The World is an Island

   Some of the first places the Portugese, who were the leaders of the European "age of discovery", found were Islands. Further, Christopher Columbus famously came upon the "Indies" when he landed on Hispaniola, what is now Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Captain Cook mapped the Pacific for Britain and explored much of New Zealand, Polynesia, and ultimately Hawaii where he was killed. Magellan, the Portugese who first circumnavigated the globe, was killed in nowabouts the Philippines. Some of the first places Portugese caravels came upon were islands: Madeira, the Azores, and Cape Verde. Later they used these islands and others such as São Tomé and Príncipe as hubs for their lucrative slave trade. The Japanese islands were once populated primarily by the Ainu & Ryukyuan peoples, both of whom have striking similarities to indigenous cultures of the west. When the Spanish, British, and French began their colonization of mainland North America they learned that the Iroquois, among other tribes, conceived of their lands as a giant island, nestled on the back of a turtle. 

   The island peoples of this planet have weathered the brunt of some of the most evil conceptions mankind has ever devised. Colonization, occupation, slavery, and genocide. Some, such as the Maori, valiantly resisted and continue to resist these forces, keeping their culture alive and vibrant. Others, despite their steadfastness, pragmatism, and revolutionary resistance, have lost so much culture and history that can never be replaced. 

   Despite the losses, I believe there is a mood and hidden power of island peoples that will forever remain. Cape Verde has produced some of the most radical pan African intellectuals that helped push the whole continent toward liberation. Hawaiian culture has become a part of culture worldwide through practices such as hula and surfing. Haiti struggled through the only successful slave revolt to create an independent nation; something their old masters still have not forgotten. Maori culture still thrives in New Zealand with their unabashed willingness to do the Haka in parliament. Cuba not only overthrew their dictatorship and resisted U.S neocolonial efforts, but also offered doctors, soldiers, and professionals of various stripes to the liberation causes of Southern Africa. 

   I cannot say what the underlying zeal is that pushes these island peoples toward humanitarian greatness despite all the evil that's been visited upon them. I can only say that by reading history and by being with these various island peoples can you truly understand that they are of a different cloth. European history and culture has been exalted, praised, and exceptionalized tirelessly. When will this air of superiority vanish? How can one objectively look at the island peoples, the indigenous cultures of this planet, and say that our ways are better? Look what European society has done to not just humanity, but to the planet too. Colonization, occupation, slavery, genocide: these are just the descriptors for what we've done to our fellow human beings. Ecocide, climate destruction, and aridification are just the latest chapter in European "greatness". 

   Can we still learn from the people we slaughtered before we slaughter the planet and in turn ourselves? 

- Northern Gaza before and after the genocide.