Last Updated on October 5, 2013
While much was made in Western media over the phenomenon they dubbed Arab Spring, the events of that uprising did not take place in Arabia, but rather in Africa. While Arabic is the dominant language in North Africa, it isn’t the only one. As Nuunja Kahina writes in Decolonization, the indigenous languages of North Africa — suppressed by the Arab colonizers and the Arabic colonial states like Morocco, Libya and Tunisia — are still part of the indigenous peoples’ identity and culture in the region. For the indigenous territory of Tamazgha and the Amazigh peoples who live there, the Arabization of their lives and struggles by Arabic societies and Western media is an insult that requires our attention to indigenous scholars like Kahina, who try to correct the record distorted with impunity by power-tripping pundits and politicians.
Across the world right now, Indigenous peoples are facing a renewed assault on their lands, rights, and ways of life.
From extractive industries pushing deeper into ancestral territories, to governments rolling back hard-won protections,
the threat is global—and it is growing.
What makes this moment especially dangerous is how little attention it receives.
Stories like this are disappearing in real time. Mainstream media
barely covers it and the coverage is fragmented. The public is left without the context
needed to understand what is truly at stake.
That is exactly why IC Magazine exists..
For more than 20 years, IC has reported on Indigenous struggles worldwide — consistently, independently, and without compromise.
We don’t follow news cycles; we trace patterns. We don’t sensationalize; we provide context.
And when the world looks away, we stay focused.
But this work is increasingly difficult to sustain.
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Thank you,
John Ahni Schertow
Founder and Editor in Chief
