52 feature Making Old Histories New in the Peruvian Amazon ‘Shane Greene r the early moming of June 5, 2009, just Joutside the provincial city of Bagua, Peru, around 600 armed police surprised a large group of protestors with tanks, heli- copters, and tear gas. For two months, the protestors, Amazonian natives and local mi- grants, had been blockading roads that link their jungle provinces to Peru's centers of commerce on the Pacific coast (see photo 1), They were part of an Amazonian-wide strike against new laws in Peru that would facilitate foreign investment and speed up natural resource extraction in jungle prov- inces. Violence erupted that June morning, resulting in the death of more than thirty po- lice and protestors. Scores more were in- jured or detained, and dozens of people dis- appeared. Many of the disappeared later resurfaced after having sought refuge in the forest. Yet there is still no final accounting for all those who were claimed to be miss- ing ‘The Peruvian state maintained that the vi- lence was the result of the natives’ primi- tive instincts. The government claimed that natives executed nine unarmed policemen in revenge for police inciting the violence. In fact, President Alan Garcia's government released a video on all the major news anthropology yow channels just two days after the violence. In 1n0 uncertain terms the government labeled the protestors’ reaction to state force as one of “extremism” and “savagery” and juxta- posed images of dead policemen with those of native Amazonians wielding spears. The government then issued a warrant for the ar- rest of a national level Amazonian leader, Alberto Pizango, who later sought political asylum in Nicaragua Activists and indigenous leaders accused the government of an attempted genocide by introducing military force into a peaceful civil disobedience campaign. Witnesses on the scene after the violent events reported seeing a clean-up operation: body-bags taken away in helicopters and cadavers thrown into rivers. Such reports were hard to confirm because police and military re- stricted access to the area. And six days after Bagua, in an extraordinary demonstration of popular support for the Amazonian cause, tens of thousands of people in Peru's major Cities took to the streets (see photos 2 and 3). Marchers demanded that President Gar- cia's government take responsibility for the Violence. Five days later, in dialogue with Amazonian leaders, Peru's cabinet chief agreed to push Congress members to repeal two key pieces of legislation at stake in the protest. Following the repeal of the legisla- tion, a tense calm set in as Peruvians tried to lake stock of what Bagua might mean for their country and the world, What does an event like this one— ‘widely covered by both the national and temational press—mean? What does it mean for a world that is now watching as Volume 1 » Number3 » December 2009Photo I. Protestors onthe Feand Belauade highway ouside agus in 2008. Courtesy of La Republica) Peru attempts to deal with the aftermath of this political violence between indigenous ‘Amazonians and state forces? What does it mean in the context of Peru—a country with a sizeable indigenous population and deep ethnic, regional, and class divisions? And ‘what might it mean from the perspective of the indigenous protestors themselves? Bagua in the Eyes of the World For those watching around the world the events surrounding Bagua are likely to be Shane Greene interpreted in one of two ways. If one buys into the images the Peruvian government sought to sell to the public, those of native ‘Amazonians with painted faces and wield- ing spears, there is only one conclusion. There are still “savages” in Peru standing in the way of “modem” progress. if one buys into the images that activists used to re- spond to the government media campaign one reaches the opposite conclusion. Peru has a history of using state repression and racist top-down politics as a mechanism of silencing political dissent. This became par- ticularly clear in the 1980s when Maoist Making Old istories New 5aot Photo 2. lune 11,2008, march in Lima. "We ae all Awaji vampis: Amazons: Srengh and Digny.” (Authors photo) Shining Path revolutionaries provoked an in- ternal conflict that resulted in nearly 70,000 deaths. While the Shining Path was respon- sible for much of the violence, the Peruvian state’s response was to utilize often indis- ccriminate military repression and clandes- tine death squads. So pethaps the Peruvian state is up to its old tricks. And the Amazon- ian natives who had taken a stand to protect the forest and ward off further capitalist de- struction of their territory are the most re- cent victims. Both integpretations rely on vast oversim- plifications and old stereotypes. The idea of Amazonians as “savages” resurrects a famil- iar European colonial discourse long used anthropology sow to justify colonization itself. It presumes that indigenous people have no cultural norms, values, oF ethics of their own and react in the same instinctual manner as. animals. Thus they are in need of domestication or elimination so as not to impede the need for progress. The use of a word like savagery in this context is thus deeply racist. The idea that native Amazonians are completely out of touch with that which Westerners call “civilization” is inherently flawed. Many of the protestors, including several who died, were not indigenous but Spanish-speaking agricultural migrants. Many of the natives were wearing clothes with pirated foreign sports brands (for exam- ple Umbor instead of Umbro) or Peruvian army insignia (because in fact many of them have served or are serving in the military). Several of the natives were also coordinat- ing their actions with political leaders in Lima via cell phones. And perhaps most ironic of al is the central image that the Pe- ruvian goverment sought to promulgate in order to paint native Amazonians as fero- cious savages (see photo 4). On closer spection, this widely circulated image (actu- ally taken from a previous Amazonian protest in 2008) showed not a spear wield ing savage, but a man holding a blunt-han- dled broomstick Many of the activist portrayals of the Bagua conflict are no less stereotyped. In many cases they depict Amazonian natives as heroic resistors of global market expan- sion, defenders of the forest who are victim. ized by capitalist progress and state vio- lence. However, vilifying the capitalist state Volume 1 + Number3 = December 2009Photo 4, Photo of Amazonian protestors agua events Courtesy of a Republica (hat was lator use by Pervian governnen or propaganda lowing Making Old Histand victimizing the heroic defenders of the forest hardly solves the problem. Native Amazonians were not, in fact, protesting any and all forms of contemporary technol- ‘ogy, consumer goods, or state services. They were protesting the political process through which such things are introduced into their territory. The state and foreign in- vestors typically implement development projects through top-down impositions rather than through open and critical dia- logue. This is why Convention 169 of the In- ternational Labor Organization—which gives indigenous people the right to consul- tation about development projects that af- fect their territory—was always at the center of their protest. They were not protesting all development but rather the decision-mak- ing process through which development takes place, a process that historically ex- cludes taking thelr opinions into account. Bagua in the Eyes of Peru ‘Other problems emerge once we try to place the Bagua conflict in the context of Peruvian history. Peru is typically thought of not as an Amazonian country but as an An- dean country living with the legacy of the Inca Empire conquered by Spain. Indeed, the official slogan of the tourist industry is “Peru—country of the Incas.” This speaks volumes to the way Peru markets itself in the contemporary global economy and also to how the nation perceives its past. It speaks ‘of how the Inca legacy and contemporary Andeans, often stereotyped as a folkloric anthropology sow remnant of the Inca, figure as the only in- digenous actors central to Peruvian history. For much of Peru's history, the Amazon- ian region and its inhabitants have been vir- tually invisible to Peruvians living in major Cities. For the vast majority of Peruvians liv- ing on the coast or in the Andean region, an indigenous person is imagined as a Quechua-speaking Andean farmer, influ- enced by cultural beliefs that can be traced bback to the Inca, Few realize just how much political organization and how much his- tory is behind the recent Amazonian wide strikes. Native Amazonians began to for- mally organize in the 1960s and 1970s. They first organized culturally similar com- munities into local federations and then forged a national-level movement of more than fifty different linguistic groups that ar- ticulates a pan-Amazonian vision, The basic platform has been one of defense of ter tory, culture, and language and the right to self-determination. Native Amazonians’ carly organizing efforts followed on the heels of the first widespread attempts by the Peruvian government to expand highways into the jungle, encourage migrant colo- nization of cultivable areas, and promote natural resource exploitation for export. In other words, the strikes that led up to the vi- lence in Bagua are in fact part of a much longer history of political struggle that is un- familiar to most Peruvians What is new in this context then is the unprecedented level of popular support for the Amazonian cause. This can be seen in part in the participation of Spanish-speaking ‘migrants who allied themselves with the na- Volume 1 « Number 3 » December 2009tive Amazonian struggle. More spectacular still was the level and type of popular sup- port in Peru's major cities, including the capital, Lima, On June 11, 2009, following the violent events, thousands poured into the streets of Lima and took on riot police to support the Amazonian cause. These dem. ‘onstrators were not only from the labor and peasant unions that typically support and organize such forms of political dissent. Protest emanated from middle-class con- stituencies, particularly college students from some of Lima's most prestigious, pr vate, and not always progressive univer ties, like the Catholic University and the University of Lima (see photo 5) What explains this sudden shift in Peru- Vian awareness of the Amazon? Part of itis the widespread coverage of the political vi- ‘lence and the memories of state repression it invokes in people. Progressive citizens no doubt feel less intimidated to express their ‘outrage than they did fifteen years ago. In the past, open expressions of dissent could easily land one in prison on terrorism charges without due process or even worse. However, judging from the overwhelmingly “green” message in the marches—one of the most popular chants heard in the streets ‘was “la Amazonia no se vende, se defend” (the Amazon is not for sale, itis to be de- fended)—environmental concem is also at the center of this surge of popular senti- ment. Over the past two decades the Ama- zon and its inhabitants have come to sym bolize both the hopes and fears attached to global environmental problems. The hope is that something can still be done to protect ‘Shane Greene Photo 5. Student rm the Catholic University in Lima ‘came out in hundreds forthe ne 11,2008, march (Authors photo) natural areas not yet urbanized and that we can leam something from peoples who are rot yet completely overrun with a consumer lifestyle. The fear is that it might be difficult to effectively protect such areas from global market pressures, or worse still, just a litle too late, Bagua in the Eyes of the Awajiin/Wampis Understanding other dimensions of what happened in Bagua requires taking a much more culturally specific point of view: that of the Awajdn and Wampis, the two related Making Old Histories New 7‘ethnic groups at the center of the violence. Many Amazonian leaders are well versed in the various political languages now used to discuss the fate of the Amazon: legislative speak, environmental speak, development speak, politician speak, activist speak, and so on. But there were also numerous indige- ‘nous actors present at Bagua who used the protest as a platform to revive some old cul tural practices in the midst of the great so- cial and political change that has been im- posed on them for decades. Indeed, their decision to resist police with their own use of force instead of simply take flight is re- vealing. Historically, the AwajGn/Wampis place a great deal of cultural emphasis on seeing themselves as warriors with visionary capacities that protect them in times of con- flict. They do this by drawing on a culturally specific logic related to vision quests and a warrior spirit that they have been fusing with their more activist and nongovernmen- tal-oriented politics for many years now (see Greene 2009) For example, if one examines the many photographs taken during the Awajtin/ ‘Wampis protests in the Bagua region lead- ing up to June 5, there is one type of image that is recurrent (see photos 6 and 7). One ‘or two men stand in front of a mass of fel- low warriors and, making gestures with a spear in hand, they engage in a ritualized verbal performance. When | first witnessed these images they immediately brought to mind drawings made by Awajtin collabora- tors during my period of fieldwork with the ‘Avvajtin inthe late 90s and early 2000s. | re- ‘quested from several collaborators drawings that depicted the practices related to vision ‘quests and preparation for conflict. in this context one drawing in particular came to mind (see drawing). It is a depiction of a rit- wal performance called the kaja atiamu ‘which fiterally means “letting loose your vi- sion.” Standing before the small force that has been amassed, each warrior must make his vision public. He does so by making gestures with the lance and lunging back and forth with the body while chanting in a ‘hythmic voice. In this performance a war- rior verbalizes the vision he possesses both {o justify his participation in the mission and to mentally prepare himself for the possibil- ity of an imminent conflict. In citing this deeply cultural dimension of the Amazonian protest | do not intend to be- lie the visceral dimensions of the violence or the painful results it produced. But { do want to make clear that those visceral dimensions are themselves deeply informed by local so- ial and cultural values. Far from “savages,” these are a people with a cultural logic of their own and one that regulates their behav- ior even in times of conflict. In emphasizing this final point about culture, | also want (0 suggest that there is more at stake than sim- ply a defense of territory, a protest against Capitalist expansion, or a concern over the fate of the environment, What is also at stake is.a distinct way of life and a different way of thinking about the world. The extraordinary significance of this re current image of warriors ritually preparing themselves for a battle is obvious. The Awa jun/Wampis seek to apply their ancient war- rior mentality in a new and emergent politi- Volume 1 + Number3 » December 2009Photos 6 and 7. Two occasions of an Avajia man pevorming the kja alae. (Courtesy of La Republica? Shane Greene Making Old Histories New 59Drawing by Adolo hep Narpin depicting the traditional version ofthe aj atau From authors feldnotes) cal context, as one of many strategies of protest against the logic of a capitalist state that seeks to change their own cultural logic forever. Suggestions for Further Reading/Listening ‘Carretera al lnflemo.” 2009. Caretas, June 11. Accessed online: httpy/www.caretas.com.pe! Main.asp??=3082&S=8id=12&idE=831 &id- STo=08idA=39981 60 anthropology Now Sangre y Caras Duras." 2009. Caretas, June 11. Accessed online: httpu/www.caretas.com.pe/ Main.asp?T=3082&S=8id=12&idE=831&id- ‘STo=08idA=39984. Greene, Shane, 2009. Customizing Indigeneity Paths 10 a Visionary Politics in Peru, Palo Alto: ‘Stanford University Pres. Kavanui, J. Kehaulani, host, 2009. Radio Inter- ‘view with Shane Greene about violence in Peru: vvian Amazon. Indigenous Politics Radio Pro- gram. Accessed online: http://indigenouspolitcs. mypadeast.com/2009/06/Crisis_in_Peru_State Back_Massacre_in_Response_to_Indigenous_ Resistance-215392. html Shane Greene is assistant professor of anthropol ogy at Indiana University. He has worked on a variety of issues related to social movements, race, and multiculturalism in Latin America, His book, Customizing Indigeneity, was published recently by Stanford University Press, He is now ‘working on a book about the punke-rock move- ‘ment and politcal violence in 1980s Peru. Volume 1 + Number 3 December 2008