Buffalohair Indigenous People Under Siege, World Wide

Indigenous People Under Siege, World Wide

Corporatism has reveled its ugly head on a grand scale. The quest for natural resources has shown no boundaries nor concerns for the inhabitance regardless of treaties or rightful ownership of lands. Its the same ole same ole when it comes to the final outcome of these events. Tribes are systematically relocated, murdered, or simply tainted with diseases because of natural resource greed and the corporate bottom dollar. Indonesia has secretly declared war on the tribal people in New Guinea. Since their occupation in New Guinea in the early 60's over 100,000 tribal people have been murdered. Ethnic cleansing and thirsting for natural resources located on tribal land has been the culprit. Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda was quoted by Australian journalists, “You should not think that if not much access is given that we are hiding something” This statement was in response to queries as to why journalists and aid workers were restricted from entering Indigenous regions. He has a point because if journalists were given access they would only confirm what was already known by this brutal government. Tribal people have been under siege, murdered and plagued with a host of diseases once not common to them. With no right to protest and artificially silenced from the outside world the Indigenous population is voiceless. Outside corporate interests have taken the lead with Indonesian Military assistance in ridding the land from its inhabitance, all for the corporate dollar. When it comes to corporate interests, rape, torture and murder are excepted techniques for removing people from their land. Human rights is only a word. The Brazilian Government has turned a deafear to the pleas of Indigenous people as squatters encroach on their tribal land. With no protection from zealous illegal logging companies tribal people have been systematically murdered. Their villages burned to the ground and their pristine forests denuded of trees. Squatters with support of the state government of Roraima have petitioned the federal government of Brazil to renege on a treaty recognizing Raposa Serra do Sol as Indigenous land. Squatters also hired gunmen to shot Natives on site wounding 10 Makuxi Indians in the process. Regardless of constitutional rights given the Indigenous people corporate interests are the priority. Death marches on as the siege continues with no world response. Peruvian Natives, including the Cacataibos, Isconahua, Matsigenka, Mashco-Piro, Mastanahua, Murunahua, Nanti and the Yora tribes have been targeted with similar fates as their Brazilian counterparts regardless of treaties and agreements. With natural resources on their land the government has turned their backs on them in favor of corporate interests such as oil, timber and gold. Illegal logging roads dot their tribal lands. The quest for resources has no boundaries and honors no treaties whence corporate greed enters the mix. They truly are under siege. The Peruvian governments response to this was “Peace and Tranquility” reigns in this region. The Matses Indians rejected Peruvian plans to explore for oil on their land. In spite of this fact the government drew up plans for exploration that deliberately overlapped onto their tribal space. Though promised great opportunities for them whence drilling began they held firm their objections. They noted these as fantasy since other regions with similar promises were left contaminated and the tribal people impoverished. The Central Kalahari Game Reserve was designed to provide sanctuary for traditional people such as the Gana, Gwi, Tsila and Bakgalagadi Bushmen. But in the early 80's diamonds were discovered and you know the routine. These humble Bushmen were hunted down and placed in resettlement camps in a series of three round ups. Their villages destroyed, schools raise and their way of life forever altered to the negative. Wracked with diseases, alcoholism and despair these people have been relegated to a life with no hope nor future. In order to assure their demise the government passed laws forbidding them from using their watering holes, bringing livestock to the resettlement camps and disallowed them from hunting for food. Arrests and beatings go on with no regard to human rights and untold people have disappeared from the face of the Earth. Their culture was destroyed for the sake of diamond mining interests. A British mining company, Verdanta through an Indian subsidiary Sterlite, has waged an assault on the Dongria Kondh of the Nyamgiri Hills in Orissa India. The prize, aluminum ore bauxite. With stealth Verdanta's agent Sterlite has prepared to explore this region. A far contrast to what exists now, lush green forests full of game,fertile soil, flowing rivers and streams teaming with fish, open pit mines will level the mountains and pollute the rivers. Monetary compensation was never an option for these people since their belief system dictates they are the descendants of the mountain g*d. Guess their sin was not having a lusting for money and material wealth. Their self sufficient way of life will soon be a memory as “progress” destroys their culture. This is only the tip of the iceberg fore there are more cases of corporate greed world wide. Dare I mention the plight of Native Americans such as the Shoshone who are facing off a gold mining company eager to mine their sacred mountain? For all intents and purposes the good ole USA has kept quiet the wholesale mistreatment of US tribes since time immemorial. Living in third world conditions and unaddressed social ills, despair and alcoholism are the norm. Ironically these social ills are common within the Indigenous populations where conquering people have stolen their traditional land. Ah, but who cares anyway? So you can buy an wooden end table cheap, who cares if the wood was illegally harvested in the forests of Viet Nam or Laos. Its all about the money Paisan, its all about the money. Corporate greed has taken over planet and left Indigenous cultures in ruins for the corporate bottom line. Your Devil's Advocate Buffalohair