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FOCUS SPECIAL
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

Normally in the FOCUS... articles we try to set out an anarchist
 viewpoint of some particular issue. Here we break with tradition
 (aren't we naughty!) and bring you an article not written from a
 specifically anarchist position. We feel, however, that it raises a huge number of issues that are of interest to anarchists in a context which is currently of interest to progressives in general. It should also generate some debate. Anyway, read it. You'll see what we mean...

Monday, 4th October 1993. Oaxtepec, Morelos, Mexico. Representatives
 of the indigenous peoples of 23 countries gather together to set out
 a common strategy within the context of the international situation...


Amongst all the hubbub of the celebrations of the 500th anniversary 
of the conquest of America, the counter-struggle left the diplomatic 
stage it had previously pursued through organisations like the United
 Nations to take on a more political hue by means of  strategic
 alliances with popular sectors. Over the course of several congresses
 (Quito, Bogota, Rio de Janeiro), seminars and public demonstrations,
 the indigenous peoples let it be known that they did not applaud the
extermination of their ancestors. On this occasion they launched a
 continental campaign, which was to become global, whose objectives
 were not only to boycott the celebrations but to put forward alternative
 propositions to promote their rights here and now.

 A first stage culminated in the '500 years of Resistance' movement
 (previously reported on in Freedom) which took place in Quetzaltenango 
(Guatemala) from 7th to 12 October 1991. Under the auspices of the Quiche
 indians, representatives of different ethnic groupings gathered together
 on the Guatemalan plateau in traditional costumes, along with their 
centuries old traditions and a list of the wrongs they had suffered. 
They paid homage to Huracán (the Spirit of the Sky) and to Abya Yala 
(Mother Earth) - but they also used computers to record their own history.
 Pluralism presided over a whole range of experience, opinion and ceremony.
 Some denounced the extermination campaigns, others the ravages of the
 environment and yet others evoked the incessant campaigns aimed at 
denying their identity.

BIRTH OF A GLOBAL MOVEMENT

If the idea of creating an alternative on the continent by
 co-ordinating with national civil groups took root in Quetzaltenango,
 the nomination of Rigoberta Menchu for a nobel prize and the UN 
designation of a 'Year of Indigenous Peoples' gave witness to a new 
sensibility which had appeared on the international scene bringing
 with it a clear element of progress within the movement. That the 
most famous victim of military brutality should have won such a prize 
was a diplomatic success for the domestic Guatemalan resistance which
 has been fighting a ferocious dictatorship for 40 years.
 Moreover, the determination of this sliver of a woman summarises
 the determination of the civilisations that our age has denied,
 and the prize awarded to her (despite its lateness and inadequacy)
 is in itself a homage to all these people. From this starting point,
 Rigoberta's offices in her Mexican exile, have become the axis of a 
whole network of autochthonous organisations - which has reached out 
beyond its point of creation: the American continent - to become
 international.
 Throughout 1992 and 1993 there were many congresses and summits, under 
various labels but with a common objective: to take advantage of the
 favourable atmosphere before it should fade. When the celebrations
 of the conquest were over new forms of action saw the light of day
 with the Guatemalans leading from the front. From 24 to 28 of May
 1993 in Chimaltenango - in the cakchiquel territory - took place 
the first world summit of indigenous people.

 At the same time as these people were setting up their first
 international organisation the Guatemalan President Jorge Alias 
Serrano was carrying out his coup d'état which would cost him his
 power. The situation was a difficult one with the means of communication 
centred around the outcome of the crisis. However, the summit continued 
becoming by this very fact an act of civil disobedience.

 Here is an extract from the Chimaltenango declaration:


At the end of the 20th century, discrimination, systematic violation 
of ancestral rights and the exclusion of our people from the political
 process continues. We note that we live under the shadows of death such
 as racism, children traffic and environmental destruction. Faced with
 this sombre scenario, our millenarian cultures are surging forwards to
 become the voice of hope in favour of a more just and balanced future.
 We wish to restore the health of Mother Earth and re-establish 
egalitarian relationships based on mutual respect and solidarity...


 Immediately afterwards, the participants proclaimed the 'Decade of
 indigenous peoples' from 1994 to the year 2003 and appealed to the
 UN and the Organisation of American States. Under a full state of 
emergency and with the Guatemalan delegates under military threat a
 ceremony was celebrated in Iximché on 28th May 1993 to close the
 summit with a promise to meet again as soon as possible....


THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE SPEAK

This happened in Mexico between 4th and 8th October 1993 in Mexico.
 The 100 or so delegates brought with them papers, tasks to be
 accomplished and much hope. After an inaugural ceremony performed
 by the nahuatl women of the region the debates began which were to
 last five days and were used to soften corners and to consolidate
 movemental structures

 The delegates concentrated on defining the objectives for the Decade 
of the indigenous peoples, the problem of funding and organisational
 questions. Let us listen to the voices of some of those who were there.
 "On balance it has been a bad year. We were unable to raise the funds
 we wanted to launch the developmental projects we had established.
 Indian territories continue to be used for military purposes and as
 chemical dumping grounds. A few days earlier, forty yanomani brothers
 fell victim to the barbarism in Brazil. The destruction of ceremonial
 centres and sacred sites has continued. However, we have succeeded in
 breaking the silence. Our struggle is a long one and we have only 
just started to organise" stated Menchu in her opening speech.
 During the working sessions Margarito Ruiz a Tojolabal from Mexico 
stated "The International year resulted in the rebirth of the indigenous
 peoples. We have succeeded in finding allies who, like us, are
 struggling to achieve more human relationships". Alicia Canaviri
 an Aymara from Bolivia pointed out that the meetings carried the
 risk of forming an indigenous elite separated from the grassroots

 "That is why our task is to target international bodies with strong
 movements of a national character, dedicated to propaganda, the
 raising of consciousness and focusing on internal problems".

 Economic and legal problems were confronted in their vast complexity.
 "We are the inheritors of important cultural and social values.
 Let us avoid the confused notion of minority: in some countries 
we even represent the majority. It is better to speak of peoples 
with a right to self-determination and to participate in national
 and international well being" added Lázaro Pari also from Bolivia. 
"In order to give back value to our institutions we favour the 
creation of a body to study the notion of common law" said Afredo 
Cupil from Guatemala. Tony Gonzalez from Arizona denounced the
 pollution of the Colorado river and the environmental damage
 that would be done because of the Nafta.
 From the Far East Victoria Tauli Corpuz claimed that "South
 East Asia is growing through a period of high growth. For the 
indigenous peoples (some 150 million) the opening up of the
 economy has signified increased marginalisation along with 
the destruction of lands rich in minerals and tropical forests.
 The misery of militarization is the order of the day. This 
situation is particularly serious in my country, the Philipines, 
Malaysia and Indonesia where the government has launched a 
programme of colonisation at the expense of the indigenous 
peoples".
 "Burma is suffering from civil war. The terrible military 
dictatorship which seized power in 1962 cut off all contact
 with the outside world and massacred the peoples (Karen, Akha, 
Shan, Kacin) which were fighting for self-determination", said 
Sein Win the leader of the exiled government. It is the same 
situation according to Kok Ksor for the Degas, a people from
 the central mountains of Vietnam who fought the pro-US
 southern government and now fight the communist regime.
 Their situation is one of the most dangerous given the 
encirclement and militarisation of their territories by 
the government in Hanoi.
 Nabin Mondu a munda and leader of the Indian Council of
 Indigenous and Tribal Peoples said "In India forced 
integration is the agenda. Some of us descend from peoples who 
settled in the Deccan before the Ayran invasions. We are many and 
neither Hindu nor Muslim. We have no caste system. Our religions 
are other. The central government exploits our resources without
 thinking of the consequences".
 Different again is the situation of those from the Pacific Basin
 such as the Ainous of Japan or the Kanaka Maoli in Hawaii - who'
 under the domination of industrial democracies suffer other problems.
 Pauline Tangiora, a representative of 500 000 Maoris from New Zealand
 (Sic) claimed that the western civilisation by liquidating the
 traditional ways of life was killing the spirit of the indigenous 
peoples which was illustrated by the high levels of suicide and
 criminality.

EPILOGUE

At the end of the summit, with little international attention
 having been received, one question stands out. What chance of
 success can these peoples struggles have in a post-industrial
 IT age? More than a superficial glance may reveal. "The old 
opposition between modernity and custom is obsolete. To the extent
 that traditional wisdom is rediscovering a certain credibility
 we must also reconsider the ethnic factor which is at the source 
of tradition" writes The Economist hardly a champion of indianism.
 The rehabilitation of knowledge founded on a different way of
 seeing nature is today admitted by scientists. On the other hand
 the crisis in the history of ideas and progress shakes the convictions
 of western civilisations sense of superiority.
 There is nothing in the idea of autonomy - the basic demand of the
 indigenous peoples - which must necessarily lead to the break up of
 national unities. A real integration would be the product of free 
association and not coercion. Ethnic conflicts which are shaking
 Europe and other parts of the world could be the products of othe
r ills such as state centralism of those old problems, never resolved,
 between the State and Religion.
 "It is easier for an indigenous person in Alaska to understand another
 in Ecuador than for a worker to understand a peasant in his own country"
 claimed Bishop Samual Ruiz. "In a world growing ever smaller it is 
technological development itself which is bringing them together: now

 we can communicate with each other and share our common problems"
 said the Cuban Miguel Alfonso Martinez.
 For their part the indigenous peoples do not reject the modern
 world and they do not seek to isolate the countries where they
 live. They wish to participate in development and find their place
 at the heart of multi-ethnic nations of a new kind. Is it a utopianism?
 Perhaps but it's one of the last at this end of an unsettled millennium.



2nd November 1993
Claudio ALBERTANI
Translated from the Spanish by Georges Nuissein
(abridged English version Freedom Press)
Série Action et Contractions March 1994

