ideal has become the conservative Temuera, who incidentally began his acting career playing the sombre white-coated doctor in a long running soap on New Zealand television. By coupling the doctor/warrior with the latest developments in pet genetic technology we have a whole new reality filming out before our eyes.

In the state of Texas at the A & M University34 where they have already begun the cloning of pets thanks to the funding by Genetic Saving and Clone.35 Pair this with the activities of the rogue human cloning company of ClonAid36 and then the plot of the Sixth Day is not so futuristic. As we unfortunately know all new scientific developments begins with animals. Once it is made acceptable with ‘man’s best friend’ and society has become seduced into such acceptable behaviour because their ‘best friend’ could tolerate it then man himself is next.

In light of this scenario I would therefore now like to speculate and ask the following questions based on our present situation in which I wish to address the possible slippery slope of ‘shifting ethical’ boundaries relating to the use of genetic technology in times of war. I would question whether the technology that may have been developed from the Maori genetic material collected over a decade ago could be used in a future war? Will our shifting ethical stances provide loopholes for governments to disassociate themselves from those in ‘body bags’37 if a future world war erupts? Will the Maori stem cells provide the future ideal warrior clones? And is Temuera’s character a timely warning for his people and other such cultures as the Mohawk, Zulu, Ghurkha and Afghans that have been charactered by Hollywood as the great warrior nations?

Answer to Questions

I will now turn to the questions and answer segment. But first a bit of ‘black humour’ about this most bazaar of futures.

Why The Maori (this is meant to be a tongue in cheek analysis)

Dr Moreau-like38 setting.

Firstly it is a small nation at the back end of the world. The political climate has much to offer the astute multinational. The Natives are peaceful, as best as one can expect, and the Pakeha seemed to be as docile as their cows. No one gets overly excited. However, at the same time they have a good public image as a nation that cares (eg anti nuclear stance, anti GM food); also it is the home of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy.39 The infrastructure is good and totally focused on consumer comfort and a Hobbit like existence of healthy food, good wine and pleasant conversation and most importantly they have Natives who are good actors. However, we must not forget that there is an excellent pool of genetic material collected via umbilical cords, blood samples and all the other illnesses the Natives are genetically proned to catching, thanks to the forward-thinking colonialists who have ensured that the 19th century practices continue to this day. The clincher however is New Zealand’s exemplary animal farms and proven track record in sheep and cattle experimentation.

Shifting Ethics

This bit of humour I would argue actually typifies the level of cultural capital with which I believe the general public knows about the Maori and issues such as cloning. All of this is to the advantage of the multinationals. Because the general public has little cultural capital in relation to their own history let alone that of Indigenous peoples, it is much easier to shift an ethical boundary by making up new futuristic myths via movies.

This bit of humour I would argue actually typifies the level of cultural capital with which I believe the general public knows about the Maori and issues such as cloning. All of this is to the advantage of the multinationals. Because the general public has little cultural capital in relation to their own history let alone that of Indigenous peoples, it is much easier to shift an ethical boundary by making up new futuristic myths via movies. The Rights argument as Graham40 says has much to ingratiate the multinational argument as well. The West driven by its demands for rights and only recently understanding of its responsibilities can easily seduce the general public by reminding them of their rights to genetically modified children free of disease. The right to conceive cloned children. The right to genetically enhance themselves if it doesn’t affect the germ line.

The creators41 of Dolly wrote in their book that they were amazed how quickly the cloning debate shifted from of a ‘dangerous’ undertaking to that of ‘unless you can prove there is actually going to be harm, then it should be allowed.’ This shift was aided by the rogue cloning cult the Raëlians42 who funded the multinational company known as ClonAid.43 One only needs good media coverage and a rogue group prepared to weather the storm and you are on your way to a healthy profit margin.

Furthermore, it is the following kind of ‘emotional intelligence’, which also ensures success of even breaking down the barriers in relation to germ-line transformation. Gregory Stock44 in his article: The Prospects for Human Germline Engineering.

We are intervening in realms hitherto beyond our influence, and we can seek only limited guidance from the past. Humanity has moved out of its childhood and into its adolescence, and it must recognize its growing powers and take responsibility for them. We have no choice. We are beginning to play god in many realms and cannot turn back. Some have suggested we pause until we have the wisdom to proceed. But even were that possible, it would be a flawed approach. We will gain the wisdom to make wise decisions about our newfound capabilities not by fearfully trying to avoid them, but by feeling our way forward, by probing and gathering more information, by making mistakes and responding to them, and by fully engaging in a collective decision-making process about how to go forward.

It is evident from this kind of statement that Mr Stock has little cultural or historical capital other than from that induced by the American Dream. If he would bother to look outside of either the corporate tower or the laboratory he might note that such new frontiers are as old as the bible. Man has never been original, after all isn’t he just a clone of the Western’s idea of a god.

The issue is rather the decision-making process in relation to this move into adolescence, is not that of humanity, but is both elitist and culturally relative. The elite being seduced by what is nothing more than multinational-consumer-driven technology. As an Indigenous person the cultural relativity of the decision-making is glaringly obvious and historical unoriginal.

The cowboy mentality that believes that there is no turning back or even time to reach a ‘considered’ response sounds like a script from the ‘rogue’ entities be they nation states, multinationals or individuals who are now dominating the international stage. Just as the Hollywood produced movies dominate most cinemas throughout the world with the American Dream, so too is this kind of rhetoric to those who are not on the receiving end of this technology.

Timely warning

I ask, is this a timely warning for Indigenous peoples? To answer this question I will refer to a quote from another Indigenous person who just happened to visit my people’s country last year. Jerome Cybulski45 describes the following scenario in Current Challenges to Traditional Anthropological Applications of Human Osteology in Canada:

Dr. Ward collected blood samples among the Nuu-chah-nulth in the 1980s for research on rheumatic diseases. At the time, he was part of a study team from the University of British Columbia but later began his mtDNA research at the University of Utah. Almost 900 Nuu-chah-nulth were tested. While there was, indeed, important research connected to the study of rheumatic disease in these people (Atkins et al. 1988), those results were not apparently reported to the donors, even on a tribal basis. Nor, apparently, were they informed that additional, unrelated research was to be conducted. The present end result, according to the news reports, is that the Nuu-chah-nulth membership feels deceived and used, and has threatened legal action

It is activities like this that call for a ‘timely warning’. This unethical scenario committed against these people whose lives are inundated with social problems and lack of employment. To the city dweller these people live in the ecological paradise of Yuquot Sound, Vancouver Island. But their role as custodians is constantly hampered by this kind of parasitical behaviour.

However, these lack of rights and no appreciation of responsibilities do also at times extend to the little guy, even in the WASP. The present day version of the Sixth Day protagonist turns out to be cancer victim and American citizen John Moore.46 John, like Gibson, found out that he was basically being sacrificed on behalf of science. A healthy profit was being made from his cell lines. The court ruled against his rights to his own cell line and so set a precedent for the type of thinking for the above case:

In a significant 1990 California Supreme Court decision, the court established that a donor does not have a “property right” in the tissues removed from his or her body. The court further reasoned that to favor John Moore’s claim would “… hinder research by restricting access to the necessary raw materials,” thereby interfering with the progress of science.47

Sharing and Caring

Therefore there is little evidence that there will be the great sharing and caring that is said to come of such technology. James Watson, co-discoverer of the DNA double-helix, has stated in his new book that there is an imperative to change the human germ line to protect us from viral onslaughts such as AIDS. But as Bill McKibben48 questions in his book Staying Human in an Engineered Age, just who. but those who make movies, would believe that the governments let alone multinationals are going to provide the specialized germ line engineering for the salvation of the tens of millions of the poor who are the main sufferers of AIDS. These hypocritical debates are supposed to cover up the obvious, that such technologies are designed for the privileged few or ‘funded-others’.

Conversely, we must not lose sight of the fact this kind of medical and technological privilege is not something new. What bothers me is that we keep falling for the same old ‘hat trick’. McKidden said that Watson is worried about the ‘epidemic of human stupidity’ and that we need to save people by engineering their brains. I am not unsympathetic to Watson’s argument. He is indeed surrounded by idiots. But if he did make them smarter, that is by increasing their emotional intelligence he would soon be out of a job. So we can be assured that the type of ‘intelligence’ engineering will be carefully monitored to ensure a certain kind of intelligence. And so once again it is not the ideal WASP that would be brought forward but actually some thing with selective intelligence. And it is this ‘designer’ intelligence engineering which has the ‘profit’ allure attached to it. For a clone army you need one kind of intelligence. Whist for the colonization of other planets or even something as mundane as ‘crop picking’ you need a different personality. After all they have to continue stealing land and exploiting people, otherwise history might catch up with them!

But then let me make a total back flip and ask, would any sane Indigenous group want to be on the other end of this technology. Wouldn’t we rather it was the Mr Stocks and Watson on the other end of this technology which believes wisdom comes about from probing and the gathering of information and history can only give limited guidance. Sometimes it pays to be discriminated against and not be entitled to having your brain enhanced or your children installed with designer chromosomes. Interestingly, this is the same conclusion the ‘prototype’ Jango Fetts came to in the Attack of the Clones. He requests that he be given one clone as a son but it be unaltered. In other words he didn’t want an ‘improved’ version, which the Cloners thought rather a ‘strange request’.

Conclusion

Rather than as an Indigenous legal regime would point to – that humans are merely a species, which is patterned into an overall whole. A whole, which when disturbed in one part, alters the balance of that whole. Therefore any decisions about the alteration of creation is a decision in which the whole of the planet must have a say, as that’s how all encompassing this kind of technological engineering is – or as I would say – technological interference!

I would suggest this analysis of the films Attack of the Clones and Sixth Day is merely one Indigenous person’s view of history and is meant – like all accounts of history – to stimulate people to learn from history and drawn comparison and lessons for their own immediate reality and historical experiences. It is essential for the Indigenous to have a closer look at world politics and the way the boundaries are being shifted, either by ‘stable’ or ‘rogue’ nation states and multinationals. Furthermore, it is important for them to engage with the narratives that are influencing technologically advanced nations and to critique the ways in which Indigenous are being positioned in those influential films. We Indigenous must ask ourselves is there an imbalance? If so how do we participate in that rebalancing for the future generations? This critique however, needs to be from an Indigenous understanding or jurisprudence of the laws of creation. There is no point arguing from a Western constructed ‘rights’ argument because it is based on an understanding of creation as something ‘man’ has dominion or stewardship over. Furthermore, the legal argument of ‘rights’ assumes a power over nature, a power which those of little historical and cultural capital – other than that of the American Dream or the British Way of Life believe they are in a position to make decisions. Rather than as an Indigenous legal regime would point to – that humans are merely a species, which is patterned into an overall whole. A whole, which when disturbed in one part, alters the balance of that whole. Therefore any decisions about the alteration of creation is a decision in which the whole of the planet must have a say, as that’s how all encompassing this kind of technological engineering is – or as I would say – technological interference!

 

Christine Morris

Christine Morris -. is a descendant of the Kombumerri and Munaljahlai clans of South-East Queensland, Australia. She is a doctoral candidate in the School of Law, Griffith University, Australia. Her present fields of specialization and research interest include Indigenous jurisprudence, intellectual property, media studies, biodiversity and the ethics of genetic engineering. She has carried out extensive research in Indigenous communities throughout Australia in relation to media and intellectual property issues. As well as activity involved in the revitalization of her own peoples language – Yugumbeh. Her work has been published nationally and internationally. She is a former producer/presenter for Australia's Radio National Broadcasting Corp. She was also the guest editor for the Literature section of the Encyclopedia of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. She has participated as an expert panelist in the UN’s Convention on Biodiversity forum on issues relating to genetic technology and Indigenous communication systems. She has also advised the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) on economic and cultural policy issues.


Notes

1 This paper has been presented at three legal conference; Critical Legal Conference, Sth Africa, Law, Humanities and Culture, Connecticut and Galactic Jurisprudence, Australia. Thanks to support and encouragement of my supervisor, DrWilliam MacNeil, Griffith Uni. Australia

2 Christine Morris, Kombumerri/Munaljahlai clans, Australia. Phd Candidate, Griffith University, Faculty of Law.

3 I have also Celtic and Romany heritage

4 http://www.thezreview.co.uk/dvdreviews/s/sixthdayse.htm Roger Spottiswoode, 2000

5 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4563607.stm

6 Wells, H.G. The Island of Doctor Moreau. 1896 (This is a story about a man after being rescued and brought to an island, the man discovers that it's inhabitants are experimental animals being turned into strange looking humans, all of it the work of a visionary doctor.)

7 Lucas Ltd, 2000

8 Temuera Morrison is an international actor from New Zealand. http://www.answers.com/topic/temuera-morrison

9 http://www.thezreview.co.uk/dvdreviews/s/sixthdayse.htm

10 Wells, H.G. (1901)

11 Orwell, George; (1946) Animal Farm

12 http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/genes/competition/index.shtml

13 McKie, R. Feb, 10,2002 Doctors are developing artificial wombs in which embryos can grow outside a woman's body. The work has been hailed as a breakthrough in treating the childless.

14 House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, Inquiry into the Scientific, Ethical and Regulatory Aspects of Human Cloning and Stem Cell Research. - Hearing presentation given Canberra, 29th March, 2000 Parliament House, Canberra

15 Orwell, George, (1946) Animal Farm

16 Wells, H.G. (1901) Time Machine

17 A Keynote presenter: Thematic programmes of work—progress reports on implementation: agricultural biological diversity - Potential impacts of the application of genetic use restriction technologies on indigenous and local communities and on Farmers’ Rights
REF: UNEP/CBD/COP/6/INF/ 28 February 2002

18 Bridges Consortium II - New Media Symposium on October 4 – 6, 2002. http://www.banffcentre.ca/bnmi/bridges/ [Editor's Note: The Aboriginal Collaboration was organized in conjunction with but quite separate from the Bridges Consortium conference. The collaboration examined the Drumbeats to Drumbytes think-tank report of 1994 to assess elements of contemporary and future relevance to Aboriginal new media art production and networks. http://drumbytes.org/about/timeline.php ]

19 Morris, C. (2004) “Shape-shifting Through Reality: The Interactivity of Parallel Universes in the Daily Life of the Ancients” in Punt, M. From the Extraordinary to the Uncanny: The Unusual and Inexplicable in Art, Science and Technology, Leonardo Electronic Almanac, MIT Press Vol 12, No 11 November, 2004

20 Attack of the Clones, Lucas Film Ltd

21 Lucas Ltd, http://www.lucasfilm.com/

22 http://www.starwars.com/themovies/

23 http://www.jcf.org/

24 http://www.answers.com/topic/temuera-morrison

25 Once We Were Warriors (1995) directed by Lee Tamahori

26 http://www.starwars.com/databank/character/jangofett/index.html

27 Sub-Regional Workshop on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge, Brisbane, Australia, June 25 to 27, 2001

28 http://www.biowatch.org.za/dharry.htm

29 Sandy Morrison, Senior Lecturer, School of Maori and Pacific Development, Waikato University

30 Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) director John Frankenheimer

31 Wells, H.G. The Island of Doctor Moreau. 1896

32 http://www.thezreview.co.uk/dvdreviews/s/sixthdayse.htm

33 http://www.gnomon.com.au/movies/alex-rieneck/thesixthday.shtml

34 http://www.genetics-and-society.org/analysis/promodeveloping/pet.html

35 http://www.savingsandclone.com/

36 http://www.clonaid.com/

37 El Salvador Phd student

38 Wells, H.G. The Island of Doctor Moreau. 1896.

39 Lord of the Rings – Part 1: The Fellowship of the Ring, director Peter Jackson, filmed in New Zealand Internet Movie Database entry at http://us.imdb.com/Title?0120737, based on novel by JRR Tokien (1955)

40 Graham, Mary, personal communication 4/2003

41 Wilmut, I., Campbell, K. & Tudge, C. (2000) The Second Creation, Headline Book Pub, London p.247

42 http://www.rael.org/english/index.html

43 http://www.clonaid.com/

44 http://www.heise.de/tp/english/inhalt/co/2621/1.html

45 http://citdpress.utsc.utoronto.ca/osteology/cybulski.html

46 http://www.rz.uni-frankfurt.de/~ecstein/gen/iatp/ipr-info7.html

47 Moore v. Regents of the University of California et al., California Supreme Court. (1985) and Moore vs. Regents of the University of California, 793 P.2d 479, 271 Cal. Rptr 146 (1990).

48 McKibben, B. (2003) Staying Human in an Engineered Age, Henry Holt & Co., US
 

 
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