THE COCA IS THE ONLY FEMALE PLANT IN OUR CULTURE
Leonor Zalabata
*Human Rights Commissioner for the Tayrona Indigenous Conferederation and Representative for the National Commission of the Indigenous Peoples of Colombia.
−ABSTRACT−
Indigenous people built the world with 5000
cultures and with our cosmovision we recreate the
Earth, maintain the spirit, the roots of all of all the goods and beings that
make up this world. These beings are our
own families, our reason for being. The
Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, where the Arahuacos, Koguis and other peoples live, is the heart of the
world. Here is where our spirits rest
and remain.
The lives and nature of the Sierra Nevada's indigenous
peoples, like those of the 83 indigenous communities of Colombia, are not
protected by the Colombian state. We are victims not only of armed conflict in
Colombian but also of the political system which, through measures which oppose
the peoples, goes against this way of being and thinking. In spite of the generalized horror of this
war, not all of us suffer the consequences in the same way. The constant attacks we bear not only aggress
our physical being, they violate the existence of different cosmovisions,
different ways of being, of thinking, and of relating to nature. Violating the
nature of our territories endangers the existence of future generations of
indigenous peoples.
Our culture −like our traditions, usages and
customs− have taught us to maintain a peaceful relationship with 'the
other' and his difference. War is not
our way of seeing life, or of feeling towards 'the other'. We have never been
interested in exterminating peoples. What indigenous cultures say with regards
to others is that they −not only humans but animals and plants as well−
are our brothers.
The Coca, the hayo
-as it called by the Aruahaca culture- is the only
female plant in our culture. Trees are
men and we women are the earth (N.T.: Tierra is also the term for soil) and the
trees’ splendor depends on the Earth’s fertility. The Earth cannot be fertile without the shade
given by the trees. We are all
important, all necessary, men and women.
But Coca is the only feminine plant, it is a woman, it is part of our
culture. This is why women do not carry
Coca; it is men who carry Coca. It is
our men's companion. It is a symbol of our culture which signifies the male's
complementary element. It is a sign of indigenous peoples' identity. It is a sign of brotherhood among individuals
and indigenous peoples. Among us, each man carries the Coca and the poporo (N.T: gourd containing a mixture used
to activate the alcaloide) in his mochila
(N.T.: cotton knit shoulder bag).
Men greet each other in brotherhood by exchanging a handful of Coca
leaves. In many cases it is a medicinal plant with curative properties for
certain pathologies, it helps to ease the pain. Finally, it is a sacred plant
in our ancestral practices. Its existence
is consecrated from when it is a seed, when it is planted, its productive and
the reproductive moments. Its use is governed as of the Law of Origin, as of
traditions. It is regulated throughout the
human development cycle. There is a
moment in their development when people, men, can carry Coca, can consume Coca. This plant is a part of life, of the identity
of indigenous peoples.
We could justify it as a delinquent plant. The hayo's existence, we could prove that this plant has
generated chaos in the world. It would be more realistic were we to recognize
that what is delinquent and illicit has to do with the failure to build an
ethical world, where we recognize that many inventions and many situations lead
to the degeneration of the human world and that double standards justify its
bad use leading to economic distortions, political corruption, increased
violence, health problems, environmental pollution, poorer salaries, the
destruction of a cosmovision and of the values behind
many usages and customs. This is why combat against this bad use, these double
standards, should keep in mind consumption in the North and the West, the
business or commerce between the North and the South of the chemical products
needed to produce cocaine and opium, and strong measures against
money-laundering. Addressing the Coca
issue solely by means of chemical aerial fumigation −which the only thing
it has brought is to involve a large number of poor peasants− it is not a
solution.
Translation Mama Coca
MM Moreno