SNG Women in Sync with Government for “Good Living”

SNG WOMEN IN

SYNC WITH GOVERNMENT FOR “GOOD LIVING”

The Great Woven Hemp Bag initiative (Mochilón de Cabuya de Fique) gathers together all the elements necessary to harmonize life, a proposal that aligns with the political moment the Colombian nation is currently experiencing following the election of Gustavo Petro.

TEXT: KANKUAMO RESERVATION INDIGENOUS COUNCIL PHOTO: OMAIRA CARDENAS, ASESORA JURÍDICA PROYECTO

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t a moment when a significant group of indigenous women from the Sierra Nevada drives the Great Woven Hemp Bag initiative—which emphasizes ancestral knowledge and practices as tools for the indigenous peoples of Gonawindua to reconcile the acts of violence committed against them (especially women)—Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego arrives at the highest office in the Colombian nation with the prerogatives contained in his proposal to govern “Colombia, world power for life” to rule the destiny of the Colombian nation for the 2022-2026 period.

This proposal aims to generate a new social contract with the regions, where “the diversity of the nation [resides], in order to finally enter an era of peace whose face is a multiracial democracy, expression of the mandates of its citizens, that achieves equality and makes a productive economy that generates wealth based on work and protecting the house we occupy in common a reality.” This mandate coincides with the commitment to peace that the indigenous peoples, led by Wiwa, Arhuaca, and Kankuama women, offer the country based on their cosmogony regarding how to care for life. It is in accord with such prevailing issues as the response to climate change, peacebuilding in the territories, and the recovery and protection of life, based on the model of Good Living.

From there, possibilities emerge to position the Great Woven Hemp Bag and use it to engage in advocacy to confront the problems currently facing humanity, making it highly relevant for the actions taken to protect Mother Earth that go beyond a instrumentalizing vision of nature to locate her in a sacred relationship of which we are only a part, ratifying the millennial role of the indigenous peoples of the Sierra Nevada to whom her safeguarding has been entrusted. The inclusive creation of the new government’s National Development Plan enables the territories—which are pluricultural and multisector—to achieve greater relevance, with which comes the participation of indigenous women following the first Binding Regional Dialogue which took place in Santa Marta on July 27th. This event was the setting for several of these women to come together with their local authorities and present each of the proposals they have developed over the past several years, including: their leading role in the healing and reestablishment of equilibrium in response to all forms of terrorism, based on overcoming the paradigm of violence and destruction of life as a part and parcel of victory and current development models which clearly destroy Mother Earth, and validating the importance of opening intercultural dialogues to address disagreements.

This requires overcoming historical and structural cycles of violence that

Experiences exchange on access to justice for indigenous women and families. Place: Pueblo Bello, May 30-31, 2022

directly affect women in their Territories-Bodies-Memory and their influence as transformers of individual, family, and collective life projects; women who also call for interjurisdictional coordination with ordinary justice and transitional justice to generate proposals through the traditional way of living that indigenous peoples have called Good Living.

Indigenous women play a fundamental role in all aspects of this process, a task which is linked to their intimate relationship with Mother Earth and the Law of Origin since within them lie the physical and spiritual materials that society needs to advance in its process of harmonization and healing, based on the fundamental understanding that these women are living memory, translated and recognized as peacebuilders since Resolution 1325 of the year 2000. Throughout the national territory, the role of the indigenous women of Colombia stands out in the generation of these transformations of thought, which were key to the election of the new president currently residing in Nariño Palace. Additionally, June 18, 2022 was a historic day for the nation when Arhuaco indigenous leader Leonor Zalabata anointed the President Elect as “President of the Heart of the World,” a designation that has very important spiritual connotations for the four indigenous peoples that live on in the mountainous massif.

Coupled with the above, the proposal of Petro Urrego’s government is centered on a model co-governance, a valuable tool to naturally be positioned within the 2022-2026 Development Plan with the support of the indigenous women of the Sierra Nevada of Gonawindua who must take on the position of spokeswomen in different spaces in order to position their needs and those of all Colombian women and all Colombians in general. FM

“Colombia, World Power for Life” is aligned with the peace proposal that indigenous peoples, led by Wiwa, Arhuaca, and Kankuama women, offer the country.” References

Tomado de https://gustavopetro.co/programa-de-gobierno/temas/