OLON NEW YORK CITY, USA
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The New York City OLON, held in April 2023, challenged and opposed colonialist conservation. It provided a platform to those who have suffered from supposed “green solutions”, and who have seen their lands stolen, their families abused and destroyed and their livelihoods devastated by the increasing militarization of conservation.
New York City OLON raised awareness about human rights abuses perpetrated in the name of conservation; established a strong counter-narrative to false solutions to ecological crises pushed by governments, corporations, and some big conservation NGOs; demonstrated that alternatives to the current model of conservation do exist; and broadcast Indigenous peoples themselves putting forward a vision for the protection of Earth's biological and cultural diversity.
OLON 2023, Protesting against colonial conservation at the Bronx Zoo
In 1906, an Indigenous man named Ota Benga was displayed in the Bronx Zoo. He later died by suicide. The Bronx Zoo is a part of the Wildlife Conservation Society. Today, over a century later, colonial conservation practices continue to violently displace Indigenous peoples from their lands.
SPEAKERS AT THE NEW YORK CITY OLON
Tom Goldtooth
USA
Executive Director Indigenous Environmental Network, Navajo Nation, USA
Robert Flummerfelt
DR of Congo
Investigative journalist and independent researcher
John Knox
USA
Professor of human rights law at Wake Forest and Special Rapporteur on human rights
Mordecai Ogada
Kenya
Ecologist and researcher, specialist in carnivorous species and conservation
Simon Counsell
United Kingdom
Independent researcher and author on nature conservation, human rights and “Nature-Based Solutions”
Fiore Longo
France
Research and Advocacy Manager at Survival International
Dina Gilio-Whitaker
United States
Lecturer in Native American Studies at CSUSM and educator in Native American environmental policy