Social movements fascinate me. Everything from the one we
had here at Colgate earlier in the semester to the one Nicole Fabricant talked
about last week. Movements bring about change. They right a wrong; open eyes
and raise awareness; restore an identity; and give life a little glimmer of
hope.
Last week Nicole Fabricant came to talk to us about El
Movimiento Sin Tierra (MST), or the Landless Peasant Movement. This movement
rose out of resistance to Bolivia’s ever-growing large-scale export-oriented
agriculture (much which is based on soy production). Landless, displaced
peasants joined together in the face of privatization, globalization, and
neo-liberalization. MST activists strive to revive a sense of indigeneity. They
started by seizing unproductive lands and building farm collectives on those
lands. The Bolivian constitution states that indigenous people have the right
to take back and redistribute land, which does not serve any economical or
political purpose. In this way, Native peoples started to regain back some
political, cultural, and human rights. In 2005, indigenous leader Evo Morales
became president, presiding over three revolutions involving water, gas, and
land. These three “commodities” were taken out of the hands of the
agro-business elites and rightfully put back into the hands of the indigenous.
The displacement of indigenous people due to economic,
environmental, and political domination is ubiquitous. It’s present and pervasive
in places like the United States, the Artic, Australia, and Chile. Last semester,
I did research and made a mini documentary on the indigenous movement in
Patagonia, Chile called Patagonia Sin Represas, or Patagonia Without Dams.
Click on the link below to check out my video!!!
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