The Right to Stay Home: Equity and the struggle of migrant indigenous peoples

Transcription

1 5 The Right to Stay Home: Equity and the struggle of migrant indigenous peoples Gaspar Rivera-Salgado 1 Abstract In my inaugural address as Prince Claus Chair in April of 2004, I reflected about the crucial link between cultural identity and development as an autonomous process. I attempted to explore certain implications of that link, while focusing on the dialectics of home and migration. In this paper my goal is to reflect about equity theory and practice based on my practical work with indigenous Mexican migrant grassroots organizations who are attempting to achieve the goal of making migration a last alternative for survival and have launched a programme called the right to stay home. Indigenous Mexican migrants claimed that rather than having migration as the only alternative to make a living, they wanted to have the opportunity to make ends meet and realize their dreams in their home communities. They wanted migration to become the last resort of choice for survival rather than the first and sometimes the only alternative for survival, since they were losing an entire new generation of youth, who in order to escape poverty had to migrate hundreds of miles away in a foreign land where they were losing their traditional ways, their language and their culture. Introduction In my inaugural address as Prince Claus Chair in April of 2004, I reflected about the crucial link between cultural identity and development as an autonomous process. I attempted to explore certain implications of that link, while focusing on the dialectics of home and migration. In this paper my goal is to reflect about equity theory and practice based on my practical work with indigenous migrant grassroots organizations who are attempting to achieve the goal of making migration a last alternative for survival and have launched a programme called the right to stay home. In the fall of 2011 in the City of Oaxaca, Mexico, during a binational gathering of an indigenous migrant grassroots organization called Frente Indígena de Organizaciones Binacionales, indigenous migrants from different parts of Mexico issued a statement calling for a change in the paradigm of how we think about international long-term migration from indigenous communities (see Photo 5.1). They declared that despite the fact that migration was allowing families who stayed behind in their home town access to much needed money for their daily needs in the form of remittances, the price that these families and communities were paying was too high for the return they were getting. In exchange for a few hundred dollars a 1 Third holder of the Prince Claus Chair,

2 month, they were losing an entire new generation of youth, who, in order to escape poverty and despair, had to migrate hundreds of miles away to a foreign land where they were losing their traditional ways, their language and their culture. They claimed that rather than having migration as the only alternative to make a living, they wanted to have the opportunity to make ends meet and realize their dreams in their home communities. They wanted migration to become the last resort of choice for survival rather than the first and sometimes the only alternative for survival. Photo 5.1 Members of FIOB voting about the right not to migrate at their general binational assembly in Oaxaca City, October 15, Photo David Bacon It is true that indigenous peoples in the Americas face tremendous challenges for their own survival. However, in spite of centuries of poverty, discrimination and genocide, indigenous communities are no longer the passive victims of exploitative conditions, and have now become actors of social change. No longer able or willing to wait for the nation-states to deliver the long-awaited promise of universal human rights, equality before the law, and individual and collective freedom (since these nation-states are the ones that have denied such entitlements to indigenous peoples), indigenous communities are experimenting with new ways of being autonomous in practice since the legal framework has yet to be worked out in the international institutions in the next coming years if not decades. Despite the fact that the debate about the international legal framework regarding the rights of indigenous peoples has lagged behind among nation-states in Latin America (with the exception of Bolivia and Ecuador), in practice, indigenous communities have adapted traditional practices such as the cargo system and the tequio system to the process of globalization to fight for their rights and their own survival. This is especially the case of indigenous communities who have experienced the process of dispersal due to international migration. The presence of 60

3 large numbers of indigenous peoples outside their traditional homelands posed some serious questions about indigenous identity, issues of citizenship and territoriality of indigenous communities. Indigenous communities in the Americas have transformed long-term outmigration, which appeared to be threatening their own existence (the process of depopulation) into a source of strength and renewal. I will now explore in detail this issue using the case of indigenous peoples of Mexico who have migrated in great numbers to the major urban centres within the country in the last fifty years and to the United States in substantial numbers at least since the mid-1980s. Indigenous peoples in the Americas The past and the future of many Latin American countries can be seen in the faces of the tens of thousands of indigenous people who each year set out on their journey to the capital cities of their countries, as well as the many others who decide to settle in countless communities within the United States, Canada and Spain. To study the struggles of indigenous peoples living outside their homelands today requires a transnational lens, taking into account basic changes in the way Latin American societies are understood as the twenty-first century begins. On the one hand, many countries in Latin American - such as Mexico, El Salvador, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, to name just a few - are increasingly recognized to be nations of migrants, as societies whose fates are intimately linked with the economies and cultures where their diasporas currently reside. On the other hand, the experiences specific to indigenous migrants require an understanding of Latin America as formed by multi-ethnic societies in which basic questions of indigenous rights are finally on their national agenda but remain fundamentally unresolved. However, the future projected by Latin America s dominant economic model has little place for indigenous peoples other than their joining the urban and agro-export workforce. The political classes of most Latin American countries have embraced neo-liberalism as a political, economic and even cultural model. This is a model that does not give pride of place to indigenous rights. Political elites sometimes bow to popular and domestic political pressure by placing basic questions of indigenous rights on national agendas but thus far few such agendas have been even partially realized anywhere. Because the majority of Latin American indigenous peoples live in small villages and depend on agriculture to this day, their livelihood prospects are highly sensitive to governmental policies toward that sector. The case of Mexico is a case in point. Three decades ago, Mexico s government abandoned what had already been on-again/offagain commitments to making family farming economically viable. 2 Since the 1980s, peasant agriculture has been a target of state welfare policy rather than production support, a shift that has weakened the economic base of indigenous (as well as other peasant) communities. As a consequence, according to official figures, throughout Mexico poverty worsened in 30% of the predominantly indigenous communities between 1990 and This has meant, among other things, that more and more indigenous people and peoples are either domestic or international migrant workers. Whatever the intentions of elites, neo-liberal theory and practice does not include an independent role for indigenous migrants other than that they join the urban and agro-export workforce at whatever level their skills set and indigenous identity permits. In other words, they are subject to the labour market with all that market entails in terms of opportunity but also in terms of racist and exploitative labour practices. 2 3 On the history of government policies toward peasant grain production, see Jonathan Fox (1992), The politics of food in Mexico. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. Gillette Hall & Harry Anthony Patrinos, eds (2006), Indigenous peoples, poverty and human development in Latin America. London: Palgrave MacMillan. 61

4 Since implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the government s rural development strategy has been based on the assumption that a large proportion of the rural poor would move either to Latin America s larger cities or to the United States. Indeed, Mexico City s population of urban Indians in the hemisphere is officially estimated by the city government at half a million in the Federal District and one million in the greater metropolitan area. 4 Map 5.1 Location of Oaxaca within Mexico Mexico s more than 12 million indigenous peoples constitute about 11% of the country s population. While accounting for a smaller percentage of the country s total population than in some other Latin American countries, Mexico s indigenous population is the largest in Latin America and represents a third of the continent s total indigenous population. 5 The fact that Mexico s indigenous peoples are far poorer than its non-indigenous peoples is well known (see Figure 1) about 80% of indigenous peoples in Mexico are poor, while only half of the nonindigenous people live below the official poverty line. 6 Indigenous peoples constitute one of the most marginalized social groups in Mexico. Studies show that extreme poverty whether measured by income alone or by many dimensions including access to health and education is typically concentrated in Mexico s indigenous communities. Income poverty is higher and more severe and is falling more slowly in indigenous municipalities than in non-indigenous ones. 7 This is despite the fact that the percentage of people living in extreme poverty in Mexico fell from 24% of the population in 2000 to 17% in 2004 and 14% in 2006 (see Figure 2). In 2008, This is the official estimate of the Government of the Federal District (personal communication, Pablo Yanes, Dirección de Atención a los Pueblos Indígenas, June 2003). For background on the Assembly of Indian Migrants of Mexico City, see Gillette Hall & Harry Anthony Patrinos, eds. (2006). Indigenous Peoples, Poverty and Human Development in Latin America. London: Palgrave MacMillan. Vicente A. Garcia-Moreno & Harry Anthony Patrinos. (2011). Indigenous peoples and poverty in Mexico. Mexico Country Brief No. 7. World Bank: Washington, DC. Christian Borja-Vega, Trine Lunde & Vicente García Moreno. (2007). Economic Opportunities for Indigenous Peoples in Latin America. The World Bank: Washington, DC. 62

5 however, the extreme poverty rate went up again to 18%. 8 This upward trend in poverty is hitting especially hard Mexico s poorest rural areas in the southern states: Campeche, Chiapas, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Puebla, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Tlaxcala, Veracruz and Yucatán (see Map 6.1 above). These are the same states with the largest concentration of indigenous population in the country, since close to 80% of indigenous peoples in Mexico live there. 9 The government has made significant efforts to combat poverty, but it remains widespread and is closely linked to high levels of inequality in terms of unequal access to healthcare, education and available work opportunities. 10 As shown in Figure 2, in rural areas the percentage of those living in moderate poverty was 61% in 2008, while that of those living in extreme poverty was 32%. 11 Indigenous migrants find themselves excluded economically, socially and politically as migrants and as indigenous people in their countries of origin and the places of destiny. Economically, they work in ethnically segmented labour markets that relegate them to the bottom rungs. In the social sphere, in addition to the well-known set of obstacles that confront cross-border migrants, especially those without documentation, they also face entrenched racist attitudes and discrimination from other mestizo populations as well as from the dominant white society in North America Source: Mexico Country Brief No. 7. World Bank, April Santiago Levy. (2006). Progress Against Poverty. Brookings Institution: Washington, DC. See: Indigenous Peoples, Democracy and Political Participation: Demographic Distribution Consulted at: The World Bank, Poverty in Mexico: An Assessment of Conditions, Trends and Government Strategy, Report No ME, June Washington, DC. Consejo Nacional de Evaluación de la Política de Desarrollo Social (CONEVAL), Poverty Report. July 18,

6 Source: Mexico s Consejo Nacional de Evaluación de la Política de Desarrollo Social, July In the civic-political arena, most cross-border indigenous migrants are excluded from full citizenship rights in the places where they reside. For example, the U.S. government resists implementing proposals to regularize the status of millions of workers. In addition, the Mexican government had yet to comply either with the 2000 constitutional reform that recognized migrants right to vote or with the 1996 San Andrés Accords on Indigenous Rights and Culture, which had promised a modest form of indigenous autonomy. In addition, lack of effective absentee ballot provisions also prevents many migrants within Mexico from voting. In the less tangible arena of the dominant national political culture, both indigenous peoples and migrants have long lacked full political rights and full representation in the larger national polity a powerful historical inheritance that only began to change substantially by the mid-1990s as a consequence of the increasing massive mobilizations by indigenous peoples in the region. Indigenous peoples of the Americas bring with them a wide range of experiences with collective action for community development, social justice and political democratization, and these repertoires influence their decisions about who to work with and how to build their own organizations whatever they happened to be. 64

7 Indigenous Mexican migration Photo 6.2 Mixtecos from Guerrero working in the fields of San Quintin, Baja California, México. Photo Rodrigo Cruz/Tlachinolan The case of Mexico s indigenous peoples is of primary importance to understand larger trends in the continent s indigenous population. In terms of the absolute sizes of national indigenous populations in Latin America, Mexico is followed by Peru, Guatemala, Bolivia, and Ecuador. Mexico s national indigenous population stands at 12 million, who speak 62 different languages and represent at least 11% of the Mexican population, according to the government s relatively strict criterion of indigenous language use (though the most recent national census allows for ethnic self-identification for the first time). In other words, despite five centuries of pressure to assimilate, at least one in ten Mexicans reports to their national census that an indigenous language is spoken in their household. 12 Historically, most indigenous migrants were from the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico (see Map 6.1) and went to large cities or agribusiness jobs within Mexico, especially the northern states of Sinaloa and Baja California. Until the 1980s, their relative share of the overall cross-border migrant population was relatively low. More recently, the indigenous proportion of the Mexican cross-border migrant population has grown significantly, most notably in both urban and rural California and increasingly in Texas, Florida, New York and Oregon. As the public debate within Mexico continues over the nation s multi-ethnic character and indigenous rights, the growing presence of indigenous migrants in the United States has also raised this issue within Mexican migrant communities. By 2010, an estimated 165,000 Mixtecs worked in agriculture in California s Central Valley, 13 and 75,000 to 80,000 Zapotecs had settled in Los Angeles, mainly in the central neighbourhoods of Koreatown, Pico Union and South Central (see Map 6.2). 14 The proportion The National Indigenous Institute s (INI) most recent estimates of the national indigenous population range between 10.3 and 12.7 million people, depending on the criteria. See California Indigenous Farmworkers by Rick Mines et al. (2010). Population Estimates for Indigenous Women in Los Angeles County: A Methodological Note by Ed Kissam (November 2011). 65

8 of predominantly indigenous migrants from southern Mexico in California farm labour about tripled during the 2000s, from 6.1% ( ) to 20% ( ). Map 6.2 Migratory route for indigenous migrants from Oaxaca to California The parallel process of long-term settlement and geographic concentration has led to the creation of a critical mass of indigenous Oaxacans, especially in California. This has permitted the emergence of distinctive forms of social organization and cultural expression, especially among Mixtecs and Zapotecs. Their collective initiatives draw on ancestral cultural legacies to build new branches of their home communities. Their public expressions range from building civic-political organizations to the public celebration of religious holidays, basketball tournaments involving dozens of teams, the regular mass celebration of traditional Oaxacan music and dance festivals such as the Guelaguetza and the formation of village-based bands, some of which return to play in their hometown fiestas. Their cultural and political activities also include the revival of traditional weaving workshops, the publication of binational newspapers, indigenous- and Spanish-language radio programmes, and efforts to provide translation services and preserve indigenous languages, as well as the emergence of writers and visual artists with cross-border sensibilities. 66

9 Map 6.3 Major indigenous regions in Oaxaca Indigenous migrants participate in a rich cultural exchange between the United States and Mexico by bringing back to their communities of origin commodities, styles and attitudes acquired in the North. Paradoxically, migrants insertion into the U.S. labour market also reinforces what appears to be quite traditional at home. For example, traditional fiestas, which are central to indigenous communities, have not only been perpetuated but also made more elaborate with funds from migrant earnings. It is not uncommon for migrant workers who have done relatively well in el Norte, to volunteer to serve as mayordomos (sponsors) of festivities celebrating their community s patron saint. The expense for these festivities can run into thousands of dollars, all paid by relatives and extended families of the main mayordomo. Many migrants living permanently or working temporarily in the United States return to Oaxaca during these celebrations, adding even more excitement to these events. A striking feature of indigenous Mexican migrant workers transnational activism is their active participation in the local political life of their communities even when they are not physically present. This political participation by migrants both strengthens and transforms their community s cultural and social resources (such as traditional forms of self-government, including the cargo system, leadership accountability to popular assemblies, and a strong corporate community political identity). The ideas and practices indigenous migrants bring back are in fact remoulded in the context of the home community and traditional community practices have been adapted to the transnational context. During my fieldwork in California, I met many indigenous migrants who have been summoned back to their communities to perform tasks they had been elected to carry out by the local community assembly. Often, these migrants have been absent from their communities for many years, working and living as far away as Oregon, California or New Jersey. 67

10 Many Mexican indigenous communities with heavy out-migration flows, like Mixteco and Zapoteco communities in Oaxaca, have decided to incorporate paisanos that have migrated into the local political process by redefining, through their community assemblies, their conceptualization of citizenship and community. According to their own redefinition of citizenship, migrants who relocate abroad do not sever their ties with the community and can continue to enjoy the same rights and obligations as members of the community who stay, as long as these migrants continue to serve the cargos (elected positions) the community assembly decides to confer on them. In this way, the definition of community has been expanded to incorporate the many members who reside abroad. People in indigenous villages in Oaxaca refer to their community as including the local population as well as the population dispersed along the migratory network that extends to northern Mexico and into the United States. Thus, through the constant movement of migrants back and forth and the concurrent flow of information, money, goods and services, the communities of origin and their various satellite communities in northern Mexico and the United States have become so closely linked that in a sense they form a single community, a transnational community. The ability of indigenous communities to adapt their political and cultural capital to the transnational process of migration is closely related to the high degree of autonomy they have traditionally exercised in regulating their internal affairs. In this sense, autonomy understood as the right to exercise collectively the free determination 15 of indigenous peoples is a wellestablished community practice. I could list many examples of how in everyday practice these indigenous communities have governed their communities and exercised authority through their own traditional mechanisms for a long time. This ability turns out to be of great importance, especially for those communities with a high rate of out-migration. In other words, migrant indigenous communities in Oaxaca have reversed the threat of depopulation caused by extremely high rates of out-migration by incorporating migrants into a source of synergy that assures their cultural, social and economic reproduction. Indigenous autonomy, understood as the mechanism to govern and exercise their authority, has been fundamental to their response to the migratory experience. Within this context, indigenous communities have reconceptualized and expanded the concept of political community, redefining this notion in a way that allows for the incorporation of the immense indigenous population dispersed across many geographical borders. In the case of indigenous migrant organizations such as the Frente Indígena de Organizaciones Binacionales (FIOB), the Organización Regional de Oaxaca (ORO) and the Federación Oaxaqueña de Comunidades y Organizaciones Indígenas en California (FOCOICA) and other indigenous village-based migrant associations in California, it is apparent that the cultural base of these organizations is a recently emerged sense of pan-ethnic identity namely Mixtec and Zapotec ethnicity that was formerly non-existent in Oaxaca. There is a strong relationship between the emergent ethnicities and the formation of migrant political organizations among indigenous migrant communities whose political participation and activism in California have been reinforcing their ethnic identity, holding the community together as it becomes ever more extended throughout both Mexico and the United States. The active participation of indigenous migrants in the affairs of their communities of origin has strengthened their ethnic identity, which has allowed them, at the same time, to build binational political organizations (such as FIOB, ORO and FOCOICA) that further strengthen close ties with communities in Oaxaca. Many indigenous migrants not only continue to be consulted about political decisions in their communities while they live in the United States, 15 La Autonomía una Forma Concreta del Derecho a la Libre Determinación y sus Alcances. Paper presented by Adelfo Regino from Servicios del Pueblo Mixe A.C. during the first Foro Indígena Nacional celebrated during January 3-8, 1996 in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. 68

11 they also still maintain rights and obligations as members of their specific political community. In practice, indigenous migrants have the right to participate in the internal governing process of their home community. Indeed, as I have indicated, they are eligible to be considered for elected positions within the local governing structures. In this context, the transnational organizations of indigenous migrants perform two basic tasks. First, these organizations institutionalize political practices that allow for collective action in the different places where the migratory network is located (that is, the transnationalized space sometimes denominated Oaxacalifornia). Second, they institutionalize cultural exchange practices and the circulation of information that give meaning to a political community that transcends many geographical borders at the community, state and international levels. Despite the adverse conditions that indigenous migrants encounter, they have nevertheless managed to create a wide range of civic, social and political organizations that are notable for the diversity of their strategies and goals. Within this indigenous migrant civil society, two main kinds of organizations stand out. The first includes the large number of hometown associations, known in Spanish as organizaciones de pueblo, clubes de oriundos or clubes sociales comunitarios. They are composed of migrants from specific communities who come together mainly to support their community of origin, most notably by raising funds for local public works such as road or bridge building, water systems, electrification or public spaces such as town squares, sports fields, schools, churches or community halls. The second main kind of indigenous migrant associations includes coalition-building projects that draw on hometown, translocal ties but bring people together from a broader, regional ethnogeographic sphere. The most consolidated coalitions include the Oaxacan Indigenous Binational Front (FIOB), the Oaxacan Regional Organization (ORO), the Union of Highland Communities of Oaxaca (UCSO), the Coalition of Indigenous Communities of Oaxaca (COCIO), the International Indigenous Network of Oaxaca (RIIO) and the recently formed Oaxacan Federation of Indigenous Communities and Organizations in California (FOCOICA), whose affiliates include most Oaxacan organizations in that state. Both kinds of organizations have created spaces within which indigenous migrants can engage in collective action and cultural sustenance. These organizations open up spaces within which social identities are created and re-created through the institutionalization of collective practices in which migrants are recognized as Oaxacans and as indigenous people. That is, these diverse collective practices generate discourses that recognize their specific cultural, social, and political identities. The real and imagined space in which they develop these practices is called Oaxacalifornia, a transnationalized space in which migrants bring together their lives in California with their communities of origin more than 2,500 miles away. 16 Equity and fairness for indigenous migrant communities in Oaxaca El Derecho a No Migrar (The Right to Stay Home) The programme called El Derecho a No Migrar (The Right to Stay Home) was conceived by indigenous migrants working with the Binational Front of Indigenous Organizations (known as FIOB for its name in Spanish Frente Indígena de Organizaciones Binacionales), which was founded 20 years ago by Mixtecs and Zapotec migrants residing in California. The main idea emerged during their binational meeting that took place in June 2008 in the Mixtec City of 16 The term Oaxacalifornia was coined by Michael Kearney & Carole Nagengast, to refer to the deterritorialized community from which new forms of organization and political expression emerged. See their seminal article: Kearney, Michael & Carole Nagengast Anthropological Perspectives on Transnational Communities in Rural California. Davis: Working Group on Farm Labor and Rural Poverty, California Institute for Rural Studies. 69

12 Juxtlahuaca, Oaxaca. The main objective of this initiative, implemented by a consortium of two indigenous migrant organizations (FIOB and DBIIAC) is to empower indigenous migrant communities to make migration a last resort option for survival, and not the only option available to them, as is currently the case in their communities of origin in rural Oaxaca. It is worth describing briefly the two organizations implementing this initiative, since they provide a clear example of unique transnational political actors. The Desarrollo Binacional Integral Indígena Asociación Civil (DBIIAC) is a non-for-profit association incorporated under Mexican law based in the City of Juxtlahuaca in the heart of the Mixteca region in Oaxaca. It has been in operation since Its main objectives are to contribute to the integral development of indigenous communities in Oaxaca, Mexico by supporting economic development as well as cultural and social initiatives. In addition, DBIIAC advocates on behalf of indigenous communities human and labour rights. The Frente Indígena de Organizaciones Binacionales (FIOB) was established in 1991 in Los Angeles as a membership organization by bringing together a coalition of indigenous migrant organizations and communities. FIOB is a binational political organization working to advance the human, labour and civil rights of indigenous peoples in Mexico and the U.S. There are currently around 5,000 members and manage offices in Oaxaca, California and Tijuana. Our mission is to contribute to the development and self-determination of the migrant and non-migrant indigenous communities, as well as to work for the defence of their human rights, with justice and gender equality at the binational level. Their strategic plan calls for developing our work in three interconnected work areas at the binational level: To maintain the cultural, social and linguistic integrity of the indigenous communities wherever they reside To promote the economic, social and cultural development of the Oaxacan indigenous communities To protect and defend the human, labour and civil rights of migrant indigenous communities Photo 6.3 FIOB members in leadership development training for women in Juxtlahuaca, Oaxaca. Photo: FIOB archive (2011) 70

13 FIOB s binational leadership is provided by a central coordinating committee composed by six members with even representation from the three regions where FIOB organizes. The binational coordination is a rotating office and is currently based in Los Angeles, California. The binational leadership is elected every three years during a membership congress. They celebrated their VII th Congress in October 2011; therefore, the current binational coordinating committee will be in office from June 2011 through June The project The principal objective of the El Derecho a No Migrar project is to empower indigenous migrant communities to make migration a last-resort option for survival, and not the only option available to them as is currently the case in our communities of origin in rural Oaxaca. The basic approach is the creation of economic opportunities and the expansion of rights for indigenous migrant communities through a process initiated from below that ultimately benefits all individuals equally and builds on the participation of each of them. Ultimately, as stated in the UN Human Development Report, the process of development can expand human capabilities by expanding the choices that people have to live full and creative lives. 17 The El Derecho a No Migrar project builds on this idea of expansion of opportunities and is anchored on a grassroots approach, which has as its basic strategy the creation of economic alternatives for indigenous migrant communities in Oaxaca. This approach also seeks to increase our organizational capacity and leadership capabilities in the Mixteca region in Oaxaca to make FIOBA and DBIIAC effective vehicles for social change (see Photo 6.3 above). 18 The understanding among indigenous migrants is that in order to live full and rewarding lives people have to organize and take action to change the structures that oppress them. Therefore, with this strategy, they seek to expand the rights and capabilities of indigenous communities by creating economic opportunities in a more systematic way. Economic opportunities and sustainable development in Oaxaca The goal in this project is to build on FIOB s work during the last ten years supporting income generating activities and food production projects for self-consumption and the local market for a network of 25 communities that expands throughout the Mixteca Baja corridor from Huajuapan de Leon to Silacayaopan and Juxtlahuaca. The main projects FIOB is implementing in these communities in Oaxaca are: (1) agricultural projects that have an immediate positive impact in the families economy and well-being such as the production of food for household consumption (promoting healthy eating habits and consumption of diverse healthy foods) and for the local market (collective seta-mushroom plants, family and community-based vegetable production enterprises); and (2) micro-enterprises such as textile and palm weaving cooperatives (see Photo 6.4). The main objective they seek to reach is to consolidate the organizational aspect of the economic opportunities and sustainable development area of their work. During the first phase they will focus at the local level, working very closely with community assemblies and projectparticipants to ensure that they have the vision, organizational capacity, skills and information they need to make their projects successful. In a second phase of this work they will move to the regional level and create a regional council composed by leaders from the communities, projects and cooperatives involved in economic development work. They will organize yearly regional assemblies where communities can showcase their products and members can discuss organizational issues and challenges across projects and develop a work plan with FIOB and DBIIAC. In a third phase they will articulate the transnational relation between production in UN Human Development Report 2004 (p. 127). See Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom (New York: Anchor Books 199) 71

14 Oaxaca and migrant communities in California as potential markets and sources of funding via remittances and investment strategies. Photo 6.4 FIOB members making organic fertilizer in Juxtlahuaca, Oaxaca. Photo FIOB archives The long-term vision is to use this programme as a model for activities with other regions in Oaxaca and Mexico. This programme can be scaled up to develop a successful state and national economic development programme in communities with a high degree of international migration. They envision a network of grassroot organizations that have the capacity and alliances to build a movement and ultimately shift the balance in favour of indigenous and rural communities to increase their leverage against poverty and lack of economic opportunities in their home communities in rural Mexico. Conclusion Hopefully, the experience of the El Derecho a No Migrar initiative will encourage further collaborative initiatives among indigenous migrants, researchers and development agencies, to help fill the many gaps that remain, as well as among other social and civic actors concerned with building sustainable economic options for indigenous peoples across multiple cultural divides. This will require rethinking Mexican migration in terms of the diversity of different ethnic, gender and regional experiences. This recognition has very practical implications. First, it can help to inform potential strategies through which indigenous migrants can bolster their own capacity for self-representation. Second, this recognition of diversity is crucial for broadening and deepening coalitions with other social actors, both in the United States and in Mexico. To sum up, indigenous Mexican migrants organizational initiatives and rich collective 72

15 cultural practices open a window on their efforts to build new lives both in Mexico and in the United States while remaining who they are and remembering where they come from. This is the challenge they face. 73