By Eduardo Galeano
The Discovery: On October 12, 1492, America discovered capitalism. Columbus, financed by the kings of Spain and bankers from Genoa, brought the novelty to the islands of the Caribbean Sea. In his diary of the Discovery, the admiral wrote the word gold 139 times and the word God or Our Lord 51 times. He could not get his eyes tired of seeing such beauty on those beaches, and on November 27 he prophesied: All of Christendom will have business there. And he was not wrong in that.
After five centuries of Christian-wide business, a third of the American forests have been destroyed, much once fertile land lies barren, and more than half the population eats skimpy food.
The Indians, victims of the most gigantic plundering in universal history, continue to suffer the usurpation of the last remnants of their lands, and continue to be condemned to the denial of their different identity. They are still prohibited from living in their own way and manner, they are still denied the right to be.
At first, looting and othercide were carried out in the name of the God of Heaven. Now they are carried out in the name of the God of Progress and Development. However, in that forbidden and despised identity, some clues to another possible America still glimmer. America, blinded by racism, does not see them.
The Indians of the Americas live in exile in their own land. Language is not a sign of identity, but a mark of curse. It does not distinguish them: it betrays them. When an Indian renounces his language, he begins to become civilized. Does he begin to become civilized or does he begin to commit suicide?
The indigenous problem: the first Americans, the true discoverers of America, are a problem. And for the problem to stop being a problem, the Indians must stop being Indians. Wipe them off the map or erase their souls, annihilate them or assimilate them: genocide or othercide.
In December 1976, the Brazilian Minister of the Interior triumphantly announced that the Indian problem would be completely resolved by the end of the twentieth century: all Indians would then be properly integrated into Brazilian society and would no longer be Indians. The minister explained that the agency officially designated for their protection (FUNAI, Fundacao Nacional do Indio) would be responsible for civilizing them, that is, for making them disappear. Bullets, dynamite, offerings of poisoned food, pollution of rivers, devastation of forests and the spread of viruses and bacteria unknown to the Indians have accompanied the invasion of the Amazon by companies eager for oil, minerals, wood and everything else. But the long and ferocious onslaught has not been enough. The domestication of the surviving Indians, which rescues them from barbarism, is also an indispensable weapon for clearing the path of conquest of obstacles.
In order to deprive the Indians of their freedom and their property, the Indians are stripped of their symbols of identity. They are forbidden to sing and dance and dream to their gods, even though they had been sung and danced and dreamed of by their gods on the distant day of Creation. From the friars and officials of the colonial kingdom, to the missionaries of the North American sects that today proliferate in Latin America, the Indians are crucified in the name of Christ: to save them from hell, the idolatrous pagans must be evangelized. The God of the Christians is used as an alibi for plunder.
Latin America treats its Indians as the great powers treat Latin America.
From the point of view of the victors, which has been the only point of view until now, the customs of the Indians have always confirmed their demonic possession or their biological inferiority. This was the case from the earliest times of colonial life:
Do the Indians of the Caribbean islands commit suicide because they refuse to do slave labor? Because they are lazy.
Do they go about naked, as if their whole body were a face? Because savages have no shame.
Do they ignore the right of property, and share everything, and have no desire for wealth? Because they are more closely related to the ape than to man.
Do they bathe with suspicious frequency? Because they resemble the heretics of the sect of Mohammed, who burn in the fires of the Inquisition.
Do they never beat children and let them run free? Because they are incapable of punishment or teaching.
Do you believe in dreams and obey their voices? Under the influence of Satan or out of sheer stupidity?
Do they eat when they are hungry, and not when it is time to eat? Because they are unable to control their instincts.
Do you love when you feel desire? Because the devil induces you to repeat the original sin.
Is homosexuality free? Is virginity of no importance? Because they live in the antechamber of hell.
Archaic techniques, in the hands of communities, had made the deserts of the Andes fertile. Modern technologies, in the hands of private export-oriented latifundia, are turning fertile lands in the Andes and elsewhere into deserts.
It would be absurd to go back five centuries in production techniques, but it is no less absurd to ignore the catastrophes of a system that exploits man, destroys forests, rapes the land and poisons rivers in order to extract the greatest profit in the shortest time. Is it not absurd to sacrifice nature and people on the altars of the international market? We live in this absurdity, and we accept it as if it were our only possible destiny.
The so-called primitive cultures are still dangerous because they have not lost their common sense. Common sense is also, by natural extension, a sense of community. If the air belongs to everyone, why should the earth have an owner? If we come from the earth and go to the earth, does not every crime committed against the earth kill us? The earth is cradle and grave, mother and companion. We offer it the first drink and the first bite; we give it rest, we protect it from erosion. The system despises what it ignores, because it ignores what it fears to know.
Today, October 12, across the continent, from the United States to Argentina, protests are taking place to express rejection of models that seek to maintain colonialist and domination ideas and to demand respect for territories, natural resources and biodiversity.
Today, October 12, across the continent, from the United States to Argentina, protests are taking place to express rejection of models that seek to maintain colonialist and domination ideas and to demand respect for territories, natural resources and biodiversity.
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