I’m tired, but I wanted to get this out there. Hector Mondragon wrote an incredible piece for Znet yesterday about how justice and reparations for the victims of hundreds of massacres in the Colombia must be paid back by returning the stolen lands to the indigenous people and campesinos from whom it has been stolen time and again.
This September, a group of indigenous activists decided that they were tired of waiting for a decision from the Inter-American Court on Human Rights to implement the return of the land. So the group of 200 decided to occupy the “La Emperatriz” house. Of course, they were met with repression, but the brutality did not have the effects desired of the state.
every police assault, the gassing, the presence of the Army, and shooting against the people, with many wounded by gunshot, did not terrorise them, rather it enflamed the spirit of civil resistance in the heart of more and more indigenous people. It was impossible to dislodge the occupiers and with each day more arrived. When on 13 September the Minister of the Interior negotiated with the Nasa there were 3,500 people in the occupation, with yet more occupying another hacienda called “Guayabal”.
I always love to hear stories of resistance that result in positive change. It can be disillusioning to be an activist in the land of plenty. Too often, we try something for a little while. We get a boo-boo or get arrested a few times, and then we lay back and continue floating down the river of privilege, drowning all in our path. We should look to stories like this and the countless others from oppressed people throughout the word as inspiration. How not to give up in the face of danger and repression, but to grow stronger. To build a movement. To affect positive change.
For the full story, go to: http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=9&ItemID=9491
[tags]colomiba, racism, environment, globalization, FTAA[/tags]
