Intercontinental Cry

20/01/2025

Great work by Talli Nauman for Buffalo's Fire on the 11th-hour release of Lakota activist Leonard Peltier, considered by many to be a political prisoner. Finally, after 50 years in prison, he is going home. Badly needed good news on an otherwise very challenging day.

Buffalo’s Fire International pressure, stateside push leads to President Biden’s act of clemency for AIM icon Leonard Peltier

02/01/2025

“This land is our ‘Church,’ where we put our prayer altars. It is known to us as ‘The Heart of Everything That Is.'” Such a pleasure to connect with Carla Rae Marshall, Oglala Sioux Tribe Water Resources Director Reno Red Cloud and longtime tribal attorney Mario Gonzalez in writing this important piece for Buffalo's Fire. A rare good news story on the environmental front, thanks to leadership by outgoing Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Many thanks to Talli Nauman for being a first-rate editor, and to Jodi Rave for creating a platform where these important stories have a space. Here's to more water protection in 2025. 🦬🔥🌎

The waters flowing from South Dakota’s Black Hills have been sacred to the Lakota people for uncounted generations. After decades of resistance to mining interests, tribal nations and their allies have won a significant victory in protecting at least a portion of these waters from modern-day gold prospectors.

On Dec. 26, in the waning days of her tenure, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first American Indian cabinet member, delivered a 20-year ban on new mining claims around Pactola Reservoir and the Rapid Creek watershed. The response protects more than 20,500 acres tribes have long fought to spare from gold exploration and other mineral development.

Read More- https://www.buffalosfire.com/black-hills-gold-mining-ban-protects-land-water-sioux-nation-church

18/12/2024

It's been a long road to get Brooklyn Rivera's disappearance recognized by the global leaders in human rights... We've lost some people along the way...

Former IC activists have been working behind the scenes to make it happen... Check out IC's archives to follow Brooklyn's journey and learn more about the history of his and the Miskito Peoples' struggles -- including exclusive statements and interviews from Rivera -- over the past 8 years...

Join us now as we are fighting for his very life.

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"Amnesty International has today designated Brooklyn Rivera, a leader of the Miskito Indigenous people, as a prisoner of conscience and calls on the Nicaraguan authorities to order his immediate and unconditional release. The organization has also issued a public statement in which it continues to denounce the repressive model of Daniel Ortega’s government, which has plunged Nicaragua into an unprecedented human rights crisis that has been growing for six years.

“The repression in Nicaragua means that no one is safe,” said Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International. “From indigenous leaders, journalists, human rights defenders and anyone seen as a risk to the government’s policies, the authorities continue to consolidate a climate of fear in which dissent is punishable by imprisonment, exile or disappearance.”

The repression in Nicaragua means that no one is safe from indigenous leaders, journalists, human rights defenders and anyone seen as a risk to the government’s policies, the authorities continue to consolidate a climate of fear in which dissent is punishable by imprisonment, exile or disappearance.

Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International."

Amnesty International has today designated Brooklyn Rivera, a leader of the Miskito Indigenous people, as a prisoner of conscience and calls on the Nicaraguan authorities to order his immediate and unconditional release. The organization has also issued a public statement in which it continues to de...

25/10/2024

My latest for Buffalo's Fire, this one a call to action: We have 3 days to comment on a plan that would protect more than 20,000 acres of the Heart of All That IS - the sacred Black Hills - from the predatory miners. You don't have to live in the Dakotas - or even in the US - to comment - or to care. Let's do it! It only takes a minute. Links in the story below.
Many thanks to my stellar editora and mentora Talli Nauman for the story idea, the encouragement and for all you have done these many years to defend the Black Hills and so much more. xoxox

Buffalo’s Fire Public comment on historic Black Hills water protection plan nears end

23/10/2024

We demand truth and justice for the murder of Father Marcelo Pérez!
Defender of Indigenous peoples' rights.
His legacy will always be present.
🔴🙏🏽 We condemn the cowardly assassination of ; it fills us with rage and pain. The threats against him were never addressed, and instead, he was criminalized by the State. We demand and .
Enough violence in Chiapas!

¡Exigimos Verdad y Justicia por el as*****to del Padre Marcelo Pérez!
Defensor de los derechos de los pueblos indígenas.
Su legado estará siempre presente.
🔴🙏🏽Reprobamos el cobarde as*****to del , nos llena de rabia y de dolor, nunca se atendieron las denuncias de las amenazas al padre, al contrario se le criminalizó por parte el Estado. Exigimos y .
¡Basta de violencia en Chiapas!

02/10/2024

Yesterday marked a powerful and symbolic moment as a group of indigenous and Afro-Mexican women presented the "bastón de mando" (staff of command) to Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico's newly inaugurated president.

Ayer marcó un momento poderoso y simbólico en la historia cuando un grupo de mujeres indígenas y afromexicanas entregó el "bastón de mando" a Claudia Sheinbaum, la recién inaugurada presidenta de México.

Claudia Sheinbaum asumió la presidencia de México este 1 de octubre de 2024. Conoce sus 100 compromisos para este sexenio.

27/09/2024

Last week, in an obscure office building in Rapid City, a roomful of people poured their hearts out for six hours. They had come to testify at a Department of Defense hearing regarding the review of 19 medals of honor awarded by the US military to the perpetrators of the Wounded Knee Massacre. Notably, a preponderance of the speakers were US military, as well as being descendants of the survivors of one of the worst massacres in the country's Indian Wars, making them uniquely qualified to testify.
The Esperanza Project shares excerpts from that testimony in a companion piece to the story for Buffalo's Fire.

Last week, in an obscure office building in Rapid City, a roomful of people poured their hearts out one by one for six hours to the attentive men in front of them. They had come to testify at a D...

27/09/2024

After a century-long struggle for justice, descendants of the Wounded Knee Massacre and their allies finally gained an audience with the U.S. military - the same institution that granted medals of honor to the soldiers who perpetrated the massacre of more than 300 of their relatives.
Many thanks to Buffalo's Fire for the opportunity; also to Talli Nauman, Cheryl Angel II, Ikce Oscar, Vivian HighElk and Manny Iron Hawk for support in the reporting process.

https://www.buffalosfire.com/century-of-trauma-fuels-lakota-push-to-revoke-wounded-knee-medalsdeck-7th-cavalry-dishonored-military-in-1890-massacre-of-lakota-families/

08/08/2024

A long overdue milestone in the fight of Wounded Knee Massacre descendants to rescind the medals of honor awarded to the soldiers who killed and wounded more than 350 of their relatives on the tragic morning of Dec. 29, 1890 - though it's just a first step. The Defense Department will *consider* rescinding the medals with a formal review. May reason and justice prevail.
As some of those survivors shared with me, this is deeply necessary so that they and their communities can heal the profound intergenerational trauma that remains, and so the ancestors' souls can rest in peace.

Privileged to have been able to do this piece for Buffalo's Fire. Many thanks to Calvin Spotted Elk, Violet Catches, Manny and Renee Iron Hawk, Marlis Afraid of Eagle, Phyllis Hollow Horn and all the other survivor descendants who have fought valiantly for this recognition for more than a century. And to Talli Nauman for her excellent editing and guidance.

Buffalo’s Fire Wounded Knee Massacre victims’ descendants urge feds to go beyond review, rescind soldiers’ honor medals at last

23/06/2024

Indigenous leader Brooklyn Rivera and other leaders of the YATAMA party — the only opposition left to the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship in the region — have been disappeared as reports confirm Russia backed training centers are financing and orchestrating the oppressive tactics on human rights in Nicaragua that have been escalating since 2018.

The IC website is currently down — possibly due to a DDOS attack — and our years of reporting on their struggles to protect civic and Indigenous rights as well as the encroachment on La Moskitia which holds the Western Hemisphere’s second largest tropical rainforest and Indigenous Peoples of different tribes living traditionally there — along with the ‘resources’ they protect that the regime covets — seem to have also been conveniently ‘disappeared’.

This interview with Rivera was preserved and updated in a preface regarding the current situation.

Indigenous leader Brooklyn Rivera has been ‘disappeared’ by the Nicaraguan state recently amid a crackdown on the Indigenous opposition…

17/05/2024

If you haven't seen it yet, now is the time. The internationally acclaimed film, Huicholes: The Last Pe**te Guardians (Huicholes: Los Últimos Guardianes del Pe**te) celebrates its 10th anniversary with a week of free viewing around the world. By Hernan Vilchez and Simona Contreras, the film documents the fight to save the most sacred site of the Wixárika or Huichol people of Mexico from transnational mining companies. Free now until May 24.

“To make sure to be heard, the Huichols have reinvented their combat modes: investing in weapons of digital communication, they commissioned a documentary.”

18/03/2024

My first story for Buffalo's Fire is in honor of Myron Dewey, the beloved Paiute journalist, filmmaker and water protector that the Prayer Horse Ride (Nanesootuhina Pookoo Goobakatudu) was created to carry on and honor his work. Myron was working on many fronts when he was taken out violently and long before his time, but perhaps the most important was the work of bringing the tribes together in resistance to the massive lithium mine at the sacred site of Thacker Pass. Grateful for the opportunity to connect with Myron's brother Joshua Dini, Prayer Horse Ride cofounder and People of Red Mountain/Life Over Lithium spokesman Gary Mckinney and photgrapher River Aquamann and, from a distance, the venerable Arvol Looking Horse, who led the opening ceremony. Many blessings to the riders on your sacred journey. Joining in the prayer from a distance. Peshayu!!

Read the story first in Buffalo's Fire: https://www.buffalosfire.com/third-annual-prayer-horse-ride-traversing-nevadas-native-mine-affected-communities/

08/03/2024

Español abajo: A moment of silence this for all the martyrs of femicide, indigenous and non-indigenous alike... and of solidarity with the resistance.
Many thanks to Misak journalist Diana Mery Jembuel Morales who followed this story about the murder of her longtime acquaintance for two and a half years, and to Angélica Narákuri for the excellent collaboration and design. May there be justice for Mama Nazaria and for all everywhere.

Read the story in English HERE: https://esperanzaproject.com/2024/native-american-culture/march-8-identity-can-never-be-silenced/

Un momento de silencio por todos los mártires del feminicidio, indígenas y no indígenas... y de solidaridad con la resistencia.
Muchas gracias a la periodista de Misak Diana Mery Jembuel Morales que siguió esta historia sobre el as*****to de una conocida querida durante dos años y medio, y a Angélica Narákuri por la excelente colaboración y diseño. Que haya justicia para Máma Nazaria y para todas las víctimas de violencia.

Lealo en español AQUI: https://elproyectoesperanza.com/2024/colombia/8-de-marzo-la-identidad-nunca-se-puede-callar/