Systems, Land, And Collective Resistance
One of the most important ideas I take from The Red Deal is that tyranny does not always appear through the image of one bad ruler. It can also live inside systems that control land, resources, communities, and the conditions of people’s lives. These readings help expand the unit beyond individual characters who misuse power and ask students to think about how power can be built into larger structures. It also introduces resistance as something collective, not only individual. In this section, students will consider how communities respond when systems of oppression create harm, and how land, survival, responsibility, and justice are connected.
The Red Deal shifts from individual rulers to systems. The Red Nation argues that climate crisis, colonialism, capitalism, land theft, extraction, policing, and militarism are interconnected. This helps me teach students that injustice may continue not only because one bad person makes one bad choice, but because many rules, habits, and institutions support the harm. It states, “what creates crisis cannot solve it” and it challenges solutions that leave the underlying structure unchanged.[23] Resistance, in this framework, does not depend on one heroic act or individual. It comes from organized communities, Indigenous sovereignty, land relationships, and action from below.
Short excerpt for students: “What creates crisis cannot solve it.” This statement is concise enough for fifth graders to unpack. Students can explain what crisis means, what creates means, and why a system causing harm may not be able to repair that harm without changing.
Student-facing language: A system is a group of parts that work together. If the system is unfair, changing one person may not be enough. Collective resistance means people work together to change the conditions that keep causing harm.
Connection to the novel: Pyrrhia is divided into territories that shape the identities and powers of dragon tribes. It is divided by tribes, lands, war alliances, and rival claims to rule. Students can map the system of the SandWing succession war: queen competing for power, tribes choosing sides, ordinary dragons living with fear, and the prophecy becoming part of the political systems. Students can also examine other maps and ask how land is represented: as home, resource, border, inheritance, or prize. These activities could help move the class beyond “find the villain” toward “identify the pattern.” This discussion will remain grounded in the fantasy text and prepare them to recognize that land conflicts in history are also conflicts over survival, culture, and relationship.
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