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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

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Rigoberta Menchu
Age: 65
Born: 1959
Born: January 9
Activist
Autobiographer
Human Rights Activist
Politician
Writer
Years
Asks
Sacrifices
Five
Ancestors
Lasts
Occurs
Last
Ancestor
Human
Capital
Humans
Gods
Many
Sacrifice
Sacrificed
Made
Hundred
Indigenous

More quotes by Rigoberta Menchu

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In Guatemala, the gap between rich and poor must be eliminated, or we will continue to be the example of conflict in America.
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To be a light to others you will need a good dose of the spiritual life. Because as my mother used to say, if you are in a good place, then you can help others but if you're not well, then go look for somebody who is in a good place who can help you.
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The human being is to be respected and defended, not protected like a bird or a river.
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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.
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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
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We say no to the peace that keeps us on our knees, no to the peace that keeps us in chains, no to the false peace that denies the values and contributions of our peoples.
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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.
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We are not myths of the past, ruins in the jungle, or zoos. We are people and we want to be respected, not to be victims of intolerance and racism.
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... together we can build the people's Church, a true Church. Not just a hierarchy, or a building, but a real change inside people.
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... only those of us who carry our cause in our hearts are willing to run the risks.
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Impunity should be condemned in any corner of the world.
Rigoberta Menchu
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I wish that a conscious sense of peace and a feeling of human solidarity would develop in all peoples.
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Today the governments of Latin America should be ashamed of not havingexterminated the indigenous, at the end of the twentieth century, because weexist at the end of this century. We are not myths of the past, ruins in thejungle, or zoos. We are people and we want to be respected, not to be victims ofintolerance and racism.
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The Bible has been used as a way of making us accept our situation, and not to bring enlightenment to the poor.
Rigoberta Menchu
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The people are the only ones capable of transforming society.
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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
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I am like a drop of water on a rock. After drip, drip, dripping in the same place, I begin to leave a mark, and I leave my mark in many people's hearts.
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In my opinion, peace has not come to America, to Nicaragua, or to El Salvador. A hungry people is a people without peace. If the demands of the people are not met, what kind of peace are we talking about?
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I resolutely believe that respect for diversity is a fundamental pillar in the eradication of racism, xenophobia and intolerance. There is no excuse for evading the responsibility of finding the most suitable path toward the elimination of any expression of discrimination against indigenous peoples.
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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