Vulnerability of indigenous tribes in Brazil | Al Jazeera Blogs
blogs.aljazeera.netAccording to workers at the Brazilian government-run national Indian foundation, FUNAI, late last week a group of men from a paramilitary faction from Peru, armed with rifles and machine guns, entered Brazilian territory and encircled a remote jungle guard post used by FUNAI researchers to study and protect isolated indigenous tribes near the border with Peru.
The incident happened at a FUNAI post known as Xinane, a very remote monitoring location in Brazil’s Acre state that serves as a small, five-person research base for the study and protection of isolated indigenous tribes in the region.
FUNAI officials say the armed men were most certainly trying to kill Indians in the area to make way for illegal logging, or new cocaine trafficking routes through the forest from Peru….
just out of curiosity;
am i the only one that watches those documentaries on netflix about people going off to explore indigenous tribes that havent come in contact with the outside world?
i think theyre fuckin fantastic and i’m so jealous of the people that get to go and film/photograph their whole adventure to finding them, no matter how dangerous it is.
there’s also a great quote you come across one of the narrator says in a film, it goes like this:
“I’d always thought that the most important thing in life is to have a goal; is only of secondary importance. It’s the journey towards it that’s important. It’s on the journey we best get to know ourselves as well as our fellow pilgrims are like. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a toddler taking its first steps or whether we are setting out to conquer the deep primeval forest or climbing the highest mountain in the world.”
Just got back from a Full Moon Ritual
It was nice. I decided I wanted to get in contact with Opèksipu (Lenape: “White River”), the river that runs thru my town. I set up on the bank and did the usual Draw-The-Circle/Summon the four elements/call the Gods bit, before invoking Opèksipu and trying with utter lack of success to keep a candle lit for zeir. (The wind was rather strong. :P ) But it lasted long enough for me to ask the God and the Goddess to help purify the river, which has grown dirty from runoff and humankind’s epic failures to respect nature.
Meditated a bit, seeking Opèksipu. Eventually ze appeared (in my mind, in spirit, other vague things on the border between this world and reality) as a (horridly stereotypical looking because I’m a bad person) young indigenous woman and held my hands, then pulled me over to a spot down the bank overlooking the river. Somewhere along the way ze became a muscular (and also horridly stereotypical looking, see above re: bad person) warrior looking person. Ze pointed across the river and I saw flashes of it thru time. The far past, recent past, the present, the future. It was more or less unchanged. A bit higher, a bit lower, but never nonexistant. It reminded me that no matter how horrid people are to our planet, it can and will outlast us and restore itself after we’ve gone.
A train’s horn in the distance started pulling me back, so I thanked the elements and gods and opened the circle, packed up and left. Oh, but I took pictures because there aren’t enough pictures of pagan/witchy things on the internet.
Blessed Be everyone.
Amazon tribe massacre alleged in Venezuela
guardian.co.ukA massacre of up to 80 Yanomami Indians has taken place in the Venezuelan state of Amazonas, according to claims emerging from the region, prompting the government to send in investigators.
Blame is being placed on illegal garimpeiro miners who cross the border from Brazil to prospect for gold and have clashed violently with Amazon tribes before. According to local testimonies an armed group flew over in a helicopter, opening fire with guns and launching explosives into Irotatheri settlement in the High Ocamo area. The village was home to about 80 people and only three had been accounted for as survivors, according to people from a neighbouring village and indigenous rights activists.
The claims were presented to local authorities in Puerto Ayacucho, the capital of Amazonas state on Monday, asking for an immediate investigation of the site where the alleged killing took place, and for the expulsion of the garimpeiros. The event would have taken place during the first two weeks of July but due to the remoteness of the village it is only now been made public.
A spokeswoman at the public prosecutor’s office said the government could not yet confirm the attack nor how many people may have been killed.
Mashco-Piro 'uncontacted' Peruvian tribe pictured
bbc.co.ukPhenomenal pictures. It’s tragic that the existence of tribes such as this- who have been around FAR longer than modern inhabitants- continues to be threatened due to inexcusable abuses on the part of governments and multi-national corporations. Thank goodness that organizations such as Survival International (http://www.survivalinternational.org/) are working to protect the rights that these indigenous populations deserve.
New Uncontacted Group Confirmed in Brazil
wired.com“In April, the Brazilian government agency charged with protecting the country’s indigenous tribes took aerial photographs of the group’s Amazon dwellings. The photos were released June 22 by Survival International, an advocacy group for indigenous people.”
