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04.05.2004
Mapuche
Organizations and Regional Entities reject APEC summit in their
ancestral territory
In Opposition to Free
Market Globalization and Neo Colonialism,
We Say: No to APEC
(Mapuche Nation for the
Self Determination of Indigenous Peoples and Nations)
Contrary
to the claims made by governments, businesses and transnational
corporations about economic globalization, we do NOT understand
globalization as a world of opportunity. We understand it as a world
of exclusion, marginalization, oppression, ex-appropriation; a world
where indigenous people are displaced and their land and natural
resources over-exploited; a world in which big corporations use their
instruments the World Bank, the IMF, the WTO, the FTAA, Free Trade
Agreements and APEC to exercise imperialist power - a power which in
many cases transcends that of government and the state to control
markets and trade.
The
current globalization of free trade promotes a neo-colonialism, which,
in contrast to the colonialism of yesterday, affects not only
indigenous people and nations but vast sectors of the world's
population. In other words, in this new system the big corporations
are devouring their own colonies.
The
globalization of a free market economy, the standardization and
homogenization of production and the fixing of world prices in
economies which are at unequal stages of economic and technological
development is leading very many social groups - among them indigenous
peoples - to fall victim to the new economic model. For example:
control over food production is lost, increasing privatization
benefits transnational companies; mono-agricultural policies are
implemented which have terrible consequences for environmental
degradation; a market which over-exploits natural resources is
consolidated; repressive, militarily conceived strategies are
implemented which seek to benefit the multinationals by controlling
and destroying social and indigenous movements; and finally, policies
of assimilation are followed which attack the rights and cultures of
indigenous people and nations and lead to corporate power, corporate
transnational looting, and social and environmental disaster.
We
question whether the colonialist states which are part of the Asia
Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) and of other multi-lateral
organizations have the authority to subscribe to international trade
agreements on commerce and investment, given that they have
continually denied the rights, land titles and autonomy of indigenous
people and nations. Such is the case in Chile, which hosts APEC in
2004. In Chile the rights of indigenous peoples are comprehensively
violated. A racist and discriminatory refusal to recognise their
identity and their collective rights is driven by state policies and
motivated by the desire for absolute control on the part of powerful,
groups such as: domestic companies and transnational corporations.
In
their just struggle for the recuperation of their land and their
dignity, and the right to exercise political, civil and social rights,
the Mapuche people are the victims of constant, systematic and planned
violations of their human rights. Police aggression is designed to
jail and persecute Mapuche leaders. At the same time, in both Chile
and Argentina, the Mapuche people are losing both their identity and
their natural resources as a result of the actions of the
transnational corporations (mining, oil, forestry and hydroelectric
power companies) and big landowners who are in close alliance with and
receive the strong support of the Chilean and Argentine States. In the
name of the reigning economic model, these same States oppress all
those who seek to defend their rights.
Faced
with these circumstances, we are aware that the current resistance to
a globalized free market model propelled by transnationals must not
lose sight of those injustices which are taking place within "nation
states" themselves. An anti - globalization movement which
denounces only the global protagonists runs the risk of tacitly
legitimating those colonialist and exploitative states whose historic
base has always been the displacement of indigenous people and nations.
NO
TO APEC!
APEC
is the means by which its 21 member countries intend to implement
standards which are internationally accepted as likely to improve
security and facilitate the commercial activities of neo-liberalism.
In fact, this is exactly what was agreed during the Second Conference
on Secure Trade in the APEC region, which took place in Chile in the
beginning of March.
Mapuche
organizations and regional groups reject all those practices or forms
of globalization which systematically exclude, ignore or marginalize
indigenous people and nations and any social sector. APEC is another
instrument which will do this.
The
current oppression of indigenous people and nations across Latin
America is closely linked to the aspects of globalization reflected in
APEC, among them the modernization of agriculture, forestry, fishing
and mining; export-oriented economic policies; agricultural policies
that promote the extensive use of chemical and bio-chemical products;
energy policies focussed on the use of oil and big hydroelectric dams.
These are the clearest examples of how globalization impacts on
Mapuche people in both Chile and Argentina.
One
of the most important meetings during Chile's year long hosting of
APEC will take place during the 4th and 5th of June at the very heart
of the Mapuche nation's historic territory, in the towns of Pucon and
Villarrica and at the centre of the Araucania Region (850 kilometers
south of Santiago, on the shores of Lake Villarrica). The meeting will
be attended by Ministers of Trade and commercial representatives from
the following 21 countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, the
Peoples Republic of China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea,
Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the
Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States,
and Vietnam. They will meet to establish economic and trade policies,
and plan treaties and accords behind the backs of their people.
For
this reason, the voice of the people who actually live on this land
must be heard. In order to achieve self-determination we must call a
halt to the false presentation of our history and culture as mere 'folklore',
we must show the representatives of APEC governments and the groups of
businessmen which they serve that we do exist, that we are here, and
that it is possible to build a just and equal world with an economic
system that allows the participation and the decisions of its peoples.
We
are calling on Mapuche organizations and regional entities, indigenous
people and nations, and all people and social organizations (local,
national and international) that aspire to shape a just society
founded on a respect for life and for cultural diversity to attend
this meeting during the 4th and 5th of June and to show their
opposition to the new colonialism, whose instrument (APEC) is
attempting to place itself like a seed into the heart of our land.
We
are calling on you to join us, to intervene at this meeting and to
express your views.
Mapuche
Forum
Coordination of Mapuche Organizations and Territorial Entities
E-mail: Foromapuche2004@yahoo.es
http://www.mapuexpress.net/contraapec.htm
Mapuche International
Link
Enlace Mapuche Internacional
6 Lodge Street,
Bristol. BS1 5LR, United Kingdom.
Tel/Fax +44-117-927 9391
e-mail: mil@mapuche-nation.org
http://www.mapuche-nation.org
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