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 CONIC
Council of Indigenous Organizations
and Nations of the Continent
Consejo de Organizaciones
y Naciones Indígenas del Continente
Declaration
October 29, 1999
During the week of October 25-30, 2000,
a gathering of representatives of the Council of Indigenous
Organizations and Nations of the Continent (CONIC) convened
at Occidental College in Eagle Rock, California. The
purpose of our gathering was to evaluate, plan and project
in the New Millennium, the vision and self-determination
of the Indigenous Nations of our Continent, survivors of
over five centuries of continuing colonialism and genocide.
Uniting under the guidance of the Sacred
Principles of Tradition and the Great Spirit that are our
ancestral inheritance from time immemorial, CONIC proclaims
to the world the re-emergence of the Indigenous Nations,
Pueblos, and organizations of the continent to join with
us on the path of dialogue, tolerance, respect, sovereignty,
reconciliation, sustainable self-development and autonomy.
It is the path of Tradition and Liberation.
To invoke the Spirits of the Eagle and
the Condor requires that our efforts along this path be
guided by the Spiritual Knowledge and Wisdom of our Peoples
as a great yet humble family, part of the larger community
of Humanity and all relations of living beings of the Creation
which is our home.
We have agreed to continue to honor our
commitments to the CONIC and further, to take the necessary
strategic actions to strengthen the collective process of
indigenous reunification at the continental level.
To this end, the CONIC confirms now the
convocation of the First International Indigenous Summi-CONIC,
to be held October 25-30, 2000 at Teotihucan, México.
This event shall be hosted by the National Indigenous Plural
Assembly for Autonomy of México (ANIPA).
Let it be clear, however, that the International
Indigenous Summit of 2000, is not an event unto itself,
but an expression of the continuing process of organizing
at the intercontinental level by Indigenous Peoples.
The CONIC itself emerged from the First Continetal Encounter
of Indigenous Pueblos and Nations that took place in Quitto,
Ecuador, in 1990.
This continuity is unbroken. We
of CONIC are simply those of the present generation that
have accepted the responsibility to respond strategically
and collectively to the challenges that confront Indigenous
Peoples.
At our October 1999 gathering we identified,
analyzed, and prioritized the nature of some of the obstacles
to our unity and self-determination. Accordingly,
we have committed ourselves as individual and organizations
to specific tasks to address these common issues.
We have committed to the organizational trajectory of the
FIRST INTERNATIONAL INDIGENOUS SUMMIT in México
for the year 2000, to be followed by a second Summit in
Ecuador hosted by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities
of Ecuador (CONAIE). A Third International Indigenous
Summit is to be held subsequently in North America.
While some celebrate a new millennium,
we are realizing an prophecy. The long awaited new
dawn for Indigenous Peoples is upon us. Let no
one stay behind in the darkness. We are the ones we
have been waiting for.
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