As fate would have it, I was born in Madrid, the capital of Spain, more than thirty years ago. “Mine” was one of the first and more bloody-minded countries to develop and implement the system that legitimizes the invasion and expropriation of other peoples’ lands and resources. The system that made possible the total and everlasting subjugation of the invaded in one’s favor. The one which lead to the (past and present) genocides of most indigenous peoples worldwide and made slavery possible. Aka colonialism.
Oddly enough, “mine” is a country trapped in its own cultural representation.
I never -not even once- heard the word colonialism at school. And I hardly ever hear it on the streets, the news, or the national congress.
Instead, I grew surrounded by a very different discourse: the eternal raving of Spain’s greatness. The outdated glory of the empire. The illustrious conquerors. The hegemony of the Catholic Church. The mighty monarchs; 99.9% male (of course), interbred and Judeo-Christian (no wonder); even if this means the oblivion of almost 800 years of Muslim rule and cultural legacy. And, on top of it all, the jewel of the crown: the “discovery” of the American continent.
N is for Nationalism
The “discovery of America” is the way we Spaniards have been socialized to name the arrival of Columbus to the shores of Abya Yala. Abya Yala stands for “land full of vital blood” in the language of the Guna people. Guna was one of the countless tribes that lived there; making the term “discovery” a hundred percent absurd.
The 12 of October is a national day in Spain commemorating this event. “The Hispanicity Day” -as known on home soil- is a cornerstone of Spanish nationalist myths.
As such, every 12 of October, all the internet crusaders get ready to roll. All kinds of valiant advocates of the hegemonic power flood the internet with racist and auto-indulgent lies. In order to restore an imaginary national wound, they stalk anyone trying to decolonize and discuss the celebration of genocide.
Let’s knock down some of their skirmishes.
The following statements are answers to the hashtag #NadaQueCelebrar (nothing to celebrate) or #DíadelaResistenciaIndígena (Day of indigenous resistance) on Social media on different 12s of October.
Others did it too…
This is one of my favorites. What better way of protecting the cultural hegemony than going back to when you were six? The fact that other European nations also invaded, raped, and wiped out all indigenous living beings on every land they stepped on does not make it any better.
Others did it too… less fondly
This is total nonsense. What we are trying to deconstruct here is a system of oppression that perpetuates power, benefits the settler, and dispossesses the colonized. Anyhow, no colonization is gentle, nor were any of the Spanish. In Latin America, for instance, it is estimated that about 100 million people lived there before Colombus arrival. Only 10% of the population survived the contact. Most died through diseases that the settlers carried to which they had no immunity. Violence did not fall short nor did sexual abuse. It was a genocide, period.
This are some kind words from our friend the “humble conqueror”:
“[…] I certify to you that, with the help of God, we shall powerfully enter into your country, and shall make war against you in all ways and manners that we can, and shall subject you to the yoke and obedience of the Church and of their Highnesses; we shall take you and your wives and your children, and shall make slaves of them, and as such shall sell and dispose of them as their Highnesses may command; […]” (The requirement, 1510)
(On this occasion I am going to stick to Latin America, but all the other Spanish invasions weren’t a fairy tale either).
Others did it too… to me!
Of course invasions and violence are a historical and social human fact! But this does not change the truism that a good part of today’s geopolitical power structures and the global distribution of wealth derives from colonialism and neocolonialism. Your privilege is sustained by the disenfranchisement of others. Assume it! And support indigenous people and their descendants in their claim to get the reparations they disserve.
We shouldn’t look at the past with the eyes of the present
Why not? In the case of people, communities and countries affected they have absolutely every right to do so.
And, in general terms, this is in fact the best we can do to learn from history.
Killing, raping, raiding and subjugating indigenous peoples was neither accepted by the moral codes back then. “Thou shalt not kill”, “Thou shalt not steal,” remember? It was sorely normalized by the substantiation of power. And this is something paramount to learn from.
The funny thing with this internet crusaders is they do look back at what they think glorifies them and their nation as contemporary. This argument only applies when it undermines their happy picture.
They were “savages, child-eating, granny tripping monsters” before WE arrived
Cannibalism and many of these other greatly wide-scale and embedded in western centered discourse tales are orientalist fables. Plain and simple. They are based on the writings of a couple of centuries-old racist anthropologists and its discourse perpetuation through orientalist approaches and irresponsible media.
As Deborah Kimitete, deputy mayor of Nuku Hiva island where allegedly a German tourist was assassinated in 2011 and after her people was accused of cannibalism, put it: ‘We are very hurt by these accusations of cannibalism, which are completely false…. I don’t know why they talk about cannibalism, it’s like saying we found the same thing in England and we talk about cannibalism. It’s terrible to say that. Here, nobody talk about that – it’s not true. It’s not the case at all, and we’re very hurt.’ (Survival International).
Indeed, as Stephen Corry explained back then: ‘Cannibalism […] has never been reported from anywhere by anyone who did not have a vested interest – usually, the colonial takeover of other peoples’ lands, or selling a book or film.’ (Survival International).
This is “hispanophobia”
C’mon… Seriously? Let’s invite the one and only Aamer Rahman to answer this one
Aamer Rahman (Fear of a Brown Planet) – Reverse Racism
Gimme back “my” culture then
Culture is not a treehouse. You cannot decide who gets in and who doesn’t.
In addition, of course some aspects of the resulting cultural hybridization can be considered positive, but not only the ones coming from the Spaniards! Indigenous knowledge(s) in Latin America contributed (and continues to contribute) greatly to global medicine, for instance. Thanks to their knowledge of medical plants numerous medicines have been created and globally marketed. The same applies to worldwide staples as mandioca or potato, corn; nature conservation, etc.