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THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN COLOMBIA, LEAD BY THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF THE COUNTRY, HAS DECIDED TO MARCH PEACEFULLY TO THE CAPITAL TO RECLAIM THE UPHOLDING OF THEIR RIGHTS AND DIGNITY.

THREE DEMONSTRATORS HAVE BEEN MURDERED BY THE NATIONAL POLICE FORCES AND MORE THAN 120 WERE WOUNDED.

THE LAST SIX YEARS IN THE COUNTRY CORRESPOND TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SO CALLED "DEMOCRATIC SECURITY" DOCTRINE, LEAD BY THE ACTUAL PRESIDENT ALVARO URIBE VELEZ. DURING THIS PERIOD AT LEAST 1.500 INDIGENOUS PEOPLE HAVE BEEN MURDERED AND 53.885 HAVE BEEN FORCED TO LEAVE BEHIND THEIR LAND GRANTED TO THEM BY CONSTUTUTIONAL LAW. THE ACTUAL AMOUNT OF PEOPLE - INDIGENOUS, SMALL OR NON-PROPRIETARY PEASANTS AND AFRO-COLOMBIANS - VIOLENTLY THROWN OUT OF THEIR LANDS IS OF MORE THAN 4 MILLIONS, THIS MEANS TEN PERCENT OF THE POPULATION!

PRESIDENT URIBE HAS TO BE FORCED TO SIGN THE DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE APPROVED BY THE U.N. IN SEPTEMBER 2007. THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT HAS THE OBLIGATION TO DEMAND THIS.

INTERNATIONAL ATTENTION IS FOR THE FIRST TIME PUTTING PRESSURE ON THE COLUMBIAN GOVERNMENT, THUS MAKING MORE DIFFICULT THE GOVERNMENT'S REPRESSION EXERCISED THROUGH DISINFORMATION AND TERROR:

AFTER THE CNN TV NETWORK SHOWED IMAGES OF THE POLICE SHOOTING AT DEMONSTRATORS, THE PRESIDENT SHUT UP FOR ONE MOMENT.

THEY WILL HAVE TO LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE'S VOICE

ON 25 NOVEMBER, 80.000 INDIGENOUS ARE GOING TO MEET IN ASSEMBLY, FOR THE FIRST TIME, IN BOGOTÁ, THE CAPITAL OF COLOMBIA.

SUPPORT THEM IN SPIRIT AND IN PRESENCE FROM BERLIN:

THURSDAY 25 NOVEMBER - 3 PM
AM LUSTGARTEN BERLIN
S-BAHNHOF ALEXANDER PLATZ/ HACKESCHER MARKT

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La Minga de los Pueblos Call for URGENT solidarity action.
(colombia)

According to the Diccionario de la Real Academia de la lengua Española (Dictionary of the Royal Academy of the Spanish language) the word minga comes from the Quechua word mink'a, used to refer to a gathering of friends and neighbors with the objective of working on some common task in favor of the community as a whole. Obviously with
no expected remuneration.

According to CRIC (http://www.cric-colombia.org/): "Minga is an ancestral practice from the Andes people. Is a collective effort called with the purpose of attaining a common objective and it has complete priority over the rest of activities that get postponed to work and achieve the common goal. The results of the Minga have no owners. The Minga is a statement of the maturity of the peoples will, of their discipline and capacity to act as a community. But most importantly it is a show of humbleness on the individual level where everyone puts the maximum possible for the benefit of all. To be conscious that the common is above the particular, but that each particular effort is essential"

The present Minga has an agenda, an axis of resistance and a will. This is what its calling, what is claiming your help and
participation, there are 5 initial points that guide in words the march.

1. No to the FTA and the development model that it represents. It is an attemp to strip the peoples resources and give it to the transnational corporations. The voice of the people said NO and this government imposed the opposite. No country should sign any FTA with Colombia.

2. To revoke all kinds of laws regarding the Rural Reform that gives the lands to corrupt landlords like Juan Jose Chaux under the hierarchy of Alvaro Uribe Velez. Not one more centimeter of land for the transnationals and their servants.

3. The State is an agent of terror against the people, they justify every act as combating the insurgent movements. The massacres, the killings of indigenous people, paysans, sindicalists, popular leaders and hundreds, if not thousands of "false positives" continue without control. Alvaro Uribe leads this way, he defends it and mask. It is requiered and external support to protect the people from the State.

4. There is nothing to negotiate. The government has to follow the agreements with no manipulation in numbers and stadistics as they did during the last meeting in La Maria. They should fulfill and carry out what was agreed but could'nt give word, a clear sign they won't respect the peoples rights.

5. Is not the Cauca region, is not the indigenous people nor a problem that regards land distribution. Is the Minga of the people, is on a national scale and reclaims its rights. Among many: The right to have an own agenda guided by the people.

Is our solidarity, compromise, brotherhood and kinship that stands up to demand the right to exist. The right to improve the life conditions and this requires concrete acts just as the Minga is build "Words with no action are empty words / Action without words is blind / Words and actions outside of the Mandate and Spirit of the community are death."

Hence is required that:

Everyone joins and helps participating in La Minga de los Pueblos!

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THE STRUGGLE OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN COLOMBIA

During the first days of October of the present year, the indigenous people of Colombia declared themselves in permanent assembly. Reclaiming respect to both their civil rights and the agreements with the State regarding the sovereignty over their declared lands as it was recognized by constitutional law. But what has been denied in practice by the government of president Uribe Vélez.
The last 6 years, coincide with the term Uribe has been in government, in this period at least 1.253 indigenous people have been murdered and 53.885 have been forced to leave their lands by paramilitaries mainly linked to the armed forces and the government (numbers given by the National Organization of the Indigenous people of Colombia - ONIC).
One of the main social demands the indigenous civil organizations claim is the sovereignty over their ancestral territories, they explicitly reject the F.T.A. (Free-Trade Agreement or T.L.C in spanish) with the United States because it has been negotiated without their participation. But on it is already the perspective of exploiting their lands, this is a direct cause of the criminal violence against them.
At the same time there is huge concern around the more of one thousand young people kidnapped, executed and disguised as guerrilleros by the military forces. News that have been brought to light simultaneously when four international independent human rights observers (one German and three French) have been expelled from the country, on the grounds of promoting violence and terrorism.
In an effort to be heard and recognized by the central government of Colombia all the different communities of the Cauca deparment, in the south west of Colombia, settled their permanent assembly in a reservation conceived for these kind of purposes. Using the pretext of a human, peaceful, blockade practiced on a nearby road, the 14th, 15th and 16th October riot police attacked the congregation. The result was three dead demonstrators and at least 120 wounded.
It was proven that at least one of the dead demonstrators was actualy shot by the police, something the goverment kept on denying until a video clearly showing a hooded policemen, surrounded by an anti-riot police squad, shooting with an M-16, appeared on CNN. Until this moment the president himself was not only denying the use of weapons by the police but accusing the indigenous movement of terrorism and of being infiltrated by the FARC (acronym for "Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia", a peasant marxist-leninist guerrilla, included on the list of terrorist organizations since 2002). Of course, this accusations, done by the president himself on public TV and replicated by all the main media of the country when there was and is absolutely not a single proof. But, on the other hand, there are plenty of examples of the terror the State has implemented in the last days and years against the indigenous movement. After the impact of the lies being disclosed by the international media by the irrefutable video-proof, the president has withdrawn from protecting his police and military forces by the public stigmatization of the indigenous civil movement.
After the terror perpetrated against the assembly, 60.000 indigenous people (officialy 40.000) decided to march to the city of Cali, the capital of this southern department. They demanded then to meet with the president for a public debate on human and civil rights not only of the indigenous people of Colombia but of the non-proprietary or small proprietary peasants and the afro-colombian communities. On November 2nd the meeting took place in the same reservation the police and armed forces savagely evicted 15 days before. Besides the requirement of a clear dialogue with the goverment about their demands, the indigenous asked for a public apology by the president on the accusations and stigmatization of their movement. After a six hour debate no agreement at all was reached. The assembly wasn't finished. Having decided to firmly stand on the struggled for their rights, they declared the assembly should continue and march to Bogotá. On november 25th 80.000 passive demosntrators are expected to arrive to the capital of the country, in order to "continue the public debate between autorities" (ONIC).

National mainstream media in Colombia keeps denying the importance of this event and most people in the city don't even know about this "human river for the resistence of the dignity of the people" (ONIC).

This historical episode, with all the promises and claims it carries, in a country bled by violence and by the cynism of its politicals elites, deserves the attention of all the individuals and organizations that support the struggles of the people for their rights, freedom and dignity.

For more information and news in english:
http://mamaradio.blogspot.com/
Inform, organize, act !