support needed!

The Land Is Ours office at tlio.demon.co.uk
Thu Apr 6 19:23:09 BST 2000


For distribution and/or immediate publication 

Please see below:

>From a statement  translated from a Mapuche group in Argentina, who are
involved in a direct action to recover their ancestral lands, and are in
need of your messages of support and solidarity. Spread the word!

Messages may be sent to MAPULINK at aol.com or to the Cambridge group at
mapucam at hotmail.com. 

Pillan Mahiuza Community 

Statement 
Pillan Mahiuza, January 2, 2000 

Statement of commitment of the Mapuche communities of the town of Corcovado, 
province of Chubut, Argentina. 

On the second day of the month of January 2000, on the recovered land of
our Mapuche territory, known as a police reservation, about 10 km from the
town of Corcovado, in the province of Chubut, in the Argentine Republic. 

After celebrating the Pichigillipum at dawn, the members of the following
communities: Cerro Centinela, Lago Rosario, Mariano Epulef, the original
people Quilmes, through their representative Santos Mamani, and human
rights organizations, met at a Traun, to draft the following considerations
and resolutions: 

Considering the lack of lands suitable and sufficient for the full
development of our lives, a situation forcing us into exodus, to leave our
homes to go to the city in search of a better quality of life, there only
to find poverty, marginalization and death. 
    
Considering that the Argentinian State constitutionally guarantees our
right to the land and has signed up to international agreements, such as
number 169 of the ILO. 

Considering that the community of Cerro Centinela is in a high area and
does not have summer pastures to enable it to continue a millennial
practice of sustainable development which would allow it, in turn, to
overcome the problems causing its current situation. 

It is hereby resolved: starting from this moment, to support the recovery
action that has been carried out for a week now by some of our Mapuche
brothers and sisters. To join the action as a community and to demand that
the 250 hectares of land now identified as the police reservation be
returned to us, to be used by our community for as land for cultivation and
grazing our animals. 
    
Considering the will of the Castro brothers and sisters, and also of the
werken Moira Millán, to be part of this community, we have resolved to
invite them to participate in it, with equality of rights and
responsibilities. 

Considering the need to strengthen ourselves in the Mapuche-Tehuelche
identity of which we are part, which has been beaten out of us and
forgotten, we have resolved to carry out activities to fulfill this
objective; to restore the value of the cemetery, to perform our Mapuche
celebrations, etc. 

Considering that the current name of the community, Cerro Centinela, does
not identify us as an original Mapuche Lofche, we will change the name to
another, one in our own language, the Mapuzungun: Pillan Mahuiza. 
Finally, collectively and decisively we take up the fight to demand the
legitimate recognition of our right to 250 hectares, taking all the actions
necessary to ensure that, with the greatest urgency, the government of the
Province of Chubut gives us the title to community property and guarantees
its institutional support for our cultural, economic and social development
in a pragmatic manner. 


Pillan Mahiuza Community
      
Iliana de Tomaso 
From: cronopio at teletel.com.ar (de Tomaso Iliana) 


===========================
Mapuche International Link 
Enlace Mapuche Internacional
6 Lodge Street, 
Bristol. BS1 5LR, 
England. 
Tel/Fax +44-117-927 9391 
e-mail: MAPULINK at aol.com 

http://members.aol.com/mapulink 
===============================

For further information on Mapuche conflicts, you can visit, among 
others, the following web pages: 

Mapuche Information Mapu Ñuke: http://linux.soc.uu.se/mapuche 
Mapuche International Link: http://members.aol.com/mapulink 
Rehue Foundation: http://www.xs4all.nl/~rehue 

____

The TLIO Networking Office



The Land Is Ours
... a landrights movement for Britain

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and the decision making processes affecting them, for everyone -
irrespecitive of race, age, or gender.

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