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Peoples of the Earth; Ethnonationalism, Democracy and the Indigenous Challenge in Latin America (Lexington 2010)

Chapter Three

Elite Neglect and Rediscovery


Miguel Angel May May, a tall man among the Maya, handsome, no in his !"s, ith a touch of gray in his hair # # # spea$s %ucatecan Maya so elo&uently that hen young people ho ha'e (egun to lose their language and culture first hear him, they shed tears for hat has (een and hat can (e in the %ucat)n# May May tells the story ith # # # rage and pride# # ## *A Maya, of the middle class, li$e me,+ May May said, * ent into a ,ord dealership here in M-rida# .e intended to (uy a ne pic$up truc$# .e as ell dressed, (ut clearly Maya# /he dealer offered him ten pesos to ash a truc$#+ It is a common e0perience for people of color in a hite orld# /he %ucat)n is not entirely a hite orld, yet the Maya suffer the most se'ere pre1udice of any large ethnic group in Me0ico# In the language of pre1udice in Me0ico, the Maya are said to (e people ith (ig heads and no (rains, too short, too dar$ and ith a strange, laugha(le 2panish accent# Earl Shorris, in Mad Mel and the Maya i

Attention to the elitist and whi saw !"ality o# the de$ate a%ong regional le#tists in the last &ent"ry a$o"t the role o# the 'ndian ("estion will re ay large rewards #or those interested in the relationshi $etween indigeno"s eo les, non)'ndian ower str"&t"res (in&l"ding those &lai%ing to a&t on the #or%er*s $ehal#), and the danger o# the latter #alling into 'anguardismo and aternalis%, $oth $y those re resenting the esta$lish%ent and those who retend to &hange it+ ,he role o# the So-iet .nion and the Marxist thin/ers who re&eded its #o"ndation is o# arti&"lar interest $e&a"se o# the &riti&al, i# transitory, role they layed in o "lari0ing 'ndian nationalis% d"ring years in whi&h the international Marxist ers e&ti-e sw"ng 120 degrees with regard to ra&e and ethni&ity3 at #irst, ra&e and ethni&ity were "ni% ortant, then it was heralded as the /ey to regional re-ol"tion, and in ti%e, again relegated to o$s&"rity+ So-iet oli&y on nationality, whi&h re&ei-ed little attention $e#ore the #all o# the .SS4, tra&es its earliest $eginnings to the Manifesto written $y 5arl Marx and 6rederi&/ Engels+ ,hey arg"ed that &a italis% wo"ld di%inish national arti&"larity to the oint where ra&e and ethni&ity did not %atter, and held that thro"gh the ex erien&e o# &lass &on#li&t wor/ers wo"ld learn that their interests lay with one another+ ,he idea hel ed $"rnish Marxis%*s attra&ti-eness, and the early 7olshe-i/ arty ended " with an inordinate re resentation o# s"$8"gated (and th"s disad-antaged) ethni& %inorities+ 'n arri-ing at the notion that, altho"gh their "lti%ate goal was "ni-ersalisti&, they o"ght to ta/e the national !"estion into a&&o"nt in the interi%, the 7olshe-i/s also drew #ro% the ideas o# the 9ewish La$or 7"nd, as well as the wor/s o# A"strian so&ial de%o&rats who so"ght to a eal to the wor/ing &lass and to reser-e ethno)national &"lt"res+ 6irst, :+'+ Lenin (lo&/ed in in&i ient &o% etition with ;oodrow ;ilson and the .nited States o-er the i% ortan&e o# nationality), and then 9ose h Stalin i&/ed " on a -ariant o# this a eal $y o##ering land, $read and sel#)deter%ination #or ethni& nationalities+ ,h"s the <ew So-iet Man was $orn in -ario"s nationalist &ost"%es+ ,he !"estion
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re%ained, howe-er3 ;as this a strategi& %o-e or a signal o# real ideologi&al &o%%it%ent to l"ralis%= ,he oli&ies "rs"ed $y the early 7olshe-i/s, $oreni3atsiia or indigeni0ation was a ro hyla&ti& + + + designed to de#"se and re-ent the de-elo %ent o# nationalis%+ii ,he oli&y ro-ided #or the ethni& &onsolidation o# the new So-iet .nion*s %any eo les and s e&i#i&ally so"ght, $y %eans o# %assi-ely re&r"iting non) 4"ssians as lo&al &adre in the >o%%"nist arty, to extend the e##e&ti-e rea&h o# So-iet ower $y %a/ing it ta/e root in non)4"ssian soil+ .ni#ied national lang"ages were &reated+ S&hools, &"lt"ral and s&ienti#i& instit"tions were esta$lished? assi%ilation was dis&o"raged? and a oli&y o# %o$ili0ation was initiated that ranged #ro% the re "$li&s, thro"gh the o$lasts, and down to indi-id"al &olle&ti-e #ar%s+ Sha ing and in#or%ing these oli&ies was the so)&alled @ied%ont rin&i le (na%ed a#ter the national &ore " on whi&h the %odern 'talian state was #or%ed), the ostentatio"s ro%otion o# national instit"tions,iii where$y the res e&t#"l treat%ent o# nations within the .SS4 was %eant to ro-ide to their &o)nationals o"tside the So-iet $orders a $enign -iew o# the &o%%"nist regi%e+ ,his was seen as a way o# #a&ilitating their in&or oration in the #"t"re into an ex anded So-iet state+ Aowe-er, $y #a-oring the non)4"ssian nationalities, the %a8ority 4"ssian nation was la&ed at a disad-antage, with 4"ssian &ha"-inis% stri&tly "nished+ ,he strategi& nat"re o# the o ening to E"ro e*s %inorities &an $e seen in a 1B2C @olit$"ro de&ree, whi&h s e&i#i&ally %andated that $order region %inorities sho"ld ha-e %ore national rights than %inorities in the So-iet &entral regions+ Meanwhile, the >o%intern, (the >o%%"nist 'nternational, also /nown as the ,hird 'nternational) an international >o%%"nist organi0ation #o"nded in Mos&ow in Mar&h 1B1B to &lai% leadershi as the -ang"ard o# the glo$al re-ol"tiono# the world so&ialist %o-e%ent, hel ed $ring the iss"e o# indigeno"s rights and the national !"estion s"rro"nding 'ndian str"ggles in the A%eri&as into the non)'ndian world o# the A%eri&as+ 'n So"th A%eri&a, the wor/s o# Lenin and Stalin la&ed the right to sel#) deter%ination o# national %inorities within the &ontext o# anti)&olonial str"ggle? the >o%intern ro osed the &reation o# an 'ndian 4e "$li& along the lines o# the old 'n/a /a antinsuyu+ ,he >o%intern, wrote Latin A%eri&an historian Mar& 7e&/er, -iewed Latin A%eri&an &o"ntries as si%ilar to %"ltinational 4"ssia itsel#, their s"$ordinate nationalities li-ing side $y side with a do%inant ;estern &"lt"re+ D ressed nations had the right to sel#)deter%ination, in&l"ding the right to esta$lish their own inde endent nations+ Minority o "lations, howe-er, had the right to the reser-ation and de-elo %ent o# their lang"ages and &"lt"res, $"t not the right to se&ede to #or% se arate states+i,he 6irst Latin A%eri&an >o%%"nist >on#eren&e held in 7"enos Aires in 9"ne 1B2B, &a"sed the %ostly E"ro)&entri& &o%%"nist arties o# the region to dis&o-er the
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'ndian ("estion+ A year earlier the Sixth >ongress o# the >o%intern had addressed the art that ra&ial and ethni& %inorities were to lay in the &ontext o# a &o"ntry*s re-ol"tionary " hea-al+ ,he eriod, noted one s&holar, o##ers a "ni!"e window thro"gh whi&h to -iew de$ates within the le#t o-er the role o# ethni&ity in the $"ilding o# a so&ial %o-e%ent+- 't was at the Argentine %eeting that @er"-ian 9osE >arlos MariFteg"i set the stage #or s"$se!"ent generations o# le#tists to t"rn their $a&/s on the indigeno"s (and arti&"larly, the &"lt"ral) agenda, &lai%ing that their o ression was d"e to their stat"s in the region*s &lass str"&t"re rather than to end"ring !"estions o# ra&e, ethni&ity or national identi#i&ation+ 'n his extensi-e treatise El ro$le%a de las ra0as en la A%eri&a Latina (,he @ro$le% o# 4a&e in Latin A%eri&a), MariFteg"i held that the 'ndian ("estion was in its essen&e art o# a larger ro$le% relating to the "ne!"al distri$"tion o# land and related e&ono%i& ex loitation+ Ae too/ iss"e with the >o%intern*s s"ggestion that an 'ndian a"tono%o"s re "$li& $e &reated, "sing &lass arg"%ents to re$"t the 4ed %etro olis* ro osal3 ,he &onstr"&tion o# an a"tono%o"s state #ro% the 'ndian ra&e wo"ld not lead to the di&tatorshi o# the 'ndian roletariat, nor %"&h less the #or%ation o# an 'ndian state witho"t &lasses+ E-ent"ally, he said, an 'ndian $o"rgeois state wo"ld $e &reated that shared all the internal and external &ontradi&tions o# other $o"rgeois states+ As 7e&/er ointed o"t, MariFteg"i*s -iew re#le&ted a #"nda%ental di-ision $etween ethno)&"lt"ral and oliti&al de#initions o# nationalis%, with the @er"-ian an&hored in the $elie# that So"th A%eri&a*s existing nation)states were already too esta$lished to &all #or rethin/ing their &on#ig"ration+ At its &ore, MariFteg"i &hallenged essentialist notions o# nationalis%+ MariFteg"i e% hasi0ed that 'ndian o-erty and %arginali0ation were #"nda%entally an iss"e o# &lass o ression, and that the sol"tion to 'ndian ro$le%s lay in ending the a$"si-e #e"dalisti& land ten"re atterns "nder whi&h 'ndians s"##ered+-i At $otto%, the &ontending -iews o# the two le#tist #a&tions in 7"enos Aires shared a -ang"ardist orientation and, altho"gh osed as $enign in its intent, the MariFteg"i -iew a&t"ally aralleled that o# %ore &onser-ati-e indigenistas who ro%oted indigenismo, the assi%ilation o# 'ndians rather than re&ognition o# their &"lt"ral distin&ti-eness # MariFteg"i held that the 'ndian str"ggle #or%ed $"t art o# a larger $attle $y wor/ers and easants to &reate a new so&ialist so&ietyin essen&e a re-ol"tionary &lass)$ased -ariant o# assi%ilationis%+ 'n addition, the >o%intern*s -iews were extra olations o# ideas set down $y Lenin and Stalin? MariFteg"i hi%sel# a arently did not &ons"lt with <ati-e A%eri&an leaders in arri-ing at his own &on&l"sions+ -ii 7e&/er oints o"t that in MariFteg"i*s se%inal 2e'en Interpreti'e Essays on Peru'ian 4eality he e&hoed L"is :al&Fr&el*s &o%%ent that the 'ndigeno"s roletariat awaits its Lenin + + + i% lying that the %o-e%ent #or their li$eration wo"ld &o%e #ro% an external so"r&e rather than #ro% within their &o%%"nities+ 'n ro$ing who this Lenin %ight $e, 7e&/er &ites the words o# 'sraeli historian Gerardo Lei$ner, who &ontrasts the idea o# a ," a& A%ar")style restoration o# /a antinsuyu with an "r$an mesti3o indigenista leading
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'ndians in a %oderni0ing so&ialist re-ol"tion+ /he first can (e interpreted as a reactionary impulse and MariFteg"i o osed it, and the second re&uires the inter'ention of outsiders such as Mari)tegui#('tali&s added)+-iii <on)'ndians li/e MariFteg"i, and their desire to s"$s"%e indigeno"s de%ands thro"gh an e&ono%i& ris% la&ed the @er"-ian*s osition in o osition to the &"lt"ral and national de%ands, howe-er in&hoate or di-erse, %ade $y 'ndian eo les+ MariFteg"i*s death less than a year a#ter the &on#eren&e re%o-ed one o# Latin A%eri&a*s intelle&t"als %ost interested in the 'ndigeno"s !"estion, there$y de ri-ing >entral and So"th A%eri&an %ilitants o# anything $"t a #ree0e)#ra%e o# his -iews on the -ital iss"e+ (>onte% orary le#tists, nonetheless, &ontin"e to gi-e ho%age to MariFteg"i as a -isionary &ha% ion o# indigeno"s eo les+ ;riting in the Marxist Monthly 4e'ie , 4oxanne H"n$ar)Drti0 ad%itted that the @er"-ian was ne-er a$le to -isit the Andean region and had no indigeno"s &olleag"es+ Aowe-er, she &ontin"ed, than/s to the g"iding light and -ision o# MariFteg"i*s wor/, $oth &o%%"nist and indigeno"s organi0ers early on were &ogni0ant that the 'ndigeno"s eo les o# the Andes are nationalities, whi&h, in the Marxist)Leninist sense, ha-e the right to sel#) deter%ination, altho"gh MariFteg"i arg"ed against the ra&ti&ality o# a se arate Andean state+) 6or its art, the >o%intern a eared to lose interest in laying the indigeno"s &ard in its e##orts to ro%ote re-ol"tion in the he%is here? it ne-er held another &ontinental &ongress and the 'ndian ("estion a eared %ostly to #ade #ro% le#twing oliti&s #or se-eral generations+ Aowe-er, altho"gh the >o%intern*s s e&i#i& role in o "lari0ing 'ndian nationalis% in the de$ate ended " $eing short li-ed, the So-iet idea o# en&a s"lating their str"ggle as that o# nationalities is seen as &ontri$"ting %"&h later to indigeno"s de%ands+ix ,he retreat $y the >o%intern anti&i ated a 8arring a$o"t #a&e in So-iet ethni& oliti&s+ 7etween 1B12 and 1BI1, thro"gh a Great 4etreat that aralleled the $eginnings o# the &entrali0ation o# the So-iet e&ono%y, So-iet ower a$andoned the oli&y o# en&o"raging and &onsolidating the ethno)nationality o# the %inorities+ 4"ssian geo oliti&al inse&"rity a$o"t the ossi$ility that dias ora nationalities, s"&h as @oles, 6inns, 7elor"ssians, 4o%anians and ./rainians, were #i#th &ol"%ns #or their &o) nationals in neigh$oring states, res"lted in a se&"rity dri-en oli&y o# what later was &alled ethni& &leansing+ ,he s"stained eriod o# terror reasserted 4"ssian do%inan&e and non)4"ssians were s"$s"%ed into what was #or all intents and "r oses a new 4"ssian E% ire, disg"ised "nder the Drwellian do&trine o# the 6riendshi o# @eo les+ <ational instit"tions went into de&line and s"s e&t nationalities were de orted+ ,he 10 years $etween 1B1C and 1BIC, in arti&"lar, saw greater a eals to 4"ssian nationalis%, and $y the ti%e o# ;orld ;ar '', the #o&"s had degenerated into anti)Se%itis%+ ,he ,atars, >he&hens and 'ng"sh were arti&"larly di##i&"lt to so-ieti0e $e&a"se they were &lan)$ased, M"sli% %o"ntain eo le+ 4esistant to So-iet &olle&ti-i0ation oli&y, they had also $een at odds with the 4"ssians e-en $e#ore the re-ol"tion o# 1B1J+
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Al%ost all >he&hens and 'ng"sh were de orted to So-iet Asia, in an e##ort to destroy the% not as indi-id"als, $"t as a eo le+ ,his &"lt"ral ethno&ide was their "nish%ent #or $eing arti&"larly re&al&itrant to So-ieti0ation+ So-iet ethni& &leansing, ,erry Martin wrote, was not a&&o% anied $y o-ert intentional %"rder+ Aowe-er, the ethni& de ortations always in&l"ded %any arrests that res"lted in in&ar&eration in high) %ortality rison &a% s+ ,he So-iet ethni& &leansing was distin&ti-e #or the degree o# its ro#essionali0ation (in&l"ding the ro#essionali0ation o# %ass %"rder), the extent o# its &o%%it%ent to total ethni& re%o-al, and es e&ially its ra&ti&e in &onditions o# ea&e+x 't signaled an end to e##orts to woo ethni& %inorities into the So-iet or$it #or !"ite so%e ti%e+ ;ithin the Latin A%eri&an &ontext, the exa% le o# how Mexi&an le#tists e-ol-ed in their thin/ing a$o"t the role o# indigeno"s eo les in state #or%ation ro-ides an early exa% le o# the %ani "lation o# an indigeno"s ast and &onte% orary yearning+ 'n the two de&ades #ollowing that Mexi&o*s &i-il war, indigenismo $e&a%e one o# the %ost ower#"l -oi&es in ex laining &"lt"re and so&iety + + + &reating a "$li& s a&e #or the 'ndian in ost)re-ol"tionary Mexi&o + + + and whose i%age was a&&lai%ed + + + as a %odel #or the #"t"re o# the nation+ As Alexander S+ Hawson has ointed o"t, the ideali0ed 'ndian was $ased on those indigeno"s eo les who &o"ld tra&e their an&estry to a s lendid re)>olo%$ian ast and who e%erged #ro% this ers e&ti-e not si% ly a &"lt"ral i&on, $"t at ti%es + + + the -ery %odel o# egalitarian oliti&s, so&ial &ons&ien&e, and -irt"e that Indigenistas (and re-ol"tionaries in general) so"ght to "se to &onstr"&t a %odern re-ol"tionary order+ 6ar #ro% $eing an Kother,* this 'ndian was &learly an integral %e%$er o# the national &o%%"nity+ 'n this &ontext, so%e 'ndian &"lt"ral ra&ti&es $e&a%e in Mexi&o a <ew ;orld e!"i-alent to the Sta/hano-ian ;or/erthe %ythi& s" erhero o# so&ialist realis% in the So-iet .nionas a %odel #or ideali0ed -al"es and s e&i#i& re-ol"tionary so&ial re#or%s+ Hawson notes that3 ;hile &ertain traditions, s"&h as the "se o# wit&h do&tors, re resented an i% edi%ent to rogress, other #a&ets o# 'ndian so&ial organi0ation, s"&h as their &o%%"nal traditions, &o"ld ser-e as a %odel #or a %ore e!"ita$le and K rogressi-e* nation+ LAM &learly + + + %ythologi0ed &onstr"&tion o# the relationshi $etween the 'ndian &o%%"nal ast and the agrarian re#or% ro%ised $y the 4e-ol"tion + + + rested on an "nderstanding that 'ndians ossessed a dee ro rietary lo-e #or the land+ + + + ;ith the ad-ent o# >ardenis%o Lthe ideologi&al "nder innings o# the %o-e%ent headed $y @resident La0aro >FrdenasM and the o "lari0ation o# Marxist no%en&lat"re, Indigenistas in&reasingly &a%e to des&ri$e sele&t 'ndian &"lt"res as the e!"als o# oor mesti3os L eo le o# %ixed an&estryM+ + + + @art o# a larger &"rrent in >ardenis%o whi&h -alori0ed the 'ndian as &entral to the nation while de&rying the e##e&ts o# &lass ex loitation, this -iew oint %ade 'ndians %e%$ers o# a single roletariat whi&h in&l"ded the "r$an oor and other campesinos# As a &lass, 'ndians (li/e other r"ral oor) were o ressed, $a&/ward, and in need o# -ast a%o"nts o# #inan&ial and other
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assistan&e, $"t they existed &learly within a #ra%ewor/ o# a nation in whi&h their &"lt"ral Kotherness* was really only a %atter o# e&ono%i& ro$le%s &reated $y their o ression+xi Early non)Marxist e##orts to get indigeno"s rights on the international agenda, another s&holar noted, re%ained &"rio"sly ho$$led $y olari0ing >old ;ar ha$its and sloganeering that itted the ;est*s #o&"s on indi-id"al rights against the Eastern 7lo&*s &lai% that gro" rights were all that really %attered+ xii E-en the 1BIN .nited <ations .ni-ersal He&laration o# A"%an 4ights #ailed not only to not s e&i#i&ally designate sa#eg"ards #or indigeno"s eo les $"t "tterly #ailed to en&o% ass the &ir&"%stan&es and the world-iews o# indigeno"s eo les + + + ,o "t it $l"ntly, the light o# indigeno"s and %inority eo les was -irt"ally in-isi$le as an international iss"e when the .nited <ations was #o"nded, and re%ained so #or twenty)#i-e years therea#ter+xiii

+ /he 5ation, He&e%$er 1N, 2002+ + ,erry Martin, /he Affirmati'e Action Empire; 5ations and 5ationalism in the 2o'iet 6nion , + 122+ iii + Martin, ,he Drigins o# So-iet Ethni& >leansing, /he 7ournal of Modern .istory, :ol+ J0, <o+ I , He&+, 1BBN, + N12+ i+ 7e&/er, MariFteg"i, o + &it+, + I2I+ + 6ran&is&a da Ga%%a, La 'nterna&ional >o%"nista, MariFteg"i y el Kdes&"$ri%iento* del indOgena, Anuario Mariateguiano, :ol+ B+ <o+ B, 1BBJ, + C1+ -i + 7e&/er, MariFteg"i, o + &it+, + ICN, IC2+ -ii + 7e&/er, o + &it+, + IJ1+ -iii + Gerardo Lei$ner, El mito del socialismo ind8gena de Mari)tegui, + 1CC? 7e&/er, MariFteg"i, o + &it+, + IJ1 ix + Melina Sel-erston)S&her, Ethnopolitics in Ecuador9 Indigenous 4ights and the 2trengthening of Democracy , + 21? 7e&/er, MariFteg"i, o + &it+, + IJ1? H"n$ar)Drti0, 'ndigeno"s 4esistan&e in the A%eri&as and the Lega&y o# MariFteg"i, Monthly 4e'ie , Se te%$er, 200B+ x + Martin, ,he Drigins o# So-iet Ethni& >leansing, o + &it+, + N21, N22+ xi + Alexander S+ Hawson, 6ro% Models #or the <ation to Model >iti0ens3 Indigenismo and the K4e-indi&ation* o# the Mexi&an 'ndian, 1B20)I0, 7ournal of Latin American 2tudies, :ol+ 10, <o+ 2 (May 1BBN), + 2N0, 2N2)2NI, 2NN)2NB, 2BI)2BC+ xii + ,"ll$erg, o + &it+, + C2+ xiii + 4i&hard A+ 6al/, .uman 4ights .ori3ons9 /he Pursuit of 7ustice in a :lo(ali3ing ;orld , + C1, 111+
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