Solidarity with the Struggle of the Amazonian Peoples of Peru
Dan Clore
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
http://www.anarkismo.net/article/13366
Solidarity with the Struggle of the Amazonian Peoples of Peru!
category bolivia/peru/ecuador/chile | indigenous struggles | appeal /
petition author Monday June 08, 2009 13:25author by Uni�n Socialista
Libertaria - USLauthor email uslperu at yahoo dot es
International Libertarian Declaration
International Libertarian Declaration
The following statement is an international libertarian solidarity
initiative with the indigenous and Amazonian peoples of Peru, in their
struggle for the defence of their lands and their ancestral culture.
These lands and this culture are being violated and threatened by the
Peruvian government in alliance with Imperialism, the multinationals and
the Right (mainly the APRA - Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana,
Unidad Nacional and Fujimorism), through unconstitutional Executive
Orders, in the context of Peru�s signing of the NAFTA agreement with the
USA.
The Uni�n Socialista Libertaria calls on anarchist, libertarian and
other similar organisations throughout the world to sign this document,
adopt it as their own and publicize its contents online, on mailing
lists, in magazines, newspapers, bulletins, statements, murals, forums,
public cultural and political events, and so on, with the aim of
establishing a clear libertarian, militant position on what is taking
place in Peru.
We thus ask our libertarian comrades to organise mobilisations and
demonstrations outside Peruvian embassies in every country, in
coordination with other sectors in struggle, in order to denounce the
actions of the State and the multinationals in this country.
We have faith in the solidarity that typifies us as libertarian
revolutionaries, that we can make common cause with our indigenous
brothers and let them know they are not alone, that their struggles are
our struggles, until such times as we can make a true society of full
freedom, autonomy and human progress, without exploited or exploiters.
Solidarity with the Struggle of the Amazonian Peoples of Peru!
The Amazonian and indigenous communities of the Peruvian jungle
(especially in Loreto, San Mart�n, Amazonas, Ucayali, Hu�nuco, Cuzco and
Madre de Dios) are once again sounding their war drums of struggle and
resistance against the onslaught of the neoliberal economic model
supported by the Peruvian government (with the Aprista party at its
head). They have launched a call to popular rebellion through an
Indefinite Popular General Strike which has been going on with mass
participation since 9th April this year. They have thus been on the war
foot now for over 50 days, a clear example of their valour, their
organisation and their heroism.
This intense process of indigenous and Amazonian struggle has come about
because the Peruvian State, in contravention of its own international
treaties, is systematically violating the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples'
Convention (Convention No.169) of the International Labour Organisation
(ILO), which provides for obligatory consultation in advance with
indigenous peoples on any planned intervention on their lands, through
the appropriate community bodies.
In other words, the Aprista government has begun (or rather, has
recommenced) a new campaign of stealing and selling off to the best
multinational offer, lands which tradition and history have placed in
the hands of all the communities (Waj�n-Wampis, Kichuas, Arabelas,
Huaronis, Pananujuris, Achuar, Murunahus, or Chitonahuas, Cacataibos,
Mats�s, Candoshis, Shawis, Cocama-Cocamilla, Machiguengas, Yines,
Ash�ninkas, Yaneshas and others, including the �uncontacted� peoples),
who today are demanding their right to exist and to resist.
The role of the Peruvian State
Law No.20653, the General Law on Native Communities, which was passed by
General Juan Velasco Alvarado's military regime in June 1974, recognised
the "legal existence and juridical identity of the indigenous Amazonian
people and their territories, declaring them to be inalienable,
indefeasible and inviolable". This was confirmed in the 1979
Constitution. However, it was removed at the strike of a pen by the
Fujimori Constitution of 1993, to open the way for dispossession and
plundering by successive governments, opening the door to the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and becoming law following the
Executive Orders of the second Aprista government.
We must not forget the fact that with Fujimori's 1993 Constitution the
door was left open for the plundering of resources, as mentioned above.
So it is clear that work has already begun to suffocate and isolate the
communities, for the greed of the multinationals in gaining concessions
for oil, gas, mining, tourism and logging in areas traditionally
belonging to the peoples living there.
In other words, it paved the way for the State to declare the lands of
the native peoples "negotiable, in accordance with the market economy"
by means of executive orders, thus bypassing the legislature (Parliament).
Once again, the Peruvian State has shown itself to be an instrument of
domination and exploitation in the hands of the exploiting classes of
this country, who are seeking to continue to expropriate not only the
political rights but also the resources of our indigenous (native)
peoples, who are now rising up in revolt against the oppressor power.
As libertarian communists, we declare that the native communities' right
to free self-determination is the exercising of popular power, as it is
based on communitarian principles, the utilization and collective use of
natural resources, and on those forms of work and collective benefit
that they have traditionally preserved in the Amazon, home to 31 of the
114 world ecosystems, 95% of the country�s forests and an important
potential water and water-powered energy resource.
The struggle of the indigenous people of the Abya Yala
In the context of the Indigenous Popular General Strike, there was an
important meeting of native Andean communities in one of Peru�s southern
regions, Puno. This encounter was called the 4th Continental Summit of
the Indigenous Peoples and Nations of the Abya Yala and came to a
conclusion Sunday last, 31st May), with a unanimous agreement to respect
the mother earth and its natural resources for the benefit of human
beings, a strong rejection of the privatisation of water, the presence
of multinational corporations and the neoliberal economic model.
All of this was included in the �Declaration of Mama Quta Titikaka�
(Lake Titicaca, on the Peruvian-Bolivian border), in which there was
agreement to mobilise the various social and indigenous organisations in
June, in defence of the Amazonian peoples, as was a call for marches and
protests outside Peruvian embassies in every country.
It is important in itself to emphasise the nature of this indigenous
summit, which is essentially self-managed, the sort of organisation
promoted by libertarian militants. In its Concluding Recommendations, it
called for �the construction of Plurinational Peoples� Communities,
based on self-government and the free determination of every people�.
Likewise, it denounced the efforts of the official press which is
dedicated to misinforming, misrepresenting or hiding the just means that
are being attacked in the Peruvian jungle, in collusion with the current
neo-liberal government and its leaders - Alan Garc�a; the vice-president
and retired admiral responsible for the prison massacres during the
first Aprista government of the 1980s, Luis Giampietri; the prime
minister, Yehude Simon, previously a left-wing leader who had even been
imprisoned for his beliefs and who is now the faithful guardian of the
Aprista reaction.
It is clear to see that for the bourgeoisie that controls the State
under imperialist orders, the path lies through the dispossession of the
communities. It is at the same time a plan to destroy their type of
social organisation and the relationship that links them to their land,
a relationship that in essence clashes with the Western understanding of
property and is therefore a brake on the voracity of multinational
Capital which is trying to take root in these zones, usurping them in
alliance with the State and turning them into fiefdoms in order to
guarantee the exploiters� prosperity and domination.
President Alan Garc�a is lying �subtly� when he says that of the 63
million hectares of Peruvian jungle, only 12 million belongs to the
Amazonian communities, when instead it is around 25 million, as
confirmed by the leader and highest representative of the communities in
struggle, Alberto Pizango, who has been accused of �endangering the
common security and damaging public services� together with other
indigenous leaders, Marcial Mudarra, brothers Sa�l and Servando Puerta,
Daniel Marzano and Teresita Antazu. Furthermore, Pizango has already
been charged with �rebellion, sedition and other offences� by the
Provincial Criminal Court in Lima and is facing a third charge from the
Provincial Criminal Court in Utcubamba, Amazonas, for �disturbing the
peace�.
It is clear that this series of charges and in general the judicial and
political repressio0n is part of the State�s efforts to criminalise all
popular protest and repress just social demands, negatively influencing
public opinion by presenting our indigenous brothers and sisters of Peru
as �mere vandals or savages, ignorant of the progress that globalisation
brings�.
Therefore, as libertarians we believe that the struggle of the
indigenous people, Amazonian and Andean, for the defence of their land,
their way of organising themselves and their culture, is part of a
minimum programme that involves the conquest of the demands of the
peoples oppressed by the State, Capitalism and Imperialism.
This minimum platform should be based on the need for or the use of
direct action in order to expel the multinationals from their lands.
This is necessary in order to protect the integrity and sustainability
of the region's habitat and ecosystem � which, it should be remembered,
is one of the "lungs" of the planet � and in order that there can be
sustainable development and planned usage of the flora and fauna, on the
basis of criteria established by the communities. Furthermore, there
needs to be active self-defence of their lands, which must be restored
to their original condition.
We thus believe that true, active solidarity with the indigenous and
Amazonian peoples' struggle will take the form of popular protest
(agitation, propaganda, union-led strikes and popular strikes, direct
action, etc.), to be incorporated into a general platform of struggle
based on that of the native peoples.
Support the just protest of the Indigenous and Amazonian peoples
As libertarian communists who expect nothing from the State (other than
its destruction), we sympathise with the struggle of the native peoples
as an immediate part of a larger project for the liberation of all
exploited people, and thus part of a wider strategy or maximum programme
of social revolution.
For this reason, we should support demands which in the short term serve
to improve living conditions and to enhance their social, political and
economic organisation with the aim of facing up to the exploiter State
and destroying it from within, building those kernels of popular power
which will bring down the giant with the feet of clay that is
Capitalism, mortally wounded at a global level by a global crisis from
which it cannot recover if, as we want, it is the bourgeoisie that has
to pay and not the workers.
We thus support the struggle of the Amazonian people and their various
communities to seek immediate solutions, and we join the call to demand:
* Repeal of all laws that damage or violate the interests of Native and
Rural Communities: repeal of Law No.29317, the Forestry & Wildlife law,
which is the product of a forced and partial modification of Executive
Order No.1090 (the "Jungle Law") and the related orders 1089, 1064 and
1020. In other words, the 99 Orders that were imposed on the people
without any consultation.
* Respect for the autonomy and self-determination of the native
communities and their active political participation in the making of
decisions. The final decision of whether or not to approve legal
regulations or contracts for concessions must be made by means of
direct-democratic mechanisms (popular assemblies, referendums, etc.).
* Benefits and facilities so that native communities or peoples can
develop their productive, commercial and industrial activities, with the
prospect of direct control over these processes by the people
themselves, based on the principles of self-management and socialisation.
* Benefits and facilities for the commencement and promotion of
education and culture within the communities (by them and for them).
More schools and qualified teachers to promote the education of native
students. In other words, the development of a rational, high-quality
educational system without those competitive, voracious tendencies that
the world capitalist market demands.
* Greater benefit from oil and gas exploration and extraction to devolve
to the native peoples, together with the building of hospitals, roads
and all the necessary infrastructure, provided it is approved by the
people themselves, managed by the communities themselves through
mechanism giving them full control over their administration.
* An immediate cessation of the campaign of criminalising protest that
the Aprista government and the Peruvian Right has embarked on, together
with an end to the harassment of social activists and the other
psychological means diverting attention from the country�s social problems.
Internationalist solidarity with the struggle of the Amazonian peoples
in Peru!
Immediate repeal of the Executive Orders that violate the sovereignty of
the indigenous peoples!
For the freedom and defence of the thought, culture and
self-determination of all the world�s peoples!
Against the authoritarianism of the State, organise and struggle from below!
Down with NAFTA and other capitalist trade agreements!
Imperialist multinationals and American military bases out of Latin America!
Stop the criminalisation of protest; immediate release for those
arrested in the struggle!
Long live the heroic struggles of the indigenous peoples of the Abya Yala!
We are all Amazonians!
Long live those who struggle!
Lima, 5 June 2009
Signatories:
1. Uni�n Socialista Libertaria (Lima, Peru)
2. Red Libertaria Popular Mateo Kramer (Colombia)
3. Peri�dico Barrikada (Uruguay)
4. Convergencia Anarquista Espec�fica (Chile)
5. Corriente Acci�n Libertaria (Chile)
6. Huancayo Rebelde (Huancayo, Peru)
7. Centro de Estudios Sociales Manuel Gonz�lez Prada (Huancayo, Peru)
8. Columna Libertaria Joaqu�n Penina (Argentina)
9. Organisation Communiste Libertaire (France)
10. Asociaci�n Obrera de Canarias / E-��er A(ma(hlan n T?kanaren (Canary
Islands, Africa)
11. Frente de Estudiantes Libertarios (Chile)
12. Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici (Italy)
13.- Ateneo Aut�nomo de Contracultura y Estudios �La Libertaria� (Venezuela)
14.- Red Libertaria (Argentina)
15.- Antorcha Libertaria (Colombia)
16.- Revista libertaria Divergences (Belgium)
17.- Colectivo de comunicaci�n y agitaci�n popular �Mecha� (Colombia)
18.- Colectivo ReXiste Riot Grrrl (Colombia)
19.- Estrategia Libertaria (Chile)
20.- Federaci�n Anarquista Uruguaya (Uruguay)
21.- Organizaci�n Socialista Libertaria (Argentina)
22.- Organizaci�n Comunista Libertaria (Chile)
23.- Colectivo Agitaci�n Libertaria (Chile)
24.- The Anarchist International (...)
25.- Espacio Libertario (Argentina)
26.- Kolectivo Utop�a �crata Libertario (Argentina)
27.- Colectivo ResGestae (Colombia)
28.- Federation Anarchiste (France/Belgium)
29.- Colectivo Qespikay (Cusco, Peru)
30.- Peri�dico Anarquista "El Surco" (Chile)
31.- Buffalo Class Action (USA)
Translation by FdCA International Relations Office
Related Link:
http://www.uslperu.blogspot.com/
--
Dan Clore
My collected fiction, _The Unspeakable and Others_:
(Wait for the new edition: http://hplmythos.com/ )
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