Page 155 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol III

974 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

The day, water, sun, moon, night–I do not have to purchase
these things with money. • Plautus (254–184 bce)

and judicial systems autonomous of the Canadian fed- Aymara leader, Felipe Quispe, received only 6 percent of
eral government. the vote in 2003), they have allied themselves with other
Farther south indigenous movements have had suc- leftist parties. Moreover, people have discovered that
cess in varying degrees. In Mexico, beginning in 1994 the declaring their indigenous heritage is politically advant-
armed Zapatista movement in Chiapas in the southern geous. For example, the leader of the coca growers, Evo
region brought the indigenous movement back into the Morales, during the 2002 elections “discovered” his
limelight, but, in fact, indigenous peoples have not ben- indigenous heritage and received about the same number
efited much.In Guatemala an indigenous activist,Rigoberta of votes (22 percent) as the eventual winner, Gonzalo
Menchú, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. However, Sánchez de Lozada. In October 2003, under pressure
death squads and a violent political climate forced the from unions and Aymara peasants who blocked the roads
Maya to organize mainly in Mayan language and cultural to the capital, Sánchez de Lozada resigned.The Bolivian
organizations without overt political goals. Menchú’s indigenous peoples movement apparently had won a
example was more important for providing moral great victory, as had happened in 2000 in Ecuador. In
authority to movements elsewhere in Latin America. Peru the indigenous peoples movement is just beginning
Indigenous movements have been most successful in and has not had a major effect on politics, although Ale-
South America in the Andes, where a large indigenous jandro Toledo won the 2001 elections playing up his
population has been able to mobilize politically. Ecuador- indigenous heritage.
ean indigenous peoples after the late 1980s were able to Indigenous peoples movements are less developed in
unify the highland peasant communities with the low- the rest of South America, although the Mapuche in Chile
land hunters and gatherers. In the highlands issues such have a relatively strong political presence in the southern
as good agricultural prices, access to transportation, and part of the country. In Brazil different indigenous groups,
lack of arable land were most important to the indigenous in conjunction with NGOs, have been able to protect
peoples, whereas in the lowlands settler invasions, envi- some of their lands. However, the smaller numbers of
ronmental destruction by oil companies and miners, and indigenous people—compared with the rest of the pop-
indiscriminate road building were the most important ulation in these countries and in the rest of South
issues. Nevertheless, the rather diverse groups were able to America—have lessened their political impact nation-
organize the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of ally. Still, democracy and the abundance of multina-
Ecuador (CONAIE) and stage a peaceful but massive inva- tional NGOs with their networks and funds have made
sion of Ecuador’s capital city, Quito. CONAIE grew even indigenous movements in South America a force to be
stronger in 1992 with massive protests of the five hundred- reckoned with.
year anniversary of Columbus’s voyage to the Americas.
After that CONAIE formed a political party, Pachakutik, Africa
and helped defeat the president of Ecuador in January Indigenous peoples movements have cropped up in
2000. In 2003 Pachakutik helped elect Lucio Gutiérrez, an Africa, but the situation is confused there because con-
Ecuadorean army colonel who had conspired with the flicts between ethnic groups usually have gone on for
indigenous peoples in 2000. However, Pachakutik soon many centuries.The major conflicts are between Arabic-
thereafter went into opposition because Gutiérrez was speaking peoples and non-Arabic-speaking peoples in
unwilling to fulfill the indigenous peoples’ demands. the northern tier of the continent and between Bantu-
In Bolivia indigenous organizations have remained speaking peoples and the indigenous San (Bushmen)
important, with some ups and downs, to the early twenty- people. The San have formed multinational organiza-
first century. Although indigenous political parties have tions that span South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zam-
not been able to win many votes (the most important bia, and Zimbabwe. Each country has a movement and