Indigenous People Rising

[Judi Lynn]

Weekend Edition
November 28-30, 2008

Historic Changes Across Latin America
Indigenous People Rising
By JAMES COCKCROFT

Indigenous peoples in Indo-Afro-Latin America, especially Bolivia and Ecuador, are rising up to take control of their own lives and act in solidarity with others to save the planet. They are calling for new, yet ancient, practices of plurinational, participatory, and intercultural democracy. They champion ecologically sustainable development; community-based autonomies; and solidarity with other peoples locally, regionally, and internationally – what they describe as “unity in diversity.” Their values are often different than those of the United States or Europe. One indigenous leader has stated: “We give what money we have not to banks to collect interest but to others – and their gratitude is the interest we receive.”

Fifty-five million indigenous persons, or 400 indigenous peoples, inhabit Indo-Afro-Latin America. Most reside in Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. They reject the Europe-imposed term “Indians.” They call themselves “the native peoples” (“Ios pueblos originarios” in Spanish). They constitute 67 percent of Bolivia’s population. In Ecuador they are 40 percent, mainly in the cold highland Sierra and sweltering Amazonian tropics. They often ally with Afro-Ecuadorians along the Pacific coast, who account for 10 percent of the populace.

Spokespersons for the native peoples realize that the differences between their cosmic visions and those of Europe and the United States are part of an ongoing set of class and ideological conflicts that must be resolved if world peace and ecological balance are to be achieved. They recognize too that they must overcome divisions in their own ranks and that their struggles necessitate solidarity with other oppressed peoples around the globe. They link up internationally, as in the case of the worldwide 87-nation “Via Campesina” so important in the World Social Forums of this century. Sensitive to the world ecological crisis, the native peoples’ movements conducted the 2008 First Interregional Summit of the Amazon, the region known as “the lungs of the planet.”

In Bolivia and Ecuador, the native peoples and their supporters are re-founding the State, “democratizing democracy,” and introducing juridical pluralism. They are playing a prominent role in popular campaigns against neo-liberal capitalist globalization and US-European interventionism. Recognized and honored in UN and ILO declarations on indigenous rights, they emphasize human and planetary rights, including the rights of Nature (“Pachamama,” or “Mother Nature,” literally “Mother Universe”).

The CIA has often characterized the social movements of the native peoples as a major challenge to US hegemony. Territories they occupy contain 80 percent of Latin America’s biodiversity, several important watersheds, and such valuable resources as petroleum.

More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/cockcroft11282008.html

[midnight]

1. This is very important that this area awaken to their own power.

Sensitive to the world ecological crisis, the native peoples’ movements conducted the 2008 First Interregional Summit of the Amazon, the region known as “the lungs of the planet.”

[Political_Junkie]

2. Good article

Thanks for pointing this out. This gives me hope.

[southernyankeebelle]

3. Who cares

These people have a right to live the way they want to and should be left alone to do so. US should start minding our own business in our own country. We can't be the policemen of the world.

[silverweb]

4. Wonderful.

I'm with them in spirit and wish them all success.

[mojowork_n]

5. RE: "...and such valuable resources as petroleum."

Interesting post.

Just this morning I was rummaging through the Newspaper Basket at the coffee shop, looking for NBA box scores, and pulled out part of a half-Portugese, half-English tabloid called The Brazilian.

There's a website with the same name:

http://www.thebrazilian.com/news.htm

but I'm not sure they're the same thing.

What caught my eye was a short "news brief" type article, to the effect that 'interbank loans between Brazilian and Argentine banks' will no longer have to be run through dollar-denominated accounts, resulting in 'savings to regional banking consumers and economies.'

Or something to that effect.

In the run-up to the Second Iraq War, along with all the other assorted evidence that 'such valuable resources as petroleum' might have had something to do with the real reasons for the American invasion, there were a number of articles and blogs suggesting that it wasn't just about the oil -- that the whole complex "Petrodollar" edifice in place since the end of World War II was under assault. Some time before the invasion, Saddam Hussein had bypassed the dollar, and started trading Iraqi oil for euro's -- directly. Some people have speculated that's what took him to the gallows. What a pyhrric triumph for America that may turn out to have been.

[judasdisney]

6. CIA Cheney Sleeper Cells Rising ... It's Indigenous vs False Flags: The Final Showdown