Ollantay Itzamná
Reading of the Declaration of the Consensus of Unity for Plurinationality
There is no doubt that the political left (political parties) and the socio-cultural left (most of the NGOs created by the revolutionary vanguards) are in a historic dilemma: either they commit themselves to the articulation of the Consensus for Plurinational Unity, or they continue to operate as a political and social enterprise at the service of the hegemonic neo-liberal, neo-colonial racist system.
Guatemala City, on August 13 and 14, hosted the first Plurinational Meeting for Buen Vivir, with more than a hundred delegates, sent by more than 20 local and regional organizations/social movements, from the four peoples of the country (Xinca, Garifuna, Mestizo and Maya).
The objective of the meeting was to strengthen the socio-political space of articulation for a Plurinational State that movements such as the Committee for Peasant Development (CODECA) and the Council of Mayan Peoples (CPO), together with other organizations, have been building for almost two years.
Group work at the Encounter
During the first day of the Plurinational Meeting, the participants socialized their proposals for the construction of a Plurinational State and for Buen Vivir (Good Living), through the process of a Popular and Plurinational Constituent Assembly.
In addition, they presented the progress of a joint proposal, between CPO and CODECA, which they have been building on the basic ideas of what should be a Plurinational State in Guatemala.
This work is unprecedented, both for its achievements and its procedures, since in recent years in Guatemala after the Peace Accords (1996), mutual distrust between social and political leaders and the competition for protagonism (in the face of international cooperation) were more important than the urgent historical need to consolidate a socio-political subject from the unpopular sectors of the country.
Plurinational Guatemala, a contest in the symbolic field
Evaluation work of the first day of the Encounter
A novel achievement, apart from the signing of the document Consensus for Plurinational Unity, was the socialization and approval of a unique plurinational emblem of the plurinational space and the dreamed plurinational State. The plurinational emblem, which consists of a petate (pop, in the Mayan Mam language) with the four colors (red, white, yellow and black, representing the original peoples) plus the republican light blue color, was applauded by those present at the time of its presentation.
There is no doubt that in Guatemala, the plurinational constituent process that will take place soon, now, not only has collective proposals for the contents of the new constitutional text, but also this plurinational process has its own emblem. Thus, the cultural dispute in the symbolic sphere also gains strength in the racist monocultural Guatemala.
On the second day of the Meeting, two public forums were held: one on “Constitutive Elements of a Plurinational State”, and the other on “Routes of the popular and plurinational constituent process”.
What did the indigenous movements and organizations sign at this meeting?
Signing of the Declaration of the Consensus of Unity for Plurinationality
The Declaration approved, signed and disseminated, basically has the following elements:
First. The organizations and peoples participating in the Plurinational Meeting for Good Living ratified and confirmed their commitment to articulate and continue giving life to this space that is now called Consensus for Plurinational Unity. The same that, in a historical way, constitutes the core space to energize the constituent process to constitute the Plurinational State and Good Living.
Second. The participants also committed themselves to continue organizing, raising awareness, training, articulating and communicating to consolidate and expand the constituent peoples’ subject. “It is not enough that we have written documents as proposals for the creation of the plurinational state. We must also continue working to strengthen the constituent peoples’ subject,” they said at the meeting.
Third. The Declaration establishes that the space called Consensus for Plurinational Unity is open to other organizations, peoples and communities, and is collectively led. In this sense, it is a call that invites social and political actors that are committed to a plurinational State to join this space of articulation in the course of time.
Declaration of the Plurinational Meeting for the Good Life
A light in the darkness of the Left
One of the three public forums during the Meeting
In this unprecedented way, without electoral candidacies or popular election positions, the popular sector begins to articulate around a programmatic proposal (plurinational constituent process) to build a new State and a new country in the complementary diversity.
There is no doubt that the political left (political parties) and the socio-cultural left (most of the NGOs created by the revolutionary vanguards) find themselves in a historic dilemma: either they bet on the articulation of the Consensus for Plurinational Unity, or they continue to operate as a political and social enterprise at the service of the hegemonic neo-liberal, neo-colonial racist system.
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