![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldEaster Island, easternmost island of Polynesia and home to the mysterious moai and the mysterious rongo rongo that might be a script, is still home to Polynesians notwithstanding a century and a half of Chilean rule and a disastrous mid-19th century full of epidemics and genocidal slaver missions. As Annie Murphy writes at NP, the descendants of the survivors, the Rapa Nui, want things to change.
On a breathtaking rocky point that juts out into sapphire-blue water, the Hanga Roa Hotel is a luxury eco-resort and spa — at least, it was supposed to be until the Hito clan took it over.
On a recent day, dozens of men, women and children were camped out on the lobby's couches. They evicted hotel staff, and they cook traditional Rapanui food on outdoor fires.
Santi Hitorangi, a member of the Rapanui (pronounced rap-ah-NEW-ee), said he started this chain of events by planting a garden next to the hotel, which sits on land that used to belong to his clan.
Decades ago, the property was acquired by the government, and then traded between private owners. By law, only Rapanui can own land on Easter Island. But the law is not strictly enforced.
Hitorangi said the Rapanui want to recover ownership of the entire island. When charges were pressed against Hitorangi, he went to the U.S., where he is now based.
[. . .]
When Chile laid claim to the island just over a century ago, it simply corralled the Rapanui into the island's one town, the village of Hanga Roa, and leased the rest to a sheep farm. It wasn't until the 1960s that the Rapanui became Chilean citizens.
[. . .]
The Rapanui are fine with tourists coming to their island. It is the unchecked flow of Chileans they are upset about.
Angela Tuki is part of the clan that has taken over the Hanga Roa Hotel.
"We're tired of explaining everything to the state. Everything they do here goes badly. Especially immigration — it's not immigration, it's an invasion," she said. "Since there's no border between the island and the mainland, the state doesn't listen to us as a distinct ethnic group."
