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Mark · Site Admin Joined: 13 Nov 2007 Posts: 1052

Whither Ecuador? An Interview with Indigenous Activist and Politician Monica Chuji

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1563/1/

Excerpt:

Why did you support the new constitution?

The new constitution, albeit in a limited manner, reflects a lot of the people’s aspirations. It is the product of a collective force. It is one step forward in this process. Maybe that’s an end for Alianza País, but for me and for the Ecuadorian people, it is just a step forward.

What were the most important advances for indigenous people?

A big point was the recognition of collective rights. Article 57 states that the government "recognizes and guarantees indigenous commons, communities, peoples and nationalities in conformity with the constitution and agreements, conventions and declarations and other international human rights instruments for the protection of collective rights."

Will there still be a struggle for prior consent before natural resource projects are undertaken?

A lot of this will be determined through secondary laws and through peaceful resistance and uprisings. We must be protagonists. The President was just in Brazil negotiating the Manta-Manaus project. Were we, the people of the Amazon Basin, consulted? No. Do we have a right to be consulted? Yes. This is another example of this administration’s rightward drift. Changing everything to change nothing at all.

We need to demand honesty, transparency and plurality. I think that one has to be coherent in life, to die with a clear conscious.