The First Indigenous Women’s Summit started yesterday with a march from the (appropriately selected) women’s plaza to the university where the summit will meet. It was a small march, followed by at least as many cops as marchers. Upon arrival at the university we were joined by several other (and larger) marches. Several (male) spiritual leaders led a religious ceremony on the university grounds.
We then proceeded into an auditorium for opening ceremonies for the women’s summit. We then proceeded into 3 central panels that set the central themes for the summit:
Cosmovision and Identity: Model of Development, with presenters from Guatemala (Juana), Peruvian Amazon, and Bolivia (Nancy). A Kuna from Panama (Sonia) moderated the panel. The main themes were solidarity and reciprocity.
The second panel was on the Rights of Women: Violence and Racism. The presenters were from Brazil and Colombia (ONIC). Cecilia Velasquez from CONAIE (Ecuador) moderated the panel. CAOI leader Miguel Palacin joined the panel, to give a male perspective, I guess. A theme was the importance of both Indians and women in the construction of another world and a plurinational state.
The third panel was on Women in the Construction of Power and Democracy, joined by Vicenta Chuma (Ecuador), Amparo Gutierrez (Mexico), and a woman from Bolivia. Blanca Chancoso (Ecuador) moderated. The presenters emphasized the importance of looking at these themes from the perspective of women, and the need for solidarity to achieve these goals.
After lunch we broke into 16 different workshops. I joined the one on armed conflict where Magdalena (Guatemala) and Amparo Gutierrez (Chiapas, Mexico) began the discussion. A leader from ONIC in Colombia moderated the discussion. The best part of the session was the sharing of experiences across the different countries, esp. Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala. It was a useful conversation. Magdalena summarized the session by pointing to the importance of strengthening organizations, the importance of accompaniment, the need for reparations (broadly defined), and how the struggle is now against transnational capital (as with mining) rather than against the military or government.
See http://www.abyayalanet.org/node/11 for some photos and audio.