February 25, 2010
Siberian indigenous group threatened in northern Russia
Our Worldfocus series Indigenous Cultures continues with a look at the Khanty people, who live inside the Arctic Circle in Russian Siberia.
We chose this story because it illustrates how the drive toward what is often called “progress” can threaten a traditional culture. The piece is also about how hunger for oil is jeopardizing this way of life.
Jonah Hull of Al Jazeera English reports on the Khanty people of northern Siberia.
7 comments
So the Artic is overpopulated–Homo Sapien, have you no decency?
Thanks for sharing the report. If I may, I would like to invite you and your readers to have a look at http://intercontinentalcry.org/ for a full picture of what’s happening to indigenous people around the world. Thanks again.
The was another group threatened over oil, the U’wa of South America.Three american activists were murdered working for their defense.Nobody to date has been charged and we don’t know if it was revolutionary FARQ, government paramilitaries or oil company security.
What we do know, though it has never been mentioned in the giddyness over a Nobel Prize for usurping the mantle of environmental leadership without one counted hanging chad, is that one Al Gore holds 2 million in stock with Occidental Oil of Los Angeles, the company involved. Talk about credibility iin the balance.
Indigenous people and indeed any localized group of people (such as mountain tribed) need to be protected from economic exploitation and other actions that distroy their culture. Also, they should be helped to develope their local resouces and economy to benefit their local society. It is our human duty to see after the good and well-being of all (including the the non-Homo sapiens!) This alone will give us a hint at the universalism that will save us all.
Many years ago (approx.7-8yrs.)there was a documentary on PBS produced by Dr.Spencer Wells (renowned Geneticist & Anthropologist worldwide)on indigenous people throughout the world. He explicitly said that all of mankind came out of Africa. There was a discovery of a female fossil found,and dated to be approx. 3.8 million years old ,using the “carbon14” methology,which they called “Lucy”,the world’s original lineage to our beginning (the missing link). Dr. Wells had taken a sample of Lucy’s DNA (the oldest DNA in the known Universe)and traced it’s (Lucy’s) ancestry to a small village in the outskirts of Siberia. It was a simple cotton-swab test of the mouth that proved conclusive that these few indigenous people carried the exact same gene (DNA) found in Lucy. Your program reminded me of how hearty these indigenous people are,and how close they are a as community ,and to nature that fosters so much love for one another without being corrupted by the outside world. Once again Worldfocus,I take my hat off to you,…Thankyou for providing a window into the past that should never be shuttered!
No one cares about the Indigenous peoples. What a stain on humanity.
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03/06/2010 :: 12:00:24 PM
Michael Says:
thank you for the report!!