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Graham Holton

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Taught at La Trobe University, Bundoora; RMIT, Bundoora; Melbourne University; University of Queensland; Phillip University, Mt Gravatt.

PhD from La Trobe University, Bundoora 1995
BA (Hons), First Class, La Trobe University, 1989.
Graduate Diploma, La Trobe University, Bundoora, 1988.
B. App. Sci., geological Engineering with Distinction, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, 1980.

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Conference Presentations by Graham Holton

OIL, RACE AND CALYPSO

Traces the history of Calypso Music in Trinidad and Tobago and the influence of the oil industry ... more

Review NAFTA.doc

Ancient White Astronauts, Race and Religion

Calypso and the 1937 Oilfields Strike in Trinidad and Tobago: Strategic Oil, Rebellion and National Identity

The brutal repression by the British government during the 1937 oilfield strike in the colony of ... more The brutal repression by the British government during the 1937 oilfield strike in the colony of Trinidad and Tobago was in response to civil unrest that disrupted the oil refinery and oil production of Trinidad's oil industry, which was vital for British defence. The Great Depression had forced down wages, created high unemployment, while the work barracks were ruled by strict segregation and the racist policies of the British and South African owned oil companies. The strike was to symbolise the struggle against the racist policies of the British and South African-owned corporations, with black workers facing marines armed with machine guns and rifles with fixed bayonets. The three government officials who showed some understanding of the workers' problems, Governor Fletcher, Howard Nankivell and William Ormsby-Gore, would have their careers destroyed by the Trinidad and Tobago Legislative Council and the British oil companies. The actions of the British oil companies, and the support shown for these corporations by the British Colonial Office were expressed in political calypsos, which circumvented the strict censorship of the media, calypsos attacked the Colonial Office's support of the oil companies. This period became a golden age for Afro-Caribbean folk music at a time of debilitating poverty. This paper is a study of the importance of Trinidad's oil industry had for British national security, and the important use of political calypsos during the strike to disseminate information.

'Indigenous Memory and the Rejection of the Human Genome Project'

ILO TnT paper.doc

Kennewick Man Repercussions.doc

Cyber Racism in Argentina.doc

'Masks, Women and Violence in 19th Century Masquerades of Colonial Trinidad'

Holton Academic CV Jan 2010 Politics

Unhappy 40th: Australia & the Political Economy of Terror in Chile, 1973-2013

by Robert Austin Henry, Vladimir Pacheco, and Graham Holton

Forty years on from the U.S.-backed military coup which violently overthrew the reforming-sociali... more Forty years on from the U.S.-backed military coup which violently overthrew the reforming-socialist Popular Unity government on 11 September 1973, the authors present a timely reconsideration of Australia’s political-economic role in Chile during the Allende period, and since the imposition of authoritarian and then civilian-military neoliberalism, in 1975 and 1990 respectively. Exile-driven memorial events around the globe and major mobilisations inside Chile to recall this anniversary, moreover in a year of presidential elections for a successor to Pinochet-defender Sebastián Piñera, make this both a historic and contemporary study. In particular this forum will address the articulation of three historical phenomena: the role of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) in the coup (see also http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=252777); Australian corporations’ contribution to the Pinochet dictatorship’s survival; and their role in the maintenance of the neoliberal economic model in the two decades since the advent of formal democracy. Social expressions of these phenomena in Australia with limited exposure are also examined through the prism of global class alliances, such as Chilean migration to Australia since the coup and the vexed question of exile and refugees, in comparative perspective. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hWTBhLKG98&t=138s

Papers by Graham Holton

Was there a Chilean Holocaust.pdf

Former top-ranking Nazis collaborated with the incipient authoritarian capitalist state before an... more Former top-ranking Nazis collaborated with the incipient authoritarian capitalist state before and after the coup to set up concentration camps, where prisoners were systematically detained, tortured, and executed. As had occurred in Nazi Germany, perverse elements of the scientific and medical communities collaborated on a Junta torture programme, which included but was not limited to chemical and biological experimentation on political prisoners

Heyerdahl's Kon Tiki Theory and the Denial of the Indigenous Past

HIGH-TECH COLONIALISM.(Human Genome Research Project)

Arena Magazine, Feb 1, 2001

State petroleum enterprises and the international oil industry : the case of Trinidad and Tobago

... and responsibility of top management and government ... analysis', in RF Mikesell and As... more

The Environment and NAFTA: Understanding and Implementing the New Continental Law

Electronic Green Journal, Jun 1, 1998

Page 1. Enviro and NAFTA Understanding and Implementing the New Continental Law Pierre Marc Johns... more

Eleanor De Selms Langstaff (compiler), Panama, Revised edition, World Bibliographical Series, Vol. 14, Oxford, Clio Press, 2000, 226pp., map, index

Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research, 2002

The recently revised Panama is the 14th volume in ABC-Clio Press&#39;s wellknown world biblio... more The recently revised Panama is the 14th volume in ABC-Clio Press&#39;s wellknown world bibliographic series, which consists of 224 volumes. The volume contains 813 useful annotated references of English and Spanish books, reports and theses. There are indexes of authors, titles, and subjects as well as a map. This bibliography is very useful for those researching such areas as U.S.

Disasters and Democracy: The Politics of Extreme Natural Events

Electronic Green Journal, 2000

Discovering the Unknown Landscape: A History of America's Wetlands

Electronic Green Journal, 2001

An unprofitable enterprise: The Iron and Steel Company of Trinidad and Tobago (ISCOTT)

Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research, 1995

The state everywhere is in retreat. More than 10,000 state-owned enterprises in over 100 countrie... more The state everywhere is in retreat. More than 10,000 state-owned enterprises in over 100 countries have been privatised. Privatisation has been used as a remedy for inefficient and unprofitable state-owned enterprises, or for ideologically rolling back the power of the state over the national economy. Whatever the reason, the assumption has been that private ownership is a more efficient system

OIL, RACE AND CALYPSO

Traces the history of Calypso Music in Trinidad and Tobago and the influence of the oil industry ... more

Review NAFTA.doc

Ancient White Astronauts, Race and Religion

Calypso and the 1937 Oilfields Strike in Trinidad and Tobago: Strategic Oil, Rebellion and National Identity

The brutal repression by the British government during the 1937 oilfield strike in the colony of ... more The brutal repression by the British government during the 1937 oilfield strike in the colony of Trinidad and Tobago was in response to civil unrest that disrupted the oil refinery and oil production of Trinidad's oil industry, which was vital for British defence. The Great Depression had forced down wages, created high unemployment, while the work barracks were ruled by strict segregation and the racist policies of the British and South African owned oil companies. The strike was to symbolise the struggle against the racist policies of the British and South African-owned corporations, with black workers facing marines armed with machine guns and rifles with fixed bayonets. The three government officials who showed some understanding of the workers' problems, Governor Fletcher, Howard Nankivell and William Ormsby-Gore, would have their careers destroyed by the Trinidad and Tobago Legislative Council and the British oil companies. The actions of the British oil companies, and the support shown for these corporations by the British Colonial Office were expressed in political calypsos, which circumvented the strict censorship of the media, calypsos attacked the Colonial Office's support of the oil companies. This period became a golden age for Afro-Caribbean folk music at a time of debilitating poverty. This paper is a study of the importance of Trinidad's oil industry had for British national security, and the important use of political calypsos during the strike to disseminate information.

'Indigenous Memory and the Rejection of the Human Genome Project'

ILO TnT paper.doc

Kennewick Man Repercussions.doc

Cyber Racism in Argentina.doc

'Masks, Women and Violence in 19th Century Masquerades of Colonial Trinidad'

Holton Academic CV Jan 2010 Politics

Unhappy 40th: Australia & the Political Economy of Terror in Chile, 1973-2013

by Robert Austin Henry, Vladimir Pacheco, and Graham Holton

Forty years on from the U.S.-backed military coup which violently overthrew the reforming-sociali... more Forty years on from the U.S.-backed military coup which violently overthrew the reforming-socialist Popular Unity government on 11 September 1973, the authors present a timely reconsideration of Australia’s political-economic role in Chile during the Allende period, and since the imposition of authoritarian and then civilian-military neoliberalism, in 1975 and 1990 respectively. Exile-driven memorial events around the globe and major mobilisations inside Chile to recall this anniversary, moreover in a year of presidential elections for a successor to Pinochet-defender Sebastián Piñera, make this both a historic and contemporary study. In particular this forum will address the articulation of three historical phenomena: the role of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) in the coup (see also http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=252777); Australian corporations’ contribution to the Pinochet dictatorship’s survival; and their role in the maintenance of the neoliberal economic model in the two decades since the advent of formal democracy. Social expressions of these phenomena in Australia with limited exposure are also examined through the prism of global class alliances, such as Chilean migration to Australia since the coup and the vexed question of exile and refugees, in comparative perspective. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hWTBhLKG98&t=138s

Was there a Chilean Holocaust.pdf

Former top-ranking Nazis collaborated with the incipient authoritarian capitalist state before an... more Former top-ranking Nazis collaborated with the incipient authoritarian capitalist state before and after the coup to set up concentration camps, where prisoners were systematically detained, tortured, and executed. As had occurred in Nazi Germany, perverse elements of the scientific and medical communities collaborated on a Junta torture programme, which included but was not limited to chemical and biological experimentation on political prisoners

Heyerdahl's Kon Tiki Theory and the Denial of the Indigenous Past

HIGH-TECH COLONIALISM.(Human Genome Research Project)

Arena Magazine, Feb 1, 2001

State petroleum enterprises and the international oil industry : the case of Trinidad and Tobago

... and responsibility of top management and government ... analysis', in RF Mikesell and As... more

The Environment and NAFTA: Understanding and Implementing the New Continental Law

Electronic Green Journal, Jun 1, 1998

Page 1. Enviro and NAFTA Understanding and Implementing the New Continental Law Pierre Marc Johns... more

Eleanor De Selms Langstaff (compiler), Panama, Revised edition, World Bibliographical Series, Vol. 14, Oxford, Clio Press, 2000, 226pp., map, index

Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research, 2002

The recently revised Panama is the 14th volume in ABC-Clio Press&#39;s wellknown world biblio... more The recently revised Panama is the 14th volume in ABC-Clio Press&#39;s wellknown world bibliographic series, which consists of 224 volumes. The volume contains 813 useful annotated references of English and Spanish books, reports and theses. There are indexes of authors, titles, and subjects as well as a map. This bibliography is very useful for those researching such areas as U.S.

Disasters and Democracy: The Politics of Extreme Natural Events

Electronic Green Journal, 2000

Discovering the Unknown Landscape: A History of America's Wetlands

Electronic Green Journal, 2001

An unprofitable enterprise: The Iron and Steel Company of Trinidad and Tobago (ISCOTT)

Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research, 1995

The state everywhere is in retreat. More than 10,000 state-owned enterprises in over 100 countrie... more The state everywhere is in retreat. More than 10,000 state-owned enterprises in over 100 countries have been privatised. Privatisation has been used as a remedy for inefficient and unprofitable state-owned enterprises, or for ideologically rolling back the power of the state over the national economy. Whatever the reason, the assumption has been that private ownership is a more efficient system

Disasters and Democracy: The Politics of Extreme Natural Events

Electronic Green Journal, Dec 1, 2000

... colleagues who have conttibuted in one way ot anothet, I would like to mention Jon Kuslet, J.... more

Robert Austin, The state, literacy, and popular education in Chile, 1964–1990. Lanham, Maryland, Lexington Books, 2003. Foreword by Asuncion Lavrin. 416pp

Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 13260219 2005 10426818, Feb 21, 2012

Auguste Duhaut-Cilly, A Voyage to California, the Sandwich Islands, and Around the World in the Years 1826–1829, Berkley

Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research, 2000

Frugé and Harlow have produced a definitive translation of one of the most important contemporary... more Frugé and Harlow have produced a definitive translation of one of the most important contemporary accounts of the Californian missions prior to their disastrous secularisation, and of the Mexican province before U. S. annexation. Thanks to their superb translation we can now read the grand story and the vivid prose of a literate French sea captain's journey to the remote

Eleanor De Selms Langstaff (compiler), Panama , Revised edition, World Bibliographical Series, Vol. 14, Oxford, Clio Press, 2000, 226pp., map, index

Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research, 2002

The recently revised Panama is the 14th volume in ABC-Clio Press&#39;s wellknown world biblio... more The recently revised Panama is the 14th volume in ABC-Clio Press&#39;s wellknown world bibliographic series, which consists of 224 volumes. The volume contains 813 useful annotated references of English and Spanish books, reports and theses. There are indexes of authors, titles, and subjects as well as a map. This bibliography is very useful for those researching such areas as U.S.

Auguste Duhaut-Cilly, A Voyage to California, the Sandwich Islands, and Around the World in the Years 1826–1829 , Berkley, University of California Press, 1999, 254 pp

Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research, 2000

Frugé and Harlow have produced a definitive translation of one of the most important contemporary... more Frugé and Harlow have produced a definitive translation of one of the most important contemporary accounts of the Californian missions prior to their disastrous secularisation, and of the Mexican province before U. S. annexation. Thanks to their superb translation we can now read the grand story and the vivid prose of a literate French sea captain's journey to the remote

Robert Austin, The state, literacy, and popular education in Chile, 1964–1990 . Lanham, Maryland, Lexington Books, 2003. Foreword by Asuncion Lavrin. 416pp

Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research, 2005

Sigmund Freud's association of the masses with evil expressed the unconscious desire of many... more Sigmund Freud's association of the masses with evil expressed the unconscious desire of many intellectuals to justify the political suppression of the masses. For it was a common fear amongst the elite of Europe that the accession of the masses to complete social power through literacy and popular culture was the gravest threat to civilisation. The-introduction of universal elementary education made every aspect of the production and dissemination of the printed text subject to revolution. Universal literacy campaigns created the same fears, violently expressed, in Latin America.

An unprofitable enterprise: The Iron and Steel Company of Trinidad and Tobago (ISCOTT)

Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research, 1995

The state everywhere is in retreat. More than 10,000 state-owned enterprises in over 100 countrie... more The state everywhere is in retreat. More than 10,000 state-owned enterprises in over 100 countries have been privatised. Privatisation has been used as a remedy for inefficient and unprofitable state-owned enterprises, or for ideologically rolling back the power of the state over the national economy. Whatever the reason, the assumption has been that private ownership is a more efficient system

Heyerdahl’s Kon Tiki Theory and the Denial of the Indigenous Past

Anthropological Forum, 2004

... Heyerdahl's Kon Tiki Theory and the Denial of the Indigenous Past. ... The core of the K... more

Houve um holocausto chileno?

by Robert Austin Henry and Graham Holton

Was there a Chilean Holocaust?

by Graham Holton and Robert Austin Henry

We argue that widespread and systemic acts of political genocide constituted Chile’s holocaust. W... more We argue that widespread and systemic acts of political genocide constituted Chile’s holocaust. We also show that former top-ranking Nazis collaborated with the incipient authoritarian capitalist state before and after the coup to set up concentration camps; and that, as in Nazi Germany, perverse elements of the scientific and medical communities collaborated in torture.

The state, literacy, and popular education in Chile , 1964–1990

Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research, 2004

... Secondly, while research director there, Raul Navarro launched the writer on a fast learning ... more ... Secondly, while research director there, Raul Navarro launched the writer on a fast learning curve with academic and administrative actors &amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;from Frei to Frei.&amp;amp;amp;amp;quot; Osvaldo Astudillo, Dean of Education at the Universidad Catolica, Santiago, provided important logistic support while I ...

The Crusades and Paradise Gardens

In 1842 J. Hood admired the spectacular views provided by the botanical gardens of Sydney and wro... more In 1842 J. Hood admired the spectacular views provided by the botanical gardens of Sydney and wrote that it was 'literally a walk through Paradise'. The word 'paradise' comes from Old Persian pairidaeza, meaning a walled garden, and was originally applied to the enclosed hunting parks of the Persian kings. It was translated into Latin as paradisus, and was to first appear in Middle English in 1175. It was the source of the Islamic garden, which spread from Persia across the Middle East and North Africa to Sicily and Spain. Today we may think of Persia, now called Iran, as a land of an arid rocky and mountainous landscape, but the region offered the West the inspiration and beauty of the flowered garden, especially the rose. It is a history that goes back to the Crusades. In July 1095 Pope Urban II journeyed to France to seek assistance to protect the Pilgrim route across the Byzantine Empire, through Anatolia and onto Jerusalem in the Great Seljuk Empire. The task facing the First Crusade was daunting, but four years later the Franks captured the holy city of Jerusalem and established a major centre of the international spice trade at Antioch. Later Crusades captured Transjordan, now Jordan, a major spice route, and attacked the major centres of the spice trade in Egypt and the Red Sea to control the flow of spices and reap the huge profits for themselves. The plant and spice trade, soon dominated by Venetian and Genoese traders, became the foundation of the modern European plant trade, granting unimaginable wealth and political power to those who controlled the lucrative trade. What had begun as a call to protect the Pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land had turned into controlling the international trade in valuable plants of the Islamic world for profit and knowledge. The development of paradise gardens in the twelfth century stimulated the transfer of exotic and commercial plants from the newly conquered areas to Europe. The paradise gardens allowed the study of commercially important plants, from which the new botanical knowledge and horticultural technology gained enabled the setting up of plantations and gardens in Europe. The Paradise Garden reintroduced the cultivation of gardens into Western Europe, replacing the small herbal gardens of the Middle Ages. Long gone were the Greek gardens that had inspired Libanios in the fourth century A.D.: " Delight comes from plants and springs and gardens and gentle winds and flowers and the song of birds. " One of the earliest examples was the trade in roses from the Levant to France. With the collapse of the Roman Empire, large gardens and garden art also disappeared in Europe, not reappearing until the Crusades. The Crusaders brought back the rose and the Persian Paradise Garden. The tree of life studded with roses is a traditional Persian design. To the Persians the rose was the flower of love, and rose oil the most prized of perfumes. Roses contain sugar, vitamin C, and anti-inflammatory properties, hence its use in medicinal compounds. The gardens of Persia had spread throughout the Islamic world, because the arid desert surroundings and limited water were common in the Middle East 1

PAPER Defining White Supremacy After Charlottesville, Virginia.doc

There are over 300 White Supremacist groups in the US. While much research has been done on the b... more

PAPER Defining White Supremacy After Charlottesville, Virginia.doc

The paper looks at the complexity of White Supremacy in the US.

Pseudo-Archaeology as State Supported Science: Hörbiger, Posnansky, Kiss and the Ahnenerbe Expedition to Tiwanaku, Bolivia

The history of science in the past has often been written as a progressivist account in which sci... more The history of science in the past has often been written as a progressivist account in which science establishes the truth, debunking theories mired in outmoded thinking, not blinkered by social prejudice and a priori assumptions. This is far from the truth, as established by Peter J. Riggs’ Whys & Ways of Science (1992), Harry Collins and Trevor Pinch’s The Golem (1993), and Lewis Pyenson and Susan Sheets-Pyenson in Servants of Nature (1999). Theories are often accepted by reason of the force of personalities and international politics rather than by logic and evidence. This is especially so when pseudo-scientific theories are supported by the state. The genre of pseudo-archaeology, in which ideology is put forward as science, lacks the logical argument and scientific proof established through scientific stringent analysis and the integrity that comes from archaeological empirical testing and observations made at the site. Yet this new paradigm becomes established orthodoxy by its support by the state and its institutions.

Chile: From Coup to Economic Miracle

by Graham Holton and Robert Austin Henry

Australia played a vital part in the overthrow of the Allende government through its ASIS (Austra... more Australia played a vital part in the overthrow of the Allende government through its ASIS (Australian Secret Intelligence Service) agents. It was into the sordid political and economic world of Pinochet’s Chile that Australian investments poured in and supported one of South America’s most vicious regimes when it was upon the verge of economic and political collapse. From 1988 massive Australian capital investments from companies such as Bondcorp and BHP Minerals supported and saved the failing Pinochet government. This support continued after Pinochet released his presidency, but was still active behind the scenes, with torture and political murder continuing into the Aylwin, Frei, and Bachelet governments.

Constructed Memory, Power, Politics and President Morales's Appropriation of Bolivia's Tiwanaku

This article looks at the rise of indigenous political power in Bolivia over the last two decades... more This article looks at the rise of indigenous political power in Bolivia over the last two decades, against the background of how Tiwanaku [formerly Tiahuanaco] has been appropriated by the Aymará people, Latin American modern artists and pseudo-archaeologists, and as a symbol of the state by post-colonial governments for different hegemonic ends. The indigenous movement has used the symbols of the past to strengthen, and give authority and meaning to the Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement towards Socialism: MAS) party led by President Evo Morales, and its ideology. Such a move has required understanding the symbolism of cosmovision (a term borrowed from Spanish and German usage) through myth, drawing upon the anthropological insights of Mircea Eliade and other insights into mythization. 2 But Tiwanaku has also been used by the modern art movement to give it authenticity and legitimacy. In the case of the white Bolivian elite, it has been used as a symbol of the state through the pseudo-white prehistory of Tiwanaku. But the historical event which most clearly captures the dimensions of this new political force has been the inauguration of President Morales at Tiwanaku, after a series of defeats suffered by the neoliberal state imposed in the 1980s. Anthropologists and archaeologists, such as Alan L. Kolata and John Wayne Janusek, refer to the appropriation of Tiwanaku, 3 but what does this mean in relation to the object Tiwanaku? Since the 1980s, the term 'appropriation' in the visual arts has meant taking possession of an object to use its borrowed elements in the creation of a new work. Aspects of appropriation appear in nearly all areas of visual art history, if one considers the act of making art as the borrowing of images or concepts from the surrounding world and re-interpreting them. Inherent in the process of appropriation is that the new work recontextualizes whatever is borrowed in the creation of the new work. While in art the original remains accessible as the original―without change―the appropriation of Tiwanaku by the Aymará has dramatically changed its meaning through its appropriation, being no longer simply a collection of ancient ruins. 4 Anthropology and archaeology are based on cultural appropriation. By the very nature of their analysis they give the object analysed a new meaning, and therefore cultural appropriation is a process relevant to anthropologists and archaeologists as it involves exchanges between cultures and an expression of the power of one culture over the other. This forces anthropologists to rethink the definition of 'culture' in the Andes. 5

'Popular Identity of the Maya and Growing Ethnic Tension in Belize'

The demographic makeup and distribution in Belize (formerly British Honduras) has changed dramati... more The demographic makeup and distribution in Belize (formerly British Honduras) has changed dramatically since independence in 1981. Several analysts argue that the selective emigration of large numbers of English-speaking Afro-Belizeans (Creoles and Garifuna) to the United States and their replacement by Spanish-speaking immigrants (mestizos and Amerindians) from 0 0 1 F troubled neighbouring countries in Cen tral America is altering the ethnic composition and spatial distribution. During the late 1970s anecdotal evidence began to accumulate suggesting 0 0 1 F that the coun try's population was undergoing profound structural changes that included realignment of its settlement patterns and alteration of its ethnic mix. This emigration has exacerbated the cultural make-up of the country which is now reduced to 30 percent Creole – black, English speaking, and Protestant. Claims of Mayan indigenous identity in Belize have been challenged owing to contesting claims of 'native' status. Recent immigration of political refugees, Spanish-speaking mestizos from Guatemala, has exacerbated ethnic tensions and challenged long-held assumptions regarding the character of Belizean culture, which has traditionally been linked politically and socially to the English-speaking Caribbean. Guatemala's continuing claims to Belizean territory has increased antagonism amongst Creoles towards the increase of Hispanic culture within their country. The illegal immigration of Mopan and Kekchi Mayan peasants is accused of worsening the environmental impact, and furthermore claims of Mayan indigenous identity is challenged in Belize due to contesting claims to 'native' status. These factors have strengthened a desire for undisputed Creole cultural dominance rather than an ideology of cultural pluralism. Although Creoles, Garifuna, and mestizos acknowledge roots in other continents, people who belong to each of these categories claim 'native' status in Belize. At the same time, Mopan and Kekchi Maya are portrayed as descendants of 19th century and more recent immigration to Belize from Guatemala. 1 Belize, which is officially a multi-ethnic country, now faces conflicting claims of who has 'native' status – Creoles, Garifuna or Mayan Indian? The publication in January 2008 of new census figures that Spanish-speaking mestizos now outnumber English-speaking Creoles has increased cultural and ethnic group apprehension. This is especially so as the country gears up to celebrate the English founding victory over the Spanish. Over the past two decades the pan-Mayan movement has had a dramatic impact on grass root movements and politics within Guatemala and the Chiapas, Mexico. In Guatemala, the Maya movement has focused on protecting and vindicating Maya culture and languages, asserting their right to cultural difference based on their indigenous status within that country. In Mexico, the Maya have mobilised together to provide momentum to the Zapatistas and non-military organisations, claiming that as indigenous peoples they have the right to claim political self-determination. In Belize, Maya immigrants claim 'native' status owing to their common pre-Hispanic cultural heritage of Maya civilisation in the region. This paper explores the competing claims to 'native' status and their

UFOs and Religious Cults

Traces the connection between UFOs and religious beliefs

Native Title in Belize, Central America: Maya versus Creole as Indigenous Populations 'Popular Identity of the Maya and Growing Ethnic Tension in Belize'

Introduction In 2007 the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court argued that the Maya of Belize (forme... more Introduction In 2007 the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court argued that the Maya of Belize (formerly British Honduras) have the legal right to Native Title, and endorsed the principal argued in the High Court of Australia in Mabo: 'a mere change in sovereignty does not extinguish native title to land.' The Chief Justice did not require proof that these Maya villagers had inhabited the land before the Spanish Conquest, even though the village of Santa Cruz was established in 1950. The Maya re-entered British Honduras in the mid-nineteenth century, long after the Creole (former African slaves) and the Garifuna (former Black Carib Indians) had settled British Honduras. This is the first Court judgement to apply the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The decision represents a synthesis of international, common law and constitutional standards, and concurrently contributes to the consolidation of a global standard protecting the rights of indigenous peoples to their tradition lands and resources. The decision has also led to open hostility between the two populations, divided by culture. The Creole speak English, eat Caribbean food and listen to Reggae music. The Maya speak Spanish, eat Guatemalan food and listen to Latino music. The claim by Guatemala for British Honduras has led to open conflict, resulting in a large military presence in Belize. The Afro-Caribbean people do not want to be part of Guatemala, whose 1996 Peace Accord ended a bitter civil war that claimed 300,000 indigenous. The Maya see Belize as theirs by right of cultural heritage. The essay examines the background of the Maya's land rights claims, and what this means to other racial groups in Belize, especially with the history of Guatemala's claims for Belize. The competing claims to 'native' status and have implications for the construction of a pan–Maya identity among Mopan–and Kekchi speakers inside Belize.

Revolutionary Rider

book review Tiwanaku September 2005.doc

Racism and the Limit of Technological Transfer in Colonial Trinidad

Trinidad's Prime Minister, Dr Eric Williams, was a fervent nationalist who complained of the lack... more Trinidad's Prime Minister, Dr Eric Williams, was a fervent nationalist who complained of the lack of higher learning in the region, especially in science and engineering. 1 The transfer of advanced technology in the British colonial system required the spread of experience and knowledge from the metropole (Britain) to the periphery (West Indies), with technical education and hands-on experience in the field required to train for mid-level managerial and technical positions. Without the knowledge of modern sciences and the dynamic transfer of technology, the skills and experience on how to repair the machines and equipment, the subaltern's progress is limited. Without appropriate technology transfer the colony would remain dependent on British capital and technically trained personnel. The Colonial Office decided to retain the education of agrarian skills in Trinidad and the British oil companies import the needed technical and scientific staff from Britain and the United States. As well oil companies employed educated Afro-Caribbean people, no matter how educated, as labourers in the oilfields. The British Cabinet agreed to the sale of the Trinidad Oil Co. to Texaco on 14 June 1956, with the provision that both parties accepted the requirements set out in (b) and (h) in paragraph 15 of the Cabinet Memorandum, C.P. (56) 140. 2 The first requirement was that the pound sterling be protected. All marketing operations within the sterling area had to be carried out under arrangements satisfactory to the British Government. 3 Second, the Pointe-à-Pierre refinery was to operate at least at the existing average rate of 70,000 barrels per day. Third, and most importantly for Trinidadians, the existing industrial relations practices were to be maintained. The employment of Trinidad nationals was to be maximised, with no racial discrimination in company plants nor in field camps. Furthermore, at least one director of Texaco Trinidad Inc., as the new company was to be known, was to be a Trinidad national. Technological dependence results from the lack of technology transfer to the underdeveloped country because of the lack of trained nationals to fill the technological void. This lack of a local technological and scientific capacity, was a deliberate policy of the British colonial government in the West Indies, to ensure that Trinidad's economy was developed along lines useful to the British economy and military interests in the region. Those technicians and scientists which were employed in the colony were white, with all educated non-whites being restricted to inferior positions of employment in the public and private sectors. This policy ensured that essential learning-by-doing technical training was never passed onto the non-white population of the colony, re-ensuring that the white elite maintained economic, social and psychological power. It also meant that on independence that the local scientific and technical institutions were ineffective, or even irrelevant, in any competition with British institutions and corporations, thereby necessitating that the newly independent country retained its reliance on British technicians and specialists to run the companies and institutions within Trinidad. 4 It is for this reason that Eric Williams pushed hard to ensure that with independence Trinidad should train its own scientists, engineers and technicians to help build a dynamic economy using oil revenues.

Reconstructing Paradise.doc

The Globalisation of Hate via the Net: Cyber Racism in South America and South Africa

'British National Security and Trinidad's Strategic Oil Industry: Colonial Government Response to the 1937 Oilfield Riots'

In 1937 the British West Indian colony of Trinidad and Tobago produced 63 per cent of the British... more In 1937 the British West Indian colony of Trinidad and Tobago produced 63 per cent of the British Empire's oil production. This included 100-octane aviation fuel, a military secret fuel that helped Britain to win the 'Battle of Britain', 1940-41. National security ensured that sedition within the oilfields was severely repressed. Its corollary meant that the threat of strikes enabled the oilfield workers to achieve the right of arbitration, improved working conditions and wages, to guarantee that maximum oil refining output was maintained. The Forster and Moyne Commissions and the Baillie Arbitration Tribunal were set up to analyse the roots of the oilfield riots. The British Government acted on their findings and recommendations to ensure that the supply of oil would not be disrupted in the upcoming war with Germany. The importance of Trinidad's oil industry to British national security, especially that of 100-octane aviation fuel plants being built at Pointe-à-Pierre, meant that the British Government had no alternative other than to concede to oilfield workers' demands for improve working conditions and wages. At the same time the government could ill afford discouraging private investment in the oil industry in the Caribbean colony. Despite its small geographical size, Trinidad and Tobago was a major source of petroleum for the British Empire, with important links to the British defence industry. The Caribbean colony possessed large oilfields in the southwest and a massive oil refining industry at

The Globalisation of Hate and the Net: Cyber Racism in Argentina

Nazis and Chile's Concentration Camps V4.doc

by Graham Holton and Robert Austin Henry

Archaeological Racism: Hans Hörbiger, Arthur Posnansky, Edmund Kiss and the Ahnenerbe Expedition to Tiwanaku, Bolivia

Pseudo-Archaeology as Archaeological Racism 1 The history of science has been written as a Progre... more Pseudo-Archaeology as Archaeological Racism 1 The history of science has been written as a Progressivist account in which science establishes the truth, debunking theories mired in outmoded thinking, not blinkered by social prejudice and a priori assumptions. This is far from the truth, as shown too well by Peter J. Riggs' Whys & Ways of Science (1992), Harry Collins and Trevor Pinch's The Golem (1993), and Lewis Pyenson and Susan Sheets-Pyenson in Servants of Nature (1999). Theories are often accepted by reason of the force of personalities and international politics rather than by logic and evidence alone. Pseudo-archaeology is a set of ideas put forward as scientific, while often lacking logic and proof, the scientific stringent analysis of data and the integrity that comes from empirical testing and observation before they accept new ideas or paradigms. Mainstream historians and scientists call these pseudo-scientific views of dissent 'crackpot', a term derived from old Viking kraka meaning 'crow' and medieval English potte, meaning a 'hollow'. This sarcasm conjures up an image of dissenters huddled together like crows, uttering senseless squawks. Stephen Williams calls this genre 'fantastic archaeology', rather than the more pejorative term 'pseudo-archaeology', because 'pseudo' expresses the dominance of a patronizing academia that insists on it own interpretation of the past. Martin Gardener in Fads & Fallacies in the Name of Science (1957) found that many pseudo-scientists and crank historians worked in isolation, and claim that they are forced to do so because of the prejudice of mainstream science. 2 Pseudo-scientists are not interested in empirical methods, but allow the facts to speak for themselves. The writer of crank histories has usually read voluminous material in a discipline in which they are not trained, giving masses of detail, assuming that quantity of facts by itself establishes proof, while ignoring the logic of their arguments. Aaron Elkins writes that there is an 'amazing capacity of even the most learned experts to turn into gullible chumps if they want to believe something.' 3 Bergan Evan writes in his The Natural History of Nonsense that: Fallacy is always the product of certain processes in popular thinking: of arguing from negatives and analogies, of making false generalizations, or worshipping coincidence, of taking rhetoric for fact, of never questioning, or even perceiving the underlying conceptions that make for prejudice, and, above all, of a romantic delight in the wonderful for its own sake. And once made, the error… is likely to owe its vitality to intellectual currents and social forces with which, superficially regarded, it has no seeming connection. 4 Crackpots may use esoteric sources and distort mainstream science to prove their theory. Many crank histories are highly complex and jargon-filled. Too often pseudo-scientists practice a complex argument but fail to organize their thoughts into any form of coherent argument, thereby disallowing the reader an easy access to their arguments. The possession of a secret intensifies the sense of special individuality for followers of the genre. This lack of evidence has led critics of the genre to refer to the writers of the wildest ideas as crank PAGE 4 1 I wish to thank Mark Curran for photocopying relevant material from libraries in Zurich.

Appropriating Tiwanaku: Evo Morales and the Politics of Bolivia's Indigenous Past

by Graham Holton and Robert Austin Henry

This article looks at the rise of indigenous political power in Bolivia over the last two decades... more This article looks at the rise of indigenous political power in Bolivia over the last two decades, against the background of how Tiwanaku [formerly Tiahuanaco] has been appropriated by the Aymará people, Latin American modern artists and pseudo-archaeologists, and as a symbol of the state by post-colonial governments for different hegemonic ends. The indigenous movement has used the symbols of the past to strengthen, and give authority and meaning to the Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement towards Socialism: MAS) party led by President Evo Morales, and its ideology. Such a move has required understanding the symbolism of cosmovision (a term borrowed from Spanish and German usage) through myth, drawing upon the anthropological insights of Mircea Eliade and other insights into mythization. 2 But Tiwanaku has also been used by the modern art movement to give it authenticity and legitimacy. In the case of the white Bolivian elite, it has been used as a symbol of the state through the pseudo-white prehistory of Tiwanaku. But the historical event which most clearly captures the dimensions of this new political force has been the inauguration of President Morales at Tiwanaku, after a series of defeats suffered by the neoliberal state imposed in the 1980s. On 18 December 2005 Juan Evo Morales Ayuma was elected president of Bolivia with 53.7 per cent of the popular vote in an election that saw a turnout of 84.5 per cent of the national electorate. He is the first indigenous head of state in Bolivia since the Spanish Conquest. Before assuming office on 22 January 2006, Morales received cultural symbols and the recognition of the indigenous peoples of the country in three separate but related celebrations, the first a two day politico-religious ceremony at Tiwanaku, the most important pre-Incaic archaeological site in Bolivia. The day before his official investiture, he underwent an important spiritual and religious ritual, in which the mallkus, literally 'condors', handed over the staff of command and various ceremonial investitures. His decision to hold this ceremony at Tiwanaku to be crowned Apu Mallku (Supreme Leader) was taken to give thanks to Pachamama ('mother earth', literally 'our mother in space-time' 3) to whom he had made offerings before the presidential campaign. As a sign of respect for his ancestral culture, Morales walked barefoot, clad in a cap (chucu) and poncho (manta) amid the smoke of aromatic herb incense and offerings of llama foetuses. The next day, before 25,000 supporters, Morales proceeded through the centre and the four quarters of Tiwanaku, and across the pyramid of Akapana before taking part in a ritual blessing by an Aymará priest (yatiri) at the Gateway of the Sun, an important portal within the ancient temple of Kalasasaya. 4 Symbolic of the original Aymará priests, dressed in a bright red tunic (unk'u) and bearing a gold-and-silver staff with two condor heads (baculo) as a symbol of the energy and the authority received from the sun god, Morales poured liquor, coca leaves and food

Australian Investments in Chile.doc

by Graham Holton and Robert Austin Henry

Review Che March 2004

2007 Chapter 5 Lost Cities white tribes.doc

What I call ‘archaeological racism’ is the misuse of archaeology for socially and politically mot... more What I call ‘archaeological racism’ is the misuse of archaeology for socially and politically motivated ends. At its core is Diffusionism, the belief that a blond-haired, blue-eyed dynastic race migrated around the world in the prehistoric past to civilize the dark skinned peoples. It held that indigenous peoples invented nothing before the coming of the ‘Great White Race’. Diffusionism disenfranchizes indigenous peoples from their past. When a people have no history, they have no past. When they have no past they have no claims to their land, nor the prehistoric remains upon that land.

2007 Chapter 3 Tiwanaku.doc

What I call ‘archaeological racism’ is the misuse of archaeology for socially and politically mot... more What I call ‘archaeological racism’ is the misuse of archaeology for socially and politically motivated ends. At its core is Diffusionism, the belief that a blond-haired, blue-eyed dynastic race migrated around the world in the prehistoric past to civilize the dark skinned peoples. It held that indigenous peoples invented nothing before the coming of the ‘Great White Race’. Diffusionism disenfranchizes indigenous peoples from their past. When a people have no history, they have no past. When they have no past they have no claims to their land, nor the prehistoric remains upon that land.

2007 Chapter 2 Heyerdal Master Race.doc

What I call ‘archaeological racism’ is the misuse of archaeology for socially and politically mot... more What I call ‘archaeological racism’ is the misuse of archaeology for socially and politically motivated ends. At its core is Diffusionism, the belief that a blond-haired, blue-eyed dynastic race migrated around the world in the prehistoric past to civilize the dark skinned peoples. It held that indigenous peoples invented nothing before the coming of the ‘Great White Race’. Diffusionism disenfranchizes indigenous peoples from their past. When a people have no history, they have no past. When they have no past they have no claims to their land, nor the prehistoric remains upon that land.

2007 Chapter 1 Diffusionism.doc

What I call ‘archaeological racism’ is the misuse of archaeology for socially and politically mot... more What I call ‘archaeological racism’ is the misuse of archaeology for socially and politically motivated ends. At its core is Diffusionism, the belief that a blond-haired, blue-eyed dynastic race migrated around the world in the prehistoric past to civilize the dark skinned peoples. It held that indigenous peoples invented nothing before the coming of the ‘Great White Race’. Diffusionism disenfranchizes indigenous peoples from their past. When a people have no history, they have no past. When they have no past they have no claims to their land, nor the prehistoric remains upon that land.

2007 Appendices.doc

What I call ‘archaeological racism’ is the misuse of archaeology for socially and politically mot... more What I call ‘archaeological racism’ is the misuse of archaeology for socially and politically motivated ends. At its core is Diffusionism, the belief that a blond-haired, blue-eyed dynastic race migrated around the world in the prehistoric past to civilize the dark skinned peoples. It held that indigenous peoples invented nothing before the coming of the ‘Great White Race’. Diffusionism disenfranchizes indigenous peoples from their past. When a people have no history, they have no past. When they have no past they have no claims to their land, nor the prehistoric remains upon that land.

2007 Introduction.doc

What I call ‘archaeological racism’ is the misuse of archaeology for socially and politically mot... more What I call ‘archaeological racism’ is the misuse of archaeology for socially and politically motivated ends. At its core is Diffusionism, the belief that a blond-haired, blue-eyed dynastic race migrated around the world in the prehistoric past to civilize the dark skinned peoples. It held that indigenous peoples invented nothing before the coming of the ‘Great White Race’. Diffusionism disenfranchizes indigenous peoples from their past. When a people have no history, they have no past. When they have no past they have no claims to their land, nor the prehistoric remains upon that land.

2007 Chapter 8 Museums of Denial.doc

What I call ‘archaeological racism’ is the misuse of archaeology for socially and politically mot... more What I call ‘archaeological racism’ is the misuse of archaeology for socially and politically motivated ends. At its core is Diffusionism, the belief that a blond-haired, blue-eyed dynastic race migrated around the world in the prehistoric past to civilize the dark skinned peoples. It held that indigenous peoples invented nothing before the coming of the ‘Great White Race’. Diffusionism disenfranchizes indigenous peoples from their past. When a people have no history, they have no past. When they have no past they have no claims to their land, nor the prehistoric remains upon that land.

2007 Chapter 7 Science Fiction.doc

What I call ‘archaeological racism’ is the misuse of archaeology for socially and politically mot... more What I call ‘archaeological racism’ is the misuse of archaeology for socially and politically motivated ends. At its core is Diffusionism, the belief that a blond-haired, blue-eyed dynastic race migrated around the world in the prehistoric past to civilize the dark skinned peoples. It held that indigenous peoples invented nothing before the coming of the ‘Great White Race’. Diffusionism disenfranchizes indigenous peoples from their past. When a people have no history, they have no past. When they have no past they have no claims to their land, nor the prehistoric remains upon that land.

2007 Chapter 6 Kennewick and Indians.doc

What I call ‘archaeological racism’ is the misuse of archaeology for socially and politically mot... more What I call ‘archaeological racism’ is the misuse of archaeology for socially and politically motivated ends. At its core is Diffusionism, the belief that a blond-haired, blue-eyed dynastic race migrated around the world in the prehistoric past to civilize the dark skinned peoples. It held that indigenous peoples invented nothing before the coming of the ‘Great White Race’. Diffusionism disenfranchizes indigenous peoples from their past. When a people have no history, they have no past. When they have no past they have no claims to their land, nor the prehistoric remains upon that land.

2007 How Scientific Racism Influenced Prehistory

What I call ‘archaeological racism’ is the misuse of archaeology for socially and politically mot... more What I call ‘archaeological racism’ is the misuse of archaeology for socially and politically motivated ends. At its core is Diffusionism, the belief that a blond-haired, blue-eyed dynastic race migrated around the world in the prehistoric past to civilize the dark skinned peoples. It held that indigenous peoples invented nothing before the coming of the ‘Great White Race’. Diffusionism disenfranchizes indigenous peoples from their past. When a people have no history, they have no past. When they have no past they have no claims to their land, nor the prehistoric remains upon that land.