Treaty People Gathering boosts pressure on disputed oil pipeline
BEMIDJI, Minnesota — Massive direct actions to stop Line 3 tar-sands crude-oil pipeline construction here in Native Anishinaabe ancestral territory launched a weeklong Treaty People Gathering on June 7. Attracting an estimated 2,000 participants, the occasion was “the beginning of a summer of resistance,” according to Indigenous-led groups, communities of faith, and climate justice organizations hosting it.
Anti-Pipeline Grandmothers Launch Treaty People Gathering
ST. PAUL, Minnesota – At the state Governor’s Mansion on Anishinaabe (Ojibway) ancestral land, 1,000 grandmothers rallied “for future generations” May 26th. They timed the event to punctuate a call from organizers worldwide urging allies to attend the Treaty People Gathering for non-violent direct actions against oil pipelines during the first week of June 2021. […]
As Odysseus prepared to depart to the Trojan War, he left the supervision of his son Telemachus’s education to an old and trusted friend, Mentor. Many of us have had the gift of a mentor or mentors, whose words and deeds coupled with a personal relationship have guided and inspired our lives and our activism […]
Dental Floss, Radium Poisoning and the Green New Deal
How much do you know about the radioactive history of the radium industry? I recently watched the Radium Girls on Netflix, which reminded me of the brutal abuses suffered by radium workers (often women). Radium Girls were the young women who painted luminous watch faces with radium paint and were taught by their supervisors to […]
México: The 4th Transformation in a Global Context
It is becoming clear that the future of the planet is red and green. It is equally clear that Mexico’s situation is neither exclusive nor unique, but rather replicates what is happening on a global scale, where the citizens of the world take on diverse forces in order to reduce, stop or suppress the double exploitation that a minority of minorities is imposing on the work of humans and of nature. The enormous ignorance prevailing among leaders and theorists of Mexican emancipation about what is taking place in the rest of the world, limits and reveals them. It is not only about keeping in mind the social and environmental struggles of Latin America, but of many other regions.
Keystone XL Cancellation: Honoring the Treaties?
Utterances of relief and gratitude rippled through Indian Country on Inaugural Day Jan. 20, as U.S. President Joe Biden announced an executive order revoking the Keystone XL Pipeline’s permit for construction opposed by tribes along its proposed route through unceded 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaty
territory.
'We’re not feminists, we’re the law'
Film tells how the matrilineal Iroquois Confederacy has been influencing public policy over time.
'Honor the Earth' vs. Enbridge Line 3 Oil Pipeline
“This would be like ripping out the heart of the Anishinaabe people,” said Sarah LittleRedfeather, Anishinaabe graphic designer, referring to Enbridge’s Line 3 Replacement tar sands oil pipeline. “To us, that water is life. It’s a being and a spirit.”
Blue October: The month that was, the future that will be
As I write, a very red Mars is approaching a Blue Moon – the second full moon of the season, and the first blue moon on a Halloween in a long, long time. Astrologers are having a field day with the particular lineup of planets that are traversing our heavens this election season, and while […]
Exploring Sovereignty with the Women of Standing Rock
We are inviting all women-folk/femme-folk to join some panels and talking circles by sisters, aunties and grandmas of all nations as we discuss the meaning and practice of sovereignty.
Farmers Rain on Monsanto's Parade
A crisis facing Mexican corn farmers emerged decades ago as corporate giant Monsanto pushed to get the country to use its GMO corn seed. As a result, a movement was spawned to prevent industrial agriculture from threatening the sustainability of thousands of years of farming tradition. In February, we visited Oaxaca to report on an […]
Monday Mourning Jailhouse Reflections
Art, non-violent civil disobedience and protest do work. While I am proud of the action, I want to talk about a part of this work that few folks are discussing — how we can and must continue the work where it is needed most: IN THE JAILS.
Video Series: Juneteenth Voices Demand Change
In the wake of the nationwide rebellion ignited by the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the hands of police office Derek Chauvin and his three accomplices on the Minneapolis Police Department, the nation — and the world — have risen in outrage. As the nation enters its fourth week of the resulting […]
Whatever I was expecting, Brendon Tucker was not it. A young man with a big presence in the Brownsville/Matamoros humanitarian community, he’s the Angry Tías favorite nephew and Team Brownsville’s prodigal son; the backbone of GRM and the right and left hands of Resource Center Matamoros (RCM). While only 25, his journey here is fascinating, for Tucker was brought up on a diet of right-wing media and racist bile.
Feed what you want to grow — not what you want to go away.
When Aunties and Grannies Become Activists
What Cindy, Nayelly, Jennifer and Joyce saw was injustice, plain and simple. They were angry. They began a coordinated response to the humanitarian crisis unfolding before their eyes: not only at the bridges, but at courthouses, detention centers, bus stations, and processing centers all across the Rio Grande Valley.
Thanks to the coronavirus, we as humanity are currently learning something very precious. We’re learning how powerful and efficient something incredibly tiny can be when it resonates with a latent field. This tiny thing, in this case, is a virus. The latent field is fear – an immense, collective fear of the future: an ingredient […]
Protecting our Guardians in Oaxaca
It was an unusual Calenda (traditional procession) even for Oaxaca, a city used to these colorful, musical and boisterous parades often led by giant puppets (monos) and a marching band for weddings, quinceañeras, and religious observances. This specific Calenda was dedicated to the protection of the guardians of native corn, to defenders of ecological diversity, […]
A Different Kind of COP25 in Santiago de Chile
Coyote Alberto Ruz Reports from People’s Summit, Peace Village and International Rights of Nature Tribunal
Lyla June candidacy takes aim at addiction to fossil fuels
Indigenous Water Protector, environmental scientist, internationally recognized musician sets sights on the New Mexico House of Representatives.
The Devastation of the Chiquitanía in the decline of Evo Morales
The year that is coming to an end will be remembered in Bolivia not only for the hurricane winds that drove the fall of Evo Morales, the country’s first indigenous president; but also because of the fires those winds brought with them. They burned forests, ecological reserves, indigenous territories and national parks in eight of […]
Greta Thunberg’s North American tour continues this week in Los Angeles with a visit to the Youth Climate Los Angeles event at City Hall on Friday, November 1st. If you’re wondering why her attention has come to California, which has an image as being one of the most progressive and greenest states in the US, you might be surprised to learn that Los Angeles actually has the largest urban oil field in the nation.
Native Flower Rebellion in Argentina
As the Extinction Rebellion shuts down the system in the North, Indigenous women in Argentina stage an uprising of their own. The Native Flower Rebellion, they are calling it: an occupation of “self-convoked” Mapuche, Qom and other Indigenous women have traveled from all corners of the republic to demand an accounting from their government, and to unite in a powerful message: The Terricide must stop.
Greta and Tokata at the Front Lines
On a world tour for climate justice, Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg visited Native America Oct. 6-8, attracting a gymnasium full of enthusiasts at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, leading a march on Rapid City Hall alongside youth climate leader Tokata Iron Eyes, and speeding off to the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation.
A village of women in resistance
TEMACAPULIN, Jalisco, Mexico — Amid the green of Los Altos de Jalisco, hiding at the bottom of a valley, lies a village in resistance. In Temaca, as it’s affectionately known, a band of women have vowed to fight to the end to preserve their territory and their dignity. The women — and the men — […]
From Climate Scientist to Climate Activist
Climate scientist Heather Price’s personal testimony jumped out on my news feed the other day like a lighthouse in the fog. She wrote of her gradual awakening to the gravity of the climate crisis, her highly relatable reluctance to speak out in the face of professional pressure, and the way that colleagues, activists, and finally […]
Many Standing Rocks: Three Years and Still Fighting
The third anniversary of the Water Protectors movement at Standing Rock passed by quietly earlier this month. With the pipeline construction industry booming across the U.S. and Canada, Donald Trump seeking to bulldoze the cancelled Keystone XL Pipeline through more than 800 miles of unceded Lakota treaty territory, and at least nine state governments working […]
Writing for our childrens' future
Call it democratization of the media, call it citizen journalism, or simply call it frontline storytelling – The Esperanza Project is empowering the voices of people on the flashpoints of movements for social and environmental justice from Argentina to Ecuador, Panama to Mexico, and of course back at our home base in the U.S. of […]
She Started a Movement that Speaks for the Forests
It’s not every day that one bumps into a visionary – but it seems to be happening more often these days. On the “dance floor” of a very special beach party, on the wild Pacific Coast of Oaxaca, we found ourselves face to face with the founder of a movement to protect those rare and […]