AWASQA

  • 200 Years Later Mayan People Reclaim their History of Independence

    FROM THE EDITORS: In Guatemala, people are celebrating the memory of Atanasio Tzul, the first indigenous mayor of the country who, in 1820, led an indigenous uprising against Spanish colonialism, as well as a living example of the struggle for the people’s self-determination. The document below was originally published by Prensa Comunitaria from Guatemala, a…

  • Blackfeet Nation Calls for Permanent Protection of Badger-Two Medicine

    FROM THE EDITORS: This article was originally published in Last Real Indians, an independent media movement organization that focus on “story-tellers” to create the “New Indigenous Millennium.” We want to share this article as an interesting and innovative way of protecting indigenous sovereignty, economic and cultural, over sacred territory. Following decades of threat to our…

  • Photo: Tlacolulokos Facebook

    Tlacoculokos in Oaxacalifornia: Decolonizing Art

    Tlacoculokos is a collective of two self-taught artists from Tlacolula, Oaxaca, Mexico, Dario Canul and Cosijoesa Cernas, who define themselves as anti-capitalist, punk, and anti-fascist. They were part of the Contemporary Art Specialization Clinics (CEACO) of La Curtiduría in Oaxaca. Heirs to the teachings of the great Mexican muralists, with multimedia and multidisciplinary graphics, they…

  • Sacred Black Hills: An Origin Story that Breaks with Colonialism

    UPDATE July 6: At least 15 people were arrested Friday, July 3, as activists blocked a highway to protest Trump’s speech at Mt. Rushmore, to highlight the desecration of sacred lands and as a process of decolonization. For more information, please visit NDN’s website. The Mount Rushmore monument where the faces of George Washington, Thomas…

  • Language Is Not Culture

    For many indigenous peoples, land is a specific physical entity, but the notion of territory includes life associated with that land and the cultural manifestations linked to that physical entity, the sense of belonging and the way in which we relate to it. Territory, it has been said emphatically many times, is not just land.…

  • Brazil Honors the Memory of Payakan, Continues the Struggle

    FROM THE EDITORS: The indigenous leader of the Kayapó people, “Paulinho” Bepkororoti Payakan, who led the fight against the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant, fell victim to COVID yesterday. At just 67 years of age, he died in a hospital in the State of Pará, after a tireless struggle was able to include the right of…

  • Hopi Tribal musicians and dancers. Photo: Kevin McCann

    150 Years of Friendship Between the Navajo and the Irish

    This month, tens of thousands of Irish people are donating to a $5 million fundraising campaign to help the Navajo and Hopi tribes battling the Coronavirus. Irish donors see this as a long-overdue payback for the gift of $170 sent by the Choctaw Tribe to Ireland during the famine. My own reason for donating was…

  • Chile: A trans and Mapuche midwife at COVID-19

    How to survive discrimination and bring life in the midst of the pandemic SOURCE: Presentes Agency Photos: Josean Rivera/Archivo Presentes A round of applause surprised her completely. They could be heard outside their house, but they sounded very close. Claudia Ancapán Quilape did not expect it, but those of the night of April 7 were…