Well, today is Columbus Day proper (as opposted to Columbus Day Observed, which was last Monday when we first began this Columbus Week Post Extravaganza). Exactly 514 years ago today, in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue and basically fucked everything up. In much of Latin America, the celebration for his aforementioned fucking up goes by the name Día de la Raza or Day of the Race:

When Mexico celebrated the four hundredth anniversary of Columbus’ landing, in 1892, the country was ruled by Porfirio Díaz, who remained in power for over thirty years and was a great admirer of European culture, especially the French. At that time, the government prepared a celebration of “The communion of all peoples in sentiments of justice and admiration for the past, noble aspirations and glowing hopes for the future” for October 12, 1892. As in most of the world, this event praised Columbus for his skill as navigator, for his Discovery of America and for bringing European culture to this land, although all of these things have since been questioned and re-examined.

In 1918, philosopher Antonio Caso took October 12th as an opportunity to praise the “Mexican mestizo race”, La Raza, the rich mixture of Spanish and indigenous cultures which characterizes us. He was perhaps the first to coin the term La Raza, which has now been adopted by Latinos from all across the continent. Ten years later, the Día de la Raza was declared an official national holiday by Congress, after only minor debate.¹

But in 2002, Hugo Chávez did one of those things he’s so fond of doing that makes you want to shake him and scream, “Goddamnit man, you’re an authoritarian dictator!! Why must you make me love you?!” He made October 12th the Día de la Resistencia Indígena, or the Day of Indigenous Resistance, in Venezuela. During the 2004 celebrations, a statue of Columbus was torn down and dragged through the streets.

In honor of the Day of Indigenous Resistance, I thought it would be nice to discuss indigenous cultures around the world, what’s threatening them, what they’re doing to stop it, and what others are doing to help them. This fits in with the Mid-Apocalypse Review series (which previously only dealt with global warming and such) primarily because if these groups can make it until 2012 intact, humanity will be okay. If they can’t, that certainly makes it more of an iffy prospect. I sometimes think of them as “the old guard”; they’re the last bastions of tribal wisdom, the last solid link we have to a better way of life. If civilization finally wipes them out, just before wiping itself out, the only hope humanity has is a bunch of suburban honkies trying to figure it all out again from scratch. That said, let’s see who’s trying to destroy them now.

Starting in Brazil, cattle ranchers are destroying the Rio Preto rainforest, threatening the survival of the Enawene Nawe. The Enawene Nawe are desperately trying to get the Rio Preto area protected from loggers and farmers, but to no avail so far.

Earlier this year Enawene Nawe leader Marikeroseene told UK TV channel ITV, ‘In the last two years, the felling has risen dramatically. It has doubled…. The situation is unbearable.’

Meanwhile a new study just published by the National Academy of Sciences in the USA used satellite images to demonstrate that soya planters are directly destroying Amazon rainforest, rather than occupying forest already destroyed by cattle ranchers. It estimates that 5,400 square kilometres of forest were destroyed by soya cultivators in Mato Grosso between 2001 and 2004.

In Columbia, the Nukak tribe are trying to return to their old lands after being moved by the government onto a camp that’s dramatically smaller than their old territory:

In the new camp the Nukak are forced to live together in one place which, as experts had warned, has led to outbreaks of disease; traditionally they live in small, nomadic groups. Since first contact in 1988, flu and malaria have killed more than half of the tribe.

“I want to go back home. There was more meat there, there was more fish,” said Rosa, a Nukak woman.

The new camp is just 2% of the size of the Indians’ own territory and their wild food is in short supply. They also live in fear of armed conflict between the Colombian army, paramilitaries and guerrillas.

The Nukak’s demand comes just days after the visit of an international human rights mission which concluded that they are in “danger of extinction.”²

Which brings us to everyone’s favorite, the Bushmen, who are also trying to go home. Little has changed since we last discussed them. They’re still being forced off their land and into resettlement camps so DeBeers can overcharge you for shiny rocks. But there is some good news: First People of the Kalahari, an organization of Gana and Gwi Bushmen in Botswana, launched their own website in early September called iwant2gohome.org. The homepage features photos of about 400 displaced Bushmen that give you direct quotes from them if you scroll your mouse over them. (This apparently doesn’t work in Mozilla Firefox browsers, though.)

They also sent an open letter to Leonardo DiCaprio:

The Kalahari Bushmen of Botswana have made a desperate appeal for help to Leonardo DiCaprio, who stars in the forthcoming film The Blood Diamond. The appeal appears today as a full-page advert in Variety magazine.

The Bushmen have also sent a letter to Leonardo. Bushman Roy Sesana writes, “Friends have told us that you are in a film, The Blood Diamond, which shows how badly diamonds can hurt. We know this. When we were chased off our land, officials told us it was because of the diamond finds.

“Please help us, Sir. We know you are a famous and respected man, and that if you speak up for us many people will listen. We just want to go home, and hunt and gather and live in peace like we have always done.”

The Botswana government has brutally evicted the Gana and Gwi Bushmen from their land in the Central Kalahari, and De Beers diamond company is exploring for diamonds there. The Bushmen are calling for a boycott of De Beers and Botswana diamonds until they are allowed back on their land.

Actors Colin Firth and Julie Christie have already spoken out in support of the Bushmen. Julie Christie said today, “Diamonds as the cause of misery and suffering are not a thing of the past. The Bushman evictions in Botswana are a clear demonstration that local people are still suffering because of these stones.”

That article was posted on Survival International’s website on September 18th and still graces the homepage. If DiCaprio has leapt to action to raise awareness, I’m certainly not aware of it. He hasn’t responded yet; maybe he’s planning a huge, publicized, Angelina Jolie-type excursion. Or, more realistically, maybe he doesn’t actually give half a crap. Either way, this recent article suggests he was already aware of the Bushmen’s plight:

Friends say that his attention was drawn to the African diamond trade by his girlfriend Gisele Bundchen, the Brazilian supermodel. Bundchen knows the British model Lily Cole and the Somali-born Iman, both of whom stopped modelling for De Beers after the company was accused of expelling Kalahari bushmen from a mining area. De Beers says that the 2,000 bushmen moved out of the Botswana region of their own accord.

Meanwhile, time, as always, is running out:

A panel of three judges in the high court at Lobatse, about 70km south of Botswana’s capital, Gaberone, began deliberations earlier this month on the San’s claim against their eviction from the reserve.

A judgement is expected on 13 December, and The Blood Diamond is scheduled for worldwide release two days later.³

Other Columbus Day Posts

• This year:
  • Giuli’s review of The New World, “Matoaka’s Legacy“
  • The Canary Effect on Columbus Day
  • Jason discusses the biological toll of Columbus’ discovery and the meaning of “native” and “invasive” in “Becoming Native“
  • Jason discusses the impact Columbus had on philosophy and civilization in “The Age of Exuberance.”
  • Giuli discusses the “Solutrean theory” of American migration and its political implications in “Scientific Racism and Migrations to the New World.”
• Years gone by:
  • Giuli offers some fun Columbus Day educational activities with, “You, Too, Can Spark a Genocide!“
  • Steve reminds us of all we’ve lost in “May God Continue to Bless the United States of America.”