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MIKLÓS VASSÁNYI
Aboriginals had their hidden agendas and set traps which Europeans often
fatally fell into and died — because on a smaller scale, a nomadic nation or
tribe also has its geopolitical objectives, even if these do not have to do with
more power or wealth but with simple survival. Setting a snare for an intruder
menacing to destroy your vital food supplies is an act that, at the lower,
defensive extreme of the same gamut, bears comparison with kidnapping
for territorial expansion or economic advantage. It is a human reaction to a
tragic challenge that seems impossible to thwart, as opposed to an active and
offensive intrusion into what was perceived, in European terms, and by a fatal
neglection of “the people,” as no man’s land. Since these challenges emerged in
thoroughly incalculable situations, when both parties, meeting up, were faced
with the utterly unknown, conflict and violence — and the operation of hidden
agendas in general — were hardly evitable. At the end of the day, this invites
the question whether it was possible at all to have peaceful first and second
encounters with less gore and mayhem. I| for one am skeptical.
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