This article recently appeared in FREEDOM (anarchist fortnightly) FREEDOM carries at least a page in every issue of international news of interest to the anarchist movement around the world. For a free trial edition write to: FREEDOM PRESS IN ANGEL ALLEY 84B WHITECHAPEL HIGH STREET LONDON E1 7QX 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