The present 'thug tactics' of the Israelis brings to mind similar atrocities 'visited' on a now extinct people , the Tainos , by Spaniards . In 1492 , Columbus landed on an island which he and other invaders named 'Hispaniola' (now known as the Dominican Republic) . The natives , known as the Tainos , produced pottery and other ornaments using a local resource - gold . Columbus , being the first-class plunderer and pirate that he was , immediately recognised the gold for what it was and knew its value ; the native Tainos were , to their eventual detriment , a peaceful people who loved and respected the land which sustained all 600,000 of them . The Spaniards not only took whatever supplies of gold the Tainos themselves had stored , but put every native man , woman and child to work as slave labour to mine for more gold for them .
Due to their peaceful nature , the Tainos refused to fight back against their oppressor but were equally determined to end their oppression - mass suicide ensued . In the sixteen years (ie 1492-1508) after the arrival of Columbus and his thieves , 540,000 of the Tainos killed themselves by drinking the poisonous juice of the yellow yucca plant , or by hanging themselves after they had killed their own children and aborted their wives babies . Within the following nine years (ie 1508-1517) forty-nine thousand of the sixty-thousand Tainos that were still alive had killed themselves , leaving 11,000 natives on the isle , who were 'ruled over' by a 700-strong force of Spaniards .
In December 1518 , an epidemic of smallpox hit the remaining Tainos - the disease was rampant for two months until it had ran its course , leaving 8,000 natives dead . By this stage (ie early 1519 : twenty-seven years after slave-labour gold mining first began) the remaining gold was judged by the Spaniards to be not worth their time , so they left the 'surviving' natives to do as they pleased - 'all' 3,000 of them .
By 1550 - as other plunderers and pirates were beginning the plantation of Laois and Offaly on this isle - the Tainos were wiped out completely .
The so-called 'ruling elite' of the Spaniards , the Americans , the Israelis and the British , to name but a few , have consistently taught us , the 'ordinary' people , one thing , throughout history : that your way of life , your value system , your morals , are worth fighting for . The Tainos would have been described in their day , by their oppressor and their oppressor's business interests/'friends' , as " ignorant savages" : had they physically fought back they would have been labelled as "terrorists/dissidents" .
This blog , a voice in the wilderness as it may very well be , comes down firmly on the side of "ignorant savages" and "terrorists/dissidents" like the Tainos , wherever they are in this world . With no apology .
John , Sharon , 'Junior' : the '1169...' Crew .
Back on Monday , 31 July 2006 .
