Oaxaca: Cultural Caravan in Defense of Mother Earth and Our Territories

Editor’s note: This caravan is being called for by the Indigenous Rights Defense Committee (CODEDI), an autonomous and anti-capitalist organization comprised of 45 indigenous communities in Oaxaca. The caravan will end with an event held on a reclaimed coffee plantation, now a self-sustaining center promoting indigenous autonomy.

To the People of Mexico

To the Media

Indigenous peoples are profoundly connected to Mother Earth though planting, harvest, communal work, food and education.  That is to say, their entire cultural identity is connected to their territory, since for all of history, that is where they have lived.  

At these moments in the communities of Oaxaca, a constant threat of territorial dispossession exists in order to implement mining, hydroelectric and wind farm projects.  More recently, the special economic zones, far from benefiting the communities, harm their form of life.  These death projects only bring misery and illnesses, and cause the rupture of the social fabric.  The current governments implement structural reforms that facilitate the entrance of transnational corporations effecting in this way the local economy.  The water is privatized.  The cost of electric energy is very high effecting the poorest sectors of the population.  Health services in the communities are terrible.  The lack of infrastructure makes it so not all children have access to education.  The fields are devastated from the entrance of genetically modified seeds, fertilizers and other chemicals that the government sends to the people through their assistance programs.  All of this is taking place in the communities while businessmen become millionaires at the expense of the people.

This year, the territory of Oaxaca was beaten by natural disasters like the strong rains after the earthquakes.  These events demonstrated the lack of preparation of the government to respond before such events, but also that they don’t care about the people, but only act as they do during election years.  These events also demonstrated the solidarity and organization of the people to move forward supporting each other mutually amongst themselves.  The help didn’t only arrive in the form of supplies, but also in the form of communal work.  The people came together to offer voluntary work to help rescue what little remained standing and to prevent the machinery of the government from turning it into trash.  While the people helped themselves amongst themselves, the government only planted fear and prevented the reconstruction to be carried out.   

As people of Oaxaca, we see in our cultural expressions a form of resistance.  Thus, from the regions we mobilize ourselves into a caravan-march that will begin in our territories and will conclude in the Finca Alemania where we will share music, dance, poetry, sports, food, theater, fruits of the land and products elaborated by the hands of the campesinos.

We reject these neoliberal policies implemented by these governments at the service of the capitalist system.  We will not permit the privatization of of life.  For this reason, we invite everyone to join these work days of struggle and resistance that we will carry out December 1-8.  We will gather in Santa Cruz Park in the bays of Huatulco at five in the evening on December 1st where we will initiate a caravan-march toward our organizational center, the Finca Alemania (CODEDI).

No to the megaprojects in our territories!

Presentation with life of the 43 normalistas of Ayotzinapa!

End to the criminalization of social protest!

No to the structural reforms!

For the defense of our rights and our territories.  Not one step back!

Centro de Capacitación Finca Alemania CODEDI, 20 de noviembre de 2017.