PREAMBLE

We, the participants in the First Forum of Indigenous Intellectuals and Researchers, affirm that all people have equal rights and, therefore, that our indigenous peoples have a right to free determination.  It is in the practice of this fundamental principle that we have gathered in the city of Lima, Peru on July 4, 5 and 6,  convened by the General Secretariat of the Andean Community – CAN, on which occasion we have engaged in constructive dialogue to share experiences, knowledge and wisdom, both age-old and contemporary.  The Andean Community promoted and implemented this initiative to strengthen comprehensive subregional integration in a historical continuation of an Andean civilization project that over the past five centuries has generously accepted the contributions of other cultures, today in areas for inclusive participation within the context of Andean and South American integration processes.    

Reaping the wisdom of our forefathers, revitalizing our native cosmic vision, with our hearts and minds concentrated on our sacred and revered ancestors, the spirits of our power sites and our tutelary gods; celebrating the fertility of Mother Earth, the pleasant and unfailing warmth of our Sun, with the waters cooling our minds and hearts and the pleasant breeze on our faces, we celebrate the reconstruction of our culture of life, in balance with the world and in harmony with nature.

We base our actions on the age-old practices and procedures born of the oldest traditions, farming and stock raising, science, cultural expressions, wisdom and the knowledge of the cosmos which it is our duty to pass on to our young and our children, as the continuation of our way of life, within the native cosmic vision of our indigenous peoples.

We find ourselves deeply concerned over the progressive deterioration of our societies and our territories due to the continued existence and reinforcement of domestic and foreign colonialism, and their worsening in the cultural, educational, linguistic, juridical, and economic areas, among others.  And we are concerned, as well, about the increase in global climatic instability and the deterioration of global living conditions.  Even so, we continue to be closely united in all of the essential aspects of our peoples’ organization.   

WE CONSIDER THAT:

We native peoples share a “way of life” resting on the principle of unity in diversity and share common paradigms and values, such as the complementary parity in the relationship of respect and balance between, first, men and women and then between them and the forces of nature.  We likewise share wisdom about reciprocity, equitable distribution and fair exchanges, about the comprehensive balance with nature and the deeply rooted spirituality that emerges from it.   

As a result, this social equity attuned to the laws that govern life itself bears with it inevitable standards of organizational administration, the sovereignty of the people and the revocable delegation of powers to rulers and their rotation at fixed intervals, community economies, juridical conceptions and all of the institutions and cultural expressions that emerge from the laws of the balance between man and woman and nature.  It is from these relationships that “community conscience” is born and with it, the social structure of the community. 

Indigenous knowledge and wisdom are closely related or linked to the territories and natural resources, spirituality, languages, and the traditional institutions that have made it possible to maintain them and to project them over time.   

It is, therefore, necessary to recognize our indigenous peoples as faithful heirs to the ancestral knowledge of our hemisphere and to learn from the men and women who possess wisdom and the arts, as transmitters of that knowledge and of valuable talents.

Lastly,

WE MANIFEST:

Our firm intention to place our efforts at the service of our peoples’ cause, for which purpose we must continue to hold national and international meetings in order to apply our results and share experiences with respect to our people’s past and present situations, giving special attention to boosting the reintegration of indigenous peoples divided by national borders, so that we may become the most important cementing force contributing to subregional and hemispheric integration.   

Research and its widespread dissemination constitute elementary challenges to be met for building up our identity, wisdom, knowledge, and art, so that the results may be used to satisfy our peoples’ needs and also to present them before the international community in order to create mutual respect among the different cultures in the world.   

Inasmuch as the use of original languages to transmit contents other than the cosmic vision of indigenous peoples or the distortion of indigenous languages or their structures destroy the wisdom intrinsic to our native languages, a special effort must be made to remedy this situation, including the progressive insertion of contents in keeping with our interests. 

We call upon all non-indigenous researchers to correct their research practices, many of which have had an adverse impact on the cultures and rights of indigenous peoples or have even gone so far as to become intellectual piracy policies, and to bring them into proximity with the interests of our peoples.    

We alert the global scientific community to the serious and chronic deterioration of our rural and urban economies and of the environment, invaded by chemical products prohibited in the industrialized countries and irrational hydrocarbon use and, above all, the systematic and persistent programmed mercantillistic trade of the commercial powers that use dumping practices and subsidize the food products they “sell us,” exterminating our farming, stock raising and industry.  For these reasons, we demand conditions that ensure “fair trade” and put an end to the serious distortions created in our markets and production systems by anachronistic piracy policies that are our principal and continued inheritance from colonialism.   

We urge the Andean Community, the CAN, to continue promoting events concerning indigenous research and knowledge, considering that these meetings contribute to intercultural dialogue, integration, and the fostering of the cultures and rights of indigenous peoples.   

Lastly, we manifest our firm intention to, in this act, establish the Community of the Knowledge, Wisdom and Art of the Native-Indigenous Peoples, in order to follow up and give continuity to this, our first, meeting of the forum convened by the Andean Community. 

Lima, July 6, 2007