Confrontation.
Looking back at the time when people from Europe in the main –including Spain and Portugal, emigrated to countries such as South Africa, the United States, Australia, South America, New Zealand. There seemed to be an attitude by these intrepid explorers (spending long period on a small ocean-going craft) that they were somehow superior to the inhabitants they encountered on arrival. History tells us that some of the original encounters were violent, based on no more than, in my humble opinion, different colours, values, beliefs, and possibly ignoring the fact that these were people. Clearly I am not in a position to give a detailed breakdown of numbers, as I imagine that this was the last thing with which these would concerned themselves.
If we look at the situations in South Africa (and countries to the north in Africa), Australia, South America, New Zealand, it would be surprising to find a record of peaceful interaction attending these encounters – no common language, different colours, different languages, customs and values – all would have contributed to superstition, fear, inevitably leading to violent confrontation. One of the issues that has puzzled me for years is how the ‘Missionary’ group – many of them – if my history books can be believed, brutally killed, found their way into some of the local tribes/groups and managed to survive and spread their word among what they would classify as ‘ the Heathens’.
Returning to the earlier comment about the interaction between settlers (the locals would probably been more inclined to call them the ‘invaders)’. Each country that was ‘invaded’ during this period would have had different reactions, depending upon the attitude and actions of the ‘invaders.’ It is hard to believe that the indigenous Africans, or occupants of the countries concerned, would accept the settlers who carried sticks that could spew death over considerable distances as being friendly., The ‘settlers, on the other hand, would not be too tolerant towards the ‘locals’ who made off with their cattle and horses, and attacked them as they travelled in their chosen direction.
The assumption that I have often heard expressed, when the issue of colonisation arises, is that the indigenous groups were, in many ways ‘inferior’, to the settlers. Once must then ask the question, – what is your measuring stick? The indigenous group had survived terrible storms, tribal wars, drought and disease, not to mention ongoing other natural disasters. The tribal systems that existed had been established over many years, each with their own identity. They they had, each in their own way, established a society with its traditions, which may have seemed strange, barbaric or frightening to the ‘invaders who came to the country with their own particular objectives and goals – who could have been fleeing a situation in their home country, or opportunity in another. Their perceptions of what lay ahead were based on reports by those who had ‘been there, done that’, which would clearly be influenced by their experiences.
One thing that I have found in most of my reading, is that the ‘intruders’ regarded the indigenous folk to be ‘inferior’, based on whatever standard or norm they used to measure the customs, behaviours and values they encountered. They then set about making the locals ‘more like us’. This implied a view that wherever they were, and whatever they saw or experienced, needed to be more in line with the thinking and views of the migrants, not the locals. Given the difficulty in communicating (or even the desire to communicate), this did not bode well for a peaceful future. When I sit and read about what is happening in the country today, it appears to me that the rift between the different groups in South Africa (and if I can believe the information put out on the TV about the countries that have had an influx of settlers from other countries, it would seem that the ability to screen the success stories about this issue is hampered by the constant ‘news’ put out by all the media about the conflicts and confrontations. The incident in the USA where a ‘white’ policeman caused the death of a ‘black’ man by applying an illegal, and highly dangerous choke hold, (without any intervention by the bystanders), sent out , to me, a message that such events probably occur around the world. The sad part of all this, is the racial emphasis (and South Africa has more than enough incidents of such behaviours between people of different races). Are we not exacerbating the rift that we are trying to close, by screening such incidents? The question that arises in my mind is ‘Where do we begin- and who should show the way?’