Columbus Returns
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
Columbus returns. Columbus has the single point agenda to kill the indigenous people worldwide as he killed some five hundred years back.
Columbus happens to be the Post Modern manu Maharaj. The icon of Hindu zionist white Galaxy Imperialism Columbus happens to be Corporate now. The Phenomenon of Genocide is corporate. It is ultimate silencer as the indigenous people, always deprived of knowledge, is defeated in a war of Information. The History of Genocide repeats itself in every part of this Globe.
The Genocide is Iconised! It is Open Market. It is neoliberalism. It is fashion. It is reality show. It is TV clipping, Print Media, Net, Mobile,fashion,style,brand and vogue ultimate. Our anchestors could not resist , neither we may!
Millions of indigenous people lived in the Americas when the 1492 voyage of Christopher Columbus began a historical period of large-scale European contact with the Americas. European contact with what they called the "New World" led to the European colonization of the Americas, with millions of emigrants (willing and unwilling) from the "Old World" eventually resettling in the Americas. While the population of Old World peoples in the Americas steadily grew in the centuries after Columbus, the population of the American indigenous peoples plummeted. The extent and causes of this population decline have long been the subject of controversy and debate. The 500th anniversary of Columbus's famous voyage, in 1992, drew renewed attention to claims that indigenous peoples of the Americas had been the victims of ethnocides (i.e. the destruction of a culture).
Columbus strated from Atlantic Coast to get India. He got America. The rulers established that he was the man who invented America. Though America existed with high level Maya and Inca and red Indian civilisations. Columbus destroyed everything without any weapon of Mass destruction. He exercised genocides without any missile, without any atom bomb!
Now the Columbus has got full control on World affairs. It is total dominance in the space. Nature raped and Humanity annihilated. He robbed natural resources. Now they rob everything we have!
Our ancestors did not welcome Columbus. Though they could not resist the destiny of eternal slavery.
We welcome columbus everywhere. Latin America resists. Latin America which was the killing field , a free hunting ground for Sovereign Columbus. Our Civil Society is a coommitted ally of the Sovereign Columbus now. We have surrended political borders, cultural roots, mother languages, national identity, production system, economy, sovereignity, freedom, democracy, humanity, human and civil rights!
The term indigenous peoples has no universal, standard or fixed definition, but can be used about any ethnic group who inhabit the geographic region with which they have the earliest historical connection. However, several widely-accepted formulations, which define the term "Indigenous peoples" in stricter terms, have been put forward by prominent and internationally-recognised organizations, such as the United Nations, the International Labour Organization and the World Bank. Indigenous peoples in this article is used in such a narrower sense.
Drawing on these, a contemporary working definition of "indigenous peoples" for certain purposes has criteria which would seek to include cultural groups (and their descendants) who have an historical continuity or association with a given region, or parts of a region, and who formerly or currently inhabit the region either:
before its subsequent colonization or annexation; or
alongside other cultural groups during the formation of a nation-state; or
independently or largely isolated from the influence of the claimed governance by a nation-state,
And who furthermore:
have maintained at least in part their distinct linguistic, cultural and social / organizational characteristics, and in doing so remain differentiated in some degree from the surrounding populations and dominant culture of the nation-state.
To the above, a criterion is usually added to also include:
peoples who are self-identified as indigenous, and/or those recognised as such by other groups.
Note that even if all the above criteria are fulfilled, some people may either not consider themselves as indigenous or may not be considered as indigenous by governments, organizations or scholars.
Other related terms for indigenous peoples include aborigines, aboriginal peoples, native peoples, first peoples, first nations and autochthonous (this last term having a derivation from Greek, meaning "sprung from the earth"). Indigenous peoples may often be used in preference to these or other terms, as a neutral replacement where these terms may have taken on negative or pejorative connotations by their prior association and use. It is the preferred term in use by the United Nations and its subsidiary organizations.
Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples
What are the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples?
Human Rights are universal, and civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights belong to all human beings, including indigenous people. Every indigenous woman, man, youth and child is entitled to the realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms on equal terms with others in society, without discrimination of any kind. Indigenous people and peoples also enjoy certain human rights specifically linked to their identity, including rights to maintain and enjoy their culture and language free from discrimination, rights of access to ancestral lands and land relied upon for subsistence, rights to decide their own patterns of development, and rights to autonomy over indigenous affairs.
The Human Rights at Issue
The human rights of indigenous people and peoples are explicitly set out in the ILO Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention (No. 169), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and other widely adhered to international human rights treaties and Declarations. They include the following indivisible, interdependent and interrelated human rights:
The human right to freedom from any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on their indigenous status which has the purpose or effect of impairing the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
The human right to freedom from discrimination in access to housing, education, social services, health care or employment.
The human right to equal recognition as a person before the law, to equality before the courts, and to equal protection of the law.
The human right of indigenous peoples to exist.
The human right to freedom from genocide and 'ethnic cleansing'.
The human right to livelihood and work which is freely chosen, and to subsistence and access to land to which they have traditionally had access and relied upon for subsistence.
The human right to maintain their distinctive spiritual and material relationship with the lands, to own land individually and in community with others, and to transfer land rights according to their own customs.
The human right to use, manage and safeguard the natural resources pertaining to their lands.
The human right to freedom of association.
The human right to enjoy and develop their own culture and language.
The human right to establish and maintain their own schools and other training and educational institutions, and to teach and receive training in their own languages.
The human right to full and effective participation in shaping decisions and policies concerning their group and community, at the local, national and international levels, including policies relating to economic and social development.
The human right to self-determination and autonomy over all matters internal to the group, including in the fields of culture, religion, and local government.
Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples
What are the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples?
Human Rights are universal, and civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights belong to all human beings, including indigenous people. Every indigenous woman, man, youth and child is entitled to the realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms on equal terms with others in society, without discrimination of any kind. Indigenous people and peoples also enjoy certain human rights specifically linked to their identity, including rights to maintain and enjoy their culture and language free from discrimination, rights of access to ancestral lands and land relied upon for subsistence, rights to decide their own patterns of development, and rights to autonomy over indigenous affairs.
The Human Rights at Issue
The human rights of indigenous people and peoples are explicitly set out in the ILO Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention (No. 169), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and other widely adhered to international human rights treaties and Declarations. They include the following indivisible, interdependent and interrelated human rights:
The human right to freedom from any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on their indigenous status which has the purpose or effect of impairing the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
The human right to freedom from discrimination in access to housing, education, social services, health care or employment.
The human right to equal recognition as a person before the law, to equality before the courts, and to equal protection of the law.
The human right of indigenous peoples to exist.
The human right to freedom from genocide and 'ethnic cleansing'.
The human right to livelihood and work which is freely chosen, and to subsistence and access to land to which they have traditionally had access and relied upon for subsistence.
The human right to maintain their distinctive spiritual and material relationship with the lands, to own land individually and in community with others, and to transfer land rights according to their own customs.
The human right to use, manage and safeguard the natural resources pertaining to their lands.
The human right to freedom of association.
The human right to enjoy and develop their own culture and language.
The human right to establish and maintain their own schools and other training and educational institutions, and to teach and receive training in their own languages.
The human right to full and effective participation in shaping decisions and policies concerning their group and community, at the local, national and international levels, including policies relating to economic and social development.
The human right to self-determination and autonomy over all matters internal to the group, including in the fields of culture, religion, and local government.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1510/is_n73/ai_11718005
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Population overview
Estimates of how many people were living in the Americas when Columbus arrived have varied tremendously; 20th century scholarly estimates ranged from a low of 8.4 million to a high of 112.5 million persons. Given the fragmentary nature of the evidence, precise pre-Columbian population figures are impossible to obtain, and estimates are often produced by extrapolation from comparatively small bits of data. In 1976, geographer William Denevan used these various estimates to derive a "consensus count" of about 54 million people, although some recent estimates are lower than that.[1] On an estimate of approximately 50 million people in 1492 (including 25 million in the Aztec Empire and 12 million in the Inca Empire), the lowest estimates give a death toll of 80% at the end of the 16th century (8 million people in 1650 [2]). Latin America would only attain this level at the turn of the 19th century, with 17 million in 1800 [2]; 30 million in 1850 [2]; 61 million in 1900 [2]; 105 million in 1930 [2]; 218 million in 1960 [2]; 361 million in 1980 and 563 million in 2005 [2]. In the last thirty years of the 16th century, the Mexican population highly decreased to attain the low level of 1 million people in 1600 [2]. The Maya population is today estimated at 6 million, which is the same level as at the end of the 15th century [2]. In what is now Brazil, the indigenous population has declined from a pre-Columbian high of an estimated 4 million to some 300,000 (1997).
Historian David Henige has argued that many population figures are the result of arbitrary formulas selectively applied to numbers from unreliable historical sources, a deficiency he sees as being unrecognized by several contributors to the field. He believes there is not enough solid evidence to produce population numbers that have any real meaning, and characterizes the modern trend of high estimates as "pseudo-scientific number-crunching." Henige does not advocate a low population estimate; rather, he argues that the scanty and unreliable nature of the evidence renders broad estimates suspect, and that "high counters" (as he calls them) have been particularly flagrant in their misuse of sources.[3] Although Henige's criticisms are directed against some specific instances, other studies do generally acknowledge the inherent difficulties in producing reliable statistics given the almost complete lack of any hard data for the period in question.
This population debate has often had ideological underpinnings. Low estimates were sometimes reflective of European notions of their own cultural and racial superiority, as historian Francis Jennings has argued: "Scholarly wisdom long held that Indians were so inferior in mind and works that they could not possibly have created or sustained large populations." At the other end of the spectrum, some have argued that contemporary estimates of a high pre-Columbian indigenous population are rooted in a bias against aspects of Western civilization and/or Christianity. Robert Royal writes that "estimates of pre-Columbian population figures have become heavily politicized with scholars who are particularly critical of Europe often favoring wildly higher figures."[4]
Since civilizations rose and fell in the Americas before Columbus arrived, the indigenous population in 1492 was not necessarily at a high point, and may have already been in decline. Indigenous populations in most areas of the Americas reached a low point by the early twentieth century, and in a number of cases started to climb again.[5]
[edit] Pre-Columbian Americas
Main article: Models of migration to the New World
Anthropologists and population geneticists agree that the bulk of indigenous American ancestry can be traced to Ice Age migrations from Asia via the Bering land bridge, although the possibility of migration by watercraft along coastal routes or ice sheets is increasingly viewed as a viable complement to this model.
[edit] Depopulation from disease
See also: Smallpox epidemics in the Americas
The earliest European immigrants offered two principal explanations for the population decline of the American natives. The first was the brutal practices of the Spanish conquistadores, as recorded by the Spanish themselves, most notably by the Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas, whose writings vividly depict atrocities committed on the natives (in particular the Taínos) by the Spanish. The second explanation was a perceived divine approval, in that God had removed the natives as part of His divine plan in order to make way for a new Christian civilization. Many natives of the Americas viewed their troubles in terms of religious or supernatural causes. Scholars now believe that, among the various contributing factors, epidemic disease was the overwhelming cause of the population decline of the American natives.[6]
Disease began to kill immense numbers of indigenous Americans soon after Europeans and Africans began to arrive in the New World, bringing with them the infectious diseases of the Old World. One reason this death toll was overlooked (or downplayed) is that disease, according to the widely held theory, raced ahead of European immigration in many areas, thus often killing off a sizable portion of the population before European observations (and thus written records) were made. Many European immigrants who arrived after the epidemics had already killed massive numbers of American natives assumed that the natives had always been few in number. The scope of the epidemics over the years was enormous, killing millions of people—in excess of 90% of the population in the hardest hit areas—and creating "the greatest human catastrophe in history, probably exceeding even the disaster of the Black Death that killed up to one-third of the people in Europe between 1347 and 1351.[7]
The most devastating disease was smallpox, but other deadly diseases included typhus, measles, influenza, bubonic plague, mumps, yellow fever, and pertussis (whooping cough). The Americas also had endemic diseases, perhaps including an unusually virulent type of syphilis, which soon became rampant in the Old World. (This transfer of disease between the Old and New Worlds was part of the phenomenon known as the "Columbian Exchange"). The diseases brought to the New World proved to be exceptionally deadly.
The epidemics had very different effects in different parts of the Americas. The most vulnerable groups were those with a relatively small population. Many island based groups were utterly annihilated. The Caribs and Arawaks of the Caribbean nearly ceased to exist, as did the Beothuks of Newfoundland. While disease ranged swiftly through the densely populated empires of Mesoamerica, the more scattered populations of North America saw a slower spread.
[edit] Why were the diseases so deadly?
A disease (viral or bacterial) that kills its victims before they can spread it to others tends to flare up and then die out, like a fire running out of fuel. A more resilient disease would establish an equilibrium, its victims living well beyond infection to further spread the disease. This function of the evolutionary process selects against quick lethality, with the most immediately fatal diseases being the most short-lived. A similar evolutionary pressure acts upon the victim populations, as those lacking genetic resistance to common diseases die and do not leave descendants, whereas those who are resistant procreate and pass resistant genes to their offspring.
Thus both diseases and populations tend to evolve towards an equilibrium in which the common diseases are non-symptomatic, mild, or manageably chronic. When a population that has been relatively isolated is exposed to new diseases, it has no inborn resistance to the new diseases (the population is "biologically naïve"); this body of people succumbs at a much higher rate, resulting in what is known as a "virgin soil" epidemic. Before the European arrival, the Americas had been isolated from the Eurasian-African landmass. The people of the Old World had had thousands of years to accommodate to their common diseases; the natives of the Americas faced them all at once, so that a person who successfully resisted one disease might die from another. Furthermore, multiple simultaneous infections (e.g., smallpox and typhus at the same time) or in close succession (e.g., smallpox in an individual who was still weak from a recent bout of typhus) are more deadly than just the sum of the individual diseases. In this scenario, death rates can be elevated by combinations of new and familiar diseases: smallpox in combination with American strains of syphilis or yaws, for example.
Similarly, in the fifty years following Columbus' voyage to the Americas, an unusually strong strain of syphilis killed a high proportion of infected Europeans within a few months. Over time, the disease has become much less virulent.
Other contributing factors:
Native American medical treatments such as sweat baths and cold water immersion (practiced in some areas) weakened patients and probably increased mortality rates.[8]
Europeans brought so many deadly diseases with them because they had many more domesticated animals than the Native Americans. Domestication usually means close and frequent contact between animals and people, which is an opportunity for diseases of domestic animals to mutate and migrate into the human population.
(In the colder areas of the Eurasian landmass, houses were often built in two stories. The bottom story was used to stable animals, the top to house humans. In winter, the animal heat would rise and warm the human section of the house. This arrangement is efficient, but it also contributes to disease.)
The Eurasian landmass extends many thousands of miles along an east-west axis. Climate zones also extend for thousands of miles, which facilitated the spread of agriculture, domestication of animals, and the diseases associated with domestication. The Americas extend mainly north and south, which, according to a theory popularized by Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs, and Steel, meant that it was much harder for cultivated plant species, domesticated animals, and diseases to spread.
One contemporary Harvard-educated Mexican epidemiologist, Rodolfo Acuña-Soto, argues that mortality due to imported diseases was compounded, or even dwarfed, by mortality due to a hemorrhagic fever native to the Americas, one which the Aztecs called cocoliztli. Acuña-Soto's research conclusions rely in part on the 50 volumes written by Francisco Hernandez, physician to Philip II of Spain, who not only interviewed survivors of the 1576 epidemic but autopsied many victims and recorded his findings and observations. The fever was apparently endemic during drought years, which coincided with the early Spanish invasion of Central America. [1] Acuña-Soto noticed that previous historians using the same reference works that he used had chosen which accounts to base their results on, so that epidemic illnesses coinciding with the Spanish invasion could, by selectively using resources, look like accounts of European-caused smallpox rather than the Aztec-recognized cocoliztli. The disease the Aztecs described, however, when read in full described a hemorrhagic fever that had nothing in common with smallpox. Such fevers are viral, spread by rodents and bodily fluid contacts between infected people. Using evidence from 24 epidemics, Acuña-Soto concluded that the Spanish did not bring the epidemic to the Aztecs, but arrived during its onset and intensification. Acuña-Soto's theory is controversial and not widely accepted in 2007.
[edit] Deliberate infection?
One of the most contentious issues relating to disease and depopulation in the Americas concerns the degree to which American indigenous peoples were intentionally infected with diseases such as smallpox. Cooks asserts that there is no evidence that the Spanish ever attempted to deliberately infect the American natives.[9] But the cattle introduced by the Spanish polluted the water reserves dug in the fields to accumulate rain water; in response to this threat, the Franciscans and Dominicans created public fountains and aqueducts to guarantee the access to drinking water [2]. But when the Franciscans lost their privileges in 1572, many of these fountains were not guarded any more, and deliberate well poisoning might have happened [2]. Although no hard proof of such deliberate poisoning may be found, a correlation between the decrease of the population and the end of the control of the water by the religious orders may be observed [2].
1763 Smallpox Outbreak at Fort Pitt There is, however, at least one documented incident in which British soldiers in North America discussed intentionally infecting native people as part of a war effort. During Pontiac's Rebellion in 1763, a number of Native Americans launched a widespread war against British soldiers and settlers in an attempt to drive the British out of the Great Lakes region. In what is now western Pennsylvania, Native Americans (primarily Delawares) laid siege to Fort Pitt on June 22, 1763. Surrounded and isolated, William Trent, the commander of Fort Pitt gave representatives of the besieging Delawares two blankets and a handkerchief from the Pittsburgh smallpox hospital, "out of our regard to them" when the two Delaware men came to talk to him.[2] Smallpox, which has an incubation period of twelve days from the time of initial exposure, broke out weeks later.
Given that even educated Europeans widely believed infectious diseases to be caused by bad air (the germ theory of disease wasn't accepted until the middle of the 19th century) it is doubtful that any of these soldiers would have had the knowledge necessary to successfully infect anyone. Moreover, a number of recent scholars have noted that evidence for connecting the blanket incident with the eventual smallpox outbreak is doubtful, and that the disease was more likely spread by native warriors returning from attacks on infected white settlements.[3] (See more information at Siege of Fort Pitt.)
Ward Churchill's Claims about the 1837 Mandan Outbreak The Investigative Committee of the Standing Committee on Research Misconduct at the University of Colorado at Boulder reviewed a claim by Ward Churchill, comparing to the cited source his claim that in 1837 the United States Army deliberately infected Mandan Indians by distributing blankets that had been exposed to smallpox, and reported "Professor Churchill therefore misrepresents what Thornton says." Most other historians who have looked at the same event disagree with Churchill's interpretation of the historical evidence, and believe no deliberate introduction of smallpox occurred at the time and place Churchill claimed it had. [10][11]
[edit] Other causes of depopulation
[edit] War and violence
While epidemic disease was by far the leading cause of the population decline of the American indigenous peoples after 1492, there were other contributing factors, all of them related to European contact and colonization. One of these factors was warfare. According to demographer Russell Thornton, although many lives were lost in wars over the centuries, and war sometimes contributed to the near extinction of certain tribes, warfare and death by other violent means was a comparatively minor cause of overall native population decline.[12]
There is some disagreement among scholars about how widespread warfare was in pre-Columbian America, but there is general agreement that war became deadlier after the arrival of the Europeans. The Europeans brought with them gunpowder and steel weapons, which made killing easier and war more deadly. Over the long run, Europeans proved to be consistently successful in achieving domination when engaged in warfare with indigenous Americans, for a variety of reasons that have long been debated. Massive death from disease certainly played a role in the European conquest, but also decisive was the European approach to war, which was less ritualistic than in native America and more focused on achieving decisive victory. European colonization also contributed to an increased number of wars between displaced native groups.[13]
In addition, empires like the Inca depended on centralized administration for the distribution of resources. The disruption caused by the war and the colonization certainly disrupted the traditional economy and possibly led to shortages of food and materials.
[edit] Exploitation
Exploitation has also been cited as a cause of native American depopulation. The Spanish conquistadores, the first settlers in the New World, divided the conquered lands among themselves and ruled as feudal lords, treating their subjects as something between slaves and serfs. Serfs stayed to work the land; slaves were exported to the mines, where large numbers of them died. Some Spaniards objected to this encomienda system, notably Bartolomé de Las Casas, who insisted that the Indians were humans with souls and rights. Largely due to his efforts, the New Laws were adopted in 1542 to protect the natives, but the abuses were not entirely or permanently abolished. The infamous Bandeirantes from Sao Paulo, adventurers mostly of mixed Portuguese and native ancestry, penetrated steadily westward in their search for Indian slaves. Serfdom existed as such in parts of Latin America well into the 19th century, past independence; it sometimes said to have existed in practice through much of the 20th century, as large numbers of landless laborers were very nearly tied to estates by semi-feudal arrangements.
[edit] Massacres
Las Casas and other dissenting Spaniards from the colonial period gave vivid descriptions of the atrocities inflicted upon the natives. This has helped to create an image of the Spanish conquistadores as cruel in the extreme. However, since Las Casas's writings were polemical works, intended to provoke moral outrage in order to facilitate reform, some scholars speculate that his depictions may have been exaggerated to some degree. No mainstream scholar dismisses the idea that atrocities were widespread, but some now believe that mass killings were not a significant factor in overall native depopulation. It may be argued that the Spanish rulers in the Americas had economic reasons to be unhappy at the high mortality rate of the indigenous population, since at least some of them wanted to exploit the natives as laborers.
However, in many areas settlers and even governments did engage in what have been called "democides," usually against nomadic Indian tribes who were seen solely as hindrances to land use by European settlers. (For further discussion of democide, see the following section.) Notable democides include:
The Tainos in the Antilles (from 80 to 90% of the population disappeared in thirty years [2])
The Pequot War in early New England.
In the mid-19th century, post-independence leader Juan Manuel de Rosas engaged in what he himself presented as a war of extermination (the "Conquest of the Desert") against the natives of the Argentinian interior.[14]
While some California tribes were settled on reservations, others were hunted down and massacred by 19th century American settlers.[15]
Determining how many people died in these massacres overall is difficult. In the book The Wild Frontier: Atrocities during the American-Indian War from Jamestown Colony to Wounded Knee, amateur historian William M. Osborn sought to tally every recorded atrocity in the area that would eventually become the continental United States, from first contact (1511) to the closing of the frontier (1890), and determined that 9,156 people died from atrocities perpetrated by Native Americans, and 7,193 people died from atrocities perpetrated by Europeans. Osborn defines an atrocity as the murder, torture, or mutilation of civilians, the wounded, and prisoners (see Indian Wars and Indian Massacres for further details).
[edit] Displacement and disruption
Even more consequential than warfare or mistreatment on indigenous populations was the geographic displacement and the disruption of lifeways that resulted from the European colonization of the Americas. As more and more people arrived from the Old World, native peoples were increasingly compelled to relocate and alter their traditional ways of life. These changes often resulted in decreased birth rates, which steadily lowered populations over time. In the United States, for example, the relocations of Native Americans resulting from the policies of Indian Removal and the reservation system created a disruption which resulted in fewer births and thus population decline.
The populations of many Native American peoples were reduced by the common practice of producing families with Europeans. Although many Indian cultures that once thrived are extinct today, the descendants of such peoples exist today in the bloodlines of the current inhabitants of the Americas.
[edit] The "genocide" debate
Further information: Genocides in history#Americas
A controversial question relating to the population history of American indigenous peoples is whether or not the natives of the Americas were the victims of genocide. After the Nazi-perpetrated Holocaust during World War II, genocide was defined (in part) as a crime "committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such."
Historian David Stannard is of the opinion that the indigenous peoples of America (including Hawaii[16]) were the victims of a "Euro-American genocidal war."[17] While conceding that the majority of the indigenous peoples fell victim to the ravages of European disease, he estimates that almost 100 million died in what he calls the American Holocaust.[18] Stannard's perspective has been joined by Kirkpatrick Sale, Ben Kiernan, Lenore A. Stiffarm, and Phil Lane, Jr., among others; the perspective has been further refined by Ward Churchill, who has said that "it was precisely malice, not nature, that did the deed."[17] -- the Europeans chose to spread diseases.
Stannard's claim of 100 million deaths has been disputed because he does not cite any demographic data to support this number, and because he makes no distinction between death from violence and death from disease. Noble David Cook considers books such as Stannard's—a number of which were released around the year 1992 to coincide with the 500th anniversary of the Columbus voyage—to be an unproductive return to Black Legend-type explanations for depopulation. In response to Stannard's figure, political scientist R. J. Rummel has instead estimated that over the centuries of European colonization about 2 million to 15 million American indigenous people were the victims of what he calls democide. "Even if these figures are remotely true," writes Rummel, "then this still make this subjugation of the Americas one of the bloodier, centuries long, democides in world history."[19]
While no mainstream historian denies that death and suffering were unjustly inflicted by a number of Europeans upon a great many American natives, most historians argue that genocide, which is a crime of intent, was not the intent of European colonization. Historian Stafford Poole wrote: "There are other terms to describe what happened in the Western Hemisphere, but genocide is not one of them. It is a good propaganda term in an age where slogans and shouting have replaced reflection and learning, but to use it in this context is to cheapen both the word itself and the appalling experiences of the Jews and Armenians, to mention but two of the major victims of this century."[20]
Therefore, most mainstream scholars tend not to use the term "genocide" to describe the overall depopulation of American natives. However, a number of historians, rather than seeing the whole history of European colonization as one long act of genocide, do cite specific wars and campaigns which were arguably genocidal in intent and effect. Usually included among these are the Pequot War (1637) and campaigns waged against tribes in California starting in the 1850s.[21]
[edit] See also
European colonization of the Americas
Columbus Day
Indian Wars (in the United States)
Bandeirantes
Trail of Tears
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
Amazonas before the Inca Empire
Native American massacres (mass killings in the United States)
Smallpox Epidemics in the New World
Tribal warfare
Pandemic
Guns, Germs, and Steel
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
[edit] References
[edit] Books
Cappel, Constance, "The Smallpox Genocide of the Odawa Tribe at L'Arbre Croche, 1763: The History of a Native American People," Edwin Mellen Press, 2007, ISBN -10: o-7734-5220-6, ISBN 13: 978-0-7734-5220-6.
Cook, Noble David. Born to Die: Disease and New World Conquest, 1492–1650. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-521-62208-5, ISBN 0-521-62730-3.
Hanson, Victor Davis. Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power. New York: Doubleday, 2001. ISBN 0-385-50052-1.
Henige, David. Numbers from Nowhere: The American Indian Contact Population Debate. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998. ISBN 0-8061-3044-X.
Jennings, Francis. The Founders of America: How Indians discovered the land, pioneered in it, and created great classical civilizations, how they were plunged into a Dark Age by invasion and conquest, and how they are reviving. New York: Norton, 1993. ISBN 0-393-03373-2.
Mann, Charles Kellogg 1491 : New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus New York: Knopf, 2005. ISBN 1-4000-4006-X
Royal, Robert. 1492 and All That: Political Manipulations of History. Washington, D.C.: Ethics and Public Policy Center, 1992.
Stannard, David E. American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World. Oxford University Press, 1993. ISBN 0-19-508557-4
Stearn, E. Wagner and Allen E. Stearn. The Effect of Smallpox on the Destiny of the Amerindian. Boston: Humphries, 1945.
Thornton, Russell. American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A Population History Since 1492. University of Oklahoma Press, 1987. ISBN 0-8061-2074-6.
^ Anderson, pp. 541–2; McConnell, p. 195; Dowd, War Under Heaven, p. 190.
[edit] Online sources
Lewy, Guenter. "Were American Indians the Victims of Genocide?", History News Network, originally published in Commentary.
Lord, Lewis. How many people were here before Columbus? U.S. News and World Report, August 18, 1997.
Rummel, R.J. Death by Government, Chapter 3: Pre-Twentieth Century Democide
Stutz, Bruce. Megadeath in Mexico Discover, February 21, 2006.
Vaughan, Kevin. The charge: Fabrication: Did Ward Churchill falsely accuse the U.S. Army in small pox epidemic? Rocky Mountain News, June 5, 2005.
White, Matthew. "The Annihilation of the Native Americans". Amateur website, but reports data from scholarly sources.
Jeffrey Amherst and Smallpox Blankets "Lord Jeffrey Amherst's letters discussing germ warfare against American Indians" Retrieved February, 2007
[edit] Further reading
Fagan, Brian. Ancient North America. London: Thames and Hudson, 2005, ISBN 0-500-28532-2.
Mann, Charles C. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. Knopf Publishing Group, August 2005, ISBN 1-4000-4006-X.
McNeill, William H. Plagues and Peoples. Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., New York, NY, 1976, ISBN 0-385-12122-9.
Michael Sletcher, ‘North American Indians’, in Will Kaufman and Heidi Macpherson, eds., Britain and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History, (2 vols., Oxford, 2005).
Cappel, Constance, The Smallpox Genocide of the Odawa Tribe at L'Arbre Croche. 1763: The History of a Native American People, Edwin Mellen Press, October, 2007, ISBN 10:0-7734-5220-6 and ISBN 13: 978-0-7734-5220-6.
External links
Article by Russell Thornton on American Indian population history in North America
Excerpts from David Stannard's American Holocaust
Article by Alan Rinding on Brazil's Indians
Colonial Brazil: Portuguese, Tupi, etc
Indigenous Genocide in the Brazilian Amazon
SYSTEMATIC GENOCIDE OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF WEST PAPUA UNDER SPECIAL AUTONOMY
http://westpapuaaction.buz.org/Genocide-under-autonomy.doc
Rev. Socratez Sofyan Yoman
President of the Fellowship of Baptist Churches of West Papua
Jayapura, West Papua, 14 Mei 2005
I wish to take this opportunity to portray the suffering and misfortune of the indigenous people of West Papua since the implementation of Special Autonomy in West Papua.
Under Special Autonomy, the Indonesian government has the following aims and commitments: First: To protect the basic rights and status of Papuans, including their land rights. Second: To develop indigenous Papuans through education, improvements in community health, and increased economic prosperity.
Unfortunately, Special Autonomy has brought only great misfortune and is not very different from the ‘Act of Free Choice 1969’ (PEPERA 1969). Special Autonomy is PEPERA 1969 Volume II. Accordingly, killings and systematic violence have increased significantly using the excuse of OPM membership and separatism. Violence by the Indonesian military forces has increased. West Papuan people have been pursued, detained, terrorised, intimidated, imprisoned, tortured, raped, killed and disappeared. Below are some examples.
I. INCIDENT AT NABIRE
On 17 January 2005, 3am, soldiers of Battalion 753 Nabire attacked, captured, tortured, shot and even killed, civilians in Nabire.
The deceased:
Miron Wonda died on 17 January after his detention by members of Battalion 753 Nabire on 16 January 2005 at Kali Kimi, Lani village, Nabire. He had been kicked and hit with boots, clubs, canes and rifle butts.
Names of persons seriously wounded
1. Tadius Usain (22/male). A soldier from Battalion 753 hit Tadius with a wooden beam, iron chains and a rifle butt, and kicking him with military boots. He was wounded on both his cheeks, his eyes were swollen and he could not see well.
2. David Jigibalom (22/ male). He was hit with iron and wooden beams; some wounds needed five stitches, his cheeks were swollen and there were wide wounds on his head.
3. Robert Jigibalom (15/ male). He was hit with iron resulting in swollen cheeks, eyes and lips and bleeding head wounds.
4. Dasmi Kogoya (19/male). He was hit with iron and wood, and kicked with military boots. His right eyelid was painful and swollen, his spine was injured so he could not stand normally.
5. Dailus Kogoya (17 /male). He was hit with iron and wood. His right eyelid was cut and swollen and as a result of injury to his limbs, he could not walk or be supported.
6. Menase Enumbi (15/male) After being hit with a wooden beam and being kicked with military boots, his head wound required five stitches and his eyes and both cheeks were swollen.
7. Mote Wonda (19 /male). His right eye was so swollen that he could not see, some of his limbs were injured and he could not walk normally, as a result of being hit with a wooden beam and iron chains, as well as being kicked with military boots.
8. Aser Wonda (23 /male), Lebius Enumbi (19/male), Teles Kogoya (20/male), Uringa Kogoya (25/male), Depius Kogoya (25 /male), and Kumpuk Wenda (20/male). These persons suffered minor wounds as a result of being hit and
kicked by Indonesian soldiers.
9. Reverend Erok Kogoya (40 /male). Head of the Klasis Indonesian Evangelical church (GIDI) in Nabire. His house was searched and he was beaten and kicked, resulting in an injury to his right cheek.
Background to the Problem
On 16 January 2005 at 8pm Ibu Neni (Mrs Neni -a Javanese trader) arrived unexpectedly to organise some social dancing at the home of Mr Rahman, her younger brother. Ibu Neni called four young Papuan girls to help her to organise the dancing. In order to organise the evening she went to borrow some petrol lights from Kali Bobo, which was some distance from Kali Bumi where the dance was being organised. At 10pm, after the dance had been going for 30 minutes, two soldiers from Battalion 753 arrived, one in uniform, the other in civilian clothes.
While the dance was in progress, a young Papuan male wearing camouflage trousers was asked by the two soldiers to leave and change into normal trousers. The young man agreed, left to change at his house, and returned to dance. Then a young man named John Wonda came to dance, wearing torn shorts, and was asked by a soldier to change into better trousers. He agreed, went to change his pants and returned to participate in the dancing, While the dance continued, Usman Mayoba came and sat close to where the soldier in civilian dress was sitting. The soldier said to Usman "What do you want?"
and immediately hit Usman Mayoba. His friends who had come to participate in the dancing could not accept the beating of Usman and attacked the two soldiers.
While the fight was escalating, members of Company A Battalion 753 arrived fully armed on motor bikes and in a TNI truck (Tentara National Indonesia - Indonesian National Forces). The soldiers from the 753 Battalion forced their entry into the homes of local people by breaking doors. The soldiers frightened women and children who had been sleeping in their houses. The women and children who had just been woken were threatened by the armed soldiers.
The persons listed above as having been detained, tortured and beaten were not associated with the dancing incident that night. They were arrested at their homes, forced into a military truck, were tortured and beaten at the office of Company A Battalion 753. They were taken back to their homes after the torture and beating.
2. INCIDENT AT TOLIKARA
The event at Tolikara on 21 January 2005 was engineered by the Indonesian military. Soldiers arrested 8 civilians. The names of the civilians arrested and held at the District Police office, Jayawijaya regency are:
(1) Natan Wenda (16/male);
(2) Menis Wenda (20/ male);
(3) Yatimin Weya (22/ male);
(4) Beniyus Kogoya (21/ male);
(5) John Hiluka (18/ male);
(6) Salamin Weya ( 22/ male);
(7) Simele Gire (23/ male).
(8) Yohanes Hiluka (24/ male).
3. 10 APRIL 2005
The TNI and Brimob (Brigade Mobil Riot Troops) shot dead a civilian named Tolinawimban Gire (59/ male). The TNI and Brimob also arrested 8 civilians named:
(1) Ginggin Enumbi (52/ male),
(2) Yulemi Tabuni (18/ male),
(3) Utinus Telenggen (20/ male),
(4) Tekius Enumbi (19/ male),
(5) Digir Wonda (45/ male),
(6) Mukmende Telenggen (48/ male),
(7) Ekius Enumbi (19/ male), and
(8) Yerimon Wonerengga (19/ male).
INCIDENTS IN 2003 AND PAPUAN VICTIMS
On 4 April 2003, the military weapons store house at Wamena was broken into.
Description and analysis of the location of the weapons store house The KODIM 1702 (Komando Distrik Militer District Military Command) weapons store at Jayawijaya is in the middle of the KODIM complex. The door of the weapons store consists of 4 layers of doors, the front door being the first one, then the second door, the third door and the fourth door. All of them are made of iron, and they also have strong keys and were being guarded by a guard named First Sergeant Ruben Lena who was shot dead. In front there is a guardhouse. The KODIM complex is surrounded by an iron fence and has 3 front doors. Each of these doors is guarded by the TNI. At the back in the direction of Kali Uwe there is only 1 door which is closed every night. In front of the KODIM complex there is a main road which goes from the Town Centre to Sinakma. There are lamps lighting up the whole KODIM 1702 complex. However, at the time of the incident the electricity for the
whole of Wamena went out for several minutes and then came back on after the drama of the removal of the weapons was over
From this analysis of the location and security of the weapons store, the following question arises: could the highland people, with their limited education and armed only with bows and arrows and other traditional weapons, dare to enter the military headquarters, break into the weapons store and shoot First Lieutenant Napitulu and First Sergeant Ruben Lena?
The aim of the incident was clear: to build up the 977 Battalion in Jayawijaya District, kill Yustinus Murip and ten of his friends, and kill and destroy the local people.
The offensive at Kuyawaqi 19 April 2003. The military operation resulted in 72 deaths. The soldiers shot 11 people.
(1)Ketis Tabuni (25/male),
(2) Enggelek Tabuni (45/ male),
(3) Debanus Murip (28/male),
(4) Yukulele Morip (24/male),
(5) Esau Morip (35/male),
(6) Yuben Wenda (35/male),
(7) Kornelius Telenggen (25/male),
(8) Nendiwenus Murip (20/male),
(9) Abenus Telenggen (21/male),
(10) Arena Murip (25/female), her corpse was found stark naked without any
clothes,
(11) Yesaya Telenggen (27/male).
45 People died in a jungle refugee situation because of hunger and illness
(1)Ketinus Kiwo (2 months /male), (2) Norina Wenda (1year /female)
(3) Konius Kiwo (45 /male), (4) Tambunuk Tabuni (6 /male),
(5) Okwarit Tabuni (50/female), (6) Wogoraklek Wenda (50 /female),
(7) Iwan Kogoya (20 /male), (8) Manarinorak Tabuni (51/female),
(9) Delince Tabuni (12 /female), (10) Werimina Murip (8/ female),
(11) Turius Telenggen (3 /male), (12) Mapi Murip (3/ male),
(13) Yahya Kogoya (15 /male), (14) Tendi Tabuni (1 month /female),
(15) Kimanius Kogoya (3 months /female), (16) Silas Wenda (5 months
/female),
(17) Kogoyagwe ( 45 /female), (18) Lemanus Kogoya (14 /male),
(19) Lendina Murip (12 /female), (20) Roby Kogoya (7 months /male),
(21) Nggik Tabuni (45 /male), (22) Wororaklek Wenda (52 /female),
(23) Dekiton Wenda (12 /male), (24) Nelisina Kogoya (18 /female),
(25) Wagagerakmban Kiwo (52 /female), (26) Yali Tabuni (11 /female),
(27) Yambuni Tabuni (53 /female), (28) Wogoya Tabuni (50 /female),
(29) Yesaya Telenggen(39 /male), (30) Melenggen Telenggen (40 /male),
(31) Yohana Tabuni (1year /female), (32) Tagero Murip (55 /female),
(33) Zakarius Murip (35 /male), (34) Dipena Murip (10 /female),
(35) Usilena Murip (8 /female), (36) Pilena Murip (7 /female),
37) Arina Murip (17 tahun/female), (38) Werina Murip (18 /female),
(39) Domince Murip (5 /female), (40) Tunikengge Murip (50 /female),
(41) Iriana Murip (2 /female), (42) Komologwelingginik Murip(50 /female),
(43) Nagason Telenggen (18 /male), (44) Warugun Kogoya (50 /female),
(45) Yosemina Tabuni (39 /female).
15 people died of hunger and illness after returning to their villages.
(1) Asina Wenerengga (40 /female), (2) Alpi Telenggen (4 months/male),
(3) Kelemariak Tabuni (49 /male), (4) Berina Murip (7 months /female),
(5) Dina Murip ( 6 moths /female), (6) Yagit Tabuni (50 /male),
(7) Pipiwarak Tabuni (48 /male), (8) Galue Tabuni (50 /female),
(9) Narius Tabuni (22 /male), (10) Yawiyanugume Murip (53 /male),
(11) Arman Tabuni (4 /male), (12) Tamban Tabuni (7 /male),
(13) Nelisina Kogoya (18 /female), 14) Wagagerakmban Kiwo (50 /male),
(15) Yali Tabuni ( 3 male/male).
Soldiers burnt 23 church buildings, 8 Baptist church buildings, 9 Kernah Evangelical church buildings, and 6 buildings of the Evangelical church of Indonesia (GIDI)
School buildings. The primary school at Kuyawagi was burnt by Indonesian soldiers and the primary school at Mume became a TNI post, and all seats and desks were used as firewood and most of the school building was damaged. As a result education in the Kuyawagi area is not progressing well.
Medical centres. Soldiers burnt the pharmacy centre, hospital, medical clinic and pharmacy clinic belonging to the Baptist church, Kemah Evangelical church (KINGMI) and the Evangelical Church of Indonesia (GIDI). As a result there is a lack of medicine and heath services for the community.
Soldiers burnt and destroyed 30 fences and gardens. As a result it is difficult for the community to have sufficient food.
On 5 November 2003, Yustinus Murip and 9 friends were shot and killed by the TNI in the village of Yaleka 5 kms from Wamena. Yustinus and his friends were civilians (Baptist congregation members) but were labeled as members of
OPM by the military.
INCIDENTS IN 2004
Incident at Puncak Jaya on 17 August 2004 Special Unit Forces (Kopassus) who were stationed at Mulia heard of the
arrival of Goliat Tabuni in Guragi: his arrival and presence was used and exaggerated by some Kopassus members. Following the news of his arrival on 17 August, members of Kopassus went to Guragi. When they arrived in Guragi one Kopassus soldier was shot. The shooting occurred at approximately 9am (WIT: Waktu Indonesian Timur Western Indonesian Time). At the same time Indonesians were participating in the ceremonies for National Independence Day.
After the shooting of the Kopassus soldier on 17 August until 13 September 2004, there was almost a month, 27 days, during which the military did not act. Everything appeared peaceful and the people continued their lives as usual.
On 14 September 2004, a troop of Kopassus Special Unit Forces returned to Guragi with the aim of finding, catching and shooting Goliat Tabuni. The Kopassus troops did not find Goliat. However, Kopassus met with Pastor Elisa Tabuni and his son who is also a Pastor. The Kopassus Troops asked Elisa of the whereabouts of Goliat Tabuni. Pastor Elisa answered that he did not know about Goliat. The Kopassus Forces arrested Pastor Elisa Tabuni and his son, and handcuffed or tied the hands of the two pastors using striped belts. While they were being taken away, Pastor Elisa and his son were asked by Kopassus about the Commandment from 13th century Rome which refers to the government as God’s representative. Pastor Elisa and his son did not respond as they could not speak Indonesian very well. When they did not respond, the Kopassus troops shot and killed Pastor Elisa Tabuni while his hands were tied. His son managed to run away and save himself. (The pastor’s son is now a living witness).
On the afternoon of 16 October 2004 at 1pm, a land and air operation was launched against civilians in Puncak Jaya region with TNI helicopters firing and bombing civilians who had gathered to eat together.
On 16 October 2004, at 9pm evening, the head of the parish of Yamo region, Pastor Yason Kogoya was picked up by two members of Kopassus on the orders of Enock Ibo, Local Secretary for the regency of Puncak Jaya. He was interrogated in a closed room from 9.15pm until 11pm. A Kopassus member showed him the rope, which had been used to tie Pastor Elisa Tabuni when he was killed, and had been kept as evidence.
The following church buildings were deserted as the inhabitants fled into the jungle to hide and save themselves: 1. Gereja Tanoba; 2. Gereja Yogorini; 3. Gereja Monia; 4. Gereja Bigiragi; 5. Gereja Peragi; 6. Gereja Yogonggum; 7. Gereja Yaromugum; 8. Gereja Pilia; 9. Gereja Wulindik; 10. Gereja Gimanggen; 11. Gereja Tingginambut; 12. Gereja Toragi; 13. Pilipur; 14. Gereja Kalome; 15. Gereja Agape; 16. Gereja Yanenggawe; 17. Gereja Kayogebut; 18. Gereja Pagarigom; 19. Gereja Yiogobak; 20. Gereja Yibinggame; 21. Gereja Ndondo; 22. Gereja Yamiruk.
Thirteen additional military posts have been opened in the Puncak Jaya regency
(1) Pos Kulurik (Ndondopaga),
(2) Pos Muliagambut,
(3) Pos Wuyuneri,
(4) Pos Kota Lama (Market complex),
(5) Pos Purulome,
(6) Pos Irimuli Pos Nalume (Guraginikime),
(7) Pos Monia (in the church building),
Three military posts between the Old Town and the regent’s office in Pagelome and Three military posts near the regent’s office.
Approximately 6,393 people fled and are still hiding in the jungle. We do not know the exact number of people who have died from hunger and illness as the area is still under the control of the military. Approximately 371 huts (traditional houses) have been burnt and the indigenous people are still in the jungle. As a result of this military operation, the local community in Puncak Jaya has suffered greatly from hunger and illness. They are too frightened to return. All their gardens and fences have been destroyed by the military.
The church building belonging to the Evangelical Church of Indonesia (GIDI) in Monia is being used as a residence by the military. The floor has been damaged and the prayer building has become a place for resting and cooking.
On 21 October 2004, Socratez Sofyan Yoman visited Puncak Jaya and met the following people:
Bupati (Regent) of Puncak Jaya, Eliezer Renmaur,
Deputy Head of the Parliament (DPR) for the Regency of Puncak Jaya, Elias Tabuni,
Military District Commander for Nabire 1705, Letkol.Inf. Didit Pramudioto,
Commander of the Special Forces (Kopassus), Ltk. Inf. Yogi,
Commander of Intelligence for the Regional Military Command, Ltk Victor Tobing,
Head of Police for Nabire, AKBP Taufik, and
Representative of the Papuan Regional Police, AKBP Yohanes Prapto.
The meeting was held at 11am at Mulia.
The stigma of separatism, OPM and rebellion
These are terms used by Indonesians as justification to kill Papuans with ease. The labels of ‘separatist’, ‘rebel’ or ‘OPM’ are rough, but effective terms usually used by colonial, oppressive and domineering peoples. Other less offensive terms or labels which are still insulting and deadly are ‘people-left-behind’, ‘stupid’, ‘poor’, ‘backward’, ‘cannibal’, ‘primitive’, and ‘drunk’. The main aim behind the use of these terms is to destroy the character, self-esteem, and status of the indigenous or native-born people. Such terms disrupt and damage the indigenous peoples’ spirit for living. It kills both their living and fighting spirits. They are also used to destroy the foundation and strength of native-born peoples’ lifestyle. This silent
oppression forms an essential part of the genocide of the indigenous people.
The conflicts occurring in West Papua are engineered by the Indonesian military theories of conflict. They provide a reason for the large military presence in West Papua, with operational funds and military promotions.
Batallion 977 has been established in Wamena, Regency of Jayawijaya. KSAD, Lieutenant General Djoko Santoso has said that in 2005 it will be supplemented by three further battalions in West Papua.
The Transmigration Program is a national program supported by the World Bank to bring Islamic people from outside Papua , especially from Java, to West Papua. Dr. Richard Chauvel agrees, "the demographic transformation of society in Papua, with the great influx of Indonesia settlers, has engendered a widespread feeling that Papuans have been dispossessed and marginalized in their own land…"
The militia and jihad fighters can not be separated from the Indonesian military presence. The militias and jihad fighters have the same ideology; that each enemy must be destroyed. So in West Papua the Islamic view is that Christians are unbelievers and need to be annihilated. With an ideology very close to that of the Indonesian military, the militias and jihad fighters are certainly armed by the Indonesian military.
Alcohol is a form of silent killing. Generally, the introduction of alcohol is protected and supported by the Indonesian military and police. Usually the police arrest only the drunk Papuans, and imprison and ill-treat them. But, the government and Indonesian police have not yet, in fact never will arrest the persons selling the alcohol, never will close the places where
alcohol is sold, and never will close the factories producing alcohol.
HIV/AIDS (Silent killing) is occurring in West Papua with the trade of women who are infected with HIV/AIDS. This is a means of depopulation, or genocide, against the indigenous people of West Papua. In Mappi, Merauke the military and police are bringing infected women into the community of sandalwood gatherers. The women are bargained for against the value of the sandalwood. There are almost 14,000 to15,000 known HIV/AIDS sufferers in West Papua.
Special Autonomy is a national agreement, as well a political bargain between the Papuan elite and Indonesia which is validated by the Indonesian constitution, the agreement of the Indonesian Parliament and the support of the World Bank. It aims to be a process for solving problems in West Papua through education, health and the economy, along with protection of, and respect for, the human rights and status of the indigenous people of West Papua. But Special Autonomy has brought misfortune and is yet another source of suffering for the West Papuan people continuing from the Act of Free Choice1969 (PEPERA 1969). Nowhere is Special Autonomy being implemented consistently, correctly, justly and fairly by local government development programmes. Government Regulation No. 12003 covers the development of the province of West Irian Jaya.
Special Autonomy funds have been used by the Indonesian military to kill West Papuan people. An example was during the incident in Mulia, Puncak Jaya on 14 September 2004, the military used Special Autonomy Funds totalling 2.5 billion Rp according to my research, 3 billion Rp according to the West Papuan Parliament, or 1.9 billion Rp according to the regional government report to purchase food and medicines for the displaced people. These funds have not assisted the displaced people and it is not known where the money has gone.
The Papuan Parliament (MPR) represents the aims of the Indonesian government, and is unrepresentative of the aims of the indigenous people of West Papua. The oath of a Member of Parliament is based on loyalty to Pancasila, the Indonesian Constitution and defense of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. However, the indigenous people of Papua expect
that Papuan members of parliament should represent indigenous Papuans in order to protect their human rights, status and lifestyle.
Racial and religious discrimination. The dialogue between Aceh and the Indonesian government in Japan (2002/2003) and in Helsinki Finland (April 2005) shows clearly that the Indonesian government discriminates against West Papuan people on racial and religious grounds. Aceh and West Papua has the same Special Autonomy status. This status aims to be a path to ending the problems of conflict in both Aceh and West Papua.
But the Indonesian people have given Aceh a special and wide-ranging opportunity for dialogue through an international facilitator. At the same time, the West Papuan people have asked for dialogue but have not received an answer from the Indonesians. But as a response, the Indonesian government has sent greater numbers of military forces to West Papuan land. It also sends thousands of Javanese people to Papua.
Religious discrimination can be identified as Muslims can apply unwritten (religious) law. This is proved by the freedom to worship Christians in Indonesia are restricted in their worship and are restricted in building places of worship. But in West Papua mosques are built everywhere, even in places where there are no Muslims.
Exploitation of natural resources West Papua was incorporated into Indonesia through Indonesian military strength with the aim of seizing the products of West Papua land and annihilating the indigenous people. The Indonesian military and police forces support and protect the removal of the soil’s resources.
PT Freeport Indonesia is a large American business in Timika, Tembagapura, West Papua. The presence of Freeport in Papua since 1967 (before Papua became Indonesian territory) has certainly brought great misfortune to the indigenous people of West Papua. Their land has been seized, their forests cut down, their environment damaged, and their drinking water polluted. The people have been threatened, arrested, disappeared, killed, raped, lost and driven out by the Indonesian military who are paid by the giant American company.
The PB Tangguh Natural Gas project in Betuni Bay is English owned. It will lead to a situation not far different from that of PT Freeport in Tembagapura. The community’s land will be seized, their forests will be cut down, the natural environment, damaged, and water polluted. The people will certainly be driven out, threatened, arrested, disappeared, killed, raped,
and lost by the Indonesian military and police. The workforce will be gathered from Javanese people.
EXPANSION OF DISTRICTS AND PROVINCES IN PAPUA
The main aim of expanding the Districts and Provinces in West Papua is:
1. In the interests of security, that is the expansion of the military’s wings by building new Kodam, Batallion, Kodim, Koramil, Polda, Polres, Polsek to control and destroy the indigenous Papuans.
2. Expanding employment opportunities with the allocation of Officials from outside of Papua
3. Systematic efforts to destroy (genocide) the indigenous Papuans by sending transmigrants and illegal immigrants using the reason that there are not enough indigenous Papuans in the region of the expansion of new Provinces (part of the long term Islamisation and Javanisation efforts in Papua).
4. Systematic political efforts to play one side off against the other (devide et impera) by isolating or grouping indigenous Papuans together so that they will kill each other in their effor