Con Nosotras y Por Nosotras: Kichwa women of San Martin launch book on confronting violence

On 23 November 2024, women leaders of the Kichwa, Awajún and Shawi peoples of the San Martin region of Peru launched their book entitled Con Nosotras y Por Nosotras [With Us and For Us], which systematises the process they used between 2021 and 2024 to become stronger in confronting violence.

These women face multiple forms of violence, including that caused by legal and illegal economies that threaten their territories, and the discriminatory practices and discourses of machismo which harm them physically and limit their possibility of political participation.

More than 70 women representing the federations of the region, and guests from other regions of the Peruvian Amazon, attended the launch, held during the Sixth Meeting of Indigenous Women of San Martin in the Lamas Cultural Centre.

The women spoke about the “healing and transformative” impact of the process, which included the creation of protocols adapted to the realities of each people. They reflected on the methods they used, their achievements, and the challenges they faced.

“Sometimes they would say, 'but we can't, we don't know how'. But then they themselves realised that they could and asked for more workshops. We have all kinds of problems in the territory, and we want women to be in decision-making spaces”, said Fabiola Yaun of the Federación Regional Indígena Awajún del Alto Mayo.

Women were linked to the territory because we suffer when they go to confront illegal economies. The uncertainty leaves us stressed, anxious, and that is when the territory is linked to the women. We started in the first meeting, we looked for sisters who have the seed and show the change. At the second meeting we sowed the seed, why don't we develop our own protocol? It has taken us years to get to this final product which is just the beginning. - Marisol Garcia, FEPIKECHA (Federación de Pueblos Indígenas Kechua Chazuta Amazonas)

This journey, this three-year process, has improved my life and the lives of all those present. Day by day we have struggles against the violence that we all experience. We are preparing ourselves every day to move forward. Day by day we have struggles, in one way or another, struggles in front of us. They are paths that we face so that others can also walk. - Merly Siri, FEPIKBHSAM (Federación de Pueblos Indígenas Kechwas del Bajo Huallaga San Martín)

It is us, the mothers, who are at home, and sometimes we have difficulty in expressing ourselves, it is very difficult to go out. Because at home we are the nurses, the teachers. In the Shawi people, women do everything. My sisters and I have been made invisible, as if the Shawi people did not exist, but we are few and invisible to the state. - Loydi Tangoa, FERISHAM (Federación de Pueblos Indígenas Shawis de San Martín) 

FPP has supported the women’s strengthening process since its beginnings in 2020. We also co-published the book with the Coordinadora de Desarrollo y Defensa de los Pueblos Indígenas de la Región San Martín (CODEPISAM), Centro Amazónico de Antropología y Aplicación Práctica (CAAAP) and Instituto de Defensa Legal (IDL).