Sunday, March 1, 2009

indigenous deaths.

A number of deaths in small indigenous communities have occurred recently due to contact with Westerners. Historically, colonial contact has decimated indigenous populations primarily through introduction of outside diseases. Recently, indigenous peoples remain unequipped to survive in capitalist societies and are extremely vulnerable.

FARC rebels have admitted to killing a total of 27 members of the Awa tribe in Southwest Colombia, in past months. As reported on International Cry, "FARC accepted responsibility for killing eight Awa this month, an act they say was justified because ‘the Awa were collaborating with the Colombian military’". Collaborating with the Colombian military...

Here's a CNN article on it
and on International Cry here

In December of 2008, 8 members of the Onge tribe on the Andaman Islands of India, died after drinking a plastic container of an unknown liquid, mistaking it for alcohol. In a tribe of 100 people, these 8 deaths represented 8% of the total population.

Also in the Andaman Islands, a member of the Jarawa tribe was killed by a poacher, fishing illegally in the Jarawa territory. He was one of the 320 living Jarawa people. Both tribes were well known for surviving the tsunami in 2004.

Read about this at Survival International

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