The Struggle for Indigenous Self-Governance in Asia: A Democratic Alternative to Authoritarianism

BY GAM A. SHIMRAY FOR INDIGENOUS DEBATES

Indigenous Peoples across Asia have long mobilized for self-governance. Their struggle is deeply intertwined with broader political crises, democratic movements, and the persistence of authoritarian rule throughout the region. While they speak different languages and uphold distinct cultures, customary laws, and institutions, they share a common fight for the right for self-governance and strong resistance to state violence and unsustainable development. Supporting Indigenous self-determination, then, means also supporting democracy—as a living, consensus-based practice rooted in their territories.

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Indigenous Peoples and Drug-Related Violence in Nayarit

BY CARLOS RAFAEL REA  RODRÍGUEZ FOR INDIGENOUS DEBATES

In Mexico’s Pacific region, the lives of the Náayeri, Wixárika, Meshikan, and O’dam Indigenous Peoples have been deeply affected over the past 15 years by two interconnected and increasingly evident forms of violence. On one hand, state-driven acts of intimidation seek to undermine community resistance and impose megaprojects on their territories. On the other, drug cartels entrenched in the region exert economic, physical, political, and cultural violence as they compete for territorial control—often in the state’s absence or its direct complicity.

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The Ethnocide Committed by the Bolivian State against the Yukí Indigenous People

BY ERWIN MELGAR ORTÍZ FOR INDIGENOUS DEBATES

During the second half of the 20th century, the Yukí people were forcibly contacted by the New Tribes Evangelical Mission. The rapid process of their acculturation rendered them highly vulnerable to encroachments by external actors. This Amazonian people now face the advance of settlers from the Altiplano who cultivate coca, head illegal logging operations, and bring violence associated with drug trafficking. In the absence of adequate support from the Bolivian State and amid land usurpations by other Indigenous groups, their territorial rights are being rapidly eroded. Urgent measures are needed to prevent the disappearance of the Yukí people.

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The Friends of the Attawapiskat River and Indigenous Grassroots Advocacy for a Just Transition in Treaty 9 Territory

MICHAEL KOOSTACHIN AND KERRIE BLAISE FOR INDIGENOUS DEBATES

Through a single legislative act, Bill 5 seeks to deliberately amend or repeal numerous laws to advance mining interests. This proposal threatens the taiga and wetlands where many Indigenous Peoples live. Guided by Natural Law, the Oji-Cree, Ojibway, and Omushkegowuk communities have pledged to protect the waters that give them life and to resist the greed that poisons their rivers, endangers their children, and devastates their communities.

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