Kia ora!

Well its one week to go until im off to the 4th World Youth Congress 2008!! What is that all about you may ask..? well I will be there representing Aotearoa / New Zealand and my Maori - Czech - Kiwi background in this forum as a Adovacte for our realities...

"The 4th World Youth Congress will bring 600 of the world's most dynamic young activists in the field of sustainable development to Québec from 120 different countries.

The congress offers a unique opportunity to meet and work alongside young people who are really doing things and going places. This event sets a new standard for international youth events, and will be the largest and most inspirational gathering of its kind for young people taking place anywhere in the world in 2008.

There is a strong role at the Congress for young journalists, cultural performers (e.g. dancers / actors / film makers / musicians), as well as for those with an interest in sustainable development, but less personal experience in this area."

The Mapuche, a people originally from the south of Latin America, whose name means "people or persons of the earth", and whose worldview has been intimately connected to the natural environment.

It is said that "Mapu Ñuke", or Mother Nature, has given the Mapuche culture and society the knowledge they possess. This knowledge is transmitted through conversation in those sacred places of the natural world built to support the Mapuche links to the earth and to family.

Every part of the natural world, including human beings and the dead, possess a spirit. Amongst them there are caring and guiding spirits of nature. For example, stones and serpents have an important role in the Mapuche way of life. Even now, the Mapuche ask permission to pass through certain places that are considered sacred. On such occasions, the Mapuche people take time to appreciate these places and ask for the protection of the earth and their families, as part of their attempts to overcome the unfortunate realities for their people.

The history of the Mapuche people is a history full of battles in defence of the earth. These battles have continued for more than 500 years, since the attempted takeover of the area by the Inka and the Spanish people, and later the battles continued against the genocide attempts of Chilean and Argentinian governments at the end of the 19 th Century. These attempts have not ceased in Chile and Argentina's added efforts to transform their cultures into spitting images of Western society. Big business has also appeared on the scene. These businesses have claimed – and continue to claim – to those same governments that Mapuche land should be used for the development of economic projects such as single-crop forestation, without planning nor providing for the harmful effects on both human and environmental health.

However, historically a system of private property did not exist on "Mapuche territory". There weren't any electric fences nor were there extensive plantations of single-crop forestation like that which exists today, but instead the people were free to roam. They could take freely whatever was needed for the continued sustenance of Mapu Ñuke.

The sacred places, such as the paliwe and the nguillatuwe, are spaces where the Mapuche pray, give thanks, and share with the spirits their desire to see them respected and to see the Mapuche culture survive.

The Chilean government has, throughout history, pushed through "social integration policies", which have attempted to destroy the unique customs of the Mapuche people, and in this way the Mapuche social organisation has been twisted and modified, through the imposition of unknown and destructive social models. These politicians, who are not part of the Mapuche culture or way of life, do not understand or value the traditional lifestyles of the Mapuche people, instead imposing new lifestyles upon them.

This is but a brief snapshot of the relationship the Mapuche people have with the state and big business. Furthermore there currently exists a situation which is worrying: the hunger strike which has recently reached 42 days. The strikers are our Mapuche peñi (brothers) and lamgnen (sister). They are striking for: the freedom of all Mapuche political prisoners throughout various Chilean jails; demilitarisation and an end to the oppression of various roaming Mapuche communities so that they can exercise their political and territorial rights; and an end to the political-judicial conspiracies against Mapuche organisers and leaders.

To speak of Mapuche political prisoners, and to speak of their ethnic, political, and territorial demands, has been criminalised by the Chilean government, placing the interests of big business over and above those of the Mapuche communities involved. Because of these events, Chile has received international condemnation and many recommendations to end the criminalization of the Mapuche people. One such recommenda

Thank you for taking time to listen… for more articles, photos and personal stories regarding these ‘terrorist raids’ see below:

KP

http://www.stuff.co.nz/0a25364.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-paci...
http://www.indymedia.org.nz/
http://www.narconews.com/Issue47/art...
http://www.scoop.co.nz