“It is important to stress: the fight is not just ours. Preserving the environment and our history is in everyone's interest.”
Sandra Maria da Silva Andrade (sahn-drah mahr-ee-ah dah sill-vah ahn-drah-day), leader Minas Gerais
“I'm certain family members have suffered tremendously (from the deaths of family at the hands of soldiers) but I'm not familiar with the techniques used to express such suffering in monetary terms.”
Merina Eduards (meh-ree-nah ed-wahrdz), expert witness - Inter-American Court of Human Rights
“Our ancestors fought for and won their freedom from slavery and established autonomous communities. We fight for and won our right for legal recognition, controlling and managing our territory.”
Hugo Jabini (hyou-go yah-bee-nee), Member of Surinam’s Parliament
“I know what it is like to lose land. I am from a transmigration village. We cannot let this happen again or there will be no more Saamaka people. We will be like ghosts.”
Silvi Adjako (sill-vee ahd-jok-oh), subsistence and market farmer
“When we fell trees we are thinking of our children and grandchildren, of the future generations. When the outsiders come in they just clear-cut a whole area and then take away what they want.”
Cesar Adjako (say-zar ahd-jok-oh), village Captain
“The work to heal the island will heal the soul of our people. Each time we pick up a stone to restore a cultural site… we pick up ourselves, as Hawaiians.”
Dr. Noa Aluli (no-ah -ah-loo-lee), healer of land and people
“Thinking about…how climate will continue to impact our lives…is a very Hawaiian thing to do – to learn from our past and using that wisdom to help place it in a modern context.”
Haunani Kane (hah-nah-nee kah-nay), climate scientist
“The way to begin to recover is to decolonize ourselves, to identify ourselves as our ancestors and to use that as the basis for reviving our culture and restoring our nation.”
Dr. Kekuni Blaisdell (kay-coo-nee blaze-dell), sovereignty advocate
“Sovereignty will happen. Self-governance will happen. We don't know how it will happen but it's inevitable with all indigenous peoples the world over.”
Winona Beamer (win-no-nah bee-mer), advocate and teacher
“The Younger Brother is damaging the world. He must understand and change his ways, or the world will die.”
Mamo Luis Guillermo Izquierdo (mah-moh loo-ees ghee-yair-moh ees-key-air-dough), Arhuaco leader
“We are nature’s guardians. In the Sierra Nevada farming organic is by nature, not because we need a certification.”
Ati Zeygundiba (ah-tee zay-goon-dee-bah), Arhuaco coffee grower
“The Mother is the owner of everything - all the rivers, all the mountains. Without women, daughters, who would guard all of this?”
Sisa Pinto (see-sah pin-tow), Kogi elder
“This is our own place and we are telling you. Not just today, but for 500 years! What are you doing here?”
Mama Jose Luis (mah-mah hoh-zay loo-ees), Kogi spiritual leader
“In my vision as a Mohawk midwife, reproductive justice and environmental justice intersect at the nexus of woman's blood and voice.”
Katsi Cook (good-gee cook), Mohawk midwife
“We need to identify the processes that so often lead people who are honestly seeking to resist and destroy colonization to unconsciously re-create the elements of their own oppression.”
John Mohawk (jahn mow-hawk), Seneca philosopher and activist
“Because we were sovereign nations we had to start fighting for the land the Creator said was where we were supposed to live.”
Leon Shenandoah (lee-on shen-on-dough-wah), Onondaga chief
“I wouldn’t want to live in the village. I’m there for three days and I want to go home. Life is too fast and I soon get fed up.”
Marina Rultina (mah-ree-nah ruhl-tee-nah), Chukchi reindeer herder
“I sang the songs that belong to my tribe. Some of these songs are the relics of the last century... Unfortunately I’m probably the last one to sing the songs of the tribe.”
Larisa Ryskyntonaw (lah-ris-sah riss-kahn-tow-nah), Chukchi journalist and teacher
“It was not a romantic choice for us to return to the old ways... We want to feed ourselves. Hunting whales is what gives us pride. It is what reminds us of who we are.”
Vladimir Etylin (vlah-dee-meer eh-tih-lin), Chukchi head of Chukotka Revival
“Reindeer herding makes this world richer. One day the mining of gold and other minerals will come to an end here. Reindeer herding will always be able to go on.”
Grigorii Tynakergav (grig-or-ee tie-nack-er-gahv), Chukchi reindeer herder