A dossier developed by Barbara Glowczewski, anthropologist and Sorosoro Scientific Council member, and Rozenn Milin, Director of Sorosoro.

Colloquium at the Senate on November 30th, 2016

A delegation of six French Guianian first nation peoples were represented at a colloquium at the Senate in Paris: Kali’na, Lokorno (Arawaka), Paykwene, Teko, Wayãpi and Wayana.

Flag of the first nations of French Guiana

The November 30th colloquium organized by senator Aline Archimbaud focused on evaluating the situation since the 2015 release of a parliamentary report on the suicide rates of young Amerindians in French Guiana, which she co-drafted.

Christophe Pierre and Aline Archimbaud

The Overseas Minister opened the meeting with new promises; however, representatives of the State did not seem to have much more time than a few minutes to grasp what the delegation had to say.

Not even time to screen the music video Teko Makan (“No Suicide”) directed by Christophe Pierre, also known as Yanuwana, about the suicide of young French Guianian Amerindians. Presented as an introduction to the testimonies, the video made a powerful impact on all present at the Senate.

The journalist Yves Géry wrote a review of what has been said during the colloquium, testimonials that touched all those who were present as they were incredibly intense and moving.

The statements of three participants of the final Round Table discussion were particularly emotional: Amerindians Jocelyn Thérèse, president of the Council of the Amerindian and Bushinenge Populations (CCPAB) and Alexandre Sommer- Shaechtele, General Secretary of the Organization of the Native Nations of French Guiana, as well as the ethnopsychiatrist Tobie Nathan ended the discussion by declaring, “there is no identity without territory.”.

Jocelyn Thérèse, Alexandre Sommer-Shaechtele, and Tobie Nathan

Screening-Debate at the International Center of Popular Culture (CICP) on November 29th, 2016.

On November 29th, ahead of the arrival of the French Guianian Amerindians at the Senate, the CSIA – Nitassinan (Committee of Solidarity with Native Americans) organized an evening entitled “French Guianian Amerindians…The Teko, a people in resistance.”.

The evening included:

• The 2016 film Teko, ethnologues et Cie directed by Julien Mathis and Colette Riehl Olivier.
• A debate with author and composer Lucien Panapuy, Teko, singer of “No Suicide,” director Christophe Pierre, Kali’na, director Ludovic Pierre, University of Bordeaux student Ti’wan Couchili, Teko, traditional artist Ruth Bidiou of the First Nations Collective, President of the Collective Territories of French Guiana Alliance (ACAG) Alain Mindjouk, Maripasoula municipal counselor Aikumale Alemin who is fighting for the establishment of a high school, and President of the Federation of Native Organizations of French Guiana Jean-Philippe Chambrier.

Edith Patrouilleau, founder and vice-president of CSIA-Nitassinan offers a review of the evening.

For more information

Les abandonnés de la République – Vie et mort des Amérindiens de Guyane française by Alexandra Mathieu, Yves Géry, and Christophe Gruner, Albin-Michel, 2014.

Guerriers de la Paix – le Teko de Guyane by Eric Navet, 40 ans d’ethnologie (p. 180-181), book and DVD published in 2016 under the direction of Colette Riehl Olivier. A transcription of the lyrics from the video Teko Makan – No Suicide and their French translation can be found in this excellent photo-journalism book.