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Land Back

Movement by Indigenous people in North America to reclaim lands From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Land Back
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Land Back, also referred to with hashtag #LandBack or Rematriation, is a decentralised campaign that emerged in the late 2010s among Indigenous Australians, Indigenous peoples in Canada, Native Americans in the United States, other indigenous peoples and allies who seek to reestablish Indigenous sovereignty, with political and economic control of their ancestral lands.[1][2][3] Activists have also used the Land Back framework in Mexico,[4] and scholars have applied it in New Zealand and Fiji.[5] Land Back is part of a broader Indigenous movement for decolonization.[6][1]

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Land back graffiti with anarchist symbology and an unrelated artist, 2020
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Description

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Land Back banner at a protest in Washington, D.C., 2024

The Land Back movement seeks to restore Indigenous political authority over unceded ancestral lands.[7] Scholars from the Indigenous-run Yellowhead Institute at Toronto Metropolitan University describe it as a process of reclaiming Indigenous jurisdiction.[3] The NDN Collective describes it as synonymous with decolonization and dismantling white supremacy.[1] Land Back advocates for Indigenous rights, preserves languages and traditions, and works toward food sovereignty, decent housing, and a clean environment.[3]

The Black Hills land claim and protests at Mount Rushmore during Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign were a catalyzing moment for the movement in the United States.[1][8]

Philosophy

The NDN Collective describes the Land Back campaign as a metanarrative that ties together many different Indigenous organizations similar to the Black Lives Matter campaign.[1] They say that the campaign enables decentralised Indigenous leadership and addresses structural racism faced by Indigenous people that is rooted in theft of their land.[1] Land Back emphasizes Indigenous groups’ physical and spiritual connection to their ancestral lands, and the importance of reviving the knowledge and practices that have sustained their people for generations.[9]

Land Back is a movement that advocates for the restoration of communal ownership of traditional and unceded Indigenous lands, while rejecting colonial concepts of real estate and private property.[7] Seeking the return of land is not solely driven by economic interest.[5] The intent is to reestablish important cultural ties between people and place, revitalize ancient cultural practices connected with the land, and restore Indigenous self-determination and sovereignty. [10] When Indigenous communities regain access to ancestral lands, they are empowered to re-engage with traditional foods, medicines, languages and cultural practices, and these activities promote community well-being and cultural continuity. [9][11]

In some cases Land Back promotes a land tax that seeks to collect revenue on people who are of non-indigenous origins.[12][13]

Methods

In some cases, land is directly returned to Indigenous people when private landowners, municipalities, or governments give the land back to Indigenous tribes. This may take the form of a simple transaction within the colonial real estate framework.[2] In other cases, the transfer of ownership of the land may not be feasible. Co-management of public lands has emerged as a means for Indigenous voices to be consulted concerning the stewardship and use of ancestral lands.[9]

Indigenous-led projects may also use community land trusts to reserve lands for their group.[14]

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Actions

In July 2020, activists from NDN Collective held a protest on a highway leading to Mount Rushmore, where Donald Trump was to give a campaign speech. The site, known to the Sioux in English as "The Six Grandfathers,"[15] is on sacred, unceded land, subject to the Black Hills land claim. These protestors drafted the "Land Back Manifesto", which seeks "the reclamation of everything stolen from the original Peoples".[16] Also in 2020, Haudenosaunee people from the Six Nations of the Grand River blockaded 1492 Land Back Lane to shut down a housing development on their unceded territory.[17]

On July 4, 2021, in Rapid City, South Dakota, a city very close to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, four people were arrested after climbing a structure downtown and hanging an upside-down US flag emblazoned with the words "Land Back".[18]

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Notable Land Restorations

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The Land Back movement has witnessed numerous successful campaigns, culminating in the return of land to Indigenous stewardship.[19] The following are a number of notable examples, but this list is not comprehensive.

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See also

References

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