What does the 5th Centennial of the ‘discovery’ of America mean for her ‘discovered’ inhabitants?  The following is taken from a Bolivian poster and gives a frank and rather clear opinion...

 

500 years of what? That’s enough!

500 years of ethnic extinction, of population expulsion, of disintegration of nations, of destruction of ethnic minorities; 500 years of pitiless family disintegration; 500 years of domestication, of pauperism, of colonialism, of feudalism, of marginal status; 500 years of giant cemeteries, of forced christianization, of group monopoly, of collective alienation; 500 years of acculturation, of abandonment; 500 years of massive recruitment of manual labour, of chained exploitation; 500 years of domesticating, dominating, egocentric education; 500 years of education... to weaken culture, teaching individualism and egoism; 500 years of introducing an­ti-values that make us ashamed of our own culture and language; 500 years of transplanting European education that doesn’t work;

500 years of laws exploiting forests, of laws over lands and of laws of extermination, laws of whip and bullets; 500 years of life with perennial dictatorship; 500 years without social and political organization, without the social wealth it produces; 500 years without free management, without our own destiny; 500 years of life like an animal without aspirations; 500 years of damage to and contempt for our cultural values, our customs and talents; 500 years of domestication, prostitution, alcoholism; 500 years of vice transfer; 500 years of feudal society, of various forms of exploita­tion; 500 years of production monopoly, of congenital defects, of European exploitation; 500 years of slave trade, of labouring for masters, of Indian servitude, of yokes, of Indian mine workers; 500 years of iniquitous human commerce, of dominion over human capital; 500 years of inhuman system, of subjugation by debt, of lifetime debts; 500 years of insufficient remuneration; 500 years of progressive and endless credits, financing, of bargaining, of extor­tion, of exchange, of barter; 500 years of transfer of human ac­counts, of growing, incessant debt; 500 years of dishonesty in price fixing, of fraud in weighing products, of distribution, of harnessing, of market control; 500 years of patronage, of intermediaries, of con­spiracy, of adulations; 500 years of complicity among civil authorities, military officials and religious orders; 500 years of bad habits, of excessive greed, of parsimony, of lechery, of avarice, of sordid interest in money; 500 years of prepotency, of superiority, of racism, of violent destruction, of hate, of threats; 500 years of piracy, of invasion, of traffic, of plunder, of assault, of raids; 500 years of vandalism, of shamelessness, of violations, of control, of armed gangs, baptisms and vassalage; 500 years of violence, of in­cursions, of armadas; 500 years of hunting humans, of hunting slaves, of captures, of captives, of flagellation; 500 years of forced labour, of punishment, mistreatment, of blows, lashes, shackles, of harnesses; 500 years of vile castigation, of robbery, of brutality, of human slaughter, of death; 500 years of abuse, of ignominious compulsions, of slaving servitude; 500 years of abusive occupation of lands, of alienation of lands, of dispossession of lands, of sabotage; 500 years of ecological disequilibrium, of destroyers of nature; 500 years of dispossessing the property of inhabitants, of hunters of men, of merchants of children; 500 years of Christians without laws or consciences, of hired killers, of civilizers, of savers of souls, of soldiers of Christ, of bearers of doctrines; 500 years of expansionism, of penetration, of manipulation, of illicit enrichment, of tragic despotism; 500 years of western savagery, of genocide, of ethnocide, of assassinations, of barbarian white behaviour; 500 years of horrible slayings, of genuine hecatombs, of inhuman ini­quity; 500 years of shocking misery, of ethnic confusion; 500 years of trust in the white man, of blind obedience; 500 years of ig­norance, of illiteracy, of submissiveness, of submission; 500 years of pressure, of blood, of taxes, of tithes, of offerings; 500 years of fear, of desperation, of terror, of fatalism, of tears; 500 years of cries, of pain, of blows, of sweat, of rags; 500 years of rebellions, frustrated revolts; 500 years of continuous sickness, of starvation, of malaria, of annihilation, of pneumonia, of measles, of bronchitis, of leishmaniasis, of coqueluche, of tuber­culosis; 500 years of disintegration, of endemic, chronic and im­ported diseases; 500 years of scabies, of asthma, of venereal disease, of parasitism, of yellow fever, of amoebiasis, of chronic anemia, of chronic malnutrition, of diarrhea, of mycosis; 500 years without medical and sanitary assistance; 500 years of shame and humiliation for the entire human race.

 

Encounter of two worlds or cultural collision? Let us give ho­mage to those who have returned to Mother Earth and are pre­sent in her. The best way to give homage is to raise hope within ourselves... to construct a more just and human world.