The Tightrope of Power

Episode 9 of Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World

How do tribal societies maintain social order and harmony without the vast legal institutions that we rely on? The tribal practice of democracy through consensus is put to the test when members of Canada's Objibwa-Cree tribe have a constitutional struggle with the federal government and the Mohawk community squares off against the Canadian army in Oka, Quebec. Cultural survival is rooted both in the recognition of land rights and native language education.