By Danny Beaton (Turtle Clan Mohawk)
In Memory of Alicja Rozanska
Our Sacred Fires and Fire Keepers are needed more than ever. Pipe Carriers and Sweat Lodge Leaders can focus on healing our Elders and leaders, who will defend our children's future and their children's children.
By Brandi Morin (Cree/Iroquois)
Photos by Julien Defourny
The water that once ran clear enough to drink now flows a sickly brownish-green, carrying the acrid smell of death down what used to be a living river. Where children once played and fish swam freely, garbage now lines the banks and toxic mining waste piles high on either side. The playground sits abandoned and overgrown, a rusted monument to a community that mining has all but erased.
By Jeannette KAZERA, Organization Coordinator
In the Fizi territory of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the illegal and unregulated exploitation of transition minerals such as cobalt, lithium, copper, gold, and cassiterite has long threatened the environment and human rights of local Indigenous communities. To combat this, the Union of Indigenous Women for Integral Development (UFAPDI), funded by Cultural Survival, launched a project to strengthen Indigenous leadership and empower communities through media.
By Victoria Nolasco, Executive Director
In the face of a massive mining threat, a new generation of Indigenous youth in Mindanao is using citizen journalism as a powerful tool of resistance and cultural preservation. Through a project supported by Cultural Survival and led by Mindanao Climate Justice, young advocates are receiving the training and tools needed to tell their own stories and challenge dominant narratives about their communities.
Compiled by Indigenous Peoples Day MA and Italian Americans for Indigenous Peoples Day. Events will continue to be added as information becomes available.
By Georges Theodore Dougnon (Dogon, CS Staff)
Across the globe, Indigenous youth are rising as powerful leaders in the fight against climate change, combining ancestral knowledge with innovative action to protect their lands, cultures, and futures. Through the Cultural Survival Indigenous Youth Fellowship, young leaders from Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Bangladesh have designed and led projects that not only address urgent environmental challenges but also strengthen community resilience and intergenerational connections.
Mussa Juma Siwayombe, Executive Director
A media-based campaign spearheaded by the Media Aid for Indigenous and Pastoralists Community (MAIPAC) is making strides in raising awareness about the harmful effects of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Tanzania's Longido District. The project, supported by Cultural Survival, is using radio programs, video documentaries, and social media to advocate for the abandonment of the practice and protect the well-being of young girls in Maasai communities.
By Bijo Thomas, Radio Mattoli Station Director
By Hendro Karundeng, Kelung Contributor, Tontemboan Tribe, Minahasa Nation
In the misty hills of Kolongan, a group of young Minahasan men and women gathered with a shared purpose: to reclaim their ancestral stories and traditions through the power of writing and media. This marked the beginning of “Mapantik ne Kelung” (The Writing of the Shield). The name evokes a powerful image of a kelung (shield), a tool once used by ancient Minahasan warriors, now wielded in a new kind of battle—one fought not with steel, but with words and images.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
