Following up the story published last week about Via Campesina’s “week of mobilization for Agrarian Reform and against the violence of big land-owners”, the women of Via Campesina and the Landless Workers Movement of Brazil organized several other actions to report—most notably, against the transnational companies Monsanto, and Syngenta.

On Friday, hundreds of women entered a research plant near Brazil’s capital of Sao Paolo, destroying a greenhouse and an experimentation field for the MON810 strain of GM corn. Patended by Monstanto, the strain was recently banned in France over concerns that it …

The Rural Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) has blockaded eight roads in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. This action comes in response to the “violence and abuses” committed against 900 women two days ago.

Organized as part of a “week of mobilization for Agrarian Reform and against the violence of big land-owners”, the women of La Via Campesina decided to occupy a plot of land that was illegally acquired by the Swedish-Finnish company Stora Enso.

According to Via Campesina, Brazilian law states foreigners cannot own land that’s “less …

The following article is an opinion piece featured in the most recent edition of the World Rainforest Movement’s Monthly Bulletin. If you would like to read or download the entire Bulletin, please visit www.wrm.org.uy (it’s available in English, Spanish , Portuguese and French)

Aridity and death vs diversity and fertility: a women’s view of plantations

International Women’s day is around the corner and we would like to pay homage to the countless women struggling for their rights by sharing parts of a recent research (1) carried out by two women …

The International Indian Treaty Council will soon present the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination with a document that reveals America’s legacy of systemic racism, forced assimilation and apartheid of Indigenous Peoples.

The 87-page Consolidated Indigenous Shadow Report, which has been prepared with testimony from a number of individuals, covers issues such as: environmental racism, border injustices, the destruction of sacred places, violence against women, and most tellingly, the “overwhelming disparities in income, life expectancy, poverty and unemployment” in what can only be described as a system of …

For more than a decade, the cities of Chihuahua and Juarez, near the US-Mexico border, have been killing fields for young women. Over 400 women have been murdered and an additional 4000 women have gone missing since 1993.

As relayed on the Juarez Project website,

“A significant number of victims work in the maquiladora sector - sweatshops that produce for export, with 90% destined for the United States. The maquiladoras employ mainly young women, at poverty level wages. In combination with lax environmental regulations and low tariffs under the North …

Honor the Earth, a group that’s comprised of representatives from the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) and the Indigenous Women’s Network (IWN) is currently accepting proposals for funding to help Native-led organizations in Canada and the US who work in the areas of: Environmental & Energy Justice, Community Development, and Youth. The grants range from $1,000- $5,000. Proposals are due January 15th, 2007.

Please visit this page for a full explanation of the application procedures.

[PLEASE DISTRIBUTE FAR AND WIDE]

Request for Proposals
Honor the Earth is currently soliciting …

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 …

In the following video, you will hear Indigenous scholar and activist Andrea Smith give a lecture on the topic of her book, “Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide.” The lecture took place in Grand Rapids, Michigan on February 7, 2006.

In the first portion of the lecture, Andrea, a co-founder of INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, primarily focuses on two issues: sexual violence within Indigenous communities, and the role of sexual violence and patriarchy in colonial policy.

She explores, for one, how America historically came to see the subjugation of women as a necessary to exert colonial …

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 …

Following the return of Women for Wik, a group of prominent Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian women, an International Women’s Day of Action has been planned for Friday, October 19th to protest against the Australian Government’s action in Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory.

Women for Wik, originally formed in 1997 to combat the Howard Government’s attempts to extinguish native title, is calling on Australian women around the world to organise similar events on October 19.

(There are several other National and International events in the works aswell. )

Worldwide Women’s Protest Against Federal Action In The Northern Territory
An …