While reading chapter 9 out of
everything I could have possibly written about I decided to go with Rigoberta
Menchu. Women were not taken into much consideration when it came to politics
for example. It wasn’t expected of them to know much about the “real world”. It
was more of focus on other things like the well being of your family and home.
Reading about her fascinated me because she wanted to be different. She didn’t
want to follow what her community wanted and their traditional customs.
Rigoberta wanted change and that’s when she slowly started picking up interest
in Liberation theology and became a spokesperson.
Rigoberta
Menchu was born on January 9, 1959. She was a born to a not so wealthy Indian
family and was raised in the Quiche Mayan culture. When she was young, she
would work in the family farm in either the northern highlands or Pacific
coast. Eventually her father became a peasant organizer in which kind of
interested a spark to get involved with social reform activities that were
being offered through the Catholic Church. She then started to become active in
the women’s rights movement when she was only still a teenager. In 1979 she
joined the Committee of the Peasant Union (CUC) after her family was accused of
taking part in guerilla activities and her father was arrested and tortured.
After his release he joined the committee.
Slowly all
her family was arrested and tortured, including her father, mother and brother.
This motivated her to become increasingly active in the CUC. Rigoberta wanted
to learn more like more languages to be able to communicate with more people.
One of the languages she taught herself was Spanish. In 1980 she started a
strike to improve the conditions for farm workers that were in the Pacific
coast. Rigoberta was also part of the 31st of January Popular Front
in which she contributed in educating the Indian peasant population in order to
resist military oppression. In 1982 she took part in the founding of The United
Representation of the Guatemalan Opposition. This was the beginning of a new
chapter in Rigoberta’s life. The next following years she became a member of
the National Coordinating Committee of the CUC and she was also part of the
powerful film “When the Mountains Tremble”.
This basically showed all the struggles and suffering of the Maya
people.
Rigoberta
Manchu received her Nobel Prize in 1992. She became an international figure,
she put together protest that she believed in, she educated what she had
learned and suffered. By her being an activist for native rights she was able
to teach people and help them improve. Being a woman and being able to do this
made me want to learn more about her. She took risks and was not afraid. She
knew what she wanted and what was right for her people. Its nice to learn that
someone with a Latin background has done so much.She has taught us that change doesn't come through war.To change we all need to respect one another. Everything step she took was
worth it. Her story has become a great source of reading for anyone who wants
to learn about low intensity conflicts of the Cold War.
Sources:
http://nobelwomensinitiative.org/meet-the-laureates/rigoberta-menchu-tum/
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