Indigenous People’s Day- Columbus lie!

THE WEEK BETWEEN October 12 and 19 has great historical significance for the Caribbean and its peoples.

It was on October 12, 1492, that a Genoese sailor by the name of Cristobal Colon, aka Christopher Columbus, the captain of a small three-ship fleet under the Spanish flag, found himself in Caribbean waters, off the coast of an island, today called Watling Island, one of hundreds in the Bahamian chain.

In fact, the inhabitants of the island, the Taino or Arawak people, called the island Guanahani.

Although neither Columbus nor any of his sailors could have imagined it, this was the beginning of the subjugation and colonisation of the countries of the western hemisphere, and the wholesale massacre and extermination of much of its population estimated to be about 70 million people at the time.

Though Columbus was hopelessly lost, for he was trying to reach the famed riches that Europeans associated with the East, Asia, he nevertheless started the process of erasing the history of the Western Hemisphere. He even, in his mistaken belief that he was in the vicinity of India, called the Taino people, and later the Kalinago, Indians and the islands became known to Europeans as the “West Indies”. A name still proudly carried by the teams of our most prominent international sport, cricket.

Columbus went on to what is today the Dominican Republic, arrogantly renaming it after Spain, Hispaniola, the island being shared with Haiti. This ushered in half a thousand years of pillage of the resources of the hemisphere, from Alaska in the North down to Patagonia in the South. In the process the European nations, armed with superior weapons based on their gun culture, and aided by the spread of deadly epidemics such as smallpox, measles and cholera, for which the indigenous peoples had no natural resistance, became colonisers of two continents.

The indigenous peoples were subjugated en-masse, not just the Tainos and Kalinago of our islands, but also larger groups of people on the mainland, highly civilised people like the Aztecs, Mayans, Incas of Central and Southern America, as well as the great North American tribal groupings, the Sioux, Cherokee, Apache, Commanche and Cheyenne.

One can therefore say that Columbus’ intrusion opened the Pandora’s box to the riches of the West.

It led to countries such as Spain and Portugal becoming major powers and to destructive battles being fought in the Western Hemisphere over who would control and appropriate its riches and subjugate and exploit its people.

It led to October 12 being recognized in many countries as Columbus Day, and statues and memorials of Columbus, the Spanish conquistadores, and British and French warmongers and pirates such as Drake and Hawkins, being celebrated. In other words.

October 12, 1492, ushered in colonialism, massacres, slavery and all the other ills of imperial rule.

Fortunately, the tides have been turning and the new consciousness has led, even in racist North America to many states replacing Columbus Day by Indigenous Peoples Day. In the USA some states have made this date a public holiday and the Biden administration was forced to sign a Bill, not yet enacted, for a nationwide holiday as well.

Caribbean nations have not been idle too. Trinidad and Tobago is replacing Columbus’ three ships on its coat-of-arms with the national instrument, the steel pan, Barbados has taken down Nelson’s statue, and similar positive actions have been taken in Guyana and Jamaica for instance.

We too, have battled the past Mitchell administration for its half-hearted ambivalence over paramount Chief Chatoyer, and March 14, but the momentum seemed to have stalled. Whether our leaders have run out of steam or not, we the people must insist on continuing the decolonization process. We have towns, streets and important places with colonial names. There is resistance to replacing names such as Grimble (House) in High School or prominent streets in capital Kingstown; the Anglican Cathedral still has its most prominent place of genuflecting to the Saviour adorned in memory of the Englishman who purportedly killed Chatoyer. How much longer?

It is not only local. Every week we hear news of the valiant people of Martinique fighting French colonialism.

The news media would have us believe that it is simply the cost-of-living, but the essence lies in colonial rule. In this day of enlightenment, France still holds that island, and Guadeloupe, Cayenne (degradingly called “French Guyana”), St Bathelmy and St. Martin in colonial bondage.

In the case of St Martin, this small island is shared with another European colonizer, Netherlands, which itself has colonies in the ABC islands. And the USA, itself once a colony, today lords it over Puerto Rico.

As we mark Indigenous Peoples Day, we must not only support the struggles of the indigenous people but also call on CARICOM and all our people to take firm measures to end all vestiges of colonial rule.

_ Renwick Rose is a Social and Political commentator.