Vicam Pueblo: In Defense of Water, National Indigenous Congress 2010

NATIONAL INDIGENOUS CONGRESS

DECLARATION OF VÍCAM
IN DEFENSE OF WATER, THE EARTH, AND THE SOVEREIGNTY OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
English translation by Sal Baldenegro and Wenona Benally
Espanol: http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2010/11/vicam-pueblo-en-defensa-del-agua.html
Censored News
Photo 1: Sonora coastline Photo 2 National Indigenous Congress 2010 on Yaqui Pueblo copyright Ofelia Rivas, O'odham
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GATHERED IN THE HOMELAND OF THE YAQUI, THE PEOPLES, TRIBES, AND NATIONS OF THE PURÉPECHA, NAHUA, WIXÁRIKA, COCAPAH, O'ODHAM, YAQUI, MAYO-YOREME, MIXTECO, TRIQUI, TZOTZIL AND OTOMÍ, IN COOPERATION WITH MEXICAN CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS, AND WITH VARIOUS COUNTRIES OF THE AMERICAS, ASIA, AND EUROPE TO CELEBRATE THE FIRST NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL FORUM IN DEFENSE OF WATER, AND RECOGNIZING THAT:

1. WATER, OUR MOTHER AND FATHER, IS THAT WHICH GIVES US LIFE ALONG WITH THE EARTH, FIRE, AND AIR. IT IS THE FOUNDATION OF OUR LIVES AND OF THE EXISTENCE OF EVERYTHING THAT IS BORN AND THAT IS ALIVE; AND IT IS NOT SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN BUY AND SELL IN THE WAY THAT CAPITALISM DESTROYS OUR MOTHER EARTH.

2. THE EARTH, THE WATER, AND EVERYTHING THAT IS BORN TO THEM BIND OUR ANCESTRAL LANDS AND ARE INSEPARABLE, EVEN WHEN NEO-LIBERALISM IN ITS DESIRE FOR PROFITS SEEKS TO DESTROY THE EARTH IN ORDER TO MAKE THE EARTH’S ELEMENTS INTO PRIVATE COMMODITIES;

3. THE MAJOR CORPORATIONS, BOTH NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL, IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT, SEEK TO APPROPRIATE OUR LAND AND THE RESOURCES OF OUR NATION, GENERATING LAWS, POLICIES, AND ACTIONS TOWARD THE CAPITALIST PRIVATIZATION OF THE WATERS, RIVERS, BEACHES, SEAS, LAKES, SPRINGS, LAND, FORESTS, MINERALS, PLANTS, AND TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE;

4. IN THIS CONFERENCE OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THE AMERICAS, HAVING TAKEN PLACE ON THE 11TH, 12TH, 13TH AND 14TH DAYS OF OCTOBER, 2007, IN THIS LAND OF THE YAQUI TRIBE, WE HAVE AGREED TO REJECT COLONIALISM AND CAPITALIST EXTERMINATION IMPOSED BY THE TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS AND THE INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL ENTITIES WHO ARE COMPLICIT WITH THE SUPERPOWERS OF THE WORLD.

WE ALSO HAVE AGREED TO REJECT THE DESTRUCTION AND PILLAGING OF MOTHER EARTH THROUGH THE OCCUPATION OF OUR LAND FOR THE PURPOSES OF INDUSTRY, MINING, AGRICULTURE, TOURISM, URBANIZATION, AND DEVELOPMENT IN ADDITION TO PRIVATIZATION OF THE WATER, THE EARTH, THE FORESTS, THE SEAS AND THE COASTS, BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY, THE AIR, THE RAIN, TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, AND EVERYTHING ELSE WHICH COMES FROM MOTHER EARTH, AS WE ARE OPPOSED TO THE APPROPRIATION OF THE LAND, COASTS, WATERS, SEEDS, PLANTS, ANIMALS, AND TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE OF OUR PEOPLES FOR THE PURPOSE OF PRIVATIZING THEM.

WE MAKE THE FOLLOWING PRONOUNCEMENT:
FIRST, WE OPPOSE THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE EL NOVILLO DAM AQUEDUCT BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, THE STATE GOVERNOR, AND THE BILLIONAIRE CARLOS SLIM, THAT AIMS TO BRING ALMOST ALL OF THE WATER OF THE YAQUI RIVER TO THE MUNICIPALITY OF HERMOSILLO TO BE USED BY DEVELOPERS, TOURISTS, AND BIG AGRIBUSINESSES, WHEN THE EXECUTION OF SAID PROJECT WILL STRIP THE YAQUI TRIBE OF THEIR WATER WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT, ANNULLING THEIR SOVEREIGNTY AND THEIR HISTORICAL RIGHT TO THE YAQUI RIVER BASIN, PROVOKING THE DESTRUCTION OF THE LAND AND THE EXTERMINATION OF THE TRIBE IN ADDITION TO THE PROFOUND EFFECT ON THE ECOLOGICAL EQUILIBRIUM OF THE SOUTH OF SONORA AND THE RUIN OF FARMERS IN THE YAQUI VALLEY.
SECOND, WE REJECT THE DISPOSSESSION AND PRIVATE APPROPRIATION OF THE WATER, RIVERS, WASHES, SPRINGS, DEEP WATERS, LAKES, ESTUARIES, COASTS, SEAS, BEACHES, AND EVERYTHING THAT BINDS THE LAND OF OUR PEOPLES AS WELL AS THE CONSTRUCTION OF AQUEDUCTS AND DAMS FOR THE PURPOSES OF HOARDING THE WATER FOR COMMERCIAL USES. WATER IS FUNDAMENTAL TO LIFE, AND SO WE STRONGLY OPPOSE THE HOARDING OF WATER BY PRIVATE INTERESTS WHO CONSIDER IT AS A COMMODITY TO BE BOUGHT AND SOLD. WE OPPOSE ALL LAWS, REGULATIONS, AND GOVERNMENT POLICIES INTENDING TO PRIVATIZE WATER.
THIRD, WE AFFIRM OUR HISTORIC RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION AS INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, NATIONS, AND TRIBES, RESPECTING THE DIFFERENT WAYS OF OUR PEOPLES ACCORDING TO THEIR ORIGINS, HISTORY, AND ASPIRATIONS.
FOURTH, AHEAD OF THE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION, WE SAY THAT THIS HISTORIC STRUGGLE, JUST LIKE THE ONES BEFORE IT, COST OUR PEOPLE MUCH BLOOD AND WE GAINED LITTLE OR NOTHING IN RETURN FOR THE SACRIFICES THAT WERE MADE BY OUR GRANDFATHERS TO BUILD AND LIBERATE THE COUNTRY OF ALL MEXICANS, SINCE THE SUCCESSIVE CONSTITUTIONS OF 1824, 1857, AND 1917 DID NOT EVEN RECOGNIZE OUR EXISTENCE.
FIFTH, WE ARE PUTTING OUT A CALL TO STRENGTHEN THE SOVEREIGNTY OF OUR PEOPLES TO DEFEND THE EARTH, THE LAND, THE MOUNTAINS, THE WATERS, THE NATURAL AND SPIRITUAL BEINGS AS WELL AS OUR CULTURES, AND TO STRENGTHEN OUR GOVERNMENTS, OUR COUNCILS, AND OUR TRADITIONAL AUTHORITIES UNDER THE PRINCIPLE OF LEAD BY OBEYING.
SIXTH, WE REJECT THE GOVERNMENTAL AND PARAMILITARY REPRESSION UNLEASHED UPON OUR PEOPLES, ESPECIALLY TOWARD THE TRIQUI PEOPLE OF OAXACA, THE COMMUNITIES OF THE CARACOLES AND JUNTAS DE BUEN GOBIERNO ZAPATISTAS OF CHIAPAS, THE NAHUA COMMUNITY OF SANTA MARÍA OSTULA, MICHOACÁN, AND THE TZOTZIL COMMUNITY OF MITZITÓN, CHIAPAS; WE ALSO OPPOSE THE FORCED DISPLACEMENT OF THE AUTONOMOUS MUNCIPALITY OF SAN JUAN COPALA AND THE MILITARIZATION OF THE TRIQUI REGION, CALLING ALL THE TRIQUI WOMEN, MEN, BOYS, GIRLS, AND ELDERS TO REBUILD THE UNITY OF THEIR PEOPLE WITHOUT THE INTERFERENCE OF ORGANIZATIONS AND WITHOUT THE INTRUSION OF OUTSIDE INTERESTS THAT PROVOKE CONFRONTATION AMONG THE TRIQUI PEOPLE.
SEVENTH, WE DEMAND THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF OUR BROTHERS IN STRUGGLE WHO THE GOVERNMENT HAS IMPRISONED IN ORDER TO SILENCE THEIR VOICES.
EIGHTH, WE COMMEND THE COURAGEOUS EFFORTS OF THE NAHUA COMMUNITY OF SAN SALVADOR ATENCO AND MAINTAIN OUR UNCONDITIONAL SUPPORT OF THEIR RESISTANCE IN OPPOSITION TO THE CONTINUED EFFORTS THAT SEEK TO DISPOSSESS THEM OF THEIR LAND.
NINTH, WE CALL ON ALL INDIGENOUS PEOPLES TO CONTINUE BUILDING AND STRENGTHENING THE NATIONAL INDIGENOUS CONFERENCE AS THE HOME OF OUR PEOPLES.

VÍCAM, LAND OF THE YAQUI TRIBE, 21 NOVEMBER 2010

YOURS SINCERELY

PARTICIPANT PEOPLES, TRIBES, AND NATIONS OF THE INAUGURAL NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON THE DEFENSE OF WATER