PARIS: The voices of indigenous peoples around the world are silenced and their lives are made unsusable.
Guardians of the earth, are left out of public discourse in countries around the world. Indigenous peoples are “extinct,” exist and are building cutting-edge networks and solutions, which can be the key to many of our world’s problems.
From Chepang indigenous peoples in Nepal evicted from their ancestral lands to the killing of indigenous leaders in Colombia, indigenous communities continue to be attacked, but they also build hard movements, fighting for land, schooling and autonomy.
“There is no democracy in the world, respect and defense of indigenous peoples. The diversity of human beings and nature is our wealth,” says Iara Pietricovsky, president of Forus International, a global network of civil society organizations.
According to the World Bank, there are approximately 476 million indigenous peoples in the world, in more than 90 countries, which make up more than 6% of the world’s population, yet their voices in state decision-making and the media remain silenced. -19 The pandemic has an additional risk to indigenous communities as it spreads to their vulnerable areas, infecting thousands of people.
The death on August 5 of Covid-19 of Brazilian leader Aritana Yawalapiti confirms the vulnerability of indigenous peoples to the pandemic, one of the leaders of maximum influence who contributed to the creation of the Xingu Indigenous Park, located in the south of the Amazon. peoples of 16 other ethnic groups live in this domain of the state of Mato Grosso.
“In Brazil, right now, there is a planned policy of destroying the life and culture of indigenous communities, using the old genocidal strategy: invading their lands and not supplying in terms of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Pietricovsky explained.
According to brazil’s Indigenous Peoples Articulation, there are now 23,000 indigenous peoples inflamed with Covid-19 and 639 have already died across the country. In particular, indigenous communities in the Amazon have already noticed their devastation from illegal deforestation, commercial agriculture, mining and oil. Exploration.
Now, the coronavirus pandemic has amplified its struggle, just as wildfires are endemic again and affect the livelihoods of approximately 3 million other Aboriginal people, members of 400 tribes.
Peruvian sociologist Aníbal Quijano explains how the concepts of “race” and “herborization” are connected to the colonial relations of domination that indigenous communities still maintain today. The vanquished and ruled were placed in an herbal position of inferiority.
This social scheme placed Aboriginal communities at the back of the social ladder. The colonial era might seem to be over, but Aboriginal communities continue to seek popularity in a “horizontal society” in which relationships can be shaped on an equivalent basis.
In the context of Covid-19, Aboriginal communities are left with limited access to care and prevention of fitness. José Luis Caal, allocation coordinator of Congcoop, a platform of civil society organizations in Guatemala, explains how the Covid-19 pandemic has created a , economic and cultural crisis, where indigenous peoples are one of the most affected teams, due to the structural inequalities in which they live. “The crisis has only highlighted the violation of the rights they suffer, especially women, who have faced a massive workload because they are the greatest caregivers in the circle of family members and community,” Caal says.
The lack of good enough fitness services, economic subsidies and food support, as well as the continuation of extractive activities and the expansion of the agricultural border in many places, have had a significant effect on indigenous peoples. threat of contagion, Caal says, without hearing his claims and court cases.
In reaction to the fitness crisis in Guatemala and around the world, a number of policies, projects and subsidies are being implemented to alleviate the pandemic-in-crisis economic crisis; however, the government has not reached rural and Aboriginal communities. communities have taken this factor and many others into their own hands.
They often organize face-to-face studies and use an inclusive, ethnological and participatory approach. They teach neither any concept of progression; exchange and report on Aboriginal communities. In this way, for more than 50 years, civil society organizations in Peru have contributed to the advancement of the social sciences and influenced government policies, making indigenous voices heard.
“The first thing that wants to be understood and valued are the concepts of indigenous communities about nature and its environment.
This is essential to respect their rights and especially to ensure that policies do not disrupt their livelihoods. We think that the Western vision is “natural”, and hence its concepts of family, property, land and its dating with nature are trivialized”, explains Pina Huamán of the Peruvian platform ANC.
Education, the kind of wisdom that is absorbed, is a precedent for indigenous communities in Latin America. Guatemala, for example, has 22 Mayan languages, but indigenous youth locate educational resources in their local language.
The Guatemalan platform, Congcoop, with that of Forus International, introduced this year a virtual educational center to provide its members, especially indigenous youth, with a “localized” experience that will bring new leaders in the country.
For indigenous peoples around the world, the way forward is to respect their existence, language and culture.
We will have to make a meaningful exchange and build bridges of solidarity instead of walls of ignorance.
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