Indigenous Peoples, Fight U.S. Imperialist Attacks On Land, Life, And Culture

Beverly Longid, IPMSDL | Speech, 2026 Day of the Landless, March 29, 2026 (Read by Kim Falyao, BAI Indigenous Women's Network Philippines for the 2026 DOTL Speak Out)

Gawis ay agew ken datako amin. Good day, comrades and friends, fellow fighters for land and self-determination.

Indigenous peoples have long fought for our right to land. Ever since the era of colonial conquest by European powers, we have fought back against land theft, ethnocide, and the plunder of our ancestral lands. Today, the violent and thieving legacy of colonialism continues to live through modern imperialism, and we are seeing the worst carried out by the American superpower.

The scheme of neoliberal globalization has led to the forcible control of our natural resources by a few powerful countries. While Indigenous Peoples care for almost 28% of the Earth’s land area, and while these very same lands host up to 80% of the entire planet’s biodiversity and other resources, we still fall victim to the trappings of imperialism.

Institutions like the World Bank, the IMF, WTO, and many others, led by the United States, made it possible for imperialism to take hold of our lands and lives through debt traps, unjust trade policies, and neoliberal conditionalities. These institutions have displaced countless Indigenous Peoples communities to make way for mining projects, dams, solar farms, and other projects that mask themselves as progressive and just, yet have caused our separation from our ancestral lands, and in worst cases, murders and massacres against those who oppose them.

Also, through these neoliberal schemes, tyrannical, neocolonial governments are empowered, armed, and funded to carry out fascist offensives against our people. This has been worse the past few years as the United States started to gear more towards using our nations as pawns for its war against its rival imperial powers like Russia and China.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, as we can go on for hours, even days, discussing and unpacking the crimes committed by US imperialism against Indigenous peoples all over the world.

Now, let us shift our attention to what Indigenous Peoples have been doing to fight against U.S. imperialism. In many parts of the world, Indigenous Peoples are rising in defense of land, life, and culture against imperialist offensives. In Ecuador, Indigenous Peoples rallying under the banner of CONAIE took to the streets in militant action to rise against IMF-backed austerity measures, in Greenland the Inuit people have filled the streets with roaring calls of “Yankee, go home!” against Donald Trump’s attempts at acquiring the territory.

In Brazil, Indigenous Peoples are gearing to mobilize for the annual Tierra Livre, resisting US-backed policies and confronting agro corporations like Cargill over destruction in the Amazon—refusing to submit to liberalization and privatization pushed by institutions like the IMF and World Bank.

In other parts of the world, we recognize that Indigenous Peoples have taken up the just option of armed resistance against imperialist plunder and US-backed regimes. In the Philippines, Indigenous peoples have set up revolutionary organizations for their new-democratic revolution, such as the Cordillera People's Democratic Front, Revolutionary Organization of Lumads, and the New People's Army among others in the NDFP. In India, Indigenous Peoples across multiple regions fight back against Hindutva-fascism through strengthening their self-governance and armed resistance. The Indonesian government, meanwhile, continues to be frustrated in its effort to take hold and quell West Papua’s assertion of the right to self-determination.

The struggle of Indigenous Peoples for land and self-determination, to be effective, must be seen as inseparable in the fight against imperialism, and on the other hand, the struggle against imperialism cannot be fully won without waging struggles for ancestral lands and self-determination. These two go hand in hand and thus can only be effective when given correct attention. It is only just that we continue to build links of international solidarity not only among Indigenous Peoples but among all oppressed and exploited peoples of the world, win our national struggles, and contribute to the struggles of our brothers and sisters elsewhere.

Long live the struggles of Indigenous Peoples and all oppressed against US imperialism!
Long live the struggle for self-determination and liberation! Read in full with translations: https://www.ipmsdl.org/statement/indigenous-peoples-fight-u-s-imperialist-attacks-on-land-life-and-culture/ Read the 2026 DOTL Sign-on Statement: https://pcfs.global/dotl2026-statement

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