Yaqui Assassinated Water Rights Defender Tomas Rojo: Tomas' Words Translated Now, Nine Years Later
Text in EnglishDisappeared Yaqui Water Rights Defender Tomas Rojo: Video 2012
Previously, we have actively participated in the problems that affect our people. As we said a moment ago, in the last 500 years of the Yaqui tribe, like the majority of indigenous peoples, the main element that has always weighed on the conscience of our people and each one of its men, women, children and elders is the struggle for the land and the water.
We will not rest until we connect our objectives and achieve this task that rests in the memory of our elders. The only thing that we do is to give continuity, under conditions not as severe, for what they fought for.
They fought in the mountains among the stones, among the thorns, among the bush, among the wild animals that were their friends.
And today we continue to fight under other conditions, first using the knowledge of our ancestors and what we have learned in the schools and with the instruments that the development of our own societies gives us, which are the laws, the right and the normative practices of our peoples and the international laws.
And with the pencil and paper, to give continuity to this struggle, to be able to recover what has been ours, what has been recognized and what has been taken from us. That which is the land and the water.
And for this it is also very important to fight in parallel for better material living conditions for the Yaqui families.
That the living conditions they have be so that they can live as dignified people.
That they be given the opportunity that they deserve, the generations that are currently at play right now, the children that are at play, under the children at play that later will be the struggle for our people at play.
For them, what we do, what we can minimally do, is to want to vindicate ourselves with our right, being congruent with our history and the glorious past of our ancestors.
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| Vicam Pueblo Water Rights Forum 2012 Photo Brenda Norrell |
Conclusion, summary of final statement at the International Forum for the Defense of Water, Vicam Pueblo, hosted by Traditional Authority of Yaqui. Nov. 20-21, 2012.
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
VICAM PUEBLO, Sonora, Mexico -- In solidarity with Zapatistas, Indigenous gathered on Yaqui land in Sonora, south of Arizona and near the coast, to unite in the defense of water. Yaqui are fighting the government of Mexico who wants to seize Yaqui water from the Rio Yaqui for the city of Hermosillo.
Tomás Rojo Valencia, Yaqui, summarizes in this video the final document.
The gathering was hosted by the Traditional Authority of Yaqui at Vicam Pueblo and produced a final document on the defense and respect for water. Speakers also spoke in Yoeme (Yaqui.) O'odham Ofelia Rivas, delegate from the Indigenous National Congress in Mexico, spoke in O'odham.
Photos from the gathering: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.mx/2012/11/yaqui-vicam-pueblo-international.html
Video by Brenda Norrell, Censored News.
My name is Tomás Rojo Valencia. I am a member of the traditional authority of the Basarian peoples. We have a lifetime of struggle, but specifically in the water issue, we have been fighting for three years. Previously, we have actively participated in the problems that affect our people. As we said a moment ago, in the last 500 years of the Yaqui tribe, like the majority of indigenous peoples, the main element that has always weighed on the conscience of our people and each one of its men, women, children and elders is the struggle for the land and the water. We will not rest until we connect our objectives and achieve this task that rests in the memory of our elders. The only thing that we do is to give continuity, under conditions not as severe, for what they fought for. They fought in the mountains among the stones, among the thorns, among the bush, among the wild animals that were their friends. And today we continue to fight under other conditions, first using the knowledge of our ancestors and what we have learned in the schools and with the instruments that the development of our own societies gives us, which are the laws, the right and the normative practices of our peoples and the international laws. And with the pencil and paper, to give continuity to this struggle, to be able to recover what has been ours, what has been recognized and what has been taken from us. That which is the land and the water. And for this it is also very important to fight in parallel for better material living conditions for the Yaqui families. That the living conditions they have be so that they can live as dignified people. That they be given the opportunity that they deserve, the generations that are currently at play right now, the children that are at play, under the children at play that later will be the struggle for our people at play. For them, what we do, what we can minimally do, is to want to vindicate ourselves with our right, being congruent with our history and the glorious past of our ancestors.
Mi nombre es Tomás Rojo Valencia. Soy miembro de la autoridad tradicional de los pueblos basarios. Ya tenemos toda una vida de lucha pero concretamente en el aspecto del agua ya tenemos tres años. Anteriormente hemos participado activamente en la problemática que afecta a nuestro pueblo. Como hace un momento dijimos que dentro de los últimos 500 años de la tribu Yaqui, como la mayoría de los pueblos indígenas, siempre el elemento principal que pese en la conciencia de nuestro pueblo y cada uno de sus hombres, mujeres, niños y ancianos es la lucha por la tierra y el agua. Nosotros no descansaremos hasta conectar nuestros objetivos y lograr ese cometido que descanse en la memoria de nuestros mayores. Que lo único que hacemos nosotros es darle continuidad, bajo condiciones no tan severas, por las que ellos lucharon. Ellos lucharon en la sierra entre las piedras, entre las espinas, entre el monte, entre los animales salvajes que eran sus amigos. Y hoy seguimos luchando bajo otras condiciones, utilizando el conocimiento de primeramente nuestros ancestros y lo que hemos aprendido en las escuelas y con los instrumentos que nos dan el desarrollo de las propias sociedades que son las leyes, derecho y los usos normativos de nuestros pueblos y las leyes internacionales. Y con el lápiz y el papel para sederle continuidad a esa lucha, para poder recuperar lo que ha sido nuestro, lo que nos han reconocido y lo que nos han despojado. Lo que es la tierra y el agua. Y para ello es muy importante también paralelamente luchar por las mejores condiciones de vida materiales de las familias Yaquis. Que las condiciones de vida que tengan sean para que vivan como gente digna. Que le den la oportunidad que se merecen las generaciones que horitamente, que actualmente, juega los niños, bajo el juego de los niños, que posteriormente será el juego de la lucha por nuestros pueblos. Esos, lo que hacemos, lo que mínimamente podemos hacer queriendo reivindicarnos con nuestro derecho y siendo congruentes con nuestra historia y el pasado glorioso de nuestros ancestros.
Anayanse Garza
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