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