I’m here at the Indigenous Continental Network of Communications & Media, Phoenix, Ariz., where discussions are about two other indigenous communications summits and how it is tied to ancestral knowledge.

Sally Ann Gonzales, Arizona state representative (District 3), who is also Pacqui Yaqui, makes a brief presentation to the group.
It’s a pleasure for me to hold forum at state capital at end of month for indigenous rights, water rights and the land. the work that you do and that you are here to do and share and continue the fight of indigenous people all over the world is what i do here at the state capital. it’s the work that i do. it’s not an easy fights at state legislator. we have colleagues that don’t understand and don’t wnat to understand our rights as indigenous people. its very difficult on a daily basis. because you are here, i invite to capital. we are having native american caucus, five members, one in senate and four in house and we have bi-weeekly session on educating our colleagues at state and house on impact of their bills on indigenous people, water, land. we educate about every imaginable thing. so we are doing same work. we are meeting for lunch. since you are here building bridges. usually in senate democratic caucus. i invite you. don’t want to disrupte but i invite you.

INDIGENOUS JOURNALISTS from Mexico & Nicaragua
This is a school on indigenous communications where we want to crate a directory of indigenous communicators. As indigenous journalist, we must promote

we have to expand our map. we should have conversation here today. What are our responsibilities? Are we committed? Will we take part in all the meetings? There is meeting in Bolvia in May 2015. Here is another point – communication between North and South. What are your ideas for this initiative? We have dreams. We know this will take time but we won’t to push this forward. We have a network in the south but we need to expand to the north. And what is a school of indigenous communications. we are educating our children about decolonization at our universities and we want to expend that to a School of Indigenous Communications. And it’s a school like in western way but a school of learning. What our sister, Marley Shebala, is doing as an independent journalist is a school of learning. And so is what our brother is doing on Hopi with the Hopi radio station. So can we collect all of that. We are constantly learning.

We need to breakdown borders of the land. we are fighting against transnational corporations and their invasion in our territories, including Canada. We are always under attack. We know that victory is by uniting. another way of coming together is simple exchange at different times. some of you would come to visit us and see our struggles in Mexico, Nicaragua and come together at political level and at universities.

we think of universities as big building but it is integration of all learning. that is a university. help us eliminate borders. That is our right. when people think of communication, they only think of media. but we have our own communication. we have history, images, ceremony. and this communication has not been shared. and we must demand that.

we need to educate ourselves about the Declaration of Indigenous Rights.