American Indian Culture and Research Journal

Early in the morning of 12 October 1492, three Spanish ships settled off the beaches of San Salvador, a small island in the Caribbean, and the crew of maritime entrepreneurs scanned the spit of land before them for some confirmation that they had finally arrived at Sipangu (Japan) or one of the other rich isles of the fabled "Indies." If the island proved to be the gateway to the East, then the captain-admiral of the small fleet, Christopher Columbus, and his royal financiers were on the verge of incalculable wealth secured by a state-sanctioned trade monopoly with those who waited on shore. On the island, groups of excited and apparently friendly, naked or near naked people, probably speaking the now-extinct Taino language, also saw something good in the arrival of these strangers from the eastern seas. They waited anxiously to greet the newcomers and exchange items in their own fashion. Within a few years of this idyllic first meeting between European Christendom and what Columbus described as the "gentle people" of the New World, the European explorers would precipitate an international war that now has lasted five centuries and whose violent and often prophetic events have shaped much of the modern world. When Duane Champagne, editor of the American Indian Culture and Research Journal,agreed to a special volume, from an international viewpoint, on the 1992 Columbus quincentenary and the United Nations International Year of Indigenous Peoples, I sought out scholars whose special perspectives might highlight some of the concerns of the world's indigenous peoples. These concerns have yet to be given a voice by the official, international 1992 Columbus commemoration carefully titled "The Encounter of Two Worlds."

The quincentenary of Columbus's arrival in America can be added to a long list of similar commemorations-among them, the bicentennial of the French Revolution, the bicentennial of Cook's arrival in Australia, and the bicentennial of American independence, all of which were organized by state governments in order to both assert a certain national identity and achieve international prestige and power. Although these commemorations celebrate historical events, they are concerned not with the past but rather with the present and the future. Governments in power promote and sponsor these celebrations, according to Chesneaux, to "ritualize the past and twist the collective memory to [thestate's] purposes." Thus history is used to legitimize a certain power structure, and, consequently, any dissent from the official version of the past is ignored. In this fashion, the Spanish government exploited Columbus's arrival in America in 1492 for the purposes of asserting, both in Spain and abroad, the unity of Spanish identity and Spain's new authority in a united Europe, in which Spain would act as a mediator between Europe and Latin America. This article focuses on the official discourse used by the government of Spain for the commemoration of the quincentenary of Columbus's arrival in America, which, I suggest, is best understood with reference to the domestic and foreign policies of the Spanish government, controlled by the Social-Democratic party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español, or P.S.O.E.). On one hand, the Spanish government was seeking to invent a national identity and create the illusion of a national unity by referring to a past event in which all Spaniards were supposedly involved. On the other hand, the government was trying to legitimize the integration of Spain into the Western world after thirty-six years of traumatic isolation (1939-75) and four centuries of darkness. Spain's goal was to become a leading member of the European community and a major player in the ongoing process of European integration. In 1992, Spain claimed its rightful role as a mediator between Europe and Latin America by appealing to history.

Smoke signals rise from the top of the highest Genovese skyscraper. . . and on 7 November 1991, people protesting against poor Columbus call him boia, the executioner. On "Columbus Day, 12 October, the newspapers report that the Great Admiral is "executed" in absentia by a minor radical leftist group and that "anti-Columbians paralyze the town." On 11 October 1992, a large rally takes place in Genoa. What is happening in Italy? This paper presents a brief overview of what has been happening in Italy with regard to the Columbus quincentenary of 1992. It also makes an effort to analyze some of the reasons behind what is becoming a highly complex and difficult public issue in the country. GENOA: THE CENTER OF ACTIVITIES Because Genoa is the supposed birthplace of Columbus, it has been the most involved municipality in the 1992 quincentenary activities. To support these activities, the Italian government passed a special bill ("Celebrations of the Quincentennial Discovery of America,'' law no. 418, 8 August 1985) and granted a substantial amount of money, in yearly installments, to finance the celebrations-$830 million for Genoa alone. The availability of these funds has resulted in mixed reactions from the Genovese.

No te tau 1863 i hanga ai te Ture Whakanohonohoo Niu Tireni;aa, naa raro i taua Ture me ona whakatikatikanga i raupatutia ai nga whenua o Waikato. KO nga eka i raupatuia ai i te tuatahi 1,202,172 eka. 0 rot0 ienei eka e 314,364 nga eka i whakahokia mai an0 ki nga Maaori, ka mahue atu ai nga eka ki te raupatu e 887,808. Engari no te tau 1922 ka whakahokia mai kia uiuia e te Kooti Whenua Maaori nga eka 13,947 mo nga iwi kore whenua o Waikato. INTRODUCTION In this paper, I will focus on the Tainui people's historic and contemporary efforts to seek redress for the confiscation of their lands in the mid 1860s. The Tainui are my people, and over the past two-and-one-half decades, I have been intimately involved with their case. Thus this discussion is both a personal account of my role as a fifth-generation advocate and a case study in race relations which, as we have come to learn, are primarily concerned with the politics of economics, justified by biological racism. As Richard Mulgan has observed in his recent study, "Maaori, Paakeha and Democracy," Race relations, for so long on the periphery of national consciousness, at least for the Paakeha majority, are suddenly centre stage, the subject of increasing argument and anger. The issue threatens to polarize the country as the Maaori seek to recover their lost power and land, and as the Paakeha become increasingly intolerant of what they see as unrealistic and impertinent demands. Voices of reason and moderation become harder to hear amid the rising clamour of intolerance and prejudice.

INTRODUCTION On 16 January 1893, American marines landed in peaceful Hawai'i armed with Gatling guns, Howitzer cannons, carbines, and other instruments of war, as well as double cartridge belts filled with ammunition. The United States troops marched along the streets of Honolulu, rifles facing Iolani palace, the seat of Hawai'i's sovereignty. The following day, resident conspirators numbering eighteen, mostly Americans, sneaked to the back steps of a government building a few yards from where the American troops had lodged the night before. There, Henry Cooper, an American lawyer and resident of Hawai'i for less than a year, proclaimed that he and seventeen others were now the government of Hawai'i. Calling themselves the "provisional government" and selecting Sanford Dole president, they were to exist for the explicit purpose of annexing Hawai'i to the United States. American minister plenipotentiary John L. Stevens immediately recognized the "provisional government" as the government of Hawai'i. He then joined in their demand that Queen Lili'uokalani, the constitutionalmon-arch of the Hawaiian nation, surrender under threat of war with the United States. Faced with such a threat, the queen eventually capitulated, but not without protest.

INTRODUCTION A century ago (1892), the commemoration of Columbus's arrival on this continent was celebrated with eloquent speeches. The discourse exalted the West's triumph over the native populations, who were thought to be destined for destruction. The discourses of commemoration of the four hundredth anniversary made reference to De Tocqueville's claim that the Indians "occupied America without possessing it, since they lived by the chase," and that the natives seemed "to have been placed amid the riches of the new world to enjoy them for a season, and then surrender them." At that time, it was difficult for the native peoples of Latin America to present organized resistance to that celebration, since they were the subjects of severe assimilation projects by the nation-states developing in that region. Now, the elitist celebration of the quincentenary is meeting the severe criticism of both native and normative people who recognize the political implications of "celebrating" an event that resulted in five hundred years of efforts to dismantle native cultures and expropriate native lands. In other words, the native peoples of this continent have not remained silent in the face of this bourgeois "celebration." Instead, they have raised their voices to condemn the West's arrogant concealment of its history of appropriation and genocide. To "celebrate," the United States has contributed $170 million, while Spain has provided $500 million, one million for each year of hardship for indigenous people since 1492. The quincentenary, then, has become a contested event (producing an indigenous internationalism) that has prompted the indignation of those who recognize the unequal social relations forged five hundred years ago by the Europeans. In this debate, Mayans are taking part, not as mute archaeological relics of the past, not as the "vanquished," but as dynamic actors in this historical moment of political consciousness and struggle for reaffirmation of native identities.

When the Great Creator created the ancestors of the Sami people, he laid down in the middle of the earth the living and beating heart of a two-year-old reindeer cow, so that when the Sami people are in trouble, they can put an ear to the ground and listen for the heartbeats from below. If the heart is still beating, this means there is still a future for the Sami people, and whatever problems they have can be solved one way or another. From the beating of the female reindeer heart deep in the earth there is a line to the beating of the Sami drum and to the ancient times when the songs of the people were developed and performed-the songs that tell the story and continue to renew the Sami people's belief in the future. The Sami form an indigenous ethnic group that settled in wide areas of Norway, Sweden, northern Finland and on the Kola peninsula in Russia. It is difficult to establish their number, because ethnic definition may vary, and the choice of identifying oneself as a Sami is an individual one. The current estimate, however, places the total population between thirty thousand and fifty thousand, most of whom live in Norway. The name Sami is derived from our own designation of ourselves as sámit or sápmelaccat; no one knows the real meaning of these names. Formerly we were known as Lapps. Today the designation of Sami is coming into international use, due to the global cooperation between ethnic minorities, where the Sami have played an active part since the founding of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples (WCIP) at Port Alberni, Canada in the mid 1970.

INTRODUCTION Over the past thirty years, a dramatic upsurge has taken place in activities designed to promote human rights for indigenous peoples around the world. More and more calls have been heard from indigenous groups and their supporters for promotion of civil and political right. In the case of Africa, attention generally has concentrated on what can broadly be called socioeconomic rights, especially the right of everyone to a standard of living that is adequate to assure health and well-being; sufficient food, water, and shelter; and social security. The plight of indigenous peoples in Africa has been underscored by the spectres of starvation and widespread, growing poverty. The African continent has the fastest population growth rate in the world. At the same time, the population-to-resource ratio is such that many areas are becoming overexploited. The situation has given rise to the problems of famine, degradation, and economic crisis in some African countries and regions. These difficulties are especially acute among indigenous peoples in Africa, many of whom face problems of hunger and landlessness. While many indigenous peoples have become involved in efforts to promote human rights and development at the international level, the indigenous populations of Africa have participated only to a limited extent in international forums such as the meetings of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous people. One reason for this lack of involvement, according to some analysts, is that, historically, indigenous peoples in Africa were often in disadvantaged positions. Secondly, the indigenous peoples of Africa tend, in most cases, to reside in remote areas. As a consequence, they frequently are marginalized politically and are cut off from information about international events such as those sponsored by the United Nations or multilateral donor agencies. As one government planner in Botswana put it, "They have little or no chance to get jobs, much less travel to New York or Geneva to take part in international meetings."

The British Government cannot be our model. We have no materials for a similar one. Our manners, our laws . . .and. . .the whole genius of the people are opposed to it. -James Wilson (delegate to the Constitutional Convention from Pennsylvania), 7 June 1787 We have gone back to ancient history for models of Government, and examined different forms of those Republics which having been formed with the seeds of their dissolution now no longer exist. And we have viewed Modern States all round Europe, but find none of their Constitutions suitable to our circumstance. -Benjamin Franklin's speech in the Constitutional Convention, 28 June 1787 As John Rutledge, delegate to the Constitutional Convention from South Carolina and chairman of the Committee of Detail, finished writing the first draft of the United States Constitution, Thomas Jefferson wrote him a letter revealing a sentiment that was present among many of the Founders and the American people. In observing the "civilized" European governments such as France, Jefferson wrote to Rutledge that most of the European societies were autocratic monarchies and thus not comparable to the more egalitarian governments of the United States. However, Jefferson went further in his observations on the nature of American government when he wrote Rutledge that "[t]he only condition on earth to be compared with [American government] . . . is that of the Indians, where they still have less law than we.” Furthermore, according to his letter, Jefferson believed that American government and its Native American aspects were a vast improvement over the European models, which he viewed as "governments of kites over pidgeons. "When Jefferson wrote of American Indian governments to Rutledge, he had the League of the Haudenosaunee, or the Iroquois Confederacy, in mind. Before the Constitutional Convention, Jefferson had published an account of the Mingo, or Iroquois, Confederacy in his Notes on the State of Virginia.

[T]hey had observed that there were men amongst us, full and gorged with all kinds of good things, and that their [compatriots] were begging at their doors, emaciated with hunger and poverty; and that they thought it strange how these have-nots could suffer such injustice,and that they did not seize the others by the throat or set fires to their houses." -Montaigne writing about the observations of Tupinambh visiting Rouen, 1562 By the time English Pilgrims sailing on the Mayflower landed on the shore of Massachusetts in 1620, perhaps as many as two thousand American Indians had already made the passage to Western Europe. About two-thirds went as captives, usually sold as slaves, but, of these unfortunates, almost all went to Europe before 1500 A.D. Although Indian slaving continued afterwards, few of the subsequent transatlantic voyages with Indians on board involved people destined for the slave markets of Spain and Portugal. Indeed, the vast majority of the voyages after 1500 A.D. were made by American Indians who traveled for other reasons-as adventurers, envoys, sightseers, or performers. As far as we know, they did not write down their observations. However, the Europeans with whom they had contact sometimes did. On the basis of ships' logs, merchant reports, travel accounts, and other historical records, we can usually determine their ethnic identities.

In December 1991, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously agreed that the International Year for the World's Indigenous People should begin in autumn 1992, with the official theme, "A New Partnership." After the vote, a spokesman for the Caribbean countries expressed his regret that the General Assembly had avoided an explicit condemnation of "the 500-year history of the collision between explorers and indigenous peoples" and his hope that the indigenous peoples of Amazonia and the Arctic would "exercise increasing controls over their vast ancestral homeland." What does the United Nations mean by a "new partnership," and what can the United Nations do concretely to improve the conditions in which most of the world's indigenous peoples currently live? THE UNITED NATIONS AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES The issue of indigenous peoples has been with the United Nations since 1948, when the Soviet Union unsuccessfully called for a study of indigenous conditions in the Americas. Barely ten years later, such a study was in fact prepared by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) at the request of a number of Andean countries that expressed concern at the growing numbers of unemployed Indians in that region's cities. Latin America was facing a land problem, not a labor problem, the ILO concluded. In 1959, with Latin American leadership, the ILO adopted a "Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Populations" (no. 107), which was eventually ratified by twenty-seven governments. In keeping with the prejudices of its time, convention no. 107 aimed at the "integration" of indigenous peoples but emphasized that this must be voluntary. In the meantime, the convention recognized indigenous peoples' rights to land ownership and to equality of access to education and service.

CONTINENTAL INDIGENOUS ALLIANCE "500 YEARS OF RESISTANCE" DECLARATION OF QUITO 21 JULY 1990 The Continental Meeting "500 Years of Indian Resistance" with representatives of 120 Indian Nations, International Organizations, and Fraternal Organizations, meeting in Quito July 17-21, 1990, declare before the world the following: We, the Indians of America, have never abandoned our constant struggle against the conditions of oppression, discrimination, and exploitation that have been imposed upon us since the European invasion of our ancestral lands. Our struggle is not merely a reaction to the commemoration of 500 yeas of oppression, which our invaders, in collaboration with the "democratic" governments of our countries, want to convert into acts of celebration and jubilation. Indian peoples, nationalities, and nations are providing a combative and committed response to reject this "celebration," based on our identity, which should lead us to a definitive liberation.