By Reynaldo A. Morales

In Peru and Latin America, Indigeneity remains troubled by radical politics of recognition that complicate the already untenable relations with Indigenous Nations and displaced societies that existed prior to the new Nation-States’ independences some 200 years ago. Urgent reform of constitutional frameworks that affect the lives of millions of citizens with unique and distinctive political and social identities is necessary to decolonize and establish a legitimate representational democracy.

Through Cultural Survival's Indigenous Youth Fellowship Program, we support the leadership of Indigenous youth in advocating and striving for new ways of safeguarding their lands, cultures, and languages. Here, we uplift three youth fellowship projects related to the revitalization of languages and cultures. 

By Edson Krenak (Krenak, CS Staff)

The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, the European Union’s new, watered-down, proposed law, aims to improve business regulations but fails to adequately consider Indigenous Peoples. Its language is not strong enough and its standards are unclear, lacking specific measures to protect these rights effectively. The EU needs to start viewing the rights of Indigenous Peoples as vital components of environmental and social policies, ensuring they are fully integrated and prioritized.

By Chad Valdez (Diné)

Por Diana Pastor (maya k’iche’)

By Chad Valdez (Diné)

En el Día Internacional de la Lengua Materna 2024, los invitamos a conocer el trabajo de tres colectivos, socios de Cultural Survival, que en 2023 recibieron una subvención del fondo Guardianes de la Tierra (KOEF, por sus siglas en inglés), para proyectos que fortalecen los idiomas indígenas desde la cultura propia y con estrategias diversas.

Centro Cultural Yankuik Kuikamatilistli (lengua náhuatl, en México)

Por Celia Flor Díaz Pérez (maya tsotsil)

El tema de tierra y medios de vida nos reunió como socios de subvenciones del Fondo Guardianes de la Tierra del 15 al 17 de enero de 2024, en Siguatepeque, Honduras, gracias a la invitación de Cultural Survival. La Red Comal fue nuestro cálido anfitrión quien nos recibió con las representaciones de organizaciones Indígenas, maya q´echi´, maya tsotsil y lenca de Honduras, Guatemala y México.

February 21 is International Mother Language Day. It was first proclaimed in 1952 as "Language Movement Day" by Dhaka University students in Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) who protested the suppression of their Bengali language. Police and military forces opened fire, killing many young people in attendance. 

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.
 

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.