The author of Survival’s ‘most racist article’ of 2009 now says he was ‘exaggerating’ when he suggested bombing Peru’s indigenous population with napalm.

‘When I wrote that I didn’t mean it literally,’ Andres Bedoya Ugarteche retorts in his column in Peru’s Correo newspaper. ‘When you tell someone that he or she’s f**king you, or that you’re going to ‘beat the shit out of them’, you don’t really mean it.’

Indeed. The question is, when isn’t he exaggerating? It’s difficult to know. After all, he describes ‘all human rights NGOs’ as ‘blood-sucking leeches’, and Survival as ‘communist excrement’ and ‘f**king communist swine’ who ‘worship’ the British royal family and want indigenous people to ‘remain in ignorance and misery’ so they ‘can be breastfed by them.’ Other pearls of wisdom: ‘Either we’re all indigenous or no one is’ and ‘When the Egyptians were building their pyramids, there were only llamas in Peru.’

Why should protesting against human rights abuses – in this case, the systematic theft of land, the destruction of eco-systems and livelihoods, and the failure to recognise and respect peoples’ rights to self-determination – make you a communist?

It doesn’t. That’s an old, tired claim that has been trotted out by certain kinds of people ever since fear of the ‘Red Tide’ swept around the globe last century. It wasn’t true then – and isn’t true now.

More importantly, racist descriptions of indigenous people in the media, whether ‘exaggerated’ or not, make it easier for governments and companies to justify taking their land and ‘developing’ them without their understanding and consent – in ways often catastrophic to them. This has happened all over the world: it has led to poverty, disease, shorter life-spans, and the destruction of entire cultures and ways of life.

That’s why Survival’s ‘Stamp it Out’ campaign was launched. That’s why there’s an annual award. And that’s why Bedoya Ugarteche’s article is this year’s worthy winner.

The gist of his article, published in the aftermath of the protests and violence at Bagua earlier this year, is:

‘Peru’s indigenous peoples belong in the past!’

‘They’re stupid and can’t think for themselves!’

‘They have savage customs and ridiculous names and clothes!’

Most of this is music to a government’s ears – especially one like Peru’s that is hell-bent on exploiting as much indigenous land as possible.

In fact, the similarities between Bedoya Ugarteche’s caricature and the government’s, particularly President Garcia’s, is uncanny.

He says the protesters are ‘primitive’, ‘from the pre-agricultural age’ and ‘palaeolithic’. Garcia says they want to take Peru ‘back to a primitive age’.

He says they’re ‘savage’. Ditto Garcia.

He says they were fooled into protesting by a ‘pseudo-native’. Ditto Garcia.

He says they were fooled into protesting by ‘communists’, opposition politicians, and foreign interests. Ditto Garcia.

He says they’re ‘policemen-murdering wretches’. Garcia accuses them of ‘police genocide’.

Even animals come into it. Bedoya Ugarteche brands indigenous leader Alberto Pizango a rat. Garcia has likened them to dogs.

Bedoya Ugarteche even takes exception to the fact that some of the protesters were wearing ‘Lacoste shirts’ – a detail also, rather oddly, noted by Peru’s Embassy in Italy. ‘Some demonstrators took to the streets wearing Lacoste shirts,’ Mr Felix Denegri Boza told Italian media, as if that had anything to do with why they were protesting or the government’s response to it.

Might we suggest that Bedoya Ugarteche, Peru’s diplomatic corps and President García worry less about what shirts the protesters were wearing, and rather more about what they were protesting about?

Survival ambassador and celebrated jewellery designer Pippa Small recently made the journey to Orissa state, India. She witnessed the dire situation as Vedanta prepares to wreak havoc in the home of the Dongria Kondh. Here she describes her poignant journey.

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When Survival suggested that, as I was in India working, I may be able to go to meet the Dongria people in order to have a better understanding of the situation facing them regarding the mine and also to get inspiration for a small collection that we could make and sell in order to raise funds and awareness to help their campaign, I was thrilled.
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Whilst Damien Hirst’s piece for Survival is readied for auction, another group of artists have put forward their talents for tribal peoples.

Bruce Parry, star of the BBC series ‘Tribe’ and the forthcoming ‘Amazon’, has teamed up with some of the music world’s brightest stars to create a fundraising album for Survival.

Musicians on the album include KT Tunstall, will.i.am (Black Eyed Peas), Johnny Borrell (Razorlight), Tom Baxter, Mystery Jets, Jason Mraz, Yusuf Islam, Hot Chip, the Go! Team and Mike Oldfield. In addition, Guy Berryman from Coldplay, Jonas from MEW and Magne from A-ha have formed a new band specially for the CD called Apparatjik, and recorded a track that will also be used for the end credits of ‘Amazon’. Every track on the album is exclusive, and has been written especially for the project.

Parry spent months trekking through the jungle documenting the difficulties facing Earth’s largest rainforest and its people. His journey will air on the BBC from September.

The album will be released on double CD on 6 October, and you can pre-order it now at Amazon.co.uk or Play.com. It will also be available to download from iTunes on 22 September.

Last year Survival asked me to narrate a short film about the plight of uncontacted peoples living in some of the most remote parts of the world. I’ve long been a supporter, and thought this would be one way that I could make a valuable and lasting contribution.

I was unprepared for just how deeply moved I would be by the footage Survival had put together, and the intimate stories of these vulnerable peoples struggling to survive. Amongst the remarkable scenes filmed by Survival researchers, one above all has stayed with me. A pitiful group of just six individuals, the last survivors of a once-proud tribe called the Akuntsu, sit forlornly in a forest clearing.

Having witnessed the massacre of all the other members of their tribe by cattle ranchers desperate for their land, their lethargy and utter despondency is hardly surprising. Yet still they rouse themselves to perform a shuffling dance of welcome. Heartbreaking.

Words seem woefully inadequate to convey their despair; but this short piece of film strikes at the heart of their story, helps us to understand and moves us to act. Survival is appealing for support to create a film unit, to ensure scenes like this reach many more people.

This need not be overly expensive; Survival researchers gather a wealth of video footage when visiting tribal communities, but it takes time and resources to edit, produce and distribute a film like Uncontacted Tribes.

Already this film has generated worldwide interest. For example, a newspaper in India recently gave one of our DVDs to all its readers. This has been one of many fantastic opportunities to get our message across using film, but of course there are cost implications.

With more resources, Survival could produce numerous films showing the reality of life for many of the world’s tribes; the deforestation of their homes, the sickness and disease they suffer as a result of invasions of their land, but also their dignity and endurance.

Survival’s goal is to get more people to see and understand more about tribal peoples. Such a groundswell of support will make it impossible for governments to sweep tribes aside and deny them what is rightfully theirs.

Tragically, it is too late for the Akuntsu; there simply is no way back for such a tiny group of survivors. But for every story like theirs, there are others – because of you – that are more encouraging.

Next year will be Survival’s 40th anniversary. I have been a supporter for most of that time and have seen just how many peoples Survival has helped. In the 1980s, the Yanomami were facing a bleak future, following invasions of their land by goldminers.

In fact more than a fifth of the tribe were wiped out. Decades of campaigning by Survival resulted in an historic victory, with almost 10 million hectares of rainforest secured for the tribe. In the words of Davi Kopenawa, Yanomami leader and shaman, ‘Without Survival, we’d all be dead’.

I’m proud to have been a part of the Uncontacted Tribes project, and I hope this film – and those that follow – will help make the world more aware, and help to secure the future of tribal peoples for generations to come.

 

The British newspaper The Observer claimed this weekend that it’s now ‘emerged’ that the uncontacted tribe whose photos went around the world were neither ‘lost’, nor ‘undiscovered’ nor ‘unknown’.

This is a classic example of journalists getting the wrong end of the stick. The only people who ever claimed that the Indians photographed were ‘lost’ or ‘undiscovered’ were…. the press, despite the fact that Survival has been campaigning for the protection of the many isolated Indian tribes on the Peru-Brazil border for more than twenty years.

Indeed, you might have thought that the fact that the Indians are living in a government reserve set aside for isolated Indian groups would tend to indicate that they weren’t exactly ‘unknown’.

For the avoidance of doubt, let’s just make it clear – yes, the tribe is uncontacted, that is to say, has no peaceful contact with outsiders. But no, they’re not ‘lost’ – they know where they are, and anthropologists, Survival, other NGOs and the Brazilian government have known that there are many isolated Indian tribes living in that region for decades.

What is undoubtedly true is that many people, not least the President of Peru, had publicly questioned whether there were any uncontacted Indians there at all, which is why the fact that Peru’s government has now been pushed into sending a team to investigate is such welcome news.

I guess we should be used by now to the fact that quite a few journalists are incapable of writing on this subject without resorting to stereotypes about ‘lost’ tribes, but one might have hoped that The Observer would know better.

Yesterday marked the grand launch of Survival’s brand new page on Facebook; another glorious digital Survival ship cutting majestically through the surf of the world wide web. I was all for smashing a bottle of champagne against Toby’s computer as he clicked ‘publish this page’ but the nearest we had to a bottle of champagne was my cup of tea, and for some reason Toby didn’t seem so keen on the idea.

The page increases Survival’s presence on Facebook, and keeps Facebook ‘fans’ of Survival up to date with our urgent campaigns. The ‘Share’ facility allows fans to post links on their profiles, and to encourage friends to get involved.

Survival has always believed that public opinion is the most powerful force for change. The page helps you to mobilise others to join the movement for tribal peoples, and best of all it’s a pretty nifty way for you to show your support for Survival for all your friends to see.

Take a look yourself at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Survival-International/19668531552

We’d love to hear any feedback from you, so do let us know what you think.

Time for a quick roundup of responses to Survival’s ‘Most Racist Article of the Year’ award. This year’s worthy recipient was Paraguay’s newspaper La Nacion for an editorial which compared Paraguayan Indians to a ‘dangerous cancer’ and described them as ‘filthy’.

The award triggered a firestorm of commentary at Ultima Hora, Paraguay’s largest daily newspaper website, currently running to six pages of heated discussion (in Spanish, of course).

The Independent’s Pandora noted the occasion…

Champagne flows and the awards season continues apace. Yesterday brought the Most Racist Article of the Year presentation. … Step forward (drum roll)… the Paraguayan paper La Nacion! I’d like to thank my parents, my editor…

… the award got an honourable mention at Racism Review, while over at IndyBlogs Jerome Bell cried foul:

Clearly the awards is a bit of a cheeky PR stunt by Survival but what the heck.

Cheeky PR stunts? Us?

Jerome wondered how the arrival of the award certificate would be received at La Nacion:

For their journalistic excellence the editors of La Nacion will be sent a certificate inscribed with a quotation from a Native American author who died in 1939. The inscription reads: “All the years of calling the Indian a savage has never made him one.”

I wish I could be a fly on the wall when the editor of La Nacion opens up that parcel.

Indeed.

And for your viewing pleasure, here’s the certificate that La Nacion will shortly be receiving:

Our news item is up on Digg and needs a bit of help, so please vote away.

Daniel and Joseph have recently returned from the trip of a lifetime. The two Survival supporters decided to go to Botswana and find out first-hand what was happening to the Bushmen in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. This is the first instalment, written by Joseph.

The further we get from Gabarone, the capital city of Botswana, the dustier the road. We filled our gasoline tanks up to the brim at the last stop, a deserted gas station in the middle of nowhere, and then left the asphalt to drive the last 150km to Kaudwane resettlement camp on a dirt and gravel road. I’m really trying my best with this new experience of four-wheel driving. The road gets bumpier and bumpier and we try to figure out how to keep up the speed without feeling like we are riding a horse.

Joseph (left) and Daniel with the rental vehicle

As we drive, Daniel updates me on everything he knows about the Bushmen and what we might be able to do for them in the coming week. I know very little and feel a bit dizzy with all the names of Kalahari places that roll so easily off his tongue. He has been there twice before and knows a lot. I try to keep up.

I was the one who suggested we go to Botswana together. My driving license would allow us to rent a car and really do something useful for the Bushmen.

We are hoping to film their living conditions, and to provide them with a way to share their concerns with the world. We might even help some of them to return home to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR).The sun is setting as we approach Kaudwane, one of the two main resettlement camps to which the Botswana government took the Bushmen when they evicted them from their land in the game reserve in 1997 and in 2002.

The unpaved road sometimes gets really difficult and we are anxious about missing the turn-off. Road signs are scarce in this area of the world!But suddenly there is the sign: Kaudwane. The Botswana government thought it would be nice to make a short asphalt road into the resettlement area. That appears to be their main investment in the town.

Bushmen children in Kaudwane

As we pull up at last, Daniel makes the good point that we really have to find someone who can translate for us – a challenge as it is now half an hour before sunset, and there are few people here that will speak any English. In the dark it will be hard to approach people, and we are still looking for a place to camp.

As I’m standing next to the car, taking in my first impressions of the resettlement area, Daniel approaches two young guys that are walking towards us on the road. One has a flamboyant cowboy hat; the other is much smaller and wears a little hat. They are really friendly and welcoming. We are immensely lucky: these two people that we have met are the best guides we could have hoped to encounter.

One of them, Thuso, happens to be on holiday from university, and is currently living with his grandparents in Kaudwane. His English is as eloquent as we ever could have wished for – even better – and he proves to be a really outspoken person, both about the situation of the Bushmen and about what needs to be done to restore their rights to their land. His friend Ntyame is a bit more timid, but looks really sweet and gentle, and also helps us out.

With their help we are able to communicate with the family that evidently hosted Survival staff last time they were in Kaudwane, and they say we can stay in their compound. I drive the immense car through a very tiny gate, consisting of an iron bar attached to piece of wood. We are unsure whether that will keep the lions out.

Even in the half dark it is clear the Bushmen live in extremely simple conditions. The family has a square yard fenced with straight branches. The ground is sandy. The only structures are a hut made of tightly packed branches with a straw roof, and another structure without a roof, also made of straight branches, that functions as the kitchen. Our big four-wheel drive vehicle in the yard looks totally out of place.

Hungry and tired by now, we cook dinner by torchlight. Some of the kids from Kaudwane join us around the fire and we sing a mixture of songs. They do an excellent job of imitating us singing in English and Dutch and laughing throughout. Every few seconds one of the kids holds his breath and then, leaning into the fire, exhales directly onto it. As he moves his head away the fire grows into a huge dancing flame, illuminating the child’s face with a warm glow and puncturing the darkness of the night with a halo of light.

Joseph cooks up a storm as the children look on

Exhausted, we head to bed very early. Daniel prefers to sleep in the car, while I settle for the tent. We are full of excitement about this amazing visit and the luck we have had finding our new friends. I think Daniel is still talking as I doze off.

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The second and third installments of the trip diaries have now been published.

The BBC’s hit series Tribe returns to the UK’s TV screens on Tuesday 21st August as presenter Bruce Parry visits the Matis tribe of the Brazilian Amazon.

Survival’s campaigner Fiona Watson has also visited the Matis. I asked her about her experiences on the trip and for an update on the situation the Matis face right now. You can watch her talking about her time with the Matis, together with some video taken on that trip, here:

If you want to help the Matis in their struggle against disease in the Javari Valley, please write to the Brazilian Health Minister. Survival has written a model letter for you.

The third series of Tribe will also see Parry visit the Nenet of Siberia, the Anuta of the Solomon Islands, the Akie of Tanzania, the Layap of Bhutan and the Penan of Sarawak, Malaysia.

Bruce Parry says, ‘We have so much to learn from tribal peoples and yet they themselves are frequently facing extreme difficulties or extinction. I hope that our series may have touched you in some way and I recommend your contacting Survival International to find out more about the global plight of indigenous peoples and how you may help.’