Tag: Indigenous People

‘It’s cultural genocide’: inside the fight to stop a pipeline on tribal lands

August 10, 2021

The Line 3 route traverses land that Native American pipeline opponents say is protected by US treaties with Ojibwe nations

There are numerous sites in Minnesota, along the new Line 3 route, where water protectors have set up camp. Much of the route goes through tribal lands, as well as Minnesota’s iron range and areas popular for recreation, including hunting, fishing and people enjoying the outdoors.

It is a lush, wooded part of the state, thick with birch and pine trees, pristine lakes, rolling creeks and lakes filled with wild rice, an agricultural product that is historically significant to the Ojibwe.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/19/line-3-pipeline-ojibwe-tribal-lands

There’s a Global Plan to Conserve Nature. Indigenous People Could Lead the Way.

August 10, 2021

Dozens of countries are backing an effort that would protect 30 percent of Earth’s land and water. Native people, often among the most effective stewards of nature, have been disregarded, or worse, in the past.

Nature is healthier on the more than quarter of the world’s lands that Indigenous people manage or own, according to several scientific studies. Indigenous-managed lands in Brazil, Canada and Australia have as much or more biodiversity than lands set aside for conservation by federal and other governments, researchers have found.

A Native Tribe Wants to Resume Whaling. Whale Defenders Are Divided

April 2, 2020

Good example of the concept of cultural or collective rights.

“We’re talking rights here,” Nate Tyler, a 47-year-old tribal council member, said of whaling. “It’s our identity.”

Many Makah believe a traditional diet that includes whale can help to improve their health. The preparation for a hunt is also physically and spiritually nourishing, tribal members say. Hunters train by running and paddling every day. They fast, abstain from sex and face the sun and pray each morning. After a kill, they pray for and thank the whale for providing for them.

“It brings to life a better part of our culture,” said Spencer McCarty, a 59-year-old Makah whaler.