The Red Nation

The Red Nation is a Native American advocacy collective founded in 2014 in Albuquerque, New Mexico that organizes around Indigenous rights, decolonization, and social justice. The group engages in protests, legal challenges, research, and public education, collaborating with tribal nations, student organizations, labor unions, and abolitionist movements. Its work intersects with environmental campaigns, land back initiatives, and heritage protection efforts across the United States and internationally.

History

The organization emerged in 2014 amid ongoing protests surrounding the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Dakota Access Pipeline, with early activism drawing on networks linked to the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, American Indian Movement, Idle No More, Black Lives Matter, and student chapters such as the University of New Mexico student activism scene. Founders and early members organized alongside leaders from the Navajo Nation, Pueblo of Laguna, Tohono O'odham Nation, and allies including Earthjustice, Sierra Club, 350.org, and various Indigenous scholars connected to institutions like Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University. Over subsequent years The Red Nation participated in protests and policy campaigns related to the Bears Ears National Monument, Sacred Mountain, and federal actions under administrations of Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden. The collective developed ties with tribal governments such as the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Cherokee Nation, and community organizations including Native American Rights Fund and First Nations Development Institute.

Ideology and Goals

The Red Nation articulates a platform grounded in Indigenous sovereignty, decolonization, and anti-capitalist principles, drawing intellectual influence from figures and texts associated with Ta-Nehisi Coates, Vine Deloria Jr., Robin Wall Kimmerer, and movements around Decolonization Theory, Pan-Indianism, and Indigenous feminism. Its stated goals encompass land repatriation and Land Back campaigns coordinated with groups like Navajo Nation Department of Justice, Yurok Tribe, and Haudenosaunee Confederacy, as well as campaigns to end extractive projects such as the Keystone XL pipeline and Mountain Valley Pipeline. The collective frequently invokes legal instruments including provisions of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the Indian Reorganization Act, and rulings such as McGirt v. Oklahoma while engaging with cultural projects linked to museums like the Smithsonian Institution and archives at Library of Congress.

Activities and Campaigns

The Red Nation has organized and joined direct actions, teach-ins, and litigation support around high-profile campaigns such as opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline, restoration of Bears Ears National Monument, and protests at sites like Mount Rushmore and Pine Ridge Reservation. They have collaborated with student groups at institutions like University of Minnesota, University of Arizona, and Columbia University on divestment campaigns targeting entities such as BlackRock, Chevron Corporation, ExxonMobil, and academic trustees tied to fossil fuel investments. The collective has produced research and media outputs in partnership with outlets and organizations including The Guardian, Democracy Now!, Native American Journalists Association, and scholars affiliated with University of New Mexico Press and Duke University Press. International solidarity efforts have connected the group to activists from Anishinaabe, Mapuche, Māori, and Palestinian solidarity networks like BDS movement when addressing settler colonialism and human rights frameworks invoked at forums such as the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Organization and Structure

Operating as a collective with chapters and affiliated committees, The Red Nation coordinates local organizing in cities including Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Phoenix, Oakland, and Denver while maintaining alliances with tribal governments such as the Navajo Nation and urban Indigenous organizations including Native American Community Academy affiliates and legal partners like Akin Gump (pro bono collaborations) and Native American Rights Fund. Leadership is distributed among conveners, organizers, and working groups focused on land, culture, legal advocacy, and youth education, drawing volunteers and staff from networks linked to Indian Health Service, National Congress of American Indians, All Pueblo Council of Governors, and campus groups such as Native American Student Association. Funding and support have come from a mix of grassroots donations, grants from philanthropic entities like Ford Foundation and partnerships with progressive NGOs including Transparency International USA and labor allies such as American Federation of Teachers.

Controversies and Criticism

The Red Nation has faced criticism and controversy from various quarters, including tribal officials from the Pueblo of Isleta and commentators associated with conservative outlets like Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, who have challenged its critiques of fossil fuel projects and its stances on decolonization and abolition. Internal disputes have arisen in relation to coalition politics with entities such as Indigenous Environmental Network and tensions reported during protests at sites like University of New Mexico and Bears Ears management debates with the United States Department of the Interior. Academics and public intellectuals tied to American Enterprise Institute, Brookings Institution, and Hoover Institution have critiqued the group’s anti-capitalist framing and policy proposals while some tribal leaders have argued for alternate approaches emphasizing negotiated resource development with corporations like ConocoPhillips and Shell Oil Company. Legal challenges and public disagreements have at times involved organizations such as Legal Defense Fund counterparts and media disputes with outlets like Associated Press and PBS NewsHour.

Category:Indigenous rights organizations in the United States