I was raised on the pretty stories of Columbus and now I'm finding out that he wasn't the nicest of guys AND he never stepped foot in North America. So, why does he have a holiday? I dunno...
On Monday I witness the 13th annual Papal Bulls Burning. Before this week I've never heard of this piece of paper. Within one week I've learned about and I burned it. It's all about the experience right? That's what school is all about :)
According to their flyer this is the deal (sorry for all the length)
Indigenous peoples and supporters seek the formal revocation of the 1493 (yes we burned a document from 1493) papal bull Inter Caetera. This decree was issued to Christopher Columbus by the Vatican on his second voyage to the Americas. It sought to establish Christian dominion over the world and called for the subjugation of non-Christian peoples and seizure of their lands. As a result, an estimated 100 million indigenous peoples were killed off in the process of Europe's colonization of the Western hemisphere. The papal edict has never been revoked and is the foundation-stone of the current international system of law and directly related to the corporate-state-military plunder and rape of the planet, which is sometimes linked to the phenomenon known as "globalization"
Alright then.... I agree that what happened to the indigenous people all over the world is wrong. There is no question about that, but what happens with the revoking of this document? A document that I had never heard of in any of my history classes, or if I did it wasn't worded to the point of this gave everyone the right to pillage and kill in the name of Christianity? Some of the speakers say they just want the acknowledgement that what had happened was wrong, kinda like an apology from the Vatican. One lady even spoke out against the church wondering why it's lasted so long. Another gentlemen talked of forming a Polynesian party to go against the Dems and Rep., which makes more sense to me than burning this document in front of a church that was closed for the day.
The class that this was brought up in, and where I found out about this symbolic burning is an anthropology class. In basic anthropology we talk about the mistake of judging another culture by your own. By looking back into the past and wondering "how can they do it" and getting all up in arms about it is very similar. We didn't live back then, and the views and basic understanding of things/life/etc. were way different. To sit here now with the knowledge we have now and judge people of the past... it doesn't make sense to me. We must learn from the past and not make those same mistakes and not let others in power make these mistakes. I feel as though the focus should be on that we should never let these things happen again, a culture should never be stamped out because it doesn't meet the "western standard" or the religion is not the Christian way, there shouldn't be slavery anywhere in the world and we should treat one another as equals. One human being is not greater than another.
During the course of the first speaker's talk about how Columbus was a slave trader, a random half dressed man (which is normal on fort street mall) took offense to us talking bad about Columbus. It made for an interesting experience.
This is the church that is by my school where the burning took place, it's the oldest church in Hawaii
I'm going to make a slide show.... it's faster and easier :P I apologize for some of the crappy pics... I have a ghetto camera LOL
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