Political Reviews

michael lujan bevacqua, elizabeth (isa) ua ceallaigh bowman, zaldy dandan, monica c labriola, nic maclellan, tiara r na'puti, gonzaga puas

peter clegg, lorenz gonschor, margaret mutu, salote talagi, forrest wade young

187 262 the contemporary pacific • 32:1 (2020)

26 September. http://www.pitcairn.pn/ visit of his second term as Chilean minutes/Approved%20Special%20 president. While coming primarily to Council%20Meeting%20Minutes%20 welcome the first group of tourists to 26th%20Sept%202018.pdf arrive under the new law regulating­ ———. 2019a. Minutes of the ­Council visitation and residency on the island Meeting Held at the Public Hall. 29 May. (Ley Residencia y Permanencia en http://www.pitcairn.pn/minutes/ Rapa Nui, 21.070), he also used Approved%20Council%20Meeting%20 the occasion to introduce two new Minutes%20May%2029th%202019.pdf councils and promote legislation for ———. 2019b. Public Meeting Notes; changing the island’s name. Specifics Held at the Public Hall. 29 May. http:// of the visit, as well as conflict ­during www.pitcairn.pn/minutes/Approved his presence, presaged many of the %20Public%20Meeting%20Notes paramount political issues of the ­ 20May%2028th%202019.pdf review period. Pitcairn Miscellany. 2018a. Blue Belt Visit After receiving the first tourists to Pitcairn. 61 (11 [Nov]): 3. the following day at the Mataveri ———. 2018b. Building of the Store. International Airport, he introduced­ 61 (7 [July]): 8. a new council on population ­control ­(Consejo de Gestión de Carga ———. c. Intending Pitcairn Island 2018 Demográfica de Rapa Nui) at the Resident Departs. 61 (9 [Sept]): 4. sacred monumental grounds of Tahai. ———. 2018d. Thumbs Up!—Part 3 of In a context where the population 4—Hospital Check. 61 (8 [Aug]): 8. had more than doubled, from 3,791 ———. 2019a. Pitcairn Islands Tourism in 2002 to 7,750 in 2017, and where Joins the South Pacific Cruise Alliance tourists exceeded 120,000 in 2017, at Seatrade Cruise Global 2019. 62 President Piñera conceived the new (4 [April]): 5. council and law as designed to address ———. 2019b. Population as at [sic] 24th the problem that “there are many March 2019. 62 (3 [March]): 9.Richard- tourist places that, because they were son, Nigel. 2019. Secrets of Pitcairn, the not cared for in time, were destroyed Tropical Island that Covered Up a Child- and simply disappeared” (Ministe- Sex Scandal. Telegraph, 11 May. rio Secretaria General de Gobierno, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/ 1 Aug 2018). Recognizing tourism as secrets-pitcairn-tropical-island-covered “a fundamental engine of the island’s -child-sex-scandal/ development,” he hoped the new con- Vance, Andrea. 2019. A Remote Pacific trols would manage “a fair balance” Island Is Covered in Plastic; Scientists between tourism and conservation of Are Determined to Clean It Up. Sunday the “natural beauty, history, legends, ­Star-Times, 2 June. and language” of the island (Minis- terio Secretaría General de Gobierno, 1 Aug 2018). In addition to the coun- Rapa Nui cil on population control, President Piñera also introduced El Consejo On 31 July 2018, Sebastián Piñera del Mar (the council of the sea) to arrived to the island for the first manage the formation of the island’s political reviews • polynesia 263

Marine Protected Area, which like Ley it is known throughout the world, but Residencia was detailed in a previous incorporating its ethnic and cultural review (Young 2019). Both councils denomination” (El Dínamo, 27 May integrate Rapa Nui representatives 2016). Prior to the arrival of Presi- into a larger committee constituted dent Piñera, Rapa Nui leaders were by the members of the Commission vocal in emphasizing their preference. for the Development of Camilo Rapu, President of the Ma‘u (codeipa) that includes officials from Henua (the Indigenous institution various state ministries, for example, responsible for managing the sacred the Ministry of Defense (Gobierno de sites and cultural heritage of Rapa Nui , 1 Aug 2018). National Park), supported changing During an address at King Riro the name to strictly “Rapa Nui,” a Plaza outside the offices of the name he considered “representative ­governor, President Piñera promoted of the people, and their language, his- legislation that would mandate an tory, and cultural heritage” (Teletrece, official name change for the island, 8 July 2018). Rapa Nui Mayor Petero initiated during the prior administra- Edmunds also supported the change tion of Michelle Bachelet. In May to strictly “Rapa Nui,” a change he 2016, Osvaldo Andrade, a represen- emphasized the Indigenous people had tative of the Leftist political party requested for “decades” (La Tercera, Partido Socialista de Chile and leader 1 Aug 2018). Given that President of the lower house of the Chilean Piñera had highlighted the “urgency” National Congress, started a legisla- of a name change that would “recog- tive project to constitutionally change nize the original, millennial history of the name of the island from “Isla de the island” (Prensa Presidencía 2018), Pascua” (Easter Island) to “Rapa one might presume his speech at the Nui.” Concurrently, Congressman plaza supported the bill Congress- Osvaldo Urrutia, a representative of man Andrade proposed. However, the right-wing political party Unión as a member of right-wing alliance Demócrata Independiente (udi), Chile Vamos, which also includes the proposed the name change instead udi political party, he endorsed and to “Rapa Nui-Isla de Pascua” (El became signatory instead to Congress- Dínamo, 27 May 2016). Congressman man Urrutia’s proposal. Andrade’s proposal emphasized the Tension in state discourse over a name change as necessary for demon- possible change of the island’s name strating that the Chilean state is now was not the greatest problem that “respectful of the diverse cultures and intensified after Piñera’s visit; rather, peoples” and stressed that the Rapa it was public dispute of the ­ of the Nui people now have an opportunity Ma‘u Henua Indigenous Community. to “live by the name they have given As chronicled in prior reviews, the themselves” (La Tercera, 1 Aug 2018). March 2015 reclamation of the sacred Congressman Urrutia’s proposal was places (vahi tupuna) and ancestral instead designed to “recognize the valuables (hauha‘a tupuna) that the union between the continent and the state had developed into a Chilean island, maintaining the name by which national park beginning in 1935 and 264 the contemporary pacific • 32:1 (2020) a unesco World Heritage site in in the management of the Park’s 1995 without consulting the Rapa income and expenses” that could Nui people (Young 2016, 2017), an “compromise the management of the event called haro tāura within the Rapa Nui National Park, and in the community, culminated in 2017 in a future, generate its economic infeasi- fifty-year concession of administrative bility” (Ministerio de Bienes Nacio- control of Rapa Nui cultural heritage nales 2019). While admitting some to Ma‘u Henua under the supervision failures (El Desconcierto, 1 March of Hōnui (an assembly of Rapa Nui 2019), Rapu utilized the state judicial family representatives) (Young 2019). system to void the vote and retain his Though the community and munici- office until a scheduled August 2020 pal government had requested Rapu election for a new directory (Biobio, to run for the office of Ma‘u Henua 2 Aug 2019). president, and he had been elected Just after the close of the review with 80 percent of the vote in 2016 period, the conflict officially ended as (Moe Varua 2019c), by April 2018 Rivera conceded to Rapu’s authority some Hōnui representatives began to in light of the court decision (Biobio, question a “lack of transparency” in 2 Aug 2019); still, the scope, source, management practices some consid- and substance of mismanagement ered “operating behind the backs of remained debated in community life Hōnui and the Rapa Nui community” and Hōnui meetings I participated (Prensa Rapa Nui, 10 April 2019). in during July and August 2019. No During Piñera’s visit, key tourist sites Rapa Nui people I spoke with ­during were occupied, and the directory of the course of a month appeared Ma‘u Henua was publicly contested happy with Rapu’s leadership, and (Biobio, 1 Aug 2019). By December most believed he was responsible for 2018, these Hōnui representatives significant problems of Ma‘u Henua; had organized a formal censure of however, some directed blame else- Rapu (El Desconcierto, 28 Feb 2019) where, questioned the motives of the and a vote in March 2019 for a new state audit and competing directory, directory led by Nancy Rivera (El and doubted the more serious accusa- Desconcierto, 11 May 2019), which tions against him. The most egregious was legitimated immediately by the criticism of Rapu and Ma‘u Henua state Indigenous Development Corpo- circulated in a series of news articles ration (conadi) and in April by the published by the US-based website state-based government institutions Mongabay.org, which was reprinted for the Rapa Nui people: the offices by the news site El Desconcierto and of the mayor and governor and the referenced in other Chilean media, island-based development commission like El Libero. In its sensationalization (codeipa) (El Ciudadano, 12 May of the conflict, Mongabay portrayed 2019). Supported by municipal and Rapa Nui as a “polarized society” state political institutions, the new embroiled in a “financial chaos” directory demanded the resignation of that was publicly symbolized in the Rapu amid a state financial audit that burning of the island’s courthouse found “great administrative ­disorder and the “lynching” of Juan “Paki” political reviews • polynesia 265

Nahoe Hereveri in response to the because he first attacked the nephew local murder of Luis Araki Paoa by in retaliation for the collapse of fences Paki on 28 January 2019 (Mongabay, separating the land and cows between 28 Feb 2019). In its analysis of the Paki and Luis’s brother (La Tercera, financial chaos, the website high- 30 Jan 2019). When Luis and friends lighted “nepotism and fraud” in the confronted Paki, Paki reportedly Ma‘u Henua directory (Mongabay,­ lethally stabbed Luis (El Mercurio, 9 March 2019). Investigation of 23 Feb 2019). Cows, fences, and financial records from 2016–2018 by a man—Paki—with an established Mongabay reportedly demonstrated record of violence dating to childhood that “more than half a million US in the mean streets of Santiago, Chile, dollars were transferred from the bank rather than Rapa Nui (Economia y accounts of Ma‘u Henua to the direct Negocios, 23 Feb 2019) are the ­factors and close relatives of Camilo Rapu” as in the murder—not Ma‘u Henua. Ma‘u Henua rented office space and The murder is one of only three in bought supplies from “family busi- twenty years noted on the island (El nesses” ­(Mongabay, 13 June 2019). ­Mercurio, 23 Feb 2019). Ma‘u Henua was also found to have Assuming the coherence of the over a million dollars in unreported results of the audit, one might imagine expenditures, nearly two hundred lost that the perceived failures of Ma‘u checks, and over three million dollars Henua had destabilized the tourism not deposited into the proper accounts economy. Financial information not (Mongabay, 27 Feb 2019). shared by Mongabay and others of its Without excusing Rapu and the discourse network, however, suggests Ma‘u Henua directory, it is impor- tourism has strengthened under the tant to place some of the Mongabay current leadership of Ma‘u Henua, investigation “under erasure” ­(Derrida as increased profits earned by the 1997, 60)—that is, examine how the institution have been reinvested in meaning of information present in conservation, development, and jobs. Mongabay’s analysis of Ma‘u Henua While the Chilean National Forest is complicated by consideration of Corporation (conaf) at best achieved information absent in their story. 900 million Chilean pesos (about ­Following Luis’s murder, while some us$1.2 million) in profit, Ma‘u Henua in the Rapa Nui community did per- raised 4.3 billion (about us$6 million) ceive the intensity of violence at the in 2017. More importantly, where less courthouse as exacerbated by tensions than one-third of the profits of conaf surrounding conflict over the direc- typically returned to the island, as tory of Ma‘u Henua (El Correo del they were distributed across other Moai, 20 Feb 2019), the murder was parks of the state, under Ma‘u Henua predominately explained in Chilean all the money stayed in Rapa Nui (El media as emerging from an escala- Ciudadano, 12 May 2019). Ma‘u tion of prior conflict between Paki Henua reinvested some of the profits and Luis’s twelve-year-old nephew. in expanded conservation of sacred Though investigations are ongoing, sites through improved enclosures, Luis supposedly confronted Paki increased shelters, and “sustainability 266 the contemporary pacific • 32:1 (2020) initiatives,” such as “solar panels, prior managers? As problems in post- eco-baths, biodigesters, and rain- colonial states must be understood in water collections” (El Desconcierto, relation to “legacy” conditions created 1 March 2019), and added twenty by the colonial state (Krishna 2008), more sacred sites to its conservation problems in Ma‘u Henua should be program (Moe Varua 2019c). Profits analyzed in relation to the conditions were also applied toward the creation established or, perhaps more accu- of three hundred more jobs, nearly all rately, unestablished by Chile. Accord- for Rapa Nui youth (El Ciudadano, ing to Rapu’s testimony, a significant 12 May 2019), and were engaged to factor in the financial ­difficulties of help support the conservation of the Ma‘u Henua generally, and a reason Rapa Nui language (unesco 2019), why he turned to businesses tied to the perpetuation of contemporary his family for support, was that the Indigenous sports (Moe Varua 2019c), ­directory was not paid until 2017 and the cultural revival of Polynesian and the state did not initially provide voyaging by Rapa Nui (Moe Varua resources to finance the organization; 2019a). in this context, they turned to family Regardless of the ultimate source businesses willing to work on credit and substance of the financial mis- (Moe Varua 2019c). The financial management, Ma‘u Henua and Rapu issues ­Mongabay stressed to iden- will continue to be responsible for tify—fraud and nepotism in Ma‘u explaining their role in the problems Henua—also fall silent on the context that have occurred under their leader- that conditions their appearance. ship. However, Mongabay’s conclu- Technical analysis, as is common in sions are significantly compromised the contemporary era, “de-politicized” when it is recognized that the account- the historical foundations of the ing they fault occurred in part during political situation (Edkins 1999, 1–2). the period of coadministration. Ma‘u It also ignored a significant cultural Henua did not become self-determin- context of any nepotism in Rapa Nui. ing until December 2017—more than In a world where, as Mayor Edmunds a year after the start of the 2016–2018 noted, all Rapa Nui people descend period Mongabay analyzed. Any from one of “thirty-four women” financial disorder between 2016 and of the late nineteenth century (La 2017 cannot be blamed entirely on ­Tercera, 30 Jan 2019), Rapu is reason- Ma‘u Henua; it must be shared with able to emphasize that “it is practi- the coadministrator: the state gener- cally impossible not to hire a relative” ally and, more specifically, conaf— (Biobio, 19 April 2019). However, he the institution previously managing is wise to also recognize that he can the Rapa Nui National Park. Further, do a better job of sharing financial why should the state and conaf opportunities with all of the families be free of blame for problems in of Rapa Nui (El Disconciereto, 28 Feb 2018–2019? Was not the point of 2019), even though kinship remains coadministration, in part at least, for the foundation of island social rela- Ma‘u Henua to learn the tools and tions among Rapa Nui people (McCall techniques of management­ from the 1976, 13). political reviews • polynesia 267

Though Rapu accepted fault for Rivera’s Hōnui supporters remained favoring his own close relatives in the explicitly committed to retaining initial development of Ma‘u Henua, self-determination of their ancestral he has continued to deny the bulk of cultural heritage and sacred sites (El the allegations of the formal audits Desconcierto, 1 March 2019), their and various financial reports that appeal to state institutions like the have circulated through social media offices of the governor and mayor, as networks. He notes that the state audit well as organizations like codeipa by the Ministry of National Goods and conadi, would have undermined (El Ministerio de Bienes Nacionales) the autonomy of Ma‘u Henua as was conducted in only two days, well as Hōnui. Despite many failures, whereas during the era of conaf, it Rapu’s refusal to step down and sign was completed across three months a restructured concession (Moe Varua (Moe Varua 2019c). He conceives 2019b) prevented, at least for now, the reported missing checks, deposits, the return of state control of Rapa and expenditures as part of a “smear Nui cultural heritage and sacred sites. campaign” (El Desconcierto, 1 March Rivera and her supporters, intention- 2019) and an “incomplete audit that ally or not, appear to have been pawns the community has responded to point in a more complex colonial strategy by point” (El Ciudadano, 27 July of the state of Chile to undermine 2019). He believes any financial Ma‘u Henua, Hōnui, and the rights of absences are likely accounted for in the Rapa Nui people (El Ciudadano, the seventy-one out of seventy-eight 27 July 2019). Did they forget it was files and 250 books missing from President Piñera who was respon- the hasty audit (Moe Varua 2019c). sible for the shooting (puhipuhi) of Rafael “Rinko” Tuki, the Rapa Nui the Rapa Nui people that ended the representative of conadi who was 2010–2011 political occupations and not only on the front lines of the demonstrations, an action that was 2015 reclamations but also consulted condemned in the US Congress and at personally with Bolivian President the United Nations (UN) and that was Evo Morales during the height of the in violation of pending precaution- conflict (Young 2017, 176), views the ary measures at the Organization of attack on Ma‘u Henua as part of an American States (Young 2012)? attempted “coup d’etat” by the state Despite internal conflict over the to cancel the fifty-year concession directory of Ma‘u Henua, Rapa Nui of the park to the Rapa Nui people movement for control and ­repatriation (El Mostrador, 12 April 2019), an of their ancestral valuables (hauha‘a interpretation backed by the Chilean tupuna) continued to gain momentum. mayor of Valparaíso (World News Parlamento Rapa Nui, the grass- Network, 27 July 2019). Ironically, roots political organization that led central to this interpretation is the the March 2015 haro tāura of the legitimation of the Rivera-led direc- Chilean National Park, symbolically tory by conadi, an act later judged included an image of the moai named unlawful by the Valparaíso regional Hoa Hakananai‘a on the ticket it court (Biobio, 15 May 2019). Though designed for tourism of their sacred 268 the contemporary pacific • 32:1 (2020) places and cultural heritage when the visitors and administrators of the park reopened under Rapa Nui con- British Museum as he asked them trol. Hoa Hakananai‘a is conceived to return Hoa Hakananai‘a in the by archaeologists as a particularly recent documentary film Te Kuhane important moai for understanding o te Tupuna (Pakarati­ 2015). In Rapa Nui history because it includes November, a delegation of Rapa extensive symbolic forms carved on Nui leaders arrived at the museum its back that link moai construction to to officially begin dialogues for the the Taŋata Manu (Birdman) ceremo- return of Hoa Hakananai‘a. Anakena nies (Van Tilburg 1994, 125–147), a ­Manutomatoma, a member of connection that destabilizes concep- codeipa who traveled to the museum tions of Rapa Nui history in popular along with the island’s mayor, gover- science that often contrast the eras of nor, and Rapu, told the museum offi- moai and Taŋata Manu (Flenley and cials that to understand the Rapa Nui Bahn 2002, 173–190). Although it is request, it was important for them to one of the most famous moai statues appreciate that moai are “family” of in the world, Hoa Hakananai‘a is not the Rapa Nui people, “not just rocks,” accessible to tourists in Rapa Nui; it and that they have a cultural “role to is dislocated in London at the British protect us” (Guardian, 20 Nov 2018). Museum. Hoa Hakananai‘a was sto- By June 2019, a delegation of the len from Rapa Nui—taken from the British Museum arrived on Rapa Nui ceremonial grounds of Oroŋo sacred and met with local and state officials to the Taŋata Manu spiritual prac- to “learn more about the request” tices—in 1868 by Englishmen aboard to return the statue (Biobio, 4 June the hms Topaze under the order of 2019). For Rapa Nui people, it is Commodore Richard Powell. On important that the statue be returned return to England, Commodore Powell­ not in the form of restitution, but in gave him to Queen ­Victoria, who in repatriation; restitution would return turn donated him to the museum. the cultural heritage only to the state, Parlamento Rapa Nui, which has while ­repatriation would return him to included control of Rapa Nui cul- the people (Arthur 2018, 3–4). tural heritage as a central goal of its Rapa Nui also found unity during agenda for self-determination since its the review period through the arrival inception in 2001 (Teave and Cloud of the Polynesian voyaging canoe 2014), designed the ticket to raise Kuini Analola at Anakena beach on global awareness that the statue is Rapa Nui on 27 April 2019. For Lynn held prisoner in the British Museum Rapu, the cultural leader behind the and that the Rapa Nui people want voyage, the event was the fulfillment him returned to them. The charac- of a dream he shared with fellow terization of Hoa Hakananai‘a as Rapa Nui in 1985, in part inspired to a prisoner articulates with Rapa follow seaways of the seminal 1976 Nui experience of moai as the living voyage of Hōkūle‘a from Hawai‘i to faces of the ancestors (te ‘āriŋa ora Tahiti (Moe Varua 2019a). The April ‘o te tupuna), a sentiment Leonardo 2019 voyage of Kuini Analola to Pakarati and his family shared with Rapa Nui followed an initial voyage political reviews • polynesia 269 in the south of Chile, where Rapa Nui enous peoples in an international were joined by representatives of the seminar held in Mexico City in March Indigenous Mapuche people as part 2019 entitled “Indigenous Peoples’ of a cultural exchange (Ministerio de Rights to Autonomy and Self-Govern- las Culturas, las Artes y el Patrimonio, ment as a Manifestation of the Right 27 Feb 2019). Kuini Analola set sail to to Self-Determination.” Importantly, Rapa Nui from Valparaíso on 1 April the seminar was organized in part by 2019, utilizing “ancestral naviga- the iachr, along with the Interna- tion” techniques to create a voyaging tional Work Group for Indigenous route based on interpretation of “the Affairs (iwgia), the UN Special Rap- wind, tides, the sun, the moon and porteur on the Rights of Indigenous the stars” (Ministerio de las Culturas, Peoples, the UN Permanent Forum on las Artes y el Patrimonio, 27 April Indigenous Issues, and the UN Expert 2019). Kuini Analola is named in Mechanism on the Rights of Indig- honor of Lynn Rapu’s mother, Analola enous Peoples (iwgia 2019, 3). The Tuki (Moe Varua 2019a), a woman presence of Rapa Nui representatives who inspired the Rapa Nui people at a forum where they can articulate throughout her life and politically in their goals to be on the UN list of 2010 when, at the age of eighty-four, non-self-governing territories and to she initiated land reclamations ­during secure their territorial rights through the 2010–2011 conflicts (Christ 2012, the iachr (iwgia 2019, 7–9)—and 78), which were seminal to the 2015 to do so in front of leading offices haro tāura event that led to the 2017 and actors in the international human state concession of the Rapa Nui rights field, next to Indigenous peoples National Park to Ma‘u Henua. Lynn like the Inuit of Greenland and the Rapu received training and guidance­ Guarani of Bolivia, who have gained for himself and fellow Rapa Nui significantly stronger forms of recogni- involved in the project beginning in tion in comparison to the Rapa Nui 2012 from Nainoa Thompson (Moe people—should be a valuable tool for Varua 2019a), the leader of the 1999 building the importance of their case voyage of Hōkūle‘a to Rapa Nui from on the global stage, which is capable Hawai‘i (Polynesian Voyaging Society of influencing Chile to change its 2017). Kuini Analola’s next goal is treatment of Rapa Nui. to voyage to Tahiti (Ministerio de las The agenda of the Mexico City Culturas, las Artes y el Patrimonio, forum also provides a framework 27 April 2019). for assessing some of the concluding­ While there appears to have been political developments during the no legal progress in the Rapa Nui review period. After some progress ­petition at the Inter-American Com- toward a change strictly to the island’s mission on Human Rights (iachr) Indigenous name, at the close of the for the state of Chile to restore their review period, state forces reasserted “ancestral property rights” described the hyphenated name. Both proposals in a past review (Young 2019), Rapa were considered in various subcom- Nui representatives did present their mittees of the National Congress in case alongside sixteen other Indig- July and August, but a unanimous 270 the contemporary pacific • 32:1 (2020) vote in the lower house (the Cham- alternative Indigenous name, Te Pito ber of Deputies) ultimately endorsed o te Henua, generally everyone I a change from “Isla de Pascua” to questioned approved the change from “Rapa Nui” (El Ciudadano, 21 Aug “Isla de Pascua” to “Rapa Nui” and, 2018). On 7 May 2019, the Senate while not surprised by the obstruction supported the lower house, and the of the Senate, were visibly saddened bill appeared destined to be promul- to learn that state forces continued to gated into state law with President insist on retaining the colonial nomen- Piñera’s signature (, clature. Clearly, the insistence of the 7 May 2019). To the frustration of Senate and President Piñera to impose Rapa Nui people, a few days later a hyphenated name on the Rapa Nui Congressman Urrutia reasserted his people conflicts with Congressman hyphenated proposal to the Sen- Andrade’s proposal that they be given ate and forced a reevaluation for an opportunity to “live by the name the lower house as fellow senators they have given themselves.” In terms endorsed Congressman Urrutia’s sug- of the standard of the UN Declaration gested change, reportedly out of fear on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that the alternative could negatively (undrip) emphasized in Mexico City, impact tourism (La ­Tercera, 10 May it also violates undrip Article 2, 2019). Rapa Nui Mayor Edmunds which insists that Indigenous peoples condemned the Senate proposal as an have a right to exercise their own “offense” to the “dignity” of the Rapa “indigenous origin or identity.” Nui people and Indigenous peoples While President Piñera appeared worldwide struggling for international impressed with the structure of the recognition (Biobio, 20 June 2019). new councils he introduced to Rapa He highlighted that because the Senate Nui in August 2018, their integration modification was enacted without with codeipa and the Chilean law consultation with the Rapa Nui people 19,253 (Ley Indígena) that legislates it and exposed their identity to further perpetuates the basic problem iwgia “ruin,” it simply strengthened the has highlighted for years and restated importance of the Rapa Nui move- this year: “that [state] law does not ment to restore Indigenous title to meet the standards of international their territory and gain independence law regarding the indigenous peoples’ from Chile (Biobio, 29 May 2019). As rights” (iwgia 2019b). Accord- the lower house refused the changes ing to undrip Article 5, Indigenous suggested by the Senate, the issue peoples have a right “to maintain remains in debate within the ­Chilean and strengthen their distinct political, National Congress and without an legal, economic, social and cultural obvious path toward resolution institutions, while retaining their right ­(Biobio, 28 May 2019). to participate fully, if they so choose, During my residence on the island in the political, economic, social and from July to August 2019, I encoun- cultural life of the state.” By integrat- tered no Rapa Nui person in support ing Rapa Nui councils on the sea and of the hyphenated name. While some population into the larger structures Rapa Nui people also promoted an of codeipa that incorporate Chilean political reviews • polynesia 271 ministries such as the Ministry of Nui on the UN list of non-self-govern- Defense, clearly President Piñera is ing ­territories and use that structure not respecting the right of Rapa Nui to help Ma‘u Henua function more people to “choose” whether or not effectively. Given that Rapa Nui is a they want to be part of state mili- unesco World Heritage site already, tary operations. Given that the state the United Nations would likely have military recently bludgeoned and shot a number of instruments available. Rapa Nui people in 2010–2011, it Though state knowledge has not is highly unlikely that the majority been public, recent archives of 1960s would choose to ­participate in such a ­dialogues between state representatives­ state institution. of Chile and other states on the UN Though iwgia is critical of the Decolonization ­Committee respon- 2017 “concession” of the Rapa Nui sible for managing the list reveal that National Park because it fails to Chile not only has been aware that restore land rights (iwgia 2019b, Rapa Nui belongs on the list but 207), a problem emphasized by also actively distorted the facts of the Rapa Nui leaders as well (Young island to avoid enlistment when that 2019, 229), former Chilean President possibility first emerged in the 1960s ­Bachelet is generally respected for (Foerster 2017, 148–158). initiating progress on the recognition As Rapa Nui people move toward of Rapa Nui rights to self-determine 2020, tragically, they will do so their cultural heritage and sacred without a fundamental pou (pillar) places. The amendments to the conces- of life for many in the community: sion that the Piñera administration Ida “Mama Piru” Huke Atan, who attempted to manipulate Camilo Rapu was born 5 February 1958 and into signing would have entangled passed away on 26 September 2018. the directory of Ma‘u Henua in other ­Mattarena Tuki Haoa, an assistant of state institutions similar to the ways Mama Piru, sadly noted that many the aforementioned new councils are Rapa Nui people worry “that when structured. Rather than constrain she died, a part of the island died too” Ma‘u Henua to work beside Hōnui, (pers comm). After succumbing to the amended concession would force brain cancer quickly after diagnosis Ma‘u Henua to make decisions in in Santiago, Chile, Mama Piru was ­consultation with the institutions returned to Rapa Nui, where she now the original concession was sup- rests beside her beloved home in Vai posed to free Ma‘u Henua from; Tō Iri. In closing the review period namely, conaf, codeipa, the Monu- by recognizing Mama Piru, it is easy ments Council, and the Ministry of to articulate her spirit across many National Goods (Moe Varua 2019b). of the politics of the year. Mama Piru Rather than violate undrip Article 5 “womaned” key access points dur- ­further, the state of Chile could gain ing the 2015 haro tāura that led to the apparent supervision it desires the reclamation of the vahi tupuna of Ma‘u Henua through the alterna- and hauha‘a tupuna now managed tive international strategy outlined in by Ma‘u Henua and Hōnui. During Mexico City; it could inscribe Rapa the last days of her life she was on the 272 the contemporary pacific • 32:1 (2020) phone with Rapu, concerned not with language, and politics through a year her own survival but with possible of apprenticeship in 2008, it was one resolution of the growing conflict with of the last that is particularly symbolic Ma‘u Henua. In the 1990s, with guid- of her persona. At the 2018 meeting of ance from unesco Cultural Heritage the Native American and Indigenous Director Lyndel Prott, Mama Piru Studies Association in Los Angeles, created comprehensive inventories of after a presentation on repatriation Rapa Nui cultural heritage and bio- that she designed to articulate with logical remains at museum collections the struggles of the Tongva Indigenous throughout Europe and the world— people of Southern California who including the collections of the Musée were in part constituting the audience, de l’Homme in Paris, the Pitt-Rivers a man who never met her before took Museum in Oxford, England, and the a gold ring off his finger and gave it American Museum of Natural History to her to honor the inspiration she in New York City. This was founda- instilled in the room. It is one of many tional to her pioneering formation of stories that can begin to illuminate the Rapa Nui Repatriation Program why she acquired the nickname “Piru” in 2013 and its Ka Haka Hoki Mai Te (precious). At the height of the 2015 Mana Tupuna project, which ­realized haro tāura, Mama Piru explained the first repatriation of Rapa Nui to journalists that Rapa Nui gained ancestral bones (ivi) from New Zea- inspiration from the ancestral world land in 2018 (Arthur 2018, 15–18). embodied in the moai who perpetually Any repatriation of Hoa Hakananai‘a “talk” with the Rapa Nui people, who and other cultural heritage or bio- are “the children of their children” logical remains will follow paths (El Ciudadano, 25 Sept 2015). Rapa grounded by Mama Piru. She was Nui people who continue to live with also seminal in environmental con- the spirit of Mama Piru perhaps now servation and sustainability projects. can find some comfort in realizing Long before global and state officials moai talks can now include her and developed concern with the ocean and the children of Mama Piru. island coasts, Mama Piru organized forrest wade young weekend cleanup crews that volun- teered their time and labor to pick up the trash (iŋoiŋo) from around the References world that perpetually washes ashore on Rapa Nui. When the municipal- Ahora Noticias. Chilean television news ity became serious about recycling, it station with online news. Santiago, Chile. selected Mama Piru to lead the Orito www.ahoranoticias.cl/ Recycling Center. I am told there are Arthur, Jacinta. 2018. Repatriación indí- now at least five people struggling to gena en el Museo Rapa Nui. Colecciones do the work she alone did throughout Digitales, Subdirección de Investigación, the island. Servicio Nacional del Patrimonio Cultural. Of the many memories I have of Biobio. Daily Internet news and radio. the kind of person who founded my Concepción, Chile. http://www.biobiochile understanding of Rapa Nui culture, .cl/ political reviews • polynesia 273

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