March, April, 1993
Year V, No. 2
AIMS OF THE INTERNATIONAL MAYA LEAGUE: TO REWRITE THEIR
HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY
by Carlos Quesada
Mentioning concepts like Reulewal Kiej, Abya Yala, Cosmic
Universe, or even more, to perceive that the Universe,
humanity and nature form an inseparable unity, does not
seem to correspond to our Western interpretation of
reality. However, this is not so for those who belong to the
Maya culture. BRECHA had the opportunity to understand this
during an interview with some members of the International
Maya League. They broadly explained fundamental features and
principles of their world view, their philosphy about the
world and life, as well as how they think about Guatemala
and its conflicts.
To Daniel Matul, one of the most important aims of the
International Maya League is to contribute to the return of
the Maya's balance; a balance that was interrupted in 1524,
year of the Spanish invasion. The invasion marks the current
Guatemalan problems.
The International Maya League is an institution that
promotes, preserves and informs about the culture of their
Mayan ancestors. A culture that is alive in the hearts of
more than 8 million people, currently living in Guatemala.
This cultural institution reached spreading out to other
places, among which Costa Rica, and 8 states within the
United States, where they since 1987 are carrying out
activities within three large work areas: teaching, research
and services.
Unlike popular movements or others within the western
culture, this cultural organization organically does not
define duties, but maintains the original Counsils that do
not give rise to 'leaders', but instead look to comply with
what is written in the holy book The Popul Wuj, [which]
states that all can participate in the creation activity,
preparations or in the decision talking.
Members of the International Maya League consider that
problems such as racism, repression, marginalization,
poverty and others lived by the Guatemalan society are not
only the result of the last 30 years, but also of the
military occupation by Pedro de Alvarado in 1524, who in the
name of God committed one of the most cruel genocides known
by humanity, and that shamelessly stayed hidden during
nearly five centuries.
The Role of Women and Thought of Mayan Culture
Women's social standing is of the first order, that
important, as legitimately they maintained the culture,
language and clothing. "More than typical colours," says
Daniel Matul, "the clothes of our women are a treasure of
symbols in which the people preserve the keys to communal
memory."
They told us that silence and sound are cardinal aspects of
their philosophy. The silence they have lived is not a mere
relflection of passiveness, as someone who is 'reading'
Mayan society with western eyes could mistakenly think.
Silence for a Mayan means constant reflection, a constant
foreshadowing of the society they wish and for which they
fight. Soon the sound (speech) will present to the world the
result of the contact with creation that they are meditating
on now.
In the same way, and just as it appears in their
mathematical symbols, Zero is a seed, it is the beginning of
a process that does not end, instead it is a process that,
just as the universe expands and contracts itself, creates
and reproduces itself. Everything that stays outside the
Zero also fits into it, is the same as a seed, it dies and
revives. In the seed the characteristics of the future plant
can be discovered. "Isn't it like life itself? Isn't it like
society?" they interrogated.
According [to] the Maya League, before the invasion they
lived in balance, the military occupation generated
imbalance. Now trying to achieve balance again, their fights
personify Maya essence. "We are warriors," they affirm, "but
not in the western sense of conventional and devastating
wars, causing hunger, misery and submission."
"We intervene in the conflict to humanize them, to solve
society's problems, to restore the lost balance," they
added.
In their culture there are no problems with racism. They
stressed that repression and dsicrimination, of Guatemala
today, were not inaugerated by this government nor by the
ones before, but it comes from hundreds of years ago, and
therefore they recognize how difficult it is to return to a
balance.
They consider that one of the key aspects that the conflict
has to solve is the contradiction state-Maya nation,
Maya nation-state, which means that taking this
contradiction into account is equivalent to taking into
account, for the first time, millions of persons that up to
now have been outside the decision making of the Guatemalan
State.
Position with Regard to the Armed Conflict
With regard to the 30-year armed conflict, in which
thousands of people died and thousands disappeared, the
International Maya League considers that there are three
basic elements that can make a solution of the conflict
feasible: capacity, humanistic vocation and political will.
Hatred does not exist, neither does resentment, as they are
spiritually untouched due to the universality of their
cosmic conception. "We are willing to build the first
Guatemalan republic, as the invaders could not vitalize the
state spiritually," expressed Matul.
Lastly they expressed their expectations of the peace
conversations that were initiated by the National
Revolutionary Unity of Guatemala (URNG) and the government
of President Serrano Elias.
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For more information on the International Maya League,
contact:
CODEHUCA
Apartado Postal 189
Paseo de los Estudiantes
San Jose, Costa Rica
*****
This article is re-posted with the permission of CODEHUCA.
Debra Guzman
Human Rights Coordinator
APC/ComLink (Germany)