IXOFILLMOGEN

DEFENSE OF LIFE IN ALL ITS FORMS


The modern forms of colonialism and capitalism threaten all forms of life. This is due to the fact that it promotes the rupture of ecological relations and their reification to transform them into "natural resources" at the service of development projects. This has been expressed through the creation of a dichotomous rationality that separates nature / culture, presenting nature as an external reality that must be controlled and dominated for human development. The effects of this political reasoning on nature today generate significant effects on the diverse forms of life present in the Wallmapu (Mapuche Ancestral Territory), whose visible expressions are found in forest monoculture, agroindustry, mining and fishing, as well as also, as a result, of large infrastructure projects, energy and urban growth, which currently affect the Lof (communities) Mapuche. These affectations, not only affect the material conditions for the survival of our people, but also represent a direct affectation to the territory as foundation of our existence as a collective.

Thus, the environmental struggle posed by the Mapuche Territorial Alliance is based on the reconstruction of the notion of life that arises from Mapuche knowledge, through the conception of Ixofillmongen that in its translation into Spanish can be understood as all ways of life without exception, incorporating the "Che" or person in a non-hierarchical position with respect to other forms of life. Thus highlighting that the Mapuche life is not conceived as an individual separated from the world, but from the relationship with other humans and nonhumans, such as volcano, river, mawiza (mountains), among others.

From this perspective, both the conservationist concepts of preservation and nature can be questioned, due to their lack of intercultural perspective. Here arises a second relevant aspect of highlighting Mapuche knowledge, linked to the notion of Az Mapu, ie the socio-cultural and territorial norms of the Mapuche people that define the relationship with other forms of life, delivering the guidelines to maintain a Mapuche territorial order, that in turn generates a territorial control according to their own notions of time, space-territory and life or mogen.

For this the Mapuche Territorial Alliance, promotes various strategies that advance in the direction and orientation described, among which are:

• The defense of the Ixofillmongen as an articulating element of each and every one of the forms of Mapuche struggle that today are deployed in the Wallmapu, whether by water, land, energy, culture or others.

• Territorial Control in territories threatened by extractive projects, through social mobilization and the exercise of Mapuche territoriality.

• The Strengthening of our own knowledge about the ixofillmongen in Lof Mapuche, through the generation of educational materials and the realization of Xawün (meetings) and Nüxamkawun (discussion) in the formative line.

• Territorial alliances with Lof Mapuche and environmental organizations that are in processes of defense of the Ixofillmongen.

• Internationalization of our struggles for life and territory, generating processes of knowledge exchange with indigenous peoples and environmental organizations from the most diverse latitudes.