An ongoing dispute over 2,300 acres of land in Segera, Laikipia County, Kenya has the Maasai people facing violent abuse and other human rights violations. The Maasai community were told that the land had been purchased by North Tetu Cooperative Society and that they had to evacuate.
As part of an ongoing initiative to include Indigenous youth voices in petitions put forward by Indigenous organizations and groups, the first national Indigenous youth political discussion was held in Guatemala City on July 17, 2015. Youth representatives of all three linguistic groups in Guatemala: Mayan, Xinca and Garifuna, were present during the meeting. Previous regional meetings were held earlier during the year throughout Guatemala where a political agenda was developed from the various work-groups.
On June 29, 2015, President of the UN General Assembly, Sam K. Kutesa, hosted the High-Level event on Climate Change at UN headquarters in New York.
Translated as “Young lady of Sololá” or “Beauty of Sololá”, Q’opoj Tz’olojyá is a tradition that has been maintained for over 40 years in the department of Sololá, Guatemala. It is not a beauty contest rather a competitive recognition of the strongest and well-rounded Indigenous women of Sololá.
UMass Boston’s Institute for New England Native American Studies (INENAS) and Suffolk University Law School’s Indigenous Peoples Rights Clinic are pleased to announce a year-long, statewide project, Massachusetts Native Peoples and the Social Contract: A Reassessment for Our Times. Supported by a grant from Mass Humanities, the two organizations will host four roundtable discussions and listening sessions in areas of the state with substantial Native American populations.
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.
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.
