Brazilian Indigenous Leaders Condemn Pope

Indian leaders in Brazil have reacted angrily to comments by Pope Benedict that they had been purified by the Roman Catholic church since Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492.

In a speech to bishops at the end of a visit to Brazil on Sunday, Benedict said indigenous people of the Americas had welcomed European priests after conquest. "It's arrogant and disrespectful to consider our cultural heritage secondary to theirs," said Jecinaldo Satere Mawe, chief co-ordinator of Coiab, an Amazon Indian group.

The pope had said the peoples of the Americas had a "silent longing" for Christianity and welcomed European priests' arrival. He said the church had not imposed itself on the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Read more: "Tribal Indians Condemn Pope"

Brazil's National Indian Foundation (Funa i),Brazilian historians and the Indians themselves challenged pope Benedict XVI's declarations on the Christianization of the Brazil's natives. The pope talked about the subject at the opening of the 5th General Conference of the Latin-American and Caribbean Episcopate (CELAM), in Brazil.

Read more: "Pope Called Insensitive and Arrogant for Remarks on Brazilian Indians"

See also: "Pope angers indigenous Brazilians over Christianity and colonisation remark"

And in the Reuters report in The Washington Post: "Brazil's Indians Offended by Pope Comments"

Pope Against Indigenous Religious Traditions

In an unsurprising declaration, following our previous post on the topic of the Roman Catholic Church and the cultural resrugence efforts of various indigenous peoples of the Americas, Pope Benedict XVI has pronounced himself against indigenous spiritual revivals. Speaking at the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean, which runs through May 31, 2007, Catholic Online reported the following:

"A reference by the pope to pre-Columbus religions raised questions among some observers. While speaking positively of the synthesis between indigenous traditions and Christianity that led to the popular religious devotions found throughout Latin America, the pontiff warned against 'the utopia of going back to breathe life into the pre-Columbus religions, separating them from Christ and from the universal church'."

For more, see: Latin American, Caribbean bishops tackle pope’s ‘challenge to church’

The Vatican and Indigenous Cultural Revival

On May 2, 2007, Guzmán Carriquiry Lecour, who is the Undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, spoke with the Italian magazine Il Consulente Re (http://www.ilconsulentere.it/) about the Fifth General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin America and the Caribbean, to be held in Brazil later this month.

Carriquiry dismissed indigenous cultures from playing any role in fomenting Latin American unity, noting that "The great symbols of Latin American unity are not indigenous ones because, before the arrival of the Spaniards and Portuguese, the continent was totally fragmented -- a Babel -- without the slightest awareness of itself." He added that the "true symbols of unity are Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Christ of the Andes, the Church as the sacrament of unity among our peoples in Catholicism." Originality is to be found in the Gospel, he argues: "The Gospel incarnated in the peoples is the deepest element of the historical-cultural originality that we call Latin America."

While not entirely dismissing indigenous peoples, and proclaiming that they deserve respect, such respect does not extend to indigenous cultural practices: "another matter altogether is trying to rekindle sorcerers, shamans, ancient indigenous cosmogonies -- the attempt of an arbitrary archaism, stemming more from ideological manipulation than from a true answer to the needs and demands of indigenous communities."

Interpreting the Gli-Gli

Never adrift, but perhaps beneath the horizon of popular awareness, the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean archipelago are symbolically reunited by the sailing of the Gli-Gli, on a sea that once united more than it divided its inhabitants. If the resurgence of Caribbean indigenous peoples were to be compared to a voyage, the Gli-Gli would be singled out as one of its proudest vehicles. “Integration” is not just a matter for technocrats and politicians. The Kalinago, the artists, and the visionaries behind the Gli-Gli wrest cultural history from the hands of the wayward captains of the region. Ten years after its first momentous voyage through the Lesser Antilles and on to Guyana, the Gli-Gli sails again, reenacting history while reencountering the indigenous present. The resurgence of the identities, cultures and communities of the region's indigenous peoples is made up of many landmark events, but what is ever more apparent is that the resurgence of one community cannot proceed without the contact, exchange, and knowledge shared between communities in separate islands united by the sea. Whether it is looked at as art, or as the heightened media savvy of indigenous activists and their supporters, or as historical reinterpretation, this voyage of renewal leaves previously self-assured histories of the region foundering on the shoals of extinction.

The sailing of the Gli Gli is one of the more vivid and exciting vehicles that brings knowledge and awareness of the survival of the region's indigenous peoples to diverse shores in the Caribbean. It is through such acts that popular consciousness may be broadened to acknowledge the cultural complexity of the region, by bringing attention to a long ignored population. The project also exemplifies some of the key dimensions of the Caribbean indigenous resurgence: regional exchange and connections, a broad network of supporters, and the use of media technologies. How will the Gli Gli be received in these diverse territories? What questions will the hosts of the crew ask? What will be the impact of the voyage? We look forward to learning the answers to these questions.

Gli Gli News from Aragorn Dick-Read

With reference to the 10th anniversary sailing of the Gli Gli Carib Canoe, Aragorn Dick-Read informs the CAC that his team is putting together a booklet about the Gli Gli, outlining the goals of the trip along with general information on the Carib cultural legacy in the region.

The goals of the project, aside from sailing the Gli Gli through the Leeward islands to the British Virigin Islands, are to bring, as he says, "a bit of 'Caribness' to these islands, both as a reminder to the people of the past as well as a recognition of Carib cultural survival or resurgence."

The Gli Gli crew will bring with them basket makers, canoe builders, calabash carvers, drummers, singers, flute and banjo players, and a dancer. They also plan to perform some cassava bread making in each island. The group as a whole consists of 14 people, ranging from elders to those in their early 20's, including three father-son pairs and one father-daughter pair. All of this takes placed under the intellectual leadership of Paulinus Frederick, the head drummer and spokesperson.

The team anticipates forming something of a flotilla of support as they move up the islands. They are filming the whole event as well.

The Gli-Gli Carib Canoe Sails Again

Aragorn Dick-Read, one of the co-directors of the Gli-Gli Carib Canoe Project, has notified us that the Gli-Gli is about to set sail again on the 10th anniversary of their first voyage to relink the Carib communities of the region. The current objective is to sail the Carib Canoe, “Gli Gli,” with a crew of 12 Dominican Caribs from Antigua to the Virgin Islands, via Nevis and St Kitts, St Eustatia, St Barths, St Martin and Anguilla then across the Anegada passage to Tortola. The voyage is being undertaken to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Gli Gli’s creation and to continue the mission of her 1997 expedition from Dominica to Guyana, by symbolically reuniting the Carib descendants of the Leeward Islands. The expedition intends to draw attention to the role the Caribs have played in the region's history and culture. Throughout the expedition the crew will be presenting slide and video shows about the Gli Gli Carib canoe project and presenting traditional musical performances for schools and heritage groups.

Following in the spirit of the 1997 Gli Gli expedition , which was documented in the BBC film “The Quest of the Carib Canoe”, the Leeward Island Expedition will be recorded to produce a short documentary film for regional and global TV markets. The focus will be on the adventures of Gli Gli and her crew as she sails up the island chain and an introduction to the history of the canoes and journeys of the Carib tribe. The film will be produced under the guidance of David Fanning of PBS and filmed by Mick Kollins from the Caribbean Design group and independent film maker Travis Rummel.

For more information see:
(1) The official website of the current Gli-Gli project at:
http://www.gliglicaribcanoe.com/

(2) Information on the film, "Quest of the Carib Canoe" at:
http://www.nativenetworks.si.edu/Eng/orange/
quest_of_the_carib_canoe.htm