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'The Settlers' depicts genocide of Chile's Indigenous people
by Stefan Dege, Ferenc Gaal
Deutsche Welle
 
Feb. 2024
 
Nearly 150 years after the genocide of the Selk'nam people of Tierra del Fuego in Patagonia, a new film recounts the horrors of the mass murders that went nearly unnoticed by the rest of the world.
 
One might be tempted to classify "The Settlers" as a "Western" film, but Galvez said he does not want it to be viewed as such. He called the genre in the 20th century an "active accomplice to the colonization process in the Americas."
 
"The Western was a propaganda genre that justified the slaughter of Indigenous peoples," Galvez said, adding that by turning murder into entertainment and portraying Indigenous peoples as villains "it was extremely racist."
 
The first Europeans reached Tierra del Fuego when the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sailed around the world for Spain in 1520. He named the archipelago at the southern tip of the continent "Land of Smoke" — a name later changed to "Land of Fire," likely because of the many campfires lit by Indigenous people along the coast.
 
The Selk'nam, also known as the Ona or Onawo people, were one of four indigenous tribes living in the area when the first Europeans arrived during this period.
 
Yet the Selk'nam, estimated to number about 4,000 in the last 1800s, had little contact with ethnic Europeans until settlers from Argentina, Chile and Europe arrived in the Tierra del Fuego around 1850. The sheep breeders, gold prospectors and farmers brought death to these Indigenous peoples, first through diseases they carried with them.
 
Then by openly persecuting the tribes. The ancestral hunting land of the Selk'nam was turned into large ranches, and the Selk'nam, having no concept of private property, hunted the sheep farmed there, believing them to be fair game.
 
Ranchers began to retaliate with the support of the Argentinian and Chilean governments, hiring bounty hunters to kill Selk'nam. This led to the tribe's almost complete demise.
 
The Selk'nam most probably arrived in Patagonia around 10,000 years ago. Like the other Indigenous peoples in the area, they defied the adverse living conditions of the archipelago's polar climate of blazing sun and Antarctic cold. They lived in small communities throughout the barren region.
 
The nomadic group did not build cities or leave behind monuments. Nor did they leave behind many artifacts — or any written language. It's mainly through historical photos and research reports written by individuals, such as missionary Martin Gusinde (1886-1969), that we know about their culture today.
 
Gusinde was sent to Chile by the Steyler Missionaries, a religious order within the Roman Catholic Church also known as the Society of the Divine Word. The Austrian priest and anthropologist undertook four research trips between 1918 and 1924 to document the life of the indigenous communities in the Tierra del Fuego.
 
Gusinde's photos, which show people participating in ceremonies and rituals, are now kept by the Anthropos Institute of the Steyler Missionaries in Sankt Augustin, Germany. "Gusinde was one of the first ethnologists who sought direct contact with the people he was studying," Anthropos Institute librarian Harald Grauer told DW in an interview.
 
Some Selk'nam were deported to Europe and paraded in "human zoos." As early as the 15th century, people were kidnapped in colonized areas and brought to Europe for show as "exotic" people. Such zoos were used to demonstrate the supposed "superiority" of European civilization.
 
By the 19th century, it had become a lucrative business, and Hamburg's Hagenbeck Zoo was the European leader in the human exhibition business. According to Hamburg colonialism researcher Jürgen Zimmerer, this dark page of European history still has not been properly addressed.
 
In September 2023, Chile's National Congress officially recognized the Selk'nam as one of the 11 original peoples of Chile. Their story is told in "The Settlers," which opens in cinemas on February 15.
 
Apr. 2023
 
'Human zoos': Hamburg, Lisbon and Brussels are just some of the European cities where racist ethnographic exhibitions were once frequent events. Today, there is still a reluctance to acknowledge the trauma they caused, writes Ferenc Gaal.
 
In colonial Europe, ethnological exhibitions of "exotic" people and "human zoos" were widespread. As early as the 15th century, people were kidnapped in colonized areas and brought to Europe for show. In the late 19th century, racist human displays became particularly lucrative. They were also used to demonstrate the supposed "superiority" of European civilization.
 
People from European colonies were lured to Europe under false pretenses and forced to work in degrading circumstances. They were often presented to onlookers as "savages" or cannibals.
 
Across Europe, there has been little official acknowledgement of the crimes of the colonial era, and there is still very little public awareness.
 
'Human zoos' in Hamburg
 
In 1874, the Hamburg merchant Carl Hagenbeck was one of the first to display humans alongside animals in zoos, and he quickly became a successful "ethnography showman." His Hagenbeck company, which still exists under the same name today and runs the main zoo in Hamburg, in northern Germany, made money with human exhibitions until the 1930s.
 
The historian Jürgen Zimmerer recently told German broadcaster NDR that in these zoos, people were shown in "an environment that was deliberately staged as being primitive."
 
The Hamburg zoo has since said that it is re-examining its past, but there is currently no indication highlighting that humans used to be displayed on the site or any attempt to commemorate them.
 
Portuguese World Exhibition in Lisbon
 
In Lisbon, the capital of another vast European colonial power, humans were also displayed in 1940 at the Portuguese World Exhibition. People were brought from colonized countries to live in an environment that had been built to simulate their supposed habitat. They were used as "indigenous extras" to confirm colonial stereotypes.
 
The Portuguese dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar used the 1940 World Exhibition to glorify the colonial era and strengthen his own regime, and today the debate about Portugal's colonial past often centers on him.
 
But Elsa Peralta, a historian at Lisbon University, believes that this is inadequate: "The leading narrative of the democratic period is that the crimes of the colonial period were linked to the dictatorship," she said. "It does not reflect the long duration of Portugal's colonial history." Peralta added that even the commemorative plaque that pays tribute to the victims of the "human zoo" in the city's botanical gardens today referred explicitly to the Salazar period.
 
She pointed out that many Portuguese people remained unaware of the racist exhibitions but said that there had been a growing public debate about the country's colonial past in recent years, albeit at a slower pace than in other former colonial states. "Portuguese society is slowly waking up to this issue; it has not yet been dealt with," she noted.
 
In Belgium, which put people on display in a "human zoo" as late as 1958 at the Brussels World Fair, the debate about the country's colonial crimes has become particularly animated over the past few years.
 
The activist and anthropologist Stella Nyanchama Okemwa from the European Network Against Racism (ENAR) has criticized the use of exhibitions to explore this chapter of Belgium's past and commemorate its victims. She says that displaying pictures of ethnographic exhibitions can reproduce racist practices. "For me, it was 'human zoo' 2.0," she said. "It triggered a lot of trauma."
 
She thinks that it is imperative that Belgian society acknowledge the trauma of the colonial past but says that there seems to be little willingness to do so. According to a 2020 survey, half of the country thought that colonialism had had more positive consequences for Belgian Congo than negative ones.
 
In the 1950s and 1960s, the spread of film, television and mass tourism changed the way of viewing "exotic" people. "People no longer brought adventure into their own country, but could afford to travel after it," said historian Anne Dreesbach.
 
"People don't want to engage in this conversation because it will open Pandora's box," said Stella Nyanchama Okemwa.


 


Recognising the right of Indigenous people to have control over decisions that affect their lives
by Coalition of Peaks, agencies
Australia
 
Feb. 2024
 
Major review finds Australian governments failing to help close the gap between improvements in the life outcomes of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. (Coalition of Peaks)
 
The life outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples will not change unless there is a fundamental shift in how federal, state and territory governments view the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, according to a major Productivity Commission review.
 
The review found governments were failing in their commitments under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, did not fully grasp the nature and scale of the changes required, and urgently needed to “close the gap between words and action”.
 
The Coalition of Peaks, which is a partner to the National Agreement and represents more than 80 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak organisations, said governments must take the findings seriously.
 
“As Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, we know what is best for our communities, but governments across the board are still not meaningfully giving us a voice in the decisions that affect our lives,” said Coalition of Peaks’ acting Lead Convenor Catherine Liddle.
 
The Coalition of Peaks is calling for all governments to fulfil the commitments they have already made.
 
“The National Agreement sets a road map, informed by our communities across the country, on what is needed by governments to help close the gap. This includes making sure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives are at the table with governments to share and lead in the decisions that impact on our communities’ lives.” Said Ms Liddle.
 
The Productivity Commission review noted the persistence of “government knows best” thinking when designing and implementing services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
 
“This review involved extensive community consultation, and it confirms what our own countless conversations have told us – that governments still don’t understand that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people know what is best for our communities,” Ms Liddle said.
 
“When Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are given ownership over the decisions that affect their lives, the resources they need, and the opportunity to partner with government, we see better outcomes.”
 
Ms Liddle said more funding was needed to deliver the reforms, noting there had been no significant injection of funding since 2008.
 
“We are calling for a dedicated Closing the Gap fund, enshrined in legislation, and directed to Aboriginal community-controlled organisations and our organisations to support our self-determination,” Ms Liddle said.
 
“Next week the Prime Minister will address Parliament on the anniversary of the Apology to the Stolen Generations, and we hope his words will be matched with action.”
 
“We are calling for tangible commitments to fully fund the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, to make a meaningful difference to the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”
 
* The Coalition of Peaks is made up of more than 80 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled peak and member organisations across Australia, that represent some 800 organisations.
 
Feb. 2024
 
The Australian Productivity Commission's first review of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap has found it's unclear how much funding states and territories have allocated to Aboriginal-controlled organisations.
 
The report said most state and territory governments have not undertaken or published expenditure reviews and it has heard funding is going to non-government organisations when it could be going to Aboriginal-run programs.
 
Commissioner Natalie Siegel-Brown said the final report of the first three-year review found state and federal governments' engagement with Indigenous communities was "tokenistic".
 
"If governments continue to put money towards programs that don't align with what the community is saying will work, or whether these programs are measured in terms of what the community value as markers of change, then governments will continue to allocate public money ineffectively.
 
"For example, governments would come up with their own policy or program or services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples that in some instances were actually harmful to those communities.
 
"The government would only engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people at the 11th hour right before something was about to go to cabinet."
 
Closing the gap targets have been around for 15 years, but data continuously shows strategies aren't working. In 2020 governments signed up for a radical overhaul and a new national agreement was formed.
 
The review found that state and federal governments are "failing" to implement what has been promised, and have provided recommendations:
 
Power needs to be shared, recognising the right that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have control over the decisions that affect their lives. Recognise and support Indigenous data sovereignty. Fundamentally rethink mainstream government systems and culture. Implement stronger accountability.
 
Ms Siegel-Brown says the government must undertake these changes.
 
"The task facing governments under the agreement, what they have promised, is to make structural and cultural changes that embed shared decision making, building the Aboriginal community-controlled sector and to achieve that by being completely transparent.
 
"To ensure governments actually make progress towards the agreement and things don't look the same when we review again in three years."
 
Sharing power with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to make decisions about their communities lies at the heart of what governments committed to. But the Commission found evidence of a failure to relinquish power and the persistence of ‘government knows best’ thinking.
 
To address this, the report’s first recommendation proposes five actions, including amending the agreement to better emphasise power sharing, and having governments recognise the expertise of Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations in what works for their communities.
 
“Efforts to improve outcomes are far more likely to succeed when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people lead their design and implementation. Nothing will change until this model of partnership, based on genuine power sharing, becomes the rule and not the exception,” said Commissioner Romlie Mokak.
 
The report finds that progress is unlikely unless government organisations fundamentally rethink their systems, culture and ways of working.
 
“The lack of progress we have seen reflects a disregard for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s knowledges and solutions throughout government. Breaking down these entrenched attitudes and ways of working will require a focused and deliberate effort from every department and organisation,” said Commissioner Siegel-Brown.
 
http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/closing-the-gap-review/report#media http://www.coalitionofpeaks.org.au/media/major-review-finds-governments-failing-to-meet-closing-the-gap-commitments-as-peak-body-calls-for-renewed-efforts-to-existing-commitments-and-a-dedicated-self-determination-fund http://www.coalitionofpeaks.org.au/outcomes-and-targets http://www.lowitja.org.au/news/lowitja-institute-calls-on-governments-to-hasten-action-to-close-the-gap/ http://closethegap.org.au/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-health-equity-and-justice-still-needs-to-be-progressed-closethegapday2024-report-launch/


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