British newspaper The Independent today carried a prominent opinion piece from Survival’s director, Stephen Corry. Since former BBC man Michael Buerk put his foot in it, global debate on the use of terms like ‘primitive’ to describe tribal peoples has reached a new pitch.
From this morning’s Independent piece:
“What’s all the fuss about? Does calling tribal people “primitive”, or even “Stone Age” or “savage”, really matter? Isn’t this just another example of political correctness gone mad? In fact, it has nothing to do with political correctness at all. The reason the use of terms like “primitive” to describe tribal peoples is so important, and so dangerous, is because they lead directly to the destruction of tribal peoples.”
The Guardian reports that in the world today, ‘…there are around 2,500 languages at risk, including more than 500 considered “critically endangered” and 199 which have fewer than 10 native speakers.’
‘A once healthy language dies because its speakers shift allegiances to that of a bigger, more powerful group of people and, while this can happen through political pressure and military force, it is now most often brought about by the flood of migration from the country to the city.’
Or, as with the language of the Akuntsu, a community of just six people, human massacre and land theft will also consign a language to history.
Colombia’s vicious internal struggles have dragged tribal peoples into the violence against their will. This recently resulted in the assassination of indigenous man Edwin Legarda Vasquez.
A string of killings by the Colombian army and paramilitaries has led to calls for the country’s president, Alvaro Uribe, to be brought to an international court on charges relating to the violence.
In the final part of their Botswana blog with video, Survival supporters Joseph and Daniel leave Kaudwane resettlement camp and head for Gugamma and Mothomelo in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR). Both places used to be thriving communities before the Bushmen were evicted by the Botswana government in 2002. Read part one and part two of the diaries.
We have packed our tent and equipment and are ready to drive into the CKGR. I think we are both excited and a little anxious about the trip.
We’ve offered to help our new acquaintance, Nama, by transporting some goods to his family inside the game reserve. He packs a big bag of melons and two bags of mealie meal (cornmeal), a staple food over here.
If we have time, we would like to see where their homes were inside the CKGR before the government evicted them and cut off their water supply in 2002.
So off we go into CKGR. The road is good to begin with, but it quickly becomes sandier and the tracks become deeper.
I’ve just turned on the four-wheel drive and the car is swiftly moving along. The driving feels quite similar to riding a horse.
Every now and then the sand becomes so deep that I have to keep reminding myself: just keep driving. The car floats like a snowboard through the sand.
Remains of Gugamma
After a few hours we suddenly see a number of homes fenced by densely packed branches. We have reached Gugamma! I’m feeling sweaty but happy to have made it.
Nama’s mother is not the only family member living in Gugamma. His brother and sisters are there, too. They are surprised to see us.
Before it becomes too dark we ask Nama whether any of his ancestors are buried nearby. He says yes and would like to show us. We walk through the grass away from the camp.
Nama takes us to see the place where his father and relatives are buried. He walks in silence and pauses when we arrive at the place to look first downwards, and then skywards, saying that this land is sacred because it is the land of his ancestors.
I’m looking forward to sleeping but the car proves everything but a nice bed. I’m glad when the sun rises, but my back feels sore. The plan was to drive for 8 hours today. After breakfast we leave to drive to Mothomelo, another village.
The road is the same as yesterday: endless turns and bumps keep us awake. Our friends are in a good mood, and we are in a good mood. It is a challenge but a really good one to drive a car through this terrain.
Eviction site
We have been driving for almost two hours when one of our friends suddenly says that we are there.
We look around, it is a small open area and we recognize the cement square in the ground. That used to be the water tank.
Now it has been taken by the government, making it excruciatingly difficult for the Bushmen to be able to survive in the Kalahari without a dependable source of water.
Our friends look around. After some encouragement one of them tells how it used to be to live here. He talks quietly. His story is moving. His world disappeared and it seems hard to bring it back.
We drive back from Mothomelo in a depressed mood. It is hard to be confronted with a vanished world.
It’s hard to imagine what it must have been like for Nama to see the place where he once lived, where he used to go for water, meet his friends, and now he finds this empty, silent space.
All across Southern Africa, and in fact all over the world, people have been forcefully removed from their homes and their lands, to make room for nature parks and mining and other industries.
The Botswana government is determined to see through the full and final removal of the Bushmen from their traditional homes.
“Social outreach is an integral part of Perenco’s approach to conducting business. Wherever we operate, every effort is made to improve quality of life while preserving traditional culture and values…”
Perenco’s methods of ‘preserving traditional culture and values’ have so far included briefing its workers on how to behave when encountering uncontacted tribes. Exploration teams were told to shout, through megaphones, ‘We haven’t come here to look for women, we have our own women in our own village’.
Welcome to the topsy-turvy world of corporate social responsibliity, where words are all it takes to fulfil voluntary codes of practice.
Living in temperatures reaching -50ºC, the Khanty of Russia have always successfully depended on reindeer for their food and livelihood.
But their well-adapted lifestyle and culture has been continually rocked by outsiders. Oil companies have wrecked many Khanty areas, killing reindeer and forcing them off their land.
Yeremai Aipin, Khanty poet and writer, wrote of Survival’s campaign for the Khanty: ‘Survival’s campaign certainly had a great influence on Lukoil. Now Lukoil’s attitude toward tribal people has become more correct and respectful. In the Agan River area, oil companies have became more sensitive to the environment, and are not as brutal as they were a few years ago. I am grateful to Survival for your help.’
But due to Russian government policy, the Khanty still have less legal protection than they once had. Survival is calling on Russia to respect their land rights, and on the oil companies to stop drilling on the Khanty’s land without permission.
Acclaimed artist Kurt Jackson took some time out to tell Survival why he’s donating six phenomenal paintings from his upcoming show ‘Forest Gardens’. A long-time Survival supporter, Kurt has travelled extensively and visited many tribal communities around the world.
‘Forest Gardens’ runs at Messum’s Gallery in London from 15 to 31 January 2009.
This week, tribal peoples responded as governments worldwide formulated a collective response to climate change at the UN conference in Poznan, Poland.
‘The forest cannot be bought; it is our life and we have always protected it. Without the forest, there is only sickness, and without us, it is dead land. Give us back our lands and our health before it’s too late for us and too late for you.’
Although we have funded two projects with the Tuareg, one to construct wells in Niger, the other to provide basic medical care with Tuareg in Mali, it’s not one of our active campaigns at the moment.
That’s why, for example, there’s no Tuareg entry on our website, which only features tribes we have a relationship with.
Concerned in all cases
We can’t take on all of the cases we would like to but we try to keep up with the changing circumstances of as many tribes as we possibly can, including the Tuareg, so that in future we can be confident that we have the knowledge we need to act.
Gathering trustworthy information and maintaining reliable contacts on the ground is one of the most difficult, and most important, parts of our job. Without these connections, we cannot speak with the authority we need to campaign effectively.
When we take on a campaign at Survival, we’re in it for the long haul - that means decades of dedicated campaigning for a particular tribe.
Now that’s great, because it means we can really get to know the tribe and their problems, and they know they can trust Survival to stick by them when new challenges loom, or when they’re no longer the charity sector’s flavour of the month.
But it also means that taking on a new campaign is a hugely significant event that can change the entire structure of our organisation forever - we have to know that we have the capacity to make a difference, without letting any of our other campaigns suffer in the mean time.
They’re definitely slow burners, but in the long term these are the issues that will force a change in global attitudes about tribal peoples and their rights.
When attitudes change, so do actions. It’s the only way to safeguard all tribal peoples’ rights in the long term.
As Christmas approaches we make a few suggestions to brighten the season for those in the south of England.
Amazônia – Young Vic Theatre, London
27th November - 24th January
This year, the Young Vic’s Christmas Show brings you a dazzling story of the Amazon and its people. The show is supporting Survival by calling on theatregoers to write letters for Amazonian tribes.
Amazônia by Colin Teevan and Paul Heritage is an action-packed musical of dance, laughter and adventure.
Deep in the rainforest, life is changing for the villagers of Todos Os Santos. Danger and desire are unleashed and the Amazon trembles. Can the spirits of the forest save our heroes? Will you be one of them?
This is Christmas, Brazilian style, featuring a stomping display of traditional quadrilha dancing. Year-on-year the Young Vic’s family show attracts exceptional praise.
The Daily Telegraph writes that ‘It doesn’t get more spectacular, sensory or right-on than the Young Vic’s bastion of first-rate Christmas fare’.
I’m looking forward to sleeping but the car proves everything but a nice bed. I’m glad when the sun rises, but my back feels sore. The plan was to drive for 8 hours today. After breakfast we leave to drive to Mothomelo, another village.
Deep in the rainforest, life is changing for the villagers of Todos Os Santos. Danger and desire are unleashed and the Amazon trembles. Can the spirits of the forest save our heroes? Will you be one of them?