Language and Culture

Vicky Tauli-Corpuz, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, visited several states in Mexico to report on progress made in areas of Indigenous rights since her predecessor's trip to the country in 2003. Though the Mexican government has not fulfilled the majority of recommendations made by the former UNSR, Tauli-Corpuz notes the empowerment of autonomous municipalities since 2003 as an improvement over previous years.

Rosie Sula introduces this report with a beautiful chant about the legends of Lake Sebu, an important feature within the traditional territory of the T'boli people of the Philippines.

February 13th is World Radio Day. Radio has contributed to the resilience of Indigenous communities all over the world-- hear some of these stories in this program commemorating the 6th annual World Radio Day.

Music
"Remember Your Children" by Salidummay. Used with permission.

Indigenous Rights Radio English Intro track features "Burn your Village to the Ground" by @a-tribe-called-red. Used with permission.

Peter Buffett is a Co-President of the NoVo Foundation, which works to foster a transformation from a world of domination and exploitation to one of collaboration and partnership. As part of this work, NoVo supports work in Indigenous communities across North America, including community-led programs that center Indigenous girls and women. Suzanne Benally (Navajo and Santa Clara Tewa) is a leader in U.S. Indigenous rights advocacy, and serves as the Executive Director of Cultural Survival.

Indigenous South Africans gather in George on the Western Cape to commemorate the anniversary of the day slavery was ended. Shaldon Ferris (Khoi San) interviews one of the organizers of the remembrance ceremonies, Kierie Khoi (Khoi San) to discuss how the events will seek to heal trauma inflicted by the forced migration, coerced labor, and extrajudicial killings of Indigenous South Africans during the era of colonization and slavery.

MUSIC
"Xul Kej" and "Kame" by Sotz'il. Used with permission.

It was the Wampanoag People, the people of the first light, that encountered the Pilgrims when they arrived to Turtle Island (North America) from Europe in 1620. Since 1863, Thanksgiving has been celebrated as a national holiday in the United States, mythologizing the violent events that followed European arrival into a story of friendship and mutual sharing. But the reality is that the Wampanoags’ generosity was met with genocide, and this truth has been systematically suppressed in the US education system, government, and popular culture.

Though collaboration is crucial to finding solutions for climate change, Indigenous People must be able to maintain, protect, and control their cultural heritage, sciences, and technologies. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples provides a legal framework for intellectual ownership by Indigenous communities of their traditional knowledge. However, many additional cultural barriers to equal-footed climate change collaboration exist, such as the automatic devaluation of Indigenous science by Western science practitioners.

A close relationship with local environments and ecosystems is more critical than ever in the face of a rapidly changing climate. This program features two perspectives from Indigenous communities that are practicing resiliency to global warming by adapting their traditional knowledge and science to put a changing climate into the context of their communities' history and lifeways.

INTERVIEWEES
Elizabeth Azzuz (Yurok), Cultural Fire Management Council
Jannie Staffansson (Saami), Arctic and Environment Unit of the Saami Council

Indigenous communities in Honduras have stewarded the Muskitia, a rain forest which includes one of the richest concentrations of biodiversity in the world, for centuries. Osvaldo Munguia is a representative of MOPAWI, an organization that partners with Indigenous groups to protect this UNESCO world heritage site from being overtaken by logging, mining, and forestry business interests.

MUSIC
"Remember Your Children," by Salidummay. Used with permission.
Introduction: "Burn Your Village to the Ground" by A Tribe Called Red. Used with permission.

Indigenous Rights Radio Producer Dev Kumar Sunuwar interviews Joan Carling, former expert member at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and former general secretary of the Asian Indigenous Peoples Pact. They reflect on the first 10 years of the implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Carling advocates for increased policy cohesion and the prioritization of Indigenous rights in global policy-making on all fronts.