Solidarity with the Mapuche People

The Global Forest Coalition embraces the Mapuche men, women and children who are victims of the violence carried out at Wallampu by the Chilean state and para-state actors on the neoliberal, racist and colonialist extreme right.

The Mapuche people have been waging a historic battle for the recovery of their territories and the demands included in ILO Convention 169 recognising the existence and rights of Indigenous Peoples. The interests of the extractivist industries are greedily imposed on the Mapuche people and seek to deny those rights, ignoring the conditions faced by the Mapuche leaders held as political prisoners, their hunger strike and legitimate demands for peaceful solutions.

The Mapuche people have been ceaselessly performing the essential task of defending the health and equilibrium of the territories they occupy, particularly forests, through sustainable practices. This task entails benefits for the defence of the life and health of millions of living beings, including the politicians and businesspeople that are seeking to make them disappear.

We denounce the seizure of each meter of land from Indigenous Peoples, as each one means a little less hope for the survival of all species, including humankind. We repudiate the state and para-state violence being carried out in Chile and other areas of the global South in order to steal the territories that Indigenous and peasant communities occupy and protect.

We particularly welcome the struggle of our comrades in coordinating the Mapuche organisations of San José de la Mariquina and call on social organisations to raise their voices and condemn all forms of violence against the true defenders of life and the future, the Indigenous and peasant communities.

LAND, JUSTICE AND LIBERTY FOR THE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD

10 Aug, 2020
Posted in Defending Rights