Saturday, June 29, 2013

Was Moctezuma Drowned In The Spin Cycle? Summer 1519

It is very tempting to ask the obvious question, what did Moctezuma do to defend his people, because so much depended on it. Typical lists of such questions include, 'why didn't he do more', or, 'why didn't the far superior numbers of locals just overwhelm the Spanish' and others like them.  These questions are widely answered, with typical responses including, the supposed superiority of Spanish spirit or success in arms, technology, or even, their faith in the Christian God. Also, it is widely recognized that there were other locals who joined the Spaniards and helped to bring about the demise of their local enemy, Moctezuma and the Mexica tribe who had been controlling the region for over a century. That story concerning local animosities is not a little murky and built on few verifiable facts, but explains much and will be told here later on.

The fact is, by all accounts, Moctezuma, for one, had already reconciled himself and his responsibilities - however and by whomever those were measured - to their collective fates. He gave up all this, it seems, very early on (maybe even May-June) and without having even met the newcomers, who at this point, hadn't yet definitively decided to march inland. They were then scheming to incorporate a town on the east coast, which would become Vera Cruz (and which story will also be told here later).

So why had Moctezuma 'reconciled' himself to such a fate? He seemed to believe his messengers and his advisors, and they in turn, had good reason, thereatened with their lives, to tell him the truth as far as they knew. He seemed to think early on that maybe the strangers on the coast were the gods returning like they said they would. This, despite the evidence reported of the strangers fishing for food and wearing discernible clothing of mortals etc. He seems not to notice these reports and turns instead to constructing gifts of great worth for the newcomers. Then when the Spaniards did arrive, he allowed himself to be 'captured' and eventually, killed.

But I think it bears some scrutiny to look again at the motivations for Moctezuma relinquishing his power, reconciling himself to some fate of unknown consequences -- like a conquest of the entire region. So much depended on it. After all, we know, or can determine clearly, so little of Mexica belief, or the beliefs it's leader held. Much of  the story depends on absences of evidence, even in anthropology, which can be supported by a great deal of physical evidence and sociological models and methodologies, etc. But in abstract cultural attitudes like religion, the evidence or absence of evidence provides far less.
Can psychology say Moctezuma was just a weak, paranoid, megalomaniac with a thirst for human blood and dreams of vengeance?  Sure, it probably could. Or was he some nihilistic demon set upon the destruction of his own people, happy to call the strangers 'gods' and let them have their way with all their riches? Some sixteenth century Franciscan friar might even make a case for that.
But these suppositions and assumptions don't really get us any closer to Moctezuma's mindset. They are interpretations, based on outsider's assumptions and premises which may not have existed at all for Moctezuma or in the culture of the greater mesoamerican region. It is too tempting (crucially, for us in the west, in the 21st century) to provide belief in some kind of 'liberation theology' for Moctezuma, in order to explain his seeming abdication of responsibility. Some narrative that attempts to placate and persuade, saying, 'The Gods have returned! They have us outgunned and will at last give us the truth!'. Too tempting because it may work in a modern day narrative,or an evangelizing christian, back in the day, but wildly misses the actual story that has come down to us. Those advisors around him at the time, as far as we can tell, seem to have been crucial for determining Moctezuma's course of action. But how, we can only guess.

These various stories, instead, tell us a story that fits a narrative that another audience (and even, specific audiences), might recognize and then in turn, find useful, as an explanation, a story that they can then use elsewhere, for other ends. Just like today.

With this as mere introduction what follows are excerpts from the Codex Florentino transcribed by friar Sahagun with locals giving their remembrances many years after the fact.

"Motecuhzoma was distraught and bewildered, he was filled with terror, not knowing what would happen to the city. The people were also terrified, debating the news among themselves. There were meetings and arguments and gossip in the street; there was weeping and lamenting. The people were downcast: they went about with their heads bowed down and greeted each other with tears.
But theer were some who attempted to encourage their neighbors, and the children were caressed and comforted by their fathers and mothers. The chiefs said to Motecuhzoma, to fortify his heart: "The strangers are accompanied by a woman from this land, whos peaks our Nahuatl tongue. She is called La Malinche, and she is from Teticpac. They found her there on the coast....""[page thirty-five]

Motecuzoma also had heard the strangers were inquiring about his person and wished to see him. Was he old or young, mature, white haired? This scrutiny was more than Motecuzoma could bear.

"... when he learned that the "gods" wished to see him face to face, his heart shrank within him and he was filled with anguish. He wanted to run away and hide; he thought of evading the "gods," of escaping to hide in a cave." [page thirty-five]

Some of his closest advisors, whose  "... hearts were still firm and resolute," told him he could go to a few temples or other places of ceremony and honor and stay there. So he decided to go to the temple of the corn goddess and this was told to the people.

"And his desire was made known; it was revealed to the people.
But he could not do it. He could not run away, could not go into hiding. He had lost his strength and his spirit, and could do nothing. The magician's words had overwhelmed his heart; they had vanquished his heart and thrown him into confusion, so that now he was so weak and listless and too uncertain to make a decision.
Therefore he did nothing but wait. He did nothing but resign himself and wait for them to come. He mastered his heart at last, and waited for whatever was to happen." [thirty-six]
He depended on advisors to guide and support and defend him. And they just confused him.
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 from The Broken Spears: the Aztec account of the conquest of Mexico, translated, edited with an introduction by Miguel León-Portilla, expanded and with a postscript, Beacon Press, 2006.

Friday, June 28, 2013

Another Summer Of Our Great American Discontent: 2013 version

This busy newsweek in the US - about three pages worth - includes three landmark cases from the US Supreme Court. And that's just the first page.

On Monday the Court sent back an affirmative action case with a 7-1 vote.
On Tuesday, the central portion, section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act was struck down in a split 5-4 vote. It is now a state issue until Congress decides to enact new legislation. As if they didn't have enough to do fixing what they can't seem to handle already.

On Wednesday, the Congressional Defense of Marriage Act was turned down in another split vote, 5-4. This made it legal for homosexuals to marry, but only in those states where they have laws allowing that. If these couples move to another state, they can lose these rights.

The next day, predictions of what this may mean for the future (that human rights are now state's rights and will be hotter state fights, as a result),  are well explained on Rachel Maddow (19 min video).
These are not just equal marriage rights, but gender rights, health care access, as well as voting rights. All are being rough-handled in state legislatures.  She says, the fight for these widely accepted, traditional values of how a just society works will now go to the states where they, in many places are currently being stripped away systematically. That these formerly held nationally accepted norms, or at least, goals worth striving for, fulfilling many of the basic tenants of human rights for Americans, are just those rights whose fate will now go to the states and their local legislatures. It all does seem a very great change. As big as the Citizens United case a couple years ago. As if they really wanted to say to all of us, 'Until further notice, you're on your own.' Where, in the south, especially, Republican-led majorities slash budgets and curtail human rights and the access of other basic rights. For example, Texas Rep. Mark Veasey focusing here, on voting rights, and who clearly seems on the mark.
But, sad to say largely, in the press that I saw, the supreme court's decision striking down the defense of marriage act seemed to overshadow all other news this week. A hopeful ring for some, yes, but still, much needs to be done before state primaries next spring. That is, if people expect state houses to be cleared of so many of these nonsense spewing far-right revisionists.


Also in Texas, a late Tuesday night fillibuster, by Senator Wendy Davis and a whole host of other citizens, ended a special session set to end discussion of SB5 . A vote was not taken because of the courage of a great many people that night. Watching the twitter that night was fun: #SB5, #standwithwendy. This Texas special session was set up by TX Gov Rick Perry to implement this bill which, as designed, will limit the ability of health care centers to treat women. In over thirty cases, increased requirements mandated by this bill will be too much for these centers to function and they will have to close their doors, leaving five such locations in the entire state. This would leave more amusement parks in Texas than health care centers for women in that state. Shows a bit of that state's priorities. Later on Wednesday, the Governor also approved the 500th state execution since that state reinstituted the death penalty in the 1980's. Perry has said he will open another special session for the legislature to enact this bill anyway. He also showed a lack of class and dignity of office with some remarks at the National Right To Life convention, an anti-abortion organization, later in the day, according to and with regard to Sen Davis' understanding of her own life's experience. What a maroon. Ohio and North Carolina are looking to do something similar.

In the Senate in DC, on Thursday, the upper house version of an omnibus immigration bill was passed with a 68 - 32 vote. The House does not have a similar bill in the works and is not willing to bring up the Senate bill for a vote and ratification. This means the Senate bill will die and immigration legislation will have to wait. Of course this means millions will not have a path for immigration but it also means the 700 mile Great Wall of Texas has also, not yet been ratified.

On Thursday night, two stories got the twitterverse aglow.
Newly revealed: and for the first time: some of the evidence that the FEDS use to justify Bradley Manning's incarceration and trial was released in court. The 96 confidential and 21 secret cables that Manning is alleged to have leaked to wikileaks after trying to get the New York Times and Washington Post to see them are revealed as reference numbers and can be found ... only on the wikileaks website. Things like, the report that Qatar partly owns an oil field in Iraq, or that the USGOV knew a coup happened in Honduras in 2009, but let it slide, or that the Saudis routinely complain that Iran stirs unrest in neighboring Yemen. All old and not very interesting news.

The other one reports that the US Army is restricting it's computer's access , 'army-wide' from the Guardian newspaper online. The sort of thing China is known for doing.

There are good leaks and bad leaks,  even according to Obama, apparently. This article has a clear breakdown of that.

In more stupidity, a San Diego man may spend up to thirteen years in jail for writing with water-soluble chalk, on sidewalk. He was convicted of vandalism. He was protesting Bank of America for being criminals.

This week, that portion of the media mostly jealous of Glenn Greenwald's skills in investigative journalism, tried to imply things they couldn't prove about him. So he called them out for protecting bank criminals in the name of journalism. I'm not making this up. The Daily News wrote a story on how, years ago, Greenwald and his bf left their condo contract in NY because they wanted to keep their dog. Really digging in and serving up that dirt, huh? And here's why Barbara Star can't be trusted. She leaks.

Wednesday night Tim De Christopher on David Letterman talking about his battles with Big Oil over canyon-land in Utah. How he was sentenced to two years in the federal pen for obstructing an auction of federal lands. 12.5 min video

Morsi's Egypt, after a year. Obama, besides Tanzania, is nowhere near there.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

some news, later june2013

Update II: ummmm, see my thumb? this one's about the awful, nasty, not good TPP...

Update: There's even this: One John Nacchios, former CEO of Qwest was one of several top bosses that the Bush Administration appealed to in February, 2001 to tap communication lines, knowing this was contrary to 4th ammendment rights of citizens. First reported in 2007.

Catching up, there has been lots going on.
Negotiations of some kind have been continuing in Turkey, after Erdogan had agreed to allow a court to decide on the fate of Taksim square in Istanbul. Many other grievances aired in many other cities all over Turkey continue to tug at the nation.

Serious riots in Brasilia break out all over. Their President praises them and then asks for and gets a conference committee to find out what's going on. Different areas also continue to flare up.

fatster had a great collection, under "Surveillance Planet", of NSA/surveillainity stories, ramifications, rippples, midway down the page on Tuesday in particular. No really, you should go look. Ten articles in all there. But her newslists are always great and daily, too S-F.

speaking of spooky, RIP Michael Hastings

the CBO says the currrent Immigration omnibus bill before the Senate will save us $700 billion thru  2033. But that's not good enough for some.
KS Sec of State, co-author of many of the Voter ID laws and spearheading many of the stiffer immigration policies across the country, makes incendiary claims and defames people he won't have time to meet. While on Glenn Beck. He doesn't want people on his lawn. It's intimidating to him. One spokesperson claimed that, according to his office in Topeka, where he works as Secretary, that his office was in his home. So they went there as he would not answer their calls or meet with them. That's how this new brand of Republicanism rolls. All One Way.

Bank of America, still getting sued for forcing foreclosures, giving incentives to bankers that drag out mortgage resolution procedures that they started themselves in order to bleed homeowners first before they took their homes. Not very nice people.

Oops, there goes another Albertan oil pipe. Two million gallons + over 100 acres in a salt marshland way up north. Rachel Maddow takes u there.

You may not be able to get a patent on human genes, says the Supreme Court, but you do have to verbally say you want to invoke your fifth ammendment right to remain silent when interviewed or interrogated, formally or informally by the authorities. You can't just remain silent.

John Oliver has been doing great on the Daily Show. Yay!




Friday, June 14, 2013

A pope marries a daughter, June 12, 1493; some news, mid-June 2013

On Wednesday, June 12, 1493, pope Alexander VI married his thirteen year old daughter Lucrezia to Don Giovanni Sforza. Though considered a proxy marriage, not to be consummated for a year due to prior contractual agreements, there was plenty of pomp in this June wedding and, the festa afterward went on into the night. Johann Burchard tells the story, At The Court Of The Borgia. Lucrezia's life would become one of those 'most interesting' in this period. The marriage would be annulled, also by the pope, four years later.

That Wednesday, was also the day that discussions with the Turkish ambassador commenced with the pope in a  private consistory. This included a few cardinals, the translators, and the palace-captain, his brother. The ambassador asked to speak with the sultan's brother to give him gifts, which the pope granted. He also congratulated the new pope for accession to office and wished his good health, on behalf of the sultan Bajazet. The pope asked to speak with him again in private before he left.
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Everybody all week has been freaking out about Turkey, at least, in Turkey. And the rest of us should be too. Things have calmed a bit (3 min audio) and some are optimistic after a very intense couple weeks. And then, Syria has been accused (and verified) to have used chemical weapons against it's own people. The US has said it will act, but how? And the awarenesss of the extent of NSA powers has exploded in Washington, and the media, at least. Most of us already knew or could guess. The biggest problem that nobody talks about is that it's a terrible legacy to leave the future. Because the leaders of the future with those powers, or those that sit at the FISA court, or it's replacement, could be even worse. There are bills being introduced to get rid of the programs. Now that we know they exist. More to come, I'm sure. There was a week's worth of comment and investigative reporting by NPR's Steve Inskeep, out of Tehran, Iran, in their run-up to today's election. The expected winner, is way ahead in the vote-counting, as of late Friday night.


comic Sarah Silverman agrees to go get coffee with Jerry Seinfeld, then donuts. He tries to be nice to her. She pretty much wipes the floor with him and beats him at the niceness and the funny game. 19 min video

Monday, June 10, 2013

Turkish Ambassador Arrived In Rome: June 10, 1493

It was on a Sunday that Johann Burchard, the master of ceremonies for the papacy, received notice from Alexander VI, the new pope, to send out a proclamation announcing the arrival of the Turkish ambassador. He tells us that this is what it said:

"By order of His Holiness the pope, the cardinals are informed that today, June 10th, at one o'clock in the afternoon, the Turkish ambassador will enter the city by the Porta del Popolo, and they are instructed to send to welcome him the shield-bearers of their households, but not their bishops, priests or chaplains. The shield-bearers will meet the ambassador and ride with him in customary fashion through the Porta del Popolo and straight along the Via Lata to Santa Maria, hence passt the Palazzo Massimo, across the Campo di Fiori and over the Sant'Angelo to the Palazzo San Martinello, where the ambassador will be given hospitality."

 The Turkish ambassador did come to Rome. He was met at the city gate called the Porta del Popolo and the papal entourage greeted him as did others who were involved in Turkish negotiations, the brother of the Turkish sultan, and others there meaning to pay their respects. Then they paraded through the city streets and went to the appointed palace. At this time, 1493, Djem, the brother of Bajazet the Turkish sultan, was being held in detention, by the papacy, as a result of the actions of the previous pope Innocent VIII. When the previous sultan Mehmet II had died in 1481, the younger brother Djem had tried to take the throne from his elder brother. Bajazet tried to have his brother killed who fled to Rhodes. There, the Grand Master of the Hospitallers seized Djem and, the following year, took him to France. He also secured an annuity to be paid by the sultan --  some 40,000 ducats -- to hold onto this brother and to keep him far away from Turkey. So they did, and many thought this was quite a prize - something a king, for example, might like to have -  and began to vie for custody of this Turk, son of Mehmet II. After some years of intrigue and competition, Djem ended up in the custody of the pope. With a new pope, it was inevitable that the Turks would send someone to talk about the security of Djem and whether or not he would stay securely where he was. As Burchard says it, though, it was more about the money.

"The purpose of the ambassador's visit was to pay the final annuity to the pope under the agreement made about the detention of the Sultan Djem."
Burchard was the master of ceremonies, an official in the papal entourage charged with making sure everything looked right and was according to tradition and canon law. Directing a parade of dignitaries was an important occasion as it was understood to project the power of the papacy, the Church and everything that stood for. The entire City of Rome (and much else besides, it should be remembered) was considered a sovereign state under the control of the pope. So, welcoming a dignitary of whatever stripe, at the city gates was a clear expression of political ceremony as well. And Burchard knew this as he carefully describes the arrangement of officials in the retinue. The pope had two chief military officers, his brother Rodrigo Borgia the palace-captain and the Count of Pitigliano, Nicolo Orsini captain-general since 1489.

"... setting the ambassador between the palace captain [Rodrigo Borgia] and himself [Nicolo Orsini], he escorted him along the route arranged to the Palazzo San Martinello. The ambassadors in turn came to greet the Turk in the names of their princes and governments, and joined the procession: first the Venetian envoy by himself, then the envoys of Florence, Siena and Naples, and finally the French ambassador. One of our knights led the column, followed by the cardinals' shield-bearers, the Turkish soldiers and our leading lords and nobles, together with three Turkish lords detained who had sent all their retinues to meet their ambassador. There followed the infantry of the palace captain and the armour-bearers, whilst I rode without my colleague who was sick, but nevertheless with a companion, Gregorio our Turkish interpreter, on my left. Behind the ambassadors came two brothers of Cardinal Giovanni Borgia [the pope] (one a Knight of the Order of St John of Jerusalem), both guarding our Turkish prisoner, Prince Djem; with them was Don Giorgio Bucciardo, an Apostolic scribe, who was now returning from his earlier mission with Chasimpueg."

In a footnote, the translator explains that this Giorgio Bucciardo under the previous pope had been an emissary to the Turkish sultan and through negotiation had secured the return of a holy relic, the Holy Lance, to Rome in 1492.  A person of high reputation in those days which should show some of the priorities for the Church and how they were measured. This Holy Lance had been taken when the Turks conquered Constantinople just forty years before.
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All  quotes from  pp. 60-2 in:  At The Court of the Borgia, edited and translated by Geoffrey Parker, The FOLIO Society, Ltd, London, 1963

Sunday, June 9, 2013

"... inquisitor received a legal oath..."; June 9, 1494

There was another witness that offered testimony in the case of Marina González, June 9, 1494. This witness was interred in the same prison that the accused was and could comment on her actions, behaviors, statements. How this statement, from this witness was garnered isn't detailed.

"... reverend lord Fernando Rodríguez del Barco, inquisitor, received a legal oath from Mayor del Castillo, wife of Juan Mendez, who is a prisoner in the Holy Inquisition's jail. By virtue of which they asked her to say what she knows about Marina González, wife of Francisco de Toledo, spice merchant, resident of Ciudad Real, who also is a prisoner in the jail, and why Marina González does not want to eat. The witness has heard Marina say many times she does not want to eat because they have to kill her and rip her to shreds. The witness has seen her eat sometimes and she is well; and other times the witness has heard Marina say that she does not want to eat since they have to rip her to shreds. Sometimes the witness has heard from other prisoners that when they tell Marina to commend herself to God and His Blessed Mother, she becomes silent and will not answer them at all. And this witness believes that Marina does not want to eat, that she has no fever, and that she is deliberately killing herself."

Asked if she had seen Marina 'in her right mind', the witness said sometimes so and sometimes not. Asked whether when she stopped eating, did she seem well, the witness said that she was well but that she thought a lot about who might testify against her. The editor reminds us in a footnote that the accused did not have any knowledge of who may have testified against her.
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from The Spanish Inquisition 1478-1614: An Anthology of Sources, edited and translated by Lu Ann Homza, Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. 2006

Thursday, June 6, 2013

some news early june2013

Protests in Turkey expands and spreads, now in their sixth day. Al Jazeera has a great number of specials and views about what it all means. In nature, not like the Arab Spring, it has become instead, a harsh indictment of the elected PM Erdogan and, it seems, an indictment against government encroachment, on the press, by the military and in general. One example of an article on Turkish loss of press freedoms in April of this year at a profile section of Al Jazeera called, Listening Post.

Fantastic Zoom bird's eye view of Myanmar thru the economic lens of a new ATM machine. 18 min audio. In it, however, I found myself disagreeing with the brit they interviewed and his characterization of Burma's 'triple crown' of econ failures. Maybe, I wonder, if that's just what Burma had to do to get where they are. They had to go through all that to end up here.

The Bradley Manning trial started this week. It may end in less than 12 weeks after all... except that he's been in the brig for three years, so far. The media is framing his case as a choice,  describing him as either a 'hero or traitor' which conveniently avoids what the GOV wants us to ignore: what is done during war for our security, in our name stays unknown unless leaked. For years, nobody seemed to care, but now you can't go anywhere on the internet without tripping over this reductive version of the story. It does not make me feel confident that the public is being informed or educated. This is why Kevin's great work for so long has been so important.

Verizon hands over millions of cell phone call logs - who and when calls were made, not what the call was about - to the NSA, per their request, in April. Do you really think Verizon is the only phone company they're doing that with?

A placeholder, further exposition on what we are still doing with drones from Richard Engel and Rachel Maddow. NPR did a similar story a month or more ago.

Amazing story of a favorite, multi-medalled medic, back home, who became a serial bankrobber, in order, according to him, to compensate for his ptsd stress. Which was undiagnosed, called bipolar instead. Which made it worse. Now he does his time and has some therapy, too.

Last week there were major marches all over the world, in hundreds of cities against Monsanto. Also, strikes are being held against Wal-Mart in the US. Still, the Exxon spill in Mayflower, AR remains toxic.