Around the world indigenous people have been getting recognized.
In some cases, like Native Americans, their land was stolen and they were pushed off to "reservations."
In other cases, like Guatemala, it wasn't until the end of a 36 year civil war, in 1996, that Maya were officially recognized and no longer called Indians. The term Indians was invented by the Spanish to characterize them as immigrants rather than face up to the fact that they had been there for thousands of years.
Back in 1954, John Foster Dulles, helped United Fruit pull off a coup of Guatemala and like the coup in 1955 in Iran, the countries have never recovered.
The control of territory and resources is the basic issue here.
Those people who live close to the land and respect nature are fighting back.
“They want to get rid of the Lakota, the protectors of the earth,” said Olowan Martinez, an organizer in the Lakota community. “But what they don’t know is when they get rid of the Lakota, the earth isn’t too far behind. Our people believe the Lakota is the earth.”
President Obama is scheduled to be make a final decision on the pipeline by the middle of 2014. While the Lakota are hoping he will not approve the project, they are also getting ready to stand up and fight. During the Liberation Day celebrations, the Lakota’s dances and stories relayed messages about sacred water and Mother Earth. The tribe has also united with other First Nations to organize a three-day direct action training called Moccasins on the Ground, which was designed to prepare people to act if the pipeline is approved.
“Dead or in prison before we allow the Keystone XL pipeline to pass,” the Lakota warriors, many mounted atop horses, repeated during the Liberation Day celebration. Their words carried the weight of 521 years, and counting, of lived resistance.
Lakota Vow: ‘Dead Or In Prison Before We Allow the KXL Pipeline’