Digital Security Threats Facing Indigenous Communities in Latin America
Members of indigenous communities advocating for the preservation of their languages and culture face digital threats and attacks. In 2021, Saqb’ix, a Kaqchikel Mayan woman from Chi Xot, Guatemala set the internet ablaze with a chair and a protest sign. On March 12 of that year, the president of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei, was set to visit the Simajuleu de Chi Xot village to kick off the construction of a highway that would connect the neighbouring municipalities. The core purpose of the project was the extraction and exploitation of resources particularly through open-pit mining. Indigenous community members like Saqb’ix put up signs of protest in the area. One specific protest sign caught the attention of Guatemalan social media and sparked similar action around the country. On the chair where the president would sit, a sign was placed that read Giammattei Eleq’on (Thief Giammattei).
In response, Saqb’ix received threats online. She had to leave her home for a while and seek shelter elsewhere because of the intimidation. Saqb’ix’s story and the danger she faces on digital platforms is one example of the case studies brought to light by the Digital security + Language project. This project is a collaboration between Rising Voices and researchers from 18 different language communities to better understand the digital safety and security concerns that are affecting them
Digital violence on Twitter against indigenous language activists is widespread in Chile. One example are the digital attacks that have been leveled against Elisa Loncon Antileo, a Mapuche woman, academic, and linguist who was elected as president of the Constitutional Convention. In 2022, the drafting of a new constitution in Chile made it possible for Mapuche people to enter into a political and legislative arena where they had always been made invisible and marginalized. Loncon made her mark by using the Convention as a platform to bring the Mapuche language and culture to the forefront of Chilean public discourse. This is ground-breaking in a society still marked by a colonial past that instituted a Spanish monolingual culture and attempted to erase the cultures and languages of indigenous people. In response to Loncon’s impact, some Twitter users published private information about her online, including her residential address, in an attempt to endanger her safety.
In the Yucatán region of Mexico, researcher Lorenzo Itzá interviewed a wide range of Mayan community advocates to learn about their experience running social media campaigns. The research revealed a gap in digital security policies, where there are no protections specifically pertaining to Mayans, women, or other marginalized groups. This makes them more vulnerable to digital attacks, which impacts their mental health.
How Indigenous Communities in Latin America are Overcoming Digital Security Challenges
Despite these overwhelming challenges, these custodians of language are finding ways to overcome the barriers to digital safety and proficiency. In Guatemala, the Kaqchikel Mayan women have learned how to protect themselves through community workshops and self-care circles. In addition, they use digital security tools such as Signal and Tor to ensure the privacy of their messages. They also take precautions to protect their identity and sensitive information, such as deactivating GPS on their devices, not posting updates or images in real time on social media, changing their public usernames, and even stepping back from digital activities when necessary
Yucatec Mayan activists are protecting themselves by covering the camera and disabling the microphones on their devices, and using privacy settings to limit who has access to their content on social media. However, the research in this group found that very few people had received the necessary digital security training from organizations that specialise in this arena.
More about Rising Voices’ Digital Security + Language research study:
The project points to the power of participatory research in surfacing the complexity of linguistic rights-related questions in the digital safety and security field, as each researcher approached the topic from a unique starting point in relation to their own experiences and understandings.
This blog is the third in a four-part series on Rising Voices’ Digital Security & Language research study that explored the intersection of digital security and linguistic rights in collaboration with 18 researchers, from 18 different language communities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Read the rest of the series: