Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Día de la resistencia indígena / de la hispanidad

Sería una excelente terapia para muchos venezolanos venir a pasar el 12 de octubre en Madrid, curando un poco ese síndrome de “resistencia indígena “que perturba el sueño y las fantasías de los chavistas, o permitiendo a los escuálidos sentir un poco mas de orgullo por nuestra cultura, pero un orgullo digamos algo más positivo.


Un 12 de octubre en Caracas es ahora un día anónimo. Algún discurso de mal gusto pro indígena tal vez nos acompañe en alguna cadena. Ya no hay mucha emoción que esperara desde que fue derribada la estatua de Colon. Seguramente lo indígenas de Venezuela ya no se emocionan mucho al ver que después de 11 años están nada mejoro excepto para los que lograron arrimarse a la candela. En cuanto a los escuálidos, si ya el día de la raza era un mero puente, el de la resistencia indígena a lo mas causa sorna.

Primero deberíamos definir tal vez lo que significa “resistencia indígena” por que en cuanto a mi me consta la conquista de América fue un asunto de españoles agresivos y codiciosos creando alianzas temporales con indígenas deseosos de traicionar a sus reyes. Los nativos que se salvaron de esa se la vieron negras de todas maneras con la viruela, el arma secreta de Europa, de la cual nuestro bienamado micomadantepresidente hace poca referencia.

Tuve la (¿mala?) suerte de estar estancado en Barajas por 8 horas un 12 de octubre y agarre mi metro (pulcro y organizado) para ir al Paseo de La Castellana a ver el desfile. Llegue al final cuando la mayor atracción del día, la caballeriza pasaba. ¡Algo esalgo! Y sin embargo fue aleccionador. Primero había sudacas por doquier. Sudacas cholitas lejos de su tradición. Sudacas caribeñas de porte altano. Sudacas ecuatorianos cansados de tanto trabajar. Sudacas colombianos de tez clara. Y todos paseando en la Castellana, disfrutando del desfile en un precioso día de otoño. ¡Ah sí! Y muchos, muchos españoles con su bandera, nadie arreado en autobús, que yo sepa.

Lo mejor fue cuando todos esos militares, montados en sus lujosos pulman, salían de sus sitios de reubicación. Al pasar por El Paseo saludaban a la gente que les respondía a veces con un ¡Viva España! De seguro sincerado desde el mundial de futbol hace pocos meses.

Si bien me sentí mas lejos de Caracas que me había sentido en muchos años también me sentí más cerca de mi “hispanidad” que en mucho tiempo. Año fausto para los que saben ver. Empezando por el mundial de futbol que nos dejo bien parado y que termino en manos de España. Pero también el Nobel a Vargas Llosa que no puede dejar de llenar de júbilo a quien ame a nuestras letras.

Que tan lejos de todo esto esta micomandantepresidente! El necesita venir a Madrid un 12 de octubre, incognito, ver como todos nos mezclamos, ex conquistadores y ex conquistados, unidos por una cultura tal vez impuesta pero ahora brillante y nuestra. Es triste darse cuenta lo patético y atrasado que nos hemos vuelto en Venezuela, peleando batallas ya decididas, retornando a un pasado que nunca fue en vez de abrazar un futuro que podría ser nuestro si fuésemos menos superficiales, menos tírame-algo.

8 comments:

  1. PaulaH5:09 AM

    i loved this post!!
    me encanto!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree.

    Now, the major issues were, as Jared Diamond wrote, guns, germs and steel - technology and other things beyond human's -.
    There was also "colaboration" on the native American part, but it varied a lot from group to group, from region to region (as one can see from reading Venezuelan history beyond school books). We are talking in what is Venezuela about ethnic groups with languages as different as Spanish and Arabic or Turkish, some groups with kings and others with flat societies going through Neolithic times, some selling other groups to get rifles and some with no business at all .

    Venezuela was not Mexico or Peru. There were a myriad of independent entities and non-states with completely different responses.

    This does not take any power from your argument. Now, the most important things Venezuelans need to know:

    1) it is about time we get over whatever happened centuries ago and even if we should remember it, we cannot use it to justify the mess we have now, which is completely of our own doing.

    2) we are not "the conquered". We are actually the descendants of the raper and the raped, the colonizer and the colonized, the late settler, the earlier settler.
    As I said previously, most of our genetic heritage is actually European, with a big native American part on the female part and to a lesser extent sub-Saharan.

    When a Spaniard tells me "we brought writing to Venezuela" I say "no, you did not. It was part of my ancestors who did that". When some Chavista says it was the Spaniards who raped Venezuela I say: "no, it was part of our ancestors and a Spain that is no more. And for the last 200 years it has been just some of our ancestors who have been raping and raiding in Venezuela. Get over it and work for Venezuela and the world".

    I feel proud for things I delivered myself, for other possitive things I feel just happy . I feel happy for things I have been able to experience. I feel happy that Spanish is my mother tongue and that I, as a Spanish American, share a wonderful heritage with people from
    North to South America and up to Spain.

    As Uslar once said, we are the direct inheritors of many cultures. As Humboldt found out, we have forgotten our links to them, or the memory was destroyed by violent events. We should recover those links and use them without the prejudices or complexes, recognizing the weak and strong points from each society that contributed to Venezuela as a whole.
    And then we should focus on the present.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous6:29 PM

    WOW!!!!
    Que tan lejos de todo esto esta micomandantepresidente! El necesita venir a Madrid un 12 de octubre, incognito, ver como todos nos mezclamos, ex conquistadores y ex conquistados, unidos por una cultura tal vez impuesta pero ahora brillante y nuestra. Es triste darse cuenta lo patético y atrasado que nos hemos vuelto en Venezuela, peleando batallas ya decididas, retornando a un pasado que nunca fue en vez de abrazar un futuro que podría ser nuestro si fuésemos menos superficiales, menos tírame-algo.

    simplemtente lo mejor que has dicho en mucho tiempo!!
    Correfoc

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kepler, I agree completely with what you say here: "It is about time we get over whatever happened centuries ago and even if we should remember it, we cannot use it to justify the mess we have now, which is completely of our own doing." What's done is done. We cannot go back and change history. That, in and of itself, doesn't make what happened right or wrong; it happened. We need to move on in life.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous12:16 PM

    Kepler,

    Great comment. I share your feelings about our common ancestors. I like it where you say- When a Spaniard tells me "we brought writing to Venezuela" I say "no, you did not. It was part of my ancestors who did that".

    I am very proud of the Motherland that is no more, as I am of my native American ancestors. I'm not so proud of some recent Spaniards (and their first generation descendants) who have decided to go on another conquest, helped along by traitors like the micomandante. My thoughts often turn towards the Castro brothers in Cuba. I'll be damned if I am going to share my love for the Motherland with those sons of Spain.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I find it rather foul, the kind of cowardly moaning Chavez indulges in concerning the ethnic groups and races.It is so unfair to ALL Venezuelans.

    What happened so many years ago has no bearing on today's level of consciousness,and it is true what Kepler said that Venezuelans were both the victims and the perpetrators.

    Racism of any kind is unfortunate because it is limiting and blind.

    From what I hear from family and friends, Spain also has a hard time with the acceptance of differences.From the differences between regions to the differences between countries.This in turn is something akin to racism without being precisely so.

    The problem with racism is that it lumps everyone in a certain group into fixed categories.This special kind of 'group thinking" obscures the recognition of each as an individual.

    On the apparent but false inverse( seeing the individual as representing the group rather than the group representing the individual) we can see something similar, which is why I take no pride in the language or habits of my own particular group.It is up to each individual to make his own mark, or not.

    If I indulge in any pride it would be from going to bed at the end of each day, having done the best I was able to do in the time I did it, and the knowledge that others did so as well.

    There are times when I absolutely KNOW that I tried very little.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I see this is posted in a European language.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous2:54 AM

    "Racism of any kind is unfortunate because it is limiting and blind."

    profound, so profound.

    ReplyDelete

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