On March 8, 2012 several hundred Indigenous people began a two week march across Ecuador to call attention to their protest of a large-scale open-pit copper mine. Ecuacorriente, a Chinese company, has been authorized by the Correa government to develop a mine near El Pangui, Zamora-Chinchipe Province, in the southern part of the country.
This is an urgent letter from Domingo Antun, leader of the Shuar Arutam Maikuaints Peoples in Ecuador. The Maikuaints are facing imminent displacement as Solaris Resources, a transnational mining corporation, advances operations on Shuar ancestral territory without tribal consent. This is not merely a land dispute but an existential crisis for a people whose spiritual, cultural, and physical identity is inextricably bound to these lands and waters.
Government and industry will do whatever it takes to push through mining projects, but Indigenous opposition is strong in the heart of the Andes
By Brandi Morin (Cree/Iroquois), Photos by Ian Willms
Canada has finalized negotiations on a free trade deal with Ecuador, but claimed human rights protections ring hollow in light of alleged state repression.
By Brandi Morin (Cree/Iroquois), Photos by Ian Willms
By Brandi Morin (Cree/Iroquois), Photos by Ian Willms
The morning sun filters through the jungle canopy as brothers Freddy and Marcos Ankuash walk along a slope behind the ecological tourism center in Maikuaints territory.
By Brandi Morin (Cree/Iroquois). Photos by Ian Willms
Around the world, mining operations have deepened poverty in Indigenous communities and destroyed traditional livelihoods, leaving environmental devastation in their wake.
The Ancestral Territories Network is a communication network composed of community media, community communicators, and community audiovisual producers.
Ayllukunas (families) are the basis of Pakkiru, which has collective practices based on the principles of Sumak Kawsay (good living), Sumak allpa mama (territory), Sumak mirachina (ancestral economy), Sacha Runa Yachay (ancestral knowledge and wisdom), and Sumak Tantanakuy (self-government).
Colectivo Kichwa Wayrapi is an alternative digital media collective dedicated to the revitalization of the Kichwa language, as well as the culture, wisdom, customs, and traditions of the Cotacachi, Otavalo, and Cayambe territories. Their project, “Kichwa Communicators Course with an Intercultural Approach,” aims to encourage Kichwa speakers to learn the language and get involved in the media without being ashamed of their ethnicity, dress, or language.
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.
Cultural Survival advocates for Indigenous Peoples' rights and supports Indigenous communities’ self-determination, cultures and political resilience, since 1972.
Cultural Survival envisions a future that respects and honors Indigenous Peoples' inherent rights and dynamic cultures, deeply and richly interwoven in lands, languages, spiritual traditions, and artistic expression, rooted in self-determination and self-governance.
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