Indigenous Politics and Democracy in Latin America

Maxwell A. Cameron

Poli 332

UBC

Announcement

• Handwoven Resistance: Indigenous Women's Fair Trade Weaving Cooperative Jolom Maya’etik & Women’s Organization K’inal Antzetik Working for indigenous peoples' and women's rights in Chiapas, MX

• Confronting the detrimental impacts of globalization, the work of Jolom

Maya’etik and K’inal Antzetik fosters women’s economic autonomy while strengthening the capacity of indigenous peoples to maintain a stronghold on their land, language, culture and traditional livelihoods.

• Celia Sánchez is the current president of Jolom Maya'etik, an independent,

democratically run cooperative of 300+ indigenous women and Marla Gutiérrez of K'inal Antzetik has a long history of working with social justice and women's movements throughout Chiapas. They will be speaking about indigenous peoples’ and women’s rights in the context of globalization in Mexico.

• April 8th 2010, noon- 2pm• UBC First Nations House of Learning Longhouse

• Visit “la mano – ethical textiles” on Facebook for updates on other events/demos/talks (go to FB & search: la mano space dash space ethical textiles)

Introduction

• Key concepts and definitions in ethnic politics• Historical background• Representation and participation• Impact of indigenous mobilization on

democratic regimes• Case studies

– Bolivia– Ecuador– Guatemala

• A post-liberal politics?

Ethnic Politics

• Ethnic cleavages and identity:– Identification changes over time– Strategy of mobilization by party leaders– Polls unreliable; theories of race unscientific

• Mestizo: hybrid culture arising, with contradictory attitude toward indigenous ancestry (pride and discrimination)

Party and Movement

• Ethnic party: organization that competes in elections whose leadership that identifies with a nondominant ethnic group, and which makes demands of ethnic nature (Van Cott, in Smith 2009, p. 111).

• Social movement: “organized drives to promote or resist change through collective practices that are embedded in a structure of conflict, involve episodes of mass participation, and challenge existing institutions” (Zamosc, in Smith 2009, p. 272).

Forms of Political Engagement

Means

Ends Institutional Noninstitutional

Influence Interest groups Social movements

Power Political parties Revolutions

Source: Zamosc, in Smith 2009, p. 274

History• Until 1990s ethnic parties rare in Latin

America• Largest indigenous populations in countries

that were central to colonial enterprise (Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia)

• High levels of marginalization and poverty• Lack of the rule of law• Gap between pais real vs. pais oficial• Problems of social exclusion• Recent social movements: MAS in Bolivia,

Zapatistas in Mexico, CONAIE in Ecuador,

ILO Convention 169,

• Convention concerning Indigenous Peoples and Tribes in Independent Countries.

• Adopted in 1991. • Signatories respect indigenous rights to

control indigenous territory and communities, resources, customary justice, lands, political organization, culturally affirming education and language.

• Ratified by Bolivia, Columbia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay and Peru.

Representation

• Emergence of indigenous movements and parties reflects the crisis of representation

• Promises to integrate marginalized groups• Offers a choice for voters; recruits indigenous

leaders into office• Place indigenous issues on agenda: agrarian

reform, local autonomy, coca, control over natural resources

Participation

• Historically, indigenous people have turned out in lower numbers for elections– Turnout has gone up in Bolivia and Ecuador

• Rural votes have less influence• Voter registration is costly• Ignored by major parties

Impact on Democracy

• Ethnic politics helps consolidate or destabilizes democracy? (Madrid, in Smith 2009 p. 199)– Civil society coups in Ecuador and Bolivia

• Tendency to separatism or autonomy? • Anti-democratic movements• Impact on parties: the most fragmented party systems are in

Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala (Madrid in Smith 2009 p. 205)• Indigenous voters contribute to volatility where parties do not

represent their interests• Overall support for democracy should rise with greater indigenous

representation and participation• Fewer violent confrontations should occur

Bolivia: The Good• 37 distinct ethnic groups• Katarismo: blends class and ethnic appeals, seeks reconstruction

of Bolivian state along ethnic lines, is tolerant of ethnic diversity, mixes indigenous and Western cultures (Van Cott, in Smith 2009, p. 123)

• 1994 political reforms, including municipal decentralization (Popular Participation Law)

• Rise of Evo Morales and the MAS in late 1990s• MAS woos non-indigenous voters; radical indianist parties have

done less well• 2002 election• Water and gas wars (2000, 2003)• Sanchez de Lozada deposed 2003• 2005 election - 53 percent• Re-elected 2009 - 63 percent

Ecuador: The Bad• Pachakutik Plurinational Unity Movement has participated in

elections since 1996. Launched by CONAIE• Bucaram deposed in 1997: CONAIE gets promise of

constitutional reform• Mahuad elected and pursues neoliberal reforms (including

dollarization)• In 2000 CONAIE led revolt with unions; junior officers joined in

rebellion• Trio assumed control (military, indigenous, judge)• Military imposed VP, Gustavo Noboa• Helped elect Lucio Gutierrez in alliance with PSP in 2002• Gutierrez plays “bait and switch”• CONAIE divided over breaking with government• Zamosc (in Smith 2009) concludes there is lack of commitment to

democracy (seen as a fraud).

Guatemala: The Ugly• Accord Concerning the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Signed in

March 1995. Result of negotiations between guerrillas (URNG) and government. Pluri-ethnic, multi-linguistic state and limited self-determination for Mayas recognized. Reinforce Mayan language and curriculum. Limit: no legal force.

• Only 11 percent legislators indigenous, yet majority of population indigenous (Madrid, in Smith 2009, p. 202)

• Change in articles of 1985 constitution, including:– Recognition of cultural rights.– Consultation before legislation on indigenous matters.– Judicial services made available in indigenous languages.– Limit presidential powers, make federal officials more accountable to

legislature

• Did not pass: Result: 366,000 against, 328,000 in favor– Low voter turn-out (18%). – Little indigenous participation.– Little turn-out in rural areas.– Strong Ladino opposition.

Post-Liberal Politics?

• In both Ecuador and Bolivia, indigenous peoples have demanded new constitutions

• Seek more direct forms of participation• Democracy involves participation in communal

decision-making• Two “canons of representation” (Zamosc in Smith

2009, p. 288): – Delegates with specific powers and mandates,

revoked at will– Delegates with a fiduciary responsibility with wide

discretion to interpret interests

Citizenship “The resurgence of indigenous identity is so problematic

because it challenges the very basis of currently conceptualized ideas of the state, nation, and democracy, primarily through the medium of community. It requires that people (or at least a substantial percentage of them) will not be equal before the law; will not be citizens of an imagined community; will not be part of a disembedded civil society; but rather will be members of community in which law and citizenship and all else that matters is determined by your membership in that community and a complex web of social and productive relations from which you cannot divorce yourself and which are not, always, democratic.” Jim Handy, 2002, p. 66.

Further Reading

• Chasteen, John Charles. Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001.

• Handy, Jim. “Democratizing What? Some Reflections on Nation, State, Ethnicity, Modernity, Community and Democracy in Guatemala”, Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 27(53) 2002.

• Restall, Matthew. Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

• Wright, Ronald. Stolen Continents: Conquest and Resistance in the Americas. Toronto: Penguin, 2003.