Tag Archive for 'indigenous'Page 13 of 91

10
Aug

Yakoana - The Voice of Indigenous Peoples

Yakoana - The Voice of Indigenous Peoples, is documentary film about the First World Conference of Indigenous Peoples, which took place in the jungles of Brazil in the summer of 1992.

Bringing together nearly 1000 representatives from 92 Indigenous Nations around the world, the conference was organized in lieu of United Nations Earth Summit, which took place on week after the conference, in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro.

The Earth summit was attended by leaders from all major industrial States to discuss the world’s growing environmental crisis - however, only one indigenous representative was permitted to speak. The participants of indigenous conference chose Marcos Terena, who founded the first indigenous political movement in Brazil in the 1970s, to represent them.

The United Nations gave Marcos five minutes to speak. It is said, however, that in those five minutes Terena broke 500 years of silence.

In …

Published on
August 10, 2008
  0 Comments 743 views

09
Aug

Highlighting the Struggles of Indigenous People

With today, August 9th, being the United Nations International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, I thought I would highlight a few of the Struggles facing Indigenous People… the vast majority of which the United Nations seems to completely ignore.

North America

Algonquins of Barriere lake - Located about 400 km north of Montreal, Quebec, the Algonquin community is struggling to regain control after the government unjustly deposed their traditional government and placed them under third party management.

Mi’kmaq and Maliseet - These two Indigenous Nations, along with so many others in Canada, are poised to resist the encroachment and destruction of their land by the Uranium industry.

Ihanktunwan - In South Dakota, the Ihanktunwan People (Yankton Sioux) are resisting an industrial hog farm being constructed right beside them. The resistance culminated a couple months ago, with state troopers encroaching on their land to defend …

Published on
August 9, 2008
  0 Comments 1,128 views

08
Aug

Barriere Lake Call for Endorsements and Support

The Barriere Lake Solidarity collective is asking groups and organizations to endorse a list of demands issued by the Algonquins of Barriere Lake.

Located about 400 km north of Montreal, Quebec, the Algonquin community was unjustly placed under third party management earlier this year by the Federal Government.

The Algonquins are demanding that the government revoke this management status (something that should be reserved for bankrupt corporations, not indigenous communities with sovereign rights) and that it stops interfering with their internal governance practices. Among other demands, they are also urging the Province of Quebec to honour the agreements it signed with the community, including the 1991 Trilateral and 1998 Bilateral agreements.

See below for the full list of demands and the solidarity collective’s request for its endorsement.

A CALL FOR ENDORSEMENTS AND SOLIDARITY

Dear friends and allies –

As you might know, in March the …

Published on
August 8, 2008
  1 Comment 493 views

07
Aug

UN ‘clean development’ money sought for dam that threatens Indigenous People

The US company Allied Energy Systems (AES) is trying to get funding from the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) for the Chan 75, a hydro project in Panama that threatens to displace more than 1,000 indigenous Ngobe from their lands, and cause significant destruction to the environment.

Panama’s Alliance for Conservation and Development (ACD) explains in a recent article, “The dam’s construction is currently taking place in the Palo Seco Protected Forest within the La Amistad Biosphere Reserve, in the Bocas Del Toro region of Panama. Yet the Chan 75 project does not comply with the guidelines of the World Commission on Dams. The construction threatens the La Amistad International Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site shared by Panama and Costa Rica, and part of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. Earlier this year, BBC News reported the discovery of three new species of …

Published on
August 7, 2008
  0 Comments 491 views

03
Aug

Public Health Report Quietly Released in Canada

Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. David Butler-Jones, released his first annual Report on the State of Public Health in Canada a few weeks ago.

There’s been little to no commentary about the report since it was released — be it from the government or the general public. It’s almost like it doesn’t even exist — a sad irony considering its purpose is “to inform Canadians and stimulate discussion of the many factors that contribute to good health and what can be done individually and collectively to advance public health in Canada.”

The report offers some particularly important considerations. For instance, it points to “cultural preservation and continuity, as well as living in communities with self-government, settled land claims, and access to self-managed education, health, cultural and policing services” as having positive benefits to indigenous peoples health. How many government officials do you know that …

Published on
August 3, 2008
  2 Comments 892 views

02
Aug

The people of Nigeria versus Shell

The people of Nigeria versus Shell is a short 5 minute video that discusses a new legal effort against Royal Dutch Shell.

On May 15th 2008, Friends of the Earth Netherlands, her Nigerian sister organization ERA and four Nigerian plaintiffs took legal action against Royal Dutch Shell over a series of oil spills in the Niger Delta.

The plaintiffs, farmers and fishermen from the villages of Goi (Ogoniland), Ikot Ada Udo and Orumain, have seen considerable damage to their lands and communities as a result of the spills.

“Due to the oil spill and accompanying fire, my land was destroyed: my fish ponds, my canoes, my vegetable gardens and fruitbearing trees that I planted. I was left behind empty-handed. I hope that the judge in the Netherlands can force Shell to take the right action. That is where my hope lies, ” says one of the plaintiffs, …

Published on
August 2, 2008
  0 Comments 804 views

01
Aug

Underreported Struggles #16

Indigenous peoples and farmers faced multiple attacks in Guatemala last month; while in Brazil, the government began preparing to station military forces on indigenous lands circling the border. In Canada, the Takla Lake First Nation continued blocking access roads on their territory, and in Fafak, 46 West Papuans were arrested, beaten, and humiliated for holding a flag-raising ceremony.

Meanwhile, Indigenous People in Guam, Papua New Guinea, Peru, India, America, Bolivia and elsewhere, positioned themselves to resist a series of new development projects that threaten to devastate their lands, contaminate their waters, and help destroy their way of life.

Underreported Struggles #16, July 2008

July 30
Brazil army to permanently occupy indigenous territories
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed a decree last week to permanently station the military on every indigenous reserve along the border. The indigenous peoples are concerned the army will start taking their …

Published on
August 1, 2008
  0 Comments 528 views

Video activism and the Chiapas Media Project

In the following presentation, Claudia Magallanes-Blanco from the University of Western Sydney talks about the role of video activism as a world-wide tool for empowerment and the Chiapas Media Project, a collaborative effort based in Mexico that provides indigenous Zapatistas in Chiapas and peasants in Guerrero with training and equipment to produce their own videos.

Since forming in 1998, CMP has distributed over 6000 videos, including: Zapata’s Garden, a film that looks at the society the Zapatista’s are building; …


I Am A Defender of the Rainforest

Known as ‘Soy defensor de la selva’ in Spanish, I am a Defender of the Rainforest is an award-winning documentary that was filmed, edited, and directed by members of the Sarayaku community in southern Ecuador.

The film shows how the …


Underreported Struggles #19, October 2008

In this month’s Underreported Struggles: 400,000 Guatemalans Reject Development Model, Philippines Indigenous People Unite for the Land, Riot Police Target Algonquin Blockade, Chagos Islanders Denied the Right of Return, and 17 other stories …


Top
Hosted by May First / People Link