Chile

Mapuche women step up

Rocío Alorda

11/10/2009

Opinión

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Life in Araucania is tense and distressing. Residents in this southern Chilean region, where 30 percent of the Mapuche population lives, say the police routinely violate their rights and face constant threats of losing their lands to transnational companies.

"For us, the land is very important," said historian and Mapuche leader Millaray Painemal. "Mapuche means people of the earth, and our struggle is to recover the lands we've historically had that are now in the hands of plantation owners or transnational companies."

This historical demand to recover communal lands is at the root of a bitter struggle with the state, which has responded with repression.

Social protests criminalized

In the most recent report by the United Nations on human rights in Chile, published in September, the Special Rapporteur for Indigenous Rights, James Anaya, said the government's lack of mechanisms to fulfill the rights of "these ancestral lands or repair the lands that were taken from the indigenous peoples without their consent has contributed to a confrontational environment, in which some members of the Mapuche communities have been left without adequate options, and as a result, opted for social protest."

Anaya added that even though there is "an important level of attention by the government of Chile on indigenous issues ... there are still big challenges that the state must address to fulfill its duties to effectively protect and promote the human rights and fundamental liberties of the indigenous, in particular, the right to land and territory, and policies on conflicts tied to the return of Mapuche lands."

"We live in the area where the Mapuche conflict is most pronounced," said Dominica Quilapi, president of the women´s Mapuche Organization Rayen Voygue, in the Bio-Bio region. "We see up front what is really happening, how we are abused by them, now that they have totally militarized our lands, with communities full of police and special forces," she said. "In our organization, there are members whose relatives have been arrested for unjust reasons, so those things hurt because you know it wasn't correct, but it's impossible to prove it in a fight against the big guys."

The conflict illustrates how Chile, which ratified International Labor Organizations Convention 169 on indigenous peoples, is not fulfilling its commitments.

"We´re at conflict with the government, which on one hand recognizes some rights — like ratifying Convention 169 — but does not give any guarantees that it will fulfill it," said Painemal. "So we find ourselves with a government that is only so-called democratic because it represses and criminalized the Mapuche social movement. We're in a process of rearticulating our efforts because we are a diverse people and there are broad movements and within that diversity, there are women's organizations."

Diverse organizations

There are two kinds of groups within the broad spectrum of Mapuche organizations: traditional and functional.

The traditional groups generally tackle the communities´ social and cultural issues. Since 1993, however, functional groups have been operating after the Indigenous Law was passed, which promoted these organizations as a bridge between the community and the government.

"Before there was only a traditional structure in the communities, but now there can be two or three groups in the same community ... so people can access benefits from the state," said Painemal, noting that with so many groups, the community can be easily divided.

But the groups coincide with their demand to be recognized as a people in Chile´s Constitution. Yet there are organizations whose priorities are centered on improving education and health care.

Quilapi says there are many organizations that focus on access to government programs.

"At the organizational level, it´s a good thing that there are new communities, but speaking with the women, I realize that there are many communities that are only there for the benefits, such as scholarships and projects. However, I realize that some of the women have learned that this is not enough, and now they value their family names, their identities, and now they defend the land and causes of the Mapuche people." Quilapi added. She said women´s participation has been key to defend Mapuche lands (and get their lands back).

Women take a greater role

Women´s leadership is recognized as an important part of maintaining the Mapuche language and culture. In the Araucania region, there are two women´s Mapuche groups —Weichafe Domo and Newen Domo, the latter an umbrella group of six grassroots organizations.

"I think that women have been fundamental to the strengthening of the traditional mixed organizations," said Painemal, who is also the director of the National Association of Rural Indigenous Women of Chile. "Obviously, we have specific demands and that´s what led us to organize because sometimes demands could be very general, and women Mapuche demands are left at the wayside. We also said that if we´re going to join a liberation process, it has to be along with the women and not leaving them on the outside. That´s the idea: that we continue getting stronger, working on different issues, training women and also changing the relationships there are, now that we can´t ignore that there is also machismo within these communities, and sometimes women don't participate in political processes."

Women Mapuche leaders, even though they do fight for their people´s general cause, are also struggling to overcome historical repression against their gender.

"We have had to fight for women to know which international treaties there are," said the Rayen Voygue president, referring to the United Nations´ Convention on the Elimination on All Forms of Discrimination against Women. "That´s why the role of women´s organizations is important so we can empower ourselves with these instruments."

Source: Latinamerica Press. http://www.lapress.org/index.asp

https://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/136943