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Indigenous Leaders celebrate Morales Victory
by Diego Cevallos
Inter Press Service (IPS)
Latin America
 
Mexico City, Dec 2005
 
Indigenous Leaders celebrate Morales Victory, by Diego Cevallos. (IPS)
 
The election of indigenous leader Evo Morales as president of Bolivia is being hailed by native leaders from throughout the region as a "sign of hope" for all impoverished and discriminated indigenous peoples in Latin America.
 
Guatemalan Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rigoberto Menchú said that Morales has brought "a refreshing wind" for all aboriginal peoples.
 
For his part, the president of the powerful Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), Luis Macas, said that Morales" victory is a historical landmark unlike anything seen "since the time of Spanish colonialism."
 
Morales, who captured 51 percent of the votes in Sunday"s elections according to preliminary results, will take office on Jan. 22 as the first indigenous president in the history of Bolivia, where 60 percent of the population of 8.6 million identify themselves with one of the country"s indigenous groups, according to the 2002 census.
 
The 46-year-old president-elect, a member of the Aymara community, Bolivia"s largest ethnic group, emerged as a leader of the country"s coca farmers in the central region of Chapare, and has consistently spoken out for the struggles and demands of the country"s poverty-stricken and marginalised indigenous majority.
 
Menchú, a Mayan Indian activist who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992, said that Morales" triumph was "an important precedent in the social struggles of the entire region," but warned that "we know he is going to need all of the support of his brothers and sisters."
 
Rafael González, chair of the Committee for Campesino Unity (CUC) in Guatemala, told IPS he hopes "Morales" victory will have repercussions throughout the Americas," and that in the future, other indigenous peoples "will have a president who truly represents them, like the one in Bolivia."
 
There are between 33 and 40 million indigenous people in Latin America, divided into some 400 different ethnic groups, although almost all share something in common: poverty and discrimination.
 
Indigenous organisations and leaders, like Morales, Menchú, Macas and González, among others, have been struggling to draw attention to this reality and making ever louder demands for political and social change in their countries since the early 1990s.
 
Over the last 15 years, powerful, organised indigenous movements in Latin America have succeeded in overthrowing governments in Bolivia and Ecuador and forced the issue of aboriginal people"s rights onto the political agenda, as in the case of Mexico and the primarily indigenous Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN).
 
Throughout the same period, a growing number of indigenous people have been elected to public office, as mayors, members of Congress and government ministers. In Bolivia itself, Aymara Indian Víctor Hugo Cárdenas served as vice president from 1993 to 1997.
 
Now an indigenous politician has reached the highest seat of power for the first time in Bolivia.
 
Morales "will always be able to count on his indigenous brothers and sisters. If we can counsel or support him in any way, we will do so," said Menchú.
 
The Nobel Prize winner cautioned that the new president will be confronting "a very complicated and complex task, because he will be leading a country where racism and discrimination are very deep-rooted," in addition to "serious economic problems, poverty and social and political divisions."
 
A World Bank report released this year, titled "Indigenous Peoples, Poverty and Human Development in Latin America: 1994-2004", revealed that 74 percent of indigenous people in Bolivia live in poverty.
 
"Almost two-thirds of the indigenous population is among the poorest 50 percent of the population," the researchers reported, noting that "if gains were perfectly distributed, Bolivia"s indigenous population would require about twice as much income per person as the non-indigenous population to escape poverty."
 
The indigenous population has 3.7 fewer years of schooling (a total of 5.9 years) than the non-indigenous population (9.6 years) in Bolivia, while the incidence of child labour is nearly four times higher among indigenous than non-indigenous children, the study adds.
 
The World Bank report points out that the political influence of indigenous peoples in Latin America - who account for 10 percent of the population of the region - has "grown remarkably" in the last 15 years, as measured by indigenous political parties and elected representatives, constitutional provisions for indigenous people, and indigenous-tailored health and education policies.
 
Nevertheless, income levels among this group, as well as human development indicators such as education and health conditions, "have consistently lagged behind those of the rest of the population."
 
In the five Latin American countries with the largest indigenous populations - Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru - simply being born indigenous increases the probability of being poor by between 13 and 30 percent.
 
Luis Macas believes that the election of an indigenous president will not only benefit Bolivia, but the rest of Latin America as well.
 
His fellow CONAIE representative Miguel Guatemal, the group"s organisational director, said it was especially encouraging that Morales had won the presidential elections within a "neoliberal and colonial" system.
 
"For all of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, Morales" victory is an important precedent that shows there is hope for the future," Guatemal commented to IPS.


 


The Peacemaker - Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf
by Geraldine Doogue
ABC Online
 
Dec18, 2005
 
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, is a major international Muslim scholar and activist who is emerging as a global leader in addressing interfaith conflict.
 
Geraldine Doogue: This week’s clashes on Sydney’s beaches and the subsequent attack on churches have been a real shock. And forced us to re-think out public codes of behaviour in places like this especially as we head into the summer holiday season. Never has the voice of Interfaith reason and peace been more critical, so we bring you the Peacemaker, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who visited Australia earlier this year.
 
Imam Feisal is a prominent American Muslim Scholar and cleric, and since September 11 he’s emerged as a global leader addressing issues of interfaith conflict, he brings a powerful message of peace and hope but he also offers some practical steps to help diffuse, cultural and intercommunity tensions.
 
Imam Feisal is on a global mission to heal the relationship between Muslims and the West. His prayer mat has been spread in hotel rooms around the world where he’s now emerging as a prominent peace activist.
 
Imam Feisal: You cannot win this by brute force alone. You have to use finesse and you have to use Islamic arguments.
 
Geraldine Doogue: This is Imam Feisal’s second visit to Australia. He is sought after not only by inter-faith activists, but also by politicians aiming to diffuse community tensions.
 
Bob Carr: I think he’s a voice who is saying clash of civilisations is wrong. We all share this planet, we’ve got to find ways of having a dialogue with one another.
 
Narration: A key part of the Imam’s strategy is reaching out to other faith traditions, especially to Jewish people.
 
Norman Schueler: He enunciates the things that we like to hear, namely that there are possibilities of normal relationships between Jews and Muslims.
 
Narration: And wherever he goes he addresses local Muslims – and speaks out against terrorism.
 
Imam Feisal: Islam is against terrorism; terrorism has no place in Islam…
 
Irfan Yusuf: He didn’t scream and shout his message. He was the complete opposite of what people regard as the typical firebrand Sheik… I could look at him and say, “Yes, I’m proud to be Muslim.
 
Narration: The day Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf arrived the world was reeling from news of the London bombings.
 
Imam Feisal : I felt nauseous. I felt deeply aggrieved and very upset about it
 
Narration: As soon as he landed here he was met by local journalists… The London bombings are the latest terrorist attacks that Imam Feisal has had to contend with. His mosque in lower Manhattan is close to Ground Zero. I first met him in New York City when he was still dealing with the aftermath of September 11 and he was at the center of debates about Islam. Born in Kuwait into an Egyptian family steeped in religious scholarship, he was educated in Britain, Malaysia and the United States, where his family eventually settled.
 
Geraldine (interview): I want to take you back to your own formation. How did your upbringing do you think reflect upon the man you’ve become?
 
Imam Feisal: I went through a major identity crisis, not knowing if I was Arab or English or Malay, whether I was oriental or occidental. And the personal journey I went through to both assimilate all aspects of those components of my life experience into an identity was a very difficult and challenging task. But it also prepared me for the work that I am doing as a bridge figure between the West in general and the Islamic world in particular.
 
Geraldine (interview): So when people start turning to violence or extremism, what does that suggest to you about their identity?
 
Imam Feisal: If I were a young man today going through the identity crisis I went through, not knowing if I was a western or eastern and hearing the notion of clash of civilisation I could very easily see myself internalising that clash of civilisation… And find myself attracted to making a decision either for western, against Islamic or vice versa. And that’s the danger in how some of these ideas are expressed and projected in the marketplace of ideas.
 
Narration: At his public lectures Imam Feisal offers insights into why some young Muslims turn to violence.
 
Imam Feisal at Hawke Centre Lecture: How many of you have seen the documentary Farenheit 9/11? Remember the scene of the Iraqi woman whose house was bombed and she was just screaming, “What have they done?” … Her house was gone, her husband was killed, I think, “What wrong did he do?” I found myself weeping when I watched that scene and I imagined myself, if I were a 15-year-old nephew of this deceased man, what would I have felt?


 

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