Facing Violence, Resistance Is Survival For Indigenous Women

Throughout North, Central and South America, Indigenous women are fighting battles against fossil fuel extraction, mining and the sexual violence that accompanies these projects. For example, women elders from the Klabona Keepers are leading non-violent blockades to protect the Sacred Headwaters in British Columbia from mining contamination, while their peers participate in the Unist’ot’en blockade against fracked gas pipelines. In Panama, the first-ever woman chief of the Ngäbe Buglé people successfully led a grassroots resistance to halt the construction of the Barro Blanco hydroelectric project. In Ecuador and Peru, women are key leaders in blocking the construction of gold, silver and copper mega-mine projects. Photo credit: 15MBcn_Int/ mtmundo.org