Van estas notas sobre el 12 de Octubre, fecha clave en nuestra historia latinoamericana:
- La primera es un post de Rosa María Torres, pedagoga, lingüista, periodista educativa, activista social, investigadora y asesora internacional en temas de educación, cultura escrita y aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida; ex-Ministra de Educación y Culturas de Ecuador; Coordinadora de Comunidad Educativa (red latinoamericana de educadores).
- La segunda es una entrevista (en inglés) realizada a Noam Chomsky, en la que el famoso lingüista y pensador califica a Cristóbal Colón como "uno de los principales especialistas en genocidio de aquella época", y cuestiona, entre otras cosas, la postura colonizada que en 1992 (500 aniversario del "descubrimiento" de América) expresó el escritor mexicano Carlos Fuentes, en el sentido de que ya debíamos "superar nuestro complejo por haber sido conquistados hace 500 años".
¡Nos descubrieron!
Rosa María Torres
12 de Octubre de 1492 Tradicionalmente conocido como "El descubrimiento de América" y todavía nombrado así por mucha gente y en sistemas y textos escolares atrasados. Detonada por los 500 años del "descubrimiento de América" (1992) se dio una interesante polémica nacional e internacional acerca de las nomenclaturas y las visiones en torno a dicho acontecimiento. Apelar al "encuentro" (de dos mundos, de dos culturas) fue un intento por superar la perspectiva unilateral del "descubrimiento", ubicado en la perspectiva del "descubridor", y de continuar evitando la mención del conflicto, un "encuentro" desigual y no consensuado, signado por la invasión y la conquista de América.
Bautizado en España como "Día de la Raza" (1940) y "Día de la Hispanidad" (1958), y convertido en "Fiesta Nacional de España", marcando el inicio del Imperio Español. Del otro lado del océano, reconsiderado y designado de maneras muy diversas en los últimos años. En varios países llamado todavía "Día de la Raza" (muchos creen que se trata de la «raza indígena» pero se refiere a la «raza española»...). En Chile "Día del Encuentro de Dos Mundos" (2000), en Costa Rica "Día de las Culturas", en Uruguay "Día de las Américas", en Colombia "Día de Iberoamérica", en Perú "Día de los Pueblos Originarios y del Diálogo Intercultural" (2009), en Argentina "Día del Respeto por la Diversidad Cultural" (2010), en el Ecuador "Día de la Interculturalidad" (2011), en Bolivia "Día de la Descolonización" (2011), en Nicaragua y Venezuela "Día de la Resistencia Indígena" (2002), en Estados Unidos "Columbus Day" (Día de Colón). Organizaciones y movimientos indígenas del continente lo nombran y conmemoran como "Día de la Resistencia Indígena"; los movimientos indígenas a nivel mundial vienen organizando cada 12 de Octubre una Minga Global por la Madre Tierra.
Designado por la ONU - inadmisible y difícil de creer - como Día de la Lengua Española, pasando por alto el hecho de que dicha lengua, la lengua del conquistador, fue impuesta a sangre y fuego a los pueblos indígenas que habitaban y habitan el continente americano.
Un día, en fin, que desde el punto de vista americano tiene poco de festivo, un hecho histórico de difícil recordación para todas las partes involucradas. Por eso mismo, optamos por tratarlo aquí con HUMOR, a través de caricaturistas e ilustradores de ambos continentes.
Ver todas las caricaturas sobre el 12 de octubre en el blog Otra Educación, de Rosa María Torres:
http://otra-educacion.blogspot.mx/2012/10/nos-descubrieron.html
1492: The First Invasion of
Globalization
Noam Chomsky interviewed by
Heinz Dieterich
Excerpted from Latin
America: From Colonization to Globalization, Ocean Press, 1999 [October
1989 and March 1992]
QUESTION: 1992 is the 500th
anniversary of Columbus's voyage to the Americas. Official celebrations speak
of the "fifth centenary of the discovery of America" and of the
"meeting of two cultures." Are these appropriate ways to refer to
this event?
CHOMSKY: There's no doubt that there was a meeting of two worlds. But
the phrase "discovery of America" is obviously inaccurate. What they
discovered was an America that had been discovered thousands of years before by
its inhabitants. Thus, what took place was the invasion of America -- an
invasion by a very alien culture.
QUESTION: So, indigenous peoples are correct when they refer to it as
the "conquest" or the "invasion"?
CHOMSKY: Obviously. One can discover an uninhabited area, but not one in
which people live. If I travel to Mexico, I can't write an article entitled
"The Discovery of Mexico."
QUESTION: Is October 12, 1492, a date that should be celebrated? [This
is commonly accepted as the date of Columbus's arrival in the Americas].
CHOMSKY: Well, I do think that people should pay attention to it; it is
an extremely important date in modern history. In fact, there are few events in
modern history that have had such formidable implications. In statistical terms
alone -- which don't often say much about reality -- a century and a half after
the conquest almost 100 million human beings had disappeared.
It is difficult to think of comparable events in human history. The
effects of the conquest did, of course, dramatically change the Western
hemisphere and, as a result, Western civilization. Thus, it is undoubtedly a
very important turning point in world history. Nevertheless,
"celebrate" is a strange word. I don't think that we would
"celebrate" Hitler's coming to power, for example, even if we
certainly do pay attention to it.
QUESTION: When Columbus reached the Western hemisphere, he called the
inhabitants "Indians" because he thought he was in the Indies. Five
hundred years after this geographical error was clarified, these people are
still being called "Indians." Why?
CHOMSKY: Well, I think that this reflects the general contempt for
indigenous peoples. If they didn't really have any right to be where they were,
it also would have mattered little what they were called. The conquerors
equally could have called the animals that they found here by the wrong name
and no one would have been overly troubled by it.
The situation varied throughout the continent. So, for example, in areas
where the English settled or where English is spoken today, the unwritten law
in force in England was imposed. According to English law, the inhabitants of
these lands didn't have a right to them because they where hunter-gatherers
rather than a sedentary people. This was completely false. And many other
falsifications of events took place in order to render them compatible with the
law. Up until the 1970s, for example, distinguished anthropologists informed us
that we should reject archeological and documentary evidence which clearly
showed that these were sedentary peoples and, by their own standards,
relatively advanced civilizations. On the contrary, we were to pretend that
they were hunter-gatherers and that, therefore, there were few people, maybe a
million north of the Rio Grande, instead of 10 million or more, which was the
real figure.
And if the question is asked why for centuries these falsifications were
made, the answer is, basically, that it was a matter of establishing the
principle that the people who lived there had no rights over the land, given
that they simply traveled across it in order to hunt, and so on. Therefore,
there was no moral or legal problem in taking their land for the use of the
Europeans. As far as the peoples involved are concerned, if they had no right
to the land, it did not matter who they were, or whether they came from India
or some other place.
As a result of events that took place in the 1960s, there has been a
kind of cultural change in the last 20 years. Most of what happened in the
1960s was extremely healthy and significant. It became possible, for the first
time, to face the questions about what had been done to the native American
population. This produced a degree of consciousness about the racist nature of
our willingness to continue to use terms such as "Indians," as if who
they were was of no importance.
QUESTION: What is the appropriate way for people in the solidarity
movements to approach 1992?
CHOMSKY: Well, I think that the approach of the solidarity movements
should be, above all, to honestly face up to the events and to have a clear
understanding of them. And, to take advantage of the occasion so that the
events relating to the European invasion of the Western hemisphere and the
consequences of what took place become known, including the situation and
treatment of the indigenous people -- all those massacres and the oppression of
the indigenous peoples that began in 1492 and continues to this day. All one
needs to do is look at what is taking place in Guatemala, or in the
reservations of western United States, or throughout the hemisphere to realize
that persecution and repression continue under our noses, frequently in brutal
form.
Gaining an understanding of what these last 500 years have meant is not
simply a matter of becoming aware of history, it is a question of becoming
aware of current processes. I think that the solidarity movement should attempt
to reach, for itself and for others, an understanding of these events and
attempt to establish a base from which it can understand them honestly and
humanely for the first time.
QUESTION: After 1492, the peoples of Latin America were integrated into
the world system, as dependents. Have they managed to recover their autonomy?
CHOMSKY: No. The relationship between the invaders and the indigenous
population differs from place to place in America. In some areas, the
indigenous people were integrated in some form and in others they were simply
eliminated or displaced, or put into reservations. Relations vary, but the end
result of all this is that the majority of the hemisphere still finds itself subjugated.
For reasons that have to do with world history, the English-speaking
parts became dominant world powers, particularly the United States, which is
the first truly global power in history. Latin America has been subordinated to
the Western imperial powers and their violence. And this continues. It
continues in the foreign debt crisis, in the threats of intervention, in the
highly distorted forms of development, in the frequently extreme social
backwardness of many areas that have great cultural wealth. These are all
phenomena that have developed in the course of international relations and they
have, for various reasons, led to a highly dependent, subjugated and oppressive
situation for the majority of the continent.
1992 should also lead us, and perhaps it will, to consider the current
form of domination in the international sphere. It doesn't have all the forms
of traditional colonialism, but it manifests other features that should be
unacceptable to any honest person. Frequently, it has terrible consequences. It
should suffice to look at events in Central America during the past decade to
see how serious these effects can be.
QUESTION: In light of the mistreatment suffered by the indigenous people
of the United States, how can you explain President Reagan becoming defender of
the indigenous Miskitu people of Nicaragua?
CHOMSKY: Remember that Reagan -- and not only him but the whole of the
U.S. ideological apparatus -- defended, or pretended to defend them, and
appeared very annoyed by what was happening to them. At the same time, Reagan
and the people around him applauded what was happening in Guatemala. Not only
did he defend it, he applauded and rallied support for it. In 1982, Reagan
explained that the dictator Rios Montt [1982-83] was a man dedicated to
democracy and we heard similar things from [U.S. Ambassador to the United
Nations (1981-85)] Jeane Kirkpatrick, and the rest of that gang.
During that whole period, [U.S. Secretary of State (1982-89)] George
Shultz, [U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian
Affairs (1981-85); Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs
(1985-89)] Elliot Abrams, Reagan allies and many others defended and supported
events in Guatemala, and never seriously protested about what was happening
there. Meanwhile, they acted like they were preoccupied with the fate of the
Miskitus. The Miskitus were mistreated, but nevertheless found themselves among
the best treated indigenous groups in the hemisphere. If the obviously very
legitimate demands they made in relation to their autonomy from the Sandinista
government had taken place in any country to the north of Nicaragua, these
people would have simply been massacred (had ridicule of their demands not been
sufficient).
Reagan and the State Department talk of the barbaric and inhumane
treatment of the Miskitus (possibly several dozen of them had died in conflict
with the Sandinistas). But at the same time, some 70,000 or 80,000 people were
massacred in the Guatemalan high plateau by the armed forces, who were
supported by the United States and defended by Ronald Reagan as very good and
honest people who cared about democracy. To this day, it's still claimed that
the Guatemalan military were unjustly accused. If we take a look at the treatment
of the native peoples of the United States, then the treatment of the Miskitus
appears very respectful by comparison. In fact, if any group of native
Americans in the United States expressed similar demands for autonomy, and
ridicule was insufficient to neutralize them, then they would simply be
annihilated. That is why no one can consider this to be anything more than the
most extraordinary of hypocrisies by the U.S. government.
QUESTION: Historically, the native peoples of the United States have
occupied the lowest place in the scale of social and ethnic status in their
country. Has this situation changed in recent times?
CHOMSKY: Yes, it has changed. I clearly remember when I was a child the
favorite game for young people was "Cowboys and Indians." You went to
the forest and pretended that there were "Indians." It was like going
hunting, like hunting animals. Popular culture back then emphasized the concept
of the "Indian" as a treacherous savage, or perhaps, a noble savage,
who led a primitive life before achieving the higher level of civilization of
the Europeans. Well, this has certainly changed, that is, the vulgar racism
that existed until the 1960s has changed. And this, again, was a result of the
impact of the 1960s and the significant improvement of cultural and moral
standards that took place during that time. On the other hand, native Americans
are still treated abominably. If you want an example of this, look at Ward
Churchill's excellent book Agents of Repression, which deals with
the war by the FBI against the American Indian Movement. This is a very
concrete example and, what's more, it concerns recent events, events that took
place in the 1960s.
QUESTION: So, native Americans continue to be at the bottom of the
racial prejudice scale?
CHOMSKY: Yes, by many standards they occupy the lowest point and, in
fact, they are virtually considered nonexistent.
QUESTION: Some have proposed bringing the statue of Columbus from
Barcelona to New York to "marry" it to the Statue of Liberty as part
of the 1992 celebrations. What do you think of this idea?
CHOMSKY: Columbus was one of the main specialists in genocide during
that period. Also, and leaving aside for a moment his abominable practices, the
symbolism is offensive because his voyages to the Western hemisphere began a
period in which a population of tens of millions was, essentially, annihilated.
To call this liberty goes far beyond anything George Orwell could ever have
imagined.
QUESTION: Carlos Fuentes was asked in Santiago de Chile what he thought
about the great statue of the Spanish conquistador Pedro de Valdivia. His
answer was: "I hoped for more statues of Cortés in Mexico so that we could
rid ourselves of the complex of having been colonized." This answer seems
very strange to me. What do you think about it?
CHOMSKY: Well, I also think it is a strange answer. I can't understand
it. I'd like to ask him what it means to him. But it is very strange. When he
said that "we" were colonized, who was he talking about? Who was
colonized? Was hecolonized by Spain? In the same way that the
United States was colonized by England? He is a descendant of the conquerors.
The indigenous population was overwhelmingly eliminated. And he is saying that
we should honor the murderers? I don't quite understand it.
QUESTION: I think he is talking about the people who are protesting
against the Fifth Centenary celebrations, because here they say that the people
who protest against these celebrations have a complex: they can't get past what
took place 500 years ago. I think that's more or less the meaning.
CHOMSKY: What happened 500 years ago is, of course, still happening now.
The main theme of the last 500 years of human history, and this hasn't changed,
is what today is called the North-South conflict, essentially the European
conquest of the world. If he wants to forget this, he wants to forget reality.
If the "complex" is recognizing the reality in which we live, then
yes, I understand, because one of the principal tasks of intellectuals has
always been to get past this "complex," but I would not have expected
it from him.
QUESTION: Many apologists for the Fifth Centenary celebrations say that
the Spanish brought civilization with them -- and, in particular, "the
marvelous language of Cervantes" -- and insinuate that due to this
incomparable language it was all worth it, in spite of some atrocities taking
place.
CHOMSKY: I don't know the Nazi period well enough to know if someone
said that the Germans took the marvelous language of Goethe to the ghettos of
Warsaw, but if this was the case, then it would be a comparable statement.
QUESTION: A similar statement has been made by people who say
"while there were sorrows, they are compensated for by the coming of the
Christian faith."
CHOMSKY: I can give you the same analogy. The Germans took Christian
faith to the ghettos of Warsaw.
QUESTION: For 150 years, the people who have lived in this part of the
continent have considered themselves citizens of Latin America. When the
Spanish introduced a lot of money because of the Fifth Centenary, many
journalists and intellectuals discovered that this is
"Ibero-America." How can a bit of money make such a change possible
after 150 years?
CHOMSKY: The answer is in the question. People have a price, some will
sell themselves for five cents, others will ask a million dollars.
QUESTION: We are building a "Monument to the victims of the
European invasion of 1492" in the Spanish city of Puerto Real, together
with the city's council and independent Spanish groups. The famous Ecuadorian
artist Osvaldo Guyasamin is designing it. The socialist government of Felipe
González tried to silence this. And now they are distributing a letter to the
citizens of Puerto Real with the aim of collecting signatures in order to
dismiss the mayor. They justify this campaign by claiming that the monument is
a monument to hatred and not to reconciliation. What is your opinion of this?
CHOMSKY: The conquerors don't want the truth to be known -- not only
that Spain conquered large parts of the Western hemisphere, but also that they
benefited from it, and still do. As I have said, the oft-mentioned North-South
conflict, the European conquest of the world, continues. Right now, Latin
America is being subjugated. The social and economic structural adjustment is
only a modern phase of the massacres of indigenous people.
QUESTION: This is because an innocent action like the building of a
monument...
CHOMSKY: There's nothing "innocent" about it. Anything that
generates consciousness and understanding among the poor people of the world is
not innocent.
QUESTION: It's dangerous?
CHOMSKY: Very dangerous, that's understood.
QUESTION: So we are a dangerous species?
CHOMSKY: Absolutely. That's why they sent the prophets into the desert
thousands of years ago.
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FUENTE: http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/198910--.htm
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