Progress Can Kill

Many of you probably saw this photo in the news this week. It is a picture of an "uncontacted tribe" in Brazil, shooting arrows at the airplane or helicopter that carried the photographer. This tribe is one of about 100 tribes worldwide who have little or no contact with the outside world.

I have traveled a bit and I know that there are large populations who have never listened to an iPod or eaten a Big Mac, but somehow I never stopped to think about these tribes and why they would shun contact with outsiders. Not only would contact with loggers, miners, and missionaries threaten their way of life, it would threaten their lives. These tribes typically have no immunities to viruses like the flu, colds, and chicken pox, and in some cases half of a tribe or more has died from first contact.

The effects of forcing "progress" or "development" on tribal people are disastrous. It does not make them happier or healthier. In addition to diseases including HIV/AIDS, they face starvation or obesity. They can't hunt or grow food so many turn to theft or prostitution for survival. Rates of addiction, depression, and suicide soar.

Survival International (http://www.survival-international.org/) was founded in 1969 and is the only organization which supports tribal people worldwide. It works for tribal peoples' rights with education, advocacy and campaigns, and offers tribal people a platform to address the world. Their website has a lot of interesting and useful information about the crises faced by tribal people.

"It is not that the Yanomami do not want progress, or other things that white people have. They want to be able to choose and not have change thrust upon them, whether they want it or not. I am not saying I am against progress. I think it is very good when whites come to work amongst the Yanomami to teach reading and writing and to plant and use medicinal plants. This for us is progress. What we do not want are the mining companies which destroy the forest and the miners, who bring so many diseases. These whites must respect our Yanomami land. The miners bring guns, alcohol and prostitution and destroy all nature wherever they go. For us this is not progress. We want progress without destruction."
~ Davi Kopenawa, Yanomami shaman, Brazil, 2003
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