Víctor M. Toledo
T
res events of great importance occurred in the country in recent months: the publication of a law of indigenous and Afromexican peoples by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, just the last day of his six -year period; The publication of the decree of the governor of Michoacán on November 24, 2024, also announcing a new law for indigenous and Afro -descendant peoples, and finally the forum on indigenous peoples that took place in Morelia on January 19, with a rócord assistance from Between 4 thousand and 5,000 participants belonging to 64 of the 67 original cultures recognized by the language.
Before analyzing these three events, we must remember that, according to the population and housing census of 2020, in the country one in four Mexicans belongs to an original culture, which places Mexico at the head in this area in the American continent .
Similarly, the new Atlas of the Social Property of the Earth in Mexico 2024 He points out that indigenous peoples and comparable communities hold half of the country’s territory, which constitutes a legacy of Mesoamerican civilization.
The decree of Andrés Manuel López Obrador that reforms, adds and repeals article 2 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States fully guarantees the rights of indigenous and Afromexican peoples to be recognized as subjects of public law with legal personality and own heritage (https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/ Attachment/File/947760/DOF-2024-09-30-ves-sg.pdf).
The above is guaranteed in items such as its right to decide, according to its normative systems its internal forms of government, coexistence and social, economic, political and cultural organization, as well as the regulation and solution of its internal conflicts; that women and men enjoy and exercise their right to vote and be voted in conditions of equality; Preserve, protect and develop its cultural, material and immaterial heritage, which includes all the elements that constitute its culture and identity, including collective intellectual property; build multicultural educational models; Develop, practice, strengthen and promote traditional medicine, including midwives; Preserve and improve habitat, and preserve the bioculturality and integrity of their lands, including their sacred places.
For its part, the decree of the governor of Michoacán, Alfredo Ramírez Bedoy its territories or its communal forms; your right to receive budget allocations directly, without going through the municipalities; Recognition of the Community Councils elected by Assembly, and recognition of the community rounds or guards (called kuarichas in Purépecha language). To date, 42 indigenous peoples of Michoacán already have and enjoy this new legislation. Together, these two decrees attest to collective rights to autonomy, self -government, self -determination and self -defense, that is, strengthen social power and, in fact, give rise to a fourth power beyond the federal scales, state and municipal.
All of the above was celebrated by the thousands of participants to the forum held in Morelia on January 19, which was the most numerous of the 54 held in the country, and which was the culmination of a long consultation process promoted by the National Institute of indigenous peoples (INPI) in the last two years.
In this event, the enormous existing collective energy was revealed and the mystique prevailing in the ceremonies that were held (seasoned by the sounds of a dozen snails). The relevance of this fourth power is discussed in academic circles, since it is argued that it can generate conflict with the decisions of the municipal scale, or simply affect and not favor local populations.
However, seen from the civilizational perspective, it is a form of participatory democracy that empowers the social against political and economic powers, and that questions and denounces formal, representative, dominant or electoral democracy as a mere simulation. See for example the final chapter of Luis Villoro’s work Power and value (FCE and the National College, 1997).
The same do David Graeber and David Wengrow in his book The dawn of everything (Ariel, 2023) By showing that it constitutes a myth to think that societies become more civilized when becoming more complex. They claim indigenous peoples again. Readers judge what presented, analyzed and commented here.
