The following passage raises important issues regarding the ongoing
impacts of a history of conquest which has never stopped. Its effects
today are horrifying. While reading this, please keep in mind the
current struggle of the Western Shoshone Nation - whose land base is
home not only to the third largest gold producing area in the world, but
also the U.S. military site, the Nevada Test Site and the proposed
nuclear waste site at Yucca Mtn. For more info. See www.wsdp.org
One section was especially striking for U.S. citizens: " It is
important to point out that many nation-states look to U.S. federal
Indian
policy as a standard in the treatment of their respective indigenous
popu-
lations. This policy of course is based on the "discovery" principle. In
fact, the United States today "continues to claim that the subjection of
indigenous nations to the legislative power of the United States is
based
on the international law of conquest" (Wilmer 1993). Given that the U.S.
track record has been one of the near obliteration of indigenous rights,
is it any wonder why other governments often repress their own
populations?
The exploitation of lands and resources, thirst for profits and material
greed as sacralized during the 16th century mining of gold and silver
remain vital processes and attitudes driving the world economy today."
Read on...And consider - what can you do to assist in this 500 year
struggle of resistance and liberation?
-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Castanha [mailto:castanha@hawaii.edu]
Sent: Friday, October 08, 2004 6:02 AM
To: papbullslist@revoke.org
Subject: "Discovery" and "Globalization"
*Aloha and guatiao,
Below is a short passage from a subsection of my dissertation chapter on
"Discovery." In the context of the larger chapter, it attempts to draw a
link between the meaning of the concept of "discovery," i.e., Christian
dominion as manifested in the 15th century Americas, and corporate-
military atrocities, i.e., contemporary "globalization" policies, as
played out internationally and specifically against indigenous peoples
in Chiapas, Bieke (Vieques), and elsewhere.
*Burn `em up!
Friday, Oct. 8, 5:30pm (Fort St. Mall)
In spirit,
Tony Castana
Coordinator, Kosmos Indigena
*******
"Discovery" and Globalization
Abuse against members of indigenous groups tends to be the
most severe. As Amnesty International noted, 'There have
been frequent reports of torture of indigenous people, and
particularly of leading members of indigenous organizations.'
The National Indigenous Institute, an agency of the government,
estimated that at the beginning of Salinas's term there were
some 20,000 Indians in jail. During Salinas's term, violations
continued against members of Mexico's 56 Indian groups, who
number over 10 million. Such violations include summary exe-
cution, unequal administration of justice, and the systematic
impunity of their abusers (Russell 1994).
What do the "right of discovery" as promulgated five hundred years ago
and
the current phenomenon known as "globalization" have in common? On
January
1, 1994, the day the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went
into
effect, members of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (Zapatistas)
"lashed out against the poverty and injustice that each year kills
thousands
in Chiapas and grinds tens of thousands more into landless dependency"
by
capturing several towns in the southernmost Mexican state of Chiapas
(Morin
1994). NAFTA and the thirst for profits by corporations in both the
United
States and Mexico were at the heart of the uprisings. It is widely
believed
that NAFTA was the impetus for the Mexican government to amend laws
which
now allow foreigners and foreign corporations to buy up communal land
holdings and exploit resources where indigenous peoples live (Ibid.).
The
trade agreement encourages foreign investment and commercial development
in
Mexico at the expense of particularly indigenous groups such as the
Maya.
The Mexican government's response to the uprisings was brutal, as
reported
by a network of human rights organizations who arrived shortly after the
military infiltration:
Why the military and the government insisted on restricting
access became apparent as we collected testimonies of summary
executions, torture, disappearances, arbitrary detentions and
indiscriminate bombings of civilian communities. These acts
constitute serious violations of both fundamental human rights
and the Geneva Conventions and its Protocols.
Our delegation confirmed numerous disappearances and abductions
by the Mexican military of indigenous non-combatants. In the
indigenous community of San Antonio de los Baos, for example,
eyewitnesses recounted how family members were abducted and
forced to wear Army uniforms ostensibly to guide patrols through
unfamiliar terrain. We also discovered mass graves. As part of
a massive cover-up operation, the Mexican military had secretly
buried 48 unidentified bodies in Tuxtla Gutirrez and numerous
corpses of indigenous peoples in Ocosingo (Ibid.).
As depicted here, governmental oppression against indigenous peoples in
Mexico has not changed very much since the arrival of the Spaniards.
What
is the link between Christian dominion then and corporate atrocities
today?
The answer to this question concerns the continued abuse against
indigenous
and "third world" peoples worldwide, especially in the global south. It
is
important to point out that many nation-states look to U.S. federal
Indian
policy as a standard in the treatment of their respective indigenous
popu-
lations. This policy of course is based on the "discovery" principle. In
fact, the United States today "continues to claim that the subjection of
indigenous nations to the legislative power of the United States is
based
on the international law of conquest" (Wilmer 1993). Given that the U.S.
track record has been one of the near obliteration of indigenous rights,
is it any wonder why other governments often repress their own
populations?
The exploitation of lands and resources, thirst for profits and material
greed as sacralized during the 16th century mining of gold and silver
remain vital processes and attitudes driving the world economy today.
Modern-day massacres in Guatemala, El Salvador, Rwanda, Bosnia and East
Timor, and the many subtle genocides taking place such as the continued
relocation of the Dine in Arizona onto toxic radioactive lands to make
way
for uranium mining, and the spread of disease among the Yanomami in
Brasil
by government-backed garimpeiros (gold miners), are clear indicators
that
cultural violence and genocide are still strikingly prevalent when it
comes
to the "money god."
As the world capitalist system was initiated with the European coming to
the Americas, the issue of the bombing of the island of Bieke (which
ceased
in May 2003) adds another imperial layer to the exploitation of people
and
the planet. The issue exemplifies the intricate relationship between
corpo-
rations and the military, specifically multinational corporations and
the
U.S. military-industrial complex, and how the military is used to
protect
global corporate interests. It has been a five hundred year struggle in
Boriken (Puerto Rico) against both secular and non-secular interests:
Our ancestors, Kasike Kasimar and his brother Yahueribo (who
killed the infamous mastiff Berecillo used to disembowel Taino
women and children), were the first to die fighting to protect
Bieke against the Spanish invaders. From this time forward, the
foundation of the struggle against injustice and the destruction
of our Mother Earth has been to keep our ancestral ways alive
through our words, deeds and acts (Reyes Ocasio 2002).
On April 19, 1999, a U.S. Navy FA-18 jet pilot launched two errant five
hundred pound bombs killing David Sane, a civilian security guard
working
at the Navy's observation post. The incident immediately rekindled local
animosity against the Navy since its forced expropriation of the island
in 1941. The Washington Post reported that Sane's death "is more than an
isolated accident. It is the latest instance of predictable harm to the
people of Vieques that goes back through decades of military neglect of
island interests" (Quoted in, Rabin Siegal 1999). Indeed, the Navy had
bulldozed and relocated most of the civilian population in the early
1940s and "took two thirds of the best farming lands and prohibited the
Fisherman of Bieke from fishing in their traditional fishing waters"
(Reyes Ocasio 2002). Sane's death sparked a fury of protests against the
military presence. To prevent further bombing, Viequenses and supporters
occupied target ranges for months. Many were subsequently arrested when
the military resumed bombing, including prominent international figures.
The protests further addressed the appalling health conditions on the
island. Many unusual cases of cancer, kidney failure, and high levels of
heavy metals in children's blood have been reported (Gelb 2003). The
Navy
has admitted that it used depleted uranium shells and highly toxic
napalm
during military exercises (Ruiz 2002). Pablo Connelly, whose
one-year-old
son's blood level contains dangerous amounts mercury and lead, said, "It
just makes us feel like we've been guinea pigs for the last 60 years.
During
the heavy bombing days, the smell of sulfur and powder would be so heavy
that the kids would be screaming in bed that they couldn't breathe"
(Rabin
Siegal 1999). Robert Rabin Siegal summarizes some of the negative social
impacts of the Navy's presence:
... 72% of its population of approximately 9,000 live below the
poverty level. The Municipal Government reports over 50% unemploy-
ment. Studies by the University of Puerto Rico School of Public
Health indicate that Vieques suffers a 27% higher cancer case
rate that the rest of Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rico Legislature
approved legislation ordering an epidemiological study to deter-
mine the causes of the higher cancer rate. People on Vieques,
environmental and health experts throughout Puerto Rico, relate
the abnormally high cancer rate to the environmental degradation
caused by U.S. Navy and NATO bombing (the Navy 'rents' Vieques
to NATO and other countries for bombing practice) on this small
Caribbean island (Ibid.).
The case of Bieke presents a microcosm of how the U.S. military operates
worldwide. Although it has withdrawn, military operations were
transferred
elsewhere and the island remains a toxic nightmare. Bieke served as a
key
training site for American and multinational operations throughout the
"Cold War" era ending with the most recent incursion into Iraq. Both
U.S.
and other foreign troops had conducted exercises there on most days of
the
year, and during the past fifteen years, "more than 1,300 warships and
4,200
aircraft used the island for target practice" (Ruiz 2002). All of this
depicts how the U.S. military is really a guardian for larger global
interests, or corporate multinational interests that keep the military
in
operation to begin with. Multinational corporations and
intergovernmental
organizations like the IMF, WTO, World Bank and NAFTA are the driving
forces
behind the world capitalist system, or what is known today as
"globalization."
For most, however, this "one size fits all" program is actually
synonymous
with FRAGMENTATION. "In any poll of non-Western peoples," according to
Samuel Huntington, "the IMF undoubtedly would win the support of finance
ministers and a few others, but get an overwhelmingly unfavorable rating
from just about everyone else..." (Huntington, in Lechner and Boli
2000).
Samir Amin has noted that economic alienation "constitutes the essential
content of the ideology of capitalism" (Amin 1989). His book
Eurocentrism
point out how the "European conquest of the world" polarized it into
centers and peripheries unable to close the gap between rich and poor.
The
unequal distribution of resources and wealth has led to the
fragmentation
of the world economic system. This is apparently inevitable within a
capitalist framework:
The subsequent unfolding of the history of the capitalist
conquest of the world showed that this conquest was not going
to bring about a homogenization of the societies of the planet
on the basis of the European model. On the contrary, this conquest
progressively created a growing polarization at the heart of the
system, crystallizing the capitalist world into fully developed
centers and peripheries incapable of closing the ever widening
gap, making this contradiction within 'actually existing' capital-
ism-a contradiction insurmountable within the framework of the
capitalist system-the major and most explosive contradiction
of our time (Ibid.).
Therefore, both the concepts of "discovery" and "globalization" are
ideologies
based on principles of domination and subjugation of peoples, cultures,
and
the natural environment. Both concepts are Western based and span a mere
five hundred year gap within the modern system. Globalization based on
the
policies of multinational corporations and intergovernmental
organizations
operate under an international system of law grounded in the same
mentality
as the "law of nations," which was basically an agreement between
Christian
European nations to "keep the peace" among themselves which allowed for
their colonial wars of expansion. Globalization today results in an
extreme
disparity of wealth among nation-states, particularly the global divide
between north and south where half the planet lives in poverty. Thus,
Christianity's role in the advancement of capitalism is not a
contradictory
idea:
In this domain, Eurocentrism rests upon teleology: namely, that
the entire history of Europe necessarily led to the blossoming
of capitalism to the extent that Christianity, regarded as a
European religion, was more favorable than other religions to
the flourishing of the individual and the exercise of his or
her capacity to dominate nature. The corresponding claim is
that Islam, Hinduism, or Confucianism, for example, constituted
obstacles to the social change necessary for capitalist develop-
ment. Their plasticity is therefore denied, either because it is
reserved solely for Christianity, or even because it is believed
that Christianity carried the seeds of capitalist advancement
within it from the beginning (Ibid.).
*******