Eviction emergency for Kenyan tribe
by Matthew
It is indeed an emergency. The Kenyan government has passed down an ultimatum that will shatter the Ogiek, residents of the Mau forest for centuries. Authorities have ordered everyone to leave the forest by next month, or face arrest.
‘The government said it would spare no one, not even a goat or a chicken’, emphasised an Ogiek spokesperson. ‘This is very serious, the Ogiek have nowhere else to go. People are crying about the eviction.’
The eviction is taking place in the name of conservation. However, it is said that the greatest threats to the forest (marked on the map) come from loggers and tea plantations – including those owned by government officials.
This is in stark contrast with traditional use of the Mau forest shown in an international heritage project reflecting the ‘mental maps of approximately 120 Ogiek Peoples from the 21 clans. Elders populated the model with their memories dating back to 1925 and reconstructed the landscape as it was at that time.’
The deadline is closing in on the Ogiek who will soon end up as conservation refugees if this plan goes ahead. Please write a letter to the President of Kenya, urging him to change his plans and allow the Ogiek to live on their land.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:51 am
First I’d like to suggest a book to everyone concerned: Endgame by Derrick Jensen.
What we see here happening to the Ogiek is nothing new for civilization. If we search our minds long enough we will find that everything civilization touches will shortly die afterwards- even the things civilization attempts to protect. This genocide will not stop, even after all the tribes of the world are one day gone it will not stop there. When that day comes it will be time for civilization to consume itself: Us, the civilized. Read Ward Churchill: When Predator came. This is the consistent history of civilization and no technology will cure it. Either Civilization goes, or we- the human race, goes.
If you find that Endgame is too thick for you, then read Ishmael by Daniel Quinn.
September 15th, 2009 at 10:56 am
[...] been 50-60 fully grown trunks, being shipped out of the forest by commercial loggers. As the NGO Survival International points out, the destruction of the Mau Forest has escalated in recent decades in direct correlation [...]