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 fortnightly)

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Ecuador: the struggle continues...



More news is reaching us from Latin America about activities and struggles
 over the past few months. With the continuing revolt in Chiapas, struggles
 in Guatemala and the activities of the Indian groupings in Ecuador a new
 force for change is emmerging in Latin America which is challenging the
 institutions of power. Here we bring you an update on the evolving
 situation in Ecuador and the press release for anarchist groups which has
 recently been sent out by the Brazilian Anarchist Information Agency.

 Recently 300 Indians marched under the banner of the huipala with the
 seven colours of the rainbow (symbolising the unity of indigenous peoples
 before the conquest) and the two black flags of Ruminhaui (legendary 
leader of the auchtonomous movement) and Atahualpa (the last Inca) through
 the town of Canar, Ecuador. Nearby a soldier filmed them from a jeep.

 The march reached what had been the community centre Nukanchic Huasi
 (Our House) - a burnt out shell with only one remaining building with
 all its windows smashed. The local inhabitants looked on unsympathetically.
..

NUKANCHIC HUASI

 Throughout their history the Indians of Canar have seen their land seized
 by the big land owners. In the early 1960s they formed the Provincial
 Union of the Peasant Communes of Canar (UPCCC). With the support of 
Belgian and Norwegian NGOs the UPCCC they set up their own community 
centre - a library with some 60,000 books, recording facilities, computers,
 workshops, a health centre, education etc.... all in all 20 years work.

 But unfortunately Canar is a stronghold of the landowning class and 
they didn't look too kindly on such developments. It was the uprising in
 June 94 which sparked off, literally, the reaction. 300 Indians were
 inside. No matter. They torched it. 35 injured and an activist and a 
child were never seen again. 'They have burnt wood, they have burnt roofs,
 they have burnt stones,' said one of the Indian community, 'but they will
 never burn away our spirit. With the power of the smoke we will continue
 our struggle'.

 Immediately the Indians set up their own tribunal to judge the agrarian
 law they were opposing and which had started the whole affair. Self 
sufficient at the start of the 60s Ecuador today imports food to feed her
 population. The agrarian laws aim to submit agriculture to the exclusive
 logic of the market. It is the 'lack of productivity' of the Indian way
 of farming which is singled out for attack despite the fact that the
 'efficient' farming techniques of the banana, cocoa and flower plantations
 just happen to occur in areas where the best land is. In fact 80% of food
 production occurs on areas of land no bigger than 10 hectares. So who is
 feeding the country?

STATE OF EMERGENCY

 As reported in Freedom the law was passed on June 13 1994 and was
 immediately met with an uprising which successfully sealed off parts of
 the country. The Confederation of Ecuadorian Indigenous People (CONAIE) 
called for a 'mobilisation for life'. Against them was the president
 Sixto Duran with his landowning political base and of course the World
 Bank which had 'tied' aid to the condition that his agrarian law was
 enacted. An unequal balance of power. 
 On 21 June a general state of emergency was declared. The military were
 called in to clear the roads and seize the means of communication that 
the Indians were using. The telephone lines of many organisations were 
cut off. The private militias of the big landowners were let off their 
leash with predictable results, 'But we have an enormous advantage,' 
declared one militant, 'In the mountainous provinces like Canar, Cotopaxi,
 Pichincha and Chimborazo much of the road network is under our control. 
With or without an army presence, it is not hard to cause a landslide, cut
 trees, day and night...' The movement could not be squashed without all
 out civil war and Chiapas was breathing down their necks and the mess 
that is Peru was looking at them from over the years. After two weeks
 the government caved in.
 Claiming that the Indians had never fully understood the law they
 took it upon their noble shoulders to explain it a little more clearly
 and after this benevolence they explained that the Indians had accepted 
it. In fact of the original act only six articles remain intact - forty 
have been modified. On the crucial question of water privatisation Nina
 Pacari of CONAIE declares, 'We have ensured that water does not pass
 under the control of the big landowners'.
 Anarchists will see the possibility of a dangerous complacency here 
and a looming sleight of hand which will put the state back in the
 driving seat but CONAIE is not regressing into triumphalism, 'We have not
 satisfied all our aspirations. We have gone as far as we can in the
 current political context,' they claim. Social, cultural and ecological 
questions now have to be faced, 'We wish to show that the neo-liberal 
development route is not the only one. We have proposals for another way 
of development.' One spokesman José Ruminui put it this way when speaking 
of the Peruvian guerrilla movement, 'So much violence and for what? Marx,
 Lenin, Mao left wing political dogmas don't work. Our future is with us.'

Information from Le Monde Diplomatique Nov. 94

