indigenous

In Mesoamerican beliefs, a nahual (also called nagual or nawal (from Nahuatl: nahualli 'hidden, concealed, disguise') is a kind of sorcerer or supernatural being who has the ability to take animal form. The term refers both to the person who has this ability and to the animal itself that serves as his alter ego or animal guardian.

The concept is expressed in different native languages, with different meanings and contexts. Most commonly, nahualismo is the practice or ability of some people to become animals, elements of nature or to perform acts of witchcraft.

In Maya, the concept is expressed under the word chulel, which is understood precisely as "spirit"; the word derives from the root chul, which means "divine".

According to some traditions, it is said that each person, at the moment of birth, already has the spirit of an animal, which is in charge of protecting and guiding him or her. These spirits usually manifest themselves only as an image that advises in dreams or with a certain affinity to the animal that took the person as its protégé. A woman whose nahual was a mockingbird will have a privileged voice for singing, but not all have such a light contact: it is believed that the sorcerers and shamans of central Mesoamerica can create a very close bond with their nahuals, which gives them a series of advantages that they know how to take advantage of, the vision of the sparrow hawk, the wolf's wolfhound or the ocelot's ear affirm.

Beliefs

Naguals use their powers for good or evil according to their personality. The general concept of nagualism is pan-Mesoamerican. Nagualism is linked with pre-Columbian shamanistic practices through Pre-classic Olmec and Toltec depictions that are interpreted as human beings transforming themselves into animals. The system is linked with the Mesoamerican calendrical system, used for divination rituals. Birth dates often determine if a person can become a nagual. Mesoamerican belief in tonalism, wherein every person has an animal counterpart to which their life force is linked, is drawn upon by nagualism

The Western study of nagualism was initiated by archaeologist, linguist, and ethnologist Daniel Garrison Brinton who published Nagualism: A Study in Native-American Folklore and History, which chronicled historical interpretations of the word and those who practiced nagualism in Mexico in 1894. He identified various beliefs associated with nagualism in modern Mexican communities such as the Mixe, the Nahua, the Zapotec and the Mixtec.

Description

In Mexico, the name nahuales has been given to sorcerers who can change their shape. However, it is believed that contact with their nahuales is also common among shamans who seek to benefit their community, although they do not use the ability to transform; for them, the nahual is a form of introspection that allows those who practice it to have close contact with the spiritual world, thanks to which they easily find solutions to many of the problems that afflict those who seek their advice.

Since pre-Hispanic times, the gods of the Mayan, Toltec and Mexica cultures, among others, have been attributed the power to take the form of an animal (nahual) to interact with humans. Each deity used to take one or two forms; for example, Tezcatlipoca's nahual was the jaguar, although he indistinctly used the form of a coyote, and Huitzilopochtli's was a hummingbird. According to Michoacán traditions, the nahuales sometimes transform into elements of nature, and are sometimes confused with the graniceros, although there are similar references in various cultures that lend themselves to confusion, and it is likely an amalgam of other cultures where the change of form is to elements of nature and not to animals.

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Dozens of Indigenous women and girls from Greenland have said that they had intrauterine devices inserted without their consent in the 1960s and 1970s and have filed a complaint with the Danish government, demanding compensation.

The women said they were among thousands affected by a Danish government campaign to control the growth of Greenland’s Indigenous population. Greenland is a semiautonomous part of the kingdom of Denmark.

The women in the complaint, many of whom are now in their 60s or older, have called the procedure a violation of their human rights that left lasting physical and psychological damage. They said they would bring the case to court if necessary. The women are asking for 300,000 Danish kroner each for their suffering, or about $42,135.

“None of them had given consent or were even asked or told anything,” said Mads Pramming, a lawyer representing the group of 67 women, many of whom were minors at the time, who had the devices inserted. He shared the complaint with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s office on Monday.

:denmarkkk:

Brazil’s government has begun removing thousands of non-Indigenous people from two native territories in a move that will affect thousands who live in the heart of the Amazon rainforest.

The Brazilian intelligence agency ABIN said in a statement that the goal was to return the Apyterewa and Trincheira Bacaja lands in Para state to the original peoples. It did not say whether or not the expulsion of non-Indigenous people had been entirely peaceful.

The territories are located around the municipalities of Sao Felix do Xingu, Altamira, Anapu and Senador Jose Porfirio in Para state. Brazil’s government said the supreme court and other judges had ordered the operation.

Indigenous groups estimate more than 10,000 non-Indigenous people are living inside the two territories. ABIN said as many as 2,500 Indigenous people live in 51 villages within.

“The presence of strangers on Indigenous land threatens the integrity of the Indigenous [people] and causes other damages, such as the destruction of forests,” the agency said in its statement. It added that about 1,600 families lived illegally in that region, with some involved in illegal activities such as cattle raising and gold mining. “They also destroy native vegetation.”

The Apyterewa territory had the most deforestation of any Indigenous land in Brazil for four years running, according to official data. Footage obtained by local media and shared on social media in September showed hundreds of non-Indigenous people living in a newly built town with restaurants, bars and churches deep inside the lands of the Parakana.

Other authorities that participated in the action on Monday included Brazil’s ministry of Indigenous peoples, environment protection agency IBAMA, the federal police and armed forces, among many others. Several of those bodies had their powers limited and did little to protect Indigenous people’s territories during the far-right administration of former president Jair Bolsonaro between 2019 and 2022.

Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has begun rebuilding environment protection agencies and created eight protected areas for Indigenous people. Soon after the beginning of his administration, his government expelled thousands of goldminers from the massive Yanomami Indigenous territory in the northern state of Roraima.

State and federal authorities this year also dislodged land-grabbers from the Alto Rio Guama territory. They threatened forcible expulsion of those settlers failing to leave, and pledged to eliminate access roads and irregular installations. Nearly all of the illegal residents departed voluntarily.

Encroachment on such territories over recent years prompted Brazil’s top court on Thursday to enshrine Indigenous land rights by denying a suit backed by farmers that sought to block an Indigenous group from expanding the size of its territorial claim.

In the case before the court, Santa Catarina state argued that the date Brazil’s constitution was promulgated – 5 October 1988 – should be the deadline for Indigenous peoples to have either physically occupied land or be legally fighting to reoccupy territory. Nine of 11 justices of Brazil’s supreme court ruled against that argument, a decision that has national implications.

The two women had been missing for more than seven months when police called their loved ones to a meeting.

The families of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran had taped up missing person posters and canvassed the areas around Winnipeg, Manitoba, where the Indigenous women spent time. No bit of intel was too small for cases R22-23037 and R22-50231. “Have you seen this woman?” they’d ask anyone. Some said they had.

But those tips led nowhere. So as the meeting with police last December approached, Kirstin Witwicki, a cousin of Harris’s, was uneasy but holding out hope. “You make bargains in your head,” she said, “to rationalize things that you know don’t make logical sense.”

What came next was a grim “blur of information.”

Harris, 39, and Myran, 26, members of the Long Plain First Nation, had been the victims of a serial killer who had preyed on Indigenous women, police said. Investigators had determined in June, soon after their disappearances, that their remains had been dumped in the Prairie Green landfill north of Winnipeg, police said, but it wasn’t safe or feasible to search it.

Other forensic analysts dispute that conclusion. Now the families are locked in a dispute with authorities over whether to search — and the treatment of murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls generally.

Refusing to search, family members and their advocates say, betrays Canada’s pledges to reconcile with Indigenous people and address the disproportionately high rates of violence against Indigenous women and girls, which a national inquiry recently called a “genocide.”

“We can easily talk about reconciliation,” said Cathy Merrick, grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. “But there’s no action with it, so it’s meaningless.”

Canadian officials have “made so many promises to Indigenous people,” said Jorden Myran, who was raised with Marcedes and calls her a sister. “This is just showing that nothing has changed. … If this was a White woman in the landfill, there would have been no question that there would have been a search.”

full article

Preserving the world’s largest tropical forest poses an immense challenge for the governments of Latin America. This task is exacerbated by the inefficiency of public policies and the escalating land conflicts that plague various Brazilian biomes.

In response to these threats, Indigenous peoples have taken matters into their own hands, rallying to oversee and protect their territories.

Independent self-defence groups are cropping up in Amazonian communities across the region, taking on the role of preserving vast areas that should be under the state’s protection.

These Indigenous communities feel they are ultimately responsible for safeguarding the forest.

So the shooter was originally planning to kill dozens of people, but his shitty pistol jammed after he shot the dude.

Sônia Guajajara rose from poverty to become one of Brazil’s most formidable politicians. She talks about battling farmers, miners and land grabbers – and why technology is not the answer to the climate crisis

Just days after a groundbreaking supreme court victory, Sônia Guajajara, Brazil’s first minister for Indigenous peoples, has a new target in her sights.

She is preparing to oppose efforts in the Brazilian parliament, backed by the agricultural business lobby, to reinstate the controversial “time limit” (“marco temporal”). This legal doctrine established restrictions for Indigenous land claims, and so favoured farmers, miners and land grabbers. The decision to abolish the time limit bolstered the Indigenous campaign for land rights in Brazil and Latin America.

But opposition quickly escalated, with senate committee members hastening discussions to re-establish the doctrine in law.

If that happens, it would mean Indigenous communities will only be able to claim rights to lands occupied or requested as of 5 October 1988. Additionally, it would put the onus on the Indigenous peoples to substantiate occupation claims, complicating matters for nomadic tribes or those who were pushed off due to the threats of land usurpers.

“It will be a new battle. It is already, and we must face it,” says Guajajara on a visit to the Guardian offices in London.

Indigenous climate activist, artist, musician, and father Jacob Johns was shot in the chest during a peaceful protest by a white supremacist. Please circulate this GFM for his recovery! We must stand in Solidarity with Native activists!

Brasilia, Sept 27 (EFE).- The Brazilian Senate on Wednesday approved a bill that restricts the right to land of Indigenous Peoples, contradicting a ruling by the Supreme Court on Thursday that granted them a constitutional right to lands occupied “historically”, “traditionally” and “permanently.”

The bill, approved a few hours earlier by a commission, was sent to the full Senate with “urgency” by the most conservative groups defending the interests of powerful rural businessmen.

The bill gives legal force to the “Temporary Framework” that limits the rights of Indigenous Peoples to the lands they occupied on Oct. 5, 1988, when the current Brazilian Constitution was promulgated, and not to lands which they claim on the basis that they were forcibly evicted by settlers before that date.

The strength of the conservatives

On Wednesday, in the plenary session, the bill was approved with 43 votes in favor and 21 against, showing the strength that the conservatives still maintain in Parliament vis-à-vis the government of the progressive President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who opposes the “temporary framework”.

Last week, these right-wing and ultra-right groups protested against the Supreme Court, which began debating the decriminalization of abortion up to 12 weeks and the possible legalization, with certain restrictions, of cannabis for “recreational purposes.”

The rapporteur of the bill on the ” Temporary Framework “, Marcos Rogério Brito, on Wednesday rejected pressure from the ruling party, which claimed that even if the new provision on Indigenous lands was approved by the full Senate, it would be referred to the Supreme Court and declared unconstitutional.

The head of the ruling party’s Senate caucus, Randolfe Rodrigues, also promised that the bill “will be vetoed by President Lula,” which would only send the text back to the legislative chambers for further deliberations.

But Brito did not accept these arguments. “The competence of the Supreme Court is clear in the Constitution, but it is as clear as the competence of the legislature,” said the rapporteur, who denied that the bill was a “challenge” to the court or that it could provoke a possible institutional conflict.

In favor of the bill, Brito claimed that it would give “legal security” to the settlers who have been occupying territories claimed by the Indigenous Peoples for decades.

Supreme Court determines compensation

The Supreme Court acknowledged that many settlers had paid “in good faith” for the lands now under scrutiny to regional or municipal administrations, which sold them under the protection of legal loopholes that existed before the 1988 Constitution.

For those instances, the Supreme Court on Wednesday discussed forms of compensation, but only for those cases in which the settlers did not occupy the lands by force and acquired them legally.

The judges unanimously ruled that farmers with “valid” titles to land that was not yet considered Indigenous by the state at the time of purchase must receive “just and prior” compensation from the authorities if they are evicted.

In addition, they opened the possibility that if it was “absolutely impossible” to return the land to the Indigenous Peoples, they might be offered other areas in exchage.

The Supreme Court’s ruling against the “Temporary Framework” was welcomed by the UN Human Rights Office, which said it would have had “extremely serious” consequences for Indigenous communities and would have perpetuated historical injustices suffered by these peoples.

Bogota, Colombia – Thousands of Indigenous protesters have converged on Tercer Milenio Park in the heart of the Colombian capital, with music playing and smoke from campfires wafting through the air.

Members of the so-called “Minga” – a collective movement of Indigenous peoples – have organised protests in Bogota many times before, but this is their first demonstration during the administration of left-wing President Gustavo Petro.

This week, they travelled with a simple – albeit pressing – demand: end an ongoing wave of violence that has disproportionately affected Indigenous people in Colombia, whose communities stretch across nearly every region, from Narino to Amazonia.

Ahead of the main protest march on Wednesday, demonstrator Viviana Guerrera said while she supported Petro in last year’s elections, she felt “extremely disappointed” by a lack of progress in curtailing violence in her home region of Cauca, which has long been a focal point of conflict.

“Every government needs to be held accountable,” Guerrera, a member of the Nasa Indigenous community, told Al Jazeera from the park, where organisers on Tuesday estimated that more than 12,000 people had already gathered.

“This government is no exception.”

Ongoing violence

Petro, who took office in August 2022, has promised to pursue what he calls “total peace” in a country that is still grappling with the effects of nearly six decades of internal armed conflict.

His plan, which involves both military action and direct negotiations with criminal armed groups, has so far yielded mixed results.

A six-month ceasefire with the largest remaining rebel group in Colombia, the National Liberation Army (ELN), which was celebrated as a political victory in August, has so far held.

But a number of informal ceasefires with other armed groups this year have since collapsed, and violence in rural areas has largely continued unabated.

The Global Witness advocacy group recently designated Colombia as the most dangerous country in the world for land defenders and environmental activists last year – and a disproportionate number of those targeted leaders come from Indigenous communities.

According to statistics from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 37,000 people across the country were affected by violence between January and September of this year.

More than 43,000 others also were displaced by threats from armed groups or open fighting, the UN agency found. Colombian human rights watchdog Indepaz puts the displacement figure at more than twice that.

However, both organisations agree that Indigenous communities make up roughly half of all those displaced or affected by the violence, despite representing just 3.5 percent of the population.

The Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC), one of the groups that organised the Minga, has called for an “Indigenous, social and popular struggle” against what it described as a “constant violation of human rights” and the killings of Indigenous and social leaders.

“We have come to work, in a grand assembly, to support this government in ‘total peace’ and form a pact to stop war and bloodshed,” Joe Sauco, a senior representative of the CRIC, said during a news conference on Tuesday.

“We want to support a way out of this tragic situation that rejects violence.”

Broken promises

The mood in Tercer Milenio Park has been festive, with children running through the area.

Members of Colombia’s Indigenous Guard, an unarmed security force that often confronts armed groups operating near Indigenous communities, also stood watch at the main entrance in the middle of downtown Bogota on Tuesday.

The march on Wednesday is set to coincide with street demonstrations called by Petro in support of a number of his reform bills, which have largely stalled in Congress. Some leaders at the Minga publicly called for support for the president’s administration.

But Eduardo Rojas, who travelled 14 hours by bus from Amazonia to participate in the rally, denounced what he said were false promises from Petro.

“We elected this government,” he told Al Jazeera, referring to the overwhelming support Petro’s presidential campaign enjoyed amongst Indigenous voters. “But what we were sold, and the reality of what we got, are two very different things.”

Rojas said his community in the region of central Amazonia has seen little progress in halting attacks from criminal armed groups, which he said forcibly recruit members and commit extortion and sexual violence.

Still, he said the Minga’s reception in the capital this year was different from past editions. “I have attended dozens of Mingas since my first as a young man in 1971,” he said. “And we were often perceived as invaders by the national government.

“As always, this time we have come in peace. I feel that this government knows that.”

‘Logistical and social challenge’

Elizabeth Dickinson, a senior Andes analyst at the International Crisis Group think-tank, said the frustrations expressed by Rojas are far from uncommon among Indigenous people in Colombia.

She attributed it, in part, to a lack of communication between the federal government and civil society. “The way that ‘total peace’ has been rolled out has been very top down,” Dickinson told Al Jazeera.

“And in some ways this hasn’t had much direct impact on rural communities. Implementing security programmes in these regions is also a huge logistical and social challenge.”

Dickinson also said that there have been missteps. “It was a strategic mistake for the government to grant broad ceasefires earlier this year without serious concessions from armed groups,” she said.

“And criminal organisations took advantage of this by digging in and fortifying their presence rather than disarming.”

Nonetheless, for Rojas, this week’s march is a chance to focus public attention in Colombia on the violence faced by Indigenous communities. “The government must deliver what it promised,” he said. “And I will keep attending Mingas until they do.”

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/703640

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/703638

Comrades,

Thanks to the generous contributions of dozens of folks, we were able to raise the funds for our Construction projects on the Pine Ridge Reservation. We will be building a distribution center on the newly acquired land!

However, a small setback has popped up, and we Need your help Urgently! With the guidance of the traditional Headsman of the Oceti Sakowin, some of the Construction funds were used last night to save the life of a Native person. They had been bitten by a Black Widow spider and needed to immediately be transportation to be tested and administered Anti-Venom.

This leaves us about $300 short of the funds for a project to provide housing for a Native family. We need to replace those funds Urgently to get this done while we have our representative there. We know this may be frustrating to those who contributed, but well-being of The People must always be our overriding priority. We refuse to put a price on a Native life, and we support the decision made by our agent on the ground.

Please share and contribute if you can to this time sensitive need to help the community! Thank you so much for your time and attention.

Cashapp: $ZitkatosTinCan Venmo: @Zitkato

Rock Greendeer (Ho-Chunk Nation) remembers what his parents taught him in his youth. Centuries-old traditions and the Ho-Chunk language are just a few of the lessons he carries with him.

For generations, Wisconsin’s Native American children were shipped to one of eleven boarding schools in the state where children were not allowed to speak Ho-Chunk, the root language of what is now one of the 11 federally recognized tribes in the state.

Language is at the core of what it means to be Ho-Chunk. With fewer than 30 first-language speakers left, Ho-Chunk is now considered an endangered language.

The passage of the Native American Language Act in 1990 repudiated past government policies of eradicating Indigenous languages, but by then, the damage was done.

“I am worried about our Ho-Chunk way of life dying out from under us,” Greendeer told Native News Online while walking around his family’s 150-year-old homestead.

Greendeer hosts Ho-Chunk language feast classes, one of several efforts to save the language and culture of the tribe. Greendeer has put together different teachings intertwined with Ho-Chunk, English, and phonetic Ho-Chunk words and phrases spoken in traditional ceremonies.

full article

The Department of the Interior today announced nearly $4 million in funding to the Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) to support their work of collecting oral testimonies from Indian boarding school survivors and descendants.

The project will focus on gathering first-person survivor narratives and establishing an oral history collection. Survivors will have the opportunity to make their interviews available to federal partners, Tribal governments, policymakers and researchers, and the public, according to a press release from the Interior Department.

“This historic project is a lifeline to preserving the voices and memories of Indian boarding school survivors," said NABS Chief Executive Officer Deborah Parker (Tulalip) in a statement. "Many of our ancestors did not have the chance to share their experiences, so NABS is grateful to Secretary Haaland and the Department of the Interior for this support. This will allow us to continue our work in seeking truth and justice, ensuring survivor's stories are never forgotten, and bringing healing to future generations.”

full article

It’s an unprecedented day for Indigenous sovereignty and Indigenous-led coastal conservation as three federally-recognized California Tribal Nations announce the Yurok-Tolowa-Dee-ni' Indigenous Marine Stewardship Area – the first-ever ocean protection area designated by Tribal governments in the United States.

The Resighini Tribe of Yurok People, Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation and Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria each took action to protect nearly 700 square miles of their ancestral ocean and coastal territories, and waters to advance long-term Tribal stewardship and governance, as well as Tribal and State co-management of critical ecosystems to protect and support cultural lifeways and economies, while directly addressing climate impacts. The Yurok-Tolowa-Dee-ni' IMSA stretches from the Oregon and California border to just south of Trinidad in Humboldt County – about 290 miles north of San Francisco – and will directly help the state of California to achieve its biodiversity and durable conservation goals by 2030.

This first Indigenous Marine Stewardship Area (IMSA) in the U.S. and California (IMSA) is home to species of high cultural value to the Tribal nations including mussels, seaweed, kelp, clams, abalone, surf and night smelts, salmon, candlefish, green sturgeon, shorebirds, and eels, or lamprey.

“We do not seek the permission of other governments and can no longer wait to act to preserve and protect this culturally and ecologically important place,” the three Tribes proclaimed in Tribal designation documents for the IMSA announced today from California’s State Capitol on California Native American Day.

In June, the Tsawout First Nation in British Columbia declared an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) for 155 square kilometers – approximately 60 square miles – of its territorial ocean waters in a substantive move for the reclamation of rights, lands and waters, while other successful Indigenous-led protected areas can be traced back decades globally. The Yurok-Tolowa Dee-ni’ declaration protects more than 11 times the amount of ocean space as the Canadian example – and together, these consequential designations show the Indigenous sovereignty and leadership advancing the protection of 30 percent of waters and lands across North America by 2030.

The Resighini Tribe of Yurok People, Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation and Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria each acknowledge the need to have direct participation in how their waters and lands are managed, as well as the future of their cultural resources and traditions associated with these sacred places as the climate crisis accelerates.

“This declaration is the culmination of years of hard work to protect our ocean and coastal waters. As Yurok people, we take our stewardship responsibilities very seriously and are proud to work with other sovereign Tribal Governments to do the work we were meant to as Tribal people,” said Fawn C. Murphy, Chairperson, of the Resighini Tribe of Yurok People. “We are so excited to be the leaders in this effort!”

The Yurok-Tolowa Dee-ni’ IMSA designation is the first such Tribal designation in U.S. History – and it aims to safeguard an area under threats, which include sea level rise and coastal erosion, by enhancing Tribal stewardship and applying Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) across a range of important management needs facing the region such as, poor water quality, ocean acidification, species and habitat loss, offshore development, and other climate crisis impacts affecting the health of their communities. The three Tribes are actively involved in several on-going ocean and coastal research and species monitoring projects.

“The intent of IMSAs is to recognize Tribal Governance of unceded ocean and coastal waters through continued stewardship, to support cultural lifeways and economies, to enhance biodiversity, and to provide durable conservation measures designed to protect and restore ocean health that are rooted in Indigenous Traditional Knowledge,” said Jeri Lynn Thompson, Chairperson of the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation.

“A resilient marine ecosystem is essential for the well-being and protection of cultural and traditional species of importance to Trinidad Rancheria,” said Garth Sundberg, Chairman of the Trinidad Rancheria. “Since time immemorial, we have honored the inherent balance and interconnectedness of ocean resources and coastal communities. Today, we celebrate this historic action with our partnering sovereign Tribal Governments.”

The resolution reads, in part:

“Our Tribes hereby declare and designate the ocean and coastal territory from what is commonly known as the California – Oregon border (north) to Little River (south), mean high tide (east), and out three (3) nautical miles beyond the outermost islands, reefs, and rocks, and including all waters between those and the coast (west), which encompasses to be the Yurok – Tolowa Dee-ni′ Indigenous Marine Stewardship Area or IMSA; and be it further resolved, these waters are also claimed by the State of California, who through its California Natural Resources Agency Pathways to 30x30: Accelerating Conservation of California’s Nature Report, support the concept of Indigenous Marine Stewardship.”

The Tribes also acknowledge that there are other Tribal Nations who share this ocean space and have welcomed those Tribes to participate at any time in the future.

The Xokleng people of Santa Catarina state, after years of persecution, evictions and legal battles, have finally seen the rights to their ancestral lands endorsed by the state, with wide implications for other Indigenous groups

“We are not defenders of nature; we are nature defending itself.” These words from Yoko Kopacã, the 72-year-old leader of the Indigenous communities settling the Ibirama-Laklãnõ region in Santa Catarina, in southern Brazil, sum up the longstanding hope for justice in their struggle for land. For more than 100 years, the Xokleng people have waited for the Brazilian state to recognise their rights.

On 21 September they prevailed – and their victory in the federal supreme court will reshape the way the state approaches Indigenous land rights in Brazil.

Until the court’s decision, by nine justices out of 11, Indigenous people had to prove they occupied or contested the territory they claimed before 5 October 1988, the day Brazil’s federal constitution came into force. This was seen as unfair by campaigners, as many Indigenous people are nomadic or had been forcibly removed by miners or farmers, and disputes tended to be settled in favour of the landowners. However, the supreme court rejected the notion of a “time limit” on Indigenous people’s claims to ancestral land, and said the essential element must be how Indigenous people occupy and derive their livelihood from the land.

The legal argument of the “marco temporal”, or time limit, was first used in 2009 in a case related to the Raposa Serra do Sol reserve in the Amazon, and was an attempt by agribusiness lobbyists to curb the boundary of Indigenous lands, despite opposition from environmentalists.

In the same year, the Santa Catarina state government, through its Environmental Institute, evicted the Xokleng people, claiming they were illegally occupying two conservation areas, the Serra da Abelha and the Sassafrás biological reserve. The Xokleng appealed against the decision, and that’s when they came up against the time limit argument, which the state of Santa Catarina used to justify the eviction.

The case eventually reached the supreme court, whose recent verdict dismissed the time limit thesis, ending years of legal wrangling and giving the Xokleng a pivotal victory against the local state government. The case is important because in 2019, the supreme court decided that its decision would set a precendent, so the Ibirama-Laklãnõ verdict will have widespread implications for all land boundary disputes in Brazil, and Indigenous communities throughout the country are celebrating the ruling.

Yet this decision will hardly eliminate the tensions surrounding Brazil’s land conflicts, which have doggedly persisted despite rulings in the capital, Brasília. Even if they have prevailed in the supreme court, the Xokleng leaders that the Guardian met remain anxious about attacks by non-Indigenous tenants. Farmers also express worries over potential conflicts.

Frictions emerge when Indigenous ranchers and farmers live in the same region. The Ibirama-Laklãnõ land encompasses Alto Vale do Itajaí region, including Doutor Pedrinho, Itaiópolis, José Boiteux and Vitor Meireles municipalities. It is home to about 2,000 Indigenous people, primarily Xokleng but also Guarani and Kaingang.

Indigenous women are at the forefront of protests in Argentina against recent legislation that tramples on their land and community rights, restricts protests and freedom of assembly, and hands power to mining companies keen to exploit their lithium-rich homelands.

The protests started in the north-western province of Jujuy, which borders Bolivia and Chile, but resistance has spread to Buenos Aires, where many women remain camped out in front of the Palace of Justice, home of the country’s Supreme Court.

Jujuy has a large Indigenous population – almost 8% of residents identify as Indigenous, triple the provincial average – and also falls into the so-called “lithium triangle”. The extensive salt flats of northern Argentina, northern Chile and southern Bolivia contain the majority of the world’s reserves of lithium. Nicknamed ‘white gold’, the mineral is in high demand for use in batteries and the transition to so-called ‘clean’ energies, but mining it demands vast amounts of water and damages ecosystems.

In June, Jujuy’s governor Gerardo Morales pushed through reforms to the province’s constitution that allowed for the forced dispossession of Indigenous territories, restricted the right to strike and assemble, and criminalised roadblocks. The reforms were approved in less than a month without prior consultation with Indigenous peoples or the wider Jujuy population.

Women were the first to appear on television denouncing the reforms and the repressive response of the Jujuy government. Indigenous women, who are often silenced and marginalised, and usually only appear in the media when being made fun of or blamed for their children’s malnutrition, spoke out as defenders of the land. They also sounded the alarm about human rights violations in Jujuy.

One of these women is Natalia Machaca, who has been protesting since the constitutional reforms were passed in mid-June. A 43-year-old Kolla woman and a representative of the nearby villages of Yala, Lozano and León, she joined a roadblock outside the historic town of Purmamarca. In the background are the multicoloured hills known as the Cerro de los Siete Colores, which attract thousands of tourists every year.

Arrest warrants were issued for Machaca and other protesters, though they have yet to be arrested. She has been restricted from leaving Jujuy and must report to the prosecutor’s office in Humahuaca every two weeks. “They fabricated a case against me,” she said. Security forces are accused of using excessive violence to break up roadblocks and demonstrations, and many people have been arbitrarily detained, beaten and criminalised for protesting.

The image of another Kolla woman from Jujuy also appeared across major media outlets in June. Verónica Chávez, president of the Tres Pozos Sanctuary Community, posed with James Cameron, the world-famous film director and environmental activist, holding a handmade sign reading “Communities Salinas Grandes – Laguna Guayatayoc”. The sign referred to the 33 Indigenous communities in the Salinas Grandes – Laguna Guayatayoc watershed, which spans the provinces of Jujuy and Salta.

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A lopsided majority of Brazil's Supreme Court ruled Thursday against an effort to restrict native peoples' rights to protected reservations on their ancestral lands, in a win for Indigenous activists and climate campaigners.

Indigenous leaders in bright feather headdresses and body paint exploded in celebration outside the high court building in Brasilia as Justice Luiz Fux became the sixth on the 11-member court to side with the native plaintiffs in the landmark case, giving them victory.

The judges voted one by one and in the end, the tally was a 9-2 win for Indigenous people opposed to the restriction.

"Justice is on the side of Indigenous peoples," said Joenia Wapichana, the head of the government's Indigenous affairs agency, FUNAI. "Today is a day to celebrate the death of the 'time-frame argument.'"

The so-called "time-frame argument" at the center of the case held that Indigenous peoples should not have the right to protected reservations on lands where they were not present in 1988, when the country's current constitution was ratified.

The plaintiffs argued that violated their rights, given that many native groups were forced from their ancestral lands, including during the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil from the 1960s to 1980s.

'Impossible debt'

Indigenous activists had dubbed the case the "trial of the century." After Fux's ruling, Justice Carmen Lucia also sided with the majority, as did two more judges, bringing the final vote to 9-2. "Brazilian society has an impossible debt to pay to native peoples," Lucia said in her ruling.

The only two justices to rule in favor of the "time-frame argument" so far were appointed by former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), who fulfilled his vow while in office not to create "one more centimetre" of protected Indigenous reservations in Brazil.

Bolsonaro is an ally of Brazil's powerful agribusiness lobby, which backed the "time-frame" limitation. He presided over a surge in destruction in the Brazilian Amazon during his presidency, when average annual deforestation increased by more than 75% from the previous decade.

Environmentalists had joined Indigenous activists in pressing for the court to reject the time-frame argument. Numerous studies have found protected Indigenous reservations are one of the best ways to fight deforestation and, with it, climate change.

Brazil's constitution makes no mention of a cutoff date in relation to Indigenous reservations, which currently cover 11.6% of Brazil's territory, notably in the Amazon.

Leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who defeated Bolsonaro in elections last year, has resumed creating Indigenous reservations since taking office in January, and also created Brazil's first ministry of Indigenous affairs.

Brazil has more than 700 recognised Indigenous lands, though around a third are still awaiting official designation as reservations.

Payment issue

The case was brought by the Xokleng, Guarani and Kaingang peoples of the Ibirama-Laklano indigenous reservation in southern Brazil, part of which lost protected status when a lower court ruled the groups were not living on the land in question in 1988.

They say that is because Brazil's military dictatorship forcibly removed them. The Supreme Court ruling will set legal precedent nationwide.

It came as Congress was debating legislation that would have enshrined the 1988 cutoff date in law. A bill to that effect already passed the lower house, and was working its way through the Senate. Further legal battles remain for Indigenous activists.

The Supreme Court majority must still decide the touchy subject of whether damages should be paid to property owners who lose land to newly created Indigenous reservations.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who sided with the Indigenous plaintiffs, proposed the payment of such damages in his ruling. Indigenous leaders condemned the proposal.

"We're not against damages for small landholders, but that should not be part of this case... otherwise, a lot of conflicts could erupt," said Kreta Kaingang of the Association of Brazil's Indigenous Peoples.

• Sustainable farming, mercury-free fishing and circular trade are among the strategies Amazon Indigenous peoples have been developing to survive in one of the most hostile states for Indigenous people in Brazil.
• Territorial and Environmental Management Plans (PGTAs) are one of the Indigenous-led tools for communities to create strategies to manage their natural resources and provide income for families in their territories.
• For long-term survival, these sustainable initiatives require investments, but previous experience has shown that a top-down approach is often counterproductive. But even as they achieve successes with various initiatives, monoculture agribusiness, illegal mining and land grabbing continue to threaten their livelihoods.

NOVO PARAÍSO, Brazil – Under the scorching sun and blue sky, the freshly weeded cassava fields offer no shade to hide in this piece of the Amazon Rainforest. It’s winter, time for planting. As the days go by, most in excess of 30° Celsius (86° Fahrenheit), heavy rains to come will make the seeds sprout.

The cassava crops through which Maria Loreta Pascoal now walks are the livelihood of the Indigenous community of Novo Paraíso, where she has been the tuxaua, or chief, since being elected in late 2022. “All of us in the community are farmers,” Pascoal tells Mongabay. “This is how we cultivate our subsistence.”

Life in Novo Paraíso, located in the Manoá-Pium Indigenous Territory in the Brazilian state of Roraima, relies heavily on the production and trade of cassava flour. Some nine months from today, the cassava plants that now barely scrape the tuxaua’s heels will be ready for harvesting and handling.

Demarcated and homologated, or officially recognized by presidential decree, in 1982, Manoá-Pium covers an area of less than 44,000 hectares (109,000 acres). It’s home to seven communities with a combined population of more than 3,900 people, all of whom depend on family farming.

On the hour-long drive from Boa Vista, capital of Roraima, to Novo Paraíso, changes in the landscape are striking. Most of the preserved areas along the road are covered by the lavrado, a savanna-like vegetation. Pascoal’s community, however, is an exception: it’s coated in tall, thick, dark-green trees — what you’d imagine on hearing the word “rainforest.”

However, the most distinct variations are perceptible when crossing monocultures. Besides the visible contrast between the homogenous farms and the vibrant forest, differences in the temperature and air quality are palpable: the air is dry and the heat feels arid on the skin when driving alongside the monocultures.

Like other Indigenous lands in Roraima, Manoá-Piuam was demarcated in what’s known in the state as an island format. Rather than being composed of a large, contiguous swath of territory, these lands are small and encompass only a few communities, separated from one another and surrounded by monoculture plantations.

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King Tūheitia, together with other leaders of Aotearoa and the Pacific, have supported a resolution for the adoption of the whale as ocean ambassador to the United Nations.

This resolution aims to garner support for a global agreement that protects the legal personhood of whales in international waters.

Dr Ralph Chami of Blue Green Future, a prominent figure working alongside Indigenous founders of the Hinemoana Halo Ocean Initiative, presented the proposal to the UN. This initiative also seeks to implement indigenous customary protections across whale migration routes, ensuring the preservation of critical feeding and breeding grounds.

Lisa Tumahai (Ngāi Tahu), one of the leaders supporting the resolution, expressed the significance of this collective effort by Māori tribes. “For the first time, our tribes have formed a collective to work to implement Indigenous customary protections across whale migration routes between critical feeding and breeding grounds,” she said.

The Hinemoana Halo Ocean Fund (H20 Fund), co-chaired by Tumahai, plays a crucial role in this endeavour. The fund aims to raise $100 million through a blue bond for indigenous-led blue habitat restoration and trophic rewilding projects. This ambitious plan seeks to recover and protect whale populations across the Pacific Rim, with the fund serving as the Pacific’s first Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC)-led climate finance mechanism.

The work of Blue Green Future’s Chami and the Indigenous tribes in Aotearoa and the Pacific aligns with the growing scientific recognition of whales’ vital role in addressing climate change and ocean biodiversity loss.

Acknowledging the tohorā

Conservation International Aotearoa vice-president Mere Takoko emphasised the importance of Chami’s collaboration with Indigenous tribes, stating, “Dr Chami’s work with our Indigenous tribes in Aotearoa and the Pacific adds to the growing scientific acknowledgment of the role that our relations, the tohorā (whales), play in addressing the twin challenges of climate change and ocean biodiversity loss.”

H20 Fund co-chair Aperahama Edwards (Ngāti Wai) expressed his tribe’s commitment to restoring the authority of Indigenous tribes over their oceans to support this global effort. “It is important that indigenous peoples from across the Pacific come together to rewild our oceans and restore blue habitats to help stabilise our communities on their lands and create long-term climate resilience,” he said.

Indigenous representatives have pledged to collaborate in establishing the world’s largest Indigenous marine protected area network, covering an expansive 2,200,000 km² area through the Hinemoana Halo Ocean Initiative.

This network will operate under a customary protection framework, channelling more resources into whale conservation and implementing seasonal protections along whale migratory routes or “blue” corridors. The comprehensive plan for this initiative will be unveiled at the 2024 UN Ocean’s Decade Conference in Barcelona, Spain.

The Māori leaders’ resolution to adopt the whale as the ocean ambassador and seek global support for protecting the legal personhood of whales in international waters marks a significant step towards safeguarding these majestic creatures and preserving the health of oceans.

As the international community gathers at the United Nations General Assembly, the hope is this resolution will garner widespread support and pave the way for a global agreement that recognises the intrinsic value and rights of whales in shared waters.

GUATEMALA CITY -- Thousands of indigenous supporters protested in Guatemala City on Monday to defend Guatemala’s president-elect as government prosecutors seek to ban his political party.

Many of the protesters carried banners or chanted slogans demanding the resignation of government officials who have sought to prosecute Bernardo Arévalo and ban his Seed Movement party.

Aleisar Arana, a leader of the Xinca ethnic group, called the prosecutions an attempt at a “coup.”

“The coup that the prosecution is leading must be stopped,” Arana said. Protesters threatened to keep demonstrating until the efforts against Arévalo are stopped.

Arévalo won the Aug. 20 presidential runoff in a landslide, but prosecutors have continued pursuing multiple investigations related to the registration of Arévalo’s Seed Movement party, and alleged fraud in the election. International observers have said that is not supported by evidence.

Arévalo announced plans last week to call Guatemalans into the streets to protest efforts to derail his presidency before he can take office, he said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press.

A coalition of academic and rights groups issued a statement Monday saying that international pressure should be stepped up to ensure Guatemala respects the results of the elections.

Arévalo said he has tried his own legal maneuvers to stop those who want to keep him from power, but now it’s necessary for the people to come out to the streets to support him. He said he wants to see businesspeople, farmers, Indigenous groups, and workers all come out.

Arévalo, a progressive lawmaker and academic, shocked Guatemala by making it into the runoff in which he beat former first lady Sandra Torres by more than 20 points.

The attorney general’s office has said it is only following the law, but has come under intense criticism within Guatemala and abroad for what appears to be a brazen attempt to keep Arévalo from coming to power, or to weaken him.

Arévalo acknowledges the task ahead won't be easy.

“Hundreds of years of marginalization, discrimination, the accumulated problems of 30 years of corrupt assault on power aren’t just going to disappear because we’re here,” he said. “But if we can start to change, to make the people feel that there are authorities who respond to them.”

This week, agents from the Attorney General’s Office opened boxes of votes and photographed their contents in an unprecedented violation of Guatemala’s electoral law.

Arévalo has called for Attorney General Consuelo Porras’ resignation and said he would temporarily suspend the process of transition from outgoing President Alejandro Giammattei.

-About 20,000 people in Brisbane attended a rally in support of the ‘Voice to Parliament’ proposal, with similar events also held across other Australian cities

-The proposal, which aims to enshrine indigenous people in Australia’s constitution, appears on track for defeat, according to a recent poll

Thousands rallied in Australia on Sunday to support recognising the country’s indigenous people in the constitution, a proposal that is struggling ahead of a referendum next month.

If approved on October 14, the measure would enshrine indigenous people in the constitution and set up an advisory body to give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people input on policies that affect them.

Indigenous Australians, who account for 3.8 per cent of the population, face disadvantages including discrimination, poor health and education outcomes and high incarceration rates.

But the “Voice to Parliament” proposal appeared on track for defeat, a poll showed last week, the fifth monthly survey in a row to find voters against the change.

Yes23, the group behind “Walk for Yes” events, said around 20,000 people attended in Brisbane, Australia’s third-biggest city.

In Melbourne, more than 10,000 supporters marched through the streets, some with banners reading: “You’re the voice, vote yes”. Thousands more gathered in Canberra, Perth, Brisbane, Darwin, Hobart and Alice Springs.

Many attendees wore T-shirts and held placards emblazoned “Vote Yes!”, Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) footage showed.

“I think we need a voice in parliament and I think it’s about time,” said Laurel Johnson, a 58-year-old retired indigenous community services worker who joined hundreds of people at the Sydney rally, many seeking shade during a spring heatwave.

Cameron Lum, a 34-year-old supporter of the Voice proposal, said he joined the Sydney rally to support “long overdue change in this country”.

“I think it opens doors to massive policy change led by first nations people,” he said.

To change the constitution, the referendum, backed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Labor government, would require a national majority in favour and majorities in at least four of Australia’s six states.

Most indigenous people favour the referendum, but some, like prominent No campaigner Warren Mundine, say it is a distraction from achieving practical and positive outcomes and would not fully resolve the issues affecting them.

“If we can do just three things – accountability, jobs and education – then we’ll resolve most of the problems we’ve got,” Mundine told ABC.

To pass, the referendum needs majority support across Australia, but also a majority in at least four of the six states.

Voting is compulsory, with non-voters who do not have a valid reason liable to a fine of A$20 (US$13).

Voters will be asked: “A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Do you approve this proposed alteration?”.

Since Australian independence in 1901, only eight of 44 proposals for constitutional change have been approved.

In the west the rivers were both important boundaries and means of transportation. Watersheds defined the boundaries of most nations.

The pre-contact map of Canada was very different than the description given by the European nations. They regarded it as empty land with no Christian inhabitants and, therefore, fair game for conquest. Or, as Voltaire referred to it, a “few acres of snow.”

But Turtle Island was an ordered and civilized group of nations that had created their boundaries based on negotiations using the rivers and watersheds.

The boundary between the Haudenosaunee and the Algonquin nations was the Saint Lawrence River, which no doubt had a different name.

In the west the rivers were both important boundaries and means of transportation. Watersheds defined the boundaries of most nations.

The Churchill watershed is the home to the Woodland Cree. The Woodland Cree live along the Churchill River from northern Manitoba to north central Saskatchewan and as far north as Reindeer Lake and as far south as Montreal Lake. The entire area is accessible by waterways that flow into the Churchill River.

The Cree name for the Churchill is Missinippi, which translates as “big water” since it is a chain of lakes rather than a river in the traditional sense. Big River in Cree translates as “mista sipi” which most likely was the Cree name for the Mississippi River.

In Indian country, the Red Deer River or Elk River extends from the Rocky Mountains to the forks east of Prince Albert. It’s a matter of perspective. The early fur traders thought that the Saskatchewan River was one river with a south and north branch.

They were travelling from the east, so they had that perspective. The First Nations perspective was more realistic. The Elk River comes from the elk pastures in the foothills and all the other rivers in southern Alberta join it, so it remains the Elk River all the way to the forks.

The Elk River also forms the boundary between the Blackfoot and Cree territory. This boundary was negotiated in the treaty between the two nations at the Bear Hills in what is now Alberta. The Blackfoot territory includes rivers that flow into the Red Deer River, including parts that are in the United States.

The Blackfoot Nation extends into the United States and is recognized by the Blackfoot reservation in Montana.

The northern boundary of Cree country was also determined by a treaty. In the early 1700s, the Cree and Dene met at a camping place on the Peace River west of Lake Athabasca. Today the area is called Peace Point.

The two nations agreed to live in peace and the Peace River would be the boundary. The name Peace River is used by both nations and the treaty gave the river its name. This gave the Cree access further inland and eventually they settled as far west as Moberly Lake in what is now British Columbia.

The watershed of the Mackenzie River forms the land base for the Dene Nation. This vast watershed goes as Far East as Wollaston Lake in Saskatchewan to its northern terminus at the Arctic Ocean. The Dene in northwest Saskatchewan enter the Mackenzie watershed via the Clearwater River.

In Saskatchewan and Alberta, the Saskatchewan River played an important role. The people along the river were known as the upstream people, or the river Cree.

This area included the confluence of the Battle River and the Saskatchewan River known as Battleford, since it was relatively easy to ford the Saskatchewan River at that location. The western end was Rocky Mountain House, which was the end of the navigable part of the river.

During the negotiations for Treaty No. 6, Chief Red Pheasant was the leading chief of the river Cree.

Canada was not an empty land before European contact. We had political boundaries, commerce and alliances. We are people of this land, and our roots go deep. This is borne out by the relationship we have with the waterways and landmarks.

We weren’t discovered and the European explorers didn’t go where nobody had gone before. In fact, they were guided along long-existing canoe roots that connected the land and formed an inland trading empire.

Our people created the infrastructure for Canada; all the newcomers had to do was adopt it.

Two Waikato University researchers are joining an international collaboration of indigenous experts looking at the urgent challenges of climate change and food security.

Associate Professor Maui Hudson (Te Whakatōhea, Ngāruahine, and Te Māhurehure) and Dr Haki Tuaupiki (Waikato, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) have been “shoulder-tapped” as investigators within a newly launched Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science (CBIKS) based at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the United States.

The centre aims to connect indigenous knowledge with mainstream western sciences to create new ways to address “some of the most pressing issues of our time,” the University of Waikato said.

“Climate change, including impacts on ecosystems; the threat to irreplaceable archaeological sites, sacred places, and cultural heritage; and the issues around changing food systems, all of which disproportionately affect Indigenous communities.”

The research team brings together the world’s leading indigenous natural, environmental and social scientists, representing Native American, First Nations, Métis, Native Hawaiian, Alaska Native, Māori and Indigenous Australian peoples.

Community-based research and place-based studies will be done in partnership with indigenous communities in eight international hubs, with the Waikato academics part of an Aotearoa contingent within the Pacific hub.

The following is a press release from the NDN Collective.

WASHINGTON – Thirty-five Indigenous leaders and allies were arrested by U.S. Park Police outside the White House Tuesday afternoon as they joined hundreds of activists and allies in urging President Joe Biden to grant clemency for imprisoned Native American activist Leonard Peltier. Held on Peltier’s 79th birthday, many activists traveled to the D.C. rally in a caravan that started on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

Fawn Sharp, president of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI); Dallas Goldtooth, organizer and actor; Nick Tilsen, president and CEO of NDN Collective; and Paul O’Brien, executive director of Amnesty International USA were among the 35 arrested at the White House by U.S. Park Police after U.S. Secret Service cleared activists from Pennsylvania Avenue. The rally was led by NDN Collective and Amnesty International USA.

Imprisoned for nearly 50 years, Leonard Peltier is serving two life sentences for his alleged role in the deaths of two FBI agents during a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota in 1975. His imprisonment is widely recognized as the product of a flawed prosecution, trial, and conviction by international human rights organizations, Tribal leaders, many members of Congress, and even the former US Attorney whose office handled the prosecution and appeal.

At the rally, a statement from Leonard Peltier was read by Holly Cook Macarro of NDN Collective, including the following quote:

“Year after year, I have encouraged you to live as spirit warriors. Even while in here, I can envision what is real and far beyond these walls. I have seen a reawakening of an ancient Native pride that does my heart good. I know that the spirit warriors coming up behind me have the heart and soul to fight racism and oppression, and to fight the greed that is poisoning our lands, waters, and people. I know there are those who stand with me, who work around the clock for my freedom. I have been blessed to have such friends. We are still here and you give me hope.”

Read Leonard Peltier’s full letter here.

https://ndncollective.org/i-am-still-here-leonard-peltiers-letter-to-supporters/

The following speakers addressed crowds at today’s rally sharing the below remarks. Please feel free to use these in your reporting:

Dallas Goldtooth, Organizer, Actor, and MC of the rally: “Leonard is our grandfather and our uncle. He has been locked up my entire life. He’s an elder now and deserves to be among his people and his community. He deserves to be back on the land.”

Nick Tilsen, Oglala Lakota, President and CEO of NDN Collective: “We come together here to remind the United States that Leonard Peltier is the longest-incarcerated political prisoner in the history of the United States. It is a reminder of how they treat the Indigenous people of this land. And so I ask all of us to continue, and those of you who are at home, we cannot let his fight for freedom go quietly. It’s time – 48 years is long enough.”

Fawn Sharp, President of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI): “79 years ago on this very day, a warrior was born. For 79 years, this warrior, our relative, our elder, Leonard Peltier, walked these lands with purpose, with a fire, with a special calling on his life, and he has galvanized a movement for justice in the United States. Release Leonard!”

Suzan Shown Harjo: “Each and every person in this country deserves a fair trial and rectification if the institutions meant to protect them do not do so. Mr. President, I urge you to grant clemency to Leonard Peltier. I am optimistic that you will find it in your heart to return Mr. Peltier to his Turtle Mountain homeland.”

Kevin Sharp, former federal judge & Peltier’s pro bono attorney: “As a lawyer and a former federal judge who had tried dozens and dozens of criminal cases, it didn’t take long to become shocked at what I was seeing with Leonard’s case. The level of constitutional violation and misconduct by the United States government, including by federal law enforcement and a federal prosecutor was abundantly high.”

Paul O’Brien, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA: “We have justice on our side. We have history on our side. We have right on our side. And I want you to know, Leonard, you have a quarter of a million Amnesty members on your side and we’re not going to let this go.”

Nick Estes, Lower Brule Sioux, Prof.- Univ. of MN, Red Nation: “A greater humanity, a greater power, one that is guided by morals and principles that come from the land itself – that’s what we recognize with the freedom of Leonard Peltier. It’s time for President Biden to take action to free our relative.”

The rally builds upon the decades of advocacy around Leonard Peltier’s case led by Native American activists for whom Peltier’s continued incarceration is a symbol of historical mistreatment and whose release is an opportunity for President Biden to recognize the injustice behind his conviction and continued incarceration.

Key figures involved in Mr. Peltier’s prosecution have stepped forward over the years to urge his release – former Judge Gerald Heaney, who presided over Mr. Peltier’s 1986 appeal in the Eighth Circuit, called for his release in 1991 and again in 2000. Former U.S. Attorney James Reynolds, whose office handled the prosecution and appeal of Peltier’s case, has called on President Biden to commute the remainder of his sentence. Retired FBI Special Agent Coleen Rowley wrote a letter to President Biden on December 3, 2022, in support of clemency for Peltier. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention specifically noted the anti-Indigenous bias surrounding Peltier’s detention, stating simply that he “continues to be detained because he is Native American.”