The Crimean Tatars are Turkic people who inhabited the Crimean peninsula, now a part of Ukraine, for over seven centuries. During World War II, the entire Tatar population was unjustly accused of being Nazi collaborators and deported en masse to Central Asia and other lands in the Soviet Union.

In 1967 a Soviet decree removed the charges against the Tatars, but the government did nothing to facilitate their resettlement or to make reparations for lost lives and confiscated property.

In the early 1990s, the Tatars began to return to their …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) is a small, remote, First Nation in Northern Ontario that was sued early last year by Platinex, a Toronto-based junior mining exploration company, for $10 Billion dollars. Platinex also sought out an injunction against KI so they could drill for platinum on their Traditional Territory without the community’s permission. In turn, KI submitted a counter-injunction…

In what was widely regarded a landmark decision, a few months later an Ontario Superior Court Judge ruled in favour of KI, ordering a moratorium on mining while the …

close up shot of 97 protesters holding up the recommendations from the ‘Little Children are Sacred’ report - recommendations which have been ignored in the Federal government’s heavy handed response. more photos here

On November 17, there is an international Day of Action for the Indigenous People in the Northern Territory of Australia, who have since June been the subjects of a thoroughly-planned-out draconian scheme that has undermined indigenous rights, done away with the …