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UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 23 APRIL, 2017
CAMPUS ACTIVISM
“When you can see yourself
from a place of power you
can transform your reality.” This was one of the highlights
of Maya land rights activist Cristina Coc’s message during
her keynote address at “Indigenous Geographies and
Caribbean Feminisms: Common Struggles Against Global
Capitalism” on March 31. Following her address, Coc was
joined on stage by women who also hailed from her native
Belize, representing Garifuna and other communities. The
impromptu gathering was an emotional demonstration
of solidarity after Coc called for candid discussions
about racism and prejudice among people of colour. Her
supporters were moved to tears by her struggles as an
activist.
Coc spoke about “Dignified Rebellion,” on the ways in
which indigenous peoples and African descendants in the
Caribbean and Latin America have been pitted against each
other by colonial powers historically. She called for an end
to this division and for unity in resistance to injustice. “All
over the world, all throughout history, people have engaged
in countless struggles for their dignity, for equality, for
respectful and just societies, for democratic power relations;
basically, for a liveable planet. We can draw the lines between
these struggles as if the struggles were separate, affecting
distinct social groups. But the distinction would be false.
Our struggle is for a better world. One that is more just
and where there exists the possibility for many worlds. In
this sense, there has only ever been one struggle,” said Coc.
Coc’s address was filled with poignant, passionate
anecdotes of her work with the Maya Leadership Alliance
(MLA) and the indigenous rights advocacy organisation,
Julian Cho Society, of which she is founder and director.
Since the 1990s, the Maya people of Belize have been
embroiled in a battle for recognition of their land rights. Coc
provided testimony for theMLAand became a spokesperson
for the organisation when in 2006 the Belizean government
granted a US company rights to conduct seismic testing for
oil onMaya land without consultation.The battle continued
until 2015 with Coc even being briefly imprisoned.
To her, the battle was about more than land rights.
“In Maya culture our identity is defined this way: to
CIVIL
SOCIETY
Our struggle is for a better world
B Y Z A H R A G O R D O N
belong. It is a sense of belonging often tied to land and I
hear my Afro-descendant sisters grappling with identity
because we do have an identity crisis and it is a colonial
construct that caused it. I’m neither here nor there because
for 500 years we’ve been told that our identity is no good,
that being indigenous, being tribal is savage and backwards.
So we’ve lost our sense of belonging,” she said. “When I talk
about our fight to secure our customary land tenure and for
recognition of our way of life, I’m not talking about land at
all. I’m talking about seeing a marginalised group of people
as equal and dignified. Not as ‘those people’ or ‘the other’
but as a part of this human race.”
“In Maya culture you belong to the land, you belong
to Mother Earth, you belong to your community and you
belong to future generations.That sense of belonging is what
has connected my people to this piece of land that we so
passionately struggle for recognition of our rights on that
land. So our struggle has not been about challenging the
State and the courts, but we’ve used the courts, we’ve used the
letter of the law – a tool of the colony – to affirm our rights.”
Coc thanked The UWI for engaging in the important
conversation surrounding indigenous land rights, women’s
rights and activism. She said the “Indigenous Geographies
and Caribbean Feminisms” symposiumwas a “gift” tomany
indigenous voices.
The three-day symposiumwas hosted atThe UWI from
March 30 to April 1. It was organised by the Institute of
Gender and Development Studies in partnership with the
Department of Geography. The event was also supported
by the Antipode Foundation. Participants included
representatives of indigenous communities, scholars and
activists from Belize, Dominica, Guyana, Honduras, St.
Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and
Tobago. The symposium included workshops on women’s
empowerment, methods for confronting contemporary
colonialism and environmental protection.The symposium
also recognised the work of Honduran indigenous and
environmental activist, Berta Caceres. Caceres was
assassinated last year.
“When I talk about our fight to secure our customary land tenure and for recognition of our way of life,
I’m not talking about land at all. I’m talking about seeing a marginalised group of people as equal and dignified.”
Cristina Coc has been an activist with the Maya Leadership Alliance
since 2003. She has worked in particular with the Maya communities
in Toledo, southern Belize and was crucial to their winning the
landmark case on Maya land rights in 2007 and again in 2015. Coc
was educated at the St. John’s College, Junior College in Belize
and also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from the University
of Minnesota. In 2015, Coc and other members of the MLA were
awarded the Equator Prize for advocacy on indigenous rights.
Zahra Gordon is an award-winning, Caribbean-American poet and writer. Read more of her work at zeespeakstt.wordpress.com.
PHOTOS: MARIA NUNES
