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Wednesday, November 11, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Indigenous Rights
ECUADOR: Harsh Indigenous Justice Sparks Debate
Naked and carrying a heavy bag of rocks, a young man stumbled several laps around a plaza filled by some 2,000 indigenous Ecuadoreans, who shouted insults and called him "murderer" and "traitor."
Historic Conservation Pact a Decade in the Making
It was here in Yellowknife, on an inlet of the Great Slave Lake, that Stephen Kakfwi, then a minister of wildlife and economic development who would go on to become premier of the Northwest Territories, brought together in 1996 a group that would decide which areas of the forest needed to be protected and which areas could be developed.ISRAEL: Settlement Policy Wrong – European Jews
Prominent Jewish intellectuals living in Europe have begun denouncing the Israeli policy of allowing settlements to come up on Palestinian territories as "morally and politically wrong.’’BOLIVIA: Morales Caught Between Gas Revenues and Indigenous Demands
The Bolivian government negotiated with native groups to head off major marches and roadblocks aimed at demanding protection of indigenous land rights and conservation of the environment in their territories.Argentina’s Dream of Equality Unfulfilled, 200 Years On
As Argentina celebrates the bicentennial of the revolution that paved the way for independence from Spain, the promise of social progress remains unfulfilled for excluded and marginalised groups.KYRGYZSTAN: Agenda Seen Behind ‘Ethnic’ Clashes
While local and international media reports of the May 19 clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan dwelt on rivalries between the Kyrgyz and Uzbek communities, the two ethnic groups were seen to be united against forces loyal to ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
MIDEAST: US Funds Apartheid Roads on West Bank
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is helping Israel to construct an apartheid road infrastructure in the occupied Palestinian West Bank by financing nearly a quarter of the segregated road system primarily for the benefit of Israeli settlers.MEXICO: Murders Strengthen Resolve of Autonomous Indigenous Community
"We feel defenceless, but we're going to return to San Juan Copala and accompany the family of our dead friend and colleague," Jorge Albino, spokesperson for his autonomous village in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, told IPS Friday.MEXICO: O’odham Nation Fights Toxic Waste Dump
The Tohono O'odham indigenous people are counting the days to the October expiry date of the permit granted to a toxic waste management company for a landfill dump in their territory, in the northern Mexican state of Sonora.MIDEAST: Where Commemorations Are Split
In Israel and Palestine memory is a split matter, depending on which side of the map you come from. Especially this May, as Israeli and Palestinian leaders restart negotiating a border acceptable to their peoples.
Can Amaranth Fix Mexico’s Dual Dietary Disasters?
Supporters of amaranth have been trying for decades to bring this millennia-old grain back from oblivion. Known for its high nutritional content, it is now being promoted as a way to help modern-day Mexico confront two of its dietary ills: malnutrition and obesity.
MIDEAST: Palestinian Economic Boycott Hits Israeli Settlers
Israeli settlers are beginning to feel the bite of an economic boycott campaign launched by the Palestinian Authority (PA) against goods produced in the illegal Israeli settlements dotting the occupied West Bank.ECUADOR: Native Standoff Over Water Bill on Hold
The Ecuadorean legislature's decision to hold a non-binding vote among the country's indigenous communities on a controversial water bill that sparked weeks of protests by native groups has calmed things down -- for now.ISRAEL: The Only Democracy in the Middle East?
Noam Chomsky, a fierce espouser of left-wing causes, is widely admired in countries which parade themselves as "democracies". Apparently, the admiration does not extend to Israel.
Q&A: Justice in Guatemala – A Child That No One Helped Learn to Walk
In Guatemala, "justice was like a child just starting to stand up" when the 36-year armed conflict came to an end, but no one helped it "learn to begin to walk," says Jesús Tecú, who will be awarded a prestigious international human rights prize Wednesday in New York.
MIDEAST: Chomsky – Latest Jewish Thinker Savaged by Israel
When internationally renowned linguist, philosopher and political analyst Noam Chomsky was barred from entering the West Bank, he joined a chorus of Jewish intellectuals savaged by the Israeli government for outspoken criticism.BOLIVIA: Amazon Indigenous Communities Plan 1,000-km March
The indigenous peoples of the Amazon region of Bolivia have declared themselves in a "state of emergency" and announced that on May 20 they will begin a 1,000-kilometre march to La Paz to demand that the government defend their territory from being plundered by oil, logging and mining companies.
RiGHTS: Villagers Pay Dearly for India’s War with Maoists
Almost a year on, Dipali Sahu still recalls with horror the day an operation by the policemen and paramilitary troopers began here in June last year to take back control of the vast swathes of eastern India captured by the Maoist rebels.
MIDEAST: Is Israel Sliding Towards a Police State?
Israeli nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu has been sentenced to another three months imprisonment for allegedly refusing to perform community service in West Jerusalem.
MIDEAST: Israeli Settlers Step Up Attacks on Palestinian Mosques
"There is immense anger as well as a feeling of vulnerability and fear when a place of sanctuary and holiness is subject to indiscriminate violence," says Issa Hussein.
BIODIVERSITY: Odds Stacked Against San Harvesters of Devil’s Claw
Nguni Diyasen gently loosens the earth with a hoe and then widens the hole with her bare hands. Fifty centimetres down she uncovers the light brown root of a devil's claw. Used to treat arthritis and rheumatism, the plant also constitutes her only income.« Previous Page — Next Page »
The planet's roughly 350 million indigenous peoples took notable steps on the international stage in the last decade. They got the world's governments to agree to create a body to represent them at the United Nations, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and to appoint a special rapporteur responsible for their human rights. In 2007 a Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was approved by the UN. Yet the living conditions of most "tribal", "aboriginal", "native" or "first" peoples remain precarious. IPS, with its network of contributors at the UN and linked to indigenous communities worldwide, is committed to tracking the world community's efforts to do justice to the rights and aspirations of these peoples, with a special current focus on Latin America's 40 million rural indigenous peoples.
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