Tertulia – Nina Lakhani on her book, Who Killed Berta Cáceres? [video]

In commemoration of the five-year anniversary of the assassination of Berta Cáceres, Nina Lakhani spoke on her book, Who Killed Berta Cáceres? Dams, Death Squads, and an Indigenous Defender’s Battle for the Planet on March 3. She was joined by Mi’kmaq filmmaker Cathy Martin and the Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network’s Jackie McVicar. The conversation is now available for viewing here.

Tracy Glynn with Tertulias Fredericton and the Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network opened the event. Glynn often talks about the Lencan land defender in her classes at St. Thomas University and wrote this week about what Berta would make of today’s pandemic world and how she would demand more of the activists concerned about climate change and forced migration.

Rodrigo Banegas, a fourth year economics and sociology student at St. Thomas University from Honduras, announced that Hayes Farm, an urban teaching farm in Fredericton, has answered the call of Berta’s family to plant a tree in her honour this spring.

Cathy Martin, a Mi’kmaq filmmaker from Millbrook First Nation, spoke of her trip to Honduras to be part of the International Gathering Celebrating the Life of Berta Cáceres in the days following Berta’s assassination and sang a moving song that she wrote for Berta.

Jackie McVicar has accompanied human rights activists and land protectors in Central America for the past 15 years and has worked closely with Berta’s family and organization, COPINH, to support their struggle for justice. She contextualized Berta’s assassination and discussed how Canadian mining projects are implicated in abuses in Honduras.

Nina Lakhani then answered questions about her first book, Who Killed Berta Cáceres? Dams, Death Squads, and an Indigenous Defender’s Battle for the Planet (Verso). Lakhani has reported from a dozen countries including almost seven years covering Mexico and Central America. She is currently the environmental justice reporter for The Guardian and is based in New York.

Participants were encouraged to visit Amnesty’s website to send a letter to Canada’s Ambassador to Honduras calling for the masterminds of Berta’s murder to be put on trial. 

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What is a tertulia? A tertulia can be described as a literary and artistic social gathering or philosophy café where participants talk about big thinkers, artists and ideas. This winter, Tertulias Fredericton has put together a series on activists and social movements that have shaped our lives and allowed us to imagine a better future.

Tertulias Fredericton is supported by the NB Media Co-op, publisher of videos of the Tertulia talks, the Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network, book publishers Fernwood, Between the Lines, Verso and Canadian Scholars | Women’s Press.

Upcoming Tertulias

March 10 – Harsha Walia, migrant justice activist and executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, on her book, Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism and the Rise of Racist Nationalism (Fernwood).

March 24 – Basil Alexander, Assistant Professor of Law, University of New Brunswick, on Dudley George and the Ipperwash Inquiry.

March 31 – Caroline Ennis, organizer of the 1979 Tobique Women’s March to Ottawa, on how she and other Tobique women organized to stop gender discrimination in the Indian Act.

April 14 – Jason MacLean, Assistant Professor of Law, University of New Brunswick, on Greta Thunberg, #FridaysForFuture and the Lessons of Youth Climate Activism.

For more information, visit Tertulias Fredericton on Facebook or contact: fredericton.tertulia@gmail.com.