Winona LaDuke

3 weeks ago | inforum.com | Winona LaDuke

Ziigwan, spring. Gathering maple sap and making syrup is the first harvest in the north country. That’s the time when the forest awakens. The maple hardwoods are a cornerstone of this ecosystem. When the frogs sing, the time of the sugarbush ends. Frogs thrive in a delicate ecosystem, half water and half land and reflect ecological wellbeing. Omakakii is the Anishinaabe word for frog. If I were to translate the parts of that word, I would say, Omaa is here, Aki is land. The frog is from here.

1 month ago | thecirclenews.org | Winona LaDuke

By Winona LaDukeOur Anishinaabe prophecies speak of a choice between a scorched path and one which is green. This spring, a set of gatherings on cannabis and hemp informed and inspired tribal farmers and leaders to look at the potential of this plant and the green path for housing, medicine, paper, and healing the soils. On February 25, the Sokaogon Chippewa Community hosted the Wisconsin Cannabis Summit, bringing together around l50 tribal and industry leaders.

1 month ago | inforum.com | Winona LaDuke

We need more people working together and having conversations, not fewer. That’s why I like writing. I believe that a country does better when the citizens are informed, have discussions, have opinions, hold elected officials accountable, challenge big money sometimes, and even work together for a better community. “Know where you stand and stand there.” That’s what Father Daniel Berrigan, a Jesuit priest, said way back last century.

1 month ago | commondreams.org | Winona LaDuke

This story was originally published by Barn Raiser, your independent source for rural and small town news. The preamble for the next war over water is here. Aggressive corporations are coming after the few remaining pristine places on Mother Earth—mainly on the land of Indigenous people. Nowadays, it’s not just Native people being targeted, it’s our allies. Last month, two separate court decisions highlighted the repression being leveled on our Water Protector allies.

1 month ago | barnraisingmedia.com | Winona LaDuke

On March 19, a jury in Mandan, North Dakota, in Morton County, leveled a blistering $660 million verdict against Greenpeace for its part in the Standing Rock resistance against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Anyone who was at Standing Rock knows that Greenpeace was barely there, but they have a name, and Energy Transfer, the pipeline’s owner, made an example out of them. I was in the courtroom when the verdict came in. It was sickening.