Get Intersectional! (Or, Why Your Movement Can’t Go It Alone)
"Intersectionality" has evolved from a theory of how oppression works to a notion of how people can fight it.
Native rights
Teenage Defender of First Nations Rights Becomes Literal Superhero
Shannen Koostachin, a teenage activist who died before ever seeing the results of her work, has inspired a new hero in the DC Universe.
Meet the Ambassadors from Canada’s Indigenous Fossil Fuel Resistance
In 1885, a revolutionary leader wrote, "My people will sleep for one hundred years" and then wake up. In the "genocidal" wilderness of Canada's tar sands, that renaissance has begun.
Zapatista Communities Celebrate 20 Years of Self-Government
The Zapatistas are still running their own schools and hospitals, raising new generations, and carrying on a dialogue with the outside world that has enriched both sides.
Movement to Resist Tar Sands “Megaloads” Brings Together Northwest Tribal Members, Environmentalists
The struggle pits the tribes and their allies in the environmental movement against the General Electric subsidiary that manufactured the evaporators and the hauling company that is providing transportation for them.
How a Cup of Nettle Tea Taught Me How To Live Well and Remember the Past
I am a Muckleshoot Indian, but little of what I used to eat bore much connection with the landscape I lived in, which had fed my ancestors for many generations. When I discovered nettle tea, it was as if I were remembering what it was like to feel well.
A Native Answer to “The Onion” (And 4 Other Great Things Happening on Reservations)
Native people are crafting some seriously creative and progressive ways of life, from same-sex marriages in states that don't allow it to the revitalization of indigenous languages.
“Cowboys and Indians” Camp Together to Build Alliance Against Keystone XL
At the Ponca Trail of Tears Spiritual Camp, tribal members and their ranchers are learning to understand each other as never before.
How a Small California Town Curbed a Teen Suicide Epidemic—By Talking About It
Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death for 10- to 14-year-olds in rural America, and Native American kids are hit the hardest. After Indian Valley lost its sixth teenager, residents started talking about suicide out in the open—and it's working.
Can Fracking Showdown on Native Land Help Break Canada’s Cycle of Colonialism?
When members of the Elsipogtog First Nation attempted to prevent seismic testing on their land that could lead to fracking, armed police appeared and violence ensued. Here, indigenous writer and academic Leanne Simpson puts the issue into context.
A Win for Indigenous History at Columbia University
Students in Columbia's Native American Council think the University could do more to acknowledge indigenous history, and they're helping to make it happen.
Decolonize the Holidays: An Alternative to Columbus Day (and Canadian Thanksgiving)
Three states have already dropped Columbus Day, while a movement begins to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead.
“Non-Indigenous Culture”: Implications of a Historical Anomaly
Modern westerners often see indigenous people as weird or exotic. A look at history shows why they’re not the strange ones.
A Healing Walk through Canada’s Tar Sands Dystopia
Cree organizer Clayton Thomas-Muller provides a deeply personal account of a ceremonial healing walk through the broken landscape of Canada’s tar sands. This year’s walk begins July 4.
Meet the Rainforest-Dwelling Malaysian Farmers Fighting to Keep their Land above Water
The dams would cost $105 billion, flood an area twice the size of LA, and force the relocation of tens of thousands of indigenous people. Against all the odds, the local forest-dwelling people are coming together and organizing in a way that’s unheard of in this part of the world.
For a Future that Won’t Destroy Life on Earth, Look to the Global Indigenous Uprising
Idle No More is the latest incarnation of an age-old movement for life that doesn't depend on infinite extraction and growth. Now, armed with Twitter and Facebook, once-isolated groups from Canada to South America are exchanging resources and support like never before.
Housing Crisis on the Rez: Why Haul a Run-Down Shack from the Plains to DC?
Tribal leaders trucked the battered old home to Washington to show the nation’s leaders what the housing crisis on reservations looks like in person.
At Seattle Idle No More Event, A Mix of Ceremony and Protest
Saturday’s Idle No More event showed that a beach can be the perfect place for a protest when a movement is drawing attention to the relationship between people and water.
Dancing the World into Being: A Conversation with Idle No More’s Leanne Simpson
Naomi Klein speaks with writer, spoken-word artist, and indigenous academic Leanne Betasamosake Simpson about “extractivism,” why it’s important to talk about memories of the land, and what’s next for Idle No More.
Why Canada’s Indigenous Uprising Is About All of Us
When a new law paved the way for tar sands pipelines and other fossil fuel development on native lands, four women swore to be “idle no more.” The idea took off.
From the Culture of Aloha, a Path Out of Gun Violence
Beneath mainstream culture runs a current of domination, individualism, and exclusion that is harming our children. We assume this is normal—but is it really?
Why I Returned My Queen Elizabeth Medal of Honor
A letter to Canada’s Governor General explains why Maude Barlow–together with Idle No More–are speaking out against the country’s new environmental rules.
Ta’Kaiya Blaney on First Nations: “We’re Awake and We’re Standing Up”
Video: She’s only 11 years old, but she’s already been working for environmental justice for a few years now. Here, she addresses the crowd at an Idle No More event in British Columbia.
Indigenous Women Take the Lead in Idle No More
Motivated by ancient traditions of female leadership as well as their need for improved legal rights, First Nations women are stepping to the forefront of the Idle No More movement.
“Flash Mob Prayer Circle” Shows Idle No More’s Spiritual Side
Speakers at an Idle No More event in Seattle drew comparisons between spiritual and political struggles, making the movement seem closer to Civil Rights than Occupy.
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