Last Updated on October 4, 2013
In 2016, the indigenous people of Northern Ireland hope to reunite politically with their kin in the Republic of Ireland. Looking to put the pain and suffering of British colonialism behind them, Irish and English political leaders in Northern Ireland have invested in ending bloodshed, and through power-sharing agreements, hope to defuse those still consumed by anger and resentment.
800 years of colonialism by the British Empire is not ended easily, but the end is now in sight.
As the Celtic nations of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland negotiate the demise of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, bedrock nations in the Americas and elsewhere still struggle against annihilation. While the Inuit of Greenland enjoy peaceful independence from Denmark, the Mapuche fight a life and death battle against the state of Chile.
The list of native nations yearning to be free is long, our attention drawn now and then to Kurdistan, Basque country, Tibet, or Biafra. While these references are remotely familiar as geographic locales, what is not often considered is that these are also the names of peoples with long ties to the landscapes they have rightful claim to, and that these peoples have social, political, and spiritual systems of their own.
Respecting their right under international law to be themselves, entails abandoning all means of foreign dominance through economic and military force—a lesson empires like the UK, the US, and the USSR learn at great cost.
While my sixteenth century relation and his comrade in arms depicted on an Irish postage stamp were eminent adversaries of Queen Elizabeth, their descendents today have armed themselves with education, and have organized themselves for a peaceful future. Through great sacrifice, they have achieved the right of self-determination, and are now committed to not returning to the violence and bloodshed they endured in achieving it.
While I was not a part of that achievement, it gives me great hope that my kin in Northern Ireland and other indigenous peoples of the world will all someday enjoy the blessings of peace. Their hard-won freedoms demand it.
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.
We refuse to lock our reporting behind a paywall. We don’t sell access through subscriptions.
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Please donate today if you can. Every contribution helps us to continue this crucial work.
Thank you,
John Ahni Schertow
Founder and Editor in Chief
