From: Tony Castanha <castanha@...>

*Aloha and guatiao. The following article was published in the University
of Hawai`i newspaper, Ka Leo O Hawai`i, on the eve of the trip by the
delegation that went to Italy and the Vatican in 2000. The questions
posed below are perhaps even more relevent today given the absurdity
of the global "war on terrorism." While U.S. Federal Indian law is
clearly based on the concept of "discovery" as inserted by John Marshall
in the 1823 Johnson v. McIntosh decision, this article attempts to link
Christian dominion (based on "discovery") to corporate atrocities and the
multinationalization of the planet today. This version of the article is
edited for clarification purposes.

*******

Delegation Fighting to Revoke Papal Bull "Inter Caetera" of 1493
Ka Leo O Hawai`i, September 29, 2000
Tony Castanha


What do NAFTA and Chiapas on January 1, 1994 have to do with the "papal
bulls"? What do the recent WTO, IMF and World Bank protests in Seattle
and Washington have to do with the revocation of the 1493 bull "Inter
Caetera"? What does a global system based on corporate dominion today
have to do with a system based on Christian dominion 500 years ago?

The easy answer to these questions concerns the subjugation and exploi-
tation of peoples and their lands. "Inter Caetera" justified a wave of
genocide unparalleled in the history of the Americas. An estimated 60-80
million native inhabitants had been eliminated by the end of the 16th
century (Stannard 1992).

Modern-day massacres in Guatemala, Chiapas, Kurdistan, East Timor, and
in many "third world" nations are indicators that racism and cultural
violence are still strikingly prevalent.

However, a more profound answer to the questions above suggests that
Christian dominion is directly linked to corporate atrocities today.
"Inter Caetera" as the foundationstone of today's multinational cor-
porate system, particularly as it concerns the gross disparity in
wealth between the global north and south, must be revoked in the
hope of creating a viable culture of peace.

Monothesim and captitalism as "the origins of Universalism as an ideology
of our present historical system" are not necessarily contradictory ideas,
according to Immanuel Wallerstein.

Christian Universalist thought as moral and ideological tool justified
colonial expansion and conquest into Africa and the Americas. Springing
from the Crusades, the ideology of Christian dominion grounded in the
papal bulls "Dum Diversas" of 1452 [or "Romanus Pontifex" of 1455] and
"Inter Caetera" of 1493 form the basis of what came to be known as the
"doctrine of discovery" (Newcomb 1993).

"Discovery" granted exclusive title to lands that were not under the
dominion of Christian nations and rulers.

In North America, native nations and peoples had been sovereign for
thousands of years before European contaact. The early colonial
settlers relied heavily on indigenous peoples for their very survival.
American colonists entered into internationally bound treaties with
many Indian nations, supposedly as equals. However, as the European
population began to increase, and resources on indigenous lands
coveted, the U.S. Supreme Court craftily devised ways to seize lands.

Both the Johnson v. McIntosh (1823) and Cherokee v. Georgia (1831)
decisions were instrumental in the formation of U.S. Federal Indian law.
In order to skirt around the separation of church and state built into
the Constitution, Chief Justice John Marshall quietly inserted language
of "discovery," or Christian dominion, into these decisions (Deloria, Jr.
1974; Newcomb 1993).

This is how the Cherokee of Georgia ended up in "Oklahoma." By asserting
that Native American nations now only had "rights of occupancy," rather
than the absolute sovereignty they had possessed forever, the United
States through a foreign policy based on the so-called "just war" theory
was able to clear out much of the eastern half of the continent, and
eventually "win the west."

Today, many nation-states look to U.S. policy as a standard in their
treatment of their respective indigenous populations. Given that the
U.S. track record has been one of the total obliteration of native
rights, is it any wonder why other governments continually repress
their own people, native and non-native?

All of this of course is driven, sponsored and sanctioned in the name
of multinational corporate interests, the "money god" of today. This
is what the modern international system of law is about. The system
is based on the "Law of Nations," which sanctioned the "discovery"
campaign among Christian European nations to begin with.

Both U.S. Federal Indian law and international "corporate" law today stem
from the concept of "discovery," which stems from the papal bulls, which
stems from a "divine" right from god. As the Vatican now celebrates its
"Jubilee," seeking forgiveness, atonement and wanting to enter into the
new millenium with a "clear conscious," our delegation humbly submits
that the time is ripe to revoke the bull!

http://bullsburning.itgo.com/papbull.htm

*******