[mobglob-discuss] APEC 2004 / OPEN LETTER FROM MAPUCHE ORGANIZATIONS TO APEC REPRESENTATIVES

[ClaudioE.]

  Centro de Medios Independientes Santiago



    http://chile.indymedia.org/news/2004/06/19781.php
    APEC 2004 / OPEN LETTER FROM MAPUCHE ORGANIZATIONS TO APEC
REPRESENTATIVES



    OPEN LETTER FROM MAPUCHE ORGANIZATIONS TO APEC REPRESENTATIVES
    Mapuche Territory
    Representatives of the economies of : Australia, Brunei Darussalam,
  Canada,
    The Peoples Republic of China, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Japan,
Korea,
    Malaysia, Mexico, New Zeland, Peru, The Phillipines, Papua New Guinea,
The
    Russian Federation, Singapore, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Thailand, The
  United
    States, and Vietnam.
    On occasion of the meeting of the APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade
in
    Pucon and Villarrica, Chile June 4-5, the organizations and territorial
    identities subscribing to this letter wish to signal the following:
    These meetings in Pucon and Villarrica are located in ancestral Mapuche
    territorry, which was usurped by the Chilean state. Likewise, we have
    summoned the President of Chile, Ricardo Lagos Escobar, to stop the
    folklorization of our culture and its existence in this meeting, an open
    provocation given that we already feel like we are victims of jail,
    repression, and the criminalization of our legitimate collective demands
  as
    a people; all at the hands of the government and influential factional
    groups. It is essential to note that today, important Mapuche leaders
  within
    our territories are imprisoned-all of this in the name of the same
  economic
    model that your economies represent and that you plan to continue
    consolidating in our territory, increasing the colonialization and
    usurpation of our lands, of our natural resources, and of our
traditional
    knowledge.
    We firmly believe that you may not continue carrying out trade
  negotiations
    behind the backs of the people. The economies that you represent as well
  as
    your promotion of market liberalization within the APEC region and
    standardization of trade rules amongst unequal economies with
asymettrical

    technologies and development cause vast sectors of society, such as
    indigenous people, and in this case, the Mapuche people, whose rights
your
    economies neither recognize nor respect, to be vulnerable within an
  economy
    overwhelmed by corporate domination, transnational pirateering. and
    environmental and social disaster. This future which you control is not
  the
    mandate of the peoples that have entrusted you to govern; this is not
the
    future that the people want.
    Know that you are coming to the center of our historic territory, and as
    such, with the respect that we deserve, we request that before embarking
  on
    the path to liberalize trade relations, you should first establish as a
    fundamental priority within the APEC region a dialogue on the
    standardization of indigenous rights. We demand that you speak
  face-to-face
    with the people, to whom you owe your mandate and obedience, given that
  the
    matters to be discussed in the APEC meeting in our territory have no
  reason
    to be reserved and hidden. We summon you to stop the unjust trade
  practices
    that APEC promotes, and to dutifully and ethically NOT carry out the
  pending
    processes of liberalization that the WTO is attempting, which it has not
    been able to impose. The imposition of these policies would be
unfortunate
    and a huge step back for the people of the world.
    It is inconceivable that you would come to impose your model of trade on
    territory which is ours, even more so considering that Chile does not
    recognize the legal existence of our people; when the International
Labor
    Organization's (ILO) Convention 169 on the Treatment of Indigenous
Peoples
    has not been ratified in Chile; and that after fourteen years of a
  supposed
    democracy, the Chilean state continues using the same repressive laws of
  the
    military dictatorship to surpress our just demands.
    We most sincerely expect that you will consider the issues we are
raising;
    otherwise, we must inform you that you will not be welcomed to our
    territory, and as long as the present conditions we denounce do not
  reverse
    themselves, we will express ourselves liberally against the trade which
  you
    promote and which are a threat to our collective dignity and rights. We
  hope
    that you answer the call from not only the Mapuche people, but from the
    people across the world that are concerned about these issues.
    We will be present in large numbers in Villarrica and Pucon, in
    demonstrations and on Friday, June 4 at the Forum of Indigenous People
and
    Social Organizations, an "alternative summit" to the APEC meeting
convened
    by the Coordination of Territorial Identities and Mapuche Organizations,
  and
    integrated by numerous Mapuche organizations and Non-Governmental
    Organizations. We will discuss the numerous impacts of trade on Mapuche
    communities, and strategies for confronting these impacts.
    NO TO ECONOMIC EXCLUSION! FOR THE SELF DETERMINATION OF THE PEOPLE!
    Subscribing organizations:
    - Identidad Lafkenche Tirúa, Adolfo Millabur, Iván Carialo / - Tirúa
Sur,
    Roberto Garrido, David Huenupil / - Huentelolen, interlocalidades, Juan
    Carlos Polma / - Comunidades del Budi, Jorge Pichuñual, Armando Marileo.
  / -
    Consejo territorial Lafkenche, Domingo Raín, Pérsida Cheuquenao (Teodoro
    Schmidth). / - Consejo de werkenes, Joel Maripil, Julio Chehuin -
    Comunidades de Toltén, Edelmira Huechán, Mirta Ñancuán. / - Comunidades
    Maiquillahue, Boris Hualme / - Osorno, comunidades williche, Miguel
    Cheuquepán. / - Carahue, Asociación pu lafkenche, Wladimir Painecura.
/ -
    Federación Williche de Chiloé, Sergio Cuyul. / - Asociación Nepén de
  Ancud,
    Chiloé, Pedro Naguil. / - Coordinación de comunidades en conflictos
    ambientales, Luis Cañulef. / - Temuco, Sergio Caniuqueo, profesionales
    Mapuche. / - por Agrupación Konapewman Temuco, Alfredo Seguel, Pablo
    Huaiquilao, Gabriela Calfucoy, Eduardo Rapimán. / - Corporación de
mujeres
    Mapuche Aukinko Zomo, María Isabel Curihuentro, Ana Tragolaf / - Casa de
    arte Mapuche, Rayen Kvyeh / - Corporación Xeg Xeg, Francisco Caquilpán.
  / -
    Centro Mapuche Liwen, Pablo Marimán. / - Comunidades Nueva Imperial,
  Audiel
    Millapi. / - Comunidades Chol Chol - Imperial, Emilio Painemal. / -
    Organización territorial Wajontu Coj Coj Mapu (Chol Chol), Juan
Painemal.
    / - Por Villarrica, Corporación Villarrica María Luisa Nahuelpán.;
    Corporación Komkeyuayin, Benjamín Caniulef; Asociación Wanglen
Villarrica,
    Juana Curio; / - Identidad Nagche, Lumaco, Traiguén, Los Sauces,
  Asociación
    Ñankuchew, Alfonso Reiman. - Sociedad Wanglen, Lumaco - Traiguén,
  Galvarino
    Reiman. / - Traiguén, Temulemu, Juan Pichún. / - Santiago, Consejería
    indígena Urbana, José Llancapán, Eugenia Calquín; / - Perquenco, Savaria
,
    Lucrecia Antileo. / -Panguipulli, coordinadora Williche, Pikun Wiji
Mapu,
    Jorge Hueque. / - Consejo de lonko Pikun Wiji Mapu, lonko Agustín
  Nahuelpán,
    Werkén Jorge Abello / - Melipeuco, pewenche, Alfonso Melillán.. / -
    (Puelmapu, Argentina) Coordinadora de organizaciones Mapuche C.O.M,
    provincia Newkén. / - (Puelmapu, Argentina) Organización Mapuche -
  Tehuelche
    11 de octubre, provincia de Chubut. / - (Canadá) Comités de apoyo al
  Pueblo
    Mapuche. / - (Suecia) Centro de documentación Mapuche Ñuke Mapu, Jorge
    Calbucura. / - (Gran Bretaña) Enlace Mapuche Internacional, Reynaldo
    Mariqueo. / - (Holanda) Fundación Mapuche - FOLIL, Rafael Railaf Zuniga.





    A brief history of the Mapuche people The Mapuche People are a society
  that
    has existed over thousands of years, with their own cosmovision,
language,
    way of life and organisation; they developed as a free, independent and
    sovereign Nation, living in a large area of the territories that are
known
    today as Chile and Argentina. They were the only original people in
  America
    that were able to successfully resist the invasion of the Spanish crown
  for
    over 300 years, between the 16th and early 19th centuries.
    Once the Chilean and Argentine states had been formed, after 1810,
  following
    independence from Spain, various failed attempts were made to invade the
    Mapuche territory. These actions finally paid off at the end of the 19th
    century after a brutal war, following which the Mapuche were transformed
    into an oppressed, colonised and impoverished ethnic-national minority,
    subjected to a system of domination through the imposition of a nation
    state, expressed in all spheres: political, economic, social, cultural,
    religious and ideological.
    On the Chilean side alone, from 1881 until the beginning of the 20th
    century, the state plundered 95% of the historical territory of the
  Original
    Mapuche Nation, depriving them of 9,500,000 hectares of their territory.
A
    very similar process occurred in Argentina.
    In the early 20th century, following these invasions into Mapuche
  territory,
    the states of Chile and Argentina agreed a new colonialist policy along
  with
    European States offering incentives to various European settlers, mainly
  in
    the south, the result of which was the arrival of thousands of
"settlers",
    mainly from Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Holland, among others, who
    occupied huge swathes of Mapuche land without payment of any kind.
    Today, most of these lands are in the possession of major economic
groups,
    such as forestry, fishing, mining, oil and hydroelectric companies, huge
    tourist projects or large estates owned by the descendants of European
    colonists now running enormous transnational companies.
    In their just struggle to recover their territory and dignity, as well
as
  in
    the exercising of their political, civil and social rights, the Mapuche
    People are the victims of constant, systematic and planned violations of
    their human rights.This is expressed through the use of police
aggression
    aimed at imprisoning those who take action and thwarting their claims by
    using a compliant legal system. In both Chile and Argentina, the Mapuche
    People are also the victims of the plundering of their identity and
    resources by large economic groups, who are actually the real powers in
    close alliance with and decisively supported by the Chilean and
Argentine
    states, who, in the name of the dominant economic model, are currently
    oppressing all those who defend their rights.
    We call upon the Mapuche organisations and territorial entities, the
    Indigenous Peoples and Nations, all those people and local and
  international
    social organisations that aspire to creating a just society founded on
    respect for life and cultural diversity, to be aware, participate,
support
    us and denounce this new colonialist imposition, the instrument of which
    (APEC) attempts to establish itself as a seed of destruction in the
heart
  of
    our territory. We call upon you to act and state your views.


    Mapuche Organising Commission - Social Forum and Indigenous Peoples
    Co-ordination of Mapuche Organisations and Territorial Entities E-mail:
    foromapuche2004 at yahoo.es