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From: alt.fan.jai-maharaj@googlegroups.com

IN SOLIDARITY WITH INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

By Atul Jog
Editorial, The Pioneer, dailypioneer.com
Friday, August 10, 2018

European countries physically eliminated and destroyed the
identities of indigenous peoples; the world has much to
learn from India and its Constitution

Christopher Columbus embarked on an expedition in search of
India in 1492 and reached the Western Islands. The Spanish
travellers mistakenly thought, in their search for gold,
that they had reached India. So, this new world was given
the name of India and its residents came to be known as
Indians. But when the team led by Vasco-de-Gama that had
set sail to search for India landed on the east side on the
Calicut port of India, this time the real deal, in 1498,
the local inhabitants were naturally called Indians.

People in the area that had been searched for by Columbus
had a reddish tinge to their complexion and ended up in
popular parlance being called Red Indians; there were at
least four major such Spanish expeditions. An Italian,
Amerigo Vepucci went on two expeditions and wrote a letter
saying. "(Here is) A new world -- more densely peopled and
full of animals (much more) than our Europe or Asia or
Africa. Based on this letter by Amerigo, German map-makers
named the landmass 'Land of Amerigo' on their maps, which
gradually and over time came to be known as America (in
1507) and is today known as the United States of America.

Columbus, at the head of seven ships, started from Spain
with 90 fellow Spaniards and landed on the sea coast of
present-day Salvador on 12 October, 1492. The local
'Araawak' tribe welcome them with an open heart and
honoured them by giving gifts to all the members of the
expedition. Columbus wrote to the King of Spain: "How
peaceful and supportive these people are. On the basis of
this, I say with certainty that there is no other nation
superior to them in all the world. They behave politely
with their neighbours. Their speech is accompanied by a
very sweet and gentle smile. Although they remain naked,
their behaviour is very gentle and commendable" Bur even
after such praise of the locals, the Spanish unleashed a
reign of terror over the next 50-60 years in the region
subjugating the native population, their well-documented
tyranny marked by oppression, exploitation and genocide. It
was the start of the Spanish Empire. In 1493, Columbus came
again with 17 big ships. Around 1,500 soldiers were
accompanying him this time. He took control over many other
islands in the region including Puerto Rico as his men
slaughtered the native inhabitants of these territories. A
large number of indigenous people of the many native tribes
were taken captive.

After the death of Columbus in 1506, the Spanish explorer
Hernando Cortez arrived in Cuba with 500 soldiers in 1519
and reached Mexico for the first time. While the indigenous
'Aztec' tribal people welcomed him and gifted him gold, the
Spaniard exploited some local discontent against tribal
chiefs and a section of the Aztec people collaborated with
Cortez in attacking their own capital or seat of power.
Though he was supposed to return with gold, Cortez
impounded all Aztec gold and more -- he also established
the Spanish Empire over the whole of Mexico. In a backlash,
Aztecs rebelled and forced the Spanish army along with
Cortez to flee. But the Spanish colonists returned in 1520
with enough firepower and heavy arms to create havoc and
massacre the indigenous population where they resisted. The
Aztec capital was destroyed and a colonial administrative
capital called Mexico City was established.

During the expansion of this empire, Spaniards exploited
both natural and human resources of the Americas
ruthlessly, committing barbaric atrocities including
exploitation of women. A large number of massacres were
carried out repeatedly over the next 200 years. According
to historical documents, in 1517, the Spanish first took
five thousand Africans as slaves in several ships and
transferred them to the neighbouring countries (the current
West Indies) to work as bonded labourers. In the year 1607,
the 'Virginian Company of London' was formed, and for the
first time, one hundred English merchants were sent to that
new area. A local tribals welcomed them. Using negotiations
and what could be termed colonial diplomacy, the local
tribal chief 'Vahunsonakuk' was declared the king of that
tribe. This newly anointed 'King' was then 'persuaded' to
get his daughter married to a prominent Englishman named
John Rolf on 5 April, 1614.

With a matrimonial alliance in place, the British started
to cultivate tobacco on the land of the people there on a
large scale; the indigenous tribal people fought back. The
conflict started in 1622. Although the indigenous peoples
fought valiantly and killed hundreds of their British
oppressors, they were defeated. The British created the
first settlement named Jamestown. In 1675, Nathaniel Bacon
attacked the native inhabitants of Virginia's intermediate
areas along with a 1000Englishmen. The tribal population in
the area got reduced from 8000 to less than 1000 and the
population of White men rose to 40,000. The saga of loot
and plunder continued.

Similarly, during the age of empire, many European
countries invaded the territories of indigenous peoples in
the Americas, Australia and Africa. They destroyed the
identities of the indigenous peoples who are till today
searching for their pre-imperialist identities, before the
'civilised' savaged them. To remember the history of these
indigenous peoples, we observe World Native Day on 9 August
each year.

It is an acknowledgement of their sufferings and an attempt
to strengthen their efforts to protect their culture.
Bharat has stood with them in the fight for their rights.
Ours is the only country in the world where we recognised
rights of tribal/indigenous people in our Constitution,
that is 55 years before the United Nations Declaration on
the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (107th plenary meeting
September 13, 2007).

A representative of the Government of India in the United
Nations, while signing the declaration in 2007, had said
that all the people living in our country are 'native'. No
one came here from outside and managed to de-populate local
communities wherein the settlers became the 'natives'
unlike what happened in Australia and the Americas.
Therefore, to protect the native inhabitants in the other
countries of the world, India's Constitution must be
studied by these countries and they can follow in our
footsteps.

(The writer is the All-India Organising Secretary of
Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and has worked among tribal
communities for decades)

https://www.dailypioneer.com/columnists/edit/in-solidarity-with-indigenous-people.html

Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.jai-maharaj

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