When it comes to Canadian foreign policy, business always trumps human rights. This is especially true when it comes to the rights of indigenous people. A clear example of this rule is the Harper government's non-response to a major protest by the indigenous Mapuche people in Chile, a country with which Canada has a Free Trade Agreement and in which Canada has significant mining interests.
As a hunger strike by over 30 Mapuche political prisoners in Chile reaches a critical stage, international media attention is growing for their demands for an end to the anti-terrorist laws under which they were tried and convicted. These regressive laws remain on the books from the era of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, and have been routinely used against leaders of the Mapuche's struggle to defend their land and autonomy.
The hunger strike began on July 12, and many of the prisoners are now in very precarious health, having lost up to 18 kg.
The Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada website does not include a word about the Mapuche hunger strike. In contrast, over the past two months the Canadian government has issued five press releases concerning human rights in Iran.
In August, International Trade Minister Peter Van Loan traveled to Chile as part of a Latin American trip. According to his office:
"An aggressive free trade agenda is key to Canada’s strategy in the region. In addition to Colombia, Costa Rica and Chile, the Harper government recently completed free trade agreements with Peru and Panama. Canada also has a number of other free trade-related initiatives under way in the region to bolster economic growth and prosperity.
'Our government is pursuing an ambitious free trade agenda by concluding and pursuing new free trade agreements with many key partners,' said the Minister. 'These agreements help expand trade, encourage economic growth and create jobs. The Americas are a foreign-policy priority for Canada. Canadians have much to gain by being involved in the region, and they also have much to contribute.'"
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It's noteworthy that Canada's Trade Minister does not even pay lip service to the notion of promoting human rights. In fact, a free trade agreement with Canada would seem to diminish a country's chances of coming in for official criticism.
There should be no surprise that the Harper government has failed to make any noise in defence of Chile's Mapuche people and their right to self-determination or to fair treatment in the legal system. Canada was one of just a handful of countries to vote against the UN Declaration on Indigenous Rights and Canada, like Chile, has often deployed military and police violence -- and the criminalization of dissent and resistance -- against indigenous land defenders.
Activists in Canada have stepped up to draw attention to the hunger strike and to build support for the just demands of the Mapuche. In Vancouver, there have been two solidarity rallies in front of the Chilean Consulate downtown.
Organized by the Mapuche Solidarity Collective, Unceded Coast Salish Territory, these actions have demanded the scrapping of the anti-terrorist legislation, the release of all political prisoners, and reaffirmed "that the Mapuche nation has a legitimate right to fight for the recovery and reconstruction of its ancestral territory, usurped by the Chilean state". There has been no mainstream media coverage of the Vancouver protests.
If any of the Mapuche hunger strikers die, some of the blood will be on the hands of the Canadian government. Silence is compliance, and Harper and company are only too eager to comply with efforts to shut down indigenous struggles.
Learn more about the Mapuche hunger strikers and their demands here, and look for upcoming solidarity actions near you in the coming days and weeks.
Dear Mr O`Keef
I have read your article on the Mapuche hunger strike with interest. I live in Chile and feel that you have got the wrong end of the stick.
A large group of Mapuches have renounced their citizenship (Chilean) and have declared war on the country. It is my view that the entire Mapuche protest is driven by foreigners posing as left wing activists and that the only real aim is money.
Regarding "The right to self expression", if this includes torching private property, killing civilians and policemen, rioting, stoning inocent bystanders etc then I ask you where are your values regarding human rights. The Mapuches in jail are in many cases murderers.
Regarding the "anti terrorist laws" under which they were arrested it is sad but true that the previous (socialist) government used these same laws to jail members of the pinochet regime for human rights abuses so its retrospective abolition would result in everyone getting a free ride home.
This is a complicated situation which requires substantial insight prior to judgement.
Regards
Mark
With respect, Mark. You're welcome to your opinion, but it's simply not true that the protest is being driven by "foreigners" or that the Mapuche prisoners are starving themselves to death for money. And unless you have some evidence it seems unwise to make such an assertion; especially since the protest is very near the point of life and death.
The Mapuche are struggling to secure their rights and ultimately a future for their children, just as the Indigenous Peoples in Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala, Peru, India, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Canada, Botswana and Tanzania.
Things may get ugly every once in a while, but it's nothing compared to what nation states have done to us, with extermination policies in hand, for centuries.
Also, as a side note, several people from around that world have made the same assertion, that the Indigenous Peoples are being manipulated by foreigners. Peru's national newspaper once called them "communist excrement."
In every case, no one ever stopped to consider that we can think for ourselves, or that we're protesting for the reasons we say we're protesting. But that is the case, juast as it with the Mapuche.
Respecfully,
Ahni
Dear Derrick,
While i appreciate the sentiment here, it's too bad you fall back into tired cliches (the government has blood on its hands, etc) and complain about mainstream media not covering the protests instead of actually covering the protests yourself, or having rabble have someone cover them, so we can hear from the demonstrators, what they are actually saying in the streets, why are they inspired to demonstrate, what is their connection with Mapuche struggles, hell maybe there is even some mapuches in Vancouver.
Writing a lamenting, whiny piece like this is just as bad as throwing in the towel, as far as i am concerned.
Have a nice day.
Logician
Logician: I had not seen any mention in the press of the fact that the Canadian government had made no official comment on this historic hunger strike by the Mapuche, so I wrote this quick blog to report that. It would be great if we had independent media with the resources to cover all the local solidarity rallies with full reports. I'm encouraging folks to attend the next one here, and hope others will spread the word as well.
Mark: In my opinion you are misinformed about the real issues facing the Mapuche and their struggle with the Chilean state, and before that with Spanish colonialism. It's ironic that you blame "foreigners" for the Mapuche resistance; the problematic "foreigners" in this equation are the colonizers and today's neo-liberal state which continues to encroach on Mapuche land and autonomy, prosecuting those that resist in military trials that make a mockery of justice.