The Bible has been used as a way of making us accept our situation, and not to bring enlightenment to the poor. Rigoberta Menchu More Quotes by Rigoberta Menchu More Quotes From Rigoberta Menchu In the case of my country, Guatemala, 65% of the inhabitants are indigenous. The constitution speaks of protection for the indigenous. Who authorized a minority to protect an immense majority? It is not only political, cultural and economic marginalization, it is an attempt against the dignity of the majority of the population. Rigoberta Menchu majority political country I would get up in the morning and I would say, "How am I going to bother them today?" Rigoberta Menchu get-up morning today unless a religion springs from within the people themselves, it is a weapon of the system. Rigoberta Menchu spring people religion This is why Indians are thought to be stupid. They can't think, they don't know anything, they say. But we have hidden our identity because we needed to resist, we wanted to protect what governments have wanted to take away from us. Rigoberta Menchu government stupid thinking No less characteristic in a democracy is social justice. This demands a solution to the frightening indexes of infant mortality, of malnutrition, lack of education illiteracy, wages not sufficient to sustain life Rigoberta Menchu wages democracy justice Not even anthropologists or intellectuals, no matter how many books they have, can find out all our secrets. Rigoberta Menchu secret matter book Impunity should be condemned in any corner of the world. Rigoberta Menchu impunity should world I wasn't the only orphan in Guatemala. There are many others, and it's not my grief alone, it's the grief of a whole people. Rigoberta Menchu guatemala grief people ... together we can build the people's Church, a true Church. Not just a hierarchy, or a building, but a real change inside people. Rigoberta Menchu together-we-can real people I think that if one's role doesn't correspond to what one says, if one's life doesn't correspond to what one preaches, if one is not true to one's people, someone else will come as a substitute. Rigoberta Menchu roles people thinking Racism in our countries is a fact in that the indian is not allowed to be a politician or aspire to being head of state. It has reached the point that 99% of the indigenous women have not gone to school. The indigenous are condemned to live in a situation designed to exterminate them. They receive a pittance of a salary, they neither speak nor write the language, politics dictates their situation. Is this slavery? I don't know what it's called. It is not the same as before because we are in modern times. Rigoberta Menchu writing country school It is said that our indigenous ancestors, Mayas and Aztecs, made human sacrifices to their gods. It occurs to me to ask: How many humans have been sacrificed to the gods of Capital in the last five hundred years? Rigoberta Menchu sacrifice lasts years For me, to celebrate the twelfth of October is the absolute expression of triumphism, occupation and presumptuousness, and I think that history will remember those that celebrate it. Rigoberta Menchu occupation expression thinking The media and politics have never allowed our people to speak through them. The absolute marginalization of the indigenous peoples is a fact, as is sophisticated militarization. These have been the most significant ingredients in the silent war. Rigoberta Menchu media war people The problem in Guatemala is that there is no solution to the issue of human rights. The problem is militarization, it is the injust distribution of wealth. It is intolerance of the indigenous, it is discrimination and marginalization. Rigoberta Menchu guatemala issues rights I am deeply gladdened that 1993 has been delcared the International Year of Indigenous Peoples by the United Nations. It is the first year we have had in five hundred years. This is thanks to the struggle of many untitled, unnamed indigenous brothers who, without understanding international law, patiently walked the corridors asking for some time. Thanks to them this international year has been declared. Rigoberta Menchu brother struggle years In Guatemala, the gap between rich and poor must be eliminated, or we will continue to be the example of conflict in America. Rigoberta Menchu guatemala example america ... our reality teaches us that, as Christians, we must create a Church of the poor, that we don't need a Church imposed from outside which knows nothing of hunger. Rigoberta Menchu church christian reality We can only love a person who eats what we eat. Rigoberta Menchu only-love persons The inaction of the international community towards Guatemala is injustifiable. The community should play an active role with concrete measures and sanctions imposed, as was the case in South Africa, Iraq, Yugoslavia, Cuba and Haiti. Why for us no? Why legalize death in one place and somewhere else no? This is clear in our memories. Rigoberta Menchu iraq somewhere-else memories