ONISHKA is organizing a fundraising campaign to support the reopening of the Ingakuna Estéreo 105.3fm community radio station, and thus help give a voice back to the Inga people and the Inga resistance against the mining destruction at work on their territory, in the Colombian Amazon.
Fully in line with Nigamon/Tunai performance by Émilie Monnet and Waira Nina (May 14-30), and with the organization of the Aki / Alpa conferences (May 27-28), this campaign is also destined to provoke concrete, beneficial effects for the Inga community, support their struggles and inspire others.
Be part of this solidarity initiative, support the Inga people, the Inga voices. Donations are collected by ONISHKA via local donation plateform Zeffy, and will be donated in full to Radio Ingakuna Estereo.
CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES
Donations received will be used to re-equip the station, repair the antenna, remunerate radio members and support community initiatives carried out by the radio.
- Donations totalling $5,000 will allow the community to reopen and re-equip the radio station and keep it running for 6 months.
- Donations totalling $10,000 will keep the radio active for 2 years.
- Donations totalling $15,000 will sustain the radio and its community initiatives for three years.
https://www.zeffy.com/fr-CA/donation-form/a0392ec2-fe91-4bb2-8f59-f172ae89345f
THE SITUATION
The territorial rights of the indigenous peoples of Caquetá are deeply threatened by a host of nuisances caused by mining projects, oil consortiums, armed conflicts, drug trafficking… projects, both legal and illegal, that covet the territory’s riches in defiance of Inga sovereignty. They threaten life, ecosystems and the transmission of traditional knowledge, and cause environmental as well as cultural and spiritual damage. With these projects come violence, deforestation (especially for freeways), renewed racism against indigenous peoples, the assassination of leaders and activists, population displacement, pollution, water contamination…
This violence is supported in particular by Canadian mining companies, and is now part of the global effort to provide the many resources (including copper) needed to shift to a “green economy”, at the expense of indigenous lives. In the face of these perils, the Inga community is organizing and resisting in many ways, for the protection of ancestral territories and the development of a culture of peace. To achieve this, the community needs your support.
HOPE
“Ingakuna Estéreo works as a space for dialogue and affirmation, to tell our own stories, for the empowerment of the realities we live in our territories, relaying the word of the elders. We want to continue to tell the story of peace in times of war, to get to know our own culture, to keep the Inga language alive and resonant.” Waira Nina, artist, host and organizer of Radio Ingakuna
This call for donations will support the reopening of Ingakuna community radio Estéreo 105.3fm, which was closed due to the war. It will also enable the realization of initiatives in its ambitious strategy to counter mining projects, so that the physical and spiritual spaces of the Inga territory are respected, life is protected, and the cultures of the Ingas are preserved.
OUR BONDS OF SOLIDARITY
This fundraising campaign is being launched in conjunction with the performances of Nigamon/Tunai, a work by Waira Nina and Émilie Monnet, whose creative process has been rooted in exchanges of solidarity with the Inga people, Waira’s community, for over ten years. This production by ONISHKA seeks to do useful work, by mobilizing, raising awareness and making audible the neglected voices of several Indigenous communities confronted with extractivist projects in the Americas, by valorizing precious cosmovisions. Our aim is to bring about concrete, beneficial effects for the Inga community, support their struggles and inspire others.
Be part of this spirit of solidarity, support the Inga people, the Inga voices. Donations are collected by ONISHKA, and will be donated in full to Radio Ingakuna Estéreo.
ONISHKA is an Indigenous creation company based in Montreal / Tiotiá:ke / Mooniyaang. Ingakuna Estéreo radio station is based in the Caquetà region in the Colombian Amazon, on the Inga ancestral territory.
https://www.zeffy.com/fr-CA/donation-form/a0392ec2-fe91-4bb2-8f59-f172ae89345f
TO FIND OUT MORE
- Attend Aki / Alpa, two-day conferences (May 27-28) on the struggles and solidarity between indigenous communities in the Americas in the face of extractivist projects on indigenous territories. Speakers include Inga community leader Luciano Mutumbajoy, Inga environmental lawyer Sonia Mutumbajoy, and Yachaikury school principal Flora Macas. https://onishka.org/en/2024/04/akialpa1
- Attend Nigamon/Tunai, at Espace GO Theatre and Festival TransAmériques, May 14-30, 2024. https://mailchi.mp/8588a71e1356/nigamontunaim1#anglais
- Read the article Why do they persecute us? written by Waira Nina in 2019 in El Tiempo newspaper (translation by ONISHKA). https://onishka.org/en/2024/04/article-waira/
- Discover the Ingakuna Estereo radio blog. http://ingakuna.blogspot.com/
- Read Vivir la guerra contando la paz: Alter comunicación, paz y conflicto en Colombia, a book (in Spanish) that discusses the action and impact of radio Ingakuna in times of conflict. https://repository.usta.edu.co/handle/11634/12058
