The Vicam Declaration

On October 11-14,2007, approximately 547 First Nations delegates met at the first Gathering of the Indigenous Peoples of America, held in Sonora, Mexico. The Gathering was convoked by the the Indigenous National Congress (CNI), the EZLN, and the Kumiai nation. Indigenous peoples from all over the Americas, including lands occupied by the governments of United States, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, the Caribbean, Ecuador, and Paraguay met to share their struggles and their goals. With the Vicam Declaration they assert "that the peoples, nations, and indigenous tribes of our lands that the invaders called 'America' have resisted, up to today, a constant capitalist war of conquest and extermination that has already lasted more than 515 years." --Left Turn

The authorities and delegations from the following peoples, nations, and tribes were summoned and met together on October 11-14, 2007, in Yaqui territory in the Vicam community to celebrate the work of the first American Indigenous Peoples Encountro: Achumani, Anishnawbe, Lakota Omaha, Dine, Cherokee, Apache, Dakota, Onondaga, Tothono OÕodham, Chiricahua, Gitxsan, Ojibway, Salish de la Costa, Scwepemc, Cree, Cree Salteaux, Ojibaway, Salish de la costa, Secwepemc, Cree, Cree Salteaux, Cree Carrier, Tsimshian, Kwakwaka Wakw, Ktnuxa, Anishnawbe, Mik Maq, Stollo, Dene, Kahnawake, Wakw (of the Mohawk nation), Akwesasne (of the Mohawk nation), Tus TÕina NakÕazdli Carrier, Nthlagmex, Cayuga, Mame, Wayuu, Kekchi, Mam, Lenka, Kichwa, Miskito, Wixarika, Raramuri, Yaqui, Nahua, Purehpecha, Ezar, (Chichimeca), Triqui, H–ah–u o „uhu, Mepha (Tlapaneco), Maya, Chontal, Tzeltal, Tzotzil, Zoque, Mayo, Coca, Kicapu, Amuzgo, Pima, Mazahua, Guarijio, Quilihua, Cucapa, Cuicateco, Caxan, Mazcovo. Considering:

First: - That we are descendants of the peoples, nations, and tribes that first gave name to these lands; that we were born from our mother earth and we maintain a sacred respect towards that which gives us life and guards us in death; therefore we declare to the whole world that we defend and care for mother earth with our lives.

Second: - That the peoples, nations, and indigenous tribes of our lands that the invaders called “America” have resisted, up to today, a constant capitalist war of conquest and extermination that has already lasted more than 515 years.

The pain suffered because of the attack of the invaders, supported by false arguments of cultural exclusivity and arrogant presumptions of “civilization,” with the goal of stripping us of our territories, destroying our cultures, and disappearing our peoples, has not ended. On the contrary, it grows day by day.

Third: - Together with the pain and the nightmare that savage capitalism provokes, our peoples' resistance and indignation grows and is reflected in the great strength of our peoples to share their words and resistances in this gathering of the American indigenous peoples.

We declare:

First: - We declare our historical right to self-determination as native peoples, nations, and tribes of this continent, respecting that our peoples decide the different ways of exercising this right according to their origin, history, and aspirations.

Second: - We reject the capitalist war of conquest and extermination imposed by the transnational corporations and the international financial institutions in complicity with the superpowers and the nation-states.

We reject the destruction and pillage of the mother earth through the occupation of our lands to carry out industrial, mining, agribusiness, tourist, savage urbanization, and infrastructure activities, as well as the privatization of water, land, forests, seas and coasts, biological diversity, air, rain, traditional knowledge, and all that which was born of the mother earth.

We oppose titling and patenting our peoples' lands, coasts, waters, seeds, plants, animals, and traditional knowledge with the goal of privatizing them.

We reject the occupation and destruction of our sanctuaries and sacred places as well as the merchandising of our culture.

We reject the execution of the mega-project named Escaleras Nauticas (Stairs to the Sea), Mar de Cortes, the construction of the coastal highway inside Yaqui territory, and whatever other action that aims to strip the Yaqui tribe of its lands.

We ratify our rejection of holding the 2010 Winter Olympic Games on sacred land that was stolen from the native nations of the Turtle Nation with the goal of constructing ski slopes in Vancouver, Canada.

Third: - We denounce that the capitalist war of conquest and extermination intensifies the exploitation of members of our peoples like never before in the large plantations and maquiladoras (sweatshops) or as migrants in cities and countries that are far from their native communities, where they are employed under the worst conditions, going so far as cases of slavery and forced labor.

Fourth: - We reject the establishment of large transnational stores that strip communities of their economic resources, just as we reject the neoliberal policies that have debilitated our community economies, destroying our ability to feed ourselves and resulting in the loss of our native seeds.

Fifth: - We declare that we will seek the complete reconstruction of our peoples and that we will continue to strengthen our own cultures, languages, traditions, organizations, and governments.

Supported by our culture and vision of the world, we strengthen and recreate our own educational institutions, rejecting the education models that the nation-states impose on us in order to exterminate our cultures.

We propose that we construct and strengthen our own means of communication so that our struggles and alliances are connected to our brothers and sisters globally.

Sixth: - We reject all forms of repression against our peoples, manifested in the militarization and paramilitarization of our lands, forced displacement, massive deportation, the imposition of borders in order to divide and fragment our peoples, and the jailing and the disappearance of those who struggle for our peoples' historical demands.

Therefore we demand the immediate liberation of all of the indigenous political prisoners of America.

We call for the unity of all of the indigenous peoples of America to confront the capitalist war of conquest and extermination, to consolidate our free determination and wholly reestablish ourselves.

Vicam, territory of the Yaqui tribe, America, October 14, 2007.

Sincerely,

The peoples, tribes, and nations participating in the Gathering of the Indigenous Peoples of America



Translated from the original Spanish by Kristin Bricker.

For audio in English and Spanish from the Encuentro, please see Regeneracion Radio.

For more information on the Gathering of the Indigenous Peoples of America, please see The Vícam Declaration: “We Will Defend Mother Earth with Our Lives” by Hermann Bellinghausen.