February 21 is International Mother Language Day. Cultural Survival’s work to promote cultures and languages has been a priority since our founding and is reflected across all of our programs. Supporting cultural and language diversity and revitalization directly supports biological diversity. The language comes from the land and allows us to communicate our history, cosmovisions, spirituality, values, and knowledge systems.
Today, February 14, 2023, Valentine's Day, marks the 32nd Annual Women’s Memorial March which is held every year in Vancouver on February 14 to commemorate the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women, and all women and underrepresented genders whose lives have been taken due to colonial systemic violence, poverty, racism, displacement, physical, mental, emotional, and spirit
Adriana Sunun (Maya Kakchiquel) is part of the legal team of the Association of Mayan Lawyers of Guatemala (Asociación de Abogados Mayas de Guatemala). She has five years of experience supporting judicial processes in defense of the individual and collective rights of Indigenous Peoples in cases of criminalization, freedom of expression, and land defense in the context of international human rights law and constitutional law. She also provides legal counsel to families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border. She is currently part of an international legal team that provides legal counsel on the 2021 Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling that guarantees the right of Indigenous Peoples to freedom of expression through community radio in Guatemala.
Cristian Otzin (Maya Kakchiquel) is a lawyer and legal advisor to the Guatemalan Maya Lawyers Association (Asociación de Abogados Mayas de Guatemala), where he has served as Executive Director since 2011. He has worked as a legal advisor in various human rights organizations in Guatemala. He is currently part of the international legal team that provides legal counsel on the 2021 Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling that guarantees the right of Indigenous Peoples to freedom of expression through community radio in Guatemala.
Miguel Cuc (Maya Kaqchikel), Accounting Associate, is from Sololá, Guatemala, a region where despite many faces of discrimination, Indigenous Peoples have held on to their traditions, clothing, language, and culture. Miguel speaks Kaqchikel, Spanish, and continues to learn English. He is currently studying at Universidad de San Carlos to get a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Auditing. He is also a student at Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, to become an English teacher. For five years, he has worked at an NGO which strives to raise families out of poverty. Miguel loves nature and is an avid hiker and swimmer. Contact Miguel at miguel.cuc@cs.org.
Tamang Indigenous Peoples, along with other local community members in Lapsiphedi (Bojheni) village in Shankharapur municipality in the northeast Kathmandu valley, are continuing their peaceful protest against a hydroelectric transmission line and power station. At the end of December 2022, they formed a committee demanding the relocation of the Tamakoshi-Kathmandu transmission line and substation.
Today marks the 12th annual celebration of World Radio Day as proclaimed by UNESCO. This year's theme is "Radio and Peace."
February 11 marks the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, a day to celebrate the contributions that Indigenous women and girls make to the fields of science and technology. It is also a movement that aims to promote the full and equal participation of women and girls in the scientific community. Integral to this movement are Indigenous women who are the holders of generations of Traditional Knowledge and the best stewards of biodiversity.
In Kapsokwony, located in Bungoma County, Kenya, lives Emmanuel Kiplimo (Ogiek), an Indigenous young man concerned about his community’s lack of access to education and health services. Emmanuel’s Cultural Survival Indigenous Youth Fellowship focused on community radio production to promote health, education, and gender inclusion. His concerns were rooted in the lack of response from the government. The Kenyan government’s healthcare and education services in the country are not reaching his community.
The Securing Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in the Green Economy (SIRGE) Coalition stands with the Apache Stronghold in demanding that Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) – Indigenous Peoples’ right to give or withhold consent on projects that impact or potentially impact them – is honored. FPIC flows from Indigenous self-determination as articulated in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and should be honored as such.
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.
