Today we went to La Esperanza in western Honduras, in order to visit the indigenous organization COPINH. This organization, founded in 1993 is part of the incurred after the coup Resistance movement. The struggles of the organization turned from the start to the defense of natural resources and the commons in the region. Sun communitarian land titles have been won, prevented the construction of dam and mining projects. was by a cast of the National Congress forced in 1994 that Honduras Convention 169, signed by the ILO, the guaranteed date, the only international standard, the Indians legally binding protection and are entitled to a variety of fundamental rights.
COPINH had been before the military coup in 2009, the project Honduras launched a new firm 'by 400 representatives of social movements to calling to gather and to discuss an alternative political project. According to Bertha Caceres, coordinator of COPINH, there had been prior to the coup talks with President Zelaya, in which they strongly urging him to overthrow the military and the military responsible for the logistics in the conduct of the plebiscite on 28 to deprive of June 2009. It turned out differently. And so COPINH has been active since the military coup in the resistance against the coup and in the initiative for a new start Honduras include a Constituent Assembly.
"Now take up to elections, would mean to accept the hegemonic strategy and neutralized as a social and political movement to be," said Caceres. COPINH is one of the wings of the very heterogeneous resistance movement that rejects the time being, the path of representative democracy to go out and invites this coming weekend to discuss alternatives to the project.
With a grassroots approach, it should be about how the "triple opresión" may be a structural change from capitalism, patriarchy and racism. The project of a new Constitution is the COPINH-representatives about in a collective gathering process the claims of traditionally marginalized sectors. Cáceres stressing that the strength of the resistance movement whose diversity and heterogeneity. Nevertheless, it is not always easy to agree with evangelicals on the right to self-determination over the body or with party officials over the right of collective land use of the indigenous.
Despite the activities that have been added for the activists of COPINH since the coup, the struggle for natural resources has always been central part of their work. Current threats are the privatization of water resources, of the new General Water Law (Ley General de Aguas) opened the floodgates are. The privatization of forests by European, Japanese and U.S. firms "polish up" by the Department of forests in the region of their CO2 emissions, represents a serious threat to indigenous communities and their collective property.
decide the visit we COPINH on brightly painted "Utopia center" which is used for meetings and events. Currently, however, are especially refugees housed here, because of the acute leave repression and fear for their lives to their homes in other parts of the country had.
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