***** Copyright (c) Environment News Service 1991 *****
* VIKING SHIP ON ENVIRONMENTAL MISSION DOCKS IN CUBA
By Karen Wald
HAVANA, Nov. 26 (ENS) -- Like a phantom gliding out of the mists
of the past, the wooden Viking ship eased through the narrow,
palm-lined canals and pulled up to the dock. The GAIA, an exact
replica of a 1000-year-old Viking ship from Norway and Iceland,
conjured up images of great blond-bearded helmeted Nordic
warriors, floating icebergs, long white sunless winters and short
nightless summers. A strange contract to this tropical island of
permanent summer and lush green vegetation.
But this ship arrived Saturday neither for conquest nor
exploration. It is on a mission of peace, an "environment and
development voyage" whose objective is to spread consciousness of
the importance of caring for the earth so the next generations
will inherit a better world. The final destination of the GAIA is
the United Nations Earth Summit '92 in Rio de Janeiro next June
1-12.
Meanwhile, the GAIA is sailing from port to port as an ambassador
of the children of the world, under the UNICEF flag and a banner
which reads "Keep the Promise...For a Better World for All the
Children."
When GAIA arrives in Rio de Janeiro May 29, 1992 it will be
bringing messages picked up from children and young people all
along the way.
The last messages it picked up were from children in Cape
Canaveral, Florida, sending greetings to the children of Cuba.
Apparently no one had told the enthusiastic young ecologists that
their government is still waging a very heated Cold War against
their island neighbor. Or perhaps they chose to disregard the
adults' hostility, as did the GAIA and its crew. The United States
Congress has backed the previous two administrations' economic
blockade of Cuba by mandating that no ship may dock in a U.S. port
if it has previously docked or plans to dock in Cuba.
Cuba was the first Latin American/Caribbean port-of-call for the
Viking replica after leaving the U.S. Welcomed by President George
Bush in Washington Harbor on October 9, in commemoration of Leif
Erickson Day, the GAIA was next boarded by President Fidel Castro
at the Hemingway Marina in Havana.
Internationally renowned scholar and author Thor Heyerdahl, the
Norwegian ethnologist who sailed from South America to Polynesia
on the raft Kon-Tiki to demonstrate his theories of how ancient
peoples crossed the oceans, was present at both landings.
Heyerdahl did not miss the symbolism of the event. Like the
crewmen of the GAIA and their sponsoring organization, World
Discoveries, Inc., the great explorer focused on the themes of
peace and the preservation of the environment. But he could not
resist the temptation to correct some historical errors and
injustices.
Commenting on the year 1992 as the 500th anniversary of the
landing of Columbus in America, Heyerdahl said, "How could either
Columbus or the Vikings claim the honor of having discovered
America, when we know that this continent was the home of
thousands of tribes and dozens of real civilizations, milleniums
before any European arrived?" he asked, adding, "No European
discovered America. Leif Erikson and his comrades on board the
Viking ship arrived as the first European visitors."
Having noted that the early Vikings as well as the Spanish
considered the Christianization of the new lands part of their
mission, Heyerdahl observed, "The Viking ship that arrived in Cuba
today did not bring any priest on board, nor religious or
political doctrines. It only brings the message that, as the 20th
century draws to an end, it is high time that all nations
understand that we are all members of one sole human family, a
great family that travels together through the universe on board
the same small planet. We all depend on each other to coexist in
peace, on islands and continents that are not separated but united
by the oceans. No group of people has priority over any other, and
none of us has the right to destroy the forests, the seas and the
atmosphere, which are our joint heritage."