The Chilean Antumalen Ayelen Antillanca Urrutia has been working in ecological activism since she was 12, trying to preserve the waters of Lake Ranco from pollution. His home is there, on the Huapi Islands, in Chile. She was one of the 12 selected among the more than 4,000 applications to apply for a LAYCS (Latin American Youth Climate Scholarships) scholarship and this summer she gave a conference in Bonn as part of an environmental conference organized by the UN. He defines himself as an artist and activist. She is 25 years old and for her musical side she has chosen to call herself Isleña Antumalen.
Ask. You are Mapuche, the largest indigenous people in Chile.
Answer. Our territory, Wallmapu, covers from the central zone to the southern zone of Chile and Argentina. It is divided into different territorial identities among which are mine, the Huiliche, the people of the south. It is one of the regions of Chile that has the most water. Therefore, the relationship with water, with kodefines us a lot.
Q. Is her vindictive nature also typical of the Mapuche woman?
R. The Mapuche woman has had a lot of importance in our history. The Janequeo warrior, for example. The Mapuche way of organizing required women to be in charge of spreading the language over a very wide territory.
Q. As an environmentalist, do you think there is a plan B to try to save the planet?
R. I have more faith in the youth than in these international organizations that are fine out. If people see small initiatives, small groups of people doing specific things for a territory, perhaps we can generate a more autonomous force that works.
Q. He titled his album Ñaña (sister).
R. It’s a short, simple word, but it means a lot. Today, people from different towns are developing concepts such as nañaridad. When I left my land I have met other peoples very different from mine, from Africa, Innuit people.
Q. And it has a song titled Ñaña decolonizes your beauty.
R. That was the first concept I had to decolonize. We were colonized by the Spanish, other peoples were colonized by the English, the French. We, Afro-descendant and indigenous youth, have had to decolonize ourselves to re-understand ourselves.
Q. This also means betting on diversity.
R. Yes, absolutely. Identities and diversities seek their political representation. There were many years of repressing many things and today we have sexual diversity, racial identity… Each generation has its liberations.
Q. You are 25 years old, how do you explain the global resurgence of fascism and the extreme right?
R. In the last Chilean elections, Kast got a lot of votes from young people and not only from the upper class, but also from the humble class. I don’t understand very well where this fascist feeling comes from and why there are these young people voting for these characters. I feel like it has to do with technology, access from a very young age to so many things… It’s complicated.
Q. He says his Instagram account is like his fanzine.
R. It is the way that is being used to generate your community of people who listen to you and who help you. Facebook is already over and Twitter (sic) I don’t know if it is still active. IG is the platform until they invent another one and we mobilize to jump to a new one.
Q. Convince those who don’t know you yet to listen Ñaña.
R. It is a pioneering proposal, which I have not seen, neither in Chile nor anywhere else, young people from an indigenous people doing reggaeton, doing dembowoccupying the indigenous theme in some lyrics. I find that it is like something very new and people are going to see it and say, “but what is this?”
Q. Here we could define it as groundbreaking.
R. It breaks several rules in many ways and the more people listen to it, the more they will understand what rule we are breaking. It comes from the south of the world, but at the same time it is a very global style. It could change the perception of life even for the most receptive people.
Q. In your music, do commitment and enjoyment go together?
R. Absolutely. We can be super serious people, but enjoying life is something political because we have had mothers, grandmothers who couldn’t go out dancing or have a drink. It is an act of vindication for those who came before.
Babelia
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