"AS people and as Indians", according to the 5th Assembly of the World Council of Indian Peoples held in 1987 in the Peruvian capital of Lima, "we must use the 500th anniversary as the moment to make a critical and constructive balance sheet that goes beyond the disputes between the European great powers. They have conceived of this history in a way that allows them to avoid any serious historical judgement on the people's liberation struggles and on the notion of a real dialogue and cultural exchange between civilizations." MAURICE LEMOINE
A LL the evidence shows that this
message has not got through. In January 1992 Luis Yanez-Barneuvo, president of the Spanish national commission on the 500th anniversary, exalted over: "the civil work that led to the construction of 250 cities in the first 50 years [after the 'Discovery'], the creation of universities, the undertaking of evangelization, the development of law, hydraulic works and the building of roads... an immense work of colonization in space and time".?
There is no sense in blaming today's Hidalgo for crimes committed by his ancestors 500 years ago, in a completely different historical context. But one could at least have asked that he should not sim* This article first appeared in the summer issue of Volcans, a Central American solidarity magazine published in Paris. Further information about Volcans can be obtained from EDREV, 14, Rue de Nanteuil, 75015 Paris, France. 21 1. Quoted in DIAL, no. 1543, November 29, 1990. 2. El Pais, January 21, 1992.
• # 231 International Viewpoint
International Viewpoint # 231 • June 22, 1992
500th ANNIVERSARY
When Christopher Columbus disembarked in "America", the continents already had between 60 and 80 million inhabitants - 150 years later a mere 3.5 million of these Native Americans remained.
Some 40,000 Native Americans, mainly Guatemalans, but also delegations from other peoples, marched through the streets of the Guatemalan town of Quetzaltenango in October 1991, to draw attention to these facts. However they were not just commemorating the terrible past. As they stayed for more than five hours in the blazing sun, these Quichés, Kakchiquele and descendants of the Mayas also demanded the abolition of the civil self-defence patrols?, no more forced recruitment by the military comisionados and an end to the repression which has claimed 100,000 lives in the country in the past 30 years. Thus, the opposition to the celebrations of the 500th anniversary is not to do with some "morbid cult of memory", obsessed with mulling over the horrors of the past; it is a protest by a group which still exists, and continues to suffer. Underlining the real issues
Rigoberta Menchu, a Guatemalan Indian woman who has witnessed the terrible deaths of her father, mother and one of her brothers, and is today in exile, underlined the real issues in Washington in 1991: "We are, without doubt, interested in any research which throws light on the preHispanic cultures and on the historical situation arising from the 'conquest of the Indian peoples, as many put it. But at this century's end, any commemorations must above all focus on today and today's struggles. That is to say, the 500th anniversary should be the beginning of the end of 500 years of oppression and discrimination against millions of inhabitants of our conti-
And, indeed, there would be better ways of marking this event than spending fortunes to present the deeds of the Conquistadores as progressive acts or allowing Spain and, through Spain, Europe, to fete the grandeur of its past and its "civilizing
America, and notably so-called Latin America, remains partly Indian. To this day, and despite the tragic situation of some peoples approaching extinction, there are some 40 million people who identify themselves as belonging to an indigenous group, including Inuits, Iroquois and Apaches in the North, and Caribs, Taïnos, Zapotecs, Mayas, Cunas, Chibchas, Xabantes, Quechuas, Aymaras, Yanomanis, Guaranis, and Mapuches in the South. They live as peasants, forest2- towns, according to rhythms that are not dwellers or immigrants in the shanty those of the dominant society. In both North and South they face discrimination whether open or underhand, which deprives them of any form of political
Nonetheless, history cannot be rewritten.America has also become an irreversibly mixed society where Indians, Blacks and whites have been thrown together into the melting pot of centuries of turmoil. And while it is true that it is the Indian who suffers the most heavy oppression and that antagonism between Indians and Ladinos [people of Spanish/Indian mixed race] has endured, it is also true that the Ladinos too find the doors of social progress, education and civil participation closed against them, victims of the same exploita-
The curse of history
The response to the 500th anniversary festivities reflects all the richness, all the weight of the curse of history and its contradictions. In 1988 the Indian organizations of Ecuador affirmed that "without Indian self-government and without control of our territories, autonomy has no meaning" and launched an appeal for a national campaign to be called "500 Years of Resistance". In October 1989, in the Colombian capital Bogota, some 30 Indian and popular organizations from six or seven Latin American and Caribbean countries met, on the invitation of the Indian organizations of the Andean region and Brazilian trade union circle.
The need to bring together diverse ethno-cultural forces in joint work led to the campaign changing into "500 Years of Indian and Popular Resistance". A continental meeting of Indian peoples also took place in the Ecuadoran capital Quito in 1990 on the invitation of the Confederation of the Indian Nations of Ecuador (CONAIE), the National Indian Organization of Colombia and the SAIIC from the
Finally, and only a year before the anniversary itself, Guatemala hosted the second meeting of the "500 Years of Indian, Black and Popular resistance" Here a division appeared among the 249 delegates from 28 countries representing 49 Indian peoples and popular groups — including, for the first time Afro-American
On the one side were Indian organizations concerned with defending their cultures and on the other were the popular non-Indian organizations marked by socialist ideology, and traditions of political and trade union action.
The debate was reflected in the final document which states: "there was a desire for unity, but no real unity. There is still much work to be done: we must not restrict our activity to the documents; we have to take the issue of culture into account and find room for it".
The concept of development which the Indian peoples have is closely tied to their vision of the universe, their ethics, their collective identity and their particular fashion of viewing the world. The Ladinos, on the other hand, have a Western model.
Nonetheless, the urge to work together and even develop a common approach to the great problems of the moment is there. The questioning by sectors of Latin American society of "what the European and North American invasion of our continent during 499 years of colonialism and missionary religion has done" draws the issue of the place of the original inhabitants out of the shadows of folklore. At the same time, the condemnation is not only of the past, but of the world order of the present.
"At a time when the United States, now the sole global superpower, is launching an Initiative for the Americas' which will add a new link in the already long chain of oppression in Latin America; when cholera, that mediaeval malady, is killing millions of Latin Americans in Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil and Central America because they have lost their right to healthcare as a result of pressure to pay the interest on the unpayable foreign debt; when a realignment is taking place among the imperialist countries, involving the formation of new power blocs and the development of new confrontations in the repartition of the world; when Europe, through Spain, has come to America to talk about an Iberian-American integration of neocolonialist stamp; and where the East-West conflict has disappeared and the Empire can turn its attention to the South, bringing oppression and death in its wake.4
Appeal to Europe
At the end of the meeting in Xelaju Noj (Quetzaltenango), an appeal was made to the European countries and the Vatican that the anniversary should not be celebrated. But no one is more deaf than he who does not wish to hear.
Despite the fact that many in the Latin American church are calling for a calm but honest account of the past, the Assembly of Latin American Bishops, meeting in San Domingo, is planning a big celebration in a few months of the 5th centenary of the bringing of the Gospel to the New World and the "marvellous fruits of civilization and progress" brought forth by the "liberating ferment of Christianity" 5
The prospect is that of a "new mission" and, no doubt, a repudiation of the "preferential option for the poor" promoted by the liberation theologians.
Joaquin Balaguer, the president of the Dominican Republic, one of Latin Ameri-
The road to nowhere
June 22, 1992• # 231 International Viewpoint ca's poorest countries, has taken this opportunity to devote several million dollars to the building of a huge lighthouse in honour of Columbus, a project which involves the expulsion of thousands of
500th ANNIVERSARY / PALESTINE families from the site.
LAST November world attention was focused on the
Meanwhile, the United Nations has
Israeli-Palestinian "peace" conference taking place under omitted to invite the Amazon tribes to the
United States auspices in Madrid. Seven months later,
Rio Environment conference. However a despite all the fanfare, the Palestinians are no nearer
World Conference of Native Peoples will take place from May 25 to 30, not far from achieving their national rights and the state of Israel no the big event. The aim of this is for the more inclined to compromise than before.
Native Peoples to agree on their own Earth