AWASQA

  • Ca dxiibi [Fear]

    Ca dxiibi [Fear]

    When I was seven years old, an aunt came by my house to tell us about a murder that had taken place in the community. It happened during a rodeo, a community event where men ride large bulls and compete against each other. This activity takes place during the town’s patron saint festivities. In short,…

  • Internet indígena. Foto: Rhizomatica

    Solutions for Internet Access in Isolated Regions

    Native communities have depended on their economic capacity to solve their communication services. Historically, there is a global attention deficit in this regard, for example, according to World Bank data, indigenous peoples “have less than half the access to cellular telephony than non-indigenous peoples,” and “between four and six times less internet access than non-indigenous…

  • More than 300 Groups in Abya Yala Demand Structural Changes Due to COVID

    A coalition of more than 300 social, indigenous, peasant, union, and community organizations from multiple Latin American countries have launched a “Call of the Original Peoples, Afro-descendants and Popular Organizations of Latin America”, to make demands for immediate structural changes in the face of the global pandemic crisis. Indigenous, ethnic and social movement organizations recognize…

  • Honduras: The Garifuna People Seek Community Solutions to Pandemic

    FROM THE EDITORS: We share a reflection by Miriam Miranda, president of the Honduran Black Fraternal Organization, OFRANEH, about the work they are doing around the COVID-19 emergency. This is a transcript based on an interview by Radio Temblor. We highlight the community efforts that are being made in Honduras, despite the abandonment of the…

  • Coronavirus Shows We Must Change How We Live or Face Self-Destruction

    Indigenous knowledge has a lot to teach us about global pandemics. By now, it’s clear the coronavirus pandemic is one of the most serious collective events most of us alive today have ever faced. The spread of the virus has been a massive wake-up call for humankind, and not just in a scientific, logistical or…

  • Colombia: ONIC launches COVID-19 monitoring and humanitarian collective action

    When it comes to resilience, indigenous people in Colombia are truly of admiration as they have been forced to take swift action to protect their people, particularly in times of crisis. Vulnerable communities are living multiple challenges in Colombia around targeted violence, extractive policies, access to food and water, exarcebated now by the coronavirus health…

  • Ecuador: The State Should Buy Food Supplies Directly From Campesinos

    “Due to the health emergency that we are experiencing, the State must take measures to suspend the payment of credits, not only for agricultural activity but for all economic activities in Ecuador,” Leónidas Iza, here during a conversation in Loja. (Diego Vaca / MICC Communication) FROM THE EDITORS: In the face of the pandemic, indigenous…

  • COVID-19 Questions Our Civilization Model

    SOURCE: Bajo el Mismo Sol, Radio Nacional Córdoba, Argentina. Interview with Horacio Machado Aráoz, PhD in human sciences, Conicet researcher with the Ecología Política del Sur team. Transcript translated into English by Awasqa. HORACIO: It is a pleasant surprise for you to call me on this topic. FABIANA: Did you expect me to invite a…

  • #WasipiSakiri. Foto: RadioIluman

    Decolonizing Health II: Community Efforts in Abya Yala

    Slowly we perceive―like the rising of the river when it comes down from the mountain―that the rain at the top of the summit hasn’t ceded, and that we must prepare for the sudden flow. After the initial storm, like the soft roots that creep between the stones until they are broken, ideas, actions, and the…