I’m not Spanish but I speak Spanish. That’s right, I was lucky enough to learn the language spoken by almost 500 million people in the world, 6.3% of the world’s population. And even though I lived in a country where, according to official figures, 48 different languages are spoken, with all the diversity that there is in Peru, I only had to speak Spanish.
I say that I was fortunate to learn Spanish because it enabled me to avoid the discrimination that to this day suffers people who speak other beautiful languages, who refuse to be forgotten and who survive in the land of Mario Vargas Llosa. Speaking Spanish is a colonial legacy that, especially in the capital Lima, keeps alive the contempt for the indigenous, the non-European. An evil that persists thanks in part to its own institutions and political representatives.
The problems of the indigenous people, of the Peruvians who do not live in Lima, of those who do not speak Spanish well, are left without priority.
For example, how can we forget the confrontation between former Fujimori Congresswoman Martha Hildebrandt, a well-known Peruvian linguist, and former MP María Sumire over the passage of a law protecting mother tongues in 2017. Hildebrandt, who has written several books on Spanish in Peru, not only said the bill was “useless,” he also despised “the intellectual abilities” of the congressmen who defended and promoted the norm. The latter because Sumire and Congresswoman Hilaria Supa are Quechua speakers. Despite opposition, the project resulted in the Preservation and Use of the Mother Tongue Act four years later.
It is fortunate to speak Spanish (well) in a country whose presidents openly disparaged peasant and indigenous people. Like Alan García (2006-2011), who tried unsuccessfully in 2016 to deny that the indigenous people were “not first class citizens” during the protests of the Wampis and Awajún indigenous peoples against the legislative changes in favor of resource investments in protected areas. The conflict led to the so-called baguazo and in 2009 claimed the lives of 33 people, including natives and police officers.
It is a pity that this discrimination is still the order of the day! The problems of the indigenous people, of the Peruvians who do not live in Lima, of those who do not speak Spanish well, are left without priority. In the capital they are not heard or wanted to be heard, although it was built in the city thanks to the migration from the Andes. That is the paradox that lives in the country of all ethnic groups: living in diversity, but not listening or recognizing oneself in it.
No one can deny the cruelty with which the Peruvian National Police and Army have treated protesters from provinces where native languages survive.
In Lima they speak (only) Spanish
I was lucky enough to speak Spanish and I owe it to this discrimination. My grandparents no longer speak Quechua because they had to leave their rural life to adapt to life in the capital. And in Lima they speak (only) Spanish! Accompanying this forced closure is provincial discrimination, leading some people to shed their roots to hide them. Not for nothing: According to a 2018 survey by the Ministry of Culture, one of the most common reasons for exclusion has to do with language.
So the misfortune of not speaking Spanish can qualify you as a terrorist and even cost you your life. It is enough to listen to the statements of former Prime Minister Pedro Angulo on the current crisis in Peru to understand that the political elite does not know the people themselves and rejects them: “The demonstrators bring high-level people who do not speak Spanish If so the police tells them something they don’t understand and they keep walking because they’re excited, then misfortune happens”. Is state violence against civilians justified because they don’t speak Spanish? Did the authorities really not know that other languages are spoken in Apurímac, Cuzco and Cajamarca? If I don’t speak Spanish, don’t I have the right to protest in Peru?
This antagonism between the capital and the provinces, and the predominance of Spanish as the language of access to certain rights, find their most recent example in the protests following the ousting of former President Pedro Castillo. Lima, who did not vote for the union professor, does not understand the reason for this dissatisfaction, but the reason could be what Castillo represents: he is a farmer who has traveled to the capital with a promise to solve the problems plaguing Peru, forgotten by the wealthy class of Lima.
It is the paradox that lives the country of all ethnic groups: living in diversity, but not listening or recognizing yourself in it
There are already 28 dead in the demonstrations. If you look at the stories of the young people who lost their lives in it, a common denominator stands out: apart from their young age, none of them are from Lima. The young people come from Apurímac, Ayacucho, Junín, Arequipa, all Andean regions where mainly Quechua (and other languages) is spoken.
No one can deny the cruelty with which the Peruvian National Police and Army have treated protesters from provinces where native languages survive. The state’s violence seems to be more brutal when the protesters are not from Lima. Today we see the tragedy of Inti and Bryan multiply in 2020 without the capital’s strong demand for justice for the lives lost. Is the life of a Quechua-speaking youth worth less than that of a Spanish-speaking youth from Lima?
Although the celebrations calmed the excitement somewhat, the protesters did not let up. They want President Dina Bolouarte to resign, close Congress and create a new constitution. Some are also calling for Castillo’s release (although this is difficult given the crimes he is charged with). Meanwhile, hundreds of people continue to be treated irregularly simply for demanding justice in Lima, the city of this elite, who believe that speaking good Spanish will put them closer to Europe and farther from the Puna (high mountain plateau). , typical of the central region of the Andes). Will the protesters be heard, those who tipped the scales in Castillo’s favor in 2021, those of the Southern vote that gave him the victor? We don’t know, but hopefully for the first time Lima is listening and respecting the voice of those who weren’t fortunate enough to only speak Spanish like me.
Patricia Paez She is a Peruvian journalist and coordinator of the 3,500 Millones blog.
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