October, 12th! What happens if we ask somebody to say the first idea that comes to their mind when they hear this phrase? Most probably, public holiday! A day to rest from the stressful day-to-day work or school routine. Perhaps only a few would claim that this is the day when we celebrate ‘Día de la raza’ or ‘Día de la diversidad cultural’. Does this generalized cultural oblivion reflect the neglect of aborigines? Most probably.
Years pass by and all that we find on October, 12th are ‘empty’ political speeches and tributes in the news to the group of natives who witnessed and suffered the ‘discovery’ of their land. And of course they deserve the most remarkable tributes because it was they who were brutally tortured and killed in cold blood for defending what was theirs: their culture and their land. But is that enough?
I believe that even though bringing back to memory our own past and history is essential, we need at the same time to move forward and reflect on and try to improve our sad reality: 50 millions of indigenous peoples in the whole of America striving to have their rights recognized. It seems that nobody care about the descendants of the original settlers of our land who live in a shameful state of alienation and poverty. What’s more, many natives are now suffering from extractive industries who keep on perpetuating colonization. Thus, many natives see their land taken away in the name of ‘progress’ to install oil wells or grow soya crops.
I believe it is paradoxical that while we’ve been watching different tributes to Indigenous peoples these days, they still live in a context of alienation, exclusion and racism. It is high time governments start considering the present situation of aborigines as a priority in their agendas.
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