These capitalists want to turn us into slaves of the industry. In our own communal lands, seeing how our health deteriorates and their profits increase.
Statement of the National Meeting of Struggles against Gas Pipelines and Deadly Projects | January 17, 2022
The representatives and participants of multiple originary nations, organizations, and collectives from different parts of this geography referred to as Mexico gathered on January 15th and 16th, 2022 in Altepelmelcalli for the National Meeting of Struggles against Gas Pipelines and Deadly Projects.
The objective? To engage in dialogue, share our methods of resistance, and discuss various strategies of organization and articulation in order to confront this ongoing, illegitimate and bloodthirsty war against the originary populations affected by the megaprojects.
These projects of “development” injury our territories to the point of bleeding, and inflict pain on Mother Nature, wounding as well the whole of humanity.
We shared our struggles at work-tables where we carried out a joint-analysis. We focused on three axes:
the capitalist war against the people,
the legal alternatives of the people in the face of the Presidential Agreement of November 22, 2021,
as well as praxis-oriented proposals.
THEREFORE, WE CONSIDER:
That the construction of gas pipelines in diverse geographies of our country – from the Yaqui territory, passing through Juanacatlán and Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco, Hidalgo, the Sierra Norte and center of Puebla, Morelos, Tlaxcala and in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec… as well as in other countries such as in the south of Italy – is being carried out through imposition, the use of public force, criminalization, dispossession and even the murder of fellow land defenders as is the case of our brother Samir Flores Soberanes.
That these gas pipelines are not for the benefit of the peoples and humanity, but for the large capitalists who intend to increase industrialization in our territories, affecting the lives of thousands of humans who are dedicated to nature, working in the fields, and other diverse activities.
These capitalists want to turn us into slaves of the industry. In our own communal lands, seeing how our health deteriorates and their profits increase at the cost of the pollution they bring into the planet.
That there is a 529-year-old war based on dispossession. A war that destroys territory and life, attacking: the originary peoples, our knowledge, our culture, our communities, and the defenders of the territory.
It is a racist, classist, colonialist and patriarchal war that we face locally and globally, which sees our communities and our regions as resources to be extracted.
It is carried out through the militarization on our spaces by the armed forces or the narco, which is one more evidence of this fourth war against the Indigenous Peoples.
This war aims to exterminate cultural and biological diversity, resulting in climate disruption, threatening the entire world.
That the Presidential Decree of November 22, 2021 represents a new onslaught against those who define life because, despite the fact that megaprojects have been imposed without the consent of our peoples and through the use of force.
Nowadays, dispossession and its imposition are legitimized – seeking to annul the possibility of our communities' organizational and legal opposition by declaring megaprojects of public interest or national priority and authorizing them in a period of no more than 5 days, ignoring all environmental protection and the right to self-determination of our peoples.
Today, their discourse of legality is once again colonization and death, because only a hundred years ago, it was legal to kill Yaquis and today it is legal to kill our mother earth.
We lack any rights, despite conforming some of the first inhabitants of these lands they have called Mexico.
In the face of this new invasion, it is necessary to strengthen the community organization, through autonomy and control of the territory, which is only possible by strengthening the social fabric and communal planning.
As original communities, since we have existed prior to the constitution of the Mexican State, we have the fundamental prerogative to have our own system of norms recognized and respected, and for this we must fight through various mechanisms, including direct actions, community organization, juridical advocacy, and the creation of sustainable life projects based on our own energy sources.
We must work to build justice for the people, based on self-determination, including the voice of women, youth and children, and responding to the needs of the people and not those of the government.
We shared this analysis at the assembly and resolved to take the following measures to our towns, collectives, and neighborhoods.
AGREEMENTS AND PROPOSALS
FIRST: To carry out a Peoples' Caravan for Life and Against Megaprojects1
This caravan will be of relays, traveling through different points of struggle. The Caravan will begin on March 222 on the first anniversary of the taking of Bonafont and World Water Day.
The Caravan will arrive at the Casa de los Pueblos Samir Flores Soberanes in Mexico City3 on April 10, the anniversary of the death of General Emiliano Zapata.
The Caravan will close on April 22, commemorating Global Day against the Interoceanic Corridor and the Megaprojects of Death "THE ISTHM IS OURS", in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and Earth Day.
We will call for dislocated actions to join the closing of the Caravan through the different geographies.
The Caravan will also reach the territory of the Totonaco Regional Council and the Zapatista Indigenous Agrarian Movement in Tehuacán, Puebla, on a date to be determined.
The Indigenous Futures’ Network will agree on communication strategies for the Caravan.
The Luces de las Resistencias Campaign will donate didactic material for the campaign.
More route points will be defined soon, collectively.
SECOND: We join the calendar of resistances.
February 20-25 - MAIZ invites you to accompany the search action for our comrade Sergio Rivera in the Sierra Negra de Puebla.
January 29-30 - National Meeting of Communication in Defense of Territory and Life, in Tehuacán, Puebla.
February 16 - In the framework of the 26th Anniversary of the non-fulfillment of the San Andres Accords, a Forum will be held in the House of Peoples and Communities "Samir Flores Soberanes", Otomí Indigenous Community, CDMX, in addition to dislocated actions in each region, community and organization.
February 20 - Third Anniversary of the Assassination of our brother Samir Flores Soberanes, with articulated actions in our communities and territories.
THIRD: We4 are holding a meeting: “Of Youth and Children in defense of life and territory”.
Statement of the National Meeting of Struggles against Gas Pipelines and Deadly Projects | January 17, 2022.
Original Mexican-Castilian statement here. Translated by taller ahuehuete in solidarity.
