Unprecedented Times, Undaunted Advocacy

Dear Friend,

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted the most marginalized communities around the world already struggling for their livelihoods and basic rights, threatened by corporate greed, and ill-driven government policies. From Indigenous Miskitu communities in Nicaragua facing violent land invasions for mining, cattle ranching, and logging; to the Maasai in Tanzania who are forced off their lands in the name of “conservation,” to the essential workers in the US who are denied basic protections and face wage theft — the pandemic’s assault on the world’s most vulnerable makes our work more vital than it has ever been.

This year we’ve brought the human rights crisis facing the Indigenous in Nicaragua into the international spotlight. We’ve sounded the alarm on the unprecedented wave of privatization of land and natural resources underway around the world and brought together activists, academics, and policy makers to forge a path forward that ensures the preservation and expansion of the commons. We’ve helped shift the development path in Papua New Guinea away from the interests of multinational corporations and towards a people-centered approach. Dealing with matters of life and death, our advocacy is relentless.

We made a bold commitment to dare change around the world. And change is happening. With our commitment and these wins, we receive a flood of new appeals from communities asking us to support their struggles for their land, lives, and culture. To respond to requests and to work with new community partners, and to provide the level of support, research, and campaigning that we have become known for worldwide, we need you!

In solidarity,

Top: Miskitu villager shares her testimony, illustration by Abner Hauge. © The Oakland Institute. Bottom: Anuradha Mittal speaking at McDonald's worker protest June 2020. © Brooke Anderson.