Foreword

The Last Frontier of De-Colonization in the Americas: Indigenous Peoples

By Robert A. Pastor In the mid-1970s, after a long history of dictatorship, and a briefer history of s ings bet een democracy and a!thoritarianism, "atin America finally began a steady #o!rney to democracy. By 1991, e$ery co!ntry in the Americas% ith the e&ception of '!ba%had a democratically elected go$ernment, and an (A) *eneral Assembly that s!mmer appro$ed the +)antiago 'ommitment,, a proced!re for collecti$ely defending all the democracies. -his as a remar.able step aro!nd the narro , restricti$e principle of non-inter$ention. -hat commitment as strengthened in "ima, Per/, on )eptember 11, 0001, hen the (A) go$ernments !nanimo!sly signed the InterAmerican 1emocratic 'harter. -he 'harter as signed on a day that represented another atershed. A fe moments before the (A) $oted on the charter, the 2nited )tates as attac.ed by a small gro!p of Islamist nihilists. -he 2nited )tates t!rned to ard fighting a global + ar on terror, and a ay from the challenge of breathing life into the Inter-American 1emocratic 'harter. "atin America loo.ed in another direction as it began to absorb the f!ll implications of its thirty-year march to democracy. - o distinct b!t intersecting trends emerged from this ne the s!b#ects of this path-brea.ing boo.3 democratic a$e, and both are

4ati$e or indigeno!s gro!ps that had long been e&ploited, persec!ted, or simply marginali5ed began to organi5e and find their $oices in their co!ntries and the region6 and 4e pop!list leaders, li.e 7!go 'ha$e5 of 8ene5!ela, 9$o :orales of Boli$ia, and Rafael 'orrea of 9c!ador, emerged from these gro!ps or from other sectors and began to bend the bo!ndaries of democratic instit!tions for the declared p!rpose of redistrib!ting ealth and po er to the indigeno!s gro!ps. -ogether, these t o trends offered the Americas a chance to de-coloni5e the +;irst 4ations,, ho had ne$er achie$ed f!ll liberation since the 9!ropeans arri$ed fi$e h!ndred years before. In a tho!ghtf!l analysis, :artin 9d in Andersen chronicles both trends in a scholarly manner, b!t he does not conceal his sympathy for the str!ggle of the indigeno!s gro!ps and his !neasiness ith the ne pop!list leaders, ho seem more determined to dismantle the chec.s and balances of democratic instit!tions than anting to help g!arantee a place in the political firmament for indigeno!s peoples. Andersen e&plores ho the e&pansion of the franchise in an age of the Internet has altered the $ery concept of the state and the meaning of democracy. 7e is con$inced that the only ay to ens!re that the indigeno!s gro!ps< rights ill be respected is ithin a democratic frame or.. If the pop!lists of the left !ndermine that $ery frame or. to help indigeno!s people, a shift to the right o!ld lea$e indigeno!s people itho!t the str!ct!res essential for defending those rights. In the end the best ay to ass!re that this last frontier of colonialism is definitely closed, and minority rights are al ays preser$ed, is to g!arantee democratic instit!tions.

Re-Emergence of the ati!es

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At some le$el of conscio!sness, most people in the Americas .no that the 9!ropean +disco$ery, of the ne orld as not really a disco$ery. =hen 'hristopher 'ol!mb!s arri$ed in the =estern 7emisphere, he tho!ght he had reached the Indies and therefore called the inhabitants, +Indians., -he name st!c. e$en tho!gh people soon reali5ed that he had not reached the Indies, and that the people classified !nder that one term represented literally tho!sands of gro!ps of people ith different lang!ages and c!lt!res and spread o$er t o $ast continents. Among the many peoples ere t o $ast ci$ili5ations%the :ayan>A5tec ci$ili5ation in the :e&ican and 'entral American platea! and the Inca>Aymara>?!ech!a people in the Andes. Both peoples had de$eloped ad$anced ci$ili5ations ith a pop!lation that e&ceeded )pain and m!ch of 9!rope. 7o e$er, con@!istadors led by 7ernan 'ortes in :eso-America and ;rancisco Pi5arro in Per/ ere able to defeat and s!ppress these ci$ili5ations ith a combination of boldness, more ad$anced military technology, and disease. -hey then imposed a three h!ndred year imperialistic system that treated most of the nati$e pop!lation as $irt!al sla$es. -he li$es of the nati$es did not impro$e after the local 'reoles gained their independence from )pain. Altho!gh some of the gro!ps rebelled, they co!ld not s!stain a ar against the 'reoles or 9!ropeans. By and large, indigeno!s peoples s!ffered @!ietly. At the present time, there are abo!t thirty fi$e to forty million nati$e peoples in the Americas, ith the largest n!mbers in :e&ico A10 million or 1B percent of the :e&ican pop!lationC, Per/ A ith 9.D million and nearly half of the co!ntry<s pop!lationC, Boli$ia AE.F million6 G1 percentC, *!atemala AB.1 million6 FF percentC6 9c!ador AB.1 million6 BD percentC6 and 'hile A1 million or 10.D percentC. In a total pop!lation of abo!t fi$e-h!ndred million in "atin America, these fig!res are not large, b!t in the conte&t of the si& co!ntries identified abo$e, indigeno!s peoples ha$e the po er of n!mbers. (nly hen democracy began to ta.e root did non-go$ernmental organi5ations and indigeno!s leaders began to collaborate to help nati$es defend their rights and their land. As these gro!ps organi5ed, ne leaders emerged, and a ne disco!rse as artic!lated to connect the nation<s history ith the c!lt!re of the nati$e peoples. )ome people see the indigeno!s mo$ements moti$ated by an anti-neo-liberal, anti-globali5ation, and a neo-:ar&ist philosophy, b!t Andersen disp!tes that. 7e arg!es that, at base, the ne ly politici5ed nati$e mo$ements are more concerned abo!t defending their c!lt!re, lang!age, and rights and that may seem to o$erlap ith leftist philosophies, b!t there are also e&amples of these gro!ps !tili5ing globali5ation to their interests. B!t there is no @!estion that the ne pop!list leadership in the Americas%notably 9$o :orales of Boli$ia, 7!go 'ha$e5 of 8ene5!ela, and Rafael 'orrea of 9c!ador, together ith less idely-.no n leaders in Per/ and *!atemala%are !sing the lang!age of antiAmericanism and anti-neo-liberalism to consolidate po er and disr!pt or dismantle the chec.s and balances that are at the heart of democracy. Is this good for indigeno!s peoplesH In some ays, hat they are doing is good. =hen the ne 9c!adorian 'onstit!tion, appro$ed in a referend!m on )eptember 0G, 000G, recogni5es the state is m!ltic!lt!ral, that represents a m!ch-needed step for ard. =hen the ne leaders ad#!st state e&pendit!res to assist the poor rather than protect the rich that is positi$e. B!t hen the President consolidates po er by eliminating the co!nter$ailing force of the 'ongress or the 'o!rts, then that spells danger for minorities, and he fears that may be the direction that some of these pop!lists are heading. 9$en if the ne pop!lists are dedicated to helping the poor and the indigeno!s leaders, the history of the region s!ggests that they ill not last, and if they ha$e destroyed the $ery instit!tions needed to preser$e the rights of the minorities, then if their s!ccessors ant to erase their legacy and remarginali5e the indigeno!s gro!ps, they ill not be constrained.
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In the end, :ic. Andersen arg!es for the +pl!ri-national character of the state and recognition of gro!ps< rights and effecti$e citi5enship that allo s for self-determination, incl!ding common territory, c!lt!re and lang!age., B!t it is by no means clear that this ill occ!r. If the leaders are more interested in past in#!stices than in f!t!re incl!sion, and if they try to di$ide their people, then the res!lt co!ld be +$engeance bet een races and c!lt!res, and a ne a!thoritarianism. (nly ithin a democratic frame or. can the rights of the e&cl!ded be defended and more effecti$e forms of incorporation can be fo!nd. +)!ch efforts,, he concl!des, + ill help to ma.e democracy real for millions of people still o!tside the arc of its benefits, address the !nfinished b!siness of decoloni5ation in the hemisphere, and offer a broad ass!rance that the cloc. ill not be t!rned bac. on Indian progress., -he signal contrib!tion of this boo. is to help !s to !nderstand that the ne a$e of democracy offers the chance to finally incorporate those ho ha$e been left behind, b!t if that is done poorly, then democracy itself ill be placed at ris.. -his path-brea.ing $ol!me helps !s to see clearly the ris. and the opport!nity. If this transition to a more complete democracy s!cceeds, all of the co!ntries of the Americas ill be the richer for it. Robert A. Pastor is Professor of International Relations at American University and is CoDirector of the Centers for Democracy and Election Management and of North American t!dies.