The International Forum titled "Challenges of Plurinationality: insights on the 25 years of the indigenous uprising in 1990" which took place on June 3rd in the university's campus El Giron coliseum was the ideal place for over 200 people involved in education as well as social and political movements. This event was organized by the university's local sustainable development major, the "Estados, movimientos sociales y territorios" research group and the Abya Yala-UPS publishing house.

The aim of the forum was present several views regarding the relationship between the State, indigenous communities and rights, and to find a balance between the accomplishments and the limitations of the demands presented by communities in June 1990. 

The first panel discussion: "Opinions from Indigenous communities: the state, plurinationality and rights" was made up by Nina Pacari, former constitutional judge; Maria Andrade, indigenous coordinator-GIZ; Vicente Chato, former indigenous movement leader; and José Delgado, former Mayor of Guamote. Eduardo Delgado was the moderator. 

During the first forum the participants analyzed the advancement of indigenous communities, and criticized that most of the advancements written in the constitution have not been applied. There is no respect for epistemic knowledge in indigenous communities, there has been no progress in the rights of indigenous women, questioning the conception of the state regarding interculturality as simplistic and reductionist. 

In this regard, Nina Pacari invited professors, researchers, students and the overall public to work together and fight to make this a plurinational state with rights. 

The speakers of the second panel discussion "Opinions from academia: the state, plurinationality and rights" were Dr. Marc Becker, Professor from Truman State University, Dr. Víctor Breton, Professor from Universitat de Barcelona and a member of FLACSO, Dr. Pablo Ortiz, UPS professor and researcher at CLACSO and Dr. Edgar Tello, UPS professor and academic coordinator.

In this panel discussion the talk was on the book written by Marc Becker ¡Pachakutik! Movimientos indígenas, which is about the emergence of social organizations in our country. From a historical perspective and a sociopolitical analysis, the book contains information about the organizations that started the political indigenous movement.

Before the end of the event, Jose Juncosa, director of the Abya Yala-UPS publishing house remembered Dr. Jose Sanchez, former director of UNIVERSITAS magazine, who passed away.  

Click here to watch the video of the event: Foro Internacional: Los Desafíos de la Plurinacionalidad