October 7, 2007

From SATA-Peru-2007

This week was not as busy in terms of trips but rather, in terms of classes and readings to be done. We meet even on Saturday at 6pm for nearly 2.5 hours to discuss the readings for our Ethnoecology class. We had six journal articles and book chapters covering the topic of ethics and protocols for research, ethnobiology field methods, quantitative and qualitative methods, and extensive details on the Matsiguenga ethnobiology (classifications of forest, medicine, use of animals and concept of revenge). We all did an excellent job presenting and discussing the materials.

Today was a very easy day. I did not do much last night except trying to finish reading John Hemming's The Conquest of the Incas. This morning I did get up at 5AM to get good pictures for this entry. I went to take pictures of Hatum Rumiyoc palace that has the 12 angles boulder, the symbol of the Cusqueña beer that most of us like to drink. The Hatum Rumiyoc has fantastic boulders and I did spend nearly 30 minutes taking some 30 shots. The 12 angle stone is the most photographed boulder in Cusco.

While I was taking pictures, three young drunk fellows came to harass me like three vultures praying on a tourist. "Me tienes que dar unos soles por esas fotos" (You should give me some soles for these pictures). I shifted the dialog by asking them who is responsible for their fate? We did talk about politics and poverty in Latin America and Peru. I had in my fresh memory of all the brutal abuses Hemming covered in this last chapter.

The Spanish conquerors came here to loot Peru and when there was no more gold and silver, their demands to the Peruvians were outrageous. Not only did they rape the Peruvian Indian woman but also stole children to sell as prostitutes. If the peasants of their encomiendas did not pay, they either lost an arm or were killed. (Spain gave extensive lands with their indigenous inhabitants to the conquerors as reward for their work). Their demands were quite unreasonable and greater than the productive capacity of these people. The Spanish wanted to get rich as fast as possible and the well being of the Peruvians was irrelevant. It was stated that the Peruvian population dropped from 10-8 million people to less than 2 million from 1525 to 1600. With the introduction of smallpox and measles, war and abuses by the Spanish (all European nations did the same in the rest of the world between 16-17 Century like the Dutch did in Spice Island in Indonesia, or British did in North America), the Peruvian population declined quite rapidly.

Also, I am reading about the new Viceroy Francisco Toledo in 1569 who came to Peru to "protect the Indians" but his primary goal was to extract precious metals without regards of the well being of the Indians. The discovery of Potosi Silver Mountain in 1545, fuelled the exploitation of the Indians, in such a way that a village sent 7,000 workers and less that 2,000 came back. No Indians wanted to work in the mines since the payments were below the cost of tools and food for them. The workers were forced and they had to produce 2500lbs of ore a day and that mine produced 200,000 pesos a week ($1,360,000 consumed by the Spaniards and 20% for the Spanish Crown). Toledo wanted to continue that production no matter what the cost of Indians’ lives. Potosi feed the European economy!

We all should (or need to) be more aware of the root of poverty and misery of these people (as mentioned in the previous entry, October 6. Our ignorance perpetuates these kind of injustices. Wars are not fuelled by mean people but rather, ignorant populations. Also, poverty is quite relative and should not be necessarily measured with superficial features such as dirty clothes or small grass huts! However, real hunger, lack of access to education and medical services are rampant problems here and this is poverty.

My dialog with these three fellows ended with my question: "Who is responsible for Peru's poverty?" The fellows agree that they are responsible for accepting this conditions. Likewise, Spanish inquisitors about this injustice were surprised on how the local indians continued to endure these abuses without much protest by the end of 16th century. It was clear that the Curacas (local indigenous leaders, "Chief" in Kechua) were abusing their subjects and taking part of the loot requested by the Encomenderos, or this was exaggerated by the Spanish to cover their crime. To me, it is clear we all are responsible for this situation.

I continue to take pictures of this amazing empire that was built on the labor of everyone. The most impressive aspect is that they were able to harvest the labor and fine craftsmanship to build impressive stone walls like this one in Hatum Rumiyoc both under a religious umbrella and while managing to feed and protect their subjects. The Incas might have some proportion of injustice, but in their time subjects did not get hungry nor cold under their government and their achievements was a result of their fair policies, unlike the Spanish "Conquistadores".

Peace and justice for all,

Manuel

October 6, 2007 October 8, 2007