Aki / Alpa
Exchanges on Indigenous struggles and solidarity against extractivist policies and environmental devastation on the Indigenous territories of the Americas.
Aki : land in anishinaabemowin Alpa : land in inga
May 27-28, 2024 Montréal / Tiotiá:ke / Mooniyaang
Two days, four conferences, organized by ONISHKA at Théâtre Espace GO (4890, boulevard Saint-Laurent, Montreal) in conjunction with performances of Nigamon/Tunai from May 14 to 30, 2024. Discover Aki/Alpa‘s detailed intermediate program. If you’re interested, we recommend you contact us to receive the final program and registration link as soon as they’re available. The event is free of charge.
May 27 10:00 – 12:00 am (doors open at 9:30 am)
Land protectors – Sonia Mutumbajoy + [guest tbc]
May 27 1:30 – 3:30 pm
Blossoming of the future – Flora Macas + Kim Rose Picard
May 28 10:00 – 12:00 am (doors open at 9:30 am)
Protective spirits of the land – Taita Luciano Mutumbajoy + [guest tbc]
May 28 1:30 – 3:30pm
Sounding the territory – solidarity between South and North – Leonel Vasquez + Waira Nina + Émilie Monnet
Detailed intermediate program | Registration contact
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[ versión española ]
P R E S E N T A T I O N
Aki / Alpa is a two-day gathering of Indigenous land defenders, spiritual leaders, community leaders and artists from South and North America, to discuss the impacts of extractivism on territories and the living beings who inhabit them, as well as on the spirituality of communities, their cultures and languages. Aki / Alpa is organized in conjunction with the presentation of Nigamon/Tunai, a performance by Indigenous artists Waira Nina and Émilie Monnet, at Espace GO and Festival TransAmériques from May 14 to 30, 2024.
Nigamon/Tunai is an ode to friendship and solidarity in the context of mining extractivism, which jeopardizes the traditional roles of Indigenous women as water protectors. Nigamon/Tunai mobilizes the cosmovisions and struggles that link communities throughout the Americas, the voices of elders and Indigenous activists. In Canada, mining and oil companies are thriving, and in the Amazon, on the territory of the Inga people, they are destroying entire living environments in order to plunder resources – including copper, central to Anishinaabe culture.
Aki / Alpa was born out of the disappointment of taita Luciano Mutumbajoy, who was invited to attend COP15 in Montreal in 2021 but was unable to express his views on the increasingly aggressive presence of Canadian multinational Libero cobre on his family’s lands and the brutal murders of Indigenous leaders.
Aki / Alp , like Nigamon/Tunai, wants to make the ignored voices audible – and connect defenders of the land, artists of the Americas, support their struggles and their hopes, in the South as in the North. Aki / Alpa aims to echo voices, reflections and actions as the current transition to a “green economy”, still driven by capitalism, continues to benefit mining companies, at the expense of Indigenous lives.
Aki / Alpa will act as a welcoming, generous and action-generating space, so that people can be informed, inspired and supported. We want to encourage solidarity between Indigenous peoples, highlighting the power of existing actions, the links that are generated, the love of territories and living things, the pride of collective struggles in the face of colonial and environmental violence.
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Programming: Émilie Monnet & Waira Nina
Coordination: Wanderson Santos
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These necessary, supportive conversations, dedicated to broadening the impact of the artistic process, take place thanks to the support of the National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund. The event is presented in collaboration with Espace GO and Festival TransAmériques. Many thanks to these partners.