There they are: Peru’s uncontacted Indians for all the world to see
by David
Twenty-one Indians in one photo, one woman in another. Peer closely and her message to the outside world is clear: ‘Keep away!’
‘It is like the Loch Ness monster. Everyone seems to have seen or heard about uncontacted peoples, but there is no evidence,’ said a spokesperson from Peru’s state oil company. Have you ever seen photos of the Loch Ness monster as good as these? I don’t think so.
Of course, there are many more than just these uncontacted Indians in Peru, and all of them have made it clear, time and time again, they don’t want contact with outsiders. And certainly not with loggers, or oil companies. How would you like it if a stranger turned up one day and said they would chop down or dynamite your home?
This recent sighting has been picked up by media all around the world. See this video footage on the BBC, or an article in The Guardian that Survival contributed to.
For all the world to see, then, but this is as close as any of us should ever get – until the people themselves decide otherwise.
October 6th, 2007 at 7:31 am
Yes this is a close as we should get to them.
It is a miracle that they are in the world living their way, it is so superior to ours.
They are more in-tune with the earth.
They have no defiled it.
Let not us defile them.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
I’m with Diane, this is as close as we should get, until we learn to respect indigenous people’s right to autonomy.
I have to admit, though reluctantly and with a touch of sadness that I find the comments about the ‘lock ness monster’ from the Peru’s oil company slightly sinister. Sinister as it speaks to me in a patronising tone, insinuating that indigenous/tribes people have been mythasised or even created in the minds of the fluffy and flaky, which, in my opinion is an attempt to undermine campaigners.
November 11th, 2007 at 3:18 am
Although I agree with you people, I have to add that it will be a matter of days until these people will be shot at because of what they are living on: costly natural resources.
Open your eyes: to leave these people “unspoiled” (which they obviously aren’t since we are writing about them with a picture at hand) is to leave them at the hands of malafide crooks who will exploit them at any cost, be it industrial, governmental or bloody non-governmental.
Raise their issue, WITH them, teach them to stand up for their own way of living, because time has come that indigenous people should take their fate in their own hands, and not in anyone else’s. If you see what is happening to India’s indigenous people today (http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1801/18010330.htm), you might get an idea of what these people are facing.
November 20th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
i fear for these people and their precious, rare culture. We can’t even stop overdevelopment and the total-wealth takeover in NYC, with all our voices, resources, organizing, even some bare means to put towards the struggles as the ultra rich take over even poor neighborhoods like the LES and Harlem - so I really deeply despair over how we can help protect much more isolated, fragile cultures from the unquenchable greed and materialism of some people….. but I am grateful to have heard about this site and the work being done to educate people.
Respect/Solidarity…
December 17th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
Totally agree , I’m Peruvian , and i admit that i did{t even knew of these tribes until now , that’s one of the biggest purpose of our government to keep our eyes closed to what is really happening in our country , just giving us falsies promises of FT A’s and with a 10 percent of annual economically growing country , everything is fake since that 10 percent of absurd ‘only the richest ones are growing richest’ meanwhile a huge 87 percent of the Peruvians indigenous tribes are suffering of deletion more poverty and even child prostitution , everything you see on TV and diaries is fake believe me i been there , and hell yes i want to help , not only my country and it’s tribes and indigenous but other country speechless people
January 9th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
If you built a car in your garage and its design was such pure genius that it required no tinkering to enhance its function for millenia, well - congratulations!
People change to meet the conditions of their current environment. If they don’t need to change their culture much in order to survive, it means the original plan was a great success. Indigenous people whose cultures have withstood the test of time may yet outlive us unless we adapt by removing unsustainable, rigid ways of living and thinking.
June 4th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
I would say to let them live a free and peaceful life, the way living it right now and not to bother them for any reason.
September 2nd, 2008 at 3:36 pm
[…] been deleted from usage). Nonetheless, it is clear from SI’s coverage that these tribes prefer isolation, and I strongly support their wise choice. Theirs has been a successful resistance strategy. never […]