https://globalvoices.org/2024/05/09/locals-in-aruba-protest-unsustainable-growth-of-hotel-and-tourism-industry/
#aruba #nomorehotels #environmentalcrisis #tourism #thereefisdying #landback #decolonize #freenature

https://globalvoices.org/2024/05/09/locals-in-aruba-protest-unsustainable-growth-of-hotel-and-tourism-industry/
#aruba #nomorehotels #environmentalcrisis #tourism #thereefisdying #landback #decolonize #freenature

A Native Community Preserves its Food Traditions

Members of the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation are keeping #TraditionalFoodways alive in the face of #ClimateChange and human impact.

By Allie Hostler
November 21, 2017

Excerpt: "Changes in tribal food systems and lifeways began in 1853 as the #CaliforniaGoldRush brought a mass incursion of #WhiteSettlers. Making way for the newcomers and addressing the ' #IndianProblem,' California paid a bounty for Indian scalps, which proved to be more lucrative than panning gold. The first session of the California State Legislature passed the Act for the Government and Protection of Indians in 1850, which legalized removing Natives from their land and separating Native families.

"Ceremonies were ambushed and villages were burned. In 1856, the U.S. government forcibly removed 1,834 #Tolowa to coastal concentration camps. By 1910, like many California tribes, the Tolowa population had dwindled—from more than 10,000 to just 504. Despite the 14th Amendment, the Act for the Government and Protection of Indians was not fully repealed until 1937.

"Relying on the knowledge held by the few families refusing to give up their traditional ways, the Tolowa persevered.

" 'My family managed to hold tight to our food, language, ceremony, songs, beliefs, and protocols,' says Jones. 'We fought to keep connected. We purposefully protected and passed along this way of being so it didn’t die.' "

Read more:
https://civileats.com/2017/11/21/a-native-community-preserves-its-food-traditions/

#SolarPunkSunday
#IndigenousFoodSovereignty
#TraditionalFoods #FoodSovereignty #Foodsecurity #IndigenousAgriculture #TolowaDeeni’ #AnimalProducts #IndigenousFoodSecurity #IndigenousFoodSystems #LandBack
#Reclaiming #Decolonize #CulturalErasure #Genocide #CulturalSurvival

#Arizona - Skoden Coffee & Tea combines traditional #NativeAmericanCuisine with #activism

by Anna Ehrick, April 22, 2025

PHOENIX – "For Indigenous small business owner Natasha John, the road to owning a coffee shop has been long. About 300 miles, in fact.

"John first opened Skoden Coffee & Tea as a pop-up in Window Rock, the capital of the Navajo Nation, traveling to areas throughout the vast community in northeast Arizona.

"When people suggested she should move the business 300 miles south to Phoenix, John recalled she doubted the idea.

" 'I was really against it because I thought I wanted to be like a food hub on the reservation because it’s such a food desert,' John said. 'But I had the reassurance from my partner and colleagues that were helping me with pop-ups.'

"When an opportunity came in December 2023 to move the enterprise to a vacant spot inside For The People, an uptown #PhoenixAZ furniture store on Central Avenue, she jumped at the chance.

" 'Fortunately, we had a lot of success with that first location,' she said. 'When business owners say location means everything, it really does.'

"Skoden Coffee & Tea has now settled in its most recent home inside #CentralRecords, a record store on Central Avenue south of Roosevelt Street. It’s inspired by Japanese-style coffee shops referred to as 'kissa.'

"That’s a shortened version of 'kissaten,' roughly translated to 'tea drinking shop.' In Japan, a kissa is a spot where people can listen to music, usually jazz, while enjoying their tea.

"At Skoden, a variety of beverages and pastries are inspired by Indigenous cuisine, with ingredients like blue corn and oat milk alongside coffees and espressos. Among the most popular offerings are the Diné Matcha Latte, Honey Lavender Lez Love, Peach and Pecan Latte as well as blue corn donuts and croissants.

"For John and co-owner Jo Manuelito, it’s important to include elements of nostalgia from growing up on the reservation.

"This includes beverages that use Navajo tea, an ancient herbal tea using the dried leaves of Greenthread, also known as Thelesperma. The herb, with its thread-like leaves, contains anti-inflammatory elements, which is why the tea has been used for hundreds of years as tribal medicine.

" 'We do research into trying to restore a lot of things that were lost during #colonization in our diets,' John said.
'One thing that a lot of Navajo people are trying to revive is the use of #sumac. It’s used in a lot of #MiddleEastern communities, but our ancestors used to harvest it as well.'

"The use of ancestral ingredients is what John believes will help the #Navajo community not only nourish themselves but stay connected to their culture.

"Being #Indigenous and #LGBTQ+, John said she recognizes some of the difficulties she has faced as a business owner.

" 'I feel like there’s a lot of judgment and high expectations,' she said. 'People are constantly projecting onto us, always watching us and judging. This whole experience has taught me that we really need to grow thicker skin.'

"John said they want all customers to feel safe and welcomed, and said it helps that the shop is surrounded by other supportive small businesses like Greater Good and Last Laugh Tattoo.

"Skoden has a growing Instagram presence, with more than 15,000 followers. It hosts fundraising events for diverse communities and music festivals featuring small bands.

" 'Everybody does a good job of uplifting each other, and we get a lot of people in the area that come in and support local business owners,' John said. 'The shop can take credit for being a #SafeSpace where people can share the same values and ideas on social issues.'

"Charlie Amáyá Scott, a Native American scholar and transgender advocate, has visited Skoden and said her favorite drink is the Navajo lavender-infused honey tea.

" 'I adore Skoden Coffee,' said Scott, who also works as a social media influencer.

"She has taken to Instagram to support the shop, encouraging others who live near the area to check it out. She also has spoken out about the shop’s role in #activism and support of certain movements like #BearsEars, which involves a coalition of five Indigenous communities who want to protect the #BearsEarsNationalMonument.

"John said she wants customers to leave Skoden feeling supported and renewed.

" 'We have to remind each other what we’re doing this for and go back to those values of why we started this business,' she said. 'For us, it’s not about making money but trying to create change through serving coffee and providing a space where people can just heal.' "

https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2025/04/22/indigenous-coffee-shop-offers-safe-space/

#IndigenousOwnedBusinesses #IndigenousFood #Decolonize #SupportLocalBusinesses #Arizona #NativeAmericanFood #CommunitySpaces #Healing

#NativeAmericaCalling: A new wave of resistance against #Trans #Native relatives

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

"Trans #NativeAmericans face a new wave of #resistance

"Iowa is testing new legal limits as the first state to remove gender identity as a protected class in the state’s civil rights code.

"The Trump administration is also removing transgender service personnel from the military. And the State Department is using existing law against #fraud to bar foreign #TransgenderAthletes from entering the country, something critics worry could be used to ban any trans traveler.

"After years of progress, Native American trans residents are facing a major rollback of favorable laws and policies. Tune in to hear about the current public climate and what might be in store for the future."

Source:
https://indianz.com/News/2025/03/05/native-america-calling-a-new-wave-of-resistance-against-trans-native-relatives/

Listen:
https://soundcloud.com/indianz/two-spirit-ncai-ecws2025

Spotify link:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6dtU6nDFD0f7eupqihE4Rg?go=1&sp_cid=b834467a3894c08ce4d3b77ae608fd50&utm_source=embed_player_p&utm_medium=desktop&nd=1&dlsi=1452335958d041a6
#Resist #ResistFascism #ResistColonialism #GBLTQRights #NativeAmericans #USPol #Decolonization #Decolonize

'Anything that can be built can be taken down': The largest dam removal in US history is complete – what happens next?

The #KlamathRiver is free of four huge dams for the first time in generations. But for the #Yurok tribe, the river's restoration is only just beginning – starting with 18 billion seeds.

by Lucy Sheriff, September 3, 2024

"This is decades and decades in the making," says Thompson. 'We were told it was never going to happen. That it was foolish to even ask for one removal. We were asking for four.'

"The #KlamathBasin covers more than 12,000 square miles (31,000 sq km) in southern Oregon and northern California, and was home to the JC Boyle, Copco 1, Copco 2 and Iron Gate dams, all owned by #PacifiCorp, an electric utilities company. The Klamath was once the third-largest salmon producing river on the US's West Coast before the construction of the dams blocked fish from accessing almost 400 miles (640km) of critical river habitat for almost 100 years.

"Fall #ChinookSalmon numbers plummeted by more than 90% and spring chinook by 98%. #SteelheadTrout, #CohoSalmon and #PacificLamprey numbers also saw drastic declines, and the Klamath tribes in the upper basin have been without their salmon fishery for a century, since the completion of #Copco 1 in 1922. The situation became so bad that Yurok tribe – who are known as the salmon people – began importing Alaskan salmon for their annual salmon festival, traditionally held to celebrate the first return of fall chinook salmon to the Klamath River.

"The dams also had a severe impact on #WaterTemperature and quality – growth of #ToxicAlgae behind two of the dams resulted in health warnings against water contact.

"'It was painful,' says Willard Carlson, a Yurok elder who is known as a #RiverWarrior and was part of the inter-generational campaign. 'All those years seeing our river damaged like that. I remember as a kid we'd have other people from nearby tribes making fun of our river. 'Oh, you're Yurok, your river is dirty.' For us, the #dams were a monument to the [ #coloniser] people who conquered us."

[...]

"Restoring the land

But something that does need "a helping hand is the restoration of 2,200 acres (890ha) of land that is above ground for the first time in a century following the emptying of four reservoirs.

"'Removing the dams is one thing, restoring the land is quite another,' says Thompson, a civil engineer and part of the crew working on the restoration project – which is being managed by Resource Environmental Solutions, an ecological restoration company."

Read more:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240903-removing-the-klamath-river-dams-to-restore-the-river-what-happens-next

#KarukTribe #YurokTribe #KlamathRiverRenewal #RestoreNature #Decolonize #WaterIsLife #NativeAmericans

It's only #thanksgiving in the #usa, but this is an important message.
It's a #colonialist #racist holiday that needs to be shown up for what it is.

#indigenous #decolonize #antiracism #boycott_thanksgiving

It's only #thanksgiving in the #usa, but this is an important message.
It's a #colonialist #racist holiday that needs to be shown up for what it is.

#indigenous #decolonize #antiracism #boycott_thanksgiving

A Native Community Preserves its Food Traditions

Members of the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation are keeping #TraditionalFoodways alive in the face of #ClimateChange and human impact.

By Allie Hostler
November 21, 2017

Excerpt: "Changes in tribal food systems and lifeways began in 1853 as the #CaliforniaGoldRush brought a mass incursion of #WhiteSettlers. Making way for the newcomers and addressing the ' #IndianProblem,' California paid a bounty for Indian scalps, which proved to be more lucrative than panning gold. The first session of the California State Legislature passed the Act for the Government and Protection of Indians in 1850, which legalized removing Natives from their land and separating Native families.

"Ceremonies were ambushed and villages were burned. In 1856, the U.S. government forcibly removed 1,834 #Tolowa to coastal concentration camps. By 1910, like many California tribes, the Tolowa population had dwindled—from more than 10,000 to just 504. Despite the 14th Amendment, the Act for the Government and Protection of Indians was not fully repealed until 1937.

"Relying on the knowledge held by the few families refusing to give up their traditional ways, the Tolowa persevered.

" 'My family managed to hold tight to our food, language, ceremony, songs, beliefs, and protocols,' says Jones. 'We fought to keep connected. We purposefully protected and passed along this way of being so it didn’t die.' "

Read more:
https://civileats.com/2017/11/21/a-native-community-preserves-its-food-traditions/

#SolarPunkSunday
#IndigenousFoodSovereignty
#TraditionalFoods #FoodSovereignty #Foodsecurity #IndigenousAgriculture #TolowaDeeni’ #AnimalProducts #IndigenousFoodSecurity #IndigenousFoodSystems #LandBack
#Reclaiming #Decolonize #CulturalErasure #Genocide #CulturalSurvival

RE: https://mastodon.online/@mastodonmigration/115545327049176562

We used to call #bigtech social media sites walled gardens. 👨‍🌾

The walls were high without many doors. Plus Zuck & friends have been poisoning the flowers to make them unnaturally bright.

Now the walls are so high that people are trapped in a place that’s steadily dying.

🌱 We have to compost some sh** to make the soil healthy again. I see #mastodon as a giant meadow for everyone to roam. 🐘
#decolonize #tech

RE: https://mastodon.online/@mastodonmigration/115545327049176562

We used to call #bigtech social media sites walled gardens. 👨‍🌾

The walls were high without many doors. Plus Zuck & friends have been poisoning the flowers to make them unnaturally bright.

Now the walls are so high that people are trapped in a place that’s steadily dying.

🌱 We have to compost some sh** to make the soil healthy again. I see #mastodon as a giant meadow for everyone to roam. 🐘
#decolonize #tech

Rising from the ground up — the work of remembering we belong to what we tend.
#WhenThePeopleRise #Decolonize #Reciprocity #RegenerativeAgriculture #Farmastery #LifeboatAcademy #decolonization

Rising from the ground up — the work of remembering we belong to what we tend.
#WhenThePeopleRise #Decolonize #Reciprocity #RegenerativeAgriculture #Farmastery #LifeboatAcademy #decolonization

📽 Film Screening + Q&A – A Red Road to the West Bank (Rough Cuts) 🎬

Tomorrow night! Join us — Clifton Ariwakehte Nicholas and Franklin López — at the Black Oak Anarchist Social Center in Hamilton for a special screening of rough cut footage from our upcoming documentary A Red Road to the West Bank.

This film connects Indigenous struggles in Turtle Island and Palestine, showing that colonization is not history — it’s an ongoing system that must be dismantled.

📅 Tuesday, August 12th
🕗 8:00 p.m.
📍 Black Oak Anarchist Social Center, Hamilton
🔗https://blackoak.noblogs.org/
💰 Pass the Hat / Pay What You Can – All funds go toward finishing the film.
🧣 Keffiyehs for sale – Proceeds help raise funds for the project.

Come watch, ask questions, pick up a keffiyeh, and help bring this story to life.

#ARedRoadToTheWestBank #IndigenousSolidarity#FreePalestine#Decolonize#LandBack #SupportIndieFilm#HamiltonEvents

📽 Film Screening + Q&A – A Red Road to the West Bank (Rough Cuts) 🎬

Tomorrow night! Join us — Clifton Ariwakehte Nicholas and Franklin López — at the Black Oak Anarchist Social Center in Hamilton for a special screening of rough cut footage from our upcoming documentary A Red Road to the West Bank.

This film connects Indigenous struggles in Turtle Island and Palestine, showing that colonization is not history — it’s an ongoing system that must be dismantled.

📅 Tuesday, August 12th
🕗 8:00 p.m.
📍 Black Oak Anarchist Social Center, Hamilton
🔗https://blackoak.noblogs.org/
💰 Pass the Hat / Pay What You Can – All funds go toward finishing the film.
🧣 Keffiyehs for sale – Proceeds help raise funds for the project.

Come watch, ask questions, pick up a keffiyeh, and help bring this story to life.

#ARedRoadToTheWestBank #IndigenousSolidarity#FreePalestine#Decolonize#LandBack #SupportIndieFilm#HamiltonEvents

This applies to any other form of bigotry you may have been programmed with.

If you are reading this and relate to any of it and want to be less bigot, you can free yourself by deconditioning.

Become aware of this dynamic within you. Become aware of any emotional reactions you have as you move through the world. Watch your inner life. Pause when you find yourself becoming defensive. (If there's little time and you're very reactive, just say, "Interesting. Thank you. I'll need to think about this." You're allowed to step away to process, or change subjects.)

Over time, dig to find a "woopsie, my bad" mistake-level within you, between the extremes you were programmed with. Foster that feeling. "I made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. I can learn from this and move on."

Practice. You can practice using those embarrassing moments you think of while trying to fall asleep. "Gosh that sure was embarrassing! Even after all these years I feel like I'm going to die when I remember that. But I know people who did embarrassing things and I'm still their friend."

Work to reframe and establish this middle ground, so that when it's a marginalized person commenting on your behavior, you have a calm, safe, receptive place inside to land.

That's probably the end of the thread. My breakfast got cold! Have a great Saturday, or whatever day it is for you in the future.

🧵

#AbuseCulture #racism #deconditioning #decolonize

Now you, the sincere follower, go about your life in the real world with this package of malware in your head.

You're eventually going to say something racist in mixed company. And you're going to be called out on it. By someone who isn't a recognized religious or political authority.

Suddenly you're triggered. You can't just be, "woopsie, my bad." You're not going to be receptive or teachable. Because you've been moved to the 100% bad box. Even though the person who gently mentioned it in order to help you be the good person you think you are only wanted a woopsie level of response.

All that going to hell stuff, being cut off from your community and God's presence, all of that baggage comes along with a pressing, dire, life-or-death need to defend yourself, all the roles you've been traumatized in religious contexts, that is with you now, not the person who called you out. These are the only alternatives of being for you:

1. Chosen pure moral Christian, the only keeper and defender of all that is good and right in the world.

or

2. Depraved Satan-spawn of unworthy, unclean wickedness who is definitely going to hell, oh and God hates you.

Since you heard that racist thing from a respected religious or political authority, who is definitely in box #1, then the problem here couldn't possibly be the racist thing you said that has put you in this terrifying emotional predicament. No, it must be that your accuser is wrong. THEY'RE the wicked one. Maybe they're even the racist. How dare they! Now I must frantically prove that I'm not the racist. Maybe by repeating more things that my covert racist pastor or home teacher said.

This is your only way out. Because of your conditioning.

These are the puppet strings that are on the minds of vast numbers of white American Christians.

[Sorry for the pronoun jumping. Bad form. I just want to get this written; consider it a first draft. I know what you mean.]

🧵

#AbuseCulture #racism #deconditioning #decolonize

I've been inspired by some thoughts this morning about why white people can get extra defensive about bigotry.

It's not white guilt.

It's white Christian guilt.

There's no level of wrongdoing that's "woopsie, I did a bad" in much of white American Christianity. The way I was raised, you're either 100% a good person or 100% bad. My religion put me alternatingly either in one box or the other, a package of cult techniques known as "Elitism" and the whole "Demand for Purity" [I originally wrote Perfection, which isn't the official term, but applies the same] to "Shame & Guilt" to "Dispensing of Existence" pipeline, a cycle I describe in my book, Recovering Agency. You're either one of God's beloved chosen to fight the wicked in the Last Days, or you're an unworthy piece of crap that God can't even stand to be around and you're going to suffer die.

I've also written in my book and described on podcasts the idea of the "pseudopersonality" created by cults in their followers. Your identity becomes so entangled in the group identity,l that the very thought of leaving or being disowned feels like a death threat. Who am I even, if not Mormon? But I have to do all these things to be Mormon. So a believer shapes their self-image and ego around the organization and its beliefs.

As you can maybe see, being a "good person" becomes directly tied to one's sense of safety. Combined with the ongoing spiritual trauma from these and other sources within the group, any hint that one is NOT a good person, particularly coming from anyone other than recognized authority, becomes a deeply conditioned trauma response.

Then the group introduces racist ideas in the context of religious teachings, but also teaches that the religion ISN'T racist. In fact, your group is the only beacon of real love in a wicked, Satanic world... ("Sacred Science", etc)

🧵

#AbuseCulture #racism #deconditioning #decolonize