Brazil's Tikuna Struggle Against Drugs

The NY Times released a story on the struggle of Brazil's Tikuna Indians against increasing drug and alcohol abuse. The Tikuna of Mariaçu, a region of the Amazon that borders Colombia and Peru, are increasingly acting as drug traffickers. Young Tikuna are seduced by the lucrative pay offered to smuggle drugs, and many become addicted to the cocaine they help transport. Tikuna enjoy certain exemptions from Brazilian law, but Mariaçu's two chiefs have asked police to intervene and crack down on traffickers and abusers in their communities. The chiefs are concerned that the young are destroying what is left of traditional Tikuna culture.

Brazil Votes to Create Indigenous Reserve

After 15 years and a recent vote suspension, a decision has finally been made in favor of the creation of Brazil's Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous reserve. Eight of eleven Supreme Court judges voted in favor of the four million acre reserve. The reserve, soon to be one of the largest of its kind, is nestled in the Amazon and borders Venezuela. Farmers, ranchers, miners, etc. who have occupied the reserve and had violent clashes with its indigenous inhabitants will be evicted. According to the NY Times, the debate over the reserve "set off a sharp controversy over property rights, the limits of government authority and the rights of Indians to their original lands." The AAA congratulates members and advocates who have worked diligently to support and protect the rights of Brazil's indigenous peoples.

2009 Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples

Our readers involved in indigenous rights may know someone who can benefit from the 2009 UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples. The fund provides financial assistance for indigenous delegates seeking to attend the 2nd Session of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the 8th session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Additional information is available here, and application forms can be found here [.doc].

Canada to Document and Apologize for Indigenous Abuses

Canada has formed a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to examine the country’s past policy of removing aboriginal children from their homes to teach them Christianity. The BBC reported that up until the 1970s over 150,000 children were relocated to state-funded parochial schools “in an attempt to rid them of their native cultures and languages and integrate them into society.”

The Commission will spend 5 years interviewing survivors and detailing the abuses that occurred within these schools. Canada is set to issue a formal apology to its indigenous inhabitants on June 11th. The US and Australia issued similar apologies earlier this year.

Links:
Canada Hears of Native Abuse Pain (BBC)

AAA Urges Brazil to Halt Construction of Dams

AAA's Committee for Human Rights, International Rivers, Survival International, and a number of other organizations have signed a letter urging the Brazilian government to abandon its plans to build hydroelectric dams in the Xingu River Valley and to engage in a discussion with local communities about environmental sustainability and infrastructure planning. The letter was the result of a 5-day gathering of over 1,000 Brazilian Amazon Indians and their allies who were protesting development on the Xingu River and its tributaries. Damming of the river will lead to flooding that will displace thousands, many of whom are indigenous peoples, and will also dry up more than 100 kilometers of the river that a number of indigenous groups depend on for survival. A number of smaller dams are also slated for construction, but the government has made no attempts to determine the potential impact these dams will have upon indigenous groups living in the area. All people have the right to realize their capacity for culture, and it is necessary for governments to consult with communities before undertaking development that threatens their way of life.

Links:
"The Xingu Forever Alive Letter [.doc]" (preliminary copy - not all signatories added yet)
Amazon Indians lead battle against power giant's plan to flood rainforest (The Independent)
Indians protest Brazil hydro dam project (AP)

Chevron Locked in Legal Battle with Ecuadorean Indigenous Groups

The Christian Science Monitor reported on a lawsuit against Chevron that has been in the works since 1993 when the company was accused of dumping 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest, causing health problems among the regions inhabitants, many of whom are indigenous groups. A report by a court-appointed Ecuadorean geological engineer attributes the contamination to Chevron, and suggests the company pay between $8-16 billion in environmental damages. Chevron has dismissed the report because “it is the result of irregular processes that do not conform with court orders.” This environmental lawsuit is one of the biggest against any oil company, and, regardless of the outcome, sends a message to industries that are extracting resources that they must account for negligent practices.

Anthropologists who are working with communities in resource-rich regions may be particularly suited to assess the impact—-both positive and negative—-that oil corporations and other industries have upon the environment, health and economy of their informants.

Please comment on how you think anthropologists and other social scientists may contribute to the protection and well-being of their informants.

Christian Science Monitor article

Chevron press release

Indigenous Groups in Amazon Threatened by Big Oil?

The negative impact of unregulated development and industrialization on indigenous groups and territories is an all too familiar story to anthropologists. Rising global energy prices are fueling oil development across the globe, and Peru is no exception. The drive of developers into the oil-laden Amazonian rainforest poses serious threats to the area’s indigenous groups, National Geographic reports, and approximately 75 percent of Peru’s Amazon rainforests have been leased to oil prospectors and developers. BBC News details the story of one of Peru’s indigenous communities, the Achuar, that is not isolated, and is filing a class action lawsuit against Occidental Petroleum for contaminating their territory and damaging their population's health. David Hill of Survival International says, “Isolated Indians are especially vulnerable to any contact, because they have no immunity to outsiders’ diseases.” The elusiveness and vulnerability of some indigenous groups makes it difficult for civics and rights organizations to assess the impact of expansion into the rainforest. Oil and gas companies, along with Peruvian President Alan Garcia, maintain that there is no evidence for the existence of these groups, and that their presence may have been conjured up as a means to oppose development. Rights groups are currently petitioning the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to intervene in this matter.

How can anthropologists contribute to this dialogue? Can social scientists verify the existence of such groups while respecting their desire to remain isolated?

BBC News article

National Geographic article

Organization of American States

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights