Cultural Survival expresses its solidarity with the Maya Peoples, the Maya Leaders Alliance, and the Toledo Alcaldes Association, in southern Belize in demanding that the State of Belize comply with the 2015 Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruling and respect Indigenous rights to land and Free, Prior and Informed Consent in every matter that affects Maya Peoples. 

By CS Staff

By Dr. Doreen E. Martinez (Mescalero Apache)

I think back to when I was young, and I am trying to recall the time I learned what respect meant, what respect looked like, how I could offer it. I am pulled back to a sense of presence, a way of being that my parents offered, that I saw or felt my siblings doing, or how it resided in our house and the way my parents welcomed all other kids in our neighborhood into our home. Our home being the ‘poorest,’ however, our home was the place where everyone was fed.
 

By Edson Krenak (Krenak, CS Staff)

Content Note: The following includes disturbing information on violence against Indigenous Peoples

Dear Cultural Survival Community,

I wanted to share with you some news about an exciting transition happening at Cultural Survival in 2024. After nearly four and half years as the Executive Director of Cultural Survival, I will be transitioning at the request of the Securing Indigenous Peoples Rights in the Green Economy (SIRGE) Coalition's Executive Committee to take on leadership at the Coalition. 

By Hartman Deetz (Mashpee Wampanoag)

The story of the Maskoke Peoples is, as that of all Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island, a story of dispossession, cultural assimilation, and treaty violations. Forced out of their homelands by government-imposed removal policies, Maskoke People were displaced from their territories in 1836. Only in 2018, did a small community of Maskoke People finally rematriate some of these ancestral lands and return to live once again in what is today called Alabama.

By Shaldon Ferris (CS Staff, Khoisan)

By Tokunbo Dada (Yoruba)

In Nigeria, many farmers didn't trust vaccines for COVID-19, making it hard to fight the virus. With financial support from Cultural Survival’s Indigenous Community Media Fund, Paramount 94.5 FM Abeokuta in Nigeria, undertook Project New Hope, which used radio broadcasts to teach about vaccines in a way that was culturally relevant in the Yoruba language. The station built a bridge between doctors and farmers, showing them how vaccines could save lives.