Thread by @StefSimanowitz

1/. “For two weeks, Scotland has become the centre of the world. Not just a place where we can meet one another, but a place where we can truly recognise one another.” Mindahi Bastida, Mexico

A delegation of 140 indigenous people have come to #Cop26 with a message. #COP26Glasgow

2/. “We came here to #COP26 because we knew world leaders would be here. But these world leaders are not listening to our leaders; to the indigenous leaders”

Uboye Gaba from Mexico (& his 1 year old son, Mene)
#COP26Glasgow @MingaIndigena #IndigenousPeoplesDay #IndigenousPeoples

3/. “We are physically kicking out loggers, mining companies & land grabbers every day. We need your support. We need you to help to bring attention to what’s happening”

Puyr Tembe, president of @FEPIPA_Oficial in Brazil speaking at #cop26 #COP26Glasgow on #IndigenousPeoplesDay

4/. “I was invited to the World Leaders Summit at #COP26...but when I got to the podium most of the world leaders had already walked out of the room”

Mexican indigenous & climate activist, @xiyebastida of @Re_EarthOrg who travelled from Mexico #COP26Glasgow #IndigenousPeoplesDay

“The wind has carried me here across the ocean like a bird...We are all nature.”

Indigenous leader, Waorani Enqueri, from Ecuador at @COP26 on #IndigenousPeoplesDay.
#GlasgowCop26 #TogetherForOurPlanet

Event at @hubculture with @MingaIndigena @oneearth @grounded @VIVOBAREFOOT

6/. “I have brought with me the hearts and souls of my community. I have also brought a message: that indigenous people are the solution to the problem”

Indigenous leader from Equador talking at #cop26 on #IndigenousPeoplesDay.
#ClimateJustice #ClimateAction at @hubculture

7/. Mariella Aymdni from Chile says that when she faces challenging times, the spirit of her dead father appears to her & is by her side

“A great hope is born that we can stop the destruction of this land, of this earth. With you we can.”
#COP26 #COP26Glasgow #IndigenousPeoples

8/. “All of us are warriors of nature & today all of us must come together because Mother Nature is asking for our help"

An indigenous leader from Ecuador at #COP26

Indigenous communities around the world speak 4000+ languages

At #COP26Glasgow they are speaking with one voice

9/. “We are not ‘tribes’. We’re indigenous peoples...In Argentina policies are designed to to invisiblize indigenous communities”

Sadly, rather than being treated as they should be - the most important people at #COP26 - indigenous leaders have been marginalised at #COP26Glasgow

10/. ''It's time to reforest our thoughts. It’s time to reforest our hearts. It’s time to reforest our actions'' @GuajajaraSonia

I don’t speak a word of Portuguese, Spanish or any indigenous languages & yet I understand everything that is said
#Cop26 #COP

11/. “Last month, my village was taken by a mine”

Here Helene Lindmark, a Sápmi elder from northern Sweden, is comforted after sharing her story about the recent destruction of her village by mining company, Boliden, digging for copper & gold.
#COP26 #COP26Glasgow #ClimateAction

12/. “Obama is in there. We are out here”

“Our leaders need to listen to the ancestral wisdom”

“We indigenous leaders need to be at the table for the decision-making process”

@BarackObama, why not come & meet Mindahi Bastida & some of the
140 indigenous people at #Cop26 ?

“We have a big problem with deforestation in my community

Factories are being built. Our rivers are being polluted. That is why I have travelled to #COP26

To ask the leaders of the world to really act in the face of this climate crisis.”

Chief Ninawa Huni Kui from the Amazon.

14/. On 1 Nov, Māori activist @IndiMiro put out an invitation:

“This #COP26, learn our histories, listen to our stories, honour our knowledge & get in line or get out of the way”

It’s not too late for #COP26Glasgow & the world to take up this invitation

15/. “My community has been fighting off the oil companies since before I was born. Our communities have been devastated. We’re here at #COP26 to try & ensure our voices are heard”

“Have you been heard”

PAUSE

“Not enough”

Indigenous leader @SumakHelena @Sarayaku_Libre Ecuador

16/. “The battle to save Mother Earth will be the mother of all battles...We need to support, encourage, believe in women, because women are the Earth.”

Indigenous leader, Puyr Tembe, president of @FEPIPA_Oficial Brazil, speaking at @letterstoearth_ event. #cop26 #COP26Glasgow

17/. Ystdy, I spoke with Mindahi Bastida of the Otomi Toltec peoples

He holds two doctorates

His challenge is not only to be heard but also to be understood

Yet how can one to communicate something for which there are no words?

Something that has to be felt to be understood.

18/. “Inside #COP26 they’re trying to find absurd solutions to the #ClimateCrisis. Outside COP we have been able to build networks & find strength in our shared experience of genocide & ecocide inflicted on our people & our territories”

Wilma Esquivel Pat, @futuroindigena Mexico

19/. "Indigenous people have done more than any government in the world in the fight against climate change”

@NinaGualinga from the Ecuadorian Amazon on why indigenous people’s deep knowledge is essential in finding solutions to the #ClimateCrisis.
#COP26 

20/. Indigenous peoples have been conserving & sustaining lands & natural resources long before the rest of the world

And they’ve been doing it far better than industrialised nations

In the fight against #ClimateChange, the world must listen to look to them #COP26 #COP26Glasgow

21/. “We’re sorry & we ask for forgiveness”

Having explained what he wanted to do & been granted permission by these Indigenous leaders, a Scottish man apologises to them for what our nations have done to their nations: for what our ancestors have done to their ancestors #COP26

22/. At the opening session of #COP26, @IndiMiro invited delegates to “learn our histories, listen to our stories, honour our knowledge…or get out of the way.”

As the summit wraps up, @MingaIndigena will bring Indigenous leaders to discuss whether that invitation was taken up.

23/. “We can’t continue to participate in conferences & pretend we’re driving effective change”

Members of the ‘Familia Indigena’ - formed at #COP26 - at a final press conference

The bonds forged between these groups has been one of the truly positive things to come out of COP.

24/. “Don’t close your eyes
Don’t bite your tongue
Look at what is happening
And raise your voice
Because each one of us is responsible for looking after our planet”

Indigenous leader, Manuela Dahua, from Ecuador at #COP26.
#ClimateAction #COP26Glasgow #ClimateCrisis #COP28 @AOC

25/. Writing about her journey to #COP26 , Maka Monture Päki from Alaska, says:

“I think about the journey my ancestors made when they migrated down the Copper River. So many of us are descended from ancestors that journeyed in the service of their people. We are their echo.”

26/. “Water has memory. The land recognises us. When we are apart, the land misses us as much as we miss the land,” Tamara Archie of the Secwempec Nation, Canada

“The journey to return to my spirit has been long” she says

This is true for everyone

But we must make that journey

27/. Speaking to Indigenous activists like Nashieeli Valencia (Zapoteca), I’m reminded of the words of Lilla Watson

“If you have come here to help me you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together”
#COP26

28/. “Learn our histories
Listen to our stories
Honour our knowledge
Or get out of the way”

The politicians at #COP26 ignored this invitation but you don’t have to

It is an open invitation & one that rewards those that take it up with beauty beyond words

29/. “Beyond words”

Ay, there’s the rub

The barriers to truly understanding the message offered by Indigenous people aren’t linguistic or cultural

The lessons they bring can’t be set out in a briefing or PowerPoint

They have to be felt or experienced to be understood.
#COP26

30/. As I leave Glasgow & my train follows the Clyde, past it’s source at Lowther Hill & carves it’s way down the spine of Britain on a pristine day, why don’t I feel the pessimism most are voicing about #COP26?

The task ahead looms like a mountain, but I feel resolutely hopeful

31/. Mine isn’t a naive hope that our politicians will do the right thing

Instead, it’s a hope grounded in knowledge of what humanity is capable of: something I’ve been reminded of by the Indigenous people at #COP26  - a little of which I’ve tried to capture in this thread above

https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1400439859945291787

32/. “If you have come here to help me you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine then let us work together”

I’ve written this #THREAD about #IndigenousPeople at #COP26 up as an article. #ClimateCrisis
newint.org/features/2021/…

33/. “The one who tells the stories rules the world”

Indigenous people don’t need a voice

They have a voice

We must listen

Listen thru our ears & our hearts
@MingaIndigena @futuroindigena @coicaorg @tebtebba @amazonwatch @mongabay @JaneGoodallInst @AOC

https://twitter.com/MingaIndigena/status/1457757532781436937

34/. This thread is being translated into several different languages (see below)

Could you help translate (DM me) or share with ‘influencers’?

Here it is in SPANISH👇

Este hilo ha sido traducido al español. Retuitea y comparte con amigos de habla española e 'influencers'👇

https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1460300344135720964

35/. Here is the thread on Indigenous people at #COP26 translated into Italian

Please share with Italian-speaking influencers

DM me if you can translate into other languages

Questo thread è stato tradotto in italiano. Per favore, RT e condividi con amici ed influencer italiani

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1460511475437555712

36/. Here is the thread on Indigenous people in French

Please share with French-speaking ‘influencers’

Ce thread a été traduit en français. S’il vous plaît RT et partager avec vos ami·e·s et influenceurs·euses francophones

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1460340309813039104