Honoring Indigenous Peoples Day, 2018
Celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day in lieu of Columbus Day is a choice to celebrate the inherent worth and dignity of every person and to end the glorification of the cultural and ecological genocide caused by colonization.
In honor of Indigenous Peoples Day this year, UU Ministry for Earth is seeking to raise $1,000 to finance a new film called The Condor & The Eagle as an Associate Producer. Find out more.
Indigenous peoples are at the forefront of the struggle for land and environmental rights worldwide. The forcible taking of Indigenous land that marked colonial times still happens today in the form of drilling, mining, logging, land grabs for industrial agriculture, damming rivers, installing pipelines, and dumping waste. Even conservation efforts and carbon offset markets are displacing Indigenous communities. Recognizing Indigenous Rights and sovereignty is fundamental to creating climate justice.
Eighty percent of remaining biodiversity on the planet resides in Indigenous territories. That Indigenous Nations’ ecological wisdom and stewardship, sovereignty, and treaty rights are still not being respected by most nation states — and that Indigenous Nations are not given a voice as more than “special interest groups” at international climate and conservation summits—is detrimental, it’s racist, and it’s got to change.
Unitarian Universalists are called by our values to support the wellspring of Indigenous-led movements for climate justice.
Here are some key groups and resource pages related to Indigenous Rights and Climate Justice:
Honor The Earth
Indigenous Environmental Network
Water Protector Legal Collective
Unist’ot’en Camp
Native American Rights Fund
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)
Global Alliance Against REDD
Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism
Nuclear Colonialism resources (Healing Ourselves and Mother Earth)
Resources and information on UU action and positions:
Indigenous Peoples Day
Doctrine of Discovery and Rights of Indigenous Peoples
“This Land is Your Land” award-winning sermon by Colin Bossen
Solidarity Now with Indigenous Water Protectors, 2018 Action of Immediate Witness
