October 12, 2002
Happy Columbus Day
From New World to New World Order
Interesting that Congress' virtual declaration of war and fealty to Der Fuhrer came on Columbus Day week, the day over 500 years ago when colonialism in America was established by the Italian who sailed on a great business venture for the king of Spain, Christopher Columbus. Just now the Bush group is trying to establish a new wave of colonialism, the latest empire. Columbus, whom we celebrate, cut off the handsof the native people who did not fill his quotas for bringing gold to their new masters from Europe. The great Columbus, who wrote in his journal that the native people of America were "kind, generous, attractive, the best people in the world ... [and] with 50 people we can subjugate them to do whatever we want."Columbus was the prototype of the international entrepreneur, the capitalist who sold himself to whoever was buying. He was the father of colonialism, of the slave trade. After the "discovery," Columbus returned with an invasion force, 17 ships with military men and dogs. They brought sugar cane, which wrecked the ecology of the island. According to Samuel Eliot Morrison, author of Admiral on the open Seas, at least 600,000 native people were killed the first year. Columbus was an innovator of genocide.
He rounded up 1500-1600 natives and picked the best specimans, because there was only room for 500, to take back to Spain to be sold as slaves. According to Columbus, His Enterprise, by Hans Koning, Columbus wrote in his journals that the slave trade was unprofitable because most of the slaves died. He didn't give up though. He wrote, "Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can be sold." Then Columbus turned to gold.
In his journal he wrote, "If you discover that some among them steal, you must punish them by cutting off nose and ears, for those are parts of the Body which cannot be concealed."
In 1992, the 500th year of Columbus first voyage, great pains were taken to make the occasion a huge bash, but it didn't take. People by then had begun to see through the absurdity of the idea that Columbus discovered America, and that what he did deserved celebration. As part of the public relations campaign, President George Bush pointed out that Columbus' voyage "was to change the oulook of the world forever."
"We are approaching a momentous year in history," Bush said, "a year that will mark the five hundredth anniversary of one of the greatest achievements of human endeavor: Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World... Christopher Columbus not only opened the door to a New World, but also set an example for us all by showing what monumental feats can be accomplished through perseverance and faith. I strongly encourage every American to support the Quincentenary, and to discover the significance that this milestone in history has in his or her own life."
Five hundred years from New World to New World Order.
When you celebrate Columbus Day, just think, this time around you may be the victim.
For more on Columbus, see
The New Yorker Rethinking Columbus by Bill Bigelow & Bob Peterson. Rethinking Columbus Resources Abolish Columbus Day -- By David Cogswell