Ch'orti Maya Area: Past and Present

17. From Indigenous Movement to Indigenous Management: Conflict and Accommodation in Ch'orti' Maya Ethnopolitics

17 From Indigenous Movement to Indigenous Management Conflict and Accommodation in Chorti Maya Ethnopolitics William M. Loker The topic of indigenous social and political movements in Latin America has been of considerable interest over the past fifteen to twenty years, particularly since the end of the cold war. The origins and dynamics of these movements raise many interesting questions regarding collective action and identity formation as well as practical issues of governance; social, cultural and economic development; the viability of rural livelihoods; and the intersection of the global and the local in shaping these movements. Whereas other chapters in this volume focus on the question of indigenous identity in and of itself (see Chapters 12 and 18) the present chapter is more concerned with the emerging institutional context shaping the success or failure of these ethnopolitical movements. One of the greatest challenges raised by the rather sudden emergence of indigenous movements across Latin America in widely varied national circumstances is to identify some of the broader contextual factors giving rise to this phenomenon. The literature on these movements has identified several of the following factors as fostering the appearance and relative success of these movements at this particular historical juncture (Assies , van der Haar, and Hoekema 2000b; Sieder 2002, van Cott 2000). 1. The transnationalization of human rights discourse, including broad international support for the rights of indigenous people, has clearly been an important phenomenon fostering these movements. Many of the states where these movements have become important political actors have ratified International Labor Organization Convention 169 230 Conflict and Accommodation in Ch′orti′ Maya Ethnopolitics · 231 (ILO 169; see Table 17.1). The ILO 169 provides a legal basis for recognizing indigenous territorial claims, pursuing claims of discrimination , and establishing preferential access to development resources (education, health care, and so on).1 2. The emergence and strengthening of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) actively supporting indigenous people in their rights struggles and land claims. These include organizations that have long been active in supporting indigenous peoples’ rights (IWGIA, Cultural Survival ) as well as a variety of organizations focused on economic and social justice issues (Oxfam, Washington Office on Latin America) and emerging organizations that transcend national boundaries, such as Via Campesina (see Edelman 2003 for a recent discussion of transnational movements). 3. The rise of the Internet and other electronic communication technologies has facilitated organization and rapid dissemination of information regarding the struggles of particular groups to their national and international allies, increasing the pressure on national governments to respect the lives and livelihoods of indigenous people and accede to their demands. 4. A changing international context has opened previously unavailable political spaces for grassroots organizing. For example, the end of the cold war has allowed organizations in Central America and elsewhere to emerge that would formerly have been repressed by the United States or its client nation-states as “subversive.” Table 17.1. Latin American countries that have ratified ILO 169 and year of ratification Country Year Mexico 1990 Colombia 1991 Bolivia 1991 Costa Rica 1993 Paraguay 1993 Peru 1994 Honduras 1995 Guatemala 1996 Ecuador 1998 Argentina 2000 Brazil 2002 Venezuela 2002 Source: ILO 2005 http:/ /www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/convdisp1.htm 232 · William M. Loker 5. The general trend toward democratization (linked to number 4) has created national possibilities for organization and pressure for recognition of indigenous people formerly inhibited by an atmosphere of violence and repression; an example is the end of the civil war and emergence of pan-Mayanism in Guatemala. 6. Ironically, the neoliberal reforms of Latin American political economies have also permitted the emergence and consolidation of ethnically based movements.2 The “hollowing out” of the state, privatization of development efforts, and moves toward governmental decentralization (municipalización) have permitted the emergence of new actors, both indigenous organizations and NGOs that support them. The latter, often linked to international funding sources, have facilitated locally based movements for organization, land recovery, and localized development efforts. 7. The exhaustion of “class-based” political movements and the rise of civil rights movements around the world (minority-, gender-, and sexuality-based movements) have provided precedents for indigenous organizing (see the volume edited by Alvarez, Dagnino, and Escobar 1998). For example, the rural poor in Mesoamerican and Andean countries have increasingly mobilized as culturally distinct, ethnically based peoples, rather than in the peasant/campesino movements of the past. 8. Constitutional reforms in several Latin American nation...