Women’s Activism and International Indigenous Rights

Faculty Curator Series organized by Maylei Blackwell, Associate Professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies and Gender Studies

HE PAST TWO DECADES HAVE plore the intersection of women’s specifically to engage the UN witnessed an dramatic rights and indigenous rights and have developed new indigenous Tincrease in international reflect on women’s role globally. solidarities and policy advocacy indigenous rights activism on the This series will focus specifical- strategies—as well as trained global scene. Drawing on pri- ly on leaders in the Continental activists to participate in the UN or decades of indigenous rights Network of Indigenous Women Permanent Forum on Indigenous within the international system, (Enlace de Mujeres Indígenas Issues. Critically, this transnation- activists worked tirelessly to draft or ECMI), a regional network of al network not only orients activ- and pass the UN Declaration on indigenous women activists com- ists toward the international arena the Rights of Indigenous People in ing from twenty-six organizations but it also provides a critical space 2007. Because indigenous women in nineteen countries throughout for exchange to build indigenous leaders have been key in leading the Americas. Founded in 1994, women’s political identities and the charge for indigenous rights its growth reflects the emergence forms of political analysis that as well as women’s rights leading, of indigenous mass mobilizations they take back to their commu- many are now asking whether and social movements across nities. Through this multi-scaled we are witnessing the (re)emer- and the Caribbean activism, they localize a wide gence of indigenous feminism at throughout the 1990s as well as range of strategies against vio- the global level. In conjunction the development of a specific set of lence against indigenous women, with the observance of the World gendered demands surrounding in- militarization, ecological de- Conference on Indigenous Peoples digenous autonomy in the region. struction (mining and resource next fall in New York City (which While some tie the interna- extraction), intellectual property will include only governmental tionalization of rights discourse rights, racism against indigenous representatives since it is a meet- to neoliberalism and global eco- people, and the need for women’s ing of the General Assembly), nomic restructuring, others have human rights within their own “Women’s Activism and Interna- discussed how transnational social communities. tional Indigenous Rights” will ex- movement networks developed

6 FALL 2014 Curated by Maylei Blackwell, collaborative research document- book in western women and gen- Associate Professor, Department ing cultural continuity and polit- der history. Her research focuses of Chicano/a Studies at UCLA, ical mobilization with Zapotecs on indigenous women’s organizers “Women’s Activism and Interna- and Mixtecs from both the north- in Mexico, Latin American femi- tional Indigenous Rights” will ern sierra as well as the central nist movements, and sexual rights explore the intersection of wom- valleys of Oaxaca as well as the activists, all of whom are involved en’s rights and indigenous rights increasingly Mayan diaspora from in cross-border organizing and and will reflect on women’s role Guatemala in Los Angeles. In ad- community formation. globally. dition, she is a noted oral histori- Two of the speakers are Mar- Blackwell accompanied indig- an and author of ¡Chicana Power! garita Gutiérrez Romero (shown enous social movements for the Contested Histories of Feminism in above), who spoke on October past sixteen years developing a the Chicano Movement (U of Texas 22. A video will be available on research expertise on the intersec- Press, 2011), which was a finalist YouTube soon. The second speaker tion of women’s rights and indig- for the Berkshire Conference of is Sonia Henríquez, who will be enous rights within Mexico and Women Historians Book Prize and speaking on November 20 in the California. More recently she has named by the Western Historical from 4 to 6 pm in the YRL confer- conducted community-based and Association as one of the best ence room.

UCLA Center for the Study of Women 7 Margarita en’s rights--for indigenous peoples to establish a system of regional Gutierrez Romero during this time. For decades, ac- autonomy, and co-founded Enlace From Chiapas to the UN: Women in tivists worked tirelessly on behalf Continental de Mujeres Indígenas the Struggle for Indigenous Rights of a UN Declaration on the Rights de las Américas (ECMI), which “Indigenous peoples are being of Indigenous People, which was includes organizations in twen- permanently alienated from our passed in 2007. ty-six countries in North, Central, being. We are being stripped, Blackwell selected her as a and . “The powerful ripped off, and plundered of our speaker for this series because of growth of [this organization],” values, our spirituality, our spirits, Gutiérrez Romero’s long history says Blackwell, “reflects the emer- even of our gods,” says Margarita of activism on behalf of indig- gence of indigenous mass mobi- Gutiérrez Romero (shown second enous people, which began in lizations and social movements from left above), an Nha-ñhu activ- community radio and continued across Latin America and the ist who will be speaking at UCLA as she studied journalism at the Caribbean throughout the 1990s on October 22. She has been National Autonomous University as well as the development of a involved in the movement for two of Mexico. Part of the indigenous specific set of gendered demands decades, a time period that has rights movement that burgeoned surrounding indigenous autonomy 1 seen a dramatic increase in indige- in the early 1990s, Gutiérrez was in the region.” nous rights activism on the global a founding member of the Nation- ECMI’s member organizations scene. Indigenous women have al Plural Indigenous Assembly for are committed to training, re- been key leaders in these efforts Autonomy (ANIPA), which advo- search, and advocacy in areas in- to ensure rights--including wom- cated for constitutional reform cluding nonviolence and ancestral

8 FALL 2014 justice; territory, environment, cli- in the demands was this request: she was President of the Interna- mate change and food sovereign- “Among the public resources tional Instruments Commission ty; international law instruments; which belong to the indigenous for Continental Network of Indig- intellectual property and biodiver- peoples there should be a special enous Women. She is currently sity; health and spirituality: sexual consignment for women, admin- President of the State Coordinator and reproductive health; political istered and managed by them. of Indigenous Women Organiza- participation; indigenous intercul- This will give them the economic tions in Vinajel, Chiapas, Mexico. tural education; and racism and capacity so that they can begin In that capacity, she participated discrimination. In 1995, the group their own productive projects, on a panel for the Organization of organized the First Continental guarantee them potable water American States Policy Roundta- Meeting of Indigenous Women in and enough food for everyone, ble on “Inclusion and Democracy Quito, Ecuador. It has gone on to and allow them to protect health in the Americas” in April of 2011. “consolidate [itself] as a network and improve the quality of hous- Highlighting the ongoing efforts that links indigenous women ing.”3 Only a portion of these of activists and organizations to from throughout the Americas to demands was actually included in secure equality and full participa- promote the formation of women’s the Accords, and the Indigenous tion in governance for indigenous leadership and influence, from the Law ratified in May of 2001 was a women is the focus of this series. perspective indigenous spaces of even further watered down ver- “These transnational social move- representation and international, sion of the original demands. 4,5 ment networks that were devel- regional, national decision and the The law only states that officials oped to engage the UN,” accord- organizations they lead in order have a responsibility “to promote ing to Blackwell, “have resulted in to strengthen policies that allow the incorporation of indigenous new indigenous solidarities and us to fully exercise our human women into development, through policy advocacy strategies. Criti- rights.”2 the support of productive projects, cally, this transnational network In 1994, Gutiérrez Romero was the protection of women’s health, not only orients activists toward as an advisor at the negotiations the creation of incentives to favor the international arena but it pro- on Indigenous Rights and Cul- women’s education, and their par- vides a critical space for exchange ture, Dialogue and Negotiation in ticipation in the decision-making to build indigenous women’s polit- San Andrés, between the Ejército related to communal life.”6 ical identities and forms of polit- Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, As the indigenous movement ical analysis that they take back the Chiapas State government, grew after the 1994 Zapatis- to their communities. Through and the Mexican national govern- ta rebellion, Gutiérrez Romero this multi-scaled activism, they ment. These negotiations resulted went on to serve as a member of localize a wide range of strategies in the San Andrés Accords, which the National Indigenous Council against violence against indige- were never implemented due to (CNI) and was National Coor- nous women, militarization, eco- governmental incalcitrance. A key dinator of Mexico’s Indigenous logical destruction (mining and component of the negotiations Women (CONAMI) and Secretary resource extraction), intellectual regarded “the triple oppression for Political Education in the Ex- property rights, racism against suffered by indigenous women ecutive Committee of the Partido indigenous people, and the need (because they are poor, indige- de la Revolución Democrática for women’s human rights within nous and women)” (3) Included (PRD). From 2001 until 2010, their own communities.”

UCLA Center for the Study of Women 9 America that provides a space for indigenous women to exchange experiences and elaborate conti- nental strategies and concerted international action. She is also coordinator for the Continental Commission of Commercialization and Intellectual Property, which addresses issues of native women’s art production and its commercial- ization and cooptation, a crucial issue since a major part of the economy of the region is focused on the production and sale of molas. These colorful, ap- pliquéd textiles have been part of the traditional dress of the women since cotton cloth was introduced after the Spanish colonization. Henríquez participated in a suc- cessful lobbying effort to protect the Guna people against the misappropriation of indigenous tives of the organization are to craftsmanship, after imitations of Sonia Henriquez strengthen the participation and molas were being mass-produced Advances and Challenges of the leadership of indigenous women and sold. These lobbying efforts Indigenous Women’s Movement within the regional, national and resulted in a national law, Law in international sphere, as a man- No. 20, the Special System for the From the Guna pueblo, Sonia ager and player involved in the Collective Intellectual Property Henríquez is a leader of Olowag- social, economic, cultural, and Rights of Indigenous Peoples for li, a women’s organization of the political development of society; the Protection and Defense of Guna Yala region, which is along to strengthen the historical and their Cultural Identity and their the Caribbean coast of Panama. cultural identity, by recovering the Traditional Knowledge, on June Since 1996, Henríquez has served wisdom and spirituality of indige- 26, 2000. Following the passage as the president of the National nous women; to raise the econom- of this law, the group organized Coordinator of Indigenous Women ic level of indigenous women and the First National Crafts Workshop of Panama/Coordinadora Nacional their families; and to improve all in in 2005 to provide craftsmen de Mujeres Indigenas de Panama aspects of the living conditions of and designers with information on (CONAMUIP), representing the indigenous women. intellectual property law and the Guna people. The organization Henríquez also served as Ex- regulations concerning registra- formed in 1993, when the women ecutive Coordinator for the Con- tion of use, which protects various from three ethnic groups—Guna, tinental Network of Indigenous indigenous craft models. Emberá and Ngobe—came to- Women of America, a network of As an activist for women’s and gether to form an organization indigenous women’s organizations indigenous rights, Henríquez of indigenous women. The objec- from North, Central, and South has also conducted national and 10 FALL 2014 regional seminars on gender and different but we have the same Notes development, domestic violence, rights. The book was distributed 1. “Indigenous Groups Challenge Doctrine of Christian Discovery and reproductive and sexual health, free to all schools and libraries, Domination,” July 22, 2011, Jason leadership, and strengthening so that children could learn about Coppola, Truthout, http://www.truth- community organizations. She the culture and traditions of indig- out.org/news/item/2169:indigenous- has also participated in interna- enous peoples. groups-challenge-doctrine-of-christian- discovery-and-domination tional workshops and conferences At the publication in 2010 of 2. http://www.csuchico.edu/zapatist/ including the Continental Indige- Sociolinguistic Atlas of Indigenous HTML/Archive/Communiques/advisors_ nous Women’s Workshop (1996), Peoples in Latin America, a lin- on_SA_deal.html. These negotiations the Indigenous Women’s Caucus guistic and sociocultural analysis resulted in the San Andrés Accords, on the Issues of Racism, Racial which were never implemented for Latin America, published by without change because continuing Discrimination, Xenophobia and UNICEF with CONAMUIP and the conflict between the parties led Related Intolerance (2001), and Ministry of Social Development and to an impasse, “18 years after the signing of the San Andrés Accords on the Central American Congress on the support of the Spanish Agen- STD/HIV and AIDS. Indigenous Rights and Culture, these cy for International Development continue not to be recognized by the Cooperation, Henríquez noted the State,” SIPAZ, International Service for importance of the volume for the Peace Blog, http://sipazen.wordpress. com/2014/03/01/chiapas-18-anos- indigenous peoples and those seek- years-after-the-signing-of-the-san- ing to support them, “It is a tool to andres-accords-on-indigenous-rights- learn about the situation of indige- and-culture-these-continue-not-to-be- nous peoples in Latin America and recognized-by-the-state/ 3. “Mexico Ratifies Indian Rights Law Panama.” Amid States’ Opposition Mexico Earlier this year, she participated Ratifies Indian Rights Law Amid States’ in a Dialogue on the Rights of In- Opposition,” Los Angeles Times, July digenous Women in the Inter-Amer- 13, 2001, http://articles.latimes. com/2001/jul/13/news/mn-21878 ican System in Guatemala City put 4. “Autonomy and Resistance in Chiapas: on by the Organization of American Indigenous Women’s Rights and States (OAS). Along with lead- the Accords of San Andrés,” Petra In 2009, twenty years after the ers from Mexico and Costa Rica, Purkarthofer, International Social Theory Consortium, Roanoke, May 18- Convention on the Rights of the Henríquez spoke about experiences 21, 2006 Child, UNICEF published Ina and of indigenous women in relation to 5. http://ecmia.org/origen Her Tagua Bracelet in conjunction the protection mechanisms offered 6. Video of Gutiérrez Romero (in with the National Coordinator of by the inter-American human rights Spanish): https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=ZncHidq9jzU Indigenous Women of Panama, a system. storybook based on the story of a She has been recognized with Panamanian girl and her experi- many awards and scholarships, ences moving to the city. At the including a full scholarship to at- public event to celebrate its pub- tend an intensive course on Human lication, Sonia Henriquez intro- Rights at the University of Geneva duced the book and an interactive in 2006 and a World Organization CD that accompanied it. While it of Intellectual Property Medal of is a story of discrimination, it also Merit from the for her defense in stresses the value of friendship the Protection of Traditional Knowl- and the notion that we may be edge of Indigenous Peoples.

UCLA Center for the Study of Women 11