KarmaBrownFolk excerpt

From The Karma of Brown Folk by Vijay Prashad

 India emerged in the Americas as a fantasy of redemption for the trials of the world. Columbus's journey begins with a summary of the political economy of contemporary Spain: The union of Castile and Aragon enabled the defeat of the Moors, the expulsion of Jews from the Iberian peninsula, the start of the inquisition, and finally, the continuance of crusades against Islam. For all this, the military might of the Spaniards required treasure and allies, both of which it hoped to gain from India by way of a sea route towards the west. Even though India did not appear in the west, the western lands provided ample silver and gold to prop up a withered monarchy. Not six years after Columbus reached the Americas, Vasco de Gama found the original India by sailing around Africa, but the record was not set straight. We now had two Indies, one in the east and one in the west. India did not vanish from the western lands, now called the Americas. As an idea, it was to reappear numerous times, but mostly to chastise the opulent flamboyance of the Americas. It continues to appear in our own day, in the body of people such as Deepak Chopra, those sly babas (Godmen) who peddle opiates that comfort our decrepitude rather than challenge us to change what produces our distress in the first place. 

© Vijay Prashad