Colombia - Urgent Action for Wayuu people

Kia ora ano whanau

Met a Columbian Wahine Toa at the recent Latin /Asia Pacific
solidarity gathering, she warned of this. Sis was staunch and strong
woman, a testament to her people the targets of this Colombian State
Sponsored Terror against indigenous peoples.

na

Ana

URGENT ACTION FROM THE WAYU PEOPLE TO THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL
COMMUNITY

The displaced community of Baha Portete found in the Alta Guajira
once again denounces the latest incursion of the paramilitary group
CONTRAINSURGENCIA WAYUU under command of the alias " PABLO " into
their ancestral territory that has once already been bathed
in blood. This time the unfortunate victims of these mercenaries were:
CHICHI EPINAYU of 35 years of age that was horrbily killed yesterday
November 23 and JULIAN EPINAYU of 68 years of age who was kidnapped
for who knows what purpose or if he is even dead or alive. After
being subject to the tortures and brutalities that these murderers use
to cause terror in our families and acheive their criminal objectives,
MASPARRAY EPINAYU, was able to survive and is currently with serious
condition due to bullet wounds from the firearms that these
assassins used to victimize families of the EPINAYU and URIANA clans.
The same clans that were massacred in the April 18th, 2004 massacre.

Once again we are reassured that the stories that are illustrated to
us by the states authorities regarding our community s right to return
are very far away reality. This is because of the lack of guarantee
from the state that our community will not be again victmized upon
return to the lands that we should have never left.

There is nno denying the permenant prescence of these "paracos"
(paramilitaries) who now go by "AGUILAS NEGRAS" and continue
plundering with out their primary sponser , THE STATE, be affected at
all. According to authorities, there are no more paramilitaries in the
Alta Guajira or in Colombia. What will be said this time too justify
these crimes against humanity that wound our people with great pain
and helplessness? Perhaps that we are kidnappers and theives the way
the mercenary JORGE 40 freely said on November 8th, 2007 in
Barranquilla or this time again that we wer targetted.


"Today there is no paramilitarism - Pres. Uribe. El tiempo. Saturday,
July 21st, 2007.



We urge for a comission of the following to go to the area:

Defensoria del pueblo.
Fiscalia General de la Nacin.
Procuradura General de la Nacion.
OAS.
CNRR.
UN.
ONIC.


Please direct urgent actions and letters of solidarity to:

Presidencia de la RepblicaDr. lvaro Uribe Vlez,Cra. 8 No..7-26,
Palacio de Nario, Santa
fe de Bogot.Fax: (+57 1) 566.20.71

E-mail:
auribe@presidencia.gov.co

Vicepresidencia de la Repblica
Dr. Francisco Santos
Vicepresidencia de la Repblica
E-mail:
fsantos@presidencia.gov.co

Presidencia ECOPETROL S.A.
Dr. Javier Gutierrez Pemberthy

Javier.Gutierrez@ecoeptrol.com.co

Programa Presidencial de Derechos Humanos y de Derecho Internacional
Humanitario.
Dr. Carlos Franco
Calle 7 N 5-54
TEL: (+571) 336.03.11
FAX: (+57 1) 337.46.67
E- mail: cefranco@presidencia.gov.co
E-mail:
fibarra@presidencia.gov.co

Comisin Interamericana de Derechos Humanoscidhoea@...

Representante Permanente de la OIT en Colombia
Dr. Marcelo Castro Fox
Direccin: Av. 82. No. 12-18 Oficina: 504.Telfono: 623 75 86.Bogot D.C.
E-mail:
castrofox@oit.org.pe

Procuradura General de la Nacin

Dr. Edgardo Jos Maya VillaznCarrera 5 No. 15-80Santa Fe de Bogot.

Fax: (+57 1)342.97.23

E-mail:
reygon@procuraduria.gov.co;


anticorrupcion@...

Fiscala General de la Nacin

Dr. Mario Iguarn Diagonal 22 B No.52-01Santa fe de Bogot.

Fax: (+571) 570 20 00

E-mail:
contacto@fiscalia.gov.co;


denuncie@fiscalia.gov.co

Unidad de Derechos Humanos y de Derecho Internacional Humanitaria

E - mail:
elbsilva@fiscalia.gov.co

Defensora del PuebloDr. Volmar Antonio Prez Ortiz.Calle 55 No. 10-32
Santa Fe de Bogot.
Fax: (+571) 640 04 91

E-mail:secretaria_privada@hotmail.com

Organizacion Wayuu Munsurat

wayuumunsurat@yahoo.com
Dirigente Wayau - Guajira - Colombia.


http://organizacionwayuumunsurat.blogspot.com

http://organizacionwayuumunsurat.blogspot.com

Hegemonic Post-Colonial Discourse (Contemporary Colonisation)

What is terrorism? What does it mean to act in the name of peace, or to find arms in places where they don’t exist? Are they copying hegemonic discourse? All of these questions are valid and apply to violations that many people of the world suffer, above all indigenous people.


In my opinion, when culture is managed irresponsibly, and we see others judged in an irresponsible way, with no evidence, with comments that are racist and which are placed in a context as if they were made by wise elders, claiming things such as “I decide if you are worthy of your culture or not”, “you are violent and vengeful”, these people are hypocrites, because they say they are working for our people and are offering “recognition to those men and women who iron our clothes, watch over us, wash our cars, and make our handicrafts”. They do not see that this is not the way, not the right path.


We as indigenous are not only those things. We are the ones who, through our ancestors, have kept society together to the present, we are the ones who have diverse ways of expressing ourselves as daily witnesses to the idea that it is possible to live in peace with others and with mother earth, we champion the responsible use of culture, which does away with preconceptions and ideas promoted by ignorance and lack of understanding by others. We are the ones as a people who have given up so much at such a high and unfortunate cost, such as our most valued legacy, the greatness of the past, our faith, our culture, our food. What kind of sin is it to have self-determination? What kind of sin is it to protest? What sin have we committed when we accept the new nationality of peoples living on our soil? What sin have indigenous committed when we recognise each other as human beings? Why do they mistreat us when we state that something does not look right to us?


In other words, people who practice what they criticise, who judge you in the name of democracy, who say they are offering tribute, are just like the colonisers, they keep exchanging gold for trinkets and want us to give away our wealth for shiny mirrors. Amparo Ochoa has a song that expresses this very well:


And we open our homes and call them friends
But if an Indian comes back tired from working in the highlands
We humiliate him and see him as a stranger throughout his land.


You hypocrite acting like a humble person in front of a foreigner
You become arrogant with your own poor brothers
Oh, Malinche’s curse, illness of our age,
When will you leave my land….when will you free my people.


I dedicate this to all the indigenous peoples of the world, especially to my Maori brothers and sisters in Aotearoa New Zealand, my Wayuu people and to the Wichi people.


I want to share information about what is happening to our Maori brothers and sisters in Aotearoa. Please read this letter and send it on, for once make the voice heard of THOSE WHO HAVE NO VOICE.

--

David Hernández Palmar. Indígena Wayuu. Clan IIPUANA

0414 632 1312
0416 370 3539
+ 58 414 632 1312
+ 58 416 370 3539
shiaakua (at) gmail.com

"La tradición es como una anciana que sentada en el camino de los días, cuenta a las generaciones venideras lo que ha vivido".
RAMON PAZ IIPUANA 1.938

La tradition, c'est comme une vieille dame qui, assise sur le chemin des jours qui passent, raconte aux générations à venir ce qui lui a été donné de vivre.
RAMON PAZ IIPUANA, 1938

“Tradition is like a wise elder, as she sits on the road of days, she tells future generations what she has lived.”
RAMON PAZ IIPUANA 1938

The Terrorism Suppression Act and Maori Self-Determination in Aotearoa New Zealand

On 15 October, 2007, 300 police officers began a series of raids across Aotearoa, New Zealand, arresting 17 people in the cities of Ruatoki, Whakatane, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton, and Palmerston North for the first time using warrants issued under the new "Terrorism Suppression Act (TPA)”, an amendment of which is currently being debated by Parliament.

The majority of those arrested are of the Tuhoe iwi or tribe, a people who have long struggled for their recognition as a people and for their historical grievances against the New Zealand Government, also known as the Crown. The remaining detainees have been active in Anarchist, peace and environmental movements and in their communities. Name suppression has been imposed, so that only three names of detainees have been released. Tame Iti is well known in Aotearoa, New Zealand for his activism in bringing an expression of Maori self-determination before the public. The other two names released are those of Iti’s nephew Rawiri Iti and Jamie Beattie Lockett. Bail was denied for Tame Iti and Lockett due to their being considered a “significant danger to the public”.

Reports by witnesses and lawyers of the Tuhoe detainees have expressed outrage at the aggressive and violent tactics used during the raids. The police dressed in commando-style military uniforms, broke down doors, arrested suspects in front of children and in their communities, boarded school buses, and took personal property such as computers. Due to the secretive nature of the raids, important information about the charges has been suppressed.

Maori Party Co-Leader Pita Sharples stated that these actions have set back race relations 100 years. The Tuhoe Reverand Wayne Manaaki Rihari Te Kaawa states that the “events in Ruatoki during the last 48 hours are nothing new to the Tuhoe people. In the mid to late 1800s colonial forces invaded the Urewera searching for the religious leader Te Kooti employing the scorched earth policy that forced Tuhoe into starvation and subsequently confiscated much of their lands. In 1916 the Urewera was again invaded by armed police who shot and killed two people while arresting the Tuhoe religious leader Rua Kenana. Growing up in Tuhoe country as children we would often hear stories of those times, today our children will now grow up telling stories of when armed police invaded the Tuhoe Nation in 2007 and held guns frightening children and old people. These atrocities and terrorists acts by the police and the Government upon Tuhoe sovereignty must stop.”

Generally, this Act was designed to bring New Zealand law into line with Australia and other nations which have sharply curtailed basic civil liberties in the name of the fight against terrorism.

The Law Society has stated that all charges currently known fall under normal criminal law (Crimes Act) and that usage the TSA is confusing because it sets up a parallel legal process. The Green Party has issued similar statements since the TSA was first approved in 2002, arguing that this Act has a chilling effect for those involved in protest action.
The Civil Rights Defense Committee has set up a website to describe in detail what the implications of the Act and the new amendment are, to support the prisoners and their families, and to organize protest. For updated information from a Civil Rights perspective, see:

www.civilrightsdefence.org.nz

Dr. Kathryn Lehman

Related

• http://www.civilrightsdefence.org.nz