47-3 In the Crossfire: Being Indigenous in Conflict Areas

We live in a world where freedom, dignity, and equality are cherished but little realized. The British left India after 200 years of colonial rule, yet immediately after their departure, on September 11, 1958, the newly independent Union of India imposed the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) on 45 million Indigenous people in Northeast India. The first use of AFSPA was on August 15, 1942, employed by the British to thwart Mahatma Gandhi’s Quit India Movement, which demanded an end to British colonial rule.

Crimean Tatars are the Indigenous Peoples of the Crimean peninsula. In the 15th century, they formed the Crimean Khanate, which was dismantled by the Russian Empire in 1783. The dispossession of Indigenous Peoples in Crimea from their land, followed by systematic policies of repression and assimilation, led the Crimean Tatars to become a minority in their homeland.

Estoy orgullosa de ser Karen, un Pueblo Indígena del este de Birmania. Los Karen han sido perseguidos en oleadas periódicas por la junta militar que ha gobernado Birmania durante la mayor parte de las últimas siete décadas. Cientos de miles de Karen se han visto obligados a huir de los violentos ataques de la junta, que han causado la muerte de miles de personas. Cuando yo era niña se produjo una oleada de persecución que influyó profundamente en mi visión del mundo, y otra oleada se está produciendo ahora, tras el intento de golpe de Estado de febrero de 2021.

Recuerdo haber leído en algún lugar y momento, unos párrafos de texto que en la medularidad de su contenido, hacía referencia a la cultura como un proceso social que está en constante construcción y en dirección de la humanidad. Este trecho iniciaba recordando una conferencia antropológica que tenía la presencia de muchos estudiantes aspirantes al entendimiento de la cultura, y algunos eruditos que ya eran expertos de la cultura.

In Kava Jee Kua’a (Guerrero Grande), a community located in the high mountains of the Mixteca in Oaxaca, Mexico, we can see the stars with astonishing clarity. But the night they came in to burn our houses, we did not see stars—just flashes of fire and strange sounds we had never heard before. We know exactly when it started, because grandmothers always tell us those things, especially when the rain and cold come together. But we never imagined that we would have to see how people, who, years ago, sat with us at the same table to eat, would cloud their hearts.

In 2017, the Tanzanian government ordered the Massai communities of Ololosokwan, Oloirien, Kirtalo, and Arash to move from their traditional territories. The land, which comprises 580 square miles adjoining the Serengeti National Park, has been a target of dispute between the communities who hold land ownership titles and the government. According to Human Rights Watch, the Tanzanian government has forcibly evicted thousands of Maasai in the Loliondo area since 2009.

In February 2022, Russia escalated its invasion of Ukraine, an effort that began with the unlawful annexation of Crimea in 2014. The war on Ukraine is not new or covert; it is the next step in a long history of Russian imperialism. The ongoing invasion is inflicting a humanitarian crisis upon the Ukrainian people, further revealing the depth of the Russian State’s imperialist ideology and its economic and geopolitical objectives.

En diciembre de 2019, el Tribunal Supremo de Columbia Británica emitió una orden judicial que permitía la construcción de un gasoducto Coastal GasLink de 669 kilómetros de longitud que atravesará 22.000 kilómetros cuadrados de tierras Wet'suwet'en no cedidas. La orden judicial otorgaba al gasoducto Coastal GasLink acceso ilimitado a las tierras ancestrales de los Wet'suwet'en, y fue firmemente rechazada por el pueblo Wet'suwet'en. El 7 de enero de 2020, los Jefes Hereditarios Wet'suwet'en entregaron a Coastal GasLink una notificación de desalojo, con efecto inmediato.