A leading radical historian investigates the accusations madeagainst the author of bestselling memoir I, Rigoberta Menchú . In 1984, indigenous rights activist Rigoberta Menchú published a harrowing account of life under a military dictatorship in Guatemala. That autobiography— I, Rigoberta Menchú —transformed the study and understanding of modern Guatemalan history and brought its author international renown. She won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. At that point, she became the target of historians seeking to discredit her testimony and deny US complicity in the genocidal policies of the Guatemalan regime.Told here is the story of an unlettered woman who became the spokesperson for her people and clashed with the intellectual apologists of the world’s most powerful nation. What happened to her autobiography speaks volumes about power, perception and race on the world stage. This critical companion to Menchú’s work will disabuse many readers of the lies that have been told about this courageous individual.
Оглавление
Greg Grandin. Who Is Rigoberta Menchu?
WHO IS RIGOBERTA MENCHÚ?
Contents
Preface
Introduction: A Victory Described in Detail
CHAPTER ONE. Clarifying History: On the Guatemalan Truth Commission
CHAPTER TWO. Judging Genocide: The Reasoning Behind the Truth Commission’s Ruling
Appendix: The Findings of the UN Commission for Historical Clarification—A State Racist in Theory and Practice
Suggestions for Further Reading
Index
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GREG GRANDIN
Introduction: A Victory Described in Detail
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The CEH is concerned less with identifying who fired the first shot in any one skirmish than with understanding the larger causes of the civil war. Starting with an introduction that provides staggering statistical evidence of inequality—Guatemala’s health, education, literacy, and nutritional indicators continued to be among the most unjust in the world despite an abundance of natural wealth—the CEH’s final report offers a damning analysis of Guatemalan history:
From independence in 1821, an event led by the country’s elite, an authoritarian state was created that excluded the majority of Guatemalans; it was racist in theory and practice and served to protect the interests of a small, privileged elite . . . State violence has been fundamentally aimed against the excluded, the poor, and the Maya, as well as those who struggled in favor of a just and more equitable society . . . Thus a vicious circle was created in which social injustice led to protest and subsequently to political instability, to which there were always only two responses: repression or military coups.
