AWASQA

Explore Issues
Filter by Country
  • Women of the Rainforest: Voices Against Violence

    Women of the Rainforest: Voices Against Violence

    In the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon, where the rainforest is our mother and refuge, indigenous women sustain life, memory, and resistance. They are the guardians of our territories, of traditional medicine, and of the word. That resistance, however, faces silent and brutal violence every day; a violence interwoven with patriarchy, structural discrimination, and neglect…

  • Mujeres amazónicas denuncian violencia

    Women of the Rainforest: Voices Against Violence

    In the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon, where the rainforest is our mother and refuge, indigenous women sustain life, memory, and resistance. They are the guardians of our territories, of traditional medicine, and of the word. That resistance, however, faces silent and brutal violence every day; a violence interwoven with patriarchy, structural discrimination, and neglect…

  • LA Indigenous Movement in Solidarity with African American Struggle

    Originally published in: Medium Statement in Solidarity with African-American, Afro-Mexicano, Afro-Indigenous and Black relatives everywhere but especially in the USA by American Indian and Indigenous Peoples organizations in Los Angeles, California May 30, 2020 Policing, politics, and pandemics The police murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department was an outrageous…

  • #WeCantBreathe: A Call for Solidarity Against a Broken World System

    The world is reeling. The indignation of people in the United States is a desperate cry for justice in a society that has finally revealed historical systemic racism and inequity. The deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor under the hands of the police force, is proof of the ongoing social and economic…

  • Irma Pineda: To Reconcile with Mother Earth, We Must Reconcile with Ourselves

    We spoke with Irma Pineda Santiago, a Zapotec from Juchitán, Mexico, who speaks Diidxazá and is the Latin American representative for the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. She talks about the effects of the pandemic on Indigenous populations, the recovery of ancestral knowledge—and its practice, in the midst of the pandemic—and the resilience of…

  • Artesanías Aramara

    Deer Eyes, Circle Mind: Reflections on Pandemic & Philanthropy

    There is the old adage of the elegant deer—perhaps white-tailed, perhaps antlered—who the scientist kills for study, to hold the crimson heart, to peel back eyelids and see the earth reflected in orbs of night. Once dead, gone. No more spirited flight, deft movement, dainty leaps through tall grass, lightness alert. This metaphor is not…

  • Physically Distant but Socially Close: Indigenous Resilience and COVID-19

    Ideas to adapt our cultural practices and love our people in new ways Native people have cared for one another through greetings, food, dance, ceremony, and much more. These cultural practices have sustained our people through many hardships and joyful moments. We value and care about our families and communities and have always adapted to…

  • Ka Kuxtal Much' Meyaj A.C

    Indigenous Health Manuals, A Contribution to the Pandemic

    One of the primary sources of ancestral knowledge, treasured by humanity, is herbal medicine. Traditional indigenous medicine has its main foundation in the learning and millennial teaching of the healing power of nature, mastery in the use of infusions, poultices, mixtures , and remedies created with various plants, barks, leaves, roots, petals, juices, that applied…

  • Los Ultimos Hijos del Monte. Foto: FAPI

    Paraguay: Facing Hunger, Poor People Help Themselves

    Paraguay is mostly a mestizo country: 97% of the population speak and understand Guaraní and Spanish, their two official languages. The strong linguistic presence of the Guaraní indigenous language (it is the only country on the continent that is bilingual in a native language) is not enough for it to consider itself an indigenous country.…

  • 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…