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Urgent Campaign: Economic Support for the Alianza Territorial Mapuche (Mapuche Land Alliance)
The Alianza Territorial Mapuche (Mapuche Land Alliance), which consists of dozens of communities, each with dozens of families, resulting in thousands of members, today it is one the most important links in the struggle for the recuperation of ancestral lands. It is building solidarity among all the sectors of that people/nation in calling for support of the Mapuche political prisoners held by the Chilean state which has invoked Pinochet’s Antiterrorist Law against them.
Theirs is a subsistence economy based on agriculture, small scale livestock, handicrafts, wood, pine nuts, textiles and fishing. Raw material or products not consumed are entered into the traditional market in the cities where family members have a store or market. The income generated is not enough to meet the growing needs (supplies, fuel. transportation, tools, communications, logistics, and office space) of a people who are constantly under attack by a well supplied modern police force. It does not meet the needs of the individual households or the community. It should be noted that the lands of the Mapuche do not compare with the lands sold by the Chilean state at bargain basement prices to the German settlers after the fall of the Third Reich.
To make matters worse, forestry and fishing industries are poisoning rivers, lakes and the sea. There is a massive influx or transgenic seeds. Native forests are being destroyed and replaced with species with a very high requirement for water. There are dozens and dozens of family members in prison who require food and visits. There is a shortage of lawyers willing to take on the Mapuche cause, and those that do are persecuted by the state.
As a result, the Mapuche Land Alliance has decided to dedicate itself with more force to a self-sustaining economy, expanding the production of a variety of food, and wood products, pine nut flour, for example, in barter networks with artisanal fishermen and other agricultural communities and in expanding business opportunities in two ways; the traditional market, entering new markets and finding new customers, and the economy of reciprocity, that is, selling at below market price to neighborhood groups buying together, participating in barter fairs, and seeking other forms of cooperation and mutual support between people, neighborhoods, organizations and social sectors.
The first priority is obviously subsistence, that is, the expansion of a self-sustaining economy that allows economic independence from companies and state agencies responsible for managing loans and grants demagogically only to those who are obedient to the rules of the Chilean occupiers of Mapuche lands.
The transportation of products is greatly hindered by the institutional closing off and militarization of the region. This region in which the forests, mountains and waters have been poisoned and destroyed, in which communities live in poverty and the land is poor, where once community members travelled freely throughout the territory.
To achieve self-sustainability, a good truck in needed.
The Network of Popular Economy and Social Ecology, together with other groups concerned with ecology, responsible consumption, organic food, and neighborhood economy have formed the Network of Buying Together, Self-Sustainable Production and Reciprocal Economy, and we understand this need for reliable transportation.
So, we have formed a Truck Campaign for the Mapuche Land Alliance. This is a campaign in various countries to raise money or to find a donor for this indispensible vehicle. To know more or to cooperate, write:
redciprocidad@gmail.com
Redciprocidad is a pacifist coalition, independent of parties, churches, NGOs, governments and philosophical-ideological tendencies.
Redciprocity advocates change through community self-sustainability including the indigenous practice of Buen Vivir (Living Well). It includes training and development of community alternative forms of energy to break the bonds of dependency on the state and the market, finding autonomous solutions among neighbors for basic services such as health, education, recreation, construction and nutrition, protection of nature and the active rejection of GMOs, chemical-pharmaceutical drugs, alcoholism, drug addiction, drug trafficking, gambling and competitive activities.
Furthermore, Redciprocity advocates the formation of Committees to Buy Together to reduce family expenses, the formation of groups of retirees, women and youth to develop self-managed productive undertakings, the construction of neighborhood gardens to improve nutrition and to reconnect with Mother Earth, the creation of spaces for children and youth as a way to break the individualism of home confinement to get together with neighbors and develop the pleasure of being together.
The Mapuche Land Alliance has declared that they do not bear arms and only defend their bodies, their families and territories with sticks and stones, for the development of their autonomy, self-determination and national liberation. Our network is completely identified with these principles and proposes to make our best effort in outreach, contacts, communication and exchanges in order to achieve results as soon as possible.
That truck will strengthen horizontal links between Mapuche communities, fishers, farmers, villages, suburbs and our network, like a needle in the fabric of life, carrying not only products, but also love, newen (energy of the universe, in Mapudungu, language of the Mapuche), vision, and a huge sense of spirituality. It will not only be beneficial to meet he needs of the Mapuche people, but will also strengthen links and support the needs of other sectors.
Reciprocity.
We invite the media and journalists from other countries to translate this letter and to publish and circulate it until it reaches the coldest heart. We invite leaders and members of political, social, cultural, religious, educational, trade union and solidarity groups to propose this campaign to their boards and assemblies and to contact us for more details.
We will send to those interested in cooperating or forming networks for outreach the characteristics of the truck and the bank account which is managed directly by Mapuche brothers, as well as updates on the activities, declarations and communications from the Mapuche Land Alliance.
We hope to hear from you in the hope that the energy and love of the mother earth grows in your hearts.
Jaime Yovanovic Prieto (Profesor J)
Coordinator
Network of Popular Economy and Social Ecology
redciprocidad@gmail.com
redecosocial@gmail.com