×

Lost account access

As a part of its privacy policy, NoBleme will protect your anonymity as much as possible. This means that you will never be sent any emails that could be used to link you to your identity on the website, or asking you to provide your password. On top of that, automated password recovery systems can be used in a few nefarious ways that we would rather not have to deal with. With this context in mind, NoBleme decided to not implement an automated account recovery process.

If you have lost access to your account (forgotten username, forgotten password, or otherwise), the only way to recover that access is to go on NoBleme's NoBleme's IRC chat server and ask for a website administrator to manually reset your account's password. No need to worry about identity usurpation, there is a strict process in place that will allow the administrator to verify your identity before doing the resetting.

NOBLEME
PAGES
SOCIAL
L
FR
 
 
 

Login

Easter Island syndrome

Page type: History
Category: Decolonial history

Ecocidal theory



"Easter Island syndrome" is the name given to self-inflicted ecocides[1]: situations in which a group of people cause their own collapse by destroying their natural environment[2].

It is for example applied when talking about the Anasazi peoples[3], who allegedly overexploited their natural resources and caused their own demise due to soil erosion, falling crop yields, and violent wars[4].



Decolonial history of Rapa Nui



Rapa Nui, the indigenous name of Easter Island[5], is an extremely remote island located in the Pacific Ocean, over 2000km away from any other inhabited territory. Some historians came up with the thesis that its inhabitants were responsible for their own collapse, due to a combination of deforestation, warfare, and even cannibalism[6].

This view of Rapa Nui's collapse became accepted by the mainstream public, despite much evidence showing that not only were the natives of Rapa Nui extremely well aware of their environment's delicate balance[7][8], but also that the island was actually thriving and its population growing when Europeans first discovered it[9], with no archeological evidence whatsoever found of warfare, violence, or cannibalism[2].

In reality, the collapse of Rapa Nui can be entirely attributed to external factors. Discovery of the island by Europeans introduced diseases which decimated its population[2]. Peruvian raids enslaved and killed over half of the island's population[5]. European sheep ranchers finished the native genocide by settling on the island and not only enslaving most of its remaining natives, but also destroying the island's forests in order to clear space for pastures[5], the very thing its natives have been accused of.

When colonizers first landed on Rapa Nui, its native population was estimated to be in the thousands. Less than two centuries later, it was down to 111 natives, most of them old men without children[5]. To this day, the descendants of the Rapa Nui natives are still treated like second class citizens by Chile, the country currently colonizing them by claiming ownership of the island. Their struggle is still ongoing[12].

The barbaric nature of colonization requires excuses and pretexts. Painting colonized cultures as self-destructive fools allows colonizers to pretend to be "helping" them, putting themselves in the role of saviors instead of the monsters that they really are[10].

Knowing what really happened on Rapa Nui, the expression "Easter Island Syndrome" makes no sense and should be retired.



Further watching



The video below, made by Fall of Civilizations, digs beneath the surface of this topic and presents the whole history of Rapa Nui's natives, in the process dispelling many myths about the island's supposed self-inflicted collapse. Although it is nearly two hours long, it is a highly recommended viewing.







Sources & Links



[1] Ecocide on Wikipedia.

[2] The truth about Easter Island: a sustainable society has been falsely blamed for its own demise on The Conversation.

[3] Ancestral Puebloans on Wikipedia.

[4] Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed on Wikipedia.

[5] Easter Island on Wikipedia.

[6] Easter's End by Jared Diamond.

[7] Syndrôme de l'île de Pâques on french Wikipedia.

[8] « Questioning Collapse » : des historiens et des anthropologues réfutent la thèse de « l’écocide » by Entre les lignes entre les mots.

[9] Busting the Easter Island myth: there was no civilization collapse by Stephen Johnson on Big Think.

[10] A Critique: Jared Diamond’s Collapse Put In Perspective by Emma Gause on UCL Student Journal archive.

[11] History of Easter Island on Wikipedia.

[12] The struggle for freedom on Rapa Nui on Toward Freedom.

© NoBleme 2005 - 2024
21st century compendium
Page last modified a year ago
Another random historical entry
Another random page

×