Today marks the day we recognize the European GoldThirsters coming upon humans they never met before; the era that Italian, French, and Spanish LandWanters came sailing onto shores where other people lived; the time that yet provides the template still acted upon in many ways, wherein those who Know Better visit violence upon others to better distribute their resources.
Arte by Nezua, using arte from the Codex Tepetlaoztoc as well as bg image by T. Mursell
Although Christopher Columbus was perhaps not the first to discover America, as has so often been claimed, he was the one to bring about the first real contact and interaction between Renaissance Europe and the American continent with its various civilizations; and that has shaped and changed world history in countless ways. Over 500 years later, this date is still celebrated, lamented, and debated.
One of the main consequences of this contact, was the imminent conquest of the new world by the old. In writing of his discovery, Columbus noted how he and his men were greeted with gifts and said: “As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts”. And, generally speaking, this was to characterize relations between the old world and the new: Europeans sought wealth and to impart (or impose) their culture. The indigenous people befriended them and were dominated by armies from abroad.
AND NOW FOR THE PURA MEZCLA ANGLE, which I am always happy to give you here at UMX.
Today marks the day we recognize the European GoldThirsters coming upon humans they never met before; the era that Italian, French, and Spanish LandWanters came sailing onto shores where other people lived; the time that yet provides the template still acted upon in many ways. Wherein those who Know Better visit violence upon others to better distribute the resources of the weaker, wherein those who Talk Louder and with many mouths pave the alleys that lead to their own coffers with many a smooth fabrication or rationalization, wherein those who center their own immoral culture and so declare another unworthy and aid in the destruction of that other culture.
Here’s the mezcla part. Just as I am a living example of indigenous blood meeting European blood and contain this meeting within every cell of my spiritual and physical being, so do we all have this ideological potential within us. We all harbor the ability to act on our greed, on our Empire’s ethnocentrism, on our selfcentrism, on our Right to decide for others. We are all conquistadores, given the right opportunity and weakness. And yet, we are also always able to act otherwise. To consider the culture—feelings, reality, ritual, values—of another, to ask rather than to demand, to share rather than to steal, to think collectively, rather than hierarchically or patriarchically. Not only every day is this within our reach, but from moment to moment.
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