1 12 1190 https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/da151cfe8a29ff844619be1d34b810a6.pdf 6f891760a8710e8f4ec06d943c5cafbd PDF Text Text ORGANIZATION AND Expanding Indigenous Journalism in· Central America ndigenous leaders met in E1 S.1h'11dor from NO\'. 11 -13 for the second Centro! Amencan plnnnmg meeting for the lntcrn:lllon:ll Indigenous Decade. According 10 the I PS news service, represcntnuves focused on plans to boost lnd1an news mcdlo 1n the region. N1cnmguan l ndl~enous leader Mirna Cunnlngh.'\n po1 nted 10 • pilot project bemg camw OUI In N1camgua with md1o and the p~ wh1ch could be ben<flctnl for 1he d.-·elopment of lnd1genous med1a m Ccntml Amenca. She ln(ormrd IPS th.'ll the tr;umng of lndtgenous )oumahsts and professionals ·IS alread)' happemng m the regton. ah hough 01 modest levels." and added that the upgmdmg o( CXIStiOg programs is bcmg sought. ;\dnnn Esquino L1sco. head of the N•uonal Indigenous Association, stated that they were thinking of stnrtlng an lnd1 gcnous mdio station, although they lacked lnfomtatlon on the current situa· tlon R1goberta Menchu. who W:J.S also pr<S<nt at the m<eung, pledgtd the suppon of the Vicente Mcnchu Foundation m undcnnkmg a study of the oaual situotoon and needs of lnd1genous communmos In Guatemala, Hondur3S. N1caroguo Jnd the southern Mexican state of Ch1>p.1S. COMMUNICATION of trust "'sponslbiliues h tstoblished a Zunl on 1ssucs conct'ming n:uu~l resources. S1gnifl(llmly. the pbn uses Zuni religto\IS ond cuhuml valuos :J.S the b:J.Sis for decision-moktng. This approach to development has pro\•isions to provide Imming of Zunis already brought a 8"'"t deal of success to fall profes.~ional positions. the build- to the project and to Zuni. The project ing of gcogmph1c lnformauon systems. now cmploys60 lll:oplc. 59 of which are ond elabomtlon of n resource develop- Zuni. lmplernc.nuuion o( lhe pktn 1$ 1n its first yblr and watershed rehabilitament pion. Intellectual Property R~ghts is one of lion has already begun. Tmd1tional agothe pLOJ«ts prmctpal concerns. 2um are culture IS molong a comeback and trndl· in the process of deflmng for themselves uon>l technolog)' lor ci'0$1on control IS what Zum tmellectu>l proptny IS and being tncorpomt<d mto the rthabohta· what t)'pt of "pLOt<ctton" they would non \\rork. lnd1gcnous communuzes hkr to sec for thts proptrt)CTrodutoml tntemauon.tlly have shown amerest in seeds, for exnmple. need to be plotect· the ptOJCClS appro.1Ch to communuyed. but cnnnot be used-¢,-en by b:J.Sed development ZunlS-for commerdol purposes. $.1cred sues. religtous ani(:~cts. trodiuonal an Tribal Sovereignty: Back to the styles. l:mgungc. religtous ceremonies. Future? songs. and medicimd plants nre other his symposiUm on the rights ond status of Indigenous people was types Of "property" COnSidered for pro· tection . sponsored by 1he St. Thomas University. A related yet sepamte Issue is that its Hun10n Rights Institute, its law of cultural preservntlon. Many of school. and the Oklahoma Cuy Zunt5. tradhaons have endured the pas• Umverslty Notlve Amerlcon Legal 500 years. Zum contmue to pracuce Rcsoun:e Center. It took place m ~hami, rchgoous and cultuml tmdiuons that Flonda on Dec I and 2 The conference. ongmatcd thous.mds of years >go. The addressed issues or lod1311 culture and past 50 yc.• rs. howe\'tr. have brought sptritu>hty "" well M cbiOIS of tnlxtl about ropld chongcs In dcmograph1cs 50\'treignt)' and cnucal IS>Ues of fcdcral and hfestylt. The Conserv:mon project lndL1n law. ond was designed 10 Crt.lte a holds that much of I he do mage 10 Zuni launchmg pad for ongoing research and lands "'suhcd from the breaking of ana.lysos. Zuni Conservation Project traduional forms of land manngcmcnt. The conference fcaturcd • broad Pushes Sustainable and know~ that traditional methods array of subject m~ner ond expen Development are much more sustnlnnble, and strh·es speakers from Bmzll to Alnskn. Papers he Zuni Tnbe loc~ned in wesHcn- 10 mcorpomtc and rtjuvenme the use from the conference and highlights of tml New Mexico fomted the Zuni of traditional technologies and prac- the discussions will be published in a Conscrvntlon Pl\)jcct in 199 1 to serve as lices into nnturnl resource use plan· special Spring 1995 issue of the Sr. th~ir dcl):'rCmem of n:uurnl resources. ning. Thomas l.aw Re••fcw. The Zuni communuy has approximately By the end of 1993. the Zuni 9,000 pe-ople. In 1990, p.15Sag< of the Conse"•auon Pro.JC(t completed a plan For mot< lnformattoto: the Zuni Conservauon Act enabled of acuon fe>< sustaonablc development Pnlf"'-"'' Slrtfru:d ll'f<»tt<r. Clwlr. Sutnng l>unchlng of 1hc project The Act was -the Zuno ~rce o.:,·elopment Plan. Commlll« Tribal Sowr<~g~~ly S)Oijli>Wm. J>35$d to cnd Ol.'lny >~rs of litiW~tion This pbn follows the forn~11 of the UN'S S<. ThDrnM UnM"'IJI S<looal cf l.a"' >g>lnst the US Go\'cmment for damage Ag.onda 21 doeumem. tn se1ung gu1dc- 16-ICO N IV J2nd "'~ Mwmt, fl<>nd<J JJOSi. to Zum l•ncb ond f10m mismanag.omem hnes. goals. and .lCioon obJCcti\'CS for Td; (lOS) 62J.2JOS, FGX. (lOS) 62J-2.J90 I T 16 Sl7 moUton trust fund to set up a system of bnd management to rehobilit;ue nnd conserve Zums land and natu.ml resources. Also Included In the Act ore T � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 8, no. 4 (Winter 1994) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Zuni Conservation Project Pushes Sustainable Type The nature or genre of the resource Journal Article Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Winter 1994 Language A language of the resource English English Zotero Title Zuni Conservation Project Pushes Sustainable Item Type Journal Article Volume 8 Issue 4 Pages 36 Publication Title Abya Yala News: Journal of the South and Meso American Indian Rights Center (SAIIC) ISSN 1071-3182 Date Winter 1994 Language English Abstract Note An indigenous tribe in New Mexico is implementing a sustainable development plan that draws from the tribe's traditional forms of land management. Attachment Title Zuni_conservation_project.pdf Attachment URL [No URL] Agriculture Intellectual Property Rights sustainability Zuni Conservation Act https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/d2f010dd4310075a9b736625439a8985.pdf cc560b8f5b04910df9b64ec83bf45f9b PDF Text Text church rights to establish a mission in the area and to function in a hazily defined role as "protector" of the Indians. The Yanesha have also been threatened by homesteaders and the Summer Institute of Linguistics, an evangelical organization. After intense effort by the Y anesha, they received title to their land in 1976. But the title was annulled in 1981 as a result of strong pressure from the Catholic church, according to the CIP A documentation. Since then tensions have increased in the area as homesteaders have attempted to invade Yanesha land. In 1982, the Comunidad Nativa Tsachopen filed a court document called an acci6n de amparo which should provide immediate judicial protection against violation of constitutional rights. But for four years technically illegal judicial tactics have blocked consideration of the petition and violations of Y anesha land rights continue. CIPA states that it "has protested this grave situation to the Peruvian government, demanding effective intervention of judicial, administrative, and church authorities to reinstate territorial rights to these Indian people of the Amazon who have now been displaced." Comunidad Native Tsachopen also makes an urgent call to national and international public opinion to lend support. They request that letters be sent to the following officials and that copies of the letters and any responses to the letters be sent to CIP A: Dr. Alan Garcia Perez, Presidente de la Republica, Palacio de Gobierno, Lima, Peru. Senor Ministro de Justicia, Ministerio de Justicia, Lima, Peru. Monseftor Luis Barbaren, Conferencia Episcopal de Acci6n Social, Rio de Janeiro 488, Jesus Maria, Lima 11, Peru. MEXICO Weavers iscuss Origins Designs Zacarias Ruiz Hernandez and Emilia Gonzales de Ruiz, Zapotec weavers from the town of Teotitlan de Valle, near Oaxaca, were in the San Francisco Bay Area for the month of July. They sold their weavings and gave demonstrations of weaving techniques. During a conversation with SAIIC, Zacarias made the following comments. I started to weave in 1958. My parents taught me. It is one of the jobs of parents to teach the children to weave. Already one of our sons and our daughter weave. The tradition comes to us through our ancestors. Some designs, such as "flor de Oaxaca" have been used for many, many years. Designs like this are from the area. Also people are now interested in using the designs from the ruins at Mitla and Monti Alban. People who buy weavings are interested in these designs. Other designs I use are my own. Now there is a rebirth of weaving using natural colors and dyes. People are asking their grandparents about the natural dyes that hadn't been used for a generation. Each family has its secrets on weaving and also Emilia carding wool. Vol. 3, no. 1. Fall, 1986. Page 15 �preparing the colors and dyes. It is the mixture of the vegetable dyes that makes the colors, and each family has their special mixture. About 1968 we started to use some modern designs taken from Escher and Mir6 in our weaving. People who wanted rugs showed us books and asked for special designs for a rug. There are others in my family and three more families who make these designs and other unique and personal designs. Almost everyone in Teotitian weaves. It supports us fairly well. We don't have to take other jobs. We have been using Navajo designs since 1978. We first saw these designs in a book. It was easy for us to make them because Navajo work is very straightforward, very geometric, like ours. So it was easy. At first we were not really interested in who the Navajo are. We didn't pay much attention to where the designs came from. But whatever design we use, we are conscious to do good quality weaving. We now do three Navajo designs. They sell very well. Now I see this as a kind of interchange .8 with the Navajo. Someday I would like to go to New _g. 0.. Mexico and live with them for a while. We should teach one another what we know best. Zacarfas working at his loom. Zacarias also spoke of topil. Topil is helping the community. There are five levels or cargos of the topil. One takes on more responsible topiles each time, depending on the conduct of each person. Maybe some day I will become president of the community. This is not for any salary. Everyone knows that we do the cargo in order to give our service to the people, the community. We were married for two years when they named me for a topil. The service is for one year. Then I rested and then they named me president of pre-school education, which I served for one year. Now I am serving again in the central committee of the church. There are two altars that I take care of. We work all day on the weekends. We leave flowers at the altar where we have our Gods, to worship our saints. We have responsibility for the whole community. Announcements The National Indian Social Workers Association held its annual convention October 14-17, 1986, in Buffalo, New York. Among the topics discussed was a commission of inquiry on the status of Guatemalan children (see SAIIC Newsletter, Spring, 1986, p. 7). NISWA, in cooperation with Defense for Children International, USA, proposes the establishment of a three-member panel to review the status of Indian children in Guatemala. For further information, contact Angela Russell, Box 333, Lodge Grass, MT 59050. An English-language edition of the CISA News Bulletin, published in Lima, Peru, by the South American Indian Council, is now available. The introductory issue includes articles on "Brazil: A Development Program of Death and Destruction," "Bolivia: Andean Community Memory, an Alternative Oral Archive," and "Chile: Mapuches in the City." A subscription for three issues costs $7.00, which should be sent to CISA, Apartado 2054, Lima 100 Peru. Page 16 VoL 3, no. 1. Fall, 1986. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 3, No. 1 (Fall 1986) Zotero Language English Issue 1 Volume 3 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Zapotec Weavers Discuss Origins of Designs (Mexico) Type The nature or genre of the resource Journal Article Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Fall 1986 Zotero Title Zapotec Weavers Discuss Origins of Designs (Mexico) Item Type Journal Article Attachment Title Vol. 3, no. 1 (15-16).pdf Attachment URL [No URL] Publication Title SAIIC Newsletter Issue 1 Volume 3 Language English Pages 15-16 https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/6241f33d2976af601443cf9ecab8d238.pdf 6fd92fd78651baab5f452aea32211aeb Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 3, No. 3 (16).pdf PDF Text Text MEXICO Zapotec Community uilds ew Water Pipelin In the Sierra Juarez of Oaxaca, over seven hours by bus into the mountains north of the city of Oaxaca, there are many Zapotec Indian communities. There, in April, Solomon Lopez, director of the municipal council of San Miguel Cajonos, spoke with SAIIC about community work. We have started a project to get good drinking water. We've had piped water, but because of the drought it arrives irregularly at the village. For example, there was no water in the morning today, but in the afternoon it returned. This month the entire town is working, even the women and the old people. We are united together, the entire community. The only way we will get it done is to do it ourselves. We bought the pipe, which costs about 2 million pesos, practically without any help from the government, which doesn't provide much of this kind of service. It's the people of the community who have had to deal with all the details, including the labor. We know we need water, so we're doing what we have to do to get it. The water that we're bringing to the community comes from five kilometers away. So far we've completed two kilometers of the project, which leaves three to go. This is our largest community project, and it means we'll have more water in the future. Everyone has to work two days a week, except the old people and the women, who work one day a week. Some of the old people find a relative to do their day, and some do it themselves. There are about 70 people active in the project, not including the elders, who are about 30 more. Plus there are some other people who live elsewhere who help sometimes. Now we are digging the trenches, and then we put in the plastic pipe and cover the trenches back up. We asked for technical advise from the government, and some engineers came to plot the route, but they didn't follow through, so we went to another office to find some other people to help. Now they come for two or three days every couple of weeks to advise us about how we should dig the trenches. We started the job on February 16. In May the rains will come and we won't be able to work for a while. But we'll start again as soon as we can so that we'll have water as soon as possible. If we don't get it finished now, we'll work in stages, working every dry season. We really want to get the project finished. Photo: Assembly of Zapotec and Chinantec Peoples of the Oaxaca Sierra Page 16 Vol. 3, No.3. Summer, 1987 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 3, No. 3 (Summer 1987) Zotero Language English Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Zapotec Community Builds New Water Pipeline (Mexico) Type The nature or genre of the resource Newspaper Article Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Summer 1987 Zotero Title Zapotec Community Builds New Water Pipeline (Mexico) Item Type Newspaper Article Attachment Title Vol. 3, No. 3 (16).pdf Issue 3 Language English Pages 16 Publication Title SAIIC Newsletter Volume 3 https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/1475f40301bab89b100df459865f273a d41261384fff462398b0e14711d65a30 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, no. 3 (5).pdf PDF Text Text armed security guards and the police just like the people of Nieuw Koffiekamp. They are also afraid that Brazilian gold diggers will invade their land when they discover that Golden Star is working there and that their environment will be destroyed by the garimpeiros or the company The people say that Golden Star has already polluted the water where they were working and they have seen desert where forests used to stand in Brazil and they do not want this to happen to their land. The VIDS supports the people of Kwamalasemutu in demanding that Golden Star leaves their territory and that their land rights, as defined by international law, be recognized and respected by the Government. The same applies to all other Indigenous and Maroon peoples in Suriname, especially those that find themselves in concessions held by Golden Star, NaNa Resources or any other of the multinationals that are presently invading their ancestral lands. This is especially the case for the Indigenous community of Kawemhakan, also located in a concession held by Golden Star and NaN a Resources, where Golden Star recently announced drilling results at a site called Antino that indicates that there may be commercial quantities of gold in the area. Like the people of Nieuw Koffiekamp, the people of Kawemhakan were not consulted or even informed about the granting of a concession on their land. We urge the Government, as did the Gran Krutu held in Galibi, not to give any further concession until their land and other human rights are fully recognized in the Constitution and other laws of Suriname. For further information please contact the Forest Peoples Programme, 1c Fosseway Business Centre, Stratford Road, Moreton in Marsh, GL56 9NQ, U.K. Tel: 44 1608 652893 Fax: 44 1608 652878 E-mail: wrm®gn.apc.org Youths Indigenous CapitaiBrasilia, Brasil Visiting hile visiting the capital, our brother Galdino Jesus dos Santos of the Pataxo tribe was the victim of a vicious crime in Brasilia, Brasil. On the evening of April 20th, 44 year old Galdino was returning to his pension after attending a FUNDAl meeting. When he arrived, it was after 9:00 PM, the hour at which the hostel locked its doors. Unable to enter, Galdino was forced to spend the night outside, sleeping about 20 meters from the hostel at a bus stop. It was here, late at night, when five youths came upon the sleeping visitor and doused his body with a flammable liquid and lit him on fire. The flames quickly spread, engulfing Galdino's entire body as he fell to the ground, trying to roll and screaming for help. By the time Galdino arrived at the hospital, 95% of his body was covered with third degree burns. By dawn he was dead. The perpetrators responsible for this hate-crime were five upper class youths, the sons of a judge and an ex-minister of justice. All five have been incarcerated. The minister of the interior of justice, Milton Seligman, has called this incident a crime of extreme perversity In a letter from Rio de Janeiro, Felicitas Barreto has said that Galdino's death "demonstrates the depth of the hatred and scorn that the colonizers have for their victims, the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas." Vol. 10 No.3 For more information regarding the death of Galdino jesus dos Santos contact: Marcos Terena, Dirigente del Comite Intertribal-ITC, Brasilia, DF Phone: (55 61) 273 9897 or 321 8751 Fax: (55 61) 347 1337 Ecuador: are the last hope women feel that they ransnational corporations are tightening their squeeze, but the women of the Amazanga community of Pastaza refuse to succumb to temptation or threats and demand that their ancient voice be heard and their traditional wisdom not be forgotten. As the men fall into the trap of corporate deceit, they close all means of expression and communication to these visionary women. While their husbands and fathers refuse to listen, the women of Amazonia clearly stated that they are committed to the preservation of our "continent of life." Since the First Congress of Women of the Amazon last Sept., 2427 1996, in Union Base Pastaza, Ecuador, a bad situation has deteriorated into near hopelessness. Through the Panshpanshu Biological Reserve, Atlantic Richfield Oil Co. has begun construction of a pipeline. Not only does this endanger the reserve, but the Villano river valley and the entire watershed of the Curaray river as well. If this is allowed to continue the natural indigenous ways of life of these traditional Shuar peoples, a small community of Quichua, and their vital ecosystem will surely face eminent destruction. Once happy and free in their beloved rain-forests, these women are faced with the grim choice of trying to raise their children on petroleum contaminated, clear cut 'dead zones' or migrating to the cities. While the Shuar peoples search for legal assistance to help protect the Pashpanshu Biological Reserve, they also begin the process of caring for the sacred lagoons of LLushino and recovering stolen lands from colonial encroachment. Against insurmountable odds, these brave women are organizing. Providing bi-cultural and bi-lingual education, the Jeri-Juri Indigenous Children's Boarding School is actively teaching and preserving traditional knowledge and natural ways of life for future generations. They have also created a Natural Indigenous University, Univeridad Natural Indigena. Here, foreign students are allowed to explore direct experience natural living and health restoration traditions. T Information from: Christina Gualinga, Coordinadora Regional de Mujeres, Casilla 10-16-704 Puyo, Pastaza, Ecuador or 3330 North Shore Circle Tallahassee, Florida 32312 tel: 904-997-6042 email:amozonwomen@applicom.com 5 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, No. 3 (Summer 1997) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Youths Burn Indigenous man Visiting The Capital Brasilia, Brasil Type The nature or genre of the resource Newspaper Article Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Summer 1997 Language A language of the resource English Zotero Title Youths Burn Indigenous man Visiting The Capital Brasilia, Brasil Item Type Newspaper Article Attachment Title Vol. 10, no. 3 (5).pdf Attachment URL [No URL] Issue 3 Language English Publication Title Abya Yala News Volume 10 Abstract Note Galdino Jesus dos Santos, a Pataxo, was killed by five assailants while visiting Brasilia, Brasil. Pages 5 https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/fed4e9a5127706f4740d71a71597c1c7.pdf 9abf698e59a18c0428b076a37ec0d400 PDF Text Text Rigoberta Menchu, Quiche from Guatemala, is a member of the Peasant Unity Committee (CUC, Comite de Unidad Campesina). She narrated the film When the Mountains Tremble and has written the book I, Rigoberta Menchu. In December, 1986, she made the following comments on SAIIC's radio program, South and Central American Indian Update, which is heard in northern California on KPFA, 94.1 FM, at 8:00 p.m. the third and fourth Fridays of each month. After 33 years of military rule in Guatemala, we now have an elected civilian president. We had hoped before the election to bring about concrete changes for the Indian people, who in Guatemala are over 75 per cent of the population. Now, after the civilian government has been in power for nine months, the situation continues to be very complicated. The killings and the disappearances have not stopped. The numbers may not be as high, but the fact remains that there are continuing abuses of human lives. This is the principal concern. Now Guatemala is living through more profound misery than we ever experienced in the past because of the destruction of the land and the massacres. There are now thousands of people displaced from their land who are dependent on their land for their survival. Our cultural roots as well as our material survival are based on the cultivation or corn and beans. Up to this point, none of our demands, even the most fundamental, have received any response from the Guatemalan government. There has been no clarification of the fate of the more than 36,000 who have disappeared, nor has the government identified or punished those responsible for the disappearances. And there is tremendous frustration among the Indian Y88, I find myself alone everyday life confronts me with the reality of mourning in my soul the fibers of my being broken and torn from the injustice the struggle that springs from the blood of innocent people the collective martyrdom of our journey the shadows that amass on our journey the ringing of the bells of our being. Yes, I am alone but I feel the strength of all the widowed women of the world protesting for men for women for children the violation of the right to live. -Calixta Canec, Cakchiquel Maya, refugee in California Page14 Vol. 3, no. 2. Winter, 1987. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 3, No. 2 (Winter 1987) Zotero Language English Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Yes (Poem) Type The nature or genre of the resource Journal Article Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Winter 1987 Zotero Title Yes (Poem) Item Type Journal Article Attachment Title Vol. 3, no. 2 (14).pdf Attachment URL [No URL] Issue 2 Language English Pages 14 Publication Title SAIIC Newsletter Volume 3 https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/c40051c7847bd57be2bacb015f3d9b3b.pdf 305ef139201956f5708d08103e15fe56 PDF Text Text YANOMAMI LEADER WINS U.N. AWARD Ivanildo Wawnaweytheri Yanomami, 34, speaks about the situation in his territory: "In the beginning, when there were no whites, there were no planes, there were only Yanomarni on the Earth. They say that the Yanornarni have a god, and the white man has his god. And there carne a time when the god of the white man made the Naba. Our god, Ornarna, lived with the Yanornarni, instructed them. When the time changed, the Naba appeared, planes began to fly, and boats carne on the river. It was at that time that the Naba began to appear, that he carne into contact with the Yanornarni. Until that time, no one suffered from diseases, the Yanornarni lived welL always had plentiful food, the children did not suffer as they do today. The Yanornarni began to become sad and Ornarna went away. Now [my people] think that there will come a time when there will be no more Yanornarni. And they are very worried. At Surucucu, where whites never before entered, any kind of ailment, even a weak flu, kills the Yanornarni. They are very weak and I have already seen· much sadness. WHAT YOU CAN DO: Send telegrams to Pres. Sarney insisting that Intenninisterial Decree (Portaria) 250 be annulled, that the gold prospectors (garimpeiros) be expelled and the Yanornarni be guaranteed their constitutional right to use of their lands. (Pres. Jose Samey, Presidencia da Republica, Gabinete Civil, Palacio do Planalto, CEP 70150 Brasilia, DF, BRASIL-Telex 613ll7 PRDF) SOURCE: "Urihi," Commission for the Creation of the Yanomami Park (CCPY), Rua Manoel da Nobrega ill 3a. cj. 32, CEP 04001 Sao Paulo SP, Brasil. Davi Yanornarni joins the late Chico Mendes as winner of the United Nations Environmental Program's Global 500 Award. He says, "With this prize I am stronger. In my tribe the Yanornarni, we are backward, we are primitive; there everybody runs around naked. I was not born to live in the city. I was raised in the forest, and I never left my horne where my parents were born and raised ' I knew that the gold prospectors would come to my land, I knew all this. I knew the FUNAI would allow the gold prospectors to invade. The Indians asked the FUNAI to remove the gold prospectors and nothing happened. I am not against the gold prospectors. I am against gold prospecting, because it makes holes and ruins. the rivers and the river channels. The Yanornaffil do not do that, cut the ground, cut the trees, bum the forest. We are not enemies of nature. The whites also suffer- the poor. Aren't they suffering? For. they have no land to plant things on, no land to live on. Most of my relatives do not know I have won this prize. We are so spread out- it is hard to communicate. They will only know when I arrive. But I have other relatives who are very worried about me. The medicine men who work to protect me are very worried. Because I am an only son who defends the Yanornarni people. So the medicine men are doing their work so that what happened to Chico Mendes will not hapi:'en to me. There are also warriors who are on my s1de, taking care of me. And that is what I had to say. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 4, Nos. 2&amp;3 (Fall 1988 &amp; Winter 1989) Zotero Volume 4 Language English Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Yanomami Leader Wins U.N. Award (Brazil) Type The nature or genre of the resource Journal Article Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Fall 1988 & Winter 1989 Zotero Title Yanomami Leader Wins U.N. Award (Brazil) Item Type Journal Article Attachment Title Vol. 4, nos. 2 &3 (22).pdf Attachment URL [No URL] Issue 2 & 3 Language Spanish Volume 4 https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/42f7bb0332bcd89abebc45c1d1e4659b.pdf b7325ae6efa53ac47dd88adecbb8f49c PDF Text Text ---------------------- poison because the settlers washed a tank of insecticide in the lake. When it rains the poison that the settlers use on their plantations passes across our land and goes into the lake, and this causes a lot of illness. We can't get away from the edge of the Itaipu lake because our land is very narrow. Next to our land are 420 acres that Itaipu owns. We want Itaipu to compensate us for the rest of the land they stole from us. We had about 3, 7 50 acres of land, with forest, fish, and game, instead of 575 acres with poison and malaria. God put us in the world to live in peace as brothers. The whites want to kill the Indians rather than be brothers with them, but we want to live in brotherhood with everyone. Now we have nothing and there are hardly any Indians left because in many parts "Are you aware you are an obstacle to progress?" of Brazil white men and foreigners have killed Indians with bombs and machine guns and have poisoned Indian areas. Can it be that you are not aware of this crime that must be resolved? You loaned money to the Itaipu people so that they could hurt us and the poor whites in the same situation as we are. Itaipu has done very great damage here, but you loaned money for this, and to FUNAI so that it could pay people to shoot the Indians, because we have enormous rights. Signed by the chief of the Ava-Guarani community, followed by the signatures and fingerprints of 58 others. Yanomami Land Claims Recognized f The Yanomami Indian people of northern Brazil have received official recognition of their claims to land through a presidential decree which establishes the Y anomami Indian Park near Brazil's border with Venezuela. The Yanomami, who number 10,000 to 12,000 people, are the largest Indian nation in Brazil still maintaining a traditional way of life. The decree was announced in the midst of controversy over a proposal by the Brazilian military to occupy the remote northern frontier of the Amazon region with military bases and air strips. According to the Union of Indian Nations (UNI), the project would directly affect 50,000 Indian people from 51 groups now living in the rainforest, including the Yanomami, Tukano, Baniwa, Uanano, and others. Reports indicate that the decree establishing the Yanomami Indian Park includes provisions for a strip 60 kilometers wide along the Venezuelan border which would be designated an "Area of Environmental Protection" and used to accommodate the military plan. Critics of the plan, which the military describes as "a joint project of economic development and national security," argue that its primary motivation is exploitation of the tin, aluminum, uranium, and other mineral resources thought to be buried beneath the dense Amazonian rainforests. Vol. 3, no. 2. Winter, 1987. Page7 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 3, No. 2 (Winter 1987) Zotero Language English Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Yanomami Land Claims Recognized (Brazil) Type The nature or genre of the resource Journal Article Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Winter 1987 Zotero Title Yanomami Land Claims Recognized (Brazil) Item Type Journal Article Attachment Title Vol. 3, no. 2 (7).pdf Attachment URL [No URL] Issue 2 Language English Pages 7 Publication Title SAIIC Newsletter Volume 3 Abstract Note The Yanomami people of Brazil have received official recognition of their claims to land near Brazil's border with Venezuela. Brazil land claims Venezuela Winter 1987 Yanomami https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/561d6f78b20ca34f5bf971e5c28f2adc.pdf f8a9764bb7fc997148e82688bfc4bcb1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 3, No. 3 (9).pdf PDF Text Text home to 60 per cent of Indian people in Brazil." The plan, based on a North American model, allows 100 square kilometers for each Indian family, "as if we were like a white family-father, mother, and child-instead of Indian communities. This can only force Indians to integrate into non-Indian society, establishing such a degree of dependence that we will no longer be able to live without whites." Such forced integration is consistent with long-standing policies of the Brazilian government. Indians are forced to participate in political life, such as the writing of the new constitution, on the same terms as the non-Indian majority, whose vastness overpowers Indian voices. FUNAI, Brazil's bureau of Indian affairs, attempts to exercise authority over every aspect of Indian lives. FUN AI is attached to the Ministry of the Interior, which is also responsible for economic development, which often works contrary to Indian interests. FUNAI has issued illegal permits for mineral exploration in Indian territory as well as neglected its responsibility to define the boundaries of Indian land so it can be protected from outside encroachment. UNI, which includes 120 of the 170 Indian nations in Brazil, has heightened its activities on behalf of Indian rights as the new constitution is written. On March 31, UNI met with CIMI (the Indian Missionary Council of the Catholic Church), the Pro-Indian Commission, the Ecumenical Documentation and Information Center, the Brazilian Association of Anthropologists and the National Institute for Social and Cultural Studies in Brasilia to elaborate a unified proposal regarding Indian rights in Brazil. The proposal demands the demarcation of all Indian land to secure the survival of Indian tradition~ and languages. It has been presented to the Subcommission for Blacks, Indians, Disabled People and Minorities of the constitutional convention. During an international telephone conference call on June 11, Ailton Krenak also said, "In Brazil today there is a generalized concern regarding land distribution, and the Indian situation must be put in this context. The rubber tappers of the Amazon region as well as hundreds of thousands of landless peasants throughout the country are also discriminated against." Ailton also said that, "Indians have advanced in this struggle due to increased public awareness and support from national and international non-governmental organizations." In addition to Ailton, the telephone conference call included Jose Carlos Saboia, member of the Brazilian national legislature; Dr. Julio Gaiger, a lawyer from CIMI; David Maybury-Lewis, president of Cultural Survival; Richard Smith of Oxfam America; Steve Shwartzman of the Environmental Defense Fund; and Maria Sousa and Nilo Cayuqueo of SAIIC. "It is important," said Saboia, "that national and international organizations work together to mobilize the media and make the Indian struggle in Brazil known. Public support is fundamental to success in defending the rights of Indian people at the national constitutional assembly." Letters of support for the UNI position should be sent to Deputado Ivo Lech; Presidente da Subcomissao dos Negros, Popula<;oes Indigenas, Pessoas Deficientes e Minorias; Camara dos Deputados; 70.160 Brasilia, DF Brasil. Yanomami Land Claims Not Yet Recognized An article in the Winter, 1987, issue of the SAIIC Newsletter mistakenly stated that the president of Brazil had granted official recognition to Yanomami land claims in the Amazon Vol. 3, No.3. Summer, 1987 near Brazil's border with Venezuela. In fact, the president only announced his intention to grant such recognition, which may conflict with military plans for the area. Page 9 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 3, No. 3 (Summer 1987) Zotero Language English Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Yanomami Land Claims Not yet Recognized (Brazil) Type The nature or genre of the resource Newspaper Article Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Summer 1987 Zotero Title Yanomami Land Claims Not yet Recognized (Brazil) Item Type Newspaper Article Attachment Title Vol. 3, No. 3 (9).pdf Issue 3 Language English Pages 9 Publication Title SAIIC Newsletter Volume 3 https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/422774765cc4070c3838dc1a74053d20 152cbb83a816be6bcc43ea388bb5ff17 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 6, no. 4 (12).pdf PDF Text Text I -from page 11 to demarcation of Yanomami land, visited the CommanderoftheArmedForcesintheAmazononSeptember 3 to ask for the helicopters to be released. Meanwhile, Possuelo is calling in FUNAI employees with health care training to work on an emergency basis in the Yanomami area. The aim of the DSY health workers in Roraima, all of them committed toYanomami rights, is to force the government to take responsibility for the work. There was some friction between the group and Waldir JoaoFerreiradaSilva, who has since been asked to leave his post after being appointed temporarily by the FNS in Brasilia as part ofa team that is investigating administrative irregularities of his predecessor. The DSY workers allege that he and the FNS in Brasilia were to blame for the situation because they did not provide necessary support for Yanomami health work, which continues to be critically important. Waldir's reputation among DSY health workers worsened when, at a meeting held in Manaus in July, he untactfully declared that any permanent appointee to his post would have to be approved by Roraima politicians. If this is so, the next appointment could be tragic for the Yanomami. The FNS in Brasilia is under constant pressure by congressmen from Roraima to accept their nominees to state-level posts, including the one which was occupied by Waldir. Sydney Possuelo ofFUNAI is against intervention by local governments in the appointment of officials who work with indigenous peoples. The President ofFNS, in a meeting with CCPY on August 25, gave assurances that until the investigation ends theadministratorwill be a career civil servant in the FNS. After the investigation, it will be necessary to make a permanent appointment of someone who understands the importance of the work done in the DSY and is at the same time capable of overseeing all FNS work in Roraima. The same Roraima political group has continued to be active in theYanomamiissue; the Di rio de Roraima reported that Chico Rodrigues, a federal deputy, had been told by President Collor that he would review the demarcation of the Yanomami area. Although this would be very difficult, the statement reflects the unwillingness of this political force to recognize Yanomami land rights. 12 SAIIC Newsletter � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 6, No. 4 (Fall 1992) (English) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Yanomami Indians are Dying in Brazil for Lack of Health Workers and Medicine (Brazil) Type The nature or genre of the resource Newspaper Article Language A language of the resource English Zotero Title Yanomami Indians are Dying in Brazil for Lack of Health Workers and Medicine (Brazil) Item Type Newspaper Article Attachment Title Vol. 6, no. 4 (12).pdf Attachment URL [No URL] https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/dd3a09372d857c789d4d2dee77ffb36d.pdf 771ff197ae2e25a211f7403061da7e08 PDF Text Text PERU Yanesha: Indian Strugg In Amazon Through the insistence of Indian people and others sympathetic to their concerns, Peru maintains a process of granting communal titles to ancestral lands occupied and used by Indian people. Communities with titles are then officially recognized as comunidades campesinas in the Andean highlands and along the Pacific coast or as comunidades nativas in the jungle areas east of the Andes. There are currently more than 4,000 such communities in Peru. There are also many Indian communities which have continual and habitual long-term use of their ancestral lands but which for a variety of reasons do not hold legal titles. Some communities are not recognized by the Peruvian government, others choose not to give the national government the authority to determine what always has been and always will be theirs, and others are too isolated geographically to actively participate within the national government's political or judicial spheres. Ideally, communal land titles provide guarantees that protect the community from external threats to their land and that officially recognize on-going rights to function as an Indian community. However, in reality many communities face severe pressure from interests who wish to displace them, such as large landowners, mining companies, and lumber companies. Authorities from the national government often collaborate with those seeking to usurp Indian land. Energies of many communities are tied up for years with bureaucratic processes for establishing and maintaining title to their land. The region of Oxapampa, east of Lima, has been a major corridor of access for development in the Peruvian jungle. Indian communities in the area experience extreme stress in maintaining their land. A major road which cuts into the area is bringing increasing numbers of colonos or homesteaders who are lured by the prospects of what mistakenly seems or may even officially be termed "unoccupied land." Ironically, many of the homesteaders are also Indian people, Quechua speakers who have been forced off their land in the mountains. For the highlanders, the major options are to migrate to the urban centers along the coast or try to continue farming by moving to the frontier towns of the jungle. A study completed in July, 1986, by the Center for Amazon Research and Development (CIPA, Centro de Investigaci6n y Promoci6n Amazonica, Av. Ricardo Palma 666-D, Miraflores, Lima 18, Peru) documents the long and vigorous struggle of the Yanesha Indians of the Comunidad Nativa Tsachopen near the town of Oxapampa to maintain rights to their land. In 1884 the Peruvian government granted the Catholic Page 14 Vol. 3, no. 1. Fall, 1986. �church rights to establish a mission in the area and to function in a hazily defined role as "protector" of the Indians. The Yanesha have also been threatened by homesteaders and the Summer Institute of Linguistics, an evangelical organization. After intense effort by the Y anesha, they received title to their land in 1976. But the title was annulled in 1981 as a result of strong pressure from the Catholic church, according to the CIP A documentation. Since then tensions have increased in the area as homesteaders have attempted to invade Yanesha land. In 1982, the Comunidad Nativa Tsachopen filed a court document called an acci6n de amparo which should provide immediate judicial protection against violation of constitutional rights. But for four years technically illegal judicial tactics have blocked consideration of the petition and violations of Y anesha land rights continue. CIPA states that it "has protested this grave situation to the Peruvian government, demanding effective intervention of judicial, administrative, and church authorities to reinstate territorial rights to these Indian people of the Amazon who have now been displaced." Comunidad Native Tsachopen also makes an urgent call to national and international public opinion to lend support. They request that letters be sent to the following officials and that copies of the letters and any responses to the letters be sent to CIP A: Dr. Alan Garcia Perez, Presidente de la Republica, Palacio de Gobierno, Lima, Peru. Senor Ministro de Justicia, Ministerio de Justicia, Lima, Peru. Monseftor Luis Barbaren, Conferencia Episcopal de Acci6n Social, Rio de Janeiro 488, Jesus Maria, Lima 11, Peru. MEXICO Weavers iscuss Origins Designs Zacarias Ruiz Hernandez and Emilia Gonzales de Ruiz, Zapotec weavers from the town of Teotitlan de Valle, near Oaxaca, were in the San Francisco Bay Area for the month of July. They sold their weavings and gave demonstrations of weaving techniques. During a conversation with SAIIC, Zacarias made the following comments. I started to weave in 1958. My parents taught me. It is one of the jobs of parents to teach the children to weave. Already one of our sons and our daughter weave. The tradition comes to us through our ancestors. Some designs, such as "flor de Oaxaca" have been used for many, many years. Designs like this are from the area. Also people are now interested in using the designs from the ruins at Mitla and Monti Alban. People who buy weavings are interested in these designs. Other designs I use are my own. Now there is a rebirth of weaving using natural colors and dyes. People are asking their grandparents about the natural dyes that hadn't been used for a generation. Each family has its secrets on weaving and also Emilia carding wool. Vol. 3, no. 1. Fall, 1986. Page 15 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 3, No. 1 (Fall 1986) Zotero Language English Issue 1 Volume 3 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Yanesha: Another Indian Struggle for Land in Amazon Basin (Peru) Type The nature or genre of the resource Journal Article Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Fall 1986 Zotero Title Yanesha: Another Indian Struggle for Land in Amazon Basin (Peru) Item Type Journal Article Attachment Title Vol. 3, no. 1 (14-15).pdf Attachment URL [No URL] Publication Title SAIIC Newsletter Issue 1 Volume 3 Language English Pages 14-15 https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/3a6338f514a0cf6219e5a8ac5b41b7ea.pdf 6c148c3def48e9c75a7465efa97d97f7 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 4, No. 1 (21).pdf PDF Text Text "There is more international interest in and support for the Indian movements," she adds, "and the organizations that exist are stronger, more sophisticated and surer. We have some problems, but we'll overcome them. Our experience is rich enough.'' in Pedro Joaquin Bema, general secretary of FECONAYA, Federaci6on de Comunidades Nativas Yaneshas in the Central Forest of Peru, disappeared on May 4th of this year. Pedro was leaving on a trip to Lima, the country's capital, to organize a union meeting. According to FECONAYA, Pedro's disappearance may have been caused by conflicting interests in the area. ''The Yanesha people are continuously being hassled by farmers, timber companies, businesses, government officials, and recently by a new religious sect-the Israelian Church of the New Universal Pact, accusing the Indian leaders of drug dealing and terrorism." 'We feel the Peruvian authorities must investigate the case, for this aggression is not only against Pedro Bema, but also against the rights of all Indian communities, its organizations and representatives. We ask your support by writing to the following officials: Dr. Alan Garcia Perez Presidente del Peru Palacio de Gobiemo Lima, Peru Dr. Enrique Lozada E. Presidente de la Camara de Senadores Congreso de la Republica de Peru Palacio Legislativo Lima, Peru The Yanesha and other Native people of the forests of Peru struggle against the threats of Amazonian destruction. Page 21 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 4 No. 1 (Summer 1988) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Yanesha Leader Disappears in the Peruvian Forest (Peru) Type The nature or genre of the resource Newspaper Article Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Summer 1988 Zotero Title Yanesha Leader Disappears in the Peruvian Forest (Peru) Item Type Newspaper Article Attachment Title Vol. 4, No. 1 (21).pdf Issue 1 Language English Publication Title SAIIC Newsletter Volume 4 Pages 21 https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/4af3b4c31086d6d15a85970d48783800 2c20ad8303e37a5d6d5cefa2bb4c0647 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, no. 3 (18-19).pdf PDF Text Text INDIAN C I T Y up to perhaps a hundred pesos a day, but food and transportation costs consume all this money These people are living in poor areas but with high costs of living." "Tension, aggression, and domestic violence are common and a majority of the people are undocumented in their own country (lacking civil registration, credentials, licences, etc.) which makes it even more difficult to gain access to institutional programs. Jobs that require identification, education, and fluency in Spanish remain unaccessible to them." Despite the difficult conditions that the capital offers, data from INEGI indicates that the Metropolitan Zone is the epicenter of Indigenous migrations at the national level. The last report of INEGI established that 1.36 percent of the Indigenous population lived in Mexico City in 1930 and by 1990 the percentage had risen to 1.5. "One can earn more begging in this city than working in the countryside" explains Marjorie Thacker, director of the Metropolitan Zone branch of the National Indigenous Institute. Nonetheless, leaving one's home for the city creates difficult strains on a per- . son. "I don't know why, but when I am here (in the city), my home town seems more and more beautiful, but when I go i home I miss the city," is a common refrain expressing the dicotomy and contradictions in their lives says Thacker. Anthropologist Teresa Mora completed a study of the Association of Indigenous Migrants, an organization established by Indigenous peoples to form a network and help their communities. Mora says that the political parties, especially the PRI, take advantage of these groups to amass votes among the electorate. The parties "insert themselves into the Popular Urban Movement" says Thacker, "only to exploit the poverty of the Indigenous people to augment their own wealth." Night falls on a shantytown, darkening row upon row of houses made from remnants; carboard boxes, old carpets. Buried in a trilogy of misery, death, and hopelessness, the urban Indigenous are chained by misfortune in the struggle to survive among an alien and agressive world surrounded by a people who despise them. The Otomles and Band-Aid Politics Caught between the laughter and tears of their memories the Indians speak il I s the urban tentacles of Mexico City steadily expand outward and overtake surrounding areas, towns and communities of Indigenous origin get pushed out of the way. The wealthy classes escape to recreational and industrial park settlements to get away from the jungled "D.E" (Federal District). But these vast playgrounds threaten the last shred of integrity of the ancient communities surrounding the city which hope to retain what traditional customs, values, and lifestyles remain after over half a millennium of suppression. Xochimilco, one of those threatened towns, is in the unfortunate position of being swallowed up by perhaps the most populous and mo~t rapidly expanding city 18 in the world. Xochimilco was settled in 1327. A canal system supplied the people with both clean water and inspired a unique method of agriculture: the chinampas. * Xochimilco used to supply Tenochtitlan (prehispanic Mexico City) with food from its chinampas. During the Porfiriato, the long rule of dictator Porfirio Dfaz (1876-1911), the canals were covered up and the government began pumping treated water in from surrounding towns. Now, most of the canals and the fields are dried up, the water has been sent to Mexico City, and the residents of Xochimilco depend upon others for food and water. As the government seeks solutions to Mexico City's appalling con- of their new lives and of death. Telesforo Arroyo Mora died thirty minutes after arriving at the Red Cross of Polanco while his more fortunate friend Juan Gabriel Dominguez lost only a leg. A cement wall fell on them. It was 4 7 days since they moved to the new home. On June 7, 1995, they finally listened to their fears and abandoned the traffic island on avenida Chapultepec and snuck into their new home: an uninhabited plot, hidden from pedestrians by a facade. It was there that the wall caved in on them. The late Telesforo and Juan Gabriel belong to a group of twenty-six Otomi families who now live in a vacant lot behind an old gate marked 346 Chapultepec Avenue. The rest of this Indigenous community shares two rooms to sleep, some pit toilets, and showers belonging to the Tabasco State sports facility This death and misfortune attracted the attention and intervention of the authorities of the Delegacion of Cuauhtemoc. Juan Sabines Guerrero, District Subdirector of the Educational and Social Developement Services, arrived promising to provide "a place with services for basic living" and brought them to a basketball court. "We ditions, it uses the surrounding areas as "steam valves," relocating problems there. In the case of Xochimilco, the massive increase in population has put enormous pressure on what used to be a peaceful outlying town. Concessions were given to large corporations to help relocate industry out of the city region. The state even built a prison on expropriated farmlands in the mountainous region. Essentially, Xochimilco, one of the last vestiges of common land in the Valley of Mexico, is now being converted into government and corporate facilities or wealthy peoples' retreats. In order to halt the increasing of Xochimilco, deterioration Secundino Beceril of FIPI (The Independent Front of Indigenous Peoples) and member of the Xochimilco Delegation has taken action to "defend the earth and water, and with it the indigenous cultural identity, " he said in an interview with SAIIC. FIPI confronts the Abya Yala News �INDIAN CITY - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ·-------------------- couldn't even put down cardboard boxes to sleep in," laments one Otomi member, because according to sports administrator Peiioles an "they're eyesore." The sixty-eight Otomies bounced from athletic facilities to gymnasiums, from homeless shelters to psychiatric wards. At the Salvation IT," IT'S Army shelter they were THE forced to wake up at six A.M. to take cold showers. The and infants elderly took A SECOND sick and so they left the TIVE: "RETURN shelter. Nonetheless, the orders of Sabines were plain: "they must be housed somewhere." authorities by organ1z1ng in small groups representing each town. One is called the Permanent Commission of the Mountain Peoples. When a town is threatened with unwanted development, the delegations join together to face the developers and the government A recent example of the strength of these citizens groups occurred in December 1995 when hundreds of citizens in Tepoztlim, Morelos, closed off their city and protested against a golf course, residential zone, and corporate park project inside the Tepozteco National Park. The area of the golf course is home to many medicinal plants and is still used by the elders. The "development" of this land signifies a clear disregard of Indigenous peoples, their customs, and their values. Their actions were successful, resulting in the expulsion of corrupt city officials and a strengthening of their voice in the local politics. Vol. 10 No.3 Social worker Rocio Lopez brought a delegation of the group to what was to be their next home, the so-called "promise land" where all 26 families could be together. The destination was a psychiatric hospital. The psychiatric center houses 380 patients categorized by four levels of insanity: the helpless, the psychotic, the senile, and the self-sufficient. They are then separated into six rooms, each with 80 hospital beds, depending on their degree of illness. joel Hernandez, the subdirector of the Social Home for Indigent Adults, was going to have to meet the 68 Otomies in order to distribute the large group "without classification" throughout the facility. The day of the visit, Rocio Lopez gave an ultimatum to the leader of the Otomie group, juan Ventura: "Take it or Leave it", it's the only option that they have to all be together. He aslo gave them a second alternative: "Return to your village." The following morning, on September ?,juan Ventura directed a letter to the then delegate of the Cuauhtemoc, jesus Davila Narro, "to inform him that the 26 Otomie families are not satisfied with the Social Home for Indigent Adults to which we have been assigned and that we do not consider the characteristics and conduct of the people committed there to be similar to that of ours. "Yesterday, some of us reviewed the installations of the ward that we were assigned to and the very thought that our children would have to live there, sharing space with people who are mental insane, frightens us; we hope that we can rely on your valuable help and reconsideration" of the situation. Responding to the request for relocation, joel Hernandez, subdirector of the psychiactric ward known as The Cascade, claimed that "I, only for the children, will say that it is not suitable for these families to enter this institution." He also maintained that "the indigents without mental problems that arrive here should leave right away; normal people are not detained here, they are in their houses," although he had previously denied that The Cascades was a facility for the mentally ill. "The 28 of july 1996 we went with juan Sabines to tell him that a full year had past and that we still did not have a place as he had promised us and he told us that he was not going to be able to do anything more for us."~ Xochimilco, although not as radical as Tepoztlan, is headed for a similar fate. As an Indigenous region undergoing urbanization, it must engage in the continuous debate on the differences between indigenous peoples' and criollo ideas of development. The traditional criollo belief is that indigenous peoples are behind the times and are enemies to the progress of the country. On the contrary, Beceril states that the natural development of indigenous peoples has been broken since the Spanish conquest He emphasizes that for indigenous cultures to develop, they must attain respect and space very soon. Xochimilco is not alone in its battle to preserve its natural treasures. The international community has recognized the importance of conserving the human ecology of this region. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) wants to declare Xochimilco a "Historical and Cultural Patrimony of Humanity" and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has promised to help rescue the traditional canal ecosystem. With continued support, the people of Xochimilco will restore their canal system and gain due rights to their traditional lands. * rectangular raised-beds anchored with planted fences of willows, filled in and periodically fertilised with piles of marshy vegetation and mud. Information from an interview with Secundino Beceril (January 30, 1997), FIPI (Frente lndependiente de los Pueblos Indios), La Jomada (4112/95), and Jose Augustin Ortiz Pinchetti For more information, contact FIPI, Apdo. Postal 28-145 Col. Centro Deleg. Cuauhtemoc 0680, Mexico City, Mexico; phone: 783-80-02 19 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, No. 3 (Summer 1997) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Xochimilco: In the Path of a Giant Type The nature or genre of the resource Newspaper Article Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Summer 1997 Language A language of the resource English Zotero Title Xochimilco: In the Path of a Giant Item Type Newspaper Article Attachment Title Vol. 10, no. 3 (18-19).pdf Attachment URL [No URL] Issue 3 Language English Publication Title Abya Yala News Volume 10 Abstract Note Xochimilco, on of the last remaining plots of common land in the Valley of Mexico, is being appropriated by government and private interests. Pages 18-19