Slavery's Andean Legacy

[Jalili]

Forwarded by Hamara Holt:

March 31, 2007

Open veins: Slavery's andean legacy

Slavery's Andean Legacy

I have a confession to make. My family has a family
shield and motto, and what's more I am proud of it.
Yes, I know it rings of aristocratic privilege and
makes me sound like I had fencing lessons at school,
but the reason is it doesn't really look like a normal
family shield. There are no fighters on horseback, no
haughty animals, not even a mystical unicorn. Instead
it features a black slave with broken chains and the
slogan "Do it with thy might."

The reason is that my five-greats grandfather, Thomas
Fowell Buxton (mmm…glad the fowell got lost somewhere
in time) was one of Wilberforce's companions who
helped fight to get Parliament to abolish slavery. In
fact you can even find him with my five-greats aunt
Elizabeth Fry on the current five pound note! So as
Britain celebrates 200 years since the abolition of
the trade in March 1807, I have had more than just a
academic interest in following the debate. TFB as he
has become known was more involved in the campaign
beyond 1807, which led to the passing of a law in 1834
that didn't just abolish the trade but slavery itself
within the British empire.

Yet another reason why I like the shield is because it
doesn't show someone releasing the slave but suggests
that the slave may be releasing himself. As many Black
activists point out, slavery ended not primarily as a
result of the hard work of a few white philanthropists
like Wilberforce or TFB, but mainly because of slave
resistance that culminated in serious rebellions
across the Carribbean that made slavery increasingly
difficult and costly.

The focus, 200 years on, should therefore not just be
on the abolitionists, but those slaves that led
resistance as well as the consequences of the slave
trade for the African diaspora. There is a need to
address the structural relationships of injustice and
racism that were constructed through slavery. That
story surprisingly can take you to a landlocked
mountainous Andean nation called Bolivia.

"I am also a Bolivian. I want you to know me." The
face that looked directly at me from the poster was of
a young black man, his hat emblazoned with colours of
the Bolivian flag, his backdrop the lush-green
tropical forests of the Yungas near La Paz. They are
rarely talked or written about and no-one can even
give you an accurate estimation of their population,
but there are tens of thousands of Bolivians of
African descent who have been based in this Andean
nation for hundreds of years.

Their history of arrival in Bolivia is born out of
unimaginable trauma. As one Afro-Bolivian publication
puts it: "We were people who founded one of the first
world civilisations, yet we arrived here with our feet
and hands bound, submitted to slavery where our rights
did not feature in the hearts or minds of those who
came to loot our natural resources." African slaves
from various parts of Africa but particularly the
Bantu people were shipped to Bolivia from the 16th
Century onwards to work in the rich silver mines of
Potosi. Most died before they even got to Bolivia.
Many more lost lives in the inhospitable altitude and
climes and under severely oppressive work conditions
in the mines. So many died that the slave-owners
decided to transfer the remaining slaves to the
haciendas (large feudal farms) in the sub-tropical
region of the Yungas.

"When I think of how much our ancestors suffered, it
is very painful," says 23-year old Eddy Vazsquez from
Santaner in the Coroico region of the Yungas. Like all
the other Afro-Bolivians I met, Eddy has no idea of
where his ancestors came from in Africa, just a
recognition of the incredible force of character that
they must have had to have made Eddy's life possible.
"Their amazing struggle just to survive the experience
makes me determined to ensure it never happens again.
I have a moral duty with my life to pay for the
suffering by continuing to fight for our rights," Eddy
asserts.

Slavery was technically ended in 1825 as a result of a
decree by Simon Bolivar, but it effectively remained
until the agrarian reform of 1953. In the Yungas
region, Afro-Bolivians gradually adapted and
intermingled with the indigenous peoples. This is most
obvious in the dress of Afro-Bolivian women who you
can see in the Yungas dressed in the traditional dress
of pollera (basket-like skirt), blouse, and bowler
hats. Many Afro-Bolivians speak indigenous languages,
have intermarried, and practice indigenous customs and
values such as ayni (reciprocity).

But the Afro-Bolivian communities also managed to
maintain some customs that are rooted in African
traditions. Afro-Bolivians continued to dance Saya, an
infectious dance typically done in embroidered white
that surges out of a rhythm of drums and the scraping
of a rutted wooden stick. At funerals, communities
invoke spirits and nature as they dance in a tradition
called mauchi. They continue to cook food typical of
parts of Africa, such as Mondongo (beef, maize and
chili) and Olanco (rice, sardines and plantains).

Yet at a national level, Afro-Bolivians remained
anonymous and marginalised. Population censuses don't
even count them so the only reference they have of how
many people they are is a small survey done in 1990
that suggested a population of 20,000 Afro-Bolivians.
They are only occasionally mentioned in history books,
and even then only as a historical footnote of
colonialism, with silence about their role in fighting
for Independence, their involvement in the Chaco war,
their role in key social movements in the 20th
Century.

It is an anonymity that continues to today. "Bolivians
continue to ask me which country I am from," says
Frankly Iriondo Martinez, a young Afro-Bolivian with
short dreads. "They can't believe I am Bolivian, even
if my family may have been here 500 years."

But in 1988, a group of young Afro-Bolivians decided
that they weren't prepared to remain invisible any
longer. They rooted their resistance in a proud
affirmation of their culture. They decided to set up a
group to dance Saya, which was slowly dying out, by
finding an older person in the community to teach
them. They soon took this dance to the cities to which
they were migrating and formed an organisation, the
Afro-Bolivian Saya Cultural Movement. "We wanted to
show who we are, where we come from, our culture, our
history," said Jorge Medina.

The effect was dramatic. Saya began taking off in the
cities, lots of Bolivians were keen to learn the
dance, it started appearing in carnivals and
festivals. The Saya effect is something I have
witnessed on several occasions where the arrival of a
group of Afro-Bolivian dancers has electrified a
Bolivian crowd. "Saya is contagious, it helped
visibilise us like never before," says Jorge.

Saya proved to be a powerful symbol for the cultural
revival, but as Jorge stressed, "we don't want to just
be known as dancers or as folklore but as a people
with history and with rights and demands." As a result
in 2003, the movement started to articulate more
political and social demands, training Afro-Bolivian
leaders, organising meetings to discuss communities'
priorities and engaging with other social movements.

In 2006 and 2007, this work has focused around the
Constituent Assembly. As a result of many workshops,
the Afro-Bolivian movement has developed a series of
proposals for the new Constitution above all demanding
that Afro-Bolivians be formally recognised in the new
constitution and included in the census. It also calls
for the education curriculum to cover the history of
the Afro-Bolivian people and to promote an
interculturality that includes Afro-Bolivians. It
proposes State protection of uses and customs of the
Afro-Bolivian people, the promotion of their
traditional medicine, laws against racial
discimination, and the effective enactment of land
redistribution, full access to services, as well as
active support for agriculture within Afro-Bolivian
communities.

Sadly, their experience of the new indigenous-led MAS
Government has not been positive. "We hoped that it
would be different," says Frankly. "This was an
indigenous President who talked of marginalised,
forgotten peoples but he never mentions us. Evo only
ever talks of the 36 indigenous groups, not other
peoples who were also condemned to exploitation and
marginalisation." They had just returned from the
Constituent Assembly in Sucre and said they got a more
positive response from the right-wing PODEMOS party
than MAS.

"This is an indigenous government, but it isn't a
liberated government," explains Jorge. "They are
equally exclusive of people with disabilities. It
can't be that just because we are small in number that
we are excluded. We have also experienced five
hundreds year of oppression and exclusion." Jorge
attributes the failure to listen to their demands to
both ignorance of their situation, but also active
resistance. "We have allies in some of the indigenous
movements like CONAMAQ, but there appear to be people
like Morales and Linera whose vision of diversity only
expands to certain groups," he says.

But Afro-Bolivians like Jorge, Frankly and Eddy are
determined to continue fighting for recognition,
changes of attitudes and a better quality of life for
his compatriots. "We will continue to fight peacefully
through lobbying, demonstrations, our communications
to show that we are here, that we are present and an
essential part of Bolivia," says Jorge.

As we mark 200 years since the abolition of the slave
trade, they acknowledge that this struggle is a
universal one for the African diaspora. "The question
for Britain as they mark this anniversary is what is
life like for people of African descent in Britain.
What is being done to overcome racism and division
there," says Eddy. "Internationally, we need more than
a moral apology, we need an economic apology that
resolves the impoverishment that resulted from slavery
in Bolivia and in other countries. Words can't resolve
what slavery did. We need to repair the damage that
was done."

[Sun Ship]

I'm glad you've posted this, for I just posted a few Youtube videos highlighting the lives of diasporic Africans in the Andes. Here are two short videos mentioning the plight and culture of the Afro-Bolivians linked below:

Africans in Bolivia

[Majadi]

This is powerful, my wife and I are interested in Panama, does anyone have any info on Panama's Afrikan Population?

[Sun Ship]

Originally Posted by Majadi

This is powerful, my wife and I are interested in Panama, does anyone have any info on Panama's Afrikan Population?

Since Panama was a part of the nation of Colombia until 1903 the cultural roots of formerly enslaved Black Panamanians are probably related more so to the diasporic Africans of Colombia. But what makes it difficult to probably identify a unique diasporic African culture in Panama is the fact that a larger portion, if not the majority of most Panamanians of African descent came there during the building of the Panama Canal, and most of their roots are mostly from the various Caribbean Islands. My uncle is Black Panamanian and his mother was born in a French-speaking Caribbean Family, whereas his father had Jamaican English-speaking roots. Spanish was the second language of both his parents.

As you know, the Black people of Panama were worked like mules to build the canal and died by the thousands. The American government tried, and was somewhat successful for a while, to impose Jim Crow laws within that country years ago, and also the poor Black Panamanian communities were hit the hardest during America’s deceptive, ill-fated, and destructive military campaign named Just Cause (under Bush 41).

I don’t know if you seen the well-known documentary Panama Deception which exposed what America truly was up to during the Just Cause military campaign, if not I’ll link you to the thread I posted here, which has the whole documentary intact. This video changed many Black Panamanians living in the US views about this government. Also, there is another video documentary focusing on the Black Panamanians who built the Panama Canal, if I find it I’ll post it also

I was always interested in a Congolese connection that some Africans on the coast supposedly have. As it relates to this Congo connection there is a book titled The Speech of the Negros Congos in Panama, here is a link to an abstract from this book.

John Benjamins: Book details for The Speech of the Negros Congos in Panama [CLL 4]

Also here is link to the Congo dance performed by this segment of the population:

Panama Congo Dancers

Here's the link to the documentary, Panama Deception:

The Panama Deception


Here's another site if you can read Spanish or get someone to translate:

Etnia Negra de Panama

[Majadi]

Sunship you are a researcher after my own heart, one million thanks for the info, I am at work but I will watch the documentary when I get home this evening. I was deeply enraged by the invasion (to quote Burning Spear, Wa-da-da) of Panama. I remember awakening to that madness one morning years ago. In high school I was kicked out of class for arguing with the teacher about the arrogance of the Aryan construction of the canal using Afrikan labor, Man was he pissed! But then I get kicked out of a lot of places for my refusal to submit. At any rate thanks again I will peruse them this evening. My computer at work is not allowed to support the stream!!!

[Pragmatic]

1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.