Delegates from the Wixárika traditional authorities were in New York and Vancouver the third week of May, defending their right to protect their sacred lands from exploitation by a Canadian mining company.
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Delegates from the Wixárika traditional authorities were in New York and Vancouver the third week of May, defending their right to protect their sacred lands from exploitation by a Canadian mining company.
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Cultural Survival partners took the fight over a Panamanian dam to the company responsible in April, challenging executives of the AES Corporation over Indigenous rights and environmental violations at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting. Ngöbe community member Bernardino Morales joined representatives of the Center for Biological Diversity and the Harvard International Human Rights Clinic in condemning the company for its failure to follow through on promised compensation plans for Ngöbe communities that will be flooded and destroyed by the dam being built on the Changuinola River.
The people of Bangladesh continue to protest the construction of a large coal mine in the Northwest region of Phulbari. The mine will displace thousands of Indigenous people and destroy their agricultural lands. Cultural Survival launched a letter-writing campaign in February, 2011 to prevent this mine's construction.
A recent article, “Displacing People For Profit: Obama Administration Supports Controversial Coal Project in Bangladesh,” written by Christine Shearer and Joshua Frank and published by Ale
In a very effective short film documentary, Indigenous villagers speak about everything they have lost and may yet lose as the Ramu nickel mine project affects their lands and their lives. A court is currently hearing the case of coastal clans who are trying to prevent the Chinese mining company from dumping toxic waste from the Ramu mine and refinery into the Bismarck Sea.
After half a year of constant protests that were supported by Global Response campaigns, the Ngöbe people have proposed two bills to Panama’s National Assembly. One bill would revoke an executive decree that violates their right to freely choose their own political leadership. The other bill prohibits mining and dam construction that would negatively affect Ngöbe communities.
Muchas gracias to everyone who sent letters to the Mexican Senate in response to our appeal at the end of March! Our campaign was a success! After receiving 2,748 international letters in a single week, the Senate approved a “point of agreement,” that:
Mexico’s Secretariat for the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) is mailing replies to people who wrote letters in response to a Global Response campaign urging Mexican authorities to withdraw mining permits in the Wirikuta Cultural and Natural Reserve.
In a new initiative of the Guatemala Radio Project, Cultural Survival’s Guatemala based team is building capacity in a select group of community radio stations that have emerged as leaders within the broader movement of local radio stations in Guatemala. These ‘pilot’ radio stations will become hubs for information and training for emerging community radio stations in their geographic and linguistic areas.
A Mayan spiritual ceremony was held last Saturday, April 2nd, to celebrate the initiation of a new network of pilot radios stations broadcasting in rural communities of Guatemala. The day marked the 12th B’atz, a day which holds high levels of energy and represents strength in new beginnings. Nineteen Mayan priests and priestesses from the community radio station La X Musical in Cajola, Quetzaltenango participated in the ceremony. A Mayan ceremony begins and ends with prayers facing the
The OceanaGold mining company, which is building a mine in the Philippine community of Didipio, has announced plans to use $140 million from one of its New Zealand operations to restart and speed up construction of the Didipio mine, even as the Philippine Commission on Human Rights has recommended that the government revoke the company's license there. The mine is the subject of Global Response campaign and threatens the Indigenous inhabitants of Didipio and the forests of the mountain.
The following article is cross-posted from Upside Down World:
Every year, the Wixarika (Huichol) indigenous people of central west México walk 500 km to the sacred land of Wirikuta, where according to legend, the sun was born. Here, they collect jíkuri (peyote), carry out rituals of purification and come into communion with their gods, who give them blessings and guidance. In this way, they conserve their culture, maintain harmony with nature, and uphold a thousand-year-old tradition.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.