Indigenous movements in the Americas

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Indigenous people under the nation-state have experienced exclusion and dispossession. With the rise in globalization, material advantages for indigenous populations have diminished. At times, national governments have negotiated natural resources without taking into account whether or not these resources exist on indigenous lands. In this sense for many indigenous populations, the effects of globalization mirror the effects of the conquest in the mid 16th century.

Contents

In response, indigenous political movements have emerged in various countries in North and South America. These movements share similarities. Many seek specific rights for indigenous populations. These rights include the right to self-determination and the right to preserve their culture and heritage. Aims differ. One of the main differences is the way in which they organize themselves to meet their objectives. There have been movements in Latin America to unite indigenous populations separated by national borders. The following are examples of groups that have organized in order to be heard on a transnational level. These movements call for indigenous rights to become a universal right to be acknowledged by all countries with indigenous populations.

Transnational organizations

Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon River Basin (COICA)

This organization [1] coordinates the following nine national Amazonian indigenous organizations:

Indian Council of South America (CISA)

The Indian Council of South America was founded in 1980. It is a non-governmental organization that works in consultation with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. This council also seeks to maintain relations with international agencies such as UNESCO, FAO, and WHO. One of CISA’s objectives is to promote respect for the right to life, justice, development, peace, and autonomy of the indigenous peoples and Nations. CISA also coordinates an exchange of knowledge, experiences and projects between indigenous peoples and nations in respect to development that will improve their welfare. [3]

International Mayan League

One of the most important goals for the International Mayan League is to return to the Mayan balance that was interrupted with the Spanish conquest of 1524. This group, similar to COICA, works to preserve and inform people about the culture of the Mayan people. This group has reached out to other states like Costa Rica and some of the states in the United States in order to carry out activities in the areas of teaching, research, and services. One of the defining factors about this group is that it does not have any formal leadership roles appointed to any one person. Rather, the Mayan League sticks to its ancestral beliefs that all can participate in decision making activity. Some of the problems that the Maya League seeks to combat are racism, repression, marginalization, and poverty. Currently, there is a large population of Maya living in Guatemala.

Mexico has the most adapted modern Maya peoples today; they are from Mayan Yucatec branch, most of them totally integrated into the Mexican economy, from peasants, retail, handcraft or "Maquiladora" factory workers to doctors, engineers and politicians.

Belize also has one of the largest populations of Maya peoples. The issues that they face today include the exploitation of their land, such as logging and the oil industry. [4]

Indigenous organizations according to country

Argentina

Barbados

Eagle Clan Lokono-Arawaks (who also created and lead the Indigenous Democracy Defense Organization) [5]

Belize

Bolivia

Brazil

Canada

Chile

Colombia

Costa Rica

Dominican Republic

Ecuador

El Salvador

Guatemala

Guyana

Honduras

Mexico

Nicaragua

Panama

Paraguay

Peru

Puerto Rico

Suriname

Uruguay

Venezuela

United States

Indigenous movements in Latin America by country

Latin America has a growing indigenous rights movement. Groups within countries have done work to publicize indigenous rights in their respective countries.

Trans-national movements

Transnational movements have helped publicize the indigenous rights movement in Latin America. Trans-national movements regarding indigenous rights could be seen[ by whom? ] as the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. [12] Many political related movements regarding the rights of indigenous peoples have taken hold particularly in the 1990s due to "time and allies. [13] " Political collaboration has been integral for the progress of indigenous peoples. Multilateral agencies and NGO's have been helping to increase leverage for indigenous peoples rights. The first Peruvian president of indigenous origin, Alejandro Toledo, was elected in 2001. [14] This marked the first time that someone of Indian descent was the ruler since the 1930s. Transnational organizations have been credited for contributing to Cué's victory in Mexico. [15] The Front of Binational Organizations (FIOB), one of the most active indigenous organizations, is credited for this feat. Trans-national movements like the FIOB "represents a broad network of relationships, organizational structures, and cultural traditions. [15] " Solidarity is one of the main attributes for the success of trans-national movements.

Global trans-national movements also influence regional movements. For example, since the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People [16] was passed, there has been progress made for the indigenous rights movement. Trans-national movements aim to enforce these policies through their work with domestic movements throughout the Americas.[ citation needed ]

One of the newest and most controversial in terms of radical actions, is the Indigenous Democracy Defense Organization or IDDO, [17] it has created an Indigenous all volunteer'Foreign Legion' that has taken the defense of Indigenous rights to unprecedented / albeit still technically legal -levels, in various countries of Latin America, such as training various tribes in front-line zones of criminal activity, such as narco-trafficking areas or conflict zone areas, basic marksmanship community self defense skills, for both genders and for all age groups. This is a Pan-Tribal and Global Indigenous entity created by radical Caribbean Indigenous Rights activist Damon Gerard Corrie - a Barbados born Lokono-Arawak of Guyanese descent, who was one of the Caribbean Indigenous members of the 20 person Hemispheric Indigenous Peoples Working Group at the Organization of American States/OAS from the year 2000 to 2016, that collectively negotiated the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [18] into existence and final adoption by the OAS in 2016. It is the second most important Indigenous Rights declaration after the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and is a document that asserts the rights of the Hemispheres 70 million indigenous peoples. The IDDO was itself an offshoot of the recently created Caribbean Amerindian Development Organization/CADO [19] that was the brainchild of Damon Gerard Corrie and Shirling Simon of the Lokono of Barbsados and Guyana, Roberto Borrero and Tai Pellicier of the Taino of Puerto Rico, and Irvince and Florence Auguiste of the Kalinago of Dominica. CADO is the most geographically diverse Indigenous NGO in the Caribbean with Taino membership in Cuba, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, Kalinago membership in Dominica and Saint Vincent, Lokono membership in Barbados and Guyana, Makushi membership in Amazonia, Kuna membership in the San Blas islands in the far western Caribbean Sea, and Embera membership in Panama Central America.

Transnational movements have shifted their focus towards environmental rights. As deforestation occurs in areas such as the Amazon, many movements aim to work in solidarity to bring these secondary issues to light. Amazon Watch is one non-governmental organization that aims to publicize the plight of deforestation in the Amazon in regards to the lives of indigenous peoples. Oil drilling is one issue that Amazon Watch fights against. A pipeline spill in the Peruvian Amazon highlights the plight of indigenous protests. [20] Five indigenous communities sought to remediate the polluted sites and gain compensation for damages to their land. This shift has helped to gain more awareness as environmental protection becomes more important in the rights for indigenous peoples.[ citation needed ] The Dakota Access Pipeline protests is one example of the fight for indigenous rights to sacred land in the United States. More than 40% of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe live below the poverty line [21] and this pipeline could negatively affect both the environment and well-being of the tribe. Similarly, the Escobal mine protests in Guatemala have centered around both environmental issues and the land sovereignty of the indigenous Xinca people. [22]

Brazil

Background

Indigenous rights have largely been ignored throughout Brazil's history. They were considered "second-class citizens [23] " and much of their land was taken away for economic development. Brazil is also historically known for the "physical and cultural extermination of the indigenous peoples. [24] " However, the indigenous movement in Brazil has largely grown since the 1980s. [23] Although policies have been changed to include the rights of the indigenous peoples, it ignores the collective right to their land. [24]

Cases

The 2002 Xucuru case in Brazil highlights the role of the state in the struggle of present-day indigenous peoples in Brazil. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights was asked to safeguard Marcos de Araújo, after they received death threats regarding their right to indigenous land. [24] The state rejected this request because of various reasons. Much of the Indian rights movement in Brazil focus on right to land, and not individual liberties. Although indigenous tribes are marginalized and largely unrepresented in government, Brazil's Articulation of Indigenous People's have staged protests around major cities in Brazil to focus on fighting for territorial rights of the native peoples. [25] The result of this issue shows that "constitutional recognition of indigenous human rights and a multicultural and collectivist perspective does not eliminate the legal and political obstacles to implementing those rights. [24] "

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indigenous peoples in Brazil</span> Ethnic group

The Indigenous peoples in Brazil are the peoples who lived in Brazil before European contact around 1500 and their descendants. Indigenous peoples once comprised an estimated 2,000 district tribes and nations inhabiting what is now Brazil. The 2010 Brazil census recorded 305 ethnic groups of Indigenous people who spoke 274 Indigenous languages; however, almost 77% speak Portuguese.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arawak</span> Group of indigenous peoples of South America and the Caribbean

The Arawak are a group of Indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. The term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to different Indigenous groups, from the Lokono of South America to the Taíno, who lived in the Greater Antilles and northern Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. All these groups spoke related Arawakan languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hispanic America</span> Predominantly Spanish-speaking countries of North and South America

The region known as Hispanic America and historically as Spanish America or Castilian America is all the Spanish-speaking countries of the American continent. In all of these countries, Spanish is the main language - sometimes sharing official status with one or more indigenous languages or English, and Latin Catholicism is the predominant religion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indigenous peoples in Colombia</span> Ethnic groups that have inhabited Colombia before European colonization

Indigenous Colombians, also known as Native Colombians, are the ethnic groups who have inhabited Colombia before the Spanish colonization of Colombia, in the early 16th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rainforest Foundation Fund</span>

The Rainforest Foundation Fund is a charitable foundation founded in 1987 and dedicated to drawing attention to rainforests and defending the rights of indigenous peoples living there.

José Barreiro is an American novelist, journalist and activist. He is recognized as an advocate of Native community self-determination and autochthonous development (indigeneity). Barreiro is an elder and advisor in the Nación Taina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">María Fernanda Espinosa</span> Ecuadorian politician (born 1964)

María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés is an Ecuadorian linguist, poet, politician, and diplomat. She served as an advisor on biodiversity and indigenous peoples (1999-2005) and was the regional director for South America (2005-2007) at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Espinosa Garcés was Ecuador's Minister of Foreign Affairs twice, from 2007 to 2008 and then from 2017 to 2018. She also served as ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations in New York (2008-2009) and Geneva (2014-2017), and as Ecuador's Minister of National Defense (2012-2014). In June 2018, she was elected President of the United Nations General Assembly for the 73rd session by a two-thirds vote of the member states. Espinosa Garcés became the fourth woman in the seventy-three-year history of the United Nations to be elected President of the General Assembly. Besides her political career, she is also a poet and essayist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rainforest Foundation US</span> Non-profit organization based in the U.S.

Rainforest Foundation US is a non-profit NGO working in Central and South America. It is one of the first international organizations to support the indigenous peoples of the world's rainforests in their efforts to protect their environment and fulfill their rights to land, life and livelihood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taíno language</span> Arawakan language

Taíno is an extinct Arawakan language that was spoken by the Taíno people of the Caribbean. At the time of Spanish contact, it was the most common language throughout the Caribbean. Classic Taíno was the native language of the Taíno tribes living in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico, the Turks and Caicos Islands, most of Hispaniola, and eastern Cuba. The Ciboney dialect is essentially unattested, but colonial sources suggest it was very similar to Classic Taíno, and was spoken in the westernmost areas of Hispaniola, the Bahamas, Jamaica, and most of Cuba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taíno</span> Indigenous people of the Caribbean

The Taíno were a historic Indigenous people of the Caribbean, whose culture has been continued today by Taíno descendants and Taíno revivalist communities. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of what is now Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Haiti, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The Lucayan branch of the Taíno were the first New World peoples encountered by Christopher Columbus, in the Bahama Archipelago on October 12, 1492. The Taíno historically spoke a dialect of the Arawakan language group. They lived in agricultural societies ruled by caciques with fixed settlements and a matrilineal system of kinship and inheritance. Taíno religion centered on the worship of zemis.

Caquetío is an extinct Arawakan language family. The language was spoken along the shores of Lake Maracaibo, in the coastal areas of the Venezuelan state of Falcón, and on the Dutch islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao.

The Pan-Mayan Movement is an ethno-political movement among the Maya peoples of Guatemala and Mexico. The movement emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s in response to a long tradition of the political marginalization of the large indigenous population of Guatemala, and particularly in response to the violent counter-insurgency policies that disproportionately affected indigenous communities during the Guatemalan Civil War. The movement was organized around an ideology seeking to unite the speakers of Guatemala's many Mayan languages under a single shared cultural/ethnic identity. It was an alternative to either of the parties of the civil war - the communist revolutionaries and the conservative government. Indigenous Mayan linguists trained by North American linguists in the Proyecto linguistico Francisco Marroquin played a major role in organizing the movement. With the 1996 peace accords the movement gained a significant position in Guatemalan politics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indigenous peoples in Guyana</span> Earliest inhabitants of Guyana

Indigenous peoples in Guyana, Native Guyanese or Amerindian Guyanese are Guyanese people who are of indigenous ancestry. They comprise approximately 9.16% of Guyana's population. Amerindians are credited with the invention of the canoe, as well as Cassava-based dishes and Guyanese pepperpot, the national dish of Guyana. Amerindian languages have also been incorporated in the lexicon of Guyanese Creole.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feminism in Latin America</span>

Latin American feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and achieving equal political, economic, cultural, personal, and social rights for Latin American women. This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment. People who practice feminism by advocating or supporting the rights and equality of women are feminists.

The Guainía Taíno Tribe are an Indigenous Caribbean community, recognised as a tribe by US Virgin Islands Governor Albert Bryan Jr. Although they do not have federal recognition as a tribe, they claim the right to self-determination as descendants of the broader Taíno people in Borikén.

The United Confederation of Taíno People (UCTP) is a non-profit heritage organization, based in New York and Puerto Rico, dedicated to the self-determination of people of Taíno and Caribbean Indigenous descent, as well as the preservation and revival of Taíno culture, language and religion. The organization characterizes itself as an "Inter-Tribal authority", but it is not recognized as an Indian tribe by the United States federal government or by any other government. It is an associate member of the International Indian Treaty Council.

References

  1. ↑ "COICA homepage". COICA.org.ec. Archived from the original on March 13, 2008. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
  2. ↑ "Local NGO working to assist Ukrainians –".
  3. ↑ "CISA". www.PuebloIndio.org. Archived from the original on November 4, 2007. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
  4. ↑ Merali, Isfahan; Oosterveld, Valerie, eds. (2001). Giving Meaning to Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN   978-0-8122-3601-9.[ page needed ]
  5. ↑ https://www.eagleclanarawaks.com/
  6. ↑ WV. "CIMI - Conselho Indigenista Missionário". www.CIMI.org.br. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Articulação dos Povos Indígenas da Região Sul – Arpin-Sul - Fundo Brasil". Fundo Brasil (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Log In or Sign Up to View". www.Facebook.com. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
  9. ↑ "taino". UCTP.org. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Jatibonicu Taino Tribal Nation of Boriken (Puerto Rico)". Taino-Tribe-gov.org. Archived from the original on June 11, 2017. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
  11. 1 2 "¿Quién es descendiente indígena en el siglo XXI?". la diaria (in Spanish). 29 October 2015. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  12. ↑ "Indigenous People and Political Transnationalism: Globalization from below meets globalization from above?" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-10-24. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
  13. ↑ Puig, Salvador Martí i (January 1, 2010). "The Emergence of Indigenous Movements in Latin America and Their Impact on the Latin American Political Scene: Interpretive Tools at the Local and Global Levels". Latin American Perspectives. 37 (6): 74–92. doi:10.1177/0094582X10382100. JSTOR   25750421. S2CID   220909886.
  14. ↑ "The Challenges of The President of Peru, Alejandro Toledo". PBS NewsHour. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
  15. 1 2 "The Power of Transnational Organizing: Indigenous Migrant Politics in Oaxacalifornia". NACLA. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
  16. ↑ "Indigenous Rights in Latin America: The Gap between Doctrine and Reality". Human Rights and Human Welfare.
  17. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/IndigenousDemocracyDefenseOrganization/ [ user-generated source ]
  18. ↑ https://www.oas.org/en/sare/documents/DecAmIND.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  19. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/caribbeanamerindiandevelopmentorganisation/ [ user-generated source ]
  20. ↑ "Amazon Watch - Another Pipeline Spill Reported in Peruvian Amazon As Indigenous Protests Enter Eighth Week". Amazon Watch. Retrieved November 15, 2016.[ permanent dead link ]
  21. ↑ "The Dakota Pipeline Could Devastate Some of the Poorest People in America". Fortune. November 6, 2016. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
  22. ↑ Bull, Benedicte; Aguilar-Stoen, Mariel Cristina, eds. (2014). Environmental Politics in Latin America: Elite dynamics, the left tide and sustainable development. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315764276. ISBN   978-1-317-65379-0. OCLC   1100656471.[ page needed ]
  23. 1 2 TRAJECTORIES OF TRANSNATIONAL MOBILIZATION FOR INDIGENOUS RIGHTS IN BRAZIL.
  24. 1 2 3 4 Santos, Cecília Macdowell (2016). "Legal Dualism and the Bipolar State". Latin American Perspectives. 43 (2): 172–189. doi:10.1177/0094582X15600173. hdl: 10316/35357 . S2CID   147051047 . Retrieved November 15, 2016.
  25. ↑ "Amazon Watch - Massive Indigenous Rights Movement Launches Across Brazil". Amazon Watch. 2 October 2013. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
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