Saturday, May 31, 2008

Found But Not Lost

Via Discovery.com...

Dramatic images of an isolated Brazilian tribe believed never to have had contact with the outside world were published by officials Friday to draw attention to threats posed to their way of life.

*snip*

Survival International, a British group lobbying on behalf of indigenous people around the world, said on its Web site there were fears illegal logging in Peru could endanger the Brazilian tribe's habitat, by forcing displaced Peruvian tribes into contact with it.

It said there were an estimated 500 isolated Indians living on the Brazilian side of the border.
"The world needs to wake up to this, and ensure that their territory is protected in accordance with international law. Otherwise, they will soon be made extinct," Survival International director Stephen Corry said.

His group said there were more than 100 uncontacted indigenous tribes worldwide.

Wireless Internet connections and iPhones and global positioning systems and Google Earth...and there are still groups of indigenous people living in isolation with no connection to the noisy world of things. This is a beautifully diverse and mysterious world that we live in.

I'm so intrigued, wondering what life is like for people who live, as a part of nature, as a thousand generations before them did. What do they think of the planes flying over the forest? Are they happier than we are? How do they perceive life's mysteries? Unfortunately, the pursuit of answers to these questions will mean that the people in the photo will most likely be the last of thousands of generations to live as they have.

4 comments:

Lauren J and Acid Art said...

I'm with you. It's fascinating to imagine living in that level of isolation in today's society. I hope these tribes are allowed to remain as they are. I'd hate to see the next set of photos showing them wearing "2008 Super Bowl Champion Patriots" T-shirts (made in China, naturally).

Petula said...

This is amazing. I'm happy to see that these tribes still exist and hope they are able to continue as they are.

Anonymous said...

The pic makes it seem as if they spotted an aircraft and are shooting arrows at it. Can you imagine how terrifying for them?

I suppose there will be many who will say that protecting the tribe is interfering with evolution and the natural order of progress. But my argument would be, until we are ready to provide for these people, we should leave them alone. And we can't even give shelter and medical care to everyone in modern societies. Until we can provide these people with the intense resources they will need to acclimate to the modern world, we should leave them the hell alone. Even studying them would be risky although I'm just dying of curiousity!

familyman said...

Have you ever seen the movie "The Gods Must be Crazy"?

In some ways it's a silly funny movie, but in the beginning it does a good job of setting up just this kind of contrast between a African Bushman tribe who have never encountered civilization and Modern Society. The movie makes a good case for the Bushman way of life.