Peru: In Defense of Land, Culture and the Female Body

Written on May 11th, 2016 in politics Comments Off

… Interview with Lourdes Huanca – Published on Upside Down World.org, by Georges Ygarza, May 8, 2016.

… Lourdes Huanca Atencio is president of the National Federation of female peasants, Artisans, Indigenous, Natives and Salaried workers of Peru or FENMUCARINAP. The organization was founded in 2006 with the purpose of defending and fighting for the rights of women in Peru. These include struggles for the control and defense of the female body and political, economic and social empowerment. Rooted in an ancestral cosmovision of their indigenous communities, a central struggle has been the fight for their subsistence, in maintaining land, water and seed sovereignty. FENMUCARINAP currently finds itself in 19 regions throughout Peru and counts on over 126,000 members.  

This interview was conducted in spanish on April 7th, 2016 during the last days of campaigning for the first round of the country’s presidential and congressional seats. It was translated by the author … //

… G: The law of impunity is still on the books, right? ( The law of impunity or Law 3051 declares police forces “exempt from any responsibility” if a civilian is injured or killed in a protest while police carry out their responsibilities (Dearden & Independent, 2014) )

  • L: Yes. We have yet to receive any justice for the dozens of campesinas and campesino who have been killed.
  • More than 300,000 women were forcibly sterilized. They blamed us, the women, for the rise in poverty; for this we continue to struggle. And now that [Alberto] Fujimori is in prison they are asking us to forgive him. God can forgive him but I am not the one to forgive. He must pay for his crimes here and rot in that cell. Who was he to take our fertility from us? With what right did they have to say we were responsible for poverty? There are things that hurt you deep in your soul. Centuries will pass but the wounds will remain. This is what our original people are suffering from. I often imagine, what would it have been like if 300,000 men had a testicle removed? Would it have been forgotten? Because we are rural women, because we cannot read or write our rights our taken from us.

G: But they’ve mistaken, because organizations like this have raised hell…

  • This is what we’re proud off. We are working with 126,000 women. We have a congress in August and are going region by region meeting women on the frontlines struggling for justice. We are proud of a shifting consciousness in society demonstrated this past April 5th in the national mobilization against Keiko Fujimori. Plaza San Martin in Lima was overflowing with over 50,000 people. The collective consciousness is finally awakening. We have to analyze this politically and see what it means for our country; what it means for establishing a lasting unity. Unity is crucial in order to forge lasting development here.

G: Can you expand more on the hegemonies – social, political and economic – that hold back women and indigenous people in this country? … //

… G: Returning to the issue of mining, what alternatives or routes guided by social philosophies beyond the state are developing strong challenges to the hegemony of extractivism in certain regions?

  • L: The main problem with mining is water.
  • Those of us confronting the corporations are few. We can not rely on NGOs because some of them have been influenced by mining corporation’s money.
  • These mining companies want easy profits.
  • Our ideology is of course considered that of the left. Today the left is fragmented in a million pieces – it’s screwed. Frente Amplio has tried to form a coalition but we have failed to bring in most of the left.
  • In Cajamarca we have Goyo (Gregorio Santos) who is in prison. Now, I welcome anyone to run for president but one must look at what the best way forward for our country is. Selfishness divides organizations in a way that makes it harder to bring them back together.
  • If we do not come together we are relinquishing our country to the others. It becomes harder when many NGOs come offering money. For this reason FENMUCARINAP does not work with the World Bank. We learn our lessons as we go along as to who we consider allies.

G: Finally, the Peruvian woman has a rich legacy and a fascinating history. What can this generation learn from the past and what does the future hold for the Peruvian woman? … //

… (full interview text).

(George Ygarza is a graduate student interested in radical challenges to contemporary society through subaltern concepts. He has participated in numerous social justice movements from OCCUPY to most recent actions against police violence. He is a founding and active member of the new collective named NJ Grassroots Action).

Links:

Lesser evil is not a solution, Green Party candidates debate on RT America, on RT, May 9, 2016;

US will never default on debt ‘because you print the money’ – Trump, on RT, May 9, 2016;

L’initiative pour le service public convainc, dans 20 mnutes, le 6 mai 2016: les résultats de la deuxième vague de sondage de Tamedia donnent pour l’instant quatre objets sur cinq vainqueurs. Seul le revenu de base inconditionnel serait rejeté;

L’initiative «Pro Service Public» est plébiscitée partout en Suisse, dans 24heures, par Florent Quiquerez, le 6 mai 2016; Site Web;

France: La Nuit Debout se poursuit sur la place Jean Jaurès, dans La Dépêche.fr, par Corinne Gaillard, le 6 mai 2016;

Eurozone members are unable to print money, on Financial Times, by Peter Sime, May 6, 2016: Sir, Patrick Jenkins’ Sovereign debt risk weightings system needs overhauling, on Inside Business, May 3, is absolutely correct. The system needs a complete change;

Paysannes de Suisse contre l’initiative «Pro Service Public», dans 24heures.ch, le 5 mai 2016: Votations du 5 juinL’Union suisse des paysannes et des femmes rurales (USPF) rejette à l’unanimité l’initiative «Pro Service Public», soumise au vote le 5 juin;

Comrade Bill Gross says the Federal Reserve Should Pay Your Rent, on Fortune, by Chris Matthews, May 5, 2016;

Canada, Montreal: Projet de loi 70, quand le mépris devient loi, dans CNW Telbec, le 5 mai 2016;

L’ADDS rend visite aux usagers du Grenier, dans le journal de lévis, par Mariane Bergeron-Courteau, le 5 mai 2016;

Challenging privilege – on solidarity and self-reflection, on ROARmag, by Dilar Dirik, May 4, 2016;

Reporterteam folgt Flüchtlingen auf der Balkanroute – uploaded by Informier dich selbst, Feb 17, 2016: Teil 1, 57.44 min; Teil 2, 43.16 min;

Audio – The Benjamin Fulford Interview, 91.04 min, on Veterans Today VT, Interview conducted by Mike Harris, Nov 5, 2015: … about our money, related gangsters and other strange news – Mike Harris is the Veteran’s Today Financial Editor and radio show host of Short End of the Stick (Tu & Thur, 7-9 CST);

Fulford in german: Benjamin Fulford’s Translations, auf Benjamin Fulford Translations.blogspot.ch/, 2. Mai 2016;
englische Quelle: Antimatrix.org;

… and this:

uploaded by Pure Living For Live:

… und noch dies:

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