Being an Ally or Co-resister
Contemporary methods of climate change mitigation and energy transition continue with a terra nullius approach, treating territories, in the global South especially, as if they belonged to no one, had no stewardship arrangement, and were available for extraction, intervention and external use.
Most land, however, belongs to people who have established long-term, cultural relationships with it and look after it. More than ever, it is important to begin to understand place-based relationships and engage with those who protect land. Not always, but often, we find that land defence emerges from Indigenous, afro-descendent or peasant communities.
You can become a co-resister to land-based struggles. Co-resisting means that whilst you might fight different aspects of the same colonial/patriarchal/racist world system in your everyday life, you can link up with land defenders. Co-resistance is about making earnest efforts to understand each other’s place in the world and building relationships that are based on reciprocity, respect, consent and empathy. It also involves committing time and energy to this struggle, exposing yourself to indigenous values and intellectual practice, and revitalizing your relationship with the earth.
Listen to Melisa Cabrapan Duarte’s reflections on allyship to land-based struggles and her own trajectory with Mapuche land defence:
How did you become an ally to indigenous struggles?
In what way do you think your involvement with indigenous communities has changed your own understanding of politics and relationship to land?
In what way do you think non-indigenous and urban dwellers can become effective allies for land-based struggles, in particular, in the face of invasive infrastructure projects and continued natural resource extraction on indigenous territories?
Is there anything else that you would like to flag up or add in relation to this project’s objectives and concerns or the terminology used etc.?
Support land protection movements and indigenous struggles for autonomy, sovereignty and self-determination where you can!