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The Frontline Fundraiser for Land Defenders across Turtle Island featured in the Building Movements in Defense of Life Film Festival including the Unist'ot'en and Gidemt'en camps has been extended until Saturday June 19th!Please support the fundraiser today if you can and check out the incredible documentaries that are now free for the public and linked below!
Solidarity Art Space has also launched a beautiful new line of crop tops and shirts you can buy today with all funds going to the Wet'suwet'en frontlines!
Frontline Fundraiser Extended to June 19thWe are heartened by the outpouring of solidarity from so many individuals who've contributed to the collective frontline fundraiser. We are also blown away by the $9,000 USD donation that Grassroots Global Justice Alliance and Indigenous Climate Action each made. We are building global bonds of solidarity and power.
We've now raised $55,000 USD for the six frontline communities in the Building Movements in Defense of Life campaign! Y'all have been showing up to support the frontlines in big ways and we so appreciate it. Pilamiyaye, misiyh, seremein, gracias, thank you! We only have four days left to reach our $75,000 USD goal.
If you haven't donated, would you consider donating? And if you already donated, would you consider asking two friends to make a donation?
You can support the frontlines by:
- Donating to the main Frontline Fundraiser or
- Donating to the Frontline Auction or
- Donating to the Frontline 60/40 Raffle
*All donations are tax deductible in the US
Click on the image above to get more details on amazing auction items including candid conversations with internationally renowned movement leaders Miriam Miranda and Cherri Foytlin. We've also added some new swag like the gorgeous Defend Blanket that honors the strength of Indigenous women--thank you NDN Collective!
RT/Boost/Share Fundraiser
(click socials below to share)
Public Film Releases -
LA LUCHA SIGUE (THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES)
&
L'EAU EST LA VIE (WATER IS LIFE):
FROM STANDING ROCK TO THE SWAMP
In Honduras, the most dangerous place in the world to be a land defender, the Lenca and Garífuna people are not backing down. They are fighting to uphold their rights and Indigenous and Black cultures in the face of state backed megaprojects and narco-traffickers who seek to assassinate them, destroy their lands, and erase their existence.See more about the film here. Watch L'EAU EST LA VIE (WATER IS LIFE) in full below
On the banks of Louisiana, fierce Indigenous women are ready to fight—to stop the corporate blacksnake and preserve their way of life. They are risking everything to protect Mother Earth from the predatory fossil fuel companies that seek to poison it.See more about the film here.
Watch INVASION in full on the link below
INVASION is a new film about the Unist’ot’en Camp, Gidimt’en checkpoint and the larger Wet'suwet'en Nation standing up to the Canadian government and corporations who continue colonial violence against Indigenous people.See more about the film here.
Community, NGO, and University Screenings -
get in touch with us to host one!
Use our extensive education materials to take the conversation to the next level:
1. LA LUCHA SIGUE - Education Guide and Screening Guide
2. L'EAU EST LA VIE (WATER IS LIFE) - Education Guide and Screening Guide
3. INVASION - Supporter Toolkit
*All links above are downloadable
There are no screening fees for communities.
When we look at the US-backed Israeli air raids on native Palestinians that killed more than 200 in the May war amid protest of Palestinian evictions; the US-backed Colombian police riot squads and paramilitary forces that have killed at least 49 civilians who rose up against right wing tax reforms and social welfare cuts; the US-backed Honduran state forces who collude with industry to rob Indigenous land and murder with impunity; the US state and industry collusion to push the Line 3 pipeline through the heart of Anishinaabe territory and treaty land; the bodies of 215 Indigenous children recovered in a Canadian residential school mass grave; or the 62 black people who have been killed by militarized US police in 2021 alone, we see clear patterns of settler colonialism and US imperialism upheld by state sanctioned violence and justified by racist, classist and patriarchal world-views. Mutual Aid Media films aim to reframe the conversation, draw the connections between capitalist, colonial and racist systems that devalue life, and inspire deeper bonds of solidarity across imaginary borders.
BERTA CÁCERES MURDER - TRIAL UPDATE
Text Messages Implicate Honduran Elite and Reveal Systemic Racism
In Honduras, a country where impunity is the rule and not the exception, David Castillo’s trial for the assassination of internationally renowned Indigenous leader Berta Cáceres is historic. During these xx days of trial the evidence paints a picture of a complicated web of actors who are implicated in Berta’s assassination:
- Castillo acting as co-author of the assassination to protect DESA’s interests
- The participation of the Atala Zablah family, one of the richest families in Honduras and owners of DESA
- Public Officials: including then Honduran President Porfirio Lobo (who granted the illegal dam concession for Agua Zarca); police; mayors; and the Security Ministry (who was mandated to protect Berta due to all her death threats, but who instead assured Pedro Atala to not worry about the investigation because the murder was "a crime of passion")
- HCH (major media outlet that amplified the smear campaigns against Berta and COPINH)
The trial has given us an unfiltered glimpse into the world-view of the Honduran elite through a trove of private text messages. “The messages showed Daniel Atala's racism and contempt for the Lenca people, with messages that included phrases such as ‘I can't stand those Indians anymore' at a time when the Río Blanco community was carrying out territorial defense actions against the company.” In different text conversations with his now wife, María Fernanda Rivera, Daniel messaged:
- “Y’all done fucked up today you invaded private property…I’m going to contract a sniper.” (Within the context of talking about the communities direct actions)
- "That's what I call the Indians of Agua Zarca so as not to identify them as Lenca Indians. I call them ladinos because they are not legit ladinos.” (Denying the Indigenous identity of the community erodes international law that upholds their rights to their territories)
- Maria talks about the debate around Garífunas wanting a Black Indigenous university, to which Daniel responds, “Howard of honduras”
- "I have spent a lot of money and political capital to get those 3 arrest warrants.” (Referring to warrants to criminalize Berta and COPINH)
- “The impunity problem in Honduras is huge.” Maria responds "That's why capitalism works. Because there is accountability."
Here Are ACTIONS You Can Take:
- Donate to our campaign Protect Life:#SupportFrontlines
- Organize a community screening of one of our films or ask your university to license them
- Learn more about the movement to defund the police
-
Support H.R. 2590, the Palestinian Children and Families Act ‘insists on the rights to safety, dignity, and freedom for the Palestinian people. Tweet your Congress Members
-
Support the Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act and r34.
