Date: 08 Oct 91 04:36 PDT From: ipscomm@igc.org Subject: 500 Years Conf/Guatemala Message-ID: <1563600043@igc.org> /* Written 5:01 pm Oct 6, 1991 by guiller in cdp:gen.nativenet */ /* ---------- "500 Years Conf/Guatemala" ---------- */ Original-Sender: ucscd.UCSC.EDU!guiller (Guillermo Delgado) The Second Continental Conference of the 500 Years of Indigenous and Popular Resistance was inaugurated today in Guatemala City hosted by the Secretariat of the same continental organization. Representatives of Indian and Popular organizations belonging to South,Meso and North American countries will discuss for five consecutive days (Oct 7-12, 1991) the following agenda: Democracy, Human Rights; Land & Life; Colo- nialism, neo-colonialism & self-determination; Women and Youth; and the Next 500 Years. About a hundred and ninety delegates from the Artic Circle Inuit, to the Mapuche of Southern Chile and Argentina, plus about a hundred guests belonging to national and international organizations will share their thoughts analyzing the seven points agenda. Each regional representative (North America, Central America, Caribbean, Southern Cone, and Andean regions), will also present a political document specifically written for this II Continental Encounter. Several Indian organizations, mainly of Latin America, due to economic constraints, or lack of communication within their respective regions, have been unable to attend this continental conference. While popular organizations have integrated Indigenous issues to their agendas, Indian organizations would like to see popular organizations openning even further on issues related to indigenous voices themselves. SAIIC, The South and Mesoamerican Indian Information Center, interviewed several Indigenous leaders, both men and women, and learned that the II Continental Conference of Guatemala hopes to integrate more Indian organizations, women and youth in the task of drawing the next 500 years. It is hope that the II Continental Encounter and Conference of the "500 Years of Indigenous and Popular Resistance" of Guatemala will come up strengthened and that Indians of the Continent will help lead, indeed, the next 500 yaers. We, at SAIIC, are serving as a liaison between Indian people of the South and Indian people of the North and Mesoamerica, as well as educating the general public about what the past 500 years has meant to Indian people of the Continent, and how we are strategizing for real change for the next 500 years. Guillermo Delgado-P. South and Mesoamerican Indian Information Center P.O. Box 28703/ Oakland, CA 94604 1212 Broadway/ Suite 830/ Oakland, CA 94612 Fax 415-834-4264 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From: cscheiner@igc.org Date: 12 Oct 91 22:19 PDT Subject: WP: Guatemala conf. report Message-ID: <1563600053@igc.org> /* Written 7:07 pm Oct 12, 1991 by worldpnews in cdp:worldp.news */ /* ---------- "Indigenous peoples vs. Columbus cl" ---------- */ >From WORLD PERSPECTIVES magazine. Box 3074 Madison Wi. 53704 GUATEMALA Not everyone looked favorably on the arrival of the Europeans in the Americas almost 500 years ago. In Guatemala, indigenous peoples from Alaska in the north and Tierra Del Fuego in the south are attending a conference which describes Europe's gain as the Native Americans loss. Over 200 delegates from 24 countries have arrived in Guatemala to discuss the consequences of the European take-over of the Americas and to organize for the future. The delegates, speaking on behalf of Northern America including Alaska, Canada, the US and Mexico, called on the representatives to reclaim their self-determination and to condemn the 500 years of conquest. The 500 Years of Indigenous and Popular Resistance Conference will last until October 12, the day that marks the beginning of European domination and destruction for the indigenous peoples throughout the Americas. (CERI-GUA 10/11) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From: newsdesk@igc.org (News Desk) Date: 21 Oct 91 15:07 PDT Subject: an indigenous manifesto Message-ID: <1563600061@igc.org> /* Written 6:30 pm Oct 18, 1991 by crispaz in cdp:reg.elsalvador */ /* ---------- "an indigenous manifesto" ---------- */ The following is an excerpt from Letter to the Churches written and published twice monthly from the Oscar Romero Pastoral Center at the University of Central America in San Salvador. These letters not only record the historical moment but transcend its significance. They help us understand the struggle of the poor throughout the world--the struggle for basic human dignity against seemingly insurmountable odds. =================================================== "An Indigenous Manifesto" With the IV Latin American Episcopal Conference in Santo Domingo coming up in 1992, it is natural that the 500 years that have passed since the arrival of the Spanish to the continent be remembered. The theme of Santo Domingo in 1992, as is known, is the "new evangelization". It is of utmost importance to have present the voice of those who are the descendents of the ones who so suffered the most negative conseqences of the first evangelization. We refer here to the indigenous peoples. As much as we may pretend that they no longer exist or that they are ready to disappear, at the present time there are about 50 million indigenous people throughout Continental America who speak more than 500 different languages. Their voices, however, have been silenced because, if not they would be too troublesome. For this reason it seems very important to us to give them space so that they can express their complaints, their concerns and their hopes to the pastors who will meet in Santo Domingo in 1992 and to the entire world. Here is a rough draft: 1. Although the modernizing projects of the Nation-States have sentenced the poor to death, we indigenous people are not dead and we are not going to accept that destiny which is being imposed upon us. Consequently, we disagree with our pastors who assume the same language of the modernizers when they refer to us as a thing of the past, or as realities that, unfortunately, must die in order to give way to the "advent culture" or the culture of modernity. We indigenous people are alive and we believe that we are bearers of a life project that is valid not only for us, but also for all of us beings who populate this earth. Therefore, we urge the pastors of our Church to recognize the legitimacy of the indigenous struggle in the context of the struggle of the poor. We urge the opening of pastoral spaces for the defense and development of this struggle. Pastoral work has been the womb for many popular processes that, with time, have become adult and autonomous. Pastors must know how to accompany these processes without attempting to steer them, be godfathers to them or to pigeonhole them according to intraecclesial schemes. They are the inevitable consequence of the legitimate autonomy of temporal realities recognized and consecrated by the Second Vatican Council. 2. We indigenous peoples, although impoverished and devalued as a result of the centuries of oppression weighing upon our shoulders, do not wish to be treated with degrading paternalism that reduces us to the category of children incapable of taking care of ourselves. We are adults and we demand to be treated as such by society and Church. We require that our pastors take us into consideration when their ecclesiastical decisions affect our faith life; that they consider us true ecclesial interlocutors. 3. Let us once and for all rid the Church of the ignominy of continuing to consider, in its actions, that the indigenous peoples are beings incapable of the faith and conduct of our Christian life. It is unjust that in the ecclesiastical relationship with the indigenous people there is a prevailing prejudice that considers us to be second-class believers, suspected of heresy, apostasy or schisms, for the simple fact that we defend our right to be different in our culture and in the expression of our faith. 4. Let us now heal the injuries of the past. We indigenous people do not want to forever carry in our spirit the pain of crimes committed against our forebears. Social and ecclesial reconciliation is urgent today. Let us profoundly bond in the commitment to build a future where we will definitively eradicate the structural causes that gave rise to the crimes of the past. Let us guarantee all, but especially the poor, that such situations will never again be repeated. 5. For this reconciliation, only the humble acceptance of the historical truth will set us free. In the judgement of history, the Church will not be liberated if, as a point of departure, she does not recognize her responsibility for the crimes that for 500 years were committed against our peoples in her name and in the name of God. To the extent that she attempts to close her eyes to the truth, the Church runs the risk of losing the credibility that she now enjoys among the poor. 6. Although we too are marked by sin, we indigenous peoples consider that the Spirit of God is what animates our historical walk. We feel that if God has confidence in his poor people, then our pastors also should. Do not hinder our search, assuming that we are ignorant because we lack academic preparation. We poor are the chosen of God because we have the sensus fidei, the instinct for faith, that is capable of demonstrating the vacuity of the supposed wisdom of the intellectuals who write books. 7. Do not permit the contradiction of the facts with respect to the indigenous people. Support and accompany pastorally our processes for recuperating the land, the self-determination of the peoples, the affirmation of culture and the inculturation of the Gospel. Do not put out or allow others to put out the burning fuse of our efforts to inculturate the catechism, the theology, the liturgy and the ecclesiastical ministries. Encourage us to carry on with the construction of the Kingdom in history. Correct us if it is necessary, but with the clarity that must characterize the pastors, in order that the seed planted by God in our cultures would germinate, grow, flower and give the longed-for fruit to the Lord of the Harvest. In this way, with our own face and heart, let us integrate into the unity of the People of God, where people of every race and culture extend their hands, united in the same faith, but diverse in their cultural and religious identity. 8. Let us together, with audacity, assume the challenge of the "birth of the particularly indigenous churches, with autonomous heirarchy and organization, with theology, liturgy and ecclesial expressions that are adequate for a cultural experience of faith." (CELAM, Bogota, 1985.) The indigenous churches, with their new contributions, will revitalize and enrich the other churches in a truly multicultural and new scheme of Catholicism. Only in this way can we indigenous peoples, who have put our hopes in the Church see carried out in history that which our grandparents, our forebears dreamed and foretold. (cfr. Nicam Mopohua.) ================================================== If you wish to subscribe to Letters (in English), please direct correspondence to: Letter to the Churches 1135 Mission Rd. San Antonio, TX 78210 Subscriptions are: $10 per year for low income; $15 per year for an individual; $20 per year for churches; $20 per year Canada or Mexico; $25 per year for an institution; $36 per year overseas. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From: awhitworth@igc.org (Anthony Whitworth) Date: 28 Oct 91 00:12 PST Subject: BBC On Conference in Guatemala Message-ID: <1563600065@igc.org> /* Written 4:17 pm Oct 25, 1991 by worldpnews in cdp:worldp.samples */ /* ---------- "Indigenous meeting summary" ---------- */ >From WORLD PERSPECTIVES magazine PO Box 3074 Madison Wi. 53704 INDIGENOUS VS. QUINCENNTENIAL The following comes from the BBC: Delegations of indigenous groups from Alaska and Canada to Chile met for a week in Guatemala. They started a campaign entitled: Five Hundred Years of Indigenous and Popular Resistance" to coincide with next year's anniversary of the voyage of Christopher Columbus. They also discussed common problems, such as land, human rights and the destruction of their languages and cultures. Ed Burnstick(?), a Cree Indian leader from Canada, said the arrival of the Europeans is no cause for celebration: "When Columbus first landed here, indigenous peoples were here. Basically, Spain and other governments are celebrating the 'year of the discovery of the Americas.` How can you 'discover` a place when there is already somebody there?." Guatemala is an appropriate place for the meeting, the second of its kind. The majority of Guatemala's population is indigenous, but it has very little representation in the political system. In the last 30 years, tens of thousands of civilians have been killed in what is considered the most brutal counter-insurgency in Latin America. The killings still go on. Human rights groups have expressed concern that the organizers of the conference could suffer reprisals in the future. ++++++++++++ OTHER NEWS ON WORLDP.NEWS TODAY: +++++++++++++++ Australia: Environmental group warns about coal-fired power plants. Latin America: Group of Three meets, listens to Fidel Castro. Haiti: Aristide alleges new crimes by military junta. Lebanon: Israel continues attacks prior to peace conference. South Africa: Violence/ police involvement summary. Subscribe!