photo by Antonio Briceño

Earlier this month, a leader from the Kayapó delivered a letter to Brazil’s President, expressing a deep concern about a bill currently being debated in the Brazilian parliament which threatens to open up indigenous territories to mining and other development projects.

The letter, signed by 78 People from the Kayapó, Panará, Tapajuna and Yudjá Nations, warns that they will not accept mining on their lands without permission from the community; that …

March 2. 2008: Please note, there have been several updates posted in the comments since this article was initially posted. See the bottom of this post for an overview (includes petitions, media, and contact info)

Margo Tamez recently sent out the following urgent call for support, explaining that since July, her Mother and Elders of el Calaboz, Texas, have been the targets of numerous threats and harassments by the Border Patrol, Army Corps of Engineers, NSA, and the U.S. related to the proposed building of a fence on …

For those of you who may not have had the chance to listen to the live online broadcast of the Border Summit, here’s a good 20 hours of audio for you. A big thanks goes out to Earth Cycles for recording and making the audio available on their site.

A few days ago, the 2nd Indigenous Border Summit came to an end in the San Xavier District of the Tohono O’odham Nation.

The Summit brought together delegates and traditional authorities of 19 Indigenous Nations to exchange experiences and information about how the …

The situation has quited now, but for the past week violence has gripped the Nandigram region of West Bengal, India. Under the guise of “cleansing” the area of political rivalry, cadres said to be hired by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) began entering village after village; burning houses, forcibly occupying land, and destroying crops. Dozens if not hundreds of people were attacked, killed and even raped.

It all started on November 6, after several gunshots were fired at local farmers belonging to the Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC, Anti …

A few days before the Ontario Court of Appeals decision that favoured Whitefish Lake First Nation in Canada, there was another important court ruling South of the US/CAN border.

On October 29, Chief Judge Lisa Adams issued an order forcing the Native American Energy Group (N.A.E.G.) off the Pine Ridge reservation, declaring the company had been trespassing on Lakota Territory.

In a recent article, Ken Lesbock, the Director of the International Human Rights & Justice Project for Owe Aku, explains that earlier this year, the New York-based uranium mining …

A couple weeks ago, the Ontario Court of Appeals ruled that the Indigenous Community of Whitefish Lake (WLFN), who had their timber rights sold by the Crown for $316 in 1886, is now entitled to millions of dollars in compensation.

The three-judge panel concluded (pdf) that “the Crown breached its fiduciary duty to the Whitefish Lake Band of Indians 120 years ago” and is now owed equitable compensation for its breach.

In 1885, the Crown decided to sell the timber rights to 79 square miles at a price …

During the 14th Malaysian Law Conference, held two weeks ago in Kuala Lumpur, it would seem the lawyers got a bit of an education about indigenous life and the challenges facing the Indigenous People of Malaysia.

In the morning of the final day of the conference, there was a session entitled “Orang Asli and Our Constitution – Protecting Indigenous Customs and Cultural Rights.”

The first speaker in the hour was Dr. Ramy Bulan, from the Centre for Legal Pluralism and Indigenous Law at the University of Malaya. Dr. Bulan explained to the …

Teardrops Of Karnaphuli (Karnaphuli Kanna) tells the story of a dam that was constructed in the Karnaphuli region of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, and the resulting impoverishment and suffering that was brought on to local inhabitants. About 100,000 people were evicted from their land during 1959-1962.

This is but one of perhaps thousands of stories about the struggles of the Jumma People, who have since the 1970s gone from being nearly the sole inhabitants of the Chittagong Hill Tracts to being minorities on their own land. This film also discusses …

It’s fairly short notice, but Via Campesina has organized a Global Day of Action against Syngenta Seeds for the recent attack against the peaceful protest, during which a local MST leader, Valmir Mota de Oliviera (also known as Keno; pictured right) was shot dead. Several others were also injured and threatened.

See below for Via Campesina’s call to action, followed by some email addresses and sample letters you can send in Solidarity.

Thursday, 01 November 2007
Call to action for the 8th of November!

To: Organisations of Via Campesina, …

Over the weekend, Hollow Water took down the two blockades they set up nearly two months ago.

The decision came last week, shortly after the government threatened to move the Rice River winter road, which is the only land link between Winnipeg and half a dozen Indigenous Communities on the east side of Lake Winnipeg.

Removing the blockades, however was not so much a giving-in as it was a show of good faith to the MB Government–who has consistently also promised to talk with Hollow Water as long …