The Mother Tongue: Countering the Identity Thieves of Canada, Russia, Japan and U.S.

Photo: Indigenous Youth, Food Knowledge and Arctic Change

The Mother Tongue: Recovering Indigenous Languages from the Identity Thieves of Canada, Russia, Japan and United States

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, July 16, 2024

Updated July 28, 2024: More from Russia and Japan

GENEVA -- Indigenous languages are on the verge of extinction in Russia. An ancient language in Japan is denied recognition by the government, while Native Americans struggle to recover from the torture in boarding schools that was meant to silence them. In Canada, efforts are underway to revitalize Anishinaabe after Native languages and culture were targeted with erasure in residential schools, presenters  told the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

With Indigenous languages near extinction in Russia, an Indigenous youth from a reindeer herding community near the Arctic tundra, said newspapers are still  important here and are helping preserve the language, Nenets, among the endangered languages, in the vanishing north.

"Despite the decline in circulation of paper newspapers in the era of digitalization, our national newspaper retains an important role in the life of the people, clearly addressing their current agenda and giving ethnic journalists and language activists the opportunity to write in their native language," Nechei Serotetto, Indigenous youth from the Russian Arctic, told the United Nations Expert Mechanism.

"Moreover, the newspaper allows informing about twenty thousand Nenets of the Autonomous Okrug who are nomadic thousands of kilometers away and do not always have access to satellite internet coverage."

In Japan, speaking an ancient language was punishable by death.

Today, Japan refuses to recognize the language, the Lew Chewan/Okinawan languages, and its people. After Japan's annexation of the Lew Chew kingdom in 1879, the languages faced prohibition, Risako Sakai, ACSILs, told the United Nations.

"During WWII, the Japanese military ordered that speaking in Lew Chewan languages could result in execution, leading to the marginalization and near extinction of our native languages. In fact, the Japanese military executed Okinawans for speaking Indigenous languages, calling us “spy."

Josh Gandier. Photo Southern Chief's Organization, Censored News

"My own hope for this decade is to see the restoration, formation and protection of intergenerational connections between youths, language keepers and communities," said Southern Chiefs Organization's youth delegate Josh Gandier, Peguis First Nation.

Maori Battle for Rights as Racism Spreads in New Zealand, Maori Tell United Nations

Kym Hamilton, National Iwi Chairs Forum, speaking at United Nations in July. Screenshot Censored News

Maori Battle for Rights as Racism Spreads in New Zealand, Maori Tell United Nations

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, July 26, 2024

GENEVA – The increased racism and white supremacy in New Zealand, and the government’s attempts to diminish Maori treaty rights, are causing a regression in Indigenous rights, Maori told the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

"In Aotearoa, New Zealand, we are currently experiencing radical regression of enhanced participation at a state level. The New Zealand government is proposing to repeal the foundations of our treaty that gave them the right of settlement," Kym Hamilton of the National Iwi Chairs Forum told the United Nations Expert Mechanism.

Hamilton said Maori ancestors signed this treaty to protect their sovereignty which was never ceded. The government's proposals would reduce Maori participation and their decision-making on tribal lands and waters, and undermine many of the obligations of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Hamilton told the U.N.

Lakotas for Palestine Attacked in Hate Crime in Rapid City

Lakotas for Palestine Attacked in Hate Crime in Rapid City

Lakota Statement , Censored News, July 24, 2024

RAPID CITY, South Dakota – On Saturday, July 20th, we traveled to Mni Luzahan to support the International Indigenous Youth Council for a peaceful rally for Palestine. The rally was co-sponsored by ally group SD4Pal. Within 5 minutes of our arrival, this worker began heckling us from the lawn of City Hall, where she was working.

Oglala Lakota Youths: 'Peaceful Youth-led Rally for Palestine Attacked by Zionists in Rapid City'

(Above)South Dakota for Palestine in Rapid City, South Dakota, July 20, 2024

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Oglala Lakota Youths: Peaceful Youth-led Rally for Palestine Attacked by Zionists

By International Indigenous Youth Council-Oglala Lakota Chapter

Censored News

RAPID CITY, South Dakota -- On July 20th, a Saturday afternoon, dozens peacefully gathered around the City Hall to call for a ceasefire for Palestine. We were assaulted with spray paint and threatened with a firearm. These violent acts prove exactly what Palestinians have to experience from day to day.