One of our key areas of focus at the Cultures of Resistance Network is confronting injustices against indigenous peoples and promoting cultural survival. Whether in the villages of Nigeria, the Brazilian rainforest, or the mountains of Pakistan, our network has long worked with partners who are standing with indigenous communities as they face threats from industrial infrastructure, mining, and other major corporate and government projects.

Often, indigenous communities are the victims of mainstream visions of “development.” The construction of mines, mega-dams, and plantations often means that the long-time stewards of the land are displaced. Human and environmental exploitation often go hand in hand—for example, when rainforests are cleared to make way for monoculture crops or rivers are polluted by oil drilling. The resulting loss of cultural and linguistic diversity is equally dramatic, as indigenous peoples abandon their languages and customs to assimilate in cities: the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues estimates that 90 percent of the world’s languages are at risk of disappearing in the next 100 years, the majority of them spoken by indigenous peoples.

The CoR Network is proud to partner with allies Survival International, Amazon Watch, International Rivers, Cultural Survival, and EarthRights International to advance a number of campaigns for indigenous rights around the world.

Brazil: Protecting Earth’s Most Threatened Tribes

With several major industrial and infrastructure projects underway, Brazil is also a focal point for battles over indigenous rights to land and water. The country has more rainforest cover than any other country on earth, and the Brazilian rainforest is home to the world’s greatest number of uncontacted tribes. However, with industry and agriculture expanding at a dramatic pace, deforestation is having a profound impact on the country’s indigenous communities, to the point where several tribes are on the verge of extinction.

Among these tribes is the Awá. Few indigenous lands have seen as much pressure from illegal logging as the Awá forests in Brazil’s eastern Amazon region, where forced displacement and violence, including documented murders, have caused the Awá population to dwindle to an estimated 350 people, approximately one-third of whom remain uncontacted. As a result, Survival International has labeled the Awá “earth’s most threatened tribe.”

Since 2012, the Cultures of Resistance Network has supported Survival International’s creative campaign in defense of the Awá. In 2014, Survival International and the Awá celebrated an unprecedented victory when the Brazilian government sent troops to expel the illegal loggers from Awá land. As part of the campaign, 57,558 people from thirty-eight different countries sent letters to Brazil’s Minister of Justice. However, the campaign hasn’t stopped. Our allies are keeping up the pressure on the Brazilian government to ensure that the loggers don’t return and that the Awá can live in peace on their land.

On Survival International’s campaign website, you can take action by downloading a stencil to create posters, t-shirts, and street art in support of the Awá; ordering stickers to further spread the word; and donating to this important campaign. The participation of students, artists, filmmakers, and celebrities has already brought crucial attention to the Awá struggle. But only continued pressure and solidarity will allow the Awá people to sustain their traditional way of life.

Fighting Mega-Dams: Belo Monte

Since 2008, we have stood in solidarity with indigenous opposition to the proposed Belo Monte Dam on the Xingu River in Brazil’s Amazon. The dam, currently under construction, would be the world’s third-largest hydroelectric dam if completed and have a disastrous impact on the thousands of indigenous people who rely on the Xingu River for survival, destroying the biodiversity of the river basin and depriving its people of their rights to a sustainable future. Indigenous peoples in the region have been continuously protesting against the dam and other destructive projects in the Amazon region, including a toxic gold mine that a Canadian firm has proposed to open in the vicinity of the dam.

In 2017, filmmaker Todd Southgate released a new documentary, “Belo Monte: After the Flood,” that chronicles the indigenous resistance to Belo Monte and was produced by our allies Survival International and International Rivers. Learn more about the film here and watch the trailer below.

For more background on the dam and the struggle against it, check out our archived Belo Monte action page. You can also check Amazon Watch’s blog for breaking news and action alerts around the Belo Monte dam and other indigenous rights issues in Brazil.

Ecuador: Standing Up to Big Oil

For decades, the people of Ecuador’s Amazon region have fought a landmark case against oil giant Chevron, demanding reparations for one of the biggest oil-related environmental catastrophes in history. Despite a 2012 appeals court ruling that requires the giant to pay $19 billion for polluting environmental and human health, Chevron has continued, through diverse legal tactics and covert operations, to challenge the ruling and avoid paying for the enormous clean-up and remediation efforts needed in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

This landmark case has brought together several indigenous groups seeking to hold the multinational oil company accountable for its decades of environmental degradation and disregard for human rights. Still, Chevron refuses to accept responsibility and has continued appeal in various courts. In 2014, it won a case alleging that Steven Doniger, the lawyer who won the $19 billion settlement against the company on behalf of Ecuadorian plaintiffs, had engaged in fraud during the trial. Though the judge maintained that pollution had indeed occurred, he barred Doniger from profiting from the case.

Currently, the Ecuadorians have filed lawsuits in Canada and Brazil to seek seizure of Chevron’s assets in order to force the company to pay for the clean-up and remediation of the Ecuadorian Amazon jungle. Lawsuits in other nations are expected to follow.

Follow recent developments in the case on Amazon Watch’s blog, and learn how you can take action on the Chevron Toxico website.

Enduring Voices: Preserving Indigenous Languages

Fortunately, not all indigenous groups are as urgently threatened in their day-to-day existence as those living in the Amazon region. But when it comes to indigenous languages and culture, the threat of extinction is widespread. A global history of colonialism, racism, and discrimination has led to the extinction of approximately 600 languages in the last century, and an estimated 90 percent of the 6,000-plus languages spoken around the world today are projected to disappear in the next hundred years. The vast majority of these languages are spoken by indigenous peoples and are in danger of disappearing without a trace.

Recognizing the urgent need to protect traditional knowledge and culture, the CoR Network supports Cultural Survival’s Endangered Languages Program, in which the group partners with tribal language programs in the United States to strengthen fundraising efforts for linguistic education projects.

In addition to the Endangered Languages Program, the CoR Network celebrates the indigenous language revitalization projects of many other organizations. To learn more about these efforts, check out our page on preserving indigenous languages.

Pakistan: Protecting Kalash Culture

Rumored to be the descendants of Alexander the Great, the Kalash people have in fact inhabited northern Pakistan’s Chitral valley since long before the legendary conqueror came to the region. They uphold a rich cultural heritage, with polytheistic beliefs, seasonal festivals, and a variety of other traditions that are at odds with Pakistan’s dominant Islam. Today, even as the the majestic peaks of the Hindu Kush mountains shield the Kalasha from the region’s worst violence, their culture faces a variety of pressures: poverty, tourism, and Islamism are all contributing to the erosion of Kalash identity.

Still, a dedicated group of Kalash advocates are fighting to keep their culture alive. The Kalash People’s Development Network is leading education, health, and women’s empowerment programs in the area, as well as promoting Kalash crafts. Link up with them through their Facebook page to show your support!

Past Victories

Through our experience with past campaigns for indigenous rights, we know that international solidarity can be effective in winning landmark victories. One such victory came out of a legal campaign to hold oil companies accountable for crimes perpetrated against indigenous peoples, workers, human rights leaders, and the environment in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. These abuses peaked in the mid-1990s, when Shell backed repression against environmental justice and human rights activists that culminated in the executions of nine Ogoni leaders, including internationally acclaimed writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. Seeking justice for the victims, CoR Network allies EarthRights International and the Center for Constitutional Rights pursued a series of human rights cases known collectively as Wiwa v. Shell, which led to a landmark $15.5 million settlement in 2009.

To learn more about Wiwa v. Shell and the Ogoni struggle, check out our archived CoR Network page. For continued advocacy on behalf of the Ogoni people, link up with the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People on Facebook.

[Featured image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.]

The post Take a Stand for Indigenous Rights first appeared on Cultures of Resistance.

Four decades after its people were promised freedom by departing Spanish rulers, the Western Sahara remains Africa’s last colony. While a UN-brokered ceasefire put an end to armed hostilities in the territory in 1991, the Sahrawi people have continued to live under the oppressive occupation of the Moroccan armed forces, and what peace exists in the area is fragile at best. Tens of thousands of Sahrawis have fled to neighboring Algeria, where over 125,000 refugees still live in camps that were intended to be temporary.

In spite of these difficulties, a new generation of activists is rising to challenge human rights abuses and to demand the long-promised referendum on freedom. Even while risking torture and disappearance, today’s Sahrawi resistance is deploying creative nonviolent action for the cause of self-determination. Filmmakers, poets, painters, and musicians have become the voice of the movement, alongside the activists in the streets and jails.

What can you do to help end the occupation in one of the world’s last colonies? On this page, we present a selection of inspiring campaigns led by artists and activists fighting for a free Western Sahara. Join them, and lend your voice to a movement that the world can no longer ignore!

Keeping Nonviolent Resistance Alive: Women Take Center Stage

One of the defining aspects of the Sahrawi resistance movement is the strong role of women. One of the most dedicated activists in the struggle is Aminatou Haidar, known as the “Sahrawi Gandhi,” whose hunger strike in 2009 helped raise global awareness of the injustices taking place under Moroccan occupation. The resistance led by Haidar and her fellow activists has become a beacon of creative nonviolent action in the region, and helped to catalyze the Arab Spring— yet it has been widely neglected in media coverage of the uprisings in the region. The Sahrawi uprisings have not yet resulted in the kind of cataclysmic changes that have rocked the rest of the region, but they have sparked a resilient movement that remains committed to nonviolence.

The leadership of groups like the Unión Nacional de Mujeres Saharauis, or National Union of Sahrawi Women, has been central to keeping nonviolent Sahrawi resistance alive. Founded in 1974 and guided by the work of Aminatou Haidar, UNMS is a coalition of female activists of all ages who are standing up to extreme human rights abuses to demand freedom. UNMS activists have been jailed, beaten, and tortured, and yet they continue to expand their struggle both locally and internationally. Connect with UNMS through their blog (Spanish), as well as on Facebook and Twitter, to learn how you can take part!

For more photos and testimonies from women in the Sahrawi movement, check out photographer Dani Lagartofernandez’s brilliant black-and-white photo essay.

FiSahara Film Festival

The largest gathering of Western Sahara artists and activists is the annual FiSahara International Film Festival, which takes place every spring in the Dakhla refugee camp in Tindouf, Algeria. The annual festival brings regional and international cinema, as well as international media attention, to the Sahrawi refugee community living in the camps. (For example, it helped inspire Spanish actor Javier Bardem’s documentary Sons of the Clouds and his ongoing campaign for justice in Western Sahara.) Moreover, the festival is a site of education and organizing for Sahrawi artistis and activists, both from the refugee community and the diaspora. In addition to film workshops that take place during the festival, FiSahara acts as the basis for a year-round film school that provides hands-on training to young refugees so that they can tell their own stories and create films for their communities.

For a taste of FiSahara, check out this short trailer for the 2013 festival:

Want to be a part of this incredible political and cultural experience? The FiSahara team coordinates travel to the festival from Madrid and housing with families in Dakhla camp. Head to their website to contact them about booking your trip!

Can’t make it all the way to Tindouf? Chip in to keep the festival alive until you can. FiSahara counts on international donations to maintain its excellent programs and resources, including workshops, DVD libraries, and more, and even a small donation will go a long way towards promoting Sahrawi creative resistance.

Toppling the Wall of Shame

When Moroccan forces realized in 1981 that they could not defeat Sahrawi guerrillas in the desert, they began building a 2,500 km wall to isolate the guerrillas in the east of the territory. The result, now known among Sahrawis as the Wall of Shame, is the world’s largest defensive structure: half the size of the Great Wall of China and four times the length of the separation wall in the West Bank, the Wall of Shame is guarded by some 100,000 Moroccan soldiers and surrounded by over 5,000,000 landmines.

Toppling the wall has become a priority for the resistance movement in Western Sahara, which aims at full self-determination and an end to Moroccan occupation throughout the territory. One of the groups leading this struggle is Plataforma Gritos Contra el Muro Marroquí, which aims both to mobilize activists on the ground and to encourage resistance to the wall through the arts. Link up with them on Facebook or through their blog (Spanish) to show your support!

(Photo via Plataforma Gritos Contra el Muro Marroquí)

What You Can Do

The groups on this page provide a sense of the landscape of activism taking place in Western Sahara. To start getting more involved yourself, both with these groups and others, there are a number of steps that you can take.

• Inform yourself: One of the biggest problems in building international solidarity with the Sahrawi struggle is awareness. Very few people around the world are aware of the struggle, and the conflict receives far less media attention than comparable struggles in Palestine and Kashmir. This is partly because of the powerful influence of secretive Moroccan lobbies in the international community, as highlighted in the the documentary Sons of the Clouds (2012). We highly recommend watching this film, directed by Javier Bardem, as an introduction to the Sahrawi struggle.One of the best sources of news on the conflict is Jadaliyya, which also hosted an excellent roundtable on the conflict in June 2013, featuring seven articles by scholars and activists. For further analysis, we recommend the writings of Dr. Stephen Zunes, a leading scholar of US Middle East policy and strategic nonviolent action. To dig into the resource side of the conflict and learn about how foreign powers and corporations are profiting off of the occupation, check out Western Sahara Resource Watch.As you get more informed, share your knowledge. Have some friends over to discuss one of the articles or the film listed above. Organize a panel on your campus or in your community center. Post about the conflict on social media. Do what you can to make more people aware!
• Make connections: Get in touch with the groups listed on this page, and let them know that you’re interested in their work. Facebook is a great way to contact Union Nacional de Mujeres Saharawi or Plataforma Gritos Contra el Muro—follow the links to like, follow, and message them. For activists who are on the ground struggling daily against repression and violence, just knowing that people around the world are supporting and in solidarity is important.If you’re interested in learning about a broader range of Sahrawi resistance groups, check out CEAS-Sáhara (Coordinadora Estatal de Asociaciones Solidarias con el Sáhara), a network of over 200 groups, including several of the groups listed above. The CEAS website (in Spanish) is a great place to learn more about individual groups and campaigns you can support, whether it’s freedom for political prisoners, defending universal jurisdiction, or the Sahara Marathon. Another good source for information, analysis, and campaigns—available in English, French, and Spanish—is the Western Sahara Action Forum.To support the groups leading the resistance on the ground, more and more international activists are forming solidarity campaigns in their countries. Consider joining up with others in your area to figure out how you can collectively take action; ultimately, this means bringing together like-minded people to discuss in person. A number of countries already have online hubs that can help you get in touch with people who might be in your area. Among them are the Amis du Peuple du Sahara Occidental (France) and the Western Sahara Campaign (UK). In addition to providing another way to make contacts, these groups can provide you with lots of resources. Connect with a group that speaks your language and find out how you can join!
• Make art against occupation: Whether through film, poetry, photography, or painting, artists and journalists have long fostered a culture of resistance in occupied Western Sahara. Women, inspired by the legendary Mariam Hassan, sing songs of freedom in the refugee camps. Poets in Western Sahara and in the Sahrawi diaspora have launched collaborative projects like Generacíon de la Amistad Saharaui (Sahrawi Friendship Generation), which is both an anthology of poetry and a hub for activism. ARTifariti has created a space for artists and activists to meet, collaborate, and create: check out some of the great work it has already inspired, from the Congo to Colombia to the Sahrawi camps. If you like what these artists are doing, reach out to them!Groups like Sandblast help promote the voices of the indigenous Sahrawi through the arts. Sandblast is the only arts and human rights charity based in the UK that works with the people of Western Sahara. It is primarily concerned with raising awareness about the conflict in Africa’s last colony, highlighting the self-determination struggle of the Sahrawi people, and empowering their voices through the arts. The organization was founded in 2005 by Danielle Smith, who became involved with the Sahrawi refugee community, in southwest Algeria, in 1991. Her initial mission was to bring the Sahrawi story to wider audiences through the organization of a UK-first festival and tour of Sahrawi arts and culture.Are you a writer? An artist? A filmmaker? Whatever your talent, channel the Sahrawi spirit of resistance in your own work and help spread the word about this issue. If you’re not an artist but you’re inspired by the work on this page, use your reading groups, community spaces, and social media to share it and amplify the voices of the Sahrawi movement.
• Donate: Groups like FiSahara count on financial donations from abroad to sustain their efforts. But there are many ways to contribute to the cause besides giving money. You can host a small fundraiser—perhaps a film screening, poetry reading, or house party. You can donate equipment, ranging from DVDs to cameras to memory cards to projectors. And you can donate your services: for example, translation from Spanish or Arabic into English and other languages. Reach out to the groups above to find out how you can volunteer.
• Consider traveling to Western Sahara: There are several ways you can travel to the region and work with Sahrawi artists and activists. FiSahara coordinates travel to the festival from Madrid and housing with families in the refugee camps outside Tindouf, Algeria. Artifariti offers an art residency program, also in Tindouf. Get in touch with them to learn how you can take part!

[Featured image courtesy of Iara Lee.]

The post Sahara Libre! Support the Struggle for Freedom in Africa’s Last Colony first appeared on Cultures of Resistance.

As the world grapples with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, we need solidarity and creative resistance now more than ever. While reports about how the pandemic’s impact on affluent countries abound, stories from countries already dealing with conflicts are far less common. However, our allies are responded to this crisis with urgency and leadership, taking action in countries around the world to protect the most vulnerable populations from this deadly virus. At the Cultures of Resistance Network, we are proud to be able to support the vital efforts of our grantees, from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Gaza to the United States. Below you can find more information about just a few of the organizations that are stepping up during this difficult time.

Middle East Children’s Alliance

Gaza was already in crisis when coronavirus entered in March 2020. The area’s hospitals and clinics faced medicine shortages and Gaza’s water, sanitation, and electricity systems were already crumbling. As Foreign Policy reported,

While Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza both have limited autonomy, Israel wields decisive decision-making power over these territories, and Israel alone has the resources to cope with a crisis of this magnitude.

‘This could be a tipping point. Gaza is in very dire straits. The health system has been in shocking state for a long time,’ said Jamie McGoldrick, who chairs the United Nations’ COVID-19 task force for the West Bank and Gaza Strip. ‘We’ve been lucky enough up until now with all the resilience … but you know it doesn’t take much to turn the system, which is coping, into something that really struggles.’

…

Israel already faces international censure over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza despite withdrawing its army from the territory 15 years ago. Rights organizations are calling on Israel to relax its blockade—imposed by land, sea, and air for years, in part as a response to rocket attacks by Palestinians—to allow more medical supplies into Gaza. Others are urging Israel to be ready to step up with emergency field hospitals.

Photo courtesy of the Middle East Children’s Alliance.

Anticipating the likely impact of the pandemic, Middle East Children’s Alliance, which works to protect the rights and improve the lives of children in the Middle East, began raising money to purchase and deliver basic hygiene supplies, antibiotics, vitamins, and medicine to treat routine and emergency conditions for tens of thousands of patients in Gaza—an effort that the CoR Network is proud to support.

Panzi Hospital

In the conflict-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, where the public health system is already strained, coronavirus arrived just as Ebola was finally on its way out. On March 4, 2020, the DRC officially discharged the last person in the country to have been afflicted with Ebola. Six days later, the country’s first case of COVID-19 was identified. According to UN News, “The looming threat of the new coronavirus disease COVID-19 is just the latest challenge to the beleaguered health care system in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which is struggling with deadly measles and cholera epidemics that have killed thousands of children over the past year.”

Since that moment, our friends at Panzi Hospital in Kivu have been working swiftly to respond to the new public health crisis. At Panzi, Nobel Peace laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege treats serious gynecological injuries and advocates tirelessly for Congolese women affected by war and medical neglect. Now, he has been appointed to head the health commission of the provincial committee to fight the coronavirus disease. As the country’s health system struggles with a lack of needed materials, the CoR Network is helping the hospital receive medical equipment and food supplies.

The CoR Network is also supporting Congo Love, a partner of our ally Friends of the Congo. Congo Love is working with local groups in the DRC to go into communities and share crucial information about the virus.

Dissent Magazine

Photo courtesy of Dissent Magazine.

In the early days of the pandemic, homeless families in need of safe places to self-isolate in Los Angeles, California, moved into vacant homes. “Being homeless myself and seeing people literally dying on the streets, seeing sick people dying every day in L.A., made me start realizing that, ‘Well, we need to do something, and we should probably just start taking over these vacant homes,’” Benito Flores, one of the people who reclaimed an empty house, told reporter Sarah Jaffe.

As the pandemic continued, it became clear that it would impact the 2020 presidential election in the United States, and two writers, Miles Rapoport and Cecily Hines, tackled the question of how to vote in quarantine:

“As governors, election officials, and legislatures scramble to make plans for this November, the steps they need to take to run elections safely in a pandemic should also be a roadmap, and major accelerant, to reforms that are moving us, slowly and unevenly, in the direction of increased participation. The best way to keep people safe during this election season is also the best way to maximize participation: give people the widest possible range of opportunities to register and to vote.

In times of crisis, strong journalism is more essential than ever. With support from the CoR Network, our ally Dissent Magazine is increasing its coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, focusing on the responses of social movements. The magazine is approaching the coronavirus crisis with a wide view, highlighting the myriad ways in which the most vulnerable populations are standing up to demand justice in uncertain times.

[Featured image courtesy of the Panzi Foundation.]

The post Pandemic Emergency: How to Extend Our Solidarity first appeared on Cultures of Resistance.

“Music against Malaria ready for debut festival”

October 10, 2019.

Organisers of Music against Malaria Festival, which debuts on October 26 2019 at College of Medicine Complex in Blantyre, have said all is set for the inaugural event which is aimed at raising funds for Chikwawa District Hospital’s Pediatric A and E Ward.

The project to refurbish Chikwawa District Hospital’s A and E Ward has a budget of K19 million with about K9 million already raised with the latest being a $5,000 donation from Brazilian filmmaker Iara Lee.

“As Music against Malaria, we are always committed and transparent in all our activities and this is why we have earned trust from the different partners. With the money we have generated so far, we have already purchased equipment through Thofu Investments, who have also already donated a trolley and also committed to helping in servicing the equipment,” musician Code Sangala, who is one of the co-founders of Music against Malaria, said during a press conference at Jacaranda Cultural Centre (JCC) in Blantyre Wednesday.

The singer and guitarist, who is set to perform at the festival, said the idea to create the Music against Malaria was hatched when he was in the Big Brother Africa (BBA) House and that he decided to push it.

Annemarie Quinn, who is a musician from United Kingdom but based in Malawi, and is also co-founder of the Music against Malaria, said people will experience the best during the festival and that all the artists on the line-up have confirmed their participation.

“We are ready. It is a one-day festival which starts at 6pm until midnight. It is free entry for kids under 15 years but K15,000 for advance tickets and K20,000 on the door. All the funds raised will go to Chikwawa District Hospital,” Annemarie said.

Having held several fundraising shows including an exhibition where they partnered Art Malawi in Malaria Art Stories exhibition, Annemarie said the festival was the main fundraiser.

“We are doing it one-day this year but we might grow it next year. For now, we just want to do it to the best,” she said.

Annemarie hailed partners such as Total Malawi, Toyota Malawi, Farming and Engineering Services and Thofu Investments among others, for their support.

Annemarie, who is set to perform, said apart from making links with Art Malawi which will also exhibit some of the malaria stories works during the festival, they have also partnered schools in the United Kingdom which have been raising funds for the project.

“Again, Code will be performing in United States of America in December. We have lots of great interest not only in Malawi but outside Malawi as well,” she said.

Lee, who is set to screen her movie during the European Film Festival at JCC on Saturday said she decided to make a little donation after she was impressed with the project.

Chikwawa District Hospital medical officer, Wamaka Msopole, hailed Music against Malaria for the project.

“On the challenges, malaria is number one cause for death in Chikwawa District and most of the deaths occur in children under five. Government is supporting a lot but still more there are some challenges that we looked at with Music against Malaria,” Msopole said.

The festival, which is also part of promoting and preserving the country’s culture through music, will feature acts such as Lulu, Madalitso Band and The Daughters Band from Lilongwe, Lusubilo Band from Karonga, Waliko Makhala, Agorosso and a Sounds of Malawi showcase featuring among others, Wyndham Chechamba, Goma Nyondo, Kukana Kuba Kasambwe Brothers, Eunice Kadzuwa Mhango, Chichiri Cultural Troupe and Dikamawoko Cultural Troupe.

The post Malawi’s The Times features Iara Lee and the CoR Network’s support of Music Against Malaria first appeared on Cultures of Resistance.

There’s a quiet revolution taking place in farms and kitchens across the small West African country of Burkina Faso. As food has moved towards the pre-processed and microwavable, people have become more and more detached from their meals’ origins and ingredients. However, an international movement pushing back against these trends is developing. In place of fast food, people now demand “slow food.” Slow food recovers the traditions of food preparation and celebrates diversity, rather than standardization. With an emphasis on culture, the movement focuses on growing, making, and eating food as a community.

When some people think of slow food, they think of a movement that’s about people in wealthy countries who are enjoying elaborate meals in expensive restaurants. But despite this common perception of slow food as a craze reserved for upscale urban centers, slow food is actually a grassroots movement coming from below, rooted in indigenous communities and building ties with food producers in the global south. In West Africa, where the movement is growing, slow food means defending food security, breaking from large-scale industrial agriculture, and preserving traditional, sustainable agriculture practices. At the Cultures of Resistance Network, we’re proud to be involved with international organizations like Slow Food and Via Campesina, which are both creating rich networks of people and groups working in West Africa and beyond to promote sustainable and ethical food practices.

In Burkina Faso, a small, landlocked country in West Africa, the slow food movement is taking root, spreading from the capital of Ouagadougou to small villages. In spring 2016, a caravan organized by Via Campesina allies traveled from Burkina Faso to Senegal, linking together the struggles for the human rights to food, land, water, and seeds. A year later, in February 2017, Slow Food organized Terra Madre Burkina Faso, West Africa’s first gathering of food communities. For years, the organization has been working to map the country’s local food products and create school and community food gardens, but this campaign is just one of the many slow food initiatives underway in Burkina Faso. Below are a selection of other grassroots efforts in the country that offer lessons for the rest of the globe. For a complete list of Slow Food‘s efforts in Burkina Faso, click here.

La Saisonnière Educational Garden

Ouagadougou lies in the center of Burkina Faso’s over-105,000 square feet of land. With a population of about 2.7 million, the city is growing rapidly. From 2007 to 2014, the population increased by over 50 percent, according to the New York Times.

On the outskirts of this burgeoning metropolis lies a chemical-free community garden run entirely by women. La Saisonnière, an organization in Ouagadougou, works to guarantee the economic and social rights of Burkinabé women. One of its major projects is the Nongr-Maasom community garden, tended to by about fifty women. Chemical fertilizers were once used in the garden, but the women now use natural products, including fertilizer, compost, and manure. This switch from chemical to natural is helping to restore the soil’s health and produce better harvests. The women each choose the vegetables that they wish to plant. After they’ve produced enough to feed their families, the women sell their surplus harvest at a nearby market. About 300 children also use a portion of the garden as an open-air classroom, where they are taught the basics of sustainable agriculture.

Génération Revenu

In the northeastern town of Yako, a new restaurant is celebrating local food and preserving indigenous traditions. Run by the Génération Revenu association, which works on agricultural projects, the restaurant’s proceeds support small farms in the town. In this part of Burkina Faso, the best-selling product is the desert date, which is harvested by about a dozen women in the community. At the restaurant, the typical dish is guelbom, which is made with the condiment soumbala, fermented sorrel seeds (a type of herb), dried fish, and millet flour. Next door, Génération Revenu also runs a shop selling local foods. If you were to visit, you would find cookies made with baobab and jujube fruit, soaps made from desert dates, and seasonings like soumbala and liikalga.

Watinoma

On any given day at Watinoma‘s community center in Koubri, about fifteen miles southeast of the capital, you might find kids engaged in educational projects, adults learning traditional textile methods, or artists giving musical or story-telling performances. A member of Slow Food‘s network and based in Italy, Watinoma is working to impact food and agriculture practices in Burkina Faso through community involvement. In addition to the many activities at its community center, the organization also created and runs numerous local gardens. It even started a school of its own for local children from ages six to twelve. 160 students now attend the school at no cost.

Get Involved

From eating locally and examining your own food consumption to standing in solidarity with food activists in other parts of the world, there are many different ways that you can get involved with this international movement. To get started, you can:

• Join one of Watinoma‘s volunteer projects in Burkina Faso! You might help out at the organization’s primary school or tend to one of the community gardens.
• Head to Slow Food’s Get Involved page to learn more about the movement, become a Slow Food member, and join campaigns to save endangered food products.
• Find a Via Campesina organization in your town and connect with food justice and slow food activists around the world.

The post Slow Food Revolution: Burkina Faso first appeared on Cultures of Resistance.

In Balochistan, one of Pakistan’s poorest provinces, conflict is the norm and many children lack access to quality education. But our ally The Citizens Foundation (TCF) is aiming to change that. The Cultures of Resistance Network worked with TCF to open a new primary school in Balochistan that is completely free for students. Named The TCF School – Cultures of Resistance Campus, it is providing education for children who might not otherwise have the chance to attend school. After more than a year of planning and construction, it began welcoming local children in April 2017 and currently has 130 students in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade!

The TCF School – Cultures of Resistance Campus is located in a rural section of Balochistan that is home to many low-income households and where the majority of people work as fishermen. Any child from one of the low-income families within walking distance is eligible for admission, while members of the local community have been hired in non-faculty positions. Besides its six classrooms, the school includes a room for art and a library. After classes, students choose from a wide range of extracurricular activities, including art, field trips, debates, and sports competitions. The campus has plenty of outdoor space for students to participate in team sports like volleyball, cricket, and soccer.

Balochistan

Balochistan has witnessed incredible violence. American drone strikes against the Taliban have hit the province and a long-running separatist insurgency continues with no end in sight. Despite being home to vast natural resources, Balochistan’s residents are also facing both food and water shortages, leading to an increasing sense of disenfranchisement and alienation. Amnesty International has called it is the hardest place in Pakistan for human rights workers to operate. According to the organization, twelve journalists were killed in Balochistan between 2008 and 2016.

The school will be located in a rural area in the Gwadar district, on the southwestern coast of Balochistan, near the border with Iran. Gwadar is most famous as the home of a deep-water sea port that links Pakistan and China. Construction on Gwadar Port began in 2002 and continues today as China seeks to shorten trade routes and create a new “Silk Road” on both land and sea. This corridor connects China to Europe via Pakistan, Central Asia, and Russia. China has already invested billions of dollars in the project. However, the people of Balochistan have not seen much of that money. In a 2011 report, Human Rights Watch cited the port as one of the reasons for unrest in the province, writing, “Militancy in Balochistan has been fuelled by ethnic Baloch anger over the Pakistani government’s moves to harness local mineral and fossil fuel resources, maintain large numbers of troops in the province, and construct the Gwadar deep-sea port at the mouth of the Persian Gulf with non-Baloch workers.”

The Citizens Foundation

TCF already operates 1,202 schools, reaching 175,000 children in urban slums and poor rural areas, and has a strong focus on gender equality. Its model for affordable, quality education has proven to eliminate the barriers of class and privilege. TCF encourages female enrollment and strives to maintain 1:1 ratio of boys and girls in most of its campuses. TCF also has a full female faculty of 10,100 members. TCF schools are located in the most marginalized, low-income, and often conflict-prone neighborhoods of the country.

Get Involved

There are many different ways that you can get involved with TCF:

• Volunteer in Pakistan or the US – TCF is always looking for volunteers in both Pakistan and the US! In Pakistan, volunteers help teach skills and lead fun activities at TCF’s programs in Karachi and Lahore. In the US, you can help spread the word about TCF’s work in your community or get involved in one of TCF’s local chapters, which help organize fundraisers and other outreach events. If you’re interested, you can find your local chapter here. Get more information about volunteer opportunities in both Pakistan and US and sign up here!
• Intern in the US – TCF’s Chicago and Houston offices both offer internship opportunities. Their needs are always changing, but you can find current internship openings listed here.
• Donate – Support a student or school! Learn more about the different ways you can help TCF continue to provide affordable quality education here.

• Back to “Education Not War”

The post The TCF School – Cultures of Resistance Campus first appeared on Cultures of Resistance.

On the island states in the South Pacific, communities are pushing for independence while battling sea levels that are rising due to climate change. One of the key struggles in the region is the fight for freedom in West Papua, which comprises the western half of New Guinea. Since the 1960s, West Papua has been occupied by Indonesia. Indigenous West Papuans are still trying to gain their independence today. The Cultures of Resistance Network has been privileged to partner with some of the most dynamic and outspoken groups working for freedom in West Papua. We’re proud to recommend to our networks great opportunities for supporters to get involved.

From campaigning for the right to self-determination, to challenging the Indonesian government’s ban on independent journalism, to joining in international solidarity to combat the perils of climate change, our allies are committed to calling out injustices and defending both their land and traditions. If you want to get involved, read below for some great opportunities to contribute by translating, donating, or demonstrating!

Free West Papua Campaign

Launched in 2004 by West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda, the Free West Papua Campaign aims to give the people of West Papua the freedom to choose their own destiny through a fair and transparent referendum.

Indonesia’s occupation of West Papua began in 1962 and the territory was formally absorbed into Indonesia in 1969. Since then, the population of West Papua has gradually shifted away from indigenous West Papuans. According to the Free West Papua Campaign,

“Over the last fifty years Indonesia has carried out a social engineering project on a massive scale by relocating hundreds of thousands of people from across Indonesia to live in camps cut into the forests of West Papua. This program of transmigration has long been heavily criticised and has brought problems for both the indigenous population and transmigrants alike. As a result the population of West Papua in 2010 was around 3.5 million people, with an estimated split of almost 50% Papuan and 50% non-Papuan.”

Wenda and the Free West Papua Campaign are working to raise awareness of the West Papuans’ plight around the globe, while continuing to push for a referendum on self-determination. If you’d like to help, check out the campaign’s website. You can join in by taking actions ranging from organizing a Free West Papua demonstration, to supporting West Papuan prisoners, to bringing a Free West Papua benefit concert to your town, to lobbying your elected officials, to subscribing to get more information.

West Papua Media

The Indonesian government bans independent reporting from inside West Papua, making it incredibly difficult for West Papuans to access fair and accurate news. Our friends at West Papua Media (WPM), however, have worked to change that by coordinating a network of journalists inside and outside West Papua. The organization monitors the latest independently verifiable news from West Papua, where journalists—Papuans and outsiders alike—are under constant threat of imprisonment. WPM specializes in reporting on human rights violations and civil resistance inside West Papua. By doing so, it seeks to create a situation where the Indonesian government’s ban on foreign media becomes impossible to enforce. In recent years, repression against journalists has made it very difficult for West Papua Media to continue functioning and they had to suspend operations in 2019. However, the group is currently looking for the support that they need to be able to restart. You can help by making a donation or by offering to help translate materials.

350 Pacific

As climate change begins to turn island residents into the world’s first climate refugees, communities on West Papua and the other Pacific Islands are taking action to protect their homes. 350 Pacific, part of the international 350.org network, represents individuals from numerous islands that are facing climate-induced challenges. In total, 350 Pacific has members in fifteen of the Pacific Island nations. They have four key demands: end the era of fossil fuels and move to 100% renewable energy, kick the big polluters out of climate talks, support the immediate delivery of resources needed for countries already facing irreversible loss and damage, and do what is needed to limit warming to 1.5°C. Visit their website to learn about ways you can get involved and show your support for these common goals, such as signing on to the Pacific Climate Warriors Declaration on Climate Change!

[Featured image courtesy of Free West Papua Campaign.]

The post Celebrate Island Resilience: West Papua first appeared on Cultures of Resistance.

Abdullah Al-Shawk received a scholarship that Cultures of Resistance supported through the Iraqi Student Project. He went on to attend the United World College and the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He founded the Education for Peace project to raise money to buy school supplies for Iraqi refugee children. Read an article about the initiative here.

The post Abdullah Al-Shawk first appeared on Cultures of Resistance.

At the Cultures of Resistance Network, one of the most basic things we do to promote sustainability is support tree-planting and reforestation initiatives. While working to address larger social and economic issues, we cannot forget the importance of preserving and expanding our forests and gardens. Throughout the world, trees are being destroyed and illegal logging continues to fuel deforestation. Trees provide us with air, as well as many other essentials, and protecting them remains one of our top priorities.

To address this crisis, we’re supporting several different initiatives:

• Haiti
• Korea
• Endangered Trees

The post Saving Our Trees: Reforestation and Preservation first appeared on Cultures of Resistance.

Aye Thein is originally from Burma/Myanmar and specialized in Globalization and Development, which combined international relations and development studies. He then began doing field research for an Oxfam-commissioned social impact assessment report on the Kyauk Phyu Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in his home region of Rakhine State. In his role as a field researcher, he studies existing livelihood patterns and basic infrastructure and social services in four villages that are going to be affected by the Kyauk Phyu SEZ. The project aims to take a proactive approach in the zone and protect the rights of the people in the villages, who face issues such as forced relocation, loss of livelihood, and confiscation of land without due process or proper compensation. Aye is also exploring ways to put his collection of books on development studies and political science to public use.

Below, you will find an interview with him from the summer of 2015 and an article he wrote about civil society in Myanmar in February 2016.

• Interview
• Article

In the summer of 2015, Lwamwe talked about his background and the CoR scholars network’s impact on his work.

Aye’s academic work focuses on the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in development. Titled “In What Ways Have NGOs Become Objects and Subjects of Governmentality? Evaluating the Role of NGOs as Development Partners Under Neoliberalism,” his dissertation analyzes the relationship between key development actors, such as NGOs, states, donors, and the people.

In the summer of 2015, Aye discussed his work and his experience in the CoR scholars network. Read the interview below.

Could you introduce yourself and let us know a little about your background and how you came to apply for your scholarship?

My name is Aye Thein and I’m originally from Myanmar/Burma…. I did my undergraduate degree in Hong Kong, and before that I was working with an international NGO—People in Need—that focused on emergency relief work and development work providing basic infrastructure in small villages. I wanted to continue my studies and when I heard about the Cultures of Resistance scholarship, I thought I would try my luck, and luckily, here I am.

This has been an amazing opportunity for someone of my background. My mother never went to school. My father, who passed away a few years ago, had only five years of primary level schooling behind him. I have six siblings and my four oldest never finished middle school. It is only me and my two sisters who made it past high school and completed a degree.

My mother used to sell fish in the local market. That was how she supported the seven kids in my family, and still managed to send three of us to university. That is really a great achievement for a woman of her standing, always trying to make ends meet. When things are difficult, I forget about myself and think of my mother and that I have to succeed at education to respect the sacrifices that she made for us.

I think I was always obsessed with education, and this is my third degree. I owe a lot of where I am now to the generosity of others. When I finished high school, I had really good grades but could not leave my hometown as a we had no money. With some funding from the British Council, I was able to study locally, taking an English degree, which was the ‘hot subject’ at the time, but it was never what I really wanted to do. I was then lucky enough to be awarded a scholarship, which took me to Hong Kong University to study Political Science…

How have you found your experience at SOAS?

Compared to the University of Hong Kong, the atmosphere on campus is much more laid-back. Not in the sense that we don’t take things seriously here, but that scholars are encouraged to find what interests them and pursue it, rather than formally follow a proscribed curriculum handed to them by the academics. One of my favorite things about studying here is the way that the courses are designed to encourage us to look at the world through multiple perspectives, to question what we have learnt in the past and to form our own conclusions and direct our own learning to an extent. I have found this approach to be really beneficial to my studies.

Could you tell us about your studies, and how they are progressing?

I am specializing in Globalization and Development, which is a combination of international relations and development studies. I have developed a strong interest in two areas—one is Marxist economics and the other is the emerging transnational social movement. I think that the social movement is really relevant to a country like mine. We have a lot of issues arising out of development projects. We’ve had conflict for so long that people have become disengaged and these is little debate on important issues. What I’m learning here is really important and I hope to be able to apply a lot of it when I return home.

What are your plans for the future?

I want to get involved in ongoing development projects in my country and also hope to get involved in labor movements—getting people actively engaged with their rights as our country opens up, helping ensure that the people have a voice regarding issues like wages and working conditions. As the country opens up, it seems that many people are passively watching as our society rapidly changes. I want to play a role in changing that.

What impact has the support from Cultures of Resistance had on your studies and life?

My education would not have been possible had I not received a lot of help from other people along the way…. People like my fellow Cultures of Resistance scholars and me, we really want to study, we really want to contribute to improving matters in our home nations, and we really aren’t able to do so without support due to our circumstances. It is impossible to calculate the full impact of the gift of education; the effect it has is so long-lasting and far-reaching.

Finally, do you have a personal message you would like us to share with the team at Cultures of Resistance?

On a personal level, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me. On a broader level, it has made it possible to learn things that are relevant to development in my home country. I truly believe that ideas matter and here I am being given the opportunity to come into contact with a lot of ideas, to think about them, and see the relevance of them in practical reality. The fact that I have received so much help along the way has made such an impact on me and made me determined to help others whenever I can through my life.

By Aye Thein

Will Myanmar’s civil society help or hinder political change?

Civil society is often viewed as an agent of democratisation. At best this is a context-specific assumption. Looking at Myanmar, we can see two clear examples where civil society is not helping build democracy.

One of the defining characteristics of civil society is that it is supposedly independent of the state. However, under successive dictatorial governments in Myanmar civil society has had to struggle for survival. Despite a long history of popular protests against the regime, the political space within which civil society existed has been extremely limited.

Today it is given all the freedom to carry out its social/non-political functions without much interference. Likewise, non-political civil society re-emerged in all its stripes and colours in the devastating aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in 2008, stepping into roles left vacant by an indifferent state and providing much-needed relief to victims.

The paradox here is that Myanmar’s civil society has had to operate within a legal and political space with parameters set by the very regime it seeks to change. Only when the state is fairly democratic, that is, a state which guarantees freedoms of assembly and expression, can an independent civil society exist and act as watchdogs over government actions without fear or interference.

This is the gist of the recent conversation The Irrawaddy had with Kyaw Thu, a long-time civil society actor and head of civil society organisation Paung Ku. Much as the shelving of the Myitsone Dam has been cited as a successful example of Myanmar civil society getting the government to respect public opinion, as Kyaw Thu points out, the Thein Sein government has engaged with civil society to win brownie points for itself. The government obviously signalled that there were lines not to be crossed when it began arresting leaders of the student protests over the newly-drafted education law in 2015. Those who have been arrested still languish in prison.

On a slightly different note, we have seen certain elements of Myanmar civil society doing uncivil things to the nation’s Muslims. For example, the Buddhist Sangha (not a civil society actor, strictly speaking), who have been a positive force in Myanmar’s struggle for democracy in the worst of dictatorial times, are now a serious obstacle during the current transition period.

Particularly worrying is the emergence of Ma Ba Tha, fronted by the likes of radical monk U Wirathu and openly promoting anti-Islamic sentiments. Even in the addresses of moderate monks like Sitagu Sayadaw, Muslims are to be tolerated but not recognised as political equals (emphasis mine).

In Rakhine State, where Muslims have borne the brunt of recent inter-communal violence and historical persecution and discrimination, civil society actors and organisations are hardly distinguishable from many ordinary people in their unwillingness to recognise human rights for Muslims in their areas. One might recall the GET OUT NGOs campaign launched in places like Sittwe. To my knowledge, some of those behind this campaign now work with local and international development organisations.

The point is, to the extent that civil society does not respect principles of human rights, and the political equality of people who believe in a different religion, there is no justification to call it “civil society”. So, even granting that civil society has a democratising tendency, it does not follow that it upholds liberal values, without which democracy cannot function.

While the church could have been democratising agents in countries such as Poland and the Philippines, the problem with the Burmese Sangha is that they reject liberal values. To be fair, a more direct criticism of Myanmar’s wider civil society could be that they are making little headway in the face of widespread anti-Islamic views and Islamophobia among ordinary people and a government bent on promoting this (not doing anything about it) and manipulating such feelings.

Instead of being able to democratise the government, it seems more convincing to argue that whatever political space there is for civil society, it can be attributed to the fact that Burma is being democratised – that is, from the top. As the popular saying goes, “Kyar tha nar hma nwa chan thar”(The cow is always at the mercy of the tiger).

As nationalistic-religious identity assumes new importance, a civil society which does not bridge those nationalistic-religious divides may not be much of a democratising agent.

This article was originally published by New Mandala on February 25, 2016.

The post Aye Thein first appeared on Cultures of Resistance.