Chilpancingo, September 10.- With academic events, a wind band gathering, a rock concert, and folk dancing, indigenous peoples in Chilpancingo and Chilapa de Álvarez celebrated the “International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.”
In Chilpancingo, Jaime García Leyva, a researcher from the Autonomous University of Guerrero, proposed rescuing the values and principles of indigenous peoples, "so that even if you find yourself in Harlem, New York, Chicago, Iguala, or here in Chilpancingo, in Colonia Emperador, you have to go and visit your dead, even though the words respect, honor, and pride unfortunately come from an external culture, which is breaking with the social fabric. But from within and without, we have to strengthen and observe these processes, and above all, respect them. The challenge is to generate linguistic cultural policies; studies; precise, contextual diagnoses; and to influence or ensure that these cultural elements are present in schools, the media, and in public spaces."
García Leyva gave a keynote address at the municipal palace in this capital, where he stated: “Here in Mexico, the names of towns are in Spanish; there are few places that, even if they have an indigenous population, have names in Spanish; few have them in an indigenous language, or in a foreign language, as is the case in Oaxaca. Here you arrive in Chilapa, and it's called Chilapa, but in Nahuatl it has another name; and in Tu'un Savi (Mixtec), it also has another name.”
Policies
We must "build language policies at various levels; the first has to do with the national structure; the second, with the state; and the third, with local spaces, where we must have an impact. We're not going to leave everything to the authorities either. Daily, personal actions are what speak volumes. Today, young people involved in digital activism are writing their rap in Tu'un Savi, or Nahuatl; even their emails are written in indigenous languages; their t-shirts, and a series of elements that are revitalizing them."
