'Real History' Revives Argentina's Indians

The Wichí Indians of north Argentina and south-east Bolivia lived there for thousands of years before those countries were named. Throughout this century, they have been dispossessed by non-Indian settlers known as criollos and have seen their lands (which are fertile, when carefully managed) reduced to an inhospitable dust bowl. But now, taking advantage of Argentina's democratic opening, the Wichí are fighting back against the discrimination they experience in their daily lives. They have on several occasions successfully confronted the government of Salta province (where most of them live) and last summer a Wichí representative went to Geneva to address the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

With the help of 'Survival International, the human rights organisation campaigning for tribal peoples, they have constructed a map of their entire territory and put into writing the rich oral history which reinforces their land claim. This project, whereby a crucial cultural tradition – that of oral communication of a people's history – has come to be written down, has a profound significance for the cause of indigenous peoples' land rights throughout the world.