Message Delivered by the Mamas Kogis To the Shamanic and Ecological Association of Colombia.
INDIAN PEOPLES AND THEIR PARTICIPATION IN NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS.
The same sun illuminates us
Your need is my need
Both of us feel thirst
Both of us need shelter
Both of us feel hunger
Let us be done with our individualisms
and think of the collective need
TERRITORY AND ENVIRONMENT.
Territory is a space designated by the spiritual parents before the material existence of the universe. It is the place wherein the spiritual laws and principles that keep balance are consecrated. The fulfillment of these laws and responsibilities ensures the preservation of the natural order. The sacred character of territory justifies the right of indigenous peoples to complete autonomy in managing our territory.
Reserves, protected areas, and natural parks have been conserved by our
communities, and nothing should be superimposed upon them. The right of indigenous
people to freedom of determination regarding our ancestral territory -- our
archeological legacy, our sacred sites, and the spaces that hold our cultural
tradition, on the surface and under the ground and even in the air -- is essential
to maintaining the cosmic vision of our territory. Any decision about programs
and projects in these territories must be determined by indigenous peoples themselves.
We urge governments and other entities to recognize our rights regarding natural
resources, biodiversity, and the traditional knowledge associated with these
things. This will prevent the realization of actions in indigenous territories
that do not have the approval of the communities.
ECOLOGY.
We make an urgent call to governments and to all sectors of the planet
that they take firm actions regarding these emergency matters, that they do
not continue with the models of excessive production and that they return to
the natural law of using only those resources that are necessary for the maintenance
of the human species.
Humanity needs to re-establish its original relations with the laws of Mother
Nature. For this reason, taking Agenda 21 signed at the Rio de Janeiro convention
to be presently the most representative document of a global character for the
preservation of the environment, we call for the swift direct application of
effective action. We reaffirm, as recognized in Agenda 21; that a cause of the
present problems of the planet is the focus on technological development. The
indigenous concept of development is based on Original Law, which tells us we
should receive the fruits of Mother Earth with an attitude of gratefulness rather
than of exploitation. A change of attitude about misunderstood development is
urgent. We urge a halt, a pause on the road, in order to reflect and make decisions
with more wisdom.
We send a call to governments and scientists all over the planet for an awakening
of consciousness and humanity, since we are now in a critical moment, a time
of decay in which humanity can make the decision for life or for extinction.
We make a special invitation to the scientific community and to multinationals
to work in concert to reformulate the model of development.
Nevertheless, in our experience we have witnessed a preoccupation with taking economic advantage of our traditional knowledge. We ask that respect for our peoples be demonstrated by not using our culture and tradition for commercial purposes. Our stay on this planet must not be used for commercial or special interests. For this reason, it is important to guarantee the protection, and to denounce and control the violations associated with patents and brand names, of our knowledge, sacred objects, symbols, names, and biogenetic resources.
OUR ORIGINAL LAW TELLS US IN PRINCIPLE THAT EACH ELEMENT OF THE NATURAL WORLD HAS ITS RESPONSIBLE MOTHER OR FATHER, AND THEREFORE NO ONE CAN BE ITS MASTER.
In order to continue our work to conserve the environment and to repair affected ecosystems, it is necessary to strengthen our peoples and to facilitate the organization and recuperation of our ancestral territories, especially sacred sites and the so-called archeological sites. For example, in Guatemala, there exist approximately 68,480 places that are today occupied by construction, and in Colombia, an important sacred site, Teyuna -- miscalled the "Lost City" -- is today dedicated to tourist exploitation.
If we may be permitted, we ask that the white man fulfill his own Original
Law; the tablets of Moses.
End the spirit of domination over other nations and reduce the exploitation
of the natural world.
What our ancestors left us is for the purpose of generating life, while the
inventions of man are made only for facilitating our activities, or even for
domination, subjugation, and finishing off. This is why we ask you to reflect
on the results of the invention of the great machines. We see that they have
destroyed the Earth, the air, the water, and even human life itself. It has
become impossible to reestablish the natural course of natural phenomena, and
human beings find ourselves condemned to live in a world of suffering and desperation.
EDUCATION
Education must be a tool to teach human beings the principles and responsibilities to function in and maintain the natural order. It is critical for survival that the present system, focused on the material, must change, because it generates ethical values that are contrary to Original Law. The natural vision sees that the true function and responsibility of humanity is to maintain the balance of the world. We ask that the educational system reform ancestral knowledge in accordance with Original Law. Thus the white man can significantly reduce the technological advances that degrade Mother Earth, and he can begin to transmit and strengthen the fundamental spiritual principle of respect and care of Nature, and construct harmonious forms of development and living together.
SELF DETERMINATION
We invite international organizations and all the governments of the world
to value our traditional knowledge and our system of living together; to conserve
our territorial rights; and to make use of our forms of administration in the
use and conservation of natural resources and biodiversity.
In order to strengthen the participation of Indian peoples in the world agenda,
so that we may take part in the great decisions of the planet, [we propose the
creation of] a representative organism of international character, with its
representatives designated by traditional indigenous authorities and its function
based on Original Law.
This organism would be a means of interchange with bilateral and multilateral
organizations, and through it we could participate in Agenda 21. It could strengthen
our local communities and the unity of indigenous people. In order to fulfill
our self-determination, we ask the United Nations, in the context of the International
Decade of the Indigenous Peoples of the World, to share with the world the sacred
message of the Original Law sent by our traditional authorities.
PEACE
They pulled off our leaves,
They took off our branches,
They cut our trunk,
But they couldn't touch our roots,
And from there our strength returns.
We the Indian peoples, out of our thousands of years of existence, offer
to the discussion of peace in Colombia our conviction that Peace cannot exist
without the Original Law. The ability of different sectors of Colombian society
to live in peace depends directly upon the concept of living in community under
norms of sustainable life. It is urgent to work for peace, not just a peace
written on treaties, but a real peace born of a new state of consciousness about
life -- a peace not only among human beings but also in our relation with the
natural world. Otherwise there may be peace among human beings, but there will
be no survivors.
For us, peace means not simply the absence of war. Peace is a form of acting,
of knowing, of creating, of listening, of thinking, of speaking, and of living
in harmony with nature and its laws. Peace comes from within us, and it can
be experienced only by the capacity of the heart to remain open, serene, and
free of fear. Each person projects upon the world the peace or the discord that
he or she has within. We cannot create peace in the world if we are in conflict
spiritually, with hatreds, doubts, angers, or fears. May all arise, may not
even one or two groups remain behind. For we are all brothers, like fingers
on a hand.
May the dawn come, may the aurora arrive,
May all people have Peace and be happy.
Now is the time that this work be finished.
May they play the great melodies, May they play the small melodies,
May my dancers be set loose, May my prisoners be set free.
They are my valleys, they are my mountains.
We, the Indians who have reunited in UMUMUKUNU (Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta), declare ourselves to be the guardians of peace in all of our territories; and though we have diverse tongues, cosmovisions, and cultural and spiritual practices, we have one single Original Law.
Asociación Chamánica y Ecológica de Colombia. Personería Jurídica 1388.
Spreading and supporting the knowledge of the Peoples and cultures of Pachamama [Mother Earth]