UN WORKING GROUP

The Next 500 Years

Since the founding of the Fourth World Center and the publication, more than four years ago, of the first issue of the Bulletin, many things have changed in the world. The Berlin Wall, the quintessential symbol of the East-West division, has collapsed. The Cold War is now apparently over and the Soviet bloc no longer exists. Post_Cold War ethnonationalism and secessionism have become primary forces shaping the international arena. Indigenous peoples and the claim to indigenous identity are an integral part of the ethnonationalist movement.

The celebration by colonial states on both sides of the Atlantic of the Columbus Quincentenary has spurred a new level of indigenous activism and networking in this hemisphere. Continental-wide meetings of indigenous nations such as those in Quito, Guatemala City and Kuna Yala (Panama) and the continuing progress of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations, along with countless meetings, conferences and workshops throughout this hemisphere have brought forth an unprecedented degree of international indigenous coordination and have increased world awareness on indigenous issues. The awarding of the 1992 Nobel Prize for Peace to Rigoberta Menchu is perhaps a significant indication of the increased attention now being given to the struggles of indigenous peoples in the Western Hemisphere and around the world.

Part of this increased attention is the reevaluation of the Columbus voyage, and the "history" that followed it, by non-indigenous peoples. The morning of 12 October 1492 marked the dawn not only of a new day but of a new era. That this era has been characterized by greed, oppression and unprecedented genocide and ecocide is well known and does not need repeating. Yet the indigenous peoples of this hemisphere welcomed the weary and lost voyageurs and have always been willing to share the riches and beauty of this land. Contact did not have to be the prelude to conquest.

In opposing the celebration of "Columbus Day" here in Denver, indigenous activists and their allies have often been told "that was then, this is now" and that "holding a grudge over the past is not constructive." The problem, however, is that, 500 years later, little has changed.

History cannot be undone but it does not have to be repeated. Yet intolerance for differences and disrespect for the land are as common today as they were 500 years ago. Brooding over the past is not constructive. Learning from it is. For us, 12 October 1992 marks not only 500 years of resistance and survival but a new beginningthe next 500 years. It is our hope that the debates and, yes, even the conflicts sparked by this quincentenary will evolve into a constructive dialogue over the future of this world, an increased acceptance of and respect for differences and a restoration of the earth's balance. It is our belief that the survival not only of the indigenous nations but of the whole world depends on it.

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Fourth World Bulletin • October 1992