The Anglican Church's Support for the Land Claim
I think it would be wrong to say that the Anglican Church in Argentina proposed at some moment in time a specific policy on Indian Land Rights and then set to work to put it into practice. What policy that we may have today is the result of responding over the years to the needs that we have perceived among the Indians with whom we have been living and working. As such it is a somewhat rough and ready framework put together over time and as a response to different experiences.
When the first Anglican missionaries came to the region around the year 1910, they certainly had no idea of protecting the Indians' possesion of the land. In 1938 the first anglican Mission was set up in the area we are talking about, in Santa Marķa on the banks of the Pilcomayo river. In 1944 a new Mission station was established in a place called La Paz, 60 km. down river. One of the consequences of these early missions was that the Indians, who had been used to living in small extended family groups, dispersed over the land, began to abandon their summer camp sites in the forest and settle more permanently in the mission villages. This inevitably meant ceasing to occupy certain lands that were then "possessed" by the criollo cattle-herders. In this respect we must recognize our own responsability in contributing to some aspects of the land problem today.
On the other hand, the Indians came to the Mission villages because here they felt, according to their own testimony, protected and secure. Although there were some material benefits in the way of very basic health care, it is clear from what the Wichi themselves say again and again that the main attraction of the early missions was the Word of God. They came so as to learn this new teaching, and they came because they found white people who didn't use them for their own material ends. The Wichi say that the early missionaries told them that they brought them nothing: they didn't bring money or clothes, they didn't bring work or projects, they simply brought the Word of God. What most impressed the Wichi about those missionaries was that they lived with them, they learnt to speak their own language, they sat down and talked with them in their own homes and showed that they cared for them. In brief, they made friends with the Wichi.
It was only in the 60s that the missionaries began to become concerned about the land situation and made a number of attempts to secure some limited patches of land. At that time, the prevailing opinion was that the Indians should be given the opportunity to integrate into the national society in a dignified manner, and this meant developing an economic basis which would provide the people with the material means to do this. Within this framework, land was seen as a place to live and a basis for production, usually conceived of as agricultural. Given the political conditions in the 70s, the only feasible way to secure land was to buy it and so the Church raised the necessary funds with which it acquired some 7800 has. in 6 different plots during the 70s and 80s. None of these plots, however, are in the Pilcomayo area we are talking about here.
In the Pilcomayo area the initiative to claim possession of the land was unmistakably the Indians'. It is interesting to note that this iniative, as it developed in the 80s, was very much identified with Church membership. By this time most of the Indian villages had their own pastors and basically ran their own churches. It was a number of these pastors that provided the backgound support for the initial Land Claim in 1984. It is extremely important to stress the Indians' initiative in this process, since again and again over the past few years local politicians, who seek to block the Indian Land Claim, have argued that it is the English missionaries that have put the Indians up to it, suggesting that it is a ploy to secure land for the English and associating this with the dispute over the Falkland Islands! From about the year 1990, when we started to become more actively involved in this issue, our role, as non-Indians, both Argentine and English, has simply been to support the Indians's claim, to help them achieve as good a result as possible.
What has this support entailed? I believe that the one most important aspects of the support offered by the Anglican Diocesis of Northern Argentina has simply been presence. My wife's story of when she first went to live with the Wichi on the Pilcomayo is very telling in this respect. She went as a young social worker whose job it was to wind up a small development project that the National Government had initiated some years earlier. She was introduced to the community by an English nurse who worked with the anglican mission in the area. The nurse spoke Wichi: Helena, my wife, did not. When the question was put to the Wichi if they would be happy for Helena to work with them, they replied quite simply that they would accept her on two conditions: that she lived with them and that she believed what they said.
To live with the people, to share in their daily life, to eat the foods that they eat, to speak their language and so to participate in their conversations are all simple expressions of trust, of caring and loving. This sort of presence is gratuitous, it has no ulterior motive and so can convince the people that you are not there to fulfil some project or objective of your own. You are there simply because you like to be with them.
Simple presence provides the basis for creating a climate of trust within which it is possible to be consulted, to explore together different approaches to a problem, alternative strategies for achieving a particular objective. To explore together implies listening and believing, seeking to understand the thoughts and feelings behind the expressions of the other. And only once you have checked and rechecked your understanding of what they are saying will you begin to offer information and advice: information about the national society, its laws, its ways of doing things, its attitudes, etc., and then advice about the possible options that are feasible.
All this takes place both within the context of informal day-to-day conversations and also in meetings and structured "workshops". The repeated conversation on certain topics leads to the development of a particular discourse among the Indians, in this case regarding the Land Claim, which strengthens their ability to present their own case before government authorities, the media, or other interested parties. Our role in this process is to act as a kind of mirror, seeking to reflect back to the Indians as faithfully as possible the meaning behind what they are saying, and in this way reinforce their own point of view. This is of great importance, since the prejudice and discrimination against the Indians often leads to their message being distorted in the ears of non-Indians.
One other essential aspect in building and sustaining relationships of trust is avoiding any tendency towards an exclusive relationship. Perhaps in former days when the Indian people had little contact with outsiders, other than the military and those who sought their labour, it is understandable that a close, but paternalistic relationship developed amongst Indians and their missionaries, who often sought to protect "their Indians" from the worst abuses of the invading society. Today we must accept that we are only one of many possible points of reference for the Indians. And there are others, who while they may not share our faith in Christ, do share our concern for the injustices perpetrated on the Indian people. In our work with the Indians of the Pilcomayo, we have always actively sought relations of cooperation with other institutions and individuals who wish to support the Indian Land Claim. This has involved working with other Church bodies, in particular the Catholic Church, with Universities, with Human Rights and Indian Rights organizations, with sympathetic government officials, with other NGOs, with lawyers, with journalists, and so on.
The more committed we have become in supporting the Indian Land Claim, the more the Church has become a target singled out for attack by those who seek to deny the Indians' rights to their land. Given the background of the South Atlantic conflict and Britain's historic role as an imperial power, the Anglican Church's connection with England has made us particularly vulnerable and, indeed we have to be careful not to become an obstacle in the way of the Indians' achieving the recognition of their land rights.
Presence is not intended as a justification of our own position or actions, and so it should never be ostentatious, but it does mean being present, alongside the people, in moments of difficulty. So, when the Indians decided to occupy a bridge that was under construction over the Pilcomayo river, in August 1996, because the Government still would not give them a reply to their land claim, it was natural that we accompany them.
