UNDISCOVERED INDIGENOUS CULTURES THAT ARE ISOLATED PT 1

http://www.uncontactedtribes.org/articles/3101-the-most-isolated-tribe-in-the-world

http://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes

Note also the 4 articles with pictures

Note the video embedded in this article.



The most isolated tribe in the world?
The Andaman Islands are home to the most isolated peoples on earth and they want their status to remain so and understandably.The Tsunami of 2004 brought them into the spotlight.
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In the days after the cataclysmic tsunami of 2004, as the full scale of the destruction and horror wreaked upon the islands of the Indian Ocean became apparent, the fate of the tribal peoples of the Andaman Islands remained a mystery.
It seemed inconceivable, above all, that the Sentinelese islanders could have survived, living as they did on a remote island directly in the tsunami’s path.
Yet when a helicopter flew low over the island, a Sentinelese man rushed out on to the beach, aiming his arrow at the pilot in a gesture that clearly said, ‘We don’t want you here’. Alone of the tens of millions of people affected by the disaster, the Sentinelese needed no help from anyone.

—North Sentinel island in the Indian Ocean, as seen from a satellite© Survival
Perhaps no people on Earth remain more genuinely isolated than the Sentinelese. They are thought to be directly descended from the first human populations to emerge from Africa, and have probably lived in the Andaman Islands for up to 55,000 years. The fact that their language is so different even from other Andaman islanders suggests that they have had little contact with other people for thousands of years.
This does not mean, however, that they live just as they did 60,000 years ago. Commonly described, for instance, as belonging to the ‘Stone Age’, they do in fact make tools and weapons from metal, which they recover from ships wrecked on the island’s reefs.
Like so many isolated tribal people with a fearsome reputation, the Sentinelese are often inaccurately described as ‘savage’ or ‘backward’. Their hostility to outsiders, though, is easily understandable, for the outside world has brought them little but violence and contempt.

—Sentinelese on a beach, seen from a boat in 2006© Christian Caron – Creative Commons A-NC-SA
In 1879, for example, an elderly couple and some children were taken by force and brought to the islands’ main town, Port Blair. The colonial officer in charge of the kidnapping wrote that the entire group, ‘sickened rapidly, and the old man and his wife died, so the four children were sent back to their home with quantities of presents.’ Despite being responsible for the deaths of at least two people, and quite possibly starting an epidemic amongst the islanders, the same officer expressed no remorse, but merely remarked on the Sentinelese’s ‘peculiarly idiotic expression of countenance, and manner of behaving.’
How far this is from the truth can be easily judged from a video of the Sentinelese on the island’s beach taken during an Indian government ‘contact’ expedition in the 1990s.
—Most Isolated
The islanders are clearly extremely healthy, alert and thriving, in marked contrast to the two Andaman tribes who have ‘benefited’ from Western civilization, the Onge and the Great Andamanese, whose numbers have crashed and who are now largely dependent on state handouts just to survive.



SELF DETERMINATION
Pressure from Survival and other organisations has led the Indian government to alter its policy towards the Sentinelese, from attempting to make contact, to recognising that similar policies have proved disastrous for other Andaman tribes, and accepting that they have the right to decide for themselves how they wish to live. Underpinning this shift is the simple acknowledgment that the people themselves are best placed to decide what is in their own interests.



http://www.survivalinternational.org/articles/3104-why-do-they-hide



Why do they hide?

Many tribal people who are today ‘uncontacted’ are in fact the survivors (or survivors’ descendants) of past atrocities. These acts – massacres, disease epidemics, terrifying violence – are seared into their collective memory, and contact with the outside world is now to be avoided at all costs.
Many of the isolated Indians of western Amazonia, for example, are the descendants of the few survivors of the rubber boom which swept through the region at the end of the 19th Century, wiping out 90% of the Indian population in a horrific wave of enslavement and appalling brutality.



ATROCITIES



Others are survivors of more recent killings. The Amazonian people known as the ‘Cinta Larga’ [‘wide belts’] suffered many vicious and gruesome attacks at the hands of Brazilian rubber tappers between the 1920s and the 1960s. One famous incident, the 1963 ‘massacre of the 11th parallel’, took place in the headwaters of the Aripuanã river where the firm of Arruda, Junqueira & Co was collecting rubber.



THE CINTA LARGA iNDIANS



The head of the company, Antonio Mascarenhas Junqueira, planned the massacre, deeming the Cinta Larga Indians to be in the way of his commercial activities. ‘These Indians are parasites, they are shameful. It’s time to finish them off, it’s time to eliminate these pests. Let’s liquidate these vagabonds.’



He hired a small plane, from which sticks of dynamite were hurled into a Cinta Larga village below. Later, some of the killers returned on foot to finish off the survivors – finding a woman breastfeeding her child, they shot the baby’s head off, and then hung her upside down and sliced her in half. The judge at the trial of one of the accused said, ‘We have never listened to a case where there was so much violence, so much ignominy, egoism and savagery and so little appreciation of human life.’
In 1975 one of the perpetrators, José Duarte de Prado, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, but was pardoned later that year. He declared during the trial, ‘It’s good to kill Indians – they are lazy and treacherous.’



http://www.survivalinternational.org/films/mine



Note the story of this sacred mountain



Note the film



What's the story?
The Dongria Kondh are one of India’s most remote tribes. They live in Orissa state’s Niyamgiri hills and worship a mountain as a God.
In August 2010 they won an historic victory against the mining company Vedanta Resources, which planned to destroy their forests and sacred mountain to build a vast open-cast mine.
What did one tribe do to save everything they know



http://www.survivalinternational.org/articles/3108-contact-a-personal-story



Contact: a personal story
—Ayoreo-Totobiegosode woman Ibore tells how, on 11 June 1998, their family risked everything and made contact.

We walked to a place where my husband Parojnai had sharpened a spear before. We stayed there, preparing our camp. After a while we heard the noise of a truck.
We went to get honey, because Parojnai had already found a tree with honey. Amajane [their eldest son] and I saw a bulldozer. We saw the bulldozer and we went near, no matter if the cojñone killed us, we did not care if they killed us.

—A bulldozer clears forest belonging to Ayoreo-Totobiegosode Indians, Paraguay© Survival
There we saw a little house [this was actually a mobile trailer for a Paraguayan bulldozer-driver]. Amajane said to us, ‘Stay here, while I go and find out what the cojñone are like, if it is possible to contact them’. At that time we had no knowledge of how the cojñone were. When he came back Amajane said to us, ‘I saw some cojñone but I got scared and I could not go closer.’
Parojnai asked me if I was scared of the cojñone or not. I answered, ‘I am not scared, I am going to get closer to them.
Berui [their second-eldest son] said: ‘I’m going with you too.’ But I said to Berui, ‘I don’t want you to come with us. If the cojñone kill us, you are going to look after your little brothers [Tocoi and Aripei] and live with them. Berui obeyed and he stayed with his little brothers. We went along the side of a road, towards the cojñone.
We spotted the house of the cojñone. When we got to the little house Parojnai shouted, ‘I am Parojnai’. But it looked as if nobody was in the house. In that moment Amajane shouted also, ‘My name is Amajane. I haven’t come to kill you.’

—Ibore and Parojnai with their children the day after they emerged from the forest in 1998.© Survival
Parojnai kept shouting, ‘I am Parojnai’, and suddenly a cojñoi came out and I saw what the cojñone are like; I saw that they are people like us. I told him again, ‘We don’t come to kill you, rather we want to live with you.’
The man said ‘Eha, eha, eha’ and I noticed that he was very scared. He kept moving his head and looking behind himself, it looked like he wanted to run. He stepped back and I said to him, ‘There’s no reason to run, we are not going to kill you, we are good people.’
Amajane made signs to him to come closer. When he came closer I hugged him with one arm and Parojnai hugged him on the other side, and I said to him, ‘Sit here’. I said, ‘Don’t be afraid of us’ and I shouted to Parojnai, ‘You hold him too, we don’t want him to leave again’, and always with the same words I said to him, ‘Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid of us, we are good people’. The man kept repeating, ‘Eha, Eha, Eha’.
I kept repeating to him ‘Don’t be afraid’. The cojñoi held something in his hand [a shotgun] and I asked Parojnai, ‘What is it that he has in his hand?’ and Parojnai answered, ‘It’s a weapon’. And I said to the cojñoi, ‘Don’t be afraid of us, bring us something to eat, we are hungry’. The cojñoi went into the little house and brought a plate full of biscuits and he ate the biscuits in front of us. I tried too, but I did not like them.
The man passed the biscuits around and laughed, ‘hi, hi, hi’, and he brought some stew on another plate. Just like the biscuits, he ate it in front of us, I also tried it, and I didn’t like it.

—Ibore, using a traditional axe to open a beehive for honey© Ruedi Suter/Survival
Parojnai said, ‘Bring us water, I’m thirsty, I want to drink water’. We saw a bucket and there was water inside and we drank. Amajane arrived just when we had already found water from the cojñoi. Amajane was afraid of the water and poured it out. I said to him, ‘You should not pour out the water.’
The cojnoi went into his little house and brought out a weapon. Amajane and his father stayed beside this man for the whole time, they followed him step by step. Suddenly, he shot in the air.
I got scared, thinking that he was shooting at my son and my husband. And I shouted, ‘Heeee’ out of fear, and suddenly the man took off his shirt and he passed me his shirt, laughing. And then I went to give him a necklace of purucode [black seeds] and I put it around his neck. Parojnai also brought out a necklace of purucode and he also put it around his neck.
In photos taken the next day, Ibore can be seen wearing the man’s red football shirt.
Ibore and her children now live in a small Ayoreo community on the edge of the forest. Parojnai contracted flu and tuberculosis soon after contact, and died of tuberculosis in 200

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http://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes

The world’s threatened tribal peoples
150 million tribal people live in more than 60 countries across the world Although their land ownership rights are recognized in international law, they are not properly respected anywhere

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The illegality of encroachment by International law does not stop the theft of their lands and the mass genocide of their culture.

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Bushmen
The Bushmen are the indigenous people of southern Africa. They have experienced a genocide which has been almost completely ignored; having once occupied the whole of southern Africa, just 100,000 remain today. Most have lost their land to white or Bantu colonists.

There are 100,000 Bushmen in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Angola. They are the indigenous people of southern Africa, and have lived there for tens of thousands of years.

In the middle of Botswana lies the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, a reserve created to protect the traditional territory of the 5,000 Gana, Gwi and Tsila Bushmen (and their neighbours the Bakgalagadi), and the game they depend on.
In the early 1980s, diamonds were discovered in the reserve. Soon after, government ministers went into the reserve to tell the Bushmen living there that they would have to leave because of the diamond finds.
In three big clearances, in 1997, 2002 and 2005, virtually all the Bushmen were forced out. Their homes were dismantled, their school and health post were closed, their water supply was destroyed and the people were threatened and trucked away.
They now live in resettlement camps outside the reserve. Rarely able to hunt, and arrested and beaten when they do, they are dependent on government handouts. They are now gripped by alcoholism, boredom, depression, and illnesses such as TB and HIV/AIDS.

Bushman boys playing, Kaudwane.© Survival
Unless they can return to their ancestral lands, their unique societies and way of life will be destroyed, and many of them will die.
Although the Bushmen won the right in court to go back to their lands in 2006, the government has done everything it can to make their return impossible, including banning them from accessing a water borehole which they used before they were evicted; without it, the Bushmen struggle to find enough water to survive on their lands.
The Bushmen launched further litigation against the government in a bid to gain access to their borehole. Although their application was initially dismissed, in January 2011 Botswana’s Court of Appeal ruled that the Bushmen can use their old borehole and sink new ones in the reserve as well. The judges described the Bushmen’s plight as ‘a harrowing story of human suffering and despair.’
The Botswana government has said it will abide by this historic ruling, but until the ruling has been put into practice, the Bushmen remain cautious.
At the same time as preventing the Bushmen from accessing water, the government drilled new boreholes for wildlife only and allowed safari company, Wilderness Safaris, to open a tourist camp in the reserve.

Bushman man.© Survival
The Kalahari Plains Camp was opened after Wilderness Safaris entered into a lease with the government. However, the lease made no provisions for the rights of the Bushmen on whose ancestral lands the camp sits, nor were they consulted about the venture.
While Bushmen nearby struggle to find enough water to survive on their lands, guests can sip cocktails by the camp’s swimming pool.
In addition, the government has:Refused to issue a single permit to hunt on their land (despite Botswana’s High Court ruling that its refusal to issue permits was unlawful),Arrested more than 50 Bushmen for hunting to feed their families,Banned them from taking their small herds of goats back to the reserve.
Its policy is clearly to intimidate and frighten the Bushmen into staying in the resettlement camps, and making the lives of those who have gone back to their ancestral land impossible.
Act now to help the Bushmen
Your support is vital if the Bushmen are to survive. There are many ways you can help.
Writing a letter to the Botswana government is a quick and simple way to let them know of your concern.
Donate to the Bushman campaign (and other Survival campaigns).
Write to your MP or MEP (UK) or Senators and members of Congress (US).
Write to your local Botswana high commission or embassy.
If you want to get more involved, contact Survival…
Visit the Bushmen’s own website…
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Uncontacted Indians of Peru
In the depths of the Amazon rainforest in Peru live tribes who have no contact with the outside world. Oil workers and illegal loggers are invading their land and bringing disease. They won't survive unless this stops.
Survival estimates there are 15 uncontacted tribes in Peru. All of them live in the most remote, isolated regions of the Amazon rainforest.
They include the Cacataibo, Isconahua, Matsigenka, Mashco-Piro, Mastanahua, Murunahua (or Chitonahua), Nanti and Yora.
Multiple threats
All of these peoples face terrible threats – to their land, livelihoods and, ultimately, their lives. If nothing is done, they are likely to disappear entirely.
Uncontacted tribes are extremely vulnerable to any form of contact with outsiders because they do not have immunity to Western diseases.
International law recognises the Indians’ land as theirs, just as it recognises their right to live on it as they want to.
Following first contact, it is common for more than 50% of a tribe to die. Sometimes all of them perish.
That law is not being respected by the Peruvian government or the companies who are invading tribal land.
Uncontacted for good reason
Everything we know about these isolated Indians makes it clear they seek to maintain their isolation.
On the very rare occasions when they are seen or encountered, they make it clear they want to be left alone.
Sometimes they react aggressively, as a way of defending their territory, or leave signs in the forest warning outsiders away.
The Indians have suffered horrific violence and diseases brought by outsiders in the past. For many this suffering continues today. They clearly have very good reason not to want contact.
A Tragic First Contact
Jorge, a Murunahua man who lost his eye when he was shot by loggers during first contact, recalls the tragedy that followed.
What can we do about it?
Survival is urging the Peruvian government to protect these isolated Indians by not allowing any oil exploration, logging or other form of natural resource extraction on their land.
The government must recognise the Indians as the owners of their land.
After a Survival campaign in the 1990s, in collaboration with local indigenous organisation FENAMAD, the oil company Mobil pulled out of an area inhabited by uncontacted tribes in south-east Peru.
Please help us fight for the rights of the world’s most vulnerable peoples.
Act now to help the Uncontacted Indians of Peru
Your efforts are crucial in defending the Uncontacted Tribes. Get involved in this urgent effort in the following ways.
Writing a letter to the Peruvian government can make a real difference.
Donate to the Uncontacted Indians campaign (and other Survival campaigns).
Write to your MP or MEP (UK) or Senators and members of Congress (US).
Write to your local Peruvian embassy
If you want to get more involved, contact Survival…
There you go!
There you go! takes a radical new approach to 'development' and its impact on indigenous peoples, using illustrations and wry humour to deliver its message.

__About ILO 169
ILO 169 is a convention of the International Labour Organisation. It is a vital instrument for the protection of tribal peoples.
ILO 169 recognises tribal peoples’ right to:
land ownership
equality and freedom
make decisions about projects that affect them
Governments that ratify the convention are legally bound to abide by it. This makes it much more powerful than the UN Declaration on Indigenous Peoples. Every country that ratifies ILO 169 strengthens its force overall, and gives tribal peoples a greater chance of survival.
» Download our background briefing sheet (UK-specific) (PDF)
» Read the full text of the Convention (external site)
» See a list of countries which have ratified the convention (external site)
» Download the full text of ILO Convention 169 (PDF, 111KB)

Considering that the developments which have taken place in international
law since 1957, as well as developments in the situation of indigenous and
tribal peoples in all regions of the world, have made it appropriate to adopt
new international standards on the subject with a view to removing the
assimilationist orientation of the earlier standards, and
Recognising the aspirations of these peoples to exercise control over their
own institutions, ways of life and economic development and to maintain and
develop their identities, languages and religions, within the framework of the
States in which they live, and
Noting that in many parts of the world these peoples are unable to enjoy
their fundamental human rights to the same degree as the rest of the
population of the States within which they live, and that their laws, values,
customs and perspectives have often been eroded, and
Calling attention to the distinctive contributions of indigenous and tribal
peoples to the cultural diversity and social and ecological harmony of
humankind and to international co-operation and understanding, and
Noting that the following provisions have been framed with the co-operation
of the United Nations, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United
Nations, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
and the World Health Organisation, as well as of the Inter-American Indian
Institute, at appropriate levels and in their respective fields, and that it is
proposed to continue this co-operation in promoting and securing the
application of these provisions, and
Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to the
partial revision of the Indigenous and Tribal Populations Convention, 1957
(No. 107), which is the fourth item on the agenda of the session, and
Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of an international
Convention revising the Indigenous and Tribal Populations Convention, 1957;
adopts this twenty-seventh day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred
and eighty-nine the following Convention, which may be cited as the
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989;
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There you go!


Uncontacted Indians of Brazil
In the depths of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil live tribes who have no contact with the outside world. Illegal loggers and cattle ranchers are invading their land and bringing disease. They won’t survive unless this stops.

The Americas
Akuntsu
Brazil
Arhuaco
Colombia
Awá
Brazil
Ayoreo
Paraguay
Brazilian Indians
Brazil
Enawene Nawe
Brazil
Enxet
Paraguay
Guarani
Brazil
Indians of Raposa–Serra do Sol
Brazil
Innu
Canada
Nukak
Colombia
Uncontacted Indians of Brazil
Brazil
Uncontacted Indians of Peru
Peru
Wichí
Argentina
Yanomami
Brazil
Africa
Bushmen
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Kenya
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Asia & Australasia
Aborigines
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