Luis Macas: Unifying the Indigenous Movement in Ecuador
25 July 2005
New leader of Ecuador’s largest indigenous organization to focus on its social role: consolidation of territory, human rights, and education.
A former agriculture minister, and long-time indigenous leader in Ecuador, Luis Macas recently assumed the presidency of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), the country’s most prominent indigenous people’s organization and one of Oxfam America’s oldest partners in the Andean region.
Indigenous peoples represent more than one-third of Ecuador’s population. While indigenous populations suffer from some of the highest poverty levels in the country, they also have some of the strongest social organizations in Ecuador.
In recent years the indigenous movement and the central government have gone from confrontation to collaboration. Macas is assuming power of CONAIE at a time when the indigenous people need him to strengthen and lead the organization as it turns away from political activities and reclaims its social mission.
In this exclusive interview, Macas, a 55-year-old Kichwa who has studied anthropology, linguistics, and law, highlights the importance of CONAIE’s social mission, and promoting an “intercultural” society, in which all cultures (indigenous and non-indigenous) participate on equal footing and exercise their rights free from discrimination.
In your first address as the president of CONAIE you referred to intercultural dialogue and the construction of a “plurinational” society. What does this mean in concrete terms?
Indigenous people were not taken into account when the state was constructed in Ecuador around 200 years ago. We did not participate in that process, and indigenous peoples continue to be excluded today. There could be a way out, however. We need to begin building a society in which we can grow by sharing culture and knowledge in a context of rights, in which indigenous peoples can contribute to a harmonious society. The proposal for intercultural dialogue and the construction of a plurinational state does not mean creating a lot of small micro-states or dividing the state into small pieces, but recognizing diversity and that all cultures have a role in society.
In this search for more just societies that recognize all cultures, the indigenous movement has made demands and protested, actions that have been perceived by some sectors as destabilizing democracy. How do you respond to this perception?
Unfortunately, the political systems in Latin America are bad copies imported from the west. They have structures that do not correspond to our reality and taken from their context are not democracies aimed at bringing about equality and the participation of all sectors. Instead, they concentrate power in the hands of a small minority that is generally corrupt, fomenting struggles that lead to crises. National elites in the region see the indigenous movement as dangerous, but we cannot remain passive in the face of an unjust system that has such a negative impact on our communities. It is unimaginable that in this age our peoples do not enjoy even the most basic services, like water, electricity, education, etc. Crisis is inevitable because the groups that are in power do not want any change. I hope that as peoples and governments we can find ways that allow us to resolve social demands peacefully.
What is your reading on the indigenous movement in the region and in Ecuador today?
It is difficult to talk about a movement in the region, because our relations are not very fluid. I think that in the 1980s and 1990s, there was a resurgence of indigenous peoples locally as part of the United Nations’ decade on indigenous peoples. It was a time of important initiatives and organization. There were information campaigns to raise awareness in societies about the situation of indigenous peoples. While it was an important time, there was a lack of coordination. In the past few years, each country in Latin America has been witnessing an expansion and qualitative evolution of (indigenous) movements and I would say that we are in a cycle of growth, evolution and increasing visibility of indigenous peoples.
What are, in your opinion, the challenges indigenous peoples must address now that the United Nations has extended the decade on indigenous peoples?
The most important challenge faced by the indigenous movement is establishing broader and more permanent spaces that will emerge as we begin to identify our common objectives. We need to work toward the objective of finding a common denominator. We need to establish proposals and reach agreements. This is why I believe that the efforts by Oxfam America to create spaces for regional coordination are so important. It is not easy, however.
In our case, CONAIE brings together nearly all the indigenous peoples in Ecuador, which has made it very difficult to find common ground among so much diversity. Respect for diversity is the foundation for all social construction. If an individual, nationality or people impose their will on the rest, things will not work. We need to find links that bring us together in a space that fosters respect.
What are these common denominators?
Recognition of rights is absolutely essential. The state and society need to recognize the rights for indigenous peoples, but we have a state that is closed-minded and colonial, a society that is indifferent, and indigenous peoples that are not aware of their rights. I think it is fundamental for indigenous peoples to learn how to exercise our rights and work toward a society that has a greater understanding of these rights. The violation of indigenous peoples’ rights is such that we forget that we even have rights. These rights are written down, but they have not been internalized by the people themselves.
Because of this vulnerability, nearly 70 percent of indigenous lands have been awarded as mining or oil concessions, which is a terrible loss of resources. We ask that our territories be protected because the resources are not exploited in a responsible way, and our lands are being polluted. It is dangerous for indigenous peoples from the environmental health perspective. In Ecuador, the government has stated that within three years it will have tapped into nearly all the oil reserves. We have a lot of work to do and it might mean life or death for indigenous peoples.
What do you mean when you say a lot of work needs to be done? Are you referring to legalization of territories?
The legalization [of indigenous territories] was carried out in the 1990s, but without the legal weight that guarantees property and its use. The land may be titled, but the state still owns what is under the ground. Indigenous peoples only own what is above ground. If oil is found on the land, the owners of the land are out of luck. Our main work, is territorial defense, because if we do not do everything possible today to defend our territories in 10 to 15 years indigenous peoples will have been pushed off their lands and will be living in the misery belts around the cities.
What other themes will be on CONAIE’s agenda during your presidency?
Another fundamental issue is education. The state accepted a proposal from the indigenous movement and institutionalized intercultural, bilingual education in 1988. There is still a high level of illiteracy, approximately 45 to 50 percent, among the general population and this rate is even higher for indigenous peoples. We have proposed a literacy campaign that we have been working on for nearly a year and hope to expand it widely in the next six to eight months. It is a program to improve primary education by expanding coverage in remote areas where there is a lack of schools. Our goal is to build 2,000 to 3,000 new schools. In addition, we are training community teachers to staff these schools. The next stage, which is also important, will focus on higher education. Less than one percent of the population in Ecuador goes to college. We want to work on this from the perspective of intercultural education, creating universities within the scope of the intercultural, bilingual educational program.
What are the internal challenges in the organization? Your election is seen as an effort to bring about unity and give CONAIE a national leadership role. Is this the case?
One of our priorities is to return to what we once were, articulating the unity of the indigenous movement. We have been in a kind of limbo since we got involved in electoral politics. We need to return to the central themes that brought together the indigenous movement, which are territory and education. And we need to leave behind the issues that have created division, including participating in politics. The desire for power created by our political participation caused us to lose sight of the key issues that are demanded by the communities. What we need to do now is prioritize these issues.
There has always been confusion on how to define social movements and political movements, and the space occupied by a social movement, such as CONAIE. I believe that we should not get caught up in the political web. The indigenous movement has a space, just like all the other social movements. We need to clearly differentiate these two roles. In our case, Pachacutek (Ecuador’s principal indigenous political party) should be involved in politics. In the new (CONAIE) council, our idea is to highlight our social role. This change, however, cannot happen overnight and we know that it is going to be painful because many people still think that the indigenous movement is political and want us to continue in that space.
