Protests in Easter Island

The notice that my article is based is this: http://www.biobiochile.cl/2012/02/03/cerca-de-50-manifestantes-protestan-en-isla-de-pascua-por-reivindicaciones-territoriales.shtml
Near fifty people were protesting in Easter Island against the Shiess family, “owner” of the Hanga Roa Hotel. The territory where now stands that hotel, really belongs to the Hito family, one of the ancestral families of Rapa Nui. Due to the negative responses of the authorities of the government, people choose to take the matter into their own hands and went to the streets claiming about their legitimate territorial rights.
    Hito family announced that they will be protesting every day, if their demands were not responded.
    The issue with the territorial demands of the rapanui is very ancient, and began in late 1700’s with the arrive of dutch, Spanish and English sailors. They bring concepts as private propriety to the islanders, who had a collective regime of distribution of the land.
    With the rise of the Chilean republic in mid to late 1800’s, the deals between Spanish monarchy and the rapanui were broken and they bring European settlers to “colonize” the island. This people began to deal with the islanders about the propriety of the island, and made contracts about that matter. But the islanders thought the contract was collective, and that’s the mayor problem with this issue.
    My position in this matter is clear: the islanders were cheated by the settlers, for that reasons the contracts are invalid and the land belongs to the islanders. Simple.

The meaning of life

Well, in the future I would like to be an anthropologist, working on investigations and maybe being a professor in some university. I don’t know if I’ll be known or famous, and I don’t do things thinking about that, really. I study anthropology because I love what I have learned, not for the money (which isn’t so many for most anthropologists, if you know what I mean).
About family things, I’d like to be with a girlfriend, have a few kids, but NEVER getting married. I don’t believe in marriage, the most married couples that I know are a perfect lie and even hate each other. So that’s not for me, for sure. I prefer to live in a simple way, with not so many responsibilities.
Also, I would like to live in an isolated place in my last years, maybe in Chilean south, near the mountains; and having a simple lifestyle, doing nothing important. That’s all what I would like to be or what I would like to do in my future.

Porcupine Tree

Introduction

Procupine Tree is a British rock band, who blended styles from progressive, psychedelic and even alternative rock. Founded in 1990 by band-leader Steven Wilson (vocals/guitars), they are considered today as one of the most important bands in the refounding of progressive rock in the last decade.


Initial/psychedelic rock years

In the beginning, it was only Steven Wilson who mixed some ideas he had with a few friends, and recorded an album called “On the Sunday of Life”, almost just joking with the idea. Unexpected from him, the album had a little success and people began to demand some shows of the band (which was inexistent at that time). In the next years he contacted bassist Colin Edwin, keyboardist Richard Barbieri and drummer Chris Maitland. The success came with the 1996 album “Signify”, which demonstrated the peak of the psychedelic style of the band, which began to be known outside Europe.


Alternative rock years

The next album “Stupid Dream” marked a change in the style of the band, in an intent of make a more commercial kind of music. With the following release “Lightbulb Sun” the band mixed the new alternative style with experimental influences. In late 2001, drummer Chris Maitland quits and was replaced by Gavin Harrison.


Progressive rock/metal years

Another radical change of style was marked with the 2002 album “In Absentia” which was more metal-ish than any of the previous releases. The band stayed in the same in the same direction in the 2005 album “Deadwing” and the 2007 “Fear of a Blank Planet”, which finally meant the commercial success for the band. In 2009 the band released “The Incident”, which was even more commercially successful than “Fear of A Blank Planet”.


Hiatus

Since late 2010, the band is on hiatus because of soloist career of Steven Wilson. Plans for a reunion aren’t made yet.

2012: End of the world???

I think maya’s predictions about this year are very misunderstood, in December 21 the world is not going to end. That date only represents the rise of the Sixth Sun (“Sexto Ahau”), which is the beginning of a period of 5200 years. That was represented in a message in stone (The “seven maya’s predictions”), which contents elements of death, but also elements of hope.

My interpretation about this matter is that I think there is no way in the course of this year that the world will come to an end. I believe there is a lot of ignorance or despair in people that believe it. So I think that we’ll have a happy new year 2013, and so on until we all die. Thirteen years later, in 1999, there was a lot of people who committed suicide because they thought the world was coming to an end in 2000.

I think this is definitely impossible to happen. The only thing I believe as possible to happen is the same thing that occurred in 1999: there will be a lot a people committing suicide near December 21, because of the inevitable coming of the end of the world.

But if we, as humanity, were confirmed about the coming of the end of the world in December, the remaining time that I have, I think I would be spending my time traveling, meeting the places that I always wanted to. I would go to Macchu Picchu, Brazil (especially traveling into Amazonas), East Europe (I’ve always wanted to meet Prague, and Rumania too), Asia (especially ancient China, Thailand and Japan), and every other places that I’ve wanted to go, but can’t name in this blog entry because are too many to remember all of them.