The following declaration from the groups Caracol Mazateco and Mazatecos Autónomos en Resistencia (Autonomous Mazatecs in Resistance) arose in response to the current complex global psychedelic scenario. Both are independent groups made up of Mazatec people from the Mazateca Alta region and allies of various other origins.
In this communiqué the Mazatec people from these collectives express pride in their ancestral culture, reject unauthorized representatives in the current discussions on sacred mushrooms, demand respect for their traditions, and reject neo-colonialism.
From the Mazatec Mountains to Mexico and the world, pronouncement in defense of our culture, our ancestral knowledge, our traditional medicine, and our territory.
WE DECLARE:
That we are the Mazatecs, that we are a nation, that we are alive and proud of our ancestral legacy, that we have preserved our culture, our language and our knowledge for the present and the future. That we know our Indigenous rights, that there are national laws and international treaties that support us in our historical resistance.
Our culture is under threat. Our traditional medicine, our mushrooms and sacred plants (ndi xi tjo and xka pastora) are in danger.
WE TELL YOU THE FOLLOWING:
No person and/or organization has been appointed at the community level to represent the Mazatec people in forums where psilocybin and psilocybin mushroom policies are discussed; neither in any international council of elders or similar groups. Whoever says so does so in a personal capacity. Enough of speaking in the name of our people to legitimize private interests.
We do not know what the legislative proposals are about in which psilocybin mushrooms and the Mazateco people are mentioned. Nobody has informed us about this. We do not need laws to be Mazatecs or to exercise our customs and traditions in our territory. Our time is different from that of the capitalist state.
Our ceremonies with “ndi xi tjo and the ska pastora” are not spectacles, nor are they for commerce or private agendas disguised as community support. Our traditions and customs are ancestral and marked by respect.
We reject the violence exercised upon our people by the state, by academic researchers who create conflicts and divisions in communities and who do not disclose their real interests. They have abused our trust. We demand that they stop!
To society in general, we say that we respect your interest in our medicines and that the best way to honor them is to be respectful of our culture, our cosmovision and our territory.
No to neocolonialism! Justice and honor for our ancestors and for the true wise men and women of all the Indigenous peoples!
Yes to world healing!
Pronouncement of Caracol Mazateco
and Mazatecos Autonomos en Resistencia
Art by Trey Brasher.
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