Rigoberta Menchú Tum - Advocate for Indigenous Rights in Guatemala

From WolfWikis

Troubles in Guatemala

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It is the most populated country in Central America, with a population of about ten million, two thirds of which are rural, mostly peasants living in approximately 19,000 villages. Some 80% of the population live in extreme poverty. The rift between the masses with nothing and the few who possess more than 80% of the nation's riches is constantly increasing. The national average income is US$ 75 a month, 60% of Guatemalans are illiterate, and half of the rural children die under the age of five, with malnutrition affecting 82% of them (Rural Poverty Portal)[1].

Although precise figures are not yet well known, the indigenous population are estimated as no less than 55% of the whole Guatemalan population. Most of them live in villages scattered in the western highlands and speak 21 Mayan languages in total. They are descendants of the ancient Maya, one of the higher cultures of prehispanic America. Along with the poor non-indigenous population, the Maya make up the impoverished human mass of the poorest Central American country and one of the most deprived nations in Latin America.

The indigenous people were victims to relentless economic exploitation and militaristic domination. In political terms, they were deprived of every human right. Today, the situation is in many ways the same, but improvements are trying to be made. The Guatemalan State still acts against the poor and indigenous population. It is an institution divorced from the realities of a multi-ethnic country; it has no official policies towards the indigenous community of Guatemala. On the contrary, it has numerous policies affecting indigenous rights. The constitution proclaims the right to equality, but does not proclaim the right to ethnic diversity. In terms of Guatemalan law, one may say that indigenous people do not exist.

Identity of Indigenous People

The identity of the peoples is a set of elements which define them and, in turn, ensure their self-recognition. In the case of the Mayan identity, those fundamental elements are as follows:

• Direct descent from the ancient Mayas
• Languages deriving from a common Mayan root
• A view of the world based on the harmonious relationship of all elements of the universe, in which the human being is only one additional element. The earth is the mother who gives life and maize is a sacred symbol around which Mayan culture revolves.
• A common culture based on the principles and structures of Mayan philosophy. Also a concept of authority based on ethical and moral values
• A sense of their own identity

Bimodal Agricultural Systems

There is a huge gap between the rich and poor(mainly indigenous) in Gautemala. It seems the main problem has been and is the land. There is a severe land concentration in few hands whereas a great majority of rural people has no land or just tiny plots. By 1980 Guatemala had the most skewed distribution of land in Latin America, a framework which has come to be referred to as bi-modal or dualistic. By 1983 88% of the total number of farms occupied a mere 14% of the land, and were considered sub-family farm units. These farms were unable even to provide adequate food supplies for the families who farmed them, yet alone provide economic stability (UGA)[2].

Rigoberta Menchú Tum

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Rigoberta Menchú Tum is a Guatemalan leader internationally known for her work in the promotion of the defense of human rights, peace and Indigenous Peoples' rights. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 for her work. Rigoberta Menchú was born on January 9, 1959 to a poor Indian peasant family and raised in the Quiche branch of the Mayan culture. In her early years she helped with the family farm work, either in the northern highlands where her family lived, or on the Pacific coast, where both adults and children went to pick coffee on the big plantations. Her mother was a midwife and traditional healer, and her father, Vicente, was a day laborer and community leader. Both her parents belonged to one of the many indigenous groups of Guatemala, the Quiché Maya, and spoke little Spanish. Young Menchú herself spoke only Quiché until she was 19. http://oregonstate.edu/studentaffairs/peacejam/img/RigobertaMenchu.jpg

Rigoberta knew her role in life from an early age, "I started thinking about my childhood," she writes in the autobiography, "and I came to the conclusion that I hadn't had a childhood at all. I was never a child. I hadn't been to school, I hadn't had enough food to grow properly, I had nothing. I asked myself: 'How is this possible?'". This is her account of how at an early age awareness began growing on her of the road she must take in life.

Rigoberta Menchú soon became involved in social reform activities through the Catholic Church, and became prominent in the women's rights movement while still only a teenager. Such reform work aroused opposition in influential circles, especially after a guerilla organization established itself in the area. The Menchú family was accused of taking part in guerrilla activities and Rigoberta's father, Vicente, was imprisoned and tortured for allegedly having participated in the execution of a local plantation owner. After his release, he joined the recently founded Committee of the Peasant Union (CUC). This event was greatly influential to Rigoberta Menchú Tum.

In 1979, Rigoberta joined the CUC also. Quickly, Rigoberta became increasingly active in the CUC, and taught herself Spanish as well as other Mayan languages than her native Quiche. In 1980, she was actively involved in a strike the CUC organized for better conditions for farm workers on the Pacific coast. On May 1, 1981, she was active in large demonstrations in the capital for better conditions for workers. She joined the radical 31st of January Popular Front, in which her contribution chiefly consisted of educating the Indian peasant population in resistance to massive military oppression.

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In 1981, Rigoberta Menchú had to go into hiding in Guatemala, and then flee to Mexico. That marked the beginning of a new phase in her life. She became an organizer abroad of resistance to oppression in Guatemala and the struggle for Indian peasant peoples' rights. The resulting book, called in English, I, Rigoberta Menchú, is a gripping human document which attracted considerable international attention. On at least three occasions, Rigoberta Menchú has returned to Guatemala to plead the cause of the Indian peasants, but death threats have forced her to return into exile. [3]

Nobel Peace Prize

Acceptance and Nobel Lecture, December 10, 1992

(Translation)

Your Majesties, the King and Queen of Norway, The Honorable Members of the Nobel Peace Committee, Your Excellency, the Prime Minister, Your Excellencies, Members of the Government and the Diplomatic Corps, Dear Guatemalan countrymen and women, Ladies and Gentlemen, I feel a deep emotion and pride for the honor of having been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1992. A deep personal feeling and pride for my country and its very ancient culture. For the values of the community and the people to which I belong, for the love of my country, of Mother Nature. Whoever understands this respects life and encourages the struggle that aims at such objectives.

I consider this Prize, not as a reward to me personally, but rather as one of the greatest conquests in the struggle for peace, for Human Rights and for the rights of the indigenous people, who, for 500 years, have been split, fragmented, as well as the victims of genocides, repression and discrimination.

Please allow me to convey to you all, what this Prize means to me.

In my opinion, the Nobel Peace Prize calls upon us to act in accordance with what it represents, and the great significance it has worldwide. In addition to being a priceless treasure, it is an instrument with which to fight for peace, for justice, for the rights of those who suffer the abysmal economical, social, cultural and political inequalities, typical of the order of the world in which we live, and where the transformation into a new world based on the values of the human being, is the expectation of the majority of those who live on this planet.

This Nobel Prize represents a standard bearer that encourages us to continue denouncing the violation of Human Rights, committed against the people in Guatemala, in America and in the world, and to perform a positive role in respect of the pressing task in my country, which is to achieve peace with social justice.

The Nobel Prize is a symbol of peace, and of the efforts to build up a real democracy. It will stimulate the civil sectors so that through a solid national unity, these may contribute to the process of negotiations that seek peace, reflecting the general feeling - although at times not possible to express because of fear - of Guatemalan society: to establish political and legal grounds that will give irreversible impulses to a solution to what initiated the internal armed conflict.

There is no doubt whatsoever that it constitutes a sign of hope in the struggle of the indigenous people in the entire Continent.

It is also a tribute to the Central-American people who are still searching for their stability, for the structuring of their future, and the path for their development and integration, based on civil democracy and mutual respect.

The importance of this Nobel Prize has been demonstrated by all the congratulations received from everywhere, from Heads of Government - practically all the American Presidents - to the organizations of the indigenous people and of Human Rights, from all over the world. In fact, what they see in this Nobel Peace Prize is not only a reward and a recognition of a single person, but a starting point for the hard struggle towards the achievement of that revindication which is yet to be fulfilled.

As a contrast, and paradoxically, it was actually in my own country where I met, on the part of some people, the strongest objections, reserve and indifference, for the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to this Quiché Indian. Perhaps because in Latin America, it is precisely in Guatemala where the discrimination towards the indigenous, towards women, and the repression of the longing for justice and peace, are more deeply rooted in certain social and political sectors.

Under present circumstances, in this disordered and complex world, the decision of the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize Committee to award this honorable distinction to me, reflects the awareness of the fact that, in this way, courage and strength is given to the struggle of peace, reconciliation and justice; to the struggle against racism, cultural discrimination, and hence contributes to the achievement of harmonious co-existence between our people.

With deep pain, on one side, but with satisfaction on the other, I have to inform you that the Nobel Peace Prize 1992 will have to remain temporarily in Mexico City, in watchful waiting for peace in Guatemala. Because there are no political conditions in my country that would indicate or make me foresee a prompt and just solution. The satisfaction and gratitude are due to the fact that Mexico, our brother neighbor country, that has been so dedicated and interested, that has made such great efforts in respect of the negotiations that are being conducted to achieve peace, that has received and admitted so many refugees and exiled Guatemalans, has given us a place in the Museo del Templo Mayor (the cradle of the ancient Aztecs) so that the Nobel Prize may remain there, until peaceful and safe conditions are established in Guatemala to place it here, in the land of the Quetzal.1

When evaluating the overall significance of the award of the Peace Prize, I would like to say some words on behalf of all those whose voice cannot be heard or who have been repressed for having spoken their opinions, of all those who have been marginalized, who have been discriminated, who live in poverty, in need, of all those who are the victims of repression and violation of human rights. Those who, nevertheless, have endured through centuries, who have not lost their conscience, determination, and hope.

Please allow me, ladies and gentlemen, to say some words about my country and the civilization of the Mayas. The Maya people developed and spread geographically through some 300,000 square km; they occupied parts of the South of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, as well as Honduras and El Salvador; they developed a very rich civilization in the area of political organization, as well as in social and economic fields; they were great scientists in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, agriculture, architecture and engineering; they were great artists in the fields of sculpture, painting, weaving and carving.

in the progress and benefits of science and technology, although they represented an important basis for this development.

If the indigenous civilization and the European civilizations could have made exchanges in a peaceful and harmonious manner, without destruction, exploitation, discrimination and poverty, they could, no doubt, have achieved greater and more valuable conquests for Humanity.

Let us not forget that when the Europeans came to America, there were flourishing and strong civilization there. One cannot talk about a "discovery of America", because one discovers that which one does not known about, or that which is hidden. But America and its native civilizations had discovered themselves long before the fall of the Roman Empire and Medieval Europe. The significance of its cultures forms part of the heritage of humanity and continues to astonish the learned.

I think it is necessary that the indigenous peoples, of which I am a member, should contribute their science and knowledge to human development, because we have enormous potential and we could combine our very ancient heritage with the achievements of European civilization as well as with civilizations in other parts of the world.

But this contribution, that to our understanding is a recovery of the natural and cultural heritage, must take place based on a rational and consensual basis in respect of the right to make use of knowledge and natural resources, with guarantees for equality between Government and society.

As you know, I am myself a survivor of a massacred family.

Democracy, development and modernization of a country are impossible and incongruous without the solution of these problems.

There is no doubt that this process will be long and complex, but it is no Utopia and we, the Indians, we have new confidence in its implementation.

The peoples of Guatemala will mobilize and will be aware of their strength in building up a worthy future. They are preparing themselves to sow the future, to free themselves from atavisms, to rediscover their heritage. To build a country with a genuine national identity. To start a new life.

By combining all the shades and nuances of the "ladinos", the "garífunas"6 and Indians in the Guatemalan ethnic mosaic, we must interlace a number of colors without introducing contradictions, without becoming grotesque nor antagonistic, but we must give them brightness and a superior quality, just the way our weavers weave a typical huipil blouse, brilliantly composed, a gift to Humanity.

Thank you very much. Nobel Prize. org[4]

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Annotated Bibliography

• http://www.indians.org/welker/menchu2.htm - This site provided insight into the beliefs on Menchu. It guided my research.

• I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala by Rigoberta Menchu - This is an autobiographical account of Menchu's life. This book provided background information on Menchu.

• http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1992/tum-lecture.html - This site provided info on Menchu's winning of the Nobel Peace Prize. Provided good reliable information.

• http://oregonstate.edu/studentaffairs/peacjam/img/RigobertaMenchu.html - Website provided pictures of Menchu. Nice pictures.