The neoliberalization of the Chilean economy in the 1980s was devastating for the indigenous people of the country, and especially the Mapuche. The Pinochet dictatorship initiated free-market policies, believing that “privatization of the forest industry [and other natural resources] would be a path towards economic stability and modernity for poor rural peasants and the Mapuche” (Warren 700). Neoliberalism includes more openness to international trade and investment, fewer prices controls, reducing public expenditure for social services (which largely affects the poor and poverty-stricken), deregulation and privatization, and places emphasis on the individual, rather than the community. The neoliberal framework allows the individual to legally …show more content…
Much of the lands that were traditionally habited by the Mapuche were absorbed by the Chilean government and the best lands were sold to foreign and criollo settlers for low prices (Tomaselli 165). These settlers brought super aggressive processes of development the Mapuche lands. The indigenous people saw their homeland forests “slashed and burned” in order to make room for cropland and pastures (Reinao 67). Since then, the Mapuche have mobilized several times for the government to return some of their lands, at some points successfully. Ultimately, because different Chilean administrations had different attitudes about the land disputes, the Mapuche couldn’t keep their recovered lands and their community reservations were divided even further into individual lots by Decree Law 2,568 (Reinao …show more content…
The once again democratic government prioritized the protection of lands and the respect for culture of indigenous people, but did not see it fit to grant indigenous communities collective rights to land or political autonomy. As it would turn out, the Chilean government did not really see the Mapuche people, or any indigenous group for that matter, as a sovereign people, but as minor part of the Chilean population in need of government assistance to come into the new world economy. President Aylwin had promised constitutional recognition of indigenous peoples, as well as the recognition of their economic, social, and cultural rights, but the reform never actually went all the way through. He did, however, pass the Indigenous Law on October 5th, 1993, which recognized indigenous ethnicities, created funds for indigenous land and water redistribution, and created CONADI, a public agency to promote and implement the Indigenous Law (Tomaselli 158). This was a step forward for the state regarding indigenous people, but it did not meet all their needs or demands. Specifically, indigenous people were still not constitutionally recognized as
The Indian Act is a combination of multiple legislations regarding the Aboriginal people who reside across Canada, such as the Gradual Civilization Act of 1857 and the Gradual Enfranchisement Act of 1869 (Hanson, n.p.). The Gradual Civilization Act was the Canadian government's attempt to assimilate the aboriginals into the Canadian society in a passive manner, through a method they encouraged called Enfranchisement. Enfranchisement is basically a legal process that allows aboriginals to give up their aboriginal status and accept a Canadian status (Crey, n.p.). This process, while under the Gradual Civilization Act, was still voluntary, but became a forced process when the Indian Act was consolidated in 1876 (Hanson, n.p.). The Gradual Enfranchisement Act introduced in 1869 was a major legislation that intruded with the private lives of the aboriginals. First, it established the “elective band council system” (Hanson, n.p.) that grants th...
The Yarur textile factory played an important role in Chilean politics, and was the central role for the uprisings and downfalls in Chilean history. Its first key component was that it represented an economic empire based of paper and cloth that used these resources to gain political power through the aspect of having wealth. The second element of the Yarur factory that gave its importance in Chilean politics was that it represented a monopoly of Chile’s political capital. In Weavers of Revolution, Peter Winn depicts the relationship from a “revolution from above” and “revolution from below” and how the workers of the Yarur textile factory faced an on-going struggle between the working class and the government. Winn focuses his analysis of the Chilean road to socialism around the Yarur textile factory because it is through the modernization and changes of political, economic, and industrial policies that ultimately led to the workers movement to bring about a revolution.
...special status for Quebec and any other province, yet he was willing to recognize the historic rights of Aboriginal peoples so long as recognizing did not entail the actual granting of special status.
In the 1960s America, the pope of democratic faith, preached to the world about the evils of communism. When Marxist Salvador Allende lost by three percent in the Chilean election of 1958, the United States decided that the next election of 1964, could not be left in the hands of democracy. The United States began to work to stop Allende from becoming president. They went so far as to create projects to help train and organize so-called anti-communists among the peasants, laborers, students, and the media. Despite their efforts, in 1970 Salvador Allende was elected president through plurality. He became the first Marxist in the world to gain power in a free democratic election. Now you might ask, why would the United States be so interested in the politics of a third world country, furthermore the beliefs of one man. After all a person can only do so much, right?
Until the 16th century, Aboriginal people were the only inhabitants of what is now Canada, hence, they were an independent and self-governing people till the Europeans had the capacity to dominate Canada's original inhabitants and possessors (Elias 1). The European Invasion brought about The 1876 Indian Act, which was developed over time through separate pieces of colonial legislation regarding Aboriginal peoples across Canada such as the Gradual Civilization Act of 1857 and the Gradual Enfranchisement Act of 1869. In 1876, these acts were consolidated as the Indian Act (Hanson). This essay aims to explain how the Indian Act tried to destroy the Aboriginal culture through residential schools and unequal recognition of women, successive acts,
In Peter Winn’s book, Weavers of revolution, the revolution from below collided with the revolution from above, producing unexpected yet catastrophic effect in Chile. Generally speaking, a revolution is a complete transformation of an established government or a political system and a radical change in people’s views and behaviors. However, a revolution from above refers to major political and social changes that are imposed by the government on the population. In contrast, a revolution from below is when the people of a nation rebel against the hierarchy to gain a revolution. In Chile, the revolution from above was initiated by Salvador Allende’s election in 1970, but it was mistaken as a signal to the workers “to take the revolution into their own hands and fulfill their historic aspirations through direct action from below” (140).
Although the Canadian government has done a great deal to repair the injustices inflicted on the First Nations people of Canada, legislation is no where near where it needs to be to ensure future protection of aboriginal rights in the nation. An examination of the documents that comprise the Canadian Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms reveal that there is very little in the supreme legal documents of the nation that protect aboriginal rights. When compared with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples it is clear that the Canadian Constitution does not acknowledge numerous provisions regarding indigenous people that the UN resolution has included. The most important of these provisions is the explicit recognition of First Nations rights to their traditional lands, which have a deep societal meaning for aboriginal groups. Several issues must be discussed to understand the complex and intimate relationship all aboriginal societies have with the earth. Exploration into the effects that the absence of these rights has had the Cree of the Eastern James Bay area, will provide a more thorough understanding of the depth of the issue. Overall, the unique cultural relationship First Nations people of Canada have with Mother Earth needs to be incorporated into the documents of the Canadian Constitution to ensure the preservation and protection of Canadian First Nations cultural and heritage rights.s
Few Canadians acknowledge the Aboriginals and their land rights, and even fewer Canadians study them. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 is considered one of the most important treaties in history to be made with the Native People; yet very few have even a vague idea when they hear the words “Royal Proclamation, 1763”. Even with the grounds that the Royal Proclamation of 1763 provided, Canada has repeatedly shown ill treatment towards Aboriginals in an repugnant manner. The Royal Proclamation should be respected as an official treaty, signified as a milestone, as well as to be a lesson to teach Canadians equality toward Aboriginals.
The Calder Case was the spark that led to the Canadian government recognizing Aboriginals and their rights. Firstly, the aboriginals used the Calder Case to inform the government that they were taking away their rights. The Calder Case was launched after the Attorney General of British Columbia declared “that the Aboriginal Title, other wise known as the Indian Title, of the Plaintiffs to their ancient tribal territory...has never been lawfully extinguished.”1 The statement made by the government claimed that the Aboriginal Title did not exist in the eyes of the law and before the Calder Case, it allowed them to ignore Aboriginal land rights all over the country. In addition, The Calder brought the issues the Aboriginals were facing with land claims to the attention of the Canadian government. “According to Kainai Board of Education The case made it all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada where the court ended up rejecting the native's claims after being split on it's validity. However, the Supreme Court of Canada's recognition required new respect for Aboriginal land claims.”2 The Supreme Court of Canada's recognition of the Calder Case benefited the Aboriginals as the government was...
Aboriginal people groups depended on an assortment of unmistakable approaches to sort out their political frameworks and establishments prior to contact with Europeans. Later, a considerable amount of these establishments were overlooked or legitimately stifled while the national government endeavored to force a uniform arrangement of limitlessly distinctive Euro-Canadian political goals on Aboriginal social orders. For some Aboriginal people groups, self-government is seen as an approach to recover control over the administration of matters that straightforwardly influence them and to safeguard their social characters. Self-government is alluded to as an inherent right, a previous right established in Aboriginal people groups' long occupation
Roger Townshend makes a number of points that support the idea of Native sovereignty. He identifies that the very perception of sovereignty in regard to Aboriginals in Canada has changed. In the initial contact by early European settlers, Aboriginals were treated as “…allies or as enemies, but in any event, as nations to be treated as equals with European States,” (Townshend 37). Through ti...
Olthius and Townshend are in favour of native sovereignty within Canada based on historical and moral grounds. These authors believe there is a difference in perceptions between native and non-native Canadians regarding the jurisdiction over Canadian territory. In their essay, they write that Aboriginal people believe the Canadian state is oppressive and usurps the powers of Aboriginal people, while most non-aboriginals would be unlikely to question the status of the Canadian state. The essay contends that before European settlement, First Nations people had stability in their economic and political structures. Although their style was different than that of European nations, there was recognition of sovereignty of aboriginal lands. Acquisition of land in Canada did not come from conquest; rather it came primarily in the form of land transaction treaties. However, the treaties did little to support the claim of Canadian sovereignty since they are mostly unclear about issues of jurisdiction. A secondary way of claiming land for European settlement was through discovery of vacan...
Neoliberalism is a form of economic liberalism that emphasizes the efficiency of private enterprise, liberalized trade, and relatively open markets. Neoliberals seek to maximize the role of the private sector in determining the political/economic priorities of the world and are generally supporters of economic globalization. During the 1930s and the late 1970s most Latin American countries used the import substitution industrialization model to build industry and reduce dependency on imports from foreign countries. The result of the model in these c...
...ulted in widely ranged political and legal protests, including petitions to the Government and the Crown, legal challenges in defense of Aboriginal resource rights and land, and careful enforcing of the Indian Act’s regulations. The federal government often responded with harsh legislative measures to the Indian Act, such as outlawing the Potlatch (and subsequently, arresting those who publically continued to engage in cultural practices), and disallowing of hiring lawyers to pursue Aboriginal rights through court. The passage of such laws, however, did not stop Indigenous groups, and they continued to meet, organize, maintain cultural traditions, and retain respect for hereditary leaders. But, since they lived in such an oppressive society, the Canadian Government continued to have reign over their lives and their opportunities to participate in a broader society.
It was during this time that the first obstacles to the government's progress first surfaced. The Métis people began to fear for their culture, rights and their lands as colonists sta...