Ikal angelei biography examples

You’ve been fighting for years to have the voices of local people heard, and for local customs and practices to be respected.

Do you sense the wider world is starting to listen more?

Yes and no, it’s a sort of catch-22, I feel that the times the rest of the world listens are mostly when there’s a crisis, where usual commodified solutions haven’t worked and indigenous knowledge is seen as the best option.

Then after that, when the crisis is resolved and things are settled, everybody goes back to business as usual. Once more there’s no one listening.

 

How do you create a situation where local and indigenous voices are more central, more of the time?

I think one of the ways has been building collective voices – so whether it’s the Asian or African continent or the Global South, it’s finding ways and means to connect these voices, and make them