|  In a lengthy meeting on July 29, Ecuador’s highland Indigenous organization Ecuarunari decided to support in a tepid and tentative manner President Rafael Correa’s project of rewriting the country’s constitution.
Ecuarunari (the Confederation of the Peoples of the Kichwa Nationality of Ecuador) as well as the national organization CONAIE (the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador) have long advocated the drafting of a new constitution that would embody their demands to declare Ecuador a pluri-national country.
Indigenous leaders, however, have come to resent President Correa for taking over one of their principle demands. They have also complained that the president has taken over political spaces that social movements had previously occupied.
Correa was a political outsider who took power in January 2007 without support from existing political parties. He convoked a constitutional assembly, and then formed his own political party called Alianza País (Country Alliance) to run candidates for the assembly. Alianza País won an overwhelming majority of seats in the assembly, giving Correa complete control over the drafting of the new constitution. The assembly had been given until July 25 to complete its task. The text now faces a national vote on September 28.
Rather than rooting his base in a long history of social movement organizing, Correa announced that his government would be a citizen’s revolution. Unstated was that he would not be held accountable to the corporatist nature of social movement demands. Those who won elections had the right to rule, rather than those who could mobilize large street protests that have repeatedly pulled down governments over the past decade.
Many of those who allied with Correa were from the academic and non-governmental organization (NGO) worlds. Social movements were largely excluded from the centers of power, and Correa has not included any Indigenous peoples in his government. Already, social movements were mounting growing criticisms of the (negative) influences of NGO's and the depoliticization of social struggles. Correa’s government has only deepened these tensions.
While Correa is broadly seen as part of the pink tide sweeping across South America, his positions have often placed him at odds with others on the left. Correa comes out of a Catholic Socialist tradition, which means that his positions on topics such as abortion are not the same as those of leftist feminists. Environmentalists oppose his state-centered development projects, which has led to significant tensions over mining and petroleum concerns. His agrarian policies also minimized support for small farmers.
Some Indigenous leaders complained that rather than moving forward, the new constitution would turn the clock back to before the current constitution that was promulgated in 1998. In the end, however, Ecuarunari and others on the Indigenous Left view the new constitution as a mixed bag. In some aspects, it is a step forward, whereas in others it is a jump backward.
Indigenous organizations have long led struggles against neoliberalism, and the new constitution promises an end to what Correa has termed the long dark night of the Washington Consensus. Strengthening the state sector, however, does not necessarily favor Indigenous communities. Correa’s supporters argue that a stronger executive is necessary to bring political stability to Ecuador. Critics, however, point out that this strategy may play directly into conservative hands who will be strongly competing for power in the next elections. Correa may unwittingly be laying the ground for a new round of authoritarian governments with disastrous results for popular movements.
Since 1990, Indigenous organizations have demanded that the first article of the constitution be revised to recognize the plurinational nature of Ecuador. For the first time, this constitution includes this text.
Another struggle was whether Kichwa and other Indigenous languages would be granted official status. At first the assembly, under Correa’s control, Kichwa was not included in the document. At the last minute, the constitution was revised to state:
"Spanish is the official language of Ecuador; Spanish, Kichwa and Shuar are official languages for inter-cultural relationships. Other ancestral languages are for official use for Indigenous peoples in the areas they inhabit and on the terms that the law stipulates. The State will respect and will stimulate their conservation and use."
Even though the text recognized the importance of Indigenous languages, activists criticized the document for stopping short of granting them official status equal to Spanish. By all appearances, this last minute change was either a concession or a sap to Indigenous organizations in order to gain their support. It is easy, of course, to make minor cultural concessions rather than fundamentally changing the political landscape that would create more inclusive social and economic systems.
It is this mixed bag that places Indigenous organizations in such a difficult position. The most vocal and steadworth opposition to the new constitution comes from the conservative oligarchy. The most reactionary elements of the Catholic Church have also called for a vote against the document, largely because of its ambiguous stances on abortion laws and same-sex marriages. If popular movements oppose the constitution because it does not have everything they requested, they play directly into the hands of their traditional enemies. If they support it, they strengthen the hand of a political force that does not embody their interests.
Facing this conundrum, Ecuarunari decided to take what they could get rather than losing everything on a more principled stance. Ecuarunari’s leader Humberto Cholango is calling for massive support for the referendum on September 28. But this decision is by no means a blank check. Supporting the constitution, Cholango declared, is not the same as supporting a political party or an individual. Rather, he cast the gains of the constitution as the result of long struggles of diverse social movements.
Competing Indigenous organizations FENOCIN (the National Confederation of Peasant, Indigenous, and Black Organizations) and FEINE (the Council of Evangelical Indigenous Peoples and Organizations of Ecuador) have also announced their support for the new constitution. CONAIE will hold a national assembly next week in order to decide its position.
If the constitution is approved, Ecuador will hold new presidential and congressional elections in January 2009.
Resolutions of the Extraordinary Assembly of the Confederation of the Peoples of the Kichwa Nationality of Ecuador (Ecuarunari)
In the city of Quito, on Tuesday, July 29, 2008, 500 delegates of the Pasto, Otavalo, Karanki, Natabuela, Kayambi, Kitu Kara, Panzaleo, Salasaca, Chibuleo, Kisapincha, Tomabela, Puruhá, Waranka, Kañari, Saraguro, Palta and Afro-descendent peoples gathered in an extraordinary assembly. After a process of analysis and debate on the content of the project of the new Political Constitution and the situation of Indigenous peoples and nationalities, and the national reality, considering:
That, the project of Ecuador's new Political Constitution has been the fruit of the struggles of Indigenous peoples and social sectors with the purpose of making possible a Plurinational State and an inter-cultural society in order to overcome neoliberalism, racism, and mechanisms of political, economic, social and cultural exclusion.
That, the resistance to the neoliberal pattern has not been forged only in Ecuador but also in Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba and other countries that allow us to globalize our struggles with local actions to end poverty and to establish social equality.
That, the on-going fight for the defense of natural resources, sovereignty for the good life of all Ecuadorians, water, paramos, land, territory, bilingual inter-cultural education, language, health, given that large transnational hydroelectric and mining companies come intruding into Indigenous communities.
Agreements and Resolutions
In light of the new Constitution
1) the vote for YES, as a vindication of the struggle and resistance of Indigenous peoples and exploited social sectors, marginalized and excluded, to recover sovereignty and the homeland.
2) to summon a Great Front between the Indigenous movement and social sectors in the face of the referendum and to promote a vote IN FAVOR of the new Constitution, for the effective and real construction of a Plurinational State, truly anti-neoliberal and liberatory.
3) to promote processes of socialization in the new Political Constitution approved by the Constituent Assembly, by means of a campaign highlighting its advances and political and juridical limitations, with organizations in workshops, assemblies, forums and mobilizations for the information, promotion of the new Constitution.
4) to know the contents of the articles of the project of Ecuador's new Political Constitution as delivered to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.
In the face of the Government of Rafael Correa
5) to reject and to condemn President Rafael Correa for his infantile and fictional declarations against the Indigenous movement that only plays into the hands of the right and generates racism and discrimination against Indigenous peoples.
6) to reject the offense of President Rafael Correa against the historical and heroic figure of general Rumiñahui.
7) to request the tabling of the project of the Mining Law and the immediate application of the Mining Mandate approved by the Constituent Assembly, and to oppose the extractive policies of the National Government and transnational companies.
8) to demand from the National Government an effective answer to the increase in food prices resulting from transnational agriculture businesses.
9) rejection of the traditional oligarchical right and the Bishops of the Catholic Church for trying to confuse and manipulate the conscience of the Ecuadorian people.
In the Organizational, Social and International
10) to promote the use and handling of Kichwa, Shuar and other Indigenous languages both written and spoken in educational centers, public entities, and other community spaces as mechanisms for the implementation of Plurinationalism.
11) we denounce the conglomerate company Cotopaxi that, with the authorization of the Political Intendency and Governor of Cotopaxi, is moving against communities and Indigenous families in the province.
12) we demand that State organisms apply the Constitutional Tribunal resolution concerning the problems facing the Mayorship of Yacuambi.
13) solidarity with Betty Acaro against landowner persecution in the province of Loja.
14) support for the struggle of the people in Bolivia led by president Evo Morales, and to stay vigilant in the face of any boycott or aggregation of the referendum on August 10.
For the Government Council
Humberto Cholango
President of Ecuarunari
Contact Marc Becker at Marc(at)yachana.org. |
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