Entertainment | October 2006 |The Legacy of Christopher
Columbus| Peta Lindsay - Socialism and Liberation Magazine The
second Monday of October is Columbus Day, celebrated as a
federal holiday in the U.S. since 1971. This day marks the
anniversary of Christopher Columbus's 1492 landing in the
Americas, his "discovery of the New World" for the benefit of
the Spanish monarchy. Columbus Day is a day of parades, pageants
and retail shopping bargains across the nation. Schools close
and government employees get the day off. But exactly who and
what are being celebrated? To celebrate Columbus is to celebrate
a legacy of genocide, slavery, rape and plunder. It commemorates
the violent and bloody accumulation of capital for the ruling
classes of Europe and, later, the U.S. Columbus' voyage was
financed by the Spanish monarchy. Spain was then a newly unified
nation-state in competition with other European powers to expand
its domain and amass great wealth. The purpose of his expedition
was to establish an alternative