Seeding Sovereignty is a far-left advocacy organization based in Los Angeles with activities across North America. It is primarily concerned with indigenous activism from a “decolonializing” perspective. This mainly involves activism against organizations and private actors involved in the farming, extraction, and manufacturing industries.

Activities

Seeding sovereignty has pursued several different projects, mostly focused on environmental and indigenous issues, from a far-left perspective. While Seeding Sovereignty participates on some issues as part of broader coalitions of left-wing organizations, their primary concerns are focused on the following.

In 2020, musician Fiona Apple pledged to donate all proceeds from TV and movie placement of her song “Heavy Balloon” to Seeding Sovereignty for a two-year period. In addition, Apple pledged to donate $50,000 to the organization If the song is not picked up for TV or film.¹

SHIFT

Seeding the Hill with Indigenous Free Thinkers (SHIFT) Is committed to far-left activism towards elected officials, especially in the state of Iowa. Starting in 2019, their focus has been primarily on Democratic Party presidential nominees, who they have confronted over their alleged dismissal of indigenous issues. ²

DIY Storytellers

Defend It Yourself Storytellers is a sub-organization for the dissemination of stories supporting far-left ideology through fiction. ³

Iowa Land Decolonization Project

The goal of the Iowa Land Decolonization Project is to “decolonize” the state of Iowa, a term used to by left-wing activists to describe a range of anti-agriculture, anti-business, and anti-government activity designed to reduce or remove the influence of non-indigenous Americans from a field or geographical area. ⁴ The ILDP seeks to further this mission by attempting to prevent development in the state of Iowa.

Leadership

Leadership of Seeding Sovereignty is centered around a core collective whose three members are the most involved in the activities of the organization.

Christine Nobiss

Nobiss is highly active across Seeding Sovereignty’s different programs, with the title “decolonizer.” ⁵ She is the primary organizer of the Iowa Land Decolonization Project, one of the main focuses of Seeding Sovereignty. ⁶

She has written extensively on a number of far-left initiatives, including a proposal to replace Thanksgiving with a holiday called “Truthsgiving”. Truthsgiving’s main goals is to “decolonize” the traditions of Thanksgiving by “promoting culturally appropriate foods” and reeducating children on the “basic ‘truths’ about Thanksgiving.” ⁷ In her writings for Seeding Sovereignty she has claimed that President Trump represents “a sick segment of humanity that has been cut off from the source by the devastating mind-fuck that Imperialism and Christianity has had on Greek/Roman/European society.” ⁸

Janet MacGillivray

MacGillivray is a lawyer and activist primarily focused on environmental issues. ⁹ She has previously worked with the Environmental Protection Agency as an environmental lawyer. As such, her focus is almost entirely on environmental issues.

Eryn Wise

As the communications and digital director, Wise is often the spokesperson for Seeding Sovereignty. ¹⁰ She describes herself as living “on occupied Tongva territory as a guest from the Jicarilla Apache Nation and Laguna Pueblo people”. ¹¹ She is a writer for left-wing publication Bustle, and far-left magazine ROAR. ROAR published her largest work, on her experiences as the media coordinator at the environmentalist protests at Standing Rock in 2016. ¹² In the interview she shares her views on white people who she calls “colonizers [. . .] who killed us, and continue to kill us.” ¹³

1. Bloom, Madison. “Fiona Apple Donating 2 Years of ‘Shameika’ and ‘Heavy Balloon’ Royalties to Charity.” Pitchfork. Pitchfork, June 15, 2020. https://pitchfork.com/news/fiona-apple-donating-2-years-of-shameika-and-heavy-balloon-royalties-to-charity/.
2. “SHIFT – Seeding the Hill with Indigenous FreeThinkers.” Seeding Sovereignty. Accessed July 11, 2019. https://seedingsovereignty.org/shift.
3. “Storytellers.” Seeding Sovereignty. Accessed July 11, 2019. https://seedingsovereignty.org/storytellers.
4. Curiel-Allen, Tina. “What Decolonization Is, and What It Means to Me.” Teen Vogue. March 05, 2018. Accessed July 11, 2019. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/what-decolonization-is-and-what-it-means-to-me.
5. “Iowa Land Decolonization Project.” Seeding Sovereignty. Accessed July 11, 2019. https://seedingsovereignty.org/land-and-body-sovereignty-project.
6. “Iowa Land Decolonization Project.” Seeding Sovereignty. Accessed July 11, 2019. https://seedingsovereignty.org/land-and-body-sovereignty-project.
7. Nobiss, Christine. “Thanksgiving Promotes Whitewashed History, So I Organized Truthsgiving Instead.” Bustle. November 16, 2018. Accessed July 11, 2019. https://www.bustle.com/p/thanksgiving-promotes-whitewashed-history-so-i-organized-truthsgiving-instead-13154470
8. Nobiss, Christine. “Yurugu-Trump: A Fitting Name.” Seeding Sovereignty. December 01, 2018. Accessed July 11, 2019. https://seedingsovereignty.org/blog/2018/12/6/yurugu-trump-a-fitting-name.
9. “Our Team.” Seeding Sovereignty. Accessed July 11, 2019. https://seedingsovereignty.org/staff.
10. “DECOLONIZING WELLNESS WITH SEEDING SOVEREIGNTY.” The Numinous. Accessed July 11, 2019. https://www.the-numinous.com/podcast/decolonizing-wellness-seeding-sovereignty/.
11. “Eryn Wise.” Muck Rack. Accessed July 11, 2019. https://muckrack.com/eryn-wise.
12. Wise, Eryn, Frank Barat, and Vidal Cuervo. “Indigenous Rights and the Fight for Life at Standing Rock.” ROAR Magazine. December 9, 2016. Accessed July 11, 2019. https://roarmag.org/essays/standing-rock-interview-eryn-wise/.
13. Wise, Eryn, Frank Barat, and Vidal Cuervo. “Indigenous Rights and the Fight for Life at Standing Rock.” ROAR Magazine. December 9, 2016. Accessed July 11, 2019. https://roarmag.org/essays/standing-rock-interview-eryn-wise/.