Written by Ellie Dufek
 |
|
Photo of Edwin Dagua Ipía, assassinated Indigenous
governor, taken by Hannah Wallis
|
Often times in the US, when people
are told to think of discrimination against Indigenous people, they think of
the story of European colonists coming to settle in America. The trials of other Tribal peoples are overlooked
at times, even though their struggles are just as real. In Columbia unfortunately, any Indigenous
person who believes that they have rights are in danger of being killed by
paramilitaries and those who seek to thwart their rights to freedom. Specifically social leaders to the movements
are in danger, making them appear even braver for continuing to fight
nonviolently.
In cases like this, it is hard to
comprehend the varied emotions people are feeling who are put in this
position. You want to fight for your
freedoms, but you may be killed at any point for doing so, even in broad
daylight like Edwin Dagua Ipía. An Indigenous governor, he was assassinated for
the same reason as the 164 others who were.
This is terrorism, defined as, “the unlawful use of violence and
intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political
aims”. In doing so, many of these
civilians are likely to be too afraid to continue to pursue their rights, and
may accept defeat. They would be just in
doing so - no one should feel fear in asking for things that are owed to them,
that are rightfully theirs.
This can be argued with however, by
those people with the mentality such as from the Manifest Destiny: that those
lands are rightfully theirs because some higher-powered being says they
are. Those killing these Tribal leaders
likely feel just in their actions, although most people agree that taking
someone’s life will never be right.
However, these assassination attempts will likely continue, same as how
shootings, hate crimes, and many other forms of negativity will also
continue. That’s the point, to spread
fear, but that is no way to live. Even
without these forms of hatred, life can end at any moment, bringing most to the
conclusion that life must be lived as fully as possible. Although this does not entirely tie in to the
specifics of Indigenous leaders being assassinated due to greed and hate, it is
true that these remaining leaders have a passion for life, and that is why they
continue to fight.
Leaders can, at any point, give in
and stop fighting, but these people have this mentality. If they gave up, they might as well die
anyways. People like this are choosing
to keep living. Take Rubén Velasco for example. On January 11th and following the week after,
he was shot at, hit, and escaped three separate times from assassinators. I was shocked reading this, because I feel as
if I would give up at any moment, or would at least hide for as long as I
could. Not Velasco though, he continues
to set an example for his people. Their
rights are worth dying for, and the only way to create change is to keep
fighting. For the Tribal people of
Columbia, all over the world people are watching, and with time more people
will be doing and helping. In time, the
Indigenous peoples of Columbia, and all over the world, will have the rights
that are rightfully owed to them, and those filled with hate will suffer in
their own ways.
Works Cited
Wallis, Hannah. “2018 Was the Deadliest Year in Decades for Indigenous Leaders in Columbia,” Cultural Survival. 29 Jan, 2019. https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/2018-was-deadliest-year-decades-indigenous-leaders-colombia. Accessed 20 March 2019.
Comments
Post a Comment