>From WORLD PERSPECTIVES magazine PO Box 3074 Madison Wi. 53704
INDIGENOUS VS. QUINCENNTENIAL
The following comes from the BBC:
Delegations of indigenous groups from Alaska and Canada to
Chile met for a week in Guatemala. They started a campaign
entitled: Five Hundred Years of Indigenous and Popular
Resistance" to coincide with next year's anniversary of the
voyage of Christopher Columbus.
They also discussed common problems, such as land, human
rights and the destruction of their languages and cultures. Ed
Burnstick(?), a Cree Indian leader from Canada, said the
arrival of the Europeans is no cause for celebration: "When
Columbus first landed here, indigenous peoples were here.
Basically, Spain and other governments are celebrating the
'year of the discovery of the Americas.` How can you
'discover` a place when there is already somebody there?."
Guatemala is an appropriate place for the meeting, the second
of its kind. The majority of Guatemala's population is
indigenous, but it has very little representation in the
political system. In the last 30 years, tens of thousands of
civilians have been killed in what is considered the most
brutal counter-insurgency in Latin America. The killings still
go on. Human rights groups have expressed concern that the
organizers of the conference could suffer reprisals in the
future.