8th Annual Muestra Gastronomia Purhepecha

All Natural -- Purhepecha Indians prepare indigenous foods at cooking show
May 10,2006
Travis M. Whitehead
Monitor Staff Writer

URUAPAN — Elisa Charicata Olivares leaned into the stone metate, pressing the long, squared mano over the cream-colored masa, shifting it back and forth, breaking off a portion to mold into a tortilla.

She was one of many culinary artisans at the 38th Annual Muestra Gastronomia Purhepecha, the Purhepecha Food Show, April 8 and 9 in Uruapan, the second largest city in the Mexican state of Michoacán. The event was presented by Unidad Regional Michoacán de Culturas Populares e Indígenas in the Plaza de la Ranita, just a block away from the crafts fair on Plaza Morelos. The crafts fair was part of the 46th Annual Domingo de Ramos Concurso y Tianguis Artesania in Uruapán, coordinated by the Casa De Las Artesanias, a state agency based in Morelia.

Purhepecha Indians, who heavily populate this area of Mexico, came from miles around — from Cheran, Tzintzuntzan, San Lorenzo and other locales — to demonstrate native cooking. Tall clay pots filled with native foods sat steaming over open wood fires amid the sounds of “clap-clap-clap” from women slapping rolls of yellow or blue corn masa into tortillas. There were bowls of atapakua de calabacitas, a green soup of chopped squash; pots of atole, a corn gruel; and charales, minnow-sized fish fried in a large skillet.

Customers peeled corn husks from corundas, a local variation of the tamale, or dove into hot bowls of churipu, a delicious and spicy stew.

“We’re trying to rescue all the indigenous food in this show,” said Marta Leticia Roman Mares, investigator for Unidad Regional Michoacan de Culturas Populares e Indigenas del Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes.

“We want to know the food that is consumed in the Purhepecha daily life,” Roman said.

A few feet behind Olivares, Cleofas Dolores Cira, 30, of Tzintzuntzan, and her family engaged in constant conversation as they maintained their work area while cooking up pots of mojarra dorado (another type of fish) and charales.

“We live on a little ranch along Lake Patzcuaro, we catch the fish ourselves,” said Cira’s father, Mauricio Dolores Ponciano, 62, who proudly added that he was “100 percent Purhepecha.”

He kept close watch on a batch of charales sizzling in a large skillet.

“I add salt but that’s all it needs,” he said. He stirred them a bit, then placed a large portion on a plate and added more from a plastic bucket. A plate of this crispy dish of fish may at first seem intimidating. If you can get past the heads (and eyes) staring up at you, they are actually quite tasty.

Across the plaza, Petra Sanchez de Rhodes got herself a quesadilla with a filling of coriander, mint, onion, amaranta and guajillo chili seeds.

“This is for tomorrow, Palm Sunday,” said Rhodes, a local woman who runs a language school in Uruapan with her American husband.

“Then next week is Holy Week,” she said. She then wrapped a tortilla made of blue corn around her quesadilla, saying it was healthier. A bowl of dark green gorditas sat nearby.

“Those are made of corn and brown sugar,” Rhodes said. “Gorditas dulces. It’s all pre-Hispanic origin.”
Another basket contained small bundles of corn husks with a sweet paste inside. Those were called chapata, which also contained amaranta and sugar.

“It’s very nutritious,” she said. “This is Purhepecha culture.”

Back across the plaza, Charicata, 52, of Cheran turned tortillas on a hot plate next to her metate. A pot of atapakua de queso (with green tomatoes, cebolla, chile, cilantro and tomato) and a small plate of nopales sat nearby. A girl stirred a pot of carne de res on the hot plate as a wood fire flickered below. Charicata dipped her hands in some water before bouncing a thick pad of masa back and forth to spread it into a tortilla.

She appreciated the opportunity to show her native culture at an event such as this.

“I feel very proud,” said Olivares. “I’ve been making white and blue corn tortillas my whole life. The blue tortillas taste better.”

“It’s all natural,” said her helper, Maria de Jesus Rafael Gembe.
———
Travis Whitehead covers features and entertainment for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4452.

The Monitor, McAllen, Texas

Native American Heritage Festival in Virginia

Native American Heritage Festival makes changes

Richmond Times-Dispatch

May 7, 2006

CLARKSVILLE -- Next weekend's Native American Heritage Festival at Occoneechee State Park may be an annual event, but it's not more of the same.

This year, the Virginia park service reached out to several tribes to help organize the 14th annual festival, said Scott Shanklin, manager of the park in Mecklenburg County, about 100 miles southwest of Richmond.

"The early years we weren't as good about soliciting input from the various tribes," Shanklin said. "This year, we're trying to invite back and encourage participation . . . from a broad representation of Native Americans and tribes."

Representatives of the Haliwa-Saponi, Sappony, Occaneechi Band of the Saponi, Eno-Occoneechee and Fort Christanna Saponi helped with the planning, and several other tribes gave input, Shanklin said.

Organizers hope the expanded planning committee will result in a festival that will feature more diversity and more participation, Shanklin said.

They are encouraging tribes to set up informational booths, bring vendors and participate in the activities of the day as a way to gain exposure and offer insight about their history.

Occoneechee State Park is on Buggs Island Lake just across from Clarksville and is named for American Indians who lived in the area for hundreds of years.

Gates for the festival open at 10 a.m. Saturday. The grand entry procession of American Indian dancers will be at noon. -- Jamie C. Ruff

TimesDispatch.com

Suspension of La Otra Campana

As of the afternoon of May 3, Subcommandante Marcos of the EZLN (National Zapatista Army of Liberation) announced during a public act in Mexico City a new red alert and closure of Zapatista caracoles and suspension of activities of La Otra Campaña, which has now become a struggle to support the people of Texcoco, who for the past two days have been experiencing severe government repression.

Thursday morning found the south of Mexico City entangled in street blockades and protests with students, workers and peasants demanding justice for the people of Texcoco. Dozens of people have been arrested and the city police have been brutally detaining the protests. Early afternoon, it looks like student demonstrators will return to the National Autonomist University of Mexico (UNAM), Latin America’s largest institute of higher-learning, and attempt to occupy various sections of the school.

Wednesday morning, flower vendors from People in Defense of the Land Front (Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra) occupying a space in the Texcoco market were brutally repressed by state police. As they moved to reoccupy their space in the pre-dawn hours, the 40 flower vendors received back-up from the nearby municipality of Atenco. Arming themselves with machetes and Molotov cocktails, the vendors were hit with tear gas and batons. While defending their space in the market in Mexico state, a 14 year-old boy died from the impact of tear gas in the chest and more than forty people were arrested.

Protest at Mexican Consulate in New York, Friday, 12:30 p.m. | Virtual Sit-in Against Mexican Government!

See also: The Other Mexico on the Verge of an Explosion from Below | Violencia en Texcoco - EZLN en Alerta Roja | Golpean a activistas en Tijuana | Se suspende la Otra campaña: Alerta Roja en las Juntas de Gobierno Zapatistas de Chiapas | ALERTA ROJA

Independent Media: Live radio coverage from Mexico City | NarcoNews | Centro de Medios Libres | Mexico Indymedia | Chiapas Indymedia Marcos called for regional coordinators throughout the country of Mexico to organize themselves in solidarity with Texcoco.

Wednesday morning, flower vendors from People in Defense of the Land Front (Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra) occupying a space in the Texcoco market were brutally repressed by state police. While defending their space in the market in Mexico state, a 14 year-old boy died and more than forty people were arrested.

“The municipal president wants to evict these people because he thinks their market leaves the area dirty and he wants to put a commercial center, a Wal-mart in Texcoco,” Marcos said before thousands of people during a public rally in Tlatelolco.

The peasant flower venders have been resisting eviction for weeks. The area they use has been eyed by local authorities for a new commercial center. As part of the People in Defense of the Land, the flower venders have been joined by people in struggle from Atenco, a municipal adjacent to Texcoco . In 2002, the people of Atenco successfully resisted the construction of a national airport on their land with machetes and popular organization.

America del Valle a member of People in Defense of the Land spoke before the crowd. “The reason of this aggression is something that they repeat every day; it is for the crime of reclaiming one piece of land to sell products that we produce from our land: nopales, verduras, flowers,” she said.

She announced the demands of the movement: liberation of arrested individuals and return of the market space.

“We will see who is really with la Otra. Here we will see if this is true of la Otra; if it is not only speeches but if its solidarity and urgent action.”

Marcos announced meetings after the rally to coordinate actions for Thursday, which will begin at 8 a.m. He also announced a new red alert, closure of Zapatista caracoles and suspension of activities in La Otra Campaña, which is wrapping up its tour in Mexico City.

“The Zapatistas are, today, Texcoco. We are going to be alert to their demands. Closure of streets, highways, flyering, painting, protests. We respect their decisions, we will arrive to where they tell us to go,” Marcos said.

Contact your local Mexican consulate and demand justice for the people of Texcoco: http://www.travelguru.net/html/consulates/mexico.html

For more information on the Atenco struggle: http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/mexico/comment/airportAUG02.html

http://www.indymedia.org/fr/2006/05/838706.shtml

Chiapas Peace House Project

This is one source that I am sure that we are going to come back over and over and over again. Anyone can talk about change, but this group is actually doing it, and we should help them as much as we can, even if all what we do is spread the word about their work to other people.

Also, anyone who wants to travel to Chiapas and work with Native groups they should research what kind of help they may receive from this organization.

This is their mission statement as found on their home page(There is a longer mission statement in the About Us section):

We provide support and housing to long term volunteers to work in Indigenous community and with partner organizations in Chiapas. We also offer workshops and news and analysis of social justice struggles in Mexico.

Esta es una fuenta a la estoy seguro que vamos a volver una y otra y otra vez. Todos pueden hablar del cambio, pero este grupo lo esta haciendo, y por eso debemos ayudarlos con todo lo que podamos, aun si todo lo que podemos hacer es hacer la gente concientes de su labor.

Ademas, si alguien quiere viajar a Chiapas para trabajar con persona indigenas deben investigar que tipo de ayuda pueden recibir de esta organizacion.

Esta es la mision de la organizacion que aparece en la pagina principal su sitio de web(Existe una version mas larga en la pagina Sobre Nosotros del sitio):

Nosotros damos apoyo y vivienda a voluntarios de largo plazo para trabajar con comunidades indigenas y con organizaciones afines en Chiapas. Tambien ofrecemos talleres, noticias, y analisis de las luchas sociales en Mexico.

Chiapas Peace House

Native Networks-- Redes Indigenas

Native Networks is a great resource of film, video, and radio created by Native Americans. It is part of the National Museum of the American Indian, part of the Smithsonian, the U.S.'s federal museum system.

Redes Indigenas es una gran fuente de peliculas, video y radio creados por indigenas. Es parte del Museo Nacional del Indio Americano, parte del system de museos federales de los Estados Unidos, Smithsonian.
Native Networks Redes Indigenas

Loving your enemy--The peaceful revolution

One of the most important methods of political change are those that Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. taught us.

Both of these leaders achieved peacefully what many thought could only be achieved with violence.

Moreover, the victories that these two great leaders won have been long-lasting, whereas most violent gains won by oppressed people are quickly lost with violence from the oppressor.

Non-violence is an effective agent of change. We must learn from the experiences of Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr.

This is an old story from 2001

Oaxaca, Oaxaca, 24 de julio.- Los pueblos indígenas de México han sido actores de importantes cambios en la configuración social del país, situándose en estos momentos en un lugar clave de la agenda política nacional, de ahí la importancia del simposio internacional La etnografía en México, mismo que permitirá un mejor entendimiento de nuestro presente, dijo el director general del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), Sergio Raúl Arroyo, durante la inauguración del encuentro, realizada en el Centro Cultural Santo Domingo de esta ciudad.

Durante los próximos tres días, en la ciudad de Oaxaca, investigadores de diversas latitudes debatirán sobre temas relacionados con la etnografía mexicana y al final sentarán las bases para la construcción de una red internacional sobre el tema. “Su participación en este simposio significará sin duda el reinicio de un diálogo académico internacional por mucho tiempo abandonado sobre este campo del conocimiento, ciertamente vital para nuestro país”, dijo el etnólogo Sergio Raúl Arroyo.

Investigadores nacionales y extranjeros interesados en el estudio de los pueblos indígenas de México, se reunieron para dar inicio a una de las actividades que se inscribe como de las más relevantes dentro del proyecto nacional, Etnografía de las regiones indígenas de México en el nuevo milenio.

Durante la inauguración, la maestra Gloria Artís, titular de la Coordinación Nacional de Antropología del INAH, dependencia organizadora del encuentro, ofreció un puntual panorama del proyecto nacional, en el que participan aproximadamente 130 investigadores, distribuidos a lo largo del país en 20 equipos regionales. Además, resaltó la importancia de los estudios etnográficos en “una nación multiétnica y en la que la problemática de la multiculturalidad y sobre todo de la interculturalidad han sido, todavía, insuficientemente abordadas”.

Artís Mercadet agregó: “existe una nueva mirada de la diversidad cultural, de su dinámica, de la formación de regiones interétnicas en el territorio nacional y, seguramente, también se está contribuyendo al desarrollo de la teoría antropológica. Esperamos que el conocimiento que estamos generando sea considerado por aquellas instituciones y organismos, responsables de delinear las políticas de desarrollo de los pueblos indígenas de México, y sirva asimismo para que estos pueblos puedan vivir en las condiciones de justicia y dignidad que hasta hoy se les han negado”.

Entre los objetivos que se persiguen en este encuentro está el hacer un balance de la etnografía en México, así como delinear las perspectivas y retomar el diálogo académico internacional que alguna vez existió entre etnógrafos mexicanos y extranjeros, para convertirlo en permanenteMiguel Bartolomé, investigador del centro INAH-Oaxaca y anfitrión del encuentro, dio la bienvenida a los participantes del simposio internacional y dijo que el lugar no fue elegido al azar sino que Oaxaca es sinónimo de pluralidad y de diversidad tanto en el medio étnico, como en el político, económico y cultural.

“En su compleja geografía habitan 14 grupos etnolingüísticos nativos, una poco conocida, pero numerosa población de ascendencia negra y una recién incorporación de grupos provenientes de Chiapas. Sin embargo, estas cifras sólo reflejan la diversidad lingüística, ya que el número de etnias organizacionales existentes, es aún indeterminable. A esta población que supera el millón y medio de personas, hay que sumar las distintas configuraciones culturales no indígenas, aunque compuestas en su gran mayoría por pueblos indios étnicamente descaracterizados, es decir desindianizados”.

En representación del gobernador de Oaxaca, José Murat, asistió a la ceremonia el antropólogo Carlos Moreno, secretario de Asuntos Indígenas del Gobierno de Oaxaca, quien dijo que el gobierno estatal está comprometido con la causa de la pluralidad y la diversidad.

“Nosotros —concluyó— también tenemos una gran expectativa con respecto a esta reunión, estamos muy atentos porque finalmente estamos construyendo políticas públicas a favor de esa diversidad y la construcción de una política pública implica argumentos para modificar las relaciones de poder.

Consejo National Para la cultura y las Artes

Native Americans on warpath over Earl's art treasures

GRAHAM OGILVY AND KURT BAYER

BEAUTIFULLY preserved and fabulously valuable, they lay in a trunk in the attic of a Scottish castle for 150 years. The collection of American Indian art, amassed by an aristocratic Scots explorer in the Rockies, included beaded clothing and bags, knives, moccasins and mittens.

Next month, Sotheby's in New York will sell off the 9th Earl of Southesk's collection, which it describes as "the most historically significant group of American Indian art ever to be offered at auction". The earl's descendants, who still live in Angus, are expecting a massive payday.

But the bloody history of white exploration of North America continues to cast a long shadow. Native American activists have pledged to do everything in their power to stop the auction and return the 39 lots to the descendants of the tribes who created them.

The powerful American Indian Movement last night compared the auction with selling gold teeth from Auschwitz. Sotheby's insist the sale will go ahead, saying the items were personal rather than ceremonial, and were legitimately acquired by trade, rather than force.

The Earl certainly had a fine eye for art and appreciated both the beauty and rarity of the items he collected. He explored the Rocky Mountain range, traversing the American-Canadian border, accompanied by a vast retinue who even carried an India rubber bath for him to soak in.

His collection includes a stunning Blackfoot beaded hide man's shirt with an auction estimate of £300,000, and a magnificent Northern Plains beaded hide woman's dress estimated at £125,000. The Earl admitted this was acquired from an Indian man who stripped his wife on the spot after being offered a bottle of rum in exchange.

Other items include an early pair of beaded Blackfoot leggings with an estimate of £38,000, two beaded Cree octopus bags at over £11,000, a Great Lakes Cree wood doll cradle at £11,000, an Assinboine knife and sheath valued at £22,000, a Huron quilled knife sheath with an estimate of £19,000, a Cree saddle pad at £6,600, and numerous pairs of moccasins and mittens valued at up to £800.

For the past 150 years, they have lain in a trunk in Kinnaird Castle, near Brechin, and are in pristine condition. It is not clear how they came to be rediscovered.

Sotheby's believes the Blackfoot shirt is "the finest... of its type to appear at auction". David Roche, the auctioneer's Native American art specialist, said: "This is a once-in-a-lifetime sale. To have so many objects of such quality and beauty from such an early period and in such an excellent condition is very rare. There has never been a shirt of this early date, quality and beauty at auction.

"The merit of the collection is twofold. The quality of the objects comprising the collection is superb with examples, which are rare, early and beautiful."

He added: "The Earl was a very early pioneer, one of the first Europeans to venture into the Rockies where there are still some places named after him. His journal was published in 1875 and provides a wonderful context for the collection. Some of the items, like the dress, are specifically mentioned and he records how it was traded for rum with an Indian who stripped his wife on the spot to hand the garment over."

But the sale has incensed the American Indian Movement (AIM), which has pledged to use the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act to force the return of the items to the tribes who created them, or to the Museum of American Indians at Washington's Smithsonian institute.

AIM spokesman Vernon Bellecourt said: "If the Earl of Southesk's family and Sotheby's had any scruples they would not sell these items like this. To us, it is the equivalent of gold teeth from Auschwitz being put up for auction. All decent people would be horrified by such a sale, but this is just the same.

"During those times, many collectors would follow in the wake of the cavalry who massacred old people, woman and children. They committed genocide and there was a brisk trade in Indian art by the collectors who followed and swarmed over the corpses."

He added: "Believe me, our movement will do everything it can to stop this sale and have these items returned to the tribes they came from. The Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act exists to compel the return of such items, either to the tribes or to the Indian museum at the Smithsonian."

James Carnegie, the 9th Earl of Southesk, travelled to Canada in 1859, aged 32, after being advised that it would improve his health that had deteriorated following the death of his wife.

Although dressed in the buckskin of the frontiersman, he travelled in style, accompanied by a gamekeeper from his Angus estate and an Iroquois cook. He had a complex attitude towards the Indians, dismissing some as "bloated, disgusting savages" while praising the Metis of the plains as "tall, straight and well proportioned".

One journal entry features the rubber bath: "I was in the act of washing myself in my India rubber bath, when suddenly the door flew open, and two splendidly dressed Indians walked into the room as if the whole place belonged to them, but on seeing me they stopped, and stared with all their might. We stared at one another for a moment, then a radiant smile came over their faces, and there was a general laugh after which I continued my sponging, to their evident wonder and amazement."

The current Earl of Southesk, the Eton and Cambridge-educated David Carnegie, 45, owns a 5,800-acre estate near Brechin and runs a trout farm as well as an arable farming business.

No one was available to comment on his behalf. It is understood the proceeds from the sale will go to the family trust, set up in 1951.

This article: http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=646232006

Last updated: 30-Apr-06 01:13 BST

Scotland on Sunday

Chiapas 'Peace House' spreads solidarity S.F. center attracts volunteers to serve in southern Mexico from around the world By Kimberly Turner, CORRESPONDENT

SAN FRANCISCO — There is a 33-year-old computer nerd in this city who would rather move to an extremely poor Mexican nation and fix bicycles than stay in his cushy tech job. There's a 24-year-old peace worker in this town who grew weary of non-profit work and signed on to an international peace project. Who says Generations X and Y don't see beyond their own wants and desires? The computer nerd is Vann Miller — a software engineer who became Web master and secretary for the Chiapas Peace House Project. The peace worker is Yakira Teitel, another volunteer working with the Peace House, who found this calling on the Internet. The Peace House office in San Francisco is a center for solidarity work and education in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. The center attracts volunteers from all over the world, although several like Miller live in the Bay Area. Groups such as the Peace House became involved in Chiapas, the most southern state of Mexico, because of its long history of injustice and inequality, especially among the indigenous population. Centuries of displacement have led to an atmosphere of extreme poverty and tension. In 1994, a group of indigenous Mayans known as the Zapatistas declared war on the Mexican government demanding food, land, education and autonomy. Since then, the Mexican government and the Zapatistas have been engaged in low-intensity warfare. Peace House and other international groups workingthere seek to support the indigenous peoples' demands for justice, health and education. From February to August of last year, Miller spent most of his time in Chiapas working as "the computer guy" for the Peace House and Consejo de Organizaciones de Medicos y Parteras Indigenas Traditionales de Chiapas, an organization that promotes the use of traditional indigenous medicine. Some stay at the Peace House in Chiapas and lead workshops on topics ranging from local history to immigration rights. Others work in indigenous communities on organic farming and general education efforts or with partner organizations. Miller's journey to Chiapas almost didn't happen. He thought he had been turned down when he received no response to his application. It ended up in his junk mail folder. A friend in the organization suggested he apply for a board member position. Fortunately for Miller, he got the position a day before he flew to Mexico. "I thought it was a good opportunity to participate in a direct democracy movement," Miller said. "I've always been interested in economics and social science and was interested in finding a way to blend that with computer science. "My Spanish wasn't that good, so it took me a while before I had the confidence to speak the language," Miller said. "I left a little premature. I think my Spanish was getting much better toward the end." Miller now works for the Peace House's San Francisco office but hopes to return to Chiapas, where he was surprised by what he found. "I was expecting San Cristobal to be more rural — more like a Third World country," Miller said. "I was surprised to see so many Internet cafes, signs of modernity." Since the Zapatista uprising, San Cristobal has been flooded with tourists and activists. But Simon Walker, 30, who lived in Zapatista communities for a year, saw the poverty firsthand. He said some of these curious tourists do not bother to learn Spanish, or come to Chiapas wanting to meet Subcommandante Marcos, leader of the Zapatista army. Walker and Miller say there is a huge difference between what people think they know about the Zapatistas and reality. "There's no running water, you use outhouses, and the people are very poor," Walker said. "It's a little difficult to see." Walker spent his time repairing bicycles in Zapatista communities. Walker said he found working with Zapatista communities challenging. "The people are of Mayan decent, so Spanish isn't their first language either," Walker said. "And I didn't speak any Mayan languages." "The division of wealth (in San Cristobal) is very obvious," said Yakira Teitel, 24, another Peace House volunteer. "The indigenous people experience the most poverty and have shorter life spans." Teitel is from San Francisco and went to Chiapas after graduating from college in spring 2003. Disillusioned by nonprofit work in the United States, she sought other options. She found the Peace House organization on the Internet, became a volunteer and lived in Chiapas from March to May 2004. Since then, Teitel has been living in Chiapas off and on, returning to the United States last November. "I was really interested in the organizing models in Chiapas and wanted to bring those models back here," Teitel said. In Chiapas, Teitel spent most of her time working with Hermano Sol "Brother Sun," an organization focusing on improving the living conditions of farmers in indigenous communities in the Sierra Madre. Most of these communities are coffee growers but do not produce enough crops for self-sufficiency. Before Miller dropped everything to move to Chiapas, he was a University of California, Berkeley graduate and dot-comer working on mobile systems for Mblox. Why would someone living so comfortably want to move all the way to Mexico to live in a community struggling to survive? "I don't help people because I think I should, but because it's gratifying for me," Miller said. Walker's year in Chiapas not only gave him the opportunity to use his three years of Spanish education, but also time for self reflection. "I spent a lot of time looking at the privilege we have because we're white and middle class," Walker said. "Just a lot of time realizing how those dynamics play out." For Teitel, it is the perseverance and determination of the indigenous population in Chiapas that keeps her coming back year after year. "Despite the hardships and extreme poverty people live in, there is an undying commitment and hope that things will change."

InsideBayArea.com

Zapatista tour in Michoacan, Morelos

Submitted by Bill Weinberg on Sat, 04/08/2006 - 23:33.

The Zapatista "Other Campaign" continues to advance through central Mexico, with recent stops emphasizing peasant ecological struggles. In Campos, Colima state, Delegate Zero (Subcommander Marcos) and other Zapatista leaders met with fishermen at Cuyutlán lagoon, whose livelihood is falling victim to environmental damage caused by the port’s thermoelectric plant. (La Jornada, April 1) In Michoacan, they met with Purepecha indigenous campesinos defending the local Lake Zirahuen from the real estate and tourism development that is encroaching from the nearby bigger Lake Patzcuaro. (La Jornada, April 5) Emulating the Zapatista rebel zones in Chiapas, the Purepecha have established a "Caracol in Rebellion of Lake Zirahuen." (Narco News, April 4) In Morelia, Michoacan's capital, Marcos called for a new "national force" to combat the neoliberal capitalist program, and affirmed that indigenous peoples are critical to "the possibility to build a different reality for our nation" because they have "another relation with nature." (La Jornada, April 3) The Other Campaign has just arrived in Ocotepec, Morelos, heartland of the original Zapatista insurgency (La Jornada, April 8)

In a sign that President Vicente Fox is taking the new focus on indigenous issues seriously, his government has redrawn its congressional districts to try to increase the number of Indian lawmakers in the nation. Xochitl Galvez, indigenous affairs adviser to President Fox, said that when the July 2 presidential and congressional elections are held, there will be around 28 new districts with an indigenous majority.

About 13 million of Mexico's 103 million people are indigenous. There are currently only three Indian federal congressional representatives in the 500-seat lower house and no Indian senators.

Galvez, an Otomi, said the redrawing of districts, worked out with the Federal Electoral Institute, will guarantee better representation. "The party that chooses Indian candidates will have the best chance of winning, because the voters will identify with the candidates more," Galvez said. (El Universal, April 4)

All sources from the Chiapas95 archive.

See our last posts on Mexico and the Zapatista tour.

World War 4 Report

ZIRAHUÉN, MICHOACÁN, MÉXICO: To shouts of “Zapata lives, the struggle continues!” and “Cárdenas, understand, our land is not for sale!” about 500 indigenous peasant farmers from the “Caracol in Rebellion of Lake Zirahuén” received Zapatista Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos with a march. They later expressed to him their determination to continue the struggle to defend their communal lands in the face of an ambitious tourism mega-project.

The project is being pushed by local PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) boss Guillermo Arreola Estrada, who hopes, according to the farmers, to build a resort complex with casinos, five-star hotels, restaurants and various recreational centers, including a golf course, on top of some 3,020 acres of communal lands located on the shores of Lake Zirahuén. Docks for yachts and pleasure cruises are also planned for the lake.

Around 9:00 at night the men, women, children and elderly people who had been waiting for hours for the arrival of Delegate Zero — Subcomandante Marcos of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN in its Spanish initials) — headed toward one of the main streets to welcome him.

The people of Zirahuén looked happy, and although the people here do not have the same tradition of nighttime “paseo” street marches as in Oaxaca, the march to receive the Zapatista spokesman suddenly became a festival led by the music of 12 local bands.

“From the coast to the mountains, people are fighting for their land!” was another one of the slogans that could be heard among the rushing demonstrators who frequently collided with representatives from the communications media that followed the delegate of the Zapatista Other Campaign.

The indigenous Purépechas’ battle-tested defense of natural resources stands out in this community’s history, explained veteran defender of the peasant farmers Marcos Paz as he welcomed Delegate Zero.

Zirahuen, Michoacan, Mexico, receives Subcomandante Marcos


I haven't followed the trail of Marcos, or Delagate Zero, for a long time. I will have to learn more before I can make my mind about him.

Regardless of what he says or does, Marcos is the only media icon that gives a face, by not giving it, ironically, to the dire situation of Native Americans living in Mexico.

Linguist Reconstructs Virginia Algonquian

"...The language and culture the English encountered really is a lost world," Rudes noted. "Virginia Algonquian is a member of the Algonquian family, a large group of languages which stretched across North America. On the East Coast there were perhaps 15 Algonquian languages and a lot of other languages. All the Eastern Algonquian languages except Passamaquoddy-Maliseet (a language still spoken by Native Americans in Maine and Canada) are extinct. They were among the first Native American languages to go extinct, because they were on the coast."

Malick was in luck because Rudes is also one of a handful of linguists who are authorities in the field of "language revitalization" -– the science of re-building lost languages. Rudes' science in turn, gave Malick a window into the past that was more profound than any found in the historical record. Aiming for realism, the movie sponsored the scientific resurrection of a lost culture's language. It was a more difficult job than the director probably suspected.

"Originally they wanted the language revived for one scene and done by the end of the month, in keeping with the production schedule," said Rudes. "But the records of the Virginia Algonquian language are, shall we say, limited.

"John Smith himself recorded about 50 words of the language and a secretary to the Jamestown colony named William Strachey published a work in 1612 – The Histotrie of Travell into Virginia Britania -- which contains about a 600 word vocabulary of Virginia Algonquian. 600 words, of course, is not a great deal. Webster's Unabridged College Dictionary of English has about 12,000 words," he noted.

With the vast majority of the language's many-thousand word vocabulary missing along with its syntax and pronunciation, Rudes had to re-build the language wholesale using the sophisticated techniques of historical linguistics. In the process, Rudes interpreted Strachey's amateur record (transcriptions of an unknown language recorded as heard by a 17th Century English ear), compared it with better-surviving records of a few related Algonquian languages as well as with words that have been passed down into English, and applied theory and scholarship on the evolution of the language family.

The process, which involves interpolating the evolution of pronunciation, syntax and meaning is complicated.

For example, consider the reconstruction of the Virginia Algonquian words that Strachey records for "walnut," "shoes," and two different "kinds of beast" : "paukauns," "mawcasuns," "aroughcoune" and "opposum" have passed into American English usage as "pecans," "moccasins," "raccoon" and "opossum" and can be compared to "paka•ni" (meaning "large nut"), "maxkesen," (meaning "shoe"), "la•le•kani" (meaning "raccoon") and "wa•pa’emwi" (meaning "white dog") words in Proto-Algonquian, the re-constructed ancestral language of Virginia Algonquian. From this, Rudes reconstructs the Virginia Algonquian words "pakaen," "mahkesen," "a•rehkan" and " wa•pahšem." ...

Everyday Life source


I find this especially interesting because I currently live in Virginia, U.S.

Bush Budgets targets Native American Health Clinics

(KUTV / AP) SALT LAKE CITY- To chanting and the pounding of drums, hundreds of Native Americans marched in Salt Lake City Friday against a plan by the Bush Administration to cut $33 million federal funding -- which could shut down some urban health clinics for American Indians.

"We're upset that our center is being threatened, and we're here to send a message that you don't mess with a federal obligation," said Dena Ned, executive director of the Indian Walk-In Center in Salt Lake City. "Just because we live off the reservation doesn't mean we're not in need of health care."

About 400 people marched peacefully almost two miles from the clinic to the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building for a rally, police Sgt. Lamar Ewell said.

President Bush's 2007 budget proposal says urban Indians could simply use regular community health centers, instead of the specialized centers currently in use.

The president's budget also asks to add larger health centers for poor people under a $182 million funding increase. The budget also would increase funding for clinics on Indian reservations by about 4 percent over the 2006 fiscal year, said Scott Milburn, a spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget.

But Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson said those programs would do little to serve American Indians in urban areas, where the clinics double as social service networks and cultural centers. He said 83 percent of the clients at the city's walk-in center have no health insurance coverage.

KUTV Salt Lake City

Purpose of the blog-- objectivo del blog

The purpose of this blog is to keep track of news related to Native American cultures throughout the Americas, but with special focus on Meso America. The blog will be written in both English and Spanish.

The creators of the blog have a particular interest in native communities getting autonomy in Mexico. We also seek to bring a greater understanding of the living Native American cultures in Mexico by the mainstream Mestizo population, which unfortunately has been historically biased against their mother cultures. Because of this, there will be, from time to time, some entries devoted at showing how Mexican customs really have a Native American root.

The authors of the blog are both mestizos living in the U.S.



El objectivo de este blog es seguir las noticias relationadas con culturas indigenas en las Americas enfocandose especialmente con Mexico y Centro America. El blog se escribira en ingles y espanol.

Los creadores del blog tienen el interes particular de que las culturas indigenas obtengan autonomia en Mexico. Tambien deseamos que la poblacion mestiza de Mexico, que desgraciadamente ha historicamente discriminado a las culturas madres indigenas, entienda y respete las cultural indigenas contemporaneas. Por esta razon, a veces tendremos articulos donde se monstrara como muchas de las costumbres mexicanas realmente tienen sus raices en costumbres indigenas.

Los autores somos mestizos viviendo en los Estados Unidos.