WEBVTT
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The Communication of
Indigenous Peoples:
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A Right in Development
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Chapter 2:
Own Voices, Weaving Words
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My name is Enma Carlotta Cucul,
maya q'eqchi'.
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Perhaps I should tell you
that my surname "Cucul"
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means "song of Quetzal".
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Because of the
armed conflict in Guatemala
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we had to migrate to the town,
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stripping us of our territory.
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When you go to the town
you lose your identity,
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you completely lose your history,
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and you no longer care about who
you are, you only care about surviving.
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Sometime later an organisation arrived
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and they took me on
as the theatre director.
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When I got there, they asked me to
write the story of the q'eqchi' peoples,
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in other words, my story.
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And I realised that we could use
other resources, not just theatre
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as effective tools for raising awareness.
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So we asked the organisation
if it would be possible
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for them to offer us a video course,
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and twenty of us
ended up doing this course.
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As a theatre group we started
to go to each community
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to highlight the importance
of looking after nature.
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Out of nowhere, in the middle of the
night, we received a call:
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"We are in the mountains.
We are hungry.
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They are chasing us."
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More than 1600 police officers arrived
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to evacuate the community
so they could build an hydroelectric plant.
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When we arrived I was shocked.
This garment is called 'corte'
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and the women had even
taken their 'cortes' off
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and had hung them up
so their children had a place to sleep.
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There were pregnant women,
women with their children,
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and they said to me: "Miss Emma,
if we die, look after my children."
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...anyone who uses weapons
against the weapons institution
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must be shot.
Shot and not murdered.
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When I arrived home, I saw the news.
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They reported that
they were violent communities,
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that they were terrorists
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and that the community leaders
had attacked the police.
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I knew that it was completely untrue
as I had been there.
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So I thought for a while,
and I made a decision:
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"If I know how to make videos,
why should I stay quiet."
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I gathered together
everyone who had taken the course
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and I suggested setting up a group.
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I explained that we wouldn't be paid,
we weren't doing this to earn money
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and we could end up in jail,
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we could be persecuted,
and we could even be assassinated.
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And I told them: "Anyone who wants
to get involved is welcome to join."
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Only three of us stayed.
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The others didn't want to take
this risk.
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And then they put
Hun-Hunahpu's head
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on the branch of a tree,
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and then princess Ixquic arrived
and Hun-Hunahpu spat into her hand.
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And he said to her:
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"Come up to the surface of the earth,
and you will not die.
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In my saliva and my spittle
I have given you my descendants."
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And that too is the nature of children.
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Their condition is not lost
when they go, but it is inherited.
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Their image does not die out,
nor does it disappear,
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but it is left to their sons
and daughters who procreate.
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Within this whole political,
social and cultural process
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which is aiming to recover
many elements which are being lost,
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and which focuses on the
disappearance of many towns,
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indigenous communication
is also starting to emerge
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as a new element.
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This element is directly linked
to this process of effervescence
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which started to develop from the 90s.
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In the country, due to the absence
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of a national, departmental
government, and other things...
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there is a local one.
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Obviously on a political level, we are
talking about empowerment processes.
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Before I mentioned that the indigenous
peoples have disappeared
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from the international context
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but throughout the twentieth century
they have become empowered,
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and are aware of their reality,
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and of the difficulties that they face,
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but they are also aware of their
proposals for the future.
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Empowerment processes took place
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in terms of the construction of
their own communication
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as well as empowerment processes
for indigenous women,
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the peasantry and other social sectors
throughout the 80s and 90s.
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We are talking about the lost decades
in the American continent,
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the decades in which
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the most orthodox measures
of neoliberalism were inflicted.
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It is precisely thanks to the indigenous
peoples of Colombia,
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who, despite making up
just 2% of the population,
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still managed to make the new political
constitution of the Colombian state
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in 1991 be considered as
one of the most advanced constitutions
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in terms of the recognition of the
rights of indigenous peoples.
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Throughout the continent
there is effervescence,
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and it is a political, social, cultural
and communicative effervescence.
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Since the 90s we have helped with
constitutional reform
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in a large number of
Latin American countries
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so that they adapt their Magna Carta
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in order to introduce the
multicultural nature of their countries.
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This multicultural nature has,
in some cases led to inclusion policies
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which focus on the
basic rights of the indigenous peoples
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such as health, education and housing
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and to a lesser extent,
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the fundamental right to their own
proper means of communication.
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"11 YEARS OF CHANGE"
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From this perspective, several countries
are leading the way in legislative terms
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by implementing political policies which
recognise the right to communication.
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In the case of Bolivia,
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the right to use radio-electrical
space has been recognised,
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for example for community radio stations
for the indigenous peoples.
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Ours is a social and community
radio station
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as we are in the centre
of the City of Santa Cruz
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and it is the only campesino,
indigenous and native radio station
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organised by the social community of
the Bartolina Sisa Organisation.
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And it is important, isn't it?
that our national organisation
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helped us to obtain frequency here
at Radio Nativa.
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We think that we are
going to change attitudes,
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decolonize, and
divest of patriarchal attributes.
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We see this as a fundamental task
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as it provides a means of
indigenous communication.
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The role of indigenous communication
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has been fundamental
in reengineering Bolivia.
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Important initiatives
such as the creation in 2010 of
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the Multinational Communication Agency
(APC)
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and the progressive creation
of our own television channel.
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CAIB is the Bolivian Indigenous Peoples
Audio-visual Council
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which unites all of the indigenous
communicators in the country
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from the five national confederations.
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The proposed multinational
communication system
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is a cultural, educational, and eminently
political proposal.
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It involves a strategic and conscious
use of communication tools
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which accompany an awareness
and self-strengthening process
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based on the demand for the full
right to use both communication
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instruments and tools and
manage the communication systems
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from an internal and external
decolonization point of view.
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We are not just a government.
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We are a revolution,
we are a major transformation
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a democratic, non-violent,
social and cultural revolution.
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This is Bolivia's power during this short
administration. Many thanks.
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Political education is important so we
fully understand what came before us,
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who participated and
what were the transformations they made
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in terms of natural resources, land,
territory, justice, self-government
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and to the country's vision itself.
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And it also enables us
to understand national laws.
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We, as indigenous peoples
have the right to communication.
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This is set forth in the constitution
and in the United Nations Declaration.
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Here at CEFREC, in partnership
with the five national confederations
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and in collaboration with CAIB,
we seek to strengthen the communicators
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by using these pillars
and principles of equity,
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social justice, decolonization
and depatriarchalization,
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and we hope that
by means of this content
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we can consolidate the work of
the multinational communication system.
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The case of Colombia is a real example
of the indigenous peoples'
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involvement in defining a public
indigenous communication policy
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and this has been
in discussion since 2010.
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Round-table discussions have taken
place with representatives
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from the indigenous movements,
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and thought-provoking documents
have been drawn up.
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In these, the indigenous peoples
themselves have contemplated
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that this right to communication must be
considered as an affirmative action,
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taking into consideration
that they have been victims of genocide,
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and the ethnocide
of their languages and customs,
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so they feel that the state must
guarantee them proper communication
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and the necessary means to carry out
this communication.
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It is true that journalism is
an ongoing process
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and the communicators here are
full-time communicators,
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but this means that they are permanently
under threat, permanently at risk…
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Let us unite young people,
women, authorities
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and other social sectors,
as the indigenous guard,
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in order to demand the immediate
withdrawal of the armed actors
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who are present in our territories.
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The indigenous peoples of Colombia
have been claiming
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their right to communication
for over three decades.
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I feel that in the last 3 years,
possibly a bit longer,
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a substantial transformation
has taken place.
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Finally the indigenous organisations
of the national order have managed
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to construct a forum for participation and
dialogue with the Colombian State
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allowing for policy on indigenous
communication to be drawn up.
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Welcome to native Colombia:
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reports and stories
from the indigenous peoples.
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And this brings with it a unified
indigenous television plan,
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which, if completed and implemented,
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will significantly transform the way that
indigenous peoples are represented
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in cinema and television
and in the mass media,
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and more importantly the appearance of
new images, new messages
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and new audio-visual content from the
indigenous communities themselves.
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For twelve years now I have been
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accompanying the Zigoneshi
Indigenous Communications Collective
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from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta
in their work,
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bringing together the Kogui,
Wiwa and Arhuaco peoples.
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This collective was created at a time
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when there were
tremendous threats to the territory,
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all types of threats,
mainly caused by armed conflict
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but also due to infrastructural projects,
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tourism and religions,
quite simply an array of threats
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to the indigenous territory
of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.
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Twelve years ago the armed conflict
had worsened to such an extent
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that the 'mamos',
the spiritual leaders of these peoples,
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had come to the conclusion that
it was necessary to become more visible
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and search for external allies.
0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:29.800
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It is very interesting
the way in which these collectives
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have used audio-visual means
to communicate with others
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and to subsequently create communication
within the community itself.
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As the Mamos say, "the younger brothers
as Westeners call us",
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listen with your eyes,
now that it is clear that cohabitation
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and penetration are more
intrusive than before
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because the multinationals no longer
have limits, and they have realised
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that it is easier to communicate with us
through audio-visual media.
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The UN must tell them
to apply Human Rights.
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Because these are intruding,
moving the earth, destroying a hill,
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destroying all timber.
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Our Human Rights are being violated.
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So, by using these communication tools
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an interesting contribution is being made
and it must be clear
0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:43.920
that there is always a political objective
behind what they say.
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This political objective does not focus
solely on denunciation
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but also within the communities
it is being used as a tool
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to help strengthen the communication
and denunciation strategies
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and to provide a place for dialogue.
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When we set up CORPANP,
firstly what we did
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was to record the needs
of the organisation.
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We held assemblies, meetings,
workshops, parties, mingas...
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And we conducted these
in an empirical manner.
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We faced many problems,
we didn't have the technical knowledge
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and of course we didn't have
the advanced technical instruments,
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we barely even had a camera
and our knowledge was limited.
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But we didn't lack enthusiasm and
we knew these things had to be recorded.
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Meeting of film-makers and producers
of the peoples and nations of Ecuador.
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In a way this has enabled us
to construct new narratives
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or at least question
the existing narratives.
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And what we as indigenous peoples
producing audio-visual content
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must ask ourselves, is why don't we do
this in a cyclical manner?
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Why don't we break these rules?
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And tell our own stories
using our own means for telling them.
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Within the framework of an entire
process of epistemic decolonization,
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the decolonization of their bodies
and their territory,
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the indigenous communicators
have developed an audio-visual
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decolonization project.
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This project firstly aims
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to create a continental indigenous
communication agenda from Abya Yala,
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in which various different meetings,
such as festivals,
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conferences and summits will take place.
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These will temporarily and spatially
drive audio-visual decolonization
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and will accompany
many decolonization processes.
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Indigenous voices are emerging,
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defending the need
for their own production spaces,
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their own distribution channels,
their own funds to be used for creation,
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and for training centres
such as the Mapuche Communicators Network,
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the Nasa peoples' communication fabric,
the Wayúu School for Communicators.
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This network began to function
within this context,
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but it doesn't have coordinator,
it is a communicators' movement.
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Four years ago we decided
0:19:57.280 --> 0:20:01.120
that this network must now deal
with more profound and political topics
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from an indigenous point of view.
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We decided that political action
must be carried out so we set up
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the Wayúu Communication School.
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Fifteen young people from different
communities, participate in this school
0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:19.880
which has very clear focuses.
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Firstly the territory,
we believe that communicators
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must be familiar with their territory
in order to be able to defend it.
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They must be familiar with medicine
and fully understand its meaning
0:20:32.240 --> 0:20:36.800
in order to be able
to communicate for life.
0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:39.560
And thirdly, communication tools,
0:20:39.760 --> 0:20:43.480
how to use a camera,
a recorder, lighting...
0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:49.280
These are the three aspects
which the school focuses on.
0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:54.040
We also believe that leadership
is exercised through communication,
0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:59.320
and through leadership we have
to construct a political opinion
0:20:59.440 --> 0:21:04.840
as indigenous peoples and we have
to construct our own feeling.
0:21:04.960 --> 0:21:07.840
The communicator
must be dedicated to their community.
0:21:08.360 --> 0:21:13.400
They must portray the community's
spirit, essence and effervescence.
0:21:13.760 --> 0:21:22.600
So we cover a bit of everything
in this youth leadership media training.
0:21:22.880 --> 0:21:27.040
Well dear listeners,
I am here with Ana Rosa Jusayu,
0:21:27.160 --> 0:21:30.280
one of the five traditional authorities
of the Albanian Reservation.
0:21:30.400 --> 0:21:33.240
Our authority
is going to explain the way in which,
0:21:33.360 --> 0:21:37.760
our communication through dreams
is important in the Wayúu cosmovision.
0:21:38.480 --> 0:21:43.280
We need to visualise
0:21:43.400 --> 0:21:48.200
what they are doing,
0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:53.120
organising meetings and gatherings
0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:58.080
so that they are aware of
what is going on,
0:21:58.240 --> 0:22:00.000
and they now know so many things.
0:22:00.120 --> 0:22:03.880
Firstly I must clarify one thing,
both the community authorities
0:22:04.040 --> 0:22:09.440
and communicators perform these roles
by mandate from their communities.
0:22:09.800 --> 0:22:14.680
These communicators work in accordance
with their community's demands,
0:22:14.720 --> 0:22:17.000
Their community tells them
what they have to do,
0:22:17.080 --> 0:22:21.120
the problems which are to be discussed,
the meetings which are to be organised.
0:22:21.240 --> 0:22:28.400
Unfortunately they become the direct
target of criminalisation processes.
0:22:28.520 --> 0:22:33.440
These range from detection, persecution
and imprisonment,
0:22:33.560 --> 0:22:38.520
and unfortunately murder
is become more and more frequent.
0:22:39.960 --> 0:22:47.680
This walk is to remember and honour
the memory of our six fallen brothers.
0:22:47.840 --> 0:22:54.320
We the people of Totonicapán
will remain a united community,
0:22:54.440 --> 0:23:00.960
and we will never give up the fight
for our rights.
0:23:01.120 --> 0:23:04.520
This is an example of the severity
of the criminalisation processes,
0:23:04.640 --> 0:23:06.800
and in the majority of these cases,
0:23:07.040 --> 0:23:11.960
individual and collective rights
are being violated
0:23:12.280 --> 0:23:16.080
by transnationals and national oligarchies
0:23:16.200 --> 0:23:19.280
and the different governments
are turning a blind eye.
0:23:24.840 --> 0:23:31.440
In Alta Verapaz the authorities are now
legal and they have legal status.
0:23:32.160 --> 0:23:37.960
And when they saw the work that
we were doing, they approached us,
0:23:38.080 --> 0:23:41.640
and told us that
as the authorities of the Q'eqchi' people,
0:23:41.760 --> 0:23:46.080
they were going to support us, and
defend anything that happened to us.
0:23:46.320 --> 0:23:51.600
So we felt safer because
the 169 agreement states that
0:23:51.720 --> 0:23:56.680
indigenous peoples are entitled to their
own means of communication.
0:23:56.840 --> 0:24:02.440
And they now consider that we are
the communicators of their community.
0:24:02.600 --> 0:24:05.360
They call us whenever they are
going to do something -
0:24:05.480 --> 0:24:09.600
"We are performing a ceremony,
come and record us."
0:24:09.720 --> 0:24:15.040
So we record them and provide them
with their material on a disc
0:24:15.160 --> 0:24:18.920
and this is kept in their records,
in their history.
0:24:24.720 --> 0:24:31.440
We also went to Chisec
as they had found some bones,
0:24:31.560 --> 0:24:37.080
the remnants of armed conflict,
and they contacted us saying:
0:24:37.200 --> 0:24:42.040
"Come and record this so our children
can see it and so it won't happen again,
0:24:42.200 --> 0:24:45.920
and so importance is placed on our
community because of these deaths."
0:24:46.040 --> 0:24:48.360
So we go and record it
0:24:48.480 --> 0:24:53.040
and if they want us to
publish the content we publish it,
0:24:53.160 --> 0:24:58.000
and if they don't want us to do it,
we respect the community's decision.
0:25:04.960 --> 0:25:07.760
So the right of communication
is not only a right
0:25:07.840 --> 0:25:10.560
which is protected
for the indigenous peoples,
0:25:10.840 --> 0:25:15.160
but it is the corner stone
of all other rights.
0:25:15.280 --> 0:25:19.000
Communication is considered
as a transversal right,
0:25:19.120 --> 0:25:23.920
a right which is fundamental
for all democratic societies
0:25:24.040 --> 0:25:28.640
and it has become such an important
part of the agenda;
0:25:28.760 --> 0:25:31.840
the agenda in the fight
for collective rights.
0:25:34.000 --> 0:25:37.040
0:25:39.840 --> 0:25:43.520
We are recovering
a ceremonial centre in San Ignacio
0:25:43.640 --> 0:25:45.400
where the old cemetery is located.
0:25:46.040 --> 0:25:52.200
In the Mapuche case, in the
Chilean case, the direct persecution
0:25:52.320 --> 0:25:55.640
which Central America and Mexico face
0:25:55.760 --> 0:25:59.160
where communicators are persecuted
before being killed, does not exist.
0:25:59.280 --> 0:26:06.240
Mapuche communicators face different
persecution and pressure here.
0:26:06.440 --> 0:26:13.280
Their work faces discrimination,
and their profile is lowered,
0:26:13.560 --> 0:26:17.800
and despite the fact that their content
is included in mass media,
0:26:17.920 --> 0:26:21.880
it is not considered as a source.
0:26:22.080 --> 0:26:25.760
We would also say that it is mainly
the isolated community media
0:26:25.880 --> 0:26:30.680
that faces persecution, and these
groups sometimes have to deal
0:26:30.800 --> 0:26:34.840
with their equipment and materials
being seized.
0:26:38.920 --> 0:26:43.920
Perhaps from a critical point of view,
we must also say that
0:26:44.040 --> 0:26:47.360
we have been carrying out
communication for some years,
0:26:47.480 --> 0:26:50.560
and these practices are neither new
nor innovative.
0:26:50.680 --> 0:26:55.960
I think that this alternative
should promote coordination and networks
0:26:58.120 --> 0:27:01.800
which are able to help to report
what is happening in a just manner.
0:27:02.120 --> 0:27:06.440
Objectively what we as the Mapuche
people want, is to bring this about.
0:27:07.880 --> 0:27:11.400
As the Mapuche peoples
we have to be able
0:27:11.520 --> 0:27:14.760
to create instruments
which will keep us informed.
0:27:15.320 --> 0:27:19.880
We must create the instruments
which allow us to exercise our rights.
0:27:22.040 --> 0:27:26.200
Therefore once again we have become
the protagonists of our own productions,
0:27:26.440 --> 0:27:31.440
and through our communication
we have taken a stance.
0:27:31.560 --> 0:27:35.280
I think it is quite a significant
achievement for us to have achieved
0:27:35.400 --> 0:27:38.960
this level of audio-visual production.
0:27:42.240 --> 0:27:46.160
Promotion for the XIII indigenous
peoples' video and cinema festival.
0:27:46.400 --> 0:27:51.360
Thirteenth indigenous
peoples' video and cinema festival.
0:27:52.080 --> 0:27:55.240
Our platform coordinates activities
0:27:55.360 --> 0:27:58.840
and brings together all
of the audio-visual productions
0:27:58.960 --> 0:28:02.160
which are being produced
in all of the aforementioned regions
0:28:02.280 --> 0:28:06.520
and so we are essentially
the bridge to the exterior world.
0:28:10.360 --> 0:28:13.560
And this is what these peoples
want to demonstrate.
0:28:13.680 --> 0:28:20.360
That as peoples we have woken up,
we have recognised our political level,
0:28:20.480 --> 0:28:25.960
and all of these materials have helped us
to report what is happening,
0:28:26.160 --> 0:28:30.760
and to continue to demand
that we be respected as human beings
0:28:31.160 --> 0:28:35.760
and this is what is currently happening.
0:28:35.880 --> 0:28:41.240
We are demanding that our rights
as indigenous peoples be recognised.
0:28:45.240 --> 0:28:47.800
For the life, fight and liberation
of the peoples.
0:28:48.640 --> 0:28:52.320
So we can learn from this
and so that these forty girls
0:28:52.760 --> 0:28:56.240
will sow the seeds of transformation
for this country.