Working party on native population 18th session. U.N Palace, Geneva, July 2000

Ladies and Gentlemen, Delegates of the native organisations .

Members representative of Government Organisation,

The native communities of Guiana have, as well as can be expected, withstood 4 centuries of domination, colonisation and forced assimilation. If there's no doubt that we have managed to safeguard the essential of our culture, the erosion of our knowledge, the fading away of our institutions and our uncertain future are unquestionable. Our people have been suffering for a long time from the unending confrontation with the dominant society, which is ruthlessly enforcing its domination strategy. This clash is putting our youths on the first place.

State education regulations are instrumental to that strategy. To that end, traditional education has been questioned by mobilising 3 to 16 years old children's attention toward official education, or by ignoring children's free time after school: 27 hours weekly at elementary level and 31 hours at high school level. So that, there is no more time left for traditional education training, not to mention natural science training which has considerably declined. On the other hand, native languages teaching has been intentionally marginalized by the state education regulations, let alone the native knowledge and know-how. Young Amerindians are slowly and painstakingly absorbing an imported culture whilst their imaginary visions of things remind them of indigenous people free of artists, renowned scientists or heroes. From the French state's point of view, the people history and their current heritage, the native language and cultures, instead of being instrumental to citizenship, are always relegated and left to the care of some kindly ethnologists instead.

This negative stance towards the native reality has brought about inadequacy in the educational curriculum and particularly most of the school regulations applied in Guiana, reflect the negation of this community's entity and native institutions. To that end, according to the rule of law as well as in every-day's administrative practices, Amerindian communities are organised into associations, prompting each of their members to individual ownership of goods. Customary chiefs are being turned into local government's assistants and worse still, customary rules are being turned down in favour of local government's laws. Culture depreciation and defiance towards their own community group have led the youths to a deep self-denial of their identity. Most of them end up finding it ridiculous to wear traditional attire, to fish for a living, to dance or even take part in collective tasks in their community. Many of them consider their culture a mere collection of antiquated and worthless rules. Another tool instrumental to that strategy of domination is the consecration of the society of affluence and a typically western way-of-life style which has become quite an ideology, thus debasing the traditional way-of-life’s image. In the so-called modern society, supply is conditioned by demand. Young Amerindians are now overwhelmed by the so-called benefits and extravagances of a society in which everything seems to be taken for granted: goods and services, media-culture, leisure galore, let alone family allowances, social security, welfare state, to mention a few. As a result, those native youngsters are now questioning the capability of their community world to meet their new needs. This society of affluence, together with the welfare state, exert an overwhelming attraction on the indigenous youths who , as a result, will show a tendency of repressing their feeling of belonging to their own original community and village, which are, of course, nowhere near to be organised well enough to satisfy their new needs. Those needs are mainly inspired by fleeting trendsetters and mass-mediatisation . Those same indigenous youths are keen on having self identification and obviously inclined to unwaveringly turn themselves towards the newest icon and the most profitable activities, unaware that this trend is the reason why so many people are left out and excluded.

Now a new threat is looming ahead, led this once, by the local authorities. New plans are in contemplation: according to the new ‘’contract-program’’, the local government of Guiana will be blessed with billions francs from the French government, with at the same time, the promise of more self-rule. By so doing, The French government is striving hard to make us believe that Guiana will be blessed with a smooth town and country planning, economic development and both cultural progress and social peace. But we all certainly know that those objectives are mere smoke screen, allowing Guiana’s elected local members, none of whom are Amerindians, to be on the verge of receving new grants to satisfy their incidental ambitions: grabbing living areas owned by the indigenous population, turning the whole population of Guanian into a single people and all cultures into a single one, impose a unique imported political and administrative model altogether.

Our "Wayanas" brothers, who were granted an apparent protection in connection with their being far away in their remote areas, are threatened by the wave of new conquerors, who are actually thriving on their living space. Gold washing is quite a disaster to their children’s health, which is why they get gradually poisoned by mercury. Gold washing is also the reason why there is a nasty atmosphere whereby social relations are based on force, threat and money, with no hope for real wealth or any long lasting real development whatsoever. The local political establishment that claims the colonial booty, has backed those pioneers . Furthermore, the local political establishment, on the pretence of regional development, is contemplating, even by force if needed, an assimilation of south Guyana with a ‘’Guyanian model’’, whose numerous failures are to be hidden. The native communities of Guyana are steadfastly mobilising themselves to oppose this powerful onslaught. Nonetheless, we remain hopeful in those uncertainties of our future. Our effort is starting to pay off, as we are witnessing how, in everyday life, our sense of community feeling, our customs, our culture, are still alive, in spite of various strikes that have previously weakened them. The support of the highest international institutions to our cause is strenghtening our hope. The International Labour Organisation is backing most of our claims. The French state is bound to adopt it and admit that people’s rights are undoubtedly part of the human rights.

To end this speech, and for the attention of the French Republic representative, I’d like to emphasise a few points that are essential to us in everyday life.

There is an urgent need to grant a true official status to   the native villages of Guiana, to acknowledge them as urban or rural entities, to give them means to be prosperous, to have second thoughts about local policy, together with town and country planning and national an regional development methods.

To that end, it's necessary  to take into account our rights and our native institution, to acknowledge the native communities. It's necessary to rethink public education in order to provide the youths with an unbiased teaching, just to make sure that a culture will not be substituted for another one  There is an urgent need to stop interfering with native people’s living space and stop the gold washing poisoning of people, together with direct threatening on their way of life.

Sociodiversity is to human societies what biodiversity is for nature, I mean, an asset for the future. I’m convinced that as long as native indentity citizenship is not included inside general citizenship, no society will be able to get the most out of its youth’s wealth. This aknowledgment is to be done according to the law and the civil service prarcticies. Il should be an integral part of modern nations’ political customs.

On behalf of the Guiana’s Federation of Amerindian Organisations.