For The Homeland (A Poem for Bagua)

last night Peruvian President Alan Garcia went on national tv to save face. i figured it was time to release this poem. Please feel free to copy and paste and send to listserves, friends, post it on your blog. all i ask is that you give credit to me and post the link to my blog.

i've put links to youtube videos on some of the words so you can get some info on what went down.


Thank you/Gracias

Rodrigo

**NOTE: i have added the mp3 poem for your listening pleasure, this poem will be featured on my upcoming EP The Homeland**





For The Homeland (A Poem for Bagua)

by Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarria

With my hands I write these words for the homeland

Today my heart stopped
My blood spilled
On land that will be given
To oil companies that will rape it
Brand it, and sell it with my name on it

Today my body is motionless on the road
With no one to claim it
Until the bullets stop flying
Until they stop crying
Because no one asked them
if they wanted to perforate their people
asked them if they wanted to witness babies dying

The ground sobbed red tears as bodies fell
Painting a brief picture of living hell

With my hands I write these words for the homeland

Today Peru lost 2-1 and
people said they played with no heart,
I know where it lays.

In Bagua
where blood mixes with brown soil
In rivers
where brothers and sisters float boca abajo.
And mothers try to identify body parts
While I am trying to identify self worth

Remembering that the blood spilled is pumping through my veins,
that the land where I was born to the land where I stand
will always be indigenous land.
Remembering.
That when we left in 88 Alan Garcia was fucking up the economy
Then ran to hide in Paris
Only to come back for a reconquista
to kill people he sees as second class

Today the bullets cried
My brothers and sister died
Media blinded to the lies
That the cowards use to hide

With my hands I write these words for the homeland

Today I died in bagua
But when my funeral comes
Don’t put me in a casket
Or bury me 6 feet under

Instead baptize me in the Marañon River
So my soul flows south with the blood spilled

Bury me next to the mass graves
With my eyes wide open
So i can see
What others say is not there

Then broadcast these words over radio waves
Banned for speaking the truth

Indigenas nunca son cuidadanos de segunda clase
Indigenous people are never 2nd class citizens

This is for my people
In the homeland
Fighting in the trenches
Blocking streets, police
While we overseas fight the oasis painted by white picket fences
This is for Alfredo,Pelusa, Mariana, rodrigo, camilo y Apu
Who remind me of home and fuel the purpose of what I do
for our babies, who asked why we cry at this injustice

For jose Antonio Encinas who taught me about power
And how politicians’ abuse it, we call them cowards

This for Santiago Manuin
Because 8 bullets could not stop his heart beating
His strength
His fight for his people
Their land

This is for Pizango finding refuge in Nicaragua
While his heart and spirit stays in bagua

And for the rest of us
Who are away from home
In strange lands that we can’t call our own
Some of us facing death for the first time and
Raising fists, pens, and words in defiance
To form a global alliance with you, our people.
Because borders, time zones, years, guns and oppression
Cannot stop our love for you.
Today I died in Bagua
And was reborn to use my hands to write these words for the homeland

A Poem for Bagua by Simon Ortiz

in the last couple of weeks have been an emotional ride for me, i am writing about it and will share soon, but i am glad that my peers feel the same way.

Please spread the word

Rodrigo

Simon Ortiz is a famous poet, from Acoma Pueblo.

Here's the poem:

Remember Sand Creek.
Remember the Black Hills.
Remember Chiapas.
Remember Bagua.

Always the land, culture, community. Always the land, culture, community.
Always the land, culture, community. Always the land, culture, community.

Always Indigenous land, culture, and community must keep speaking.

Always, always, always. Speaking, speaking, speaking.

Listen, hear the land speaking.
Listen, hear the culture speaking.
Listen, hear the community speaking.

Speaking against power and greed.
Speaking against power and greed.
Speaking against power and greed.

Last week, President Obama spoke about the "pain of dislocation" suffered by
the Palestinians.
This week, has he heard the pain of dislocation suffered by Indigenous
peoples of Peru?

Listen, hear the land, culture, community speaking.
Listen, hear the land, culture, community speaking.
Listen, hear the land, culture, community speaking.

We must make sure Obama hears the pain of dislocation in the Americas.
We must make sure Obama speaks about the pain of dislocation in the
Americas.

Simon Ortiz

PRONUNCIAMIENTO FEDERACIÓN NATIVA DEL RÍO MADRE DE DIOS Y AFLUENTES (FENAMAD)

Queridos Herman@s, no estamos solos, luchamos por nuestra cultura y derecho, nuestros antepasados siempren estan con nosotros!


PRONUNCIAMIENTO
FEDERACIÓN NATIVA DEL RÍO MADRE DE DIOS Y AFLUENTES (FENAMAD)

La Federación Nativa del Río Madre de Dios y Afluentes, FENAMAD, organización matriz de los pueblos indígenas de Madre de Dios, ante la gravedad de los últimos acontecimientos suscitados en la ciudad de Bagua, en la selva norte del Perú, nos dirigimos al gobierno peruano, a la opinión pública nacional e internacional para expresar lo siguiente:

1. Nuestra más enérgica condena ante el asesinato de más de veinte hermanos indígenas Awajún y once compatriotas de la Policía Nacional, además de un centenar de heridos, caídos en el marco de una justa lucha histórica de reivindicación de nuestros derechos, después de dos siglos de postración y, en particular, ante la emisión por el gobierno aprista de decretos legislativos orientados a despojarnos de nuestras tierras en beneficio de las grandes empresas transnacionales.

2. Responsabilizamos de estos hechos de genocidio al Dr. Alan García Pérez y al Gobierno que lo ampara puesto que un gobierno dialogante y abierto a escuchar diferentes posiciones, jamás hubiera permitido que la situación se polarice de tal modo que llegue a los extremos a los que ha llegado, manchándose las manos con la sangre de vidas inocentes.

3. Rechazamos del mismo modo la actitud represiva mostrada por este Gobierno hacia los pueblos indígenas que se han manifestado democráticamente, de acuerdo a la ley. Contrariamente, la respuesta del Gobierno ha sido siempre desproporcionada, abusiva, antidemocrática. Esto lo hemos visto en la emisión unilateral, inconsulta e ilegal de los decretos legislativos mencionados, la violación de nuestros derechos fundamentales, y la actitud represiva y violenta contra nuestros hermanos indígenas.

4. La sangre derramada por nuestros hermanos Awajún no quedará en el olvido. FENAMAD, reafirma su voluntad de continuar luchando, sin descanso, por la defensa de los derechos de los pueblos indígenas y declara la Unión de los Pueblos Indígenas Amazónicos del Perú frente a la amenaza que se cierne sobre nuestros derechos y nuestros territorios ante la ilegal, injusta y destructora política económica del gobierno.

5. Los pueblos indígenas de Madre de Dios y la sociedad civil retomaremos el paro amazónico indefinido hasta que el Gobierno escuche, atienda y solucione nuestras demandas.

HERMANOS Y HERMANAS: ¡NO ESTAMOS SOLOS EN ESTA LUCHA! ¡ESTAMOS CON LA FUERZA DE NUESTROS ANCESTROS QUE NOS IMPULSAN A SEGUIR LUCHANDO, CON LA FUERZA QUE EMANAN DE NUESTROS BOSQUES MILENARIOS!
Puerto Maldonado, 05 de junio de 2009
Consejo Directivo de FENAMAD