Survival names 2008’s top five tribal stories

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The biggest tribal news story of 2008 was the publication of photos of an uncontacted tribe on the Brazil-Peru border, says Survival International.

The photos made headlines all around the world and even prompted false claims they were a hoax. They were published to draw attention to the illegal logging forcing uncontacted Indians to flee from Peru into Brazil – making them possibly the world’s first ‘uncontacted refugees’.

2008’s other top tribal stories:

• Plans to build a series of massive hydroelectric dams flooding Penan villages in Malaysia are leaked via the internet (Source: Bruno Manser Fund).

• Satellite photos expose Brazilian company Yaguarete Pora illegally bulldozing forest in Paraguay in one of the remotest corners of the planet – the last refuge of uncontacted Ayoreo-Totobiegosode Indians.

• Diamond company Gem Diamonds pushes ahead with plans for a massive diamond mine in the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, from where the traditional owners, the Bushmen, have been evicted. Gem Diamonds gains approval from the government on condition they do not provide Bushmen with water. The water may, however, be used for wildlife.

• Hundreds of remote Indian tribesmen, the Dongria Kondh, dance in protest against plans by mining company Vedanta to destroy their sacred mountain for bauxite. The Dongria, armed with traditional weapons, sing and dance their way through the state capital in Orissa.

Survival’s director, Stephen Corry, said today, ‘For centuries the treatment of tribal peoples was a hidden genocide. Finally, it's beginning to be covered by the mainstream press. This will eventually create the groundswell of public opinion needed for these crimes to be stopped. The world is waking up, but there's still a long road ahead before tribes stop being seen as backward primitives, waiting for the so-called 'progress' which usually destroys them.’

For more information please contact Miriam Ross at Survival International on (44) (0)20 7687 8734 or (44) (0)7504 543 367 or email [email protected]