These week has seen the eruption of violence on Rap Nui (Easter Island) with Chilean riot police swarming the island to evict local islanders who have retaken parts of the island they say were stolen by the Chilean Government from their grandparents. I visited Rap Nui a few years ago, it is the worlds most isolated inhabited island, famous for its Moai, the large landward facing stone statues and its terrible population decline following its total deforestation.

Prior to my visit there, all the books and documentaries had read and seen warped the island in mystery of unexplained events, however upon visiting the island all became clear. The local islanders, despite being almost wiped out by South American Slave Traders and disease, are well aware of their history and very proud of their place in the world. There has been a resurgence in national pride in the past 10 years culminating in a rebirth of many of their Polynesian festivities which went underground due to the subjugation of the islanders from the Roman Catholic Church and Chilean Government. This has come at a time when there has been unchecked immigration from mainland Chile resulting in the current situation.

Having visited other Polynesian cultures that were colonised by the British and the French only in Rapa Nui did I see real problems simmering underneath the surface, as there seemed not to be a cohesive fit between the natives and their overlords. It seemed no respect had been given to locals at all in the past which was vastly different from the cohesion in former British Territories and even in French Polynesia. The truth about Rapa Nui is whilst absolutely their island did reach massive overpopulation, the deathknell was in fact the introduction of rats which ate the tree seeds and ended the regeneration of the vast forested parts of the island and then the Spanish slave traders came and took thousands of the natives to die out in silver mines in Peru and Chile, which is where the aristocracy and royal line ended and with them the incredible knowledge of their civilization that bloomed on the island and incorporated phenomenal architecture, agricultural techniques and even written language.

The 111 Rapa Nui people that survived the enslavement of the 1800's and foreign disease epidemics were herded into Hangaroa which is the only settlement on the island and the remainder of the land was used as a vast sheep and cattle station. However they are survivors and their population has bounced back with about 5% growth each year since then. The treaty which put the island in the hands of the Chileans is dubious at best as its translations between the indigenous language and Spanish hardly match in their meaning and the current political arrangement sees the island as part of a Provence which includes Chiles second largest city Valparaiso ensuring their votes are negligible.

It is my sincere hope that the world does not sit idle and allow another Tibet to happen before our eyes. Whilst Rapa Nui can not currently survive on its own it must not finally slide into oblivion with its total subjugation by Chile. There must be a resolution to the crimes committed in the past and a reconciliation of its peoples.

The island is fortunate, it has fertile soil, a plentiful ability to be self sustaining in food production, an incredible natural environment,magnificent beaches and reefs, a rich and vibrant culture, archeological monuments to draw the worlds tourists in and the great fortune of having a NASA built Space Shuttle standard runway conveniently halfway across the pacific between South America and Australasia so it could well develop into a success story out of the misery of the past 300 years of destruction and abuse.