Letter of resources to Webinar Participants:
Dear Onkwe'shòn:'a (human beings, relatives, reflections of each other),
We were delighted to spend time with you all on April 10th, sharing some of our work and hopefully giving everyone a much bigger picture of the power, beauty and creativity of Native leadership in protecting the sacred web of life, taking on climate change and living on the earth in a good way.
While the role that Native organizations and individuals have played in big movement actions (like actions at government headquarters, the United Nations, and huge Climate Justice Marches) may have been visible to those working to be our allies, there is a much more vast and amazing network of people and tribes doing key work which remains mostly invisible outside of (and sometimes within) our Indigenous communities. We hope that our webinar gave you a glimpse into this bigger picture.
Again, we remind you that in our webinar, we mostly shared stories of people we have relationships with from our last decade of work in the vast beautiful network of Native Water, Land and Sky Protectors across the Americas and the world. We encourage all our Indigenous sisters and brothers to share your stories as well and for everyone to find out what is happening in your part of the world.
Here are some different resources and links for following up, as well as a link to the requested video we showed of our Indigenous Women of the Americas Defending Mother Earth Winter Solstice Treaty Action at Chevron.
Treaty Action Video:
https://youtu.be/SwIJ5_Gr1P4
Winter Solstice Treaty Action 2021
This is the little immersion video you all saw part of, as we took you into one of our recent actions. It's 10 minutes and in the public realm. Fine to share.
Special Treat: Here is an article filled with two blocks of street mural artwork, and a video and a description of a powerful action at BlackRock (Funder of Climate Chaos) in San Francisco, California in October of 2021, which will show you what it looks like when there is an inspiring coalition collaboration that prioritizes Native Groups, frontline communities, and those most affected by climate chaos (wildfires in our area) with ally groups participating and backing Indigenous and Global Majority leadership in the planning and creation of an action. Idle No More SF Bay, as well as local tribal groups and NDN Collective were key leaders in planning this. Our allies (including the wonderful and amazing 350.org and 1000 Grandmothers among many others) here have listened deeply and learned well to back Native leadership over years of the ups and downs of work together. It is inspiring and beautiful what was created during this day, and the police were eager to acknowledge this, as well as the security forces at Black Rock:
Street Murals to Glasgow: "Defund Climate Chaos!" - Common ...
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/11/01/street-murals-glasgow-defund-climate-chaos
Our work:
Idle No More SF Bay: On Facebook, Instagram and our webpage.
There is also a FB page and webpage for the Refinery Corridor Healing Walks.
Indigenous Women of the Americas Defending Mother Earth Treaty: indigenouswomenrising.org is the webpage and you can read the Treaty there...
Native Youth Protectors speaking out (long before Greta Thunberg):
Native People have been protecting Mother Earth and warning the world for ages:
Young People and Native Elders (Read Basic Call to Consciousness about the efforts in 1970's to bring a message to the world, and the Hopi Prophecies of Thomas Banyacya) have been calling for action on Climate for decades, Here are a few of the youth that Isabella talked about:
Xiuhtezcatl Martinez started Earth Guardians at the age of 9 and has been active since, leading youth, speaking at the UN and the COPS and organizing globally. www.earthguardians.org.
A short film about Autumn Peltier, granddaughter of Josephine Mandamin, Water Walker.
www.crave.ca/en/tv-shows/the-water-walker
An article about the youth who started Standing Rock:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/31/magazine/the-youth-group-that-launched-a-movement-at-standing-rock.html
Healing Walks, Runs, Rides, Canoe Journeys: There are hundreds.They are really important. Here are a few:
Tar Sands Healing Walks, Two Row Wampum Renewal Journey, Run for Salmon, Shellmound Walks, Dakota Unity Ride, Annual Healing Walk/Run for the Sand Creek Massacre, Josephine Mandamin Water Walks, Longest Walks over many years, The Journey of Nishiwuu (youth walking across Canada in winter to bring a message about environmental protection to Harper in Canada), and so many more... Search and learn.
Pipeline Camps and Extraction Resistance and Alternative Energy:
We encourage everyone to read up about the historical significance of Standing Rock for our tribal nations on Turtle Island in the Americas and across the world. Other camps to look up are Line 3 and LIne 5 in Minnesota, the Dakota Access Pipeline (No DAPL), the Keystone XL pipeline, the Trans Mountain Pipeline, Bayou Bridge Pipeline, to just name a few. Read up on the Wet'suwe'ten resistence, the Tiny House Warriors up in British Colombia, the L'Eau Est Vie Camp, Stop Line 3, Fairy Creek, Stop Pebble Mine, REDOIL (Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands) in Alaska, Stand with Gwitch'in (Protection of the Caribou)...There are lots!
You can also read about projects bringing sustainable energy to Native communities, from the work at Honor the Earth on wind turbines, to the Alaska Federation of Natives working to bring sustainable wind technology to rural Alaskan Native villages on the tundra, to sustainable buildings at Pine Ridge Reservation and more...
Here is a beautiful article about a one woman blockade by Marilyn Baptiste that stopped a mine on her traditional territory.
https://www.oneearth.org/featured-hero-marilyn-baptiste/
Violence against Native Females and Extraction Industries:
It is also really important, as we shared briefly in the webinar, to understand the direct connection between the extraction industry and the epidemic of murdered and missing Indigenous women, children, infants and two spirit people in our Native communities. This often invisible epidemic of MMIW or Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women has deeply impacted all of our communities. Here are two links that share more information about the connection:
Pipeline of Violence: The Oil Industry and Missing and ...
https://lawblogs.uc.edu/ihrlr/2021/05/28/pipeline-of-violence-the-oil-industry-and-missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women/
Pipelines, man camps and murdered Indigenous women in ...
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2020/5/5/pipelines-man-camps-and-murdered-indigenous-women-in-canada
Creative Alliances:
There are so many creative alliances we have woven as Native People. Here are a few of the ones we talked about during the webinar. If you search you will find so many beautiful stories about "Reject and Protect", the planting of the Sacred Ponca Corn, the Unity Quilty, the gathering in Washington DC, the transformation of rural culture etc. Here are a few links...
1) Cowboy and Indian Alliances:
https://theconversation.com/populist-alliances-of-cowboys-and-indians-are-protecting-rural-lands-114268
Ponca Sacred Corn “Seeds of Resistance” Stop Pipelines
https://boldalliance.org/issues/poncasacredcorn/
2) Two Row Wampum Renewal Journey: www.honorthetworow.org
Here is a short video that captures the beauty of this creative alliance:
https://www.onondaganation.org/culture/wampum/two-row-wampum-belt-guswenta/
and a beautiful documentary by Gwendolyn Cates if you want to be super inspired!!
https://vimeo.com/78230758
Password: wampum
3) Our Children's Trust: Youth Versus Gov
Juliana v. United States - Our Children's Trust
https://www.ourchildrenstrust.org/juliana-v-us
There is also a documentary about this amazing youth collaboration with Native leadership from Earth Guardians on Netflix!
Rights of Mother Earth:
We encourage everyone to look up and read The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (as a big overview for everything) and the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth. There are many really good FB pages and websites for learning more about the Rights of Mother Earth/Rights of Nature and about Native leadership but we particularly recommend the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN) and Movement Rights on FB and webpages. Look for those that are truly honoring Indigenous leadership and roots as there are also many RON projects that have been taken over by white organizations.
Movement Rights – Advancing the movement for the rights of ...
https://www.movementrights.org/
Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN)
https://www.garn.org
Movement Rights has many blogs and writings on the successful work by Indigenous people in Aotearoa (New Zealand) for the rights of the Whanganui River, the work of the Ponca Nation and many other examples of Indigenous Rights of Nature work in tribal nations.
Here are a few links with stories of Indigenous Rights of Nature:
https://youtu.be/ztF09yuwzz0 A short 5 minute video with a broader overview of Indigenous Rights of Nature by Deon Ben of the Grand Canyon Trust and the Colorado River Plateau Intertribal Conversation Group.
Rights of Nature in Canada, one example:
https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/blog/2021/rights-nature-and-indigenous-peoples-navigating-new-course
In Ecuador, the First Nation to pass RON, indigenous peoples were instrumental in getting it passed into the constitution. They have had it longer and have used it to stop mines -- most recently this one: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21022022/rights-of-nature-laws-ecuador/
Yurok tribe enacting rights of the river: https://www.hcn.org/issues/51.18/tribal-affairs-the-klamath-river-now-has-the-legal-rights-of-a-person and you can also look up Nimipoo/Nez Pierce Rights of the Snake River...
First lawsuit for rights of Manoomin rice https://prismreports.org/2022/02/22/rights-of-nature-laws-can-strengthen-indigenous-sovereignty-and-provide-a-pathway-to-environmental-justice/
A few of many groups working on Indigenous Rights of Nature: Honor Our Pueblo Existence (HOPE), Nimipoo Protecting the Environment, Grand Canyon Trust Intertribal Conversation Group, Ponca Nation of Oklahoma, and many other tribes on both sides of the medicine line.
Land Back and Rematriation:
There is so much happening across the Americas in terms of returning land back to Native ownership, Native Stewardship, and these #LandBack victories take many forms and come in many variations, from joint work between National Parks and local tribes to direct gifts of lands back to the original peoples of those lands. 80 percent of the remaining diversity on this earth is on lands protected by Indigenous People.
Look up NDN Collective to learn about the many ways they are working on land back and other projects.
NDN Collective: Defend. Develop. Decolonize.
https://ndncollective.org
There are also many, many land trusts being created all over, putting lands back into the protection of Native peoples, which has been shown to be key to climate justice work, protecting water and biodiversity and so much more. Find out what tribes where you live have land trusts that you can support. The following is an Indigenous Women Led Land Trust where we live that does beautiful work and has also figured out how to help allies support rematriation through a voluntary land tax called Shuumi.
The Sogorea Te Land Trust: Homepage
https://sogoreate-landtrust.org
Food Sovereignty and Seedkeepers Alliances:
There are creative and powerful projects across so many tribes rejeuvenating soil, teaching gardening, saving seeds, re-envisioning and protecting traditional agriculture, returning to traditional diets, and more.
New Mexico Food and Security Alliance, Tribal Sovereignty is Food Sovereignty, Mohawk Seedkeepers Alliance, Indigenous Seedkeeper Network, Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance, White Earth Land Recovery Project... and many more.
The Consequences of being Native and doing Water, Land and Sky Protection work: "It hasn't always been easy"...
And in the webinar, we discussed the ways that Native Americans face disproportionate effects of climate chaos as well as extreme abuse at the hands of law enforcement, both official and those hired by energy companies...We encourage you to look into Tiger Swan and other mercenary groups, as well as extreme legislation that targets Native Water Protectors, and abuse at the hands of the legal system...
Water Protector Legal Collective Report Condemns ...
https://rightsanddissent.org/news/water-protector-legal-collective-report-condemns-government-treatment-of-native-protesters/
A few of many powerful and inspiring Native/First Nation Groups:
This is a tiny listing of some of many Native/First Nations organizations working on Protecting the Environment/Climate Justice to just add to the many already listed. There are hundreds. Our existence and powerful flourishing is a huge victory over policies of genocide. We get to all read about our Native/First Nations work with reverence and respect and awe. Let yourself feel the hope.
Indigenous Climate Action (Canada), Indigenous Environmental Network, NDN Collective, Idle No More, Save the Salmon, Sacred Sites Protection, Stand With Gwitch'in, Pueblo Action Alliance, Honor the Earth, Kua'aina Ula Auamo (KUA). Protect Mauna Kea, Native Conservancy, Seeding Sovereignty, First Nations Women Advocating Responsible Mining, Sixth World Solutions...
THANK YOU FOR COMING! Nia'wenkó:wa...
We are so grateful to all of you who chose to spend your time with us, listening to our experiences, to our stories of our Native American companions on this journey of cherishing, protecting and defending Earth, Air and Sky and the web of life. We loved sharing a little immersion into the beauty and challenges of our work.
With gratitude from Alison Ehara-Brown (Kanien'kehaka (Mohawk) heritage)
and Isabella Zizi (Arikara, Northern Cheyenne and Muskogee Creek)