MAPUCHE INTERNATIONAL LINK
6 Lodge Street
Bristol BS1 5LR, England

Tel/Fax: + 44-117-9279391
Mobile: 078 139 79712
E-mail: mil@mapuche-nation.org

Website: www.mapuche-nation.org

International Forum on Decolonization

Press Release - 16 November, 2010

The 150 years which have passed since the birth of the Mapuche Kingdom of Araucania and Patagonia will be commemorated at the House of Commons tomorrow. Alongside participants from a range of unrecognised nations, Mapuche activists will return to the significance of an act which retains its importance and meaning in the face of continued brutality and repression.

The ‘Fourth World Nations Forum’ brings together nations who await the beneficent seal of statehood, their often heroic struggles notwithstanding. In the first part of this event, forum participants from Araucania and Patagonia, Somaliland and Nagorno Karabagh will relate their ongoing fight for national recognition. Reynaldo Mariqueo, the Charge d’Affaires to the Kingdom of Araucania and Patagonia in exile, will be joined by Mohamed Mohamed and Mr Ahmed Mohamed (of the Somaliland International Recognition Group) and Bagrad Nazarian.

The outlines of the Mapuche discussion have already been sketched by Jeremy Corbyn’s recent early-day motion (797) in the House of Commons. The MP, well known for his championing of causes which fall outside of the political mainstream, has forwarded a motion which calls for, amongst other things, an end to military repression, a demilitarisation of Mapuche lands and an end to the use of anti-terrorism legislation.

The meeting at the House of Commons commemorates the 150th anniversary of a formal declaration of Mapuche independence, a declaration which found concrete expression in the form of the Kingdom of Araucania and Patagonia. On the other side of the English Channel, the current head of state, HRH Prince Philippe, will join international dignitaries, members of his council and Mapuche representatives at a Royal Ceremony in La Cheze, Dordogne, in remembering his venerated ancestor, King Orélie Antoine de Tounens, the Kingdom’s founding monarch.

A second part of the meeting will then address the challenges and obstacles which currently confront national minority groups in Burma and Iraq. Dr Layla Alroomi (Mandaean Human Rights Association), Saad Tokatly (Iraqi Christian Representative) and Adnan Kochar, (Centre of Halabja) will all engage the session, which is sponsored by Angus MacNeil MP.

This first meeting will be held in Committee Room 18 of the House of Commons on Tuesday 16th. It runs from 6.30pm until 8.30pm.

On the following day Evo Morales will be the centre of attention, as the assembled participants consider a proposal to nominate the incumbent Bolivian president for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize. This proposal will be located within a wider discussion about the UN Declaration on Indigenous Rights, and the current health of some of its key tenets.

Forum participants will then utilise a comparative approach to bring their disparate struggles together. Bwa Bwa Phan (UK Representative of the Burma-based Karen National Union), Dr Layla Alroomi (UK representative of the Mandaean Human Rights Association) and Saad Tokatly (Iraqi Christian Representative) will compare the Iraqi and Burmese experience of ethnic cleansing with a view to creating a common framework of meaning and action.

The second meeting, which is sponsored by Dan Rogerson MP, will be hosted in Room T of Portculis House on Wednesday 17th. It begins at 4pm. Private meetings can also be arranged with the Mandaean, Iraqi Christian and Karen forum participants after this meeting. Please ring 07718982732 on the day or email eilian@talktalk.net in advance if you would like to confirm a meeting.

If you wish to obtain more information about this conference or the broader Mapuche struggle, please contact Mapuche International Link on 0117 9279391 or at mil@mapuche-nation.org

 

 

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