Self-Imposed Isolation of Indigenous Communities Due to COVID-19 Reinforces the Need for Clean Off-Grid Energy Sources

By Daniel Henryk Rasolt, Resilience.org

The present mass voluntary isolation of Indigenous communities due to COVID-19 should lead those working with Indigenous communities to reevaluate and reprioritize. Reliable access to clean and renewable energy will be fundamental to the future quality of life for off-grid Indigenous people, and to the future of the ecosystems that they protect and we all depend upon.

Federal Judge Tosses Dakota Access Pipeline Permits, Orders Full Environmental Review

By Sharon Kelly, DeSmog Blog

On March 25, a federal judge tossed out federal permits for the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL), built to carry over half a million barrels of Bakken crude oil a day from North Dakota, and ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a full environmental review of the pipeline project.

Protecting our Guardians in Oaxaca

By John McLeod, Amy Christian, Esperanza Project

This specific Calenda was dedicated to the protection of the guardians of native corn, to defenders of ecological diversity, and to those protecting indigenous lands. The Calenda, a Native Corn Colloquium, and an indigenous corn performance by the All Species Project and the Mermejita Circus of Mazunte, Oaxaca, was a collaborative effort of seed and climate activists in February of 2020.

Letter from Indigenous Women

By Amazon Frontlines staff, Amazon Frontlines

We will continue dreaming to protect our forest. We are the earth, the water, the air. We are the forest itself. And for her, we will continue to fight and unite until the end, with lots of love, and lots of rebellion.

Native Leaders, Civic Groups Blast Rollback of Bedrock Environmental Law

By Talli Nauman, Esperanza Project

The Creature from the Black Lagoon loomed over the offices of the Interior Department last week as non-profit consumer advocate Public Citizen joined the chorus of voices condemning the proposed rollback of the bedrock National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA.

Hiding Behind the Myth of One ‘Rule of Law’

By Paige Raibmon, The Tyee

The “rule of law” to which Garneau refers is not a singular, universal given. He is not talking about “the” rule of law, but about the settler-colonial rule of law, the legal and constitutional order that undergirds the Canadian state. A legal order that is a newcomer on the scene.

Wet’suwet’en: Why are Indigenous Rights Being Defined by an Energy Corporation?

By Shiri Pasternak, The Conversation

An unsigned agreement between a Wet’suwet’en First Nation and Coastal GasLink along with financial documents, obtained by Yellowhead Institute, an Indigenous-led research centre, provide reinforcement to Yellowhead’s assessment of the ways these private contracts can dramatically undermine First Nation rights and jurisdiction.

Who Owns the Green New Deal?

By Geoff Garver, Uneven Earth

So, what about this Green New Deal (GND)? Is it merely the old wine of capitalist growth-driven development in a new bottle, or is it a recipe for socio-political and socio-ecological transformation that will right past wrongs and reshuffle political power in favor of historically disempowered people? Any Green New Deal (GND) framed as a “just transition” has to address problems of remote ownership and empower place-based governance.

Wet’suwet’en Raids: Canada Chooses Colonialism Again

By Andrew Nikiforuk, The Tyee

So there is one rule of law in Canada for insolvent resource extractors, and another law for First Nations, rural municipalities and landowners. Fortunately, the Wet’suwet’en respect laws that are thousands of years old. They plan on upholding them. So should we.

At the Unist’ot’en Outpost, a Tightknit Group Readies for Police

By Amanda Follett Osgood, The Tyee

“Jail me for being a loving grandma who cares about her yintah,” says Brenda Michell. Yintah is the Wet’suwet’en word for land. Michell issues her challenge from the Unist’ot’en Healing Centre, where she is a teacher. The centre is last in a string of outposts on Wet’suwet’en land the RCMP are expected to clear, today or in coming days.

Manifest of Piaraçu

By 45 Brazilian tribes, Resilience.org

We, representatives of 45 indigenous peoples in Brazil, more than 600 participants, were summoned by chief Raoni to meet between January 14 and 18, 2020 in the village Piaraçu (Terra Indígena Capoto Jarina), with the objective of bringing together our forces and denounce that a political project of the Brazilian government of genocide, ethnocide and ecocide is underway.

‘Coyote’ Alberto Ruz on the Rights of Nature

By Alberto Ruz Buenfil, Chiara Lionello, Antonio Giachetti, Esperanza Project

Every time a group of people starts to make others understand that there’s a need to take action for a given problem, they can start to undertake initiatives to adopt this law, as we are doing. The abolition of slavery in America and of apartheid in Africa started with small groups which engaged themselves in the recognition of specific rights.