It Ain't Easy Being Colonized
I was born in the
Philippines, probably a closer example to what Hawaii is today (clump of
islands, strategic placement to the east and the Pacific Ocean, a culturally
diverse place of various brown people). And
on a more relevant note I’m also half Ilocano, the largest group of native Filipino
that immigrated to Hawaii during its heavy plantation times. Today, the Filipino
economy is mostly based on tourism and modeled by you guessed it—the good ‘ol Americans!
And though it was never “officially” colonized by Americans, the U.S. armed
forces provided during the Japanese invasion in WWII and the eventual U.S. “occupation”,
has definitely left a lingering imprint on the whole culture and the land.
Well let me rephrase “lingering”
presence. It’s actually a lot more forceful than that. Because of colonialism
(both official and unofficial) most of the Philippines became Catholic. The
economy is capitalistic. The government, in all fairness, is democratic. The
noble notion of the Philippines becoming independent came to be when the archipelago
finally had to come to the conclusion that freedom meant unity under the common
denominator of the term “country”. The whole archipelago of the Philippines,
pre-Magellan, was not really a united country. I’m not trying to over simplify
things, but the islands were rather divided with all sorts of ethnic groups,
who had their own languages, religious beliefs, and too put it bluntly—their
own separate cultures. The notion of a “country” and “entitlement” to the land
didn’t really exist until outside powers started to enforce their paradigms
upon it.
But don’t get me wrong…I’m
not rooting for colonialism. I’m not rooting for the mass enslavement of people.
I’m glad the Philippines fought for their rites as an independent country. And
compared to Hawaii, the so called “native” people seem to be in better
conditions.
But I can’t help to feel
a bit indifferent when my relatives say, “we have it good.” I want to scream because…Who the hell has it
good? Who is the “we” here? I once asked my aunt this question and she said the
“natives”. Technically speaking my family isn’t even native if you take in mind
that the other half of me is Basque Spanish—the main ethnic group that
colonized the Philippines in the first place.
Honestly, when I was
growing up in the homeland, the only people who had it good where the people
who lived in the cities. Doctors, business men, hotel managers—people who
catered and fed off of the colonial footprint. The Philippines wouldn’t have
doctors if it weren’t for Americans setting up medical schools after World War
II. There would be no incentive to go into big business if the Philippines didn’t
have a Capitalist economy. And our “booming” tourism wouldn’t be what is today
without America’s help to exotify the people and it’s various cultures.
So here’s the strong
connection with Hawaii—would Hawaiians even want their own country back? DUH! HELL
NO! And…perhaps. It is in fact not a simple question. And has no simple
answers. Sure the Hawaiians were definitely there first, But how and
can you erase years of rape of the
land, (literal) rape of the people, and essentially rape of a culture?
I want to just end it
all and say “give them back their damn land you bastards!” I do recognize that
the terrible treatment of natives have basically made them the poverty
stereotype of their own country. And I do recognize that their rich culture,
cultivated from hundreds of years of history, has been reduced to really bad Luaus
and tacky shirts. I believe they should
have ownership of the land their ancestors rightfully claimed. And I want them
to reclaim their culture for themselves and not for the entertainment of
others. But that just can’t be attained through a simple giving back of the
land.
In (what my section
thinks is) a cynical view of things—I don’t think you can just give them
everything back. I think eventually, if the U.S. ever did do the “right” thing
and give back the land to the “rightful” owners, the American presence would be
there anyways. How would you tell the integrated peoples who have made a life
there, who have embody what is to be a Hawaiian, they are in fact not native people; that they do not have a right to the land? And hell—tourism
and agriculture has been a good economic base for the last 100 or so years.
It is so shitty that I
think this way. Trust me, I feel horrible. But if Hawaii was its own country,
was internationally (in the Western sense) recognized, as well as economically
competitive, wouldn’t have to inherently succumb to these influences anyways. Even
under the rule of King Kalakauam Liloukalani, the monarch before Queen
Liloukalani, the economy of Hawaii was based on agriculture and attracted all
sorts of people for its so called exotic “foreignness.”
I don’t want to say
that every amazing diamond in a rough, culturally unique, country, and its
people, are somehow all going to be predisposed to the western colonial sphere
one day…but then again I am. Call me insensitive, but hell, I am a product of
colonialism too. So is more than half of the whole world. Are we all going to
avenge our ancestors in a giant revolutionary uproar? Countries wouldn’t even
exist if that were the case. It would be one people displacing other people for
land till the end of time. How do you
even begin to solve that enigma?
- Marielle Argueza
No comments:
Post a Comment