By Cass Madden
On July 10 Asociacion Sobriviviencia Cultural brought to a close several fruitful days of radio-to-radio exchange in Alta Verapaz. This project was carried out with the generous support of the Swift Foundation and with volunteers from Radio Planeta in San Marcos, Guatemala. An experienced team of the radio program staff and volunteers collaborated to visit Radio Kamalb’e located in the rural community of Chantaca, Radio Nimlajacoc from the community of Nimlajacoc and Radio Tzuu Talq’a in the community of Chisec.
On June 30, 2015 the Municipality of Palin, Escuintla, Guatemala inaugurated a new street in the city named after respected Maya Poqomam political leader and indigenous rights activitist, Marcelino Moscut. Moscut was a well-known community leader who fought for various issues effecting Indigenous communities and was a passionate advocate for the Community Radio Movement. He passed away exactly a year ago on June 30, 2014 and his hometown of Palin honored this day by naming one of their main streets after him.
On June 9th and 10th, 2015, Asociación Sobrevivencia Cultural (ASC), Cultural Survival’s sister organization in Guatemala, conducted a two-day exchange among seven community radios from El Salvador and Guatemala. As part of a generous grant from the Swift Foundation, ASC selected four community radios in Guatemala to travel to El Salvador and visit, as well as learn about the work of, three community stations in El Salvador.
By Erika Mayer
On May 26, 2015, the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot Tribal delegates—Matthew Dana II and Wayne Mitchell, respectively—withdrew from the Maine legislature. Their reasons for doing so were a long list of grievances against the state of Maine involving fishing rights and, by extension, rights to Tribal sovereignty. These violations of Penobscot and Passamaquoddy rights undermined what should have been an equal, not subordinate, relationship with the state.
On June 11 and 12, 2015, Asociacion Waqib’ Kej hosted the Third Annual Indigenous Youth Gathering in Chimaltenango, Guatemala. These events target Indigenous youth to discuss the current political situation of Guatemala and the role Indigenous youth have and will continue to play. A fourth gathering is scheduled to be held in the western region of the country next month.
On April 25th, 2015, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake hit Nepal. It caused a death toll of over 10,000 people, injured over 30,000 people, and destroyed thousands of homes and buildings. Three weeks later, a 7.3-magnitude earthquake killed at least sixty-five people in Nepal and seventeen people in India, injured thousands, and brought down buildings that were weakened by the first quake. The United Nations estimates that the earthquakes have affected approximately eight million people.
On Tuesday, May 26, 2015, Cultural Survival delivered a radio console and microphone to Radio Snuq Jolom Konob in Santa Eulalia, Huehuetenango, Guatemala. A generous grant from the Swift Foundation allowed Cultural Survival to donate this equipment to the station. Radio Snuq Jolom Konob was shut down on January 19, 2015, by the mayor of Santa Eulalia and his supporters for publicizing protests against hydroelectric companies operating in the region.
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.
