This week, we have spent a lot of time reading
about and discussing the issue of civilization vs. barbarism. The end of
chapter two of Burn's reading really caught my attention. On page 32, he talks
about how different Latin American countries dealt with the
"barbaric savages" that were getting in the way of the progress
of their civilized nation. We did not really discuss it in class but it really surprised me to read this. Burns says that the Argentine government ordered
their armies to massacre the Indians. They called the genocide the Conquest of
the Desert and it started on April 26, 1879 and lasted until 1880. It was led
by General Julio A. Roca, who served as the president of Argentina twice after
the genocide. He ordered his men to clear the papas of the Indians once and for
all. I was so surprised and upset to read about this. I thought that at this point in time, Latin American countries were moving towards legal racial equality and becoming more civilized. It's occurrences like
these that make me wonder who the real barbarians are. The so called “civilized”
city dwellers went out and killed hundreds of innocent people because they were
less advanced than them and they thought it was making them look bad? If these people
are civilized and educated, surely they should know right from wrong. What made
them think it was okay to murder innocent people? I think that the people
responsible for the genocide were backward and uncivilized. They killed the native elderly, women, and
children. I think it’s so sad that tragedies like this are allowed to happen
especially in the name of making progress. It reminds me of the Holocaust.
Hitler tried to exterminate people that he believed to be less than him, mostly
Jewish people. He wanted to create a perfect world with the race that he
believed to be “superior” just like the Argentine government wanted to eliminate
the people in their country that they believed to inferior and barbaric and
create a perfect, superior, civilized population. It makes me sad that things like this happen.
While I would like to say that the genocide of the Indians surprises me, it really doesn't. Considering that there wasn't racial equality in the U.S. until about 50 years ago, it is not a stretch to believe what happened. Latin America wanted "To be like you," meaning the U.S., and if problems still continued for hundreds of years after the genocide in the "leading country", then the elites would follow their example.
ReplyDeleteIt does really make me think about who the real "civilized" people were at the time. Just like in the time of the conquest, the indians were looked down on as inferior because of their differences. The Europeans didn't understand the indigenous culture and thus declared the people to be less intelligent and below them. During this time, the same is happening because the elite still don't completely understand the indigenous. The natives in both situations did little, if anything, to deserve their treatment. So why are they the barbarians?
I agree with you on the genocide being an atrocity and it makes Argentina appear uncivilized, and in actuality makes them a less civilized people because they must revert back to violence to solve their problems it is not unexpected of them. As you said the indigenous were getting in the way of the advancements of the society of Argentina. Since the Indigenous were creating more and more problems for the Argentinian society and Argentine government could not find a solution to their problem, which they had been attempting to do for years, their only solution left was violence.
ReplyDeleteI believe that any nation that immediately resorts to violence can be seen as uncivilized because violence should only be a last resort after compromise has failed. Also since Europe at the time was the idea civilization their way of problem solving is seen in the nations in Latin America with the use of violence and force.
I was very surprised that we didn’t talk more about this Argentine genocide more in class. Although I am not surprised at all that it happened. European-like elites and most of the people who lived in the cities looked down upon the savages who had no culture and lived in the countryside. This dreadful act as you said really puts into perspective who the savages really are. Only truly savage people would systematically exterminate another people just because they were considered inferior. This is exactly what the so called “elites” of Argentine society are doing. Even Sarmiento seems to advocate this atrocity as he describes how the savages appear out of the desert and kill the innocent country folk and the raid the caravans traveling across the Pampas. He presents them as a danger to society, and as a danger, for the good of society they should be eradicated. I agree that this atrocity is a lot like the Holocaust, Hitler to advocated that Jews were a danger to society which he said justified their removal from society. I also agree that the Argentine society should have evolved past committing atrocities such as this. But even today atrocities like this occur, in places like certain parts of Africa and the Middle East.
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