{"id":11841,"date":"2024-03-26T09:09:32","date_gmt":"2024-03-26T17:09:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/?p=11841"},"modified":"2024-03-26T09:09:32","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T17:09:32","slug":"thinking-and-feeling-the-return-to-our-lands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/uncategorized\/thinking-and-feeling-the-return-to-our-lands\/?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Thinking and feeling the return to our lands"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY Anny. V, Lilia. P, Radio. M, Erick. H, Karolina. L, Esther. G, Helem. A, Andr\u00e9a. I.<\/span><\/p>\n

TRANSLATED BY THOMAS LANG<\/p>\n

Borders have been imposed. People return to the earth through the spirituality of<\/span><\/p>\n

plants and animals, tracing ancestral paths. <\/span>Our paths, like those of indigenous peoples, come from generations ago. We are the <\/span>continuity of a thread of wisdom that has been woven in different lands and of the mobility <\/span>of our peoples over the earth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Movement is the orchestrator of life. From different collective processes through which <\/span>we have passed and the reflections gestated in them comes this text. We start from the <\/span>personal experiences through which we have thought, seen and remembered. <\/span>Each generation that has come before us has been thrown into a process of migration. We <\/span>recognize migration as a natural process, unlike States that see migration as a <\/span>forbidden movement of people. We, however, see it as movement belonging to nature: a <\/span>pollination through which the living ecosystems in the world and all of the diversity that <\/span>they represent become possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

Borders are barriers imposed by States. They are cruel tools guided by a system of racial <\/span>supremacy that justifies the violence they exert through their power as a part of \u201corder.\u201d <\/span>Migration will not stop, but we want violence against migrants to stop. We have thought <\/span>about migration as a collective and asked ourselves what happens if we go back?<\/span><\/p>\n

Facing enduring migration policies and the prospect of returning to our lands, the first step <\/span>is to see ourselves as migratory birds united by the defense of life in the face of death, <\/span>destruction, and borders.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the media talk about migration, they do it from a unidirectional logic of the Global <\/span>North: in the restrictions and the supposed violation of them, in the violent forms of <\/span>separation from spaces to incarcerate migrants, violating their human rights, who migrate <\/span>to seek a better life for their families despite the violence. These forms of action are also <\/span>based on an individualistic logic in the name of development: seeking what capitalism says <\/span>are better living conditions, although it is not known if money will truly grant what it <\/span>promises.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, since when have we allowed the lives of our migrating brothers and sisters to become <\/span>a form of political legitimization and tokenism? Why do Nation States allow them to stay <\/span>when they hold up the economies of corrupt countries, only to do whatever it takes to <\/span>make them go back when they are seen as a nuisance? They hunt them with banners that <\/span>say \u201cMigrants are a Threat!\u201d despite knowing the labor, wealth, and diversity they bring.<\/span><\/p>\n

They say they benefit from policies yet they lack rights and acceptance.<\/span><\/p>\n

We at Volver a la Tierra raise our voice and proudly proclaim that migrants are a living <\/span>solution to the climate crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n

K\u00edch\u00e9 Mayan Voices<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAre ri mnaq che ki e\u2019 chipam inq\u2019ajchek taq tinamit ki binuwre cheinkotchik ri mnac chipan <\/span>la tinamit Paxil Kayala\u201d. Migration leads to the emptying of our lands. <\/span>Guatemala is going through a sustained political crisis. At present it has been possible to <\/span>see how the &quot;pact of the elites’; and the \u00abpact of the corrupt\u00bb are mobilized to ensure they <\/span>maintain their privilege at all costs. Together with international actors, they have never <\/span>ceased to see us as a large farm: a banana republic. In these scenarios there is no <\/span>possibility for necessary structural change to take place.<\/span><\/p>\n

The native peoples and peasants have sustained themselves in the face of these adverse <\/span>scenarios, thanks to the resistance of the forms of social, political and economic <\/span>organization. Yet it is increasingly difficult for them to do so because the sources of <\/span>subsistence employment generation, the climate crisis, the cementation of the land, forced <\/span>eviction, forced exile and natural resource extractive projects have increased migratory <\/span>movements. Our lands are being emptied. Our knowledge is fleeing. Our social fabric is <\/span>being fragmented.<\/span><\/p>\n

We are very worried about how quietly people go and how ashamed they are to return. We <\/span>are worried about the ancestral knowledge that is lost with them. Will it be erased from <\/span>their minds by individualistic educational processes far removed from the paradigm of <\/span>buen vivir? Will aggressive socialization processes erase their identity? When they come <\/span>back in the name of development, will they unwillingly destroy the scientific wealth of their <\/span>people?<\/span><\/p>\n

Coming home shouldn\u2019t be shameful. Our spirituality invites them to not forget their home, <\/span>to ask permission before leaving and to pray that their return be synonymous with <\/span>happiness. May they sow and reap their own lives, the lives of their families, and their <\/span>communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let us break imposed borders and walk the paths of our ancestors! <\/span>Caminos Ancestrales is a collective effort that began during Territories of Transition <\/span>2023 by Culture Hack Labs.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ayuujk Voices<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cN\u00e4jxk t\u00ebjk\u00ebk\u201d is a term in Ayuujk that can describe walking a path as a cycle. We walk and <\/span>come home again. We walk and come back to our villages. We walk and come back to <\/span>wherever it may be. To migrate is n\u00e4jxk t\u00ebjk\u00ebk because it is to walk in search of income <\/span>and better living conditions.<\/span><\/p>\n

The collective memory of the people tells us that we have always been migrants locally, <\/span>nationally or to other countries. My grandfather, for example, walked for days on foot to <\/span>reach the city of Oaxaca, then took the train to Chiapas, and from there he went to the <\/span>sanctuary of the Black Christ in Guatemala, he was never stopped in transit. <\/span>Other grandparents told me that in the 40’s some people came to town to take workers to <\/span>the US. They didn\u00b4t ask them for papers and promised them green money and safe work.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u00b4s where the promise began. At that time, the gringos needed labor to recover their <\/span>economy; Years later, migrants began to suffer the reality of the imposed border, that <\/span>sentence for traveling in ancestral territories that previously did not belong to those who <\/span>arrived in these lands. <\/span>Now migration is a national and international policy that limits, condemns, violates, <\/span>persecutes, and deports those who dare to seek the dream that was once offered. While <\/span>they continue to seek to grow their labor force, they also take our resources and annihilate <\/span>those who inhabit our lands.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Caribbean Voices<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Caribbean was born out of migration. Our first immigrants were taken from Africa in <\/span>conditions of slavery. Migration is intrinsic to the Caribbean because our original <\/span>population was exterminated by colonization. Capital was born of slavery and the colonial <\/span>project. Migrants, through forced work, helped to build the wealth and knowledge that the <\/span>West now sees as its own and from which their own descendants are excluded.<\/span><\/p>\n

Liberal democracy did not modify the conditions of slavery that the descendants of <\/span>colonialism inherited. These conditions continue. Dominicans who die on the high seas on <\/span>their way to Puerto Rico are no different than the Haitians who emigrate to survive. We <\/span>exist because we migrate. Migration is anticolonial resistance.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Some reflections<\/strong><\/p>\n

Those who migrate leave the land where their ancestors lived and lie, where they sowed <\/span>and harvested sustenance, where they tended their animals. When they leave, they also <\/span>leave a part of life. Nation States have invented borders that parcel up the land and limit <\/span>movement. Capitalism has devalued work with the land and the value of crops, provoking <\/span>crises and impoverishing the people. Crises force people to move in order to make a living.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let memory not forget that when people migrate, they also take with them knowledge, <\/span>practices, spirituality, and essences to pollinate new territories. Migration is part of a <\/span>natural movement of life and also a part of a long resistance to the death imposed on our <\/span>peoples.<\/span><\/p>\n

This map is a reminder that, in each territory, there are guardians and ancestral, spiritual <\/span>energies that accompany, guide, and protect us. Each point of this map is a place that <\/span>embraces, heals, and gives strength.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let us break imposed borders and walk the paths of our ancestors! <\/span>Caminos Ancestrales is a collective effort that began during Territories of Transition <\/span>2023 by Culture Hack Labs<\/span><\/p>\n

Authors:<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n