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Easter Island Casino Plan Raises Fear of Cultural Erosion3 April 2006HANGA ROA, Easter Island -- As reported by the New York Times: "This is, as the saying here goes, 'the most insular of islands,' the place on earth farthest from any other place on earth. Most people here seem to like it that way, which is why a new plan to build a casino on this speck in the South Pacific has created an uproar among the island's 3,800 residents. "The furor may seem a small matter in a very small place. But to those who live here, the plan is the latest manifestation of a centuries-old onslaught of intrusions — from colonization and disease to intermarriage and the steady erosion of the local Polynesian culture and language — which threatens finally to undo one of the globe's singular outposts. "...Opponents here fear that if approved, the venture would bring a host of outside social ills, ranging from drugs and prostitution to money laundering and gambling fever among a population that until a generation ago lived in an economy based on barter. The project was proposed late last year, but could be decided upon as early as May. Local people are irked all the more that the final decision will be taken in Santiago, Chile, nearly 2,500 miles away. Easter Island, known as Rapa Nui in the local Polynesian language of the same name, has been part of Chile since 1888, with Spanish as its language of government..." |