Rigoberta Menchu's I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala

I, Rigoberta Menchu, written by Menchu (1) begins with the statement that "My personal experience is the reality of a whole people." The people of whom she writes and of which she is a part are the peasants of Guatemala, a people who in her words have been subjected to generations of exploitation, oppression, discrimination, torture and murder (106). The portrait painted by Menchu in a text that belies her contention that she is barely educated and "never went to school" (1) is of a family devastated by the ladinos who control the economy and land of her native Guatemala, of a country in turmoil, and of the struggle for equality in which she and other peasants were long engaged (223). In this brief essay, the text and other materials will be used to answer the questions of what constraints impact upon development in countries in the "Global South" and what possible strategies are available for overcoming such obstacles to development.

Menchu's (80-83) narrative suggests that the peasants of the Global South (i.e., those poor, largely agrarian and dependent workers whose labor benefits the wealthy land-owning classes) are most constrained by several factors; these factors include a lack of education, exclusion from land ownership and participation in the political and economic life of their country, and all of the associated ills of poverty. Exacerbating or perpetuating the situation of the peasants is achieved by terror tactics; Menchu's (173) younger brother is tort

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that the Christian Indians of Guatemala believed that it was their duty "to fight all the injustices committed against our people." She and her family suffered enormously because they joined communal village organizations and popular political fronts such as the Revolutionary Workers Groups and the 31st of January Popular Front. A major strategy, therefore for overcoming the grip of wealthy classes on the poor of the Global South is organization at the grassroots level. The united front described by Menchu (231) as emerging in Guatemala is an example of how disparate organizations seeking major social change can become a coordinated force for change. Menchu (220) discusses the importance of organizing poor and oppressed women to facilitate development in the Global South. Ruth Pearson (384) maintains that empowering women to be key participants in and beneficiaries of development policy is absolutely essential in the Global South. Many poor women, whether living in the rural or urban areas of a developing country, are doubly burdened by poverty and gender. Empowering women through women's organizations is necessary as is education to provide women with the tools needed for autonomous living. Pearson (387) also comments

Category: Government - R