[Translation of the original document sent by ETNIAS, Mexico)
The South & Mesoamerican Indian Information Center
P.O. Box 28703
Oakland, California 94604
Tel 510-834-4263
FAX 510-834-4264
Press Release:
To all Indigenous Peoples of the World
To all Means of Communication
To all governments of the World
To National and International Public Opinion
The cultural domination imposed on our peoples for 500 years has impeded
the development of our own means of communication.
It has only been during the last decades, that among different
organizations and Indian peoples, the first written expressions of
communication have emerged. In spite of that fact, we realize the
terrible lack of communication we still experience today, due to, among
other causes, the lack of objectivity, and questionable truth, of the
information published in non-Indian private and public means of
communication.
This has lead to the following situation:
1. The level of continental ignorance, about specific problems and
situations such as: territorial plunder; irreversible ecosystem damage
due to irrational exploitation of natural resources and lands within
Indigenous territories; massacres; the introduction of diseases that
cause current extermination of peoples; violation to individual and
collective rights of Indigenous peoples; internal divisions of com-
munities encouraged by religious groups and sects; forced steriliza-
tion of Indigenous women; the abuse against Indigenous children due to
lack of suitable attention regarding health, nutrition, education and
housing; the trafficking of Indigenous children and human organs.
2. The deformation of our cultural roots, a situation encouraged
largely by non-Indian means of communication, situation that is
reflected in the social and racial discrimination that we experience
from the part of the dominant non-Indigenous society. To this we
should add, the lack of respect for our languages and cultural
traditions due to ignorance on the part of non-Indian societies of
our ways of thinking and behaving.
To counteract this reality, Indigenous communicators and journalists of
the Americas, and Sami Land (Sweden, Norway, Finland, and former USSR),
met at the FIRST INTERNATIONAL ENCOUNTER OF THE INDIGENOUS PRESS, and
voted to create A COMMUNICATION NETWORK AMONGST INDIGENOUS COMMUNICATORS
AND JOURNALISTS, in order to break the isolation between different
Indigenous peoples and their spokespeoples and presses, within the
Americas (ABYA YALA) as well as the World. In this way, this newly
formed NETWORK tends to convert itself, in the near future, in the FIRST
NEWS AGENCY OF INDIGENOUS PRESS IN THE WORLD.
In order to provide a follow up to this suggestions, it was agreed to
call a SECOND INTERNATIONAL ENCOUNTER OF THE INDIAN PRESS, in LIMA, PERU
in 1993. By unanimous decision it was agreed, that the coordination of
this Indigenous project of communication, be taken by the following
indigenous press organizations: Journal Sans Reserve (Canada), SAIIC
(USA), REVISTA ETNIAS (Mexico), SIGU (PANAMA), and Indigenous Unity
(COLOMBIA).
Mexico City, April the 30th, 1992.
FURTHER INFORMATION:
REVISTA ETNIAS
Madero 67-611
COL. CENTRO
Mexico, 06000, DF
Telf (5) 845-82-22
FAX# 5 -761-85-73
THE MEXICO DECLARATION
Indigenous journalists and communicators of the Americas (ABYA YALA)
and Sami Land (Sweden, Norway, Finland and ex-USSR), attending the FIRST
INTERNATIONAL ENCOUNTER OF THE INDIAN PRESS, in Mexico City from April
28 to the 30th, 1992, declare the following:
After having evaluated the role of the press, in general, and in regard
to our problems as Indigenous peoples; after analyzing, commenting and
proposing informative criteria of our news and information broadcasting,
and transmission among indigenous journalists and communicators; after
critically analyzing the effects the European invasion caused on the
Indigenous peoples of the Continent, and what the "Celebration" of the
Quincentennial means to the Indigenous peoples', and considering the
rise and development of our own means of Indigenous communication as the
first step to recuperate and strengthen our identities so weakened by
nation-states policies of integration and or extermination, and because
of the consumer ideology of the cultural monopolies
WE DECLARE:
1. That we do not agree with the image of Indigenous peoples presented
by non-Indigenous means of communication. Usually, this image does not
correspond to Indigenous daily life because, such images, are produced
by non-Indigenous communicators who ignore specific problems that our
peoples face, as well as distort our own image due to ethnocentrist
visions which misinterpret the way different Indigenous communities of
the Continent think and behave. These centralist attitudes and the lack
of adequate information reinforce the stereotyping which the means of
communication present to the society in general, in relation to the life
and history of our Indigenous peoples.
2. That the Indigenous press is the legitimate instrument of our peoples
and that it will transform the distorted images of contemporary
indigenous cultures.
3. That the Indigenous press will be the means by which to openly
inform, without commitment to governmental and private interests, about
the plunder, injustices, and trampling experienced by the Indigenous
peoples of the Continent. Also, through this Indigenous press, Indigenous
voices can alert the concerned international community about
the irreversible damage caused by transnational companies on current
ecosystems within our territories; as well as individual and collective
human rights violations of Indigenous peoples.
4. That we reject the festive nature of the so-called Celebration of the
Discovery of America, or "Encounter of Two Worlds", because, other than
remembering the massacres of our ancestors, it presupposes the
reaffirmation of economic, political, social and cultural dependent
links of Indigenous peoples to national societies in general, and in
relation to the hegemony of economically and militarily powerful
countries.
5. Also, we reject the use of funds allocated for these kind of
festivities because it only serves to justify indigenist and neocolonial
policies of governments throughout the Americas, and it does not help to
concretely solve the structural problems which the Indigenous peoples
and other impoverished sectors of these societies in this Continent live
under.
6. We manifest our strong protest to the Mexican Government for
presenting obstacles in the issuing of visas in favor of Indigenous
press delegates attending this First Continental Meeting of the
Indigenous Press. This problem was carried on by Mexican consulates and
embassies in the American Continent, particularly consulates in Central
and South America; as well as by the lack of confidence of immigration
officials in Mexico City in accepting the legitimate origin of legal
identity of Indigenous delegates.
Because of all these,
WE DEMAND
1. That all means of communication provide space to the free
expression of the Indian press, because it is the legitimate voice
of the Indigenous peoples. These spaces will be coordinated by
Indigenous journalists and Indigenous communicators who belong to
indigenous journals.
2. Equal treatment to Indigenous and non-Indigenous journalists
during the development of their professional tasks.
3. Freedom of movement of Indigenous journalists and communicators
throughout the countries of the Americas and the World during the
development of their informative tasks.
4. Respect for the physical integrity of Indigenous journalists and
communicators throughout the different countries of the Continent.
Mexico City, April 30, 1992
Attending Indigenous press organizations:
Among the participants were publication coordinators of the
following newspapers, journals:
Aidesep (Peru)
COOPA (Costa Rica)
CHIRAPAQ (Peru)
SANS RESERVE,Communications Autochtones (Montreal, Canada)
GRUMIN-Grupo-Mulher (Brazil)
SAIIC (Oakland, California, USA)
OYENDU-CIDOB (Bolivia)
Nuestra Palabra, Instituto Nacional Indigenista (non-Indian), (Iztapalapa, Mx)
SIGU (Kuna, Panama)
Unidad Indigena, ONIC (Colombia)
El Teque-Mixteco (Fresno, California, USA)
COTLA (Canoga Park, CA, USA)
TV-Canal "6 de Julio" (Mexico)
BINIGULAZAA (Oaxaca, Mex)
ETNIAS (Mexico)
SEJECTO, La Voz del Indio (Costa Rica)
AUKIN VOZ MAPUCHE (CHILE)
M.A.Y.A.S. (Guatemala)
Cultura Huichol (Mexico)
El Financiero, Sistema Nacional de Informacion Indigena (Mexico)
Consejo Nacional de la Cultura Maya (Mexico)
Sami Radio (Sweden)
Casa de la Unidad del Pueblo (Mexico)
Rutjozil (Guatemala)
INFORCOOPA (COSTA RICA)
Visitor: Elisa Avendano, AD-MAPU (Chile)
Report by SAIIC.
First International Meeting of the Indian Press.
Mexico, April 28-29-30, 1992
First International Meeting of the Indian Press
The Museum of the City of Mexico,
Pino Suarez, Mexico City
Guillermo Delgado-P.
The South & Mesoamerican Indian Information Center
P.O. Box 28703
Oakland, CA 94604
Fax 510-834 4264
Thirty three representatives of the Americas, with the exception of
Argentina, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Honduras, and Nicaragua,
attended a three-day meeting with the purpose of evaluating the
situation of autonomous Indigenous presses and their current networking.
Carlos Briceto, of "Desenmascaremos el 92" [Let's unmask 1992] from
Madrid, Spain, and a Sami representative of Sami Radio [Sweden]
participated during the three day event as well. Messages of
support were received by the organizers, Genaro Bautista, Natividad
Gutierrez, Zobeyda Quinones and Otilio Atanasio, board members of
ETNIAS, an Indian publication based in Mexico City.
The main resolutions, which have been previously presented (see
above), emphasize the need to constitute an active networking amongst
indigenous peoples of the Americas, the Sami people, and all
indigenous communication organizations who respect the autonomy and
self-determination of Indigenous peoples of the Abya Yala Continent.
In an interview with SAIIC, Genaro Bautista, said: "The meeting was a
success. Although some delegates could not arrive on time, most of them
let us know they were supportive of the Indigenous information
networking. They saw it as a reality which will be maintained alive
because of the interest of the Indigenous peoples". Natividad
Gutierrez, a very active member of the ETNIAS team shared her opinion
with SAIIC stressing that: "The Continental communication of Indigenous
peoples is a need that can no longer wait, Indigenous peoples have to
share experiences, and be supportive of our presses in order to
disseminate important information".
After the three days of discussions it was agreed that the members would
maintain contact and work together with CONIC, the Continental
Indigenous Coordinating Commission on 500 Years of Indian Resistance, of
which the general assembly was informed in detail. All delegates, as
potential journalists, will act as responsible correspondents in their
own countries, and will distribute the information to all participating
members and other Indigenous journalists interested in becoming part of
this Continental network.
In the U.S., SAIIC will continue to play a communicator role, and will
channel membership in this indigenous press Continental organization.
The presence of major Indigenous newspapers, magazines and journals was
missed, and delegates wished to have had the chance to meet representatives
of The Taller de Historia Oral Andina (Aymara, Bolivia), The Lakota Times
(USA), Yuwitaya Lakota, The Tonantzin Land Institute (New Mexico, USA),
Gary S. Trujillo, of the NativeNet email system, and other established
Indigenous press and journalists.
Further information: ETNIAS, Madero 67-611, Centro, Mexico, DF. 06000.