Indigenous Geography

http://www.rethos.com/news/view/512-Have-you-ever-heard-of-Abya-Yala-
Patrick Scott October 16, 2007

Who is it? What is it? Where is it? What does it mean? You may have never heard of it. But if you live in the US, Canada or any other country in the western hemisphere that is where you live. Abya Yala means “land in its full maturity” in the language of the Kuna people of Colombia and Panama. It was Takir Mamani an indigenous Aymara leader who first suggested that Abya Yala should be used in place of America by the indigenous peoples of the western hemisphere. It may have been invented by European colonisers but the word America has itself become even further debased over the centuries. Today most US citizens refer to themselves as Americans, conveniently overlooking the fact that their country only occupies about one third of the northern continent of the western hemisphere. Do not citizens of Mexico, Brazil or any other country in the western hemisphere have an equally valid right to call themselves American citizens? The fact though is that every US administration over the last century or so has regarded the rest of the western hemisphere as its own backyard. So when US citizens describe themselves as American citizens that description in part at least is a reflection of the hegemonic role the US plays in the entire region.

What is so important about a name? In the words of Shakespeare a rose if it went by any other name would still smell just as sweet. Conquerors and colonisers of a country or territory though have invariably chosen new names for the lands they have occupied in order to obliterate and reinvent the past. The territory in the Middle East once known as Palestine today goes by the name of Israel. The reason for the name change being self evident. Using dubious references to Biblical history the name was chosen by the predominantly white European colonisers of the territory who expelled the majority of the Palestinians from Palestine. Similarly when it was ruled by a white colonial minority the African country of Zimbabwe was called Rhodesia, named after the white British colonial leader Cecil Rhodes. Rhodesia or Zimbabwe? Israel or Palestine? In each instance which name you choose symbolises which side you choose, the oppressor or the oppressed. America or Abya Yala? The name you choose may one day come to have the same symbolic meaning.

Takir Mamani argued that placing foreign names on our villages, our cities, and our continents is equivalent to subjecting our identity to the will of our invaders and their heirs. Accordingly it was widely agreed that Abya Yala should be used in place of America at an indigenous gathering in 1992. Most will not know as it was largely ignored by the mainstream media but a summit of the indigenous peoples of Abya Yala took place in March 2007 in Iximche, Guatemala. Furthermore this summit which was attended by over two thousand activists was the third such event to take place in recent years. The summit agreed a final statement “From resistance to power”. The statement took an unambiguous position against US militarism. No doubt those attending the summit were mindful of the fact that what has happened in Iraq could just as easily happen to countries in the western hemisphere like Venezuela or Bolivia whose governments are considered troublesome. The statement also took an unambiguous position against the neoliberal policies of governments throughout the western hemisphere. Neoliberal policies have devastated indigenous communities in the western hemisphere considering many were already economically marginalized. In short “From resistance to power” is an anti imperialist statement even if it does not say so explicitly. Will we ever see the day when people living in the US and other countries in the western hemisphere describe themselves as inhabitants of Abya Yala rather than America? Quite possibly but probably not in the near future.

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Have you ever heard of Abya Yala?