Indigenous Sovereignty

Tribes Mount Organized Responses To COVID-19

January 9, 2021 Lisa Hardy, Gwendolyn Saul and Kerry F. Thompson, The Conversation. Create! COVID-19, health, Indigenous Sovereignty, Land Rights

As the months roll by, the pandemic continues to hit Indigenous nations hard. But this phenomenon is not new. Epidemics have been part of colonialism since settlers arrived. Health inequities tell us that illnesses have different outcomes on different populations; however, leading medical professionals warn the general public of the dangers of oversimplifying health data. They don’t tell the whole story. And, in the case of Indigenous nations, the story of inequity is imbued with dispossession of lands and is met with organizing from the inside: two crucial points for untangling and responding to COVID-19.

Prayer Walk Demands Justice For Native Man Assaulted By US Feds

January 3, 2021 Telesur English. Resist! Indigenous Sovereignty, Land Reform, National Park, Police violence

Native groups have taken to Petroglyphs National Monument in Tiwa Territory, commonly known as Albuquerque, New Mexico, to demand justice for Darrell House, a native man who was brutally tasered by rangers of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS), while he offered prayers on a hike with his sister and dog one week ago. A prayer walk from Ogahpogeh (Santa Fe) arrived to the site on Saturday afternoon, as reported by The Red Nation's Nick Estes, who tweeted, "#JusticeforDarrell walk ended at Petroglyphs National Park. Askia Trujillo from Ohkay Owingeh led the prayer walk. Walkers are demanding the firing of the two rangers who brutalized Darrell and an apology and restitution, as well as #LandBack."

Battle Brewing In Canada Over Rights Of Indigenous Peoples

December 27, 2020 Brett Forester, APTN News. Educate! Canada, First Nations, Indigenous Sovereignty, United Nations

Non-Indigenous opponents fear it would give First Nations, Inuit and Metis too much power. Indigenous opponents fear it won’t give them enough. Supporters tout it as a leap forward on rights, title and reconciliation. Detractors say it strengthens the shackles of the colonial status quo. A battle is brewing over UNDRIP in and outside the halls of power – and a whole lot remains unclear. “As with any law, there’s unknowns,” said professor and legal scholar John Borrows, reached by phone a day after Justice Minister David Lametti tabled Bill C-15 in the House of Commons. “There’s unknowns with our Constitution. There’s unknowns with UNDRIP. But the fact that this has got a process to work through those unknowns is better than the free for all we have right now.”

UN Experts Concerned About Charges Against US Indigenous Leader

December 17, 2020 United Nations. Educate! Great Sioux Nation, Human Rights, Indigenous Sovereignty, United Nations

Nicholas Tilsen, human rights defender of the Oglala-Lakȟóta Sioux Nation and president of the indigenous-led NDN Collective, is due in court on 18 December, charged with four felonies and three misdemeanours after he and others blocked a road leading to a fireworks celebration event, led by President Donald Trump, which was held on 4 July at the South Dakota site in the Black Hills region. “Obviously we cannot pre-judge the outcome of the case against Nicholas Tilsen, but we are seriously concerned about his arrest and the charges brought against him in connection with the exercise of his rights as an indigenous person, particularly the right to assembly”, the five UN Special Rapporteurs said.

Statement On The Defense Of Chi’chil Bildagoteel, Oak Flat

December 11, 2020 the Alliance for Global Justice, Popular Resistance. Resist! Indigenous Sovereignty, Mining, Oak Flat, Sacred sites

The Alliance for Global Justice stands in solidarity with Apache Clans and over 300 Native Nations who seek to protect the Oak Flat site of south-eastern Arizona from devastating copper mining extraction. For over ten years, the San Carlos Apache and neighboring tribes have mobilized to prevent the destruction of this sacred land, which for centuries has been revered as a holy site by the Apache. Oak Flat holds the history, lives and prayers of at least eight Apache Clans and two Apache Western Bands, is home to a wealth of medicinal and edible plants, burial grounds and water sources rising from the Apache Leap Tuff aquifer.

Indigenous Women Lead Land Struggle Against Wealthiest People In The US

November 29, 2020 The Red Nation. Resist! Development, Indigenous Sovereignty, Land defenders, New York (NY)

While the United States shudders in the shambles of another election year, whether from a collective sigh of relief or fear of what’s to come, a different system of governance blooms in a swath of woodlands jutting into the Atlantic Ocean. This sandy shoreline now part of what is called Long Island has always been home to the Shinnecock people. A group of Shinnecock women, organized as the Warriors of the Sunrise, are called to rise up in the face of invasive settlement. This is not their first battle. Members of the Shinnecock Nation know of a time before there was a Southampton

Iowa Tribe Creates National Park

November 26, 2020 AP News. Create! Indigenous Sovereignty, Kansas, Land Right, Nebraska

Lincoln, NE — The Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska is creating the nation's largest tribal national park on a forested bluff overlooking the Missouri River and a historic site of its people. The 444-acre park will allow the tribe to tell the story of the Ioway people and provide a rustic getaway where people can hike, camp and bird-watch, said Lance Foster, the tribe's vice chairman. "We've been here for 1,000 years now and, unlike other people who can buy and sell land and move away, we can never move away," Foster said. "This is our land forever. And we'll be here for another 1,000 years."

Trump Administration Is Rushing To Mine Sacred Tribal Land

November 26, 2020 Carly Nairn, Ecowatch. Educate! Arizona, Indigenous Sovereignty, Mining, Trump Administration

In yet another attack on the environment before leaving office, the Trump administration is seeking to transfer ownership of San Carlos Apache holy ground in Oak Flat, Arizona, to a copper mining company. The administration pushed to finish the environmental review process, a necessary step to transfer ownership to copper mining company Resolution Copper, and its two parent companies Rio Tinto and BHP, to December 2020, almost a full year ahead of the planned completion. "The Trump administration is cutting corners and doing a rushed job just to take care of Rio Tinto..."

Indigenous Activists Are Occupying The Hamptons Until Thanksgiving

November 25, 2020 Loretta Graceffo, Waging Nonviolence. Resist! Day of Mourning, Indigenous Sovereignty, Legal System, New York (NY)

Between the Atlantic Ocean and the Peconic Bay of Long Island, there is an isthmus known as Canoe Place. Thousands of years ago, the land was where the native Shinnecock tribe carried their canoes during travel. Today, the territory is surrounded by the glitzy luxury housing of the Hamptons. It is also the site of Sovereignty Camp 2020, where Indigenous Shinnecock activists have been demanding justice for their people since the beginning of November. The occupation is being led by the Warriors of the Sunrise, a group made up mostly of Shinnecock elders who are affectionately known by their community as “the Grandmothers.”

Houseless Camp: ‘It’s A Sovereign Place’

November 15, 2020 Stewart Huntington, Indian Country Today. Create! Houseless, Indigenous culture, Indigenous Sovereignty, South Dakota

Rapid City, SD - When Lakota activists set up a camp for homeless relatives in this Black Hills town last month, the police descended immediately and shut it down. The response? The activists quickly moved the encampment to trust land just outside of town. Today the camp, built on traditional values and teachings, is flourishing. “They’re giving the people a chance to have somewhere to sleep and live like they used to a long time ago, like the ancestors, you know? ”

Open Letter From Williams Family About Police Intimidation At Land Back Lane

October 29, 2020 the Williams Family, Yellowhead Institute. Resist! Canada, Indigenous Sovereignty, Land defenders, Police abuse

About a hundred years ago, in 1927, when First Nation peoples were increasingly organizing land claims, the federal government amended the Indian Act to make it illegal for anyone to fundraise for First Nation peoples’ legal representation. It also made it illegal for any litigator to represent any First Nation person in a judicial proceeding. The penalty for such activity was a fine and/or imprisonment. As Haudenosaunee people continue to fight the colonial theft of land along the Grand River, the government still criminalizes our resistance.

Police Use Violence Against Land Defenders At Land Back Lane

October 23, 2020 Christopher Curtis, Ricochet Media. Resist! Development, Indigenous Sovereignty, Land defenders, Police violence

Six Nations, Ontario - An argument between police and land defenders erupted in violence Thursday when officers tried to arrest someone outside a protest camp on Haudenosaunee territory. Witnesses say police fired at least six rubber bullets and tasered a young man after someone threw a rock at their cruiser. In the ensuing chaos, Ontario Provincial Police fell back to a reinforced position about 500 metres from the camp’s back entrance. “I was hit right in the fucking back,” said one young man, who did not want to be identified.

Land Grab Universities

October 14, 2020 Robert Lee and Tristan Ahtone, High Country News. Educate! Higher Education, Indigenous Sovereignty, Land grabs, Land theft

On August 29, 1911, a Yahi man known as Ishi came out of hiding near Oroville, California. He had spent decades evading settlers after the massacre of his community in the 1860s and had recently lost the last of his family. Whisked off to the University of California’s anthropology museum, he was described by the press as the “last wild Indian.” Ishi spent his final years living at the museum. When he wasn’t explaining his language to researchers or making arrow points for visitors, he swept the floors with a straw broom as a janitor’s assistant.

Wet’suwet’en Women Occupy Pipeline Drillsite To Protect Their Sacred Headwaters

October 14, 2020 Gidimt'en Checkpoint. Resist! climate crisis, Coastal GasLink Pipeline, Indigenous Rights, Indigenous Sovereignty

Coastal GasLink has called in the RCMP to try and remove Wet’suwet’en community members and Indigenous youth as they hold a ceremony at a proposed drill site for Coastal Gaslink’s pipeline. Coastal Gaslink has been evicted from our territories by the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs – who have full jurisdiction over Wet’suwet’en lands. As CGL continues to trespass, we will do everything in our power to protect our waters and to uphold our laws. We will not let CGL break our Wet’suwet’en laws and drill under the headwaters of the Wedzin Kwa river, which nourishes all of Wet’suwet’en territory.

Breaking The Cycle Of Colonization

October 6, 2020 Climate Justice Alliance. Create! colonization, Indigenous Rights, Indigenous Sovereignty

Indigenous peoples have suffered and continue to suffer from historic injustices as a result of dehumanization and racism and the colonization and dispossession of their lands, territories and resources, preventing them from exercising, in particular, their right of self-determination in accordance with their own needs and interests, extending to their rights affirmed in treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements entered into with the United States and its several States. We must address the urgent need to respect and promote their inherent rights as peoples.

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