Mexico: Indigenous Women Fight Femicide With Hip Hop

Indigenous women arrived in Mexico City to present their work defending their territory and to denounce femicides inside and outside their communities, through hip-hop.

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They arrived from different parts of the country to the Chopo University Museum to talk about feminism and gender violence.

Zara Monrroy, an Indigenous woman from the Comca'ac community of Punta Chueca, Sonora, said she started rapping to spread culture and tradition. She added that music has been a tool for her message to reach indigenous women since many of them do not know how to write.

"Especially among young people, because there they listen to music from outside that sometimes they don't understand, because they don't speak English, but they prefer it to songs in our language."

She said she spreads her experiences and the traditions of her people and the injustices that are committed especially toward women. The rapper said she uses her music to bring to other women under violence clear messages that can help them change their situation.

For Monrroy, to find acceptance by the older people of her community wasn't easy.

"When I started singing, there were grandmothers and grandparents who were not in agreement with the musical fusion that I was doing," she said. "When they saw that my intention was good, they accepted. Now we have a mutual respect."

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Janeidy Molina, another rapper from Sonora, said she is working the defense of Indigenous territory and against transnational megaprojects in different parts of Mexico.

"I am very inspired by the experiences of how my people face problems with mining companies, and I make music to attract the attention of the youngest because otherwise, they are almost not interested in the work we are doing in the defense of territory," Molina said. 

Both singers were part of the talk "Participation of Women in Contemporary Indigenous Issues" and in the music festival, that is set to en on Nov. 26.