Friday, October 19, 2007\r\n<\/p>
\r\nO'odham: Awakening at the Zapatistas' Encuentro<\/b>\r\n<\/p>
\r\nO’odham Return from Gathering with Mexico’s Indigenous and Subcomandante Marcos\r\n<\/p>
\r\nBy Brenda Norrell<\/i>\r\n<\/p>
\r\nSpecial to The Narco News Bulletin,<\/p>
\r\nwww.narconews.com\r\n<\/p>
\r\nTUCSON <\/b>-- When more than 500 Indian delegates gathered in Vicam Pueblo in Rio Yaqui, Mexico, at the Gathering of Indigenous Peoples of América, the power of a global spiritual force was present and released, said Ofelia Rivas, an O’odham woman living on the border of the United States and Mexico.\r\n<\/p>
\r\n“It is not a local movement, it is not just the Zapatistas. It is the Indigenous People of the world creating this movement,” Rivas said during an interview.\r\n<\/p>
\r\n“I felt a sense that this is an awakening of the people. There was a sense of unity, of continuing the struggle, although people still have problems. We were in unity talking about them together. I really felt it was a grassroots effort.”\r\n<\/p>
\r\nRivas said among the powerful cultural presentations was that of the Indigenous Peoples from Michoacan. “That was really moving to me,” she said, recalling a Tzotzil friend from Chiapas telling her, “When things get serious, we dance.”\r\n<\/p>
\r\nRivas said the traditional authorities of Vicam Pueblo offered the ultimate respect. “It was amazing to see the\r\ntraditional Yaqui leaders attentively and patiently listening to the stories.”\r\n<\/p>
\r\nRivas said it was important for the people from the United States and Canada to share their sufferings. She said\r\noften, people in other countries think Indians here have it easy.\r\n<\/p>
\r\n“Yes, there are human rights violations in Canada and the United states. People on the outside believe we have it\r\nmade. They don’t know we live in poverty and we have serious conditions for our women and children.”\r\n<\/p>
\r\nIn some way, conditions are worse in the United States than elsewhere.\r\n<\/p>
\r\n“It is worse. The people are controlled by the government. Your own people are assimilated as well and they abuse\r\nthe system. The system is controlling us and controlling the people.”\r\n<\/p>
\r\nRivas said the money that flows into Indian Nations, and the conditions and restrictions attached to the money, result\r\nin that control.\r\n<\/p>
\r\n“With the federal money, state money, gaming money, there is control. Everyone is under control.”\r\n<\/p>
\r\nAmong the tearful stories shared at the gathering, she said, were those of a Lakota woman, who spoke of the\r\nabuses in boarding schools and the conditions that the Lakota still live under. Indian children were seized by the\r\ngovernments of the United States and Canada during much of the Twentieth Century and forced into government-\r\noperated boarding schools. Here, they were often abused sexually abused and beaten. Indian children were\r\nforbidden to speak their own languages and were forced to assimilate the dominant culture. Those who ran away\r\nwere placed in solitary confinement and some died. The abuses resulted in generations of traumatized Indian\r\npeople in the United States and Canada.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nAs Nation after Nation told their stories at the encuentro, or gathering, Rivas said, “Everyone was so attentive. They\r\nheard it straight from the people.”\r\n<\/p>
\r\nMeanwhile at home on the US\/Mexico border where O’odham ancestral lands are bisected by the international\r\nborder, the construction of a border vehicle barrier has blocked the ceremonial route of the O’odham people.\r\n<\/p>
\r\n“This ceremony has been going on since the creation of the world,” Rivas said.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nBefore the recent construction of a federal vehicle barrier on tribal land on the border at Ali Jegk in the Gu-Vo\r\nDistrict in Arizona, 12 miles east of Sonoyta, Mexico, local O’odham were able to cross in their traditional territory\r\nhere.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nNow, instead of taking less than an hour to go to town for shopping, O’odham have to travel six hours roundtrip to\r\nshop in Tucson. For those with diabetes and medical emergencies, the new border barrier means a life-threatening\r\ncrisis.\r\n<\/p>
\r\n“A lot of traditional people do not have passports, because they were born at home.”\r\n<\/p>
\r\nFor O’odham attending the ceremony during July, the new border barrier violated the spiritual journey.\r\n<\/p>
\r\n“It was a real hardship,” Rivas said. “When you are on a pilgrimage to a sacred place, you are in a sacred mode.\r\nThen you are stopped by immigration and your papers are checked, that is a disruption. People have prepared\r\nspiritually and then they have to go through this ordeal of crossing the border.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nRivas said the Tohono O’odham Nation’s elected government in Sells, Arizona, is not assisting the traditional O’ odham people to maintain their right to cross their ancestral territories and carry out their traditional ceremonies. Further, many O’odham lack passports because they were born at home and this makes border crossing difficult.\r\n<\/p>
\r\n“This ceremony,” she said, “is hanging on by a thread.”\r\n<\/p>
\r\nRivas said the power, unity and awareness shared at the Intercontinental Encuentro should now be shared with\r\nthose who were unable to attend.\r\n<\/p>
\r\n“So many people who should have been there were not there. They were home guarding their people or their land.\r\nSome had problems crossing the border.”\r\n<\/p>
\r\nRivas said she hopes the Vicam Pueblo gathering will continue with regional gatherings in Canada, the United\r\nStates and South America, so others will be able to participate.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nRivas, bilingual in English and O’odham, delivered her presentation to the Intercontinental Encuento in the O’odham\r\nlanguage.\r\n<\/p>
\r\n“Speaking my language is my personal form of resistance,” said Rivas, whose presentation was translated from O’\r\nodham into English and Spanish.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nRivas shared a statement from the traditional O’odham leaders from the Cu:Wi I-gersk and the ceremonial leaders\r\nfrom the O’odham lands of Mexico and the United States.\r\n<\/p>
\r\n“The O’odham resistance began when the prophets told of the invasion of the foreigners and the many changes\r\nthat would happen to the people and the world. The O’odham defense was to bend to the surge of this coming wind so as not to break. My friends, my people are at the breaking point,” Rivas said, reading from the statement at the encuentro.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nThe O’odham Nation consists of four bands in the Sonoran Desert. To the north, there is the On’k Ake’mel O’odham\r\n(Salt River people) and the Ake’mel O’odham (Gila River people.) In the west, there is the band of Hia’ced O’odham\r\n(Sands people) and the southern band is the Tohono O’odham (Desert people.)\r\n<\/p>
\r\nThe O’odham ancestral territory is bordered by the Yaqui territory to the south and the Apache territory to the east.\r\nTo the southwest, along the inland waters of the Pacific Ocean at Ka’ch’k (the Sea of Cortez or Gulf of California in\r\nMexico), O’odham land borders the Seri territory.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nThe United States and Mexico claimed O’odham lands when the International Boundary was created in 1853. The\r\nboundary bisected O’odham lands. The Tohono O’odham elected government, which chose to work with the U.S.\r\nfederal government, receive federal dollars and develop a tribal government based on the U.S. system, was not\r\nrecognized by the traditional authorities of the O’odham.\r\n<\/p>
\r\n“Our peoples’ history begins at the creation of the world. We also have knowledge of former worlds that existed.”\r\n<\/p>
\r\nThe people were given the Him’dag, the O’odham way of life. They were taught how to live in the desert and given\r\nthe responsibility and honor of being Indigenous Peoples.\r\n<\/p>
\r\n“We are the keepers of the universe; we keep the universe in balance through our teachings from the Creator,\r\nthrough our songs and ceremonies maintain the balance of the universe.”\r\n<\/p>
\r\nThe first attack on O’odham came by way of foreign diseases, which altered the peoples’ genetic makeup. Then outsiders came to steal and market O’odham knowledge of healing medicine plants.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nThe second attack came from foreign religion.\r\n<\/p>
\r\n“The very Churches that catholic O’odham pray in were constructed with O’odham slaves controlled by the\r\nmissionaries.”\r\n<\/p>
\r\nToday, O’odham ceremonial places are seen as tourist sightseeing places, from the great lava fields along the\r\nborder to the Sea of Cortez in Mexico.\r\n<\/p>
\r\n“The ceremony sites and sacred places are under constant threat by archeologists, mining companies and\r\nMexicans claiming O’odham lands and communities, such as a recent threat of a proposed chemical waste dump\r\nproposed location, just eight miles from our ceremony site.”\r\n<\/p>
\r\nWith the agenda of assimilating O’odham, the United States placed O’odham children in boarding schools and\r\nrelocated O’odham to cities.\r\n<\/p>
\r\n“The destruction of the social structures of the people is evident today; the people are dependent on the system to\r\nexist. Our language that was forbidden in boarding school is today surviving, but by a small degree.”\r\n<\/p>
\r\nNow, the militarization at the border prevents O’odham from crossing on traditional routes.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nIn Mexico, ranchers, farmers and corporations are seizing O’odham lands. In 1845, there were 45 villages south of\r\nwhat is now the border. Today, there are nine surviving villages.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nThe restriction of mobility, exploitation of land and destruction of cultures through genocide and ethnocide means this is a critical moment in the universe.\r\n<\/p>
\r\n“Today here in Vicam we gather not as governments and organizations, but as people of the earth. We are here to\r\nstand in solidarity, for our survival, to protect the world, our territories and our future generations.”\r\n<\/p>
\r\n“A delegation of all Nations must continue to strengthen this message of solidarity and continued education on\r\nUniversal Indigenous Rights.\r\n<\/p>
\r\n“Today we continue to demand access to our lands, including access to our ancestral routes, to conduct our Him’ dag and make offering to sacred places. We demand protection of our cultures and sacred places. We demand fair elections and our own representation in the government systems that ignore us.”\r\n<\/p>
\r\n\r\n\r\nBrenda Norrell has been a news reporter in Indian country for 25 years. She is currently based in Tucson and\r\ncovers Mexico, the U.S. borders and the West. She is the author of The Censored Blog and frequent contributor to\r\nThe Narcosphere.<\/i>\r\n\r\nFor more information about O'odham History please see:<\/p>
\r\n Resistance and Collaboration: O'odham Responses to U.S. Invasion ,<\/p>
By Jeff Hendricks\r\n\t<\/p>\n","contact":"admin@tiamatpublications.com","link":"www.solidarity-project.org","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"A short report back on the recent indigenous resistance gathering in Northern Mexico","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2007\/10\/208762.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}