#IPHeroesDay Statement: Living Their Legacy, Advancing The Struggle

The International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL) is one with the international community in commemorating Indigenous Peoples Heroes Day. Our heroes – both the late and the living – deserve recognition for their immeasurable contributions to the defense of life and land.

Heroes who have passed on such as Ken Saro-Wiwa (Nigeria), Berta Caceres (Honduras), Saw O Moo (Burma), and Mother Petra Macliing (Philippines) continue to live through the legacies they have left with the Indigenous Peoples struggles. They are best honored by those who selflessly devote their time and strength for the protection of the rights, not only of Indigenous Peoples, but of all peoples exploited by the system that values private gain and profit over life.

IP Heroes are also our environmental defenders. Our celebrations this year coincide with the 26th Conference of Parties (COP) in Glasgow where Indigenous Peoples, especially the IP women, powerfully established their presence and demands for genuine inclusion and for justice for murdered land defenders. Indigenous Peoples are also calling out false solutions to the climate crisis which tend to ignore, or reinforce, the root cause of the crisis, that is the plunder of resources in ancestral lands and territories.

As IP Heroes Day commemorations continue, the IPMSDL expresses its gratitude and solidarity to all organizations, communities, and advocates who organized and participated in colorful yet militant online and on-ground actions to remember and honor our IP heroes.

On the same day of 10th November, IPMSDL also celebrated its 11th anniversary. We recognize the peoples that helped build IPMSDL to what it is today – the communities that stood their ground amid intense state repression, the human rights defenders and activists vilified for their advocacies, our allies in the press who speak truth to power, and all our partners who have supported us through the years and kept the fighting spirit alive. They are all deserving to be called heroes who live the legacies of our brave ancestors.

The IPMSDL shall continue to grow and advance as long as these IP Heroes exist.

Long live Indigenous Peoples Heroes!

Struggle for self-determination and liberation!

Reference:
Beverly Longid, Global Coordinator

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