Global Voices » Simon Maghakyan

Australian Broadcaster Wins First Indigenous Journalism Award

Simon Maghakyan — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:39:12 +0000

The winner of the first journalism award for indigenous broadcasters hosted by the World Indigenous Television Broadcasters Network (WITBN) in Norway on March 29, 2012 was National Indigenous Television from Australia. The winning video and other finalists can be viewed on the WITBN website.

Norway Hosts First Journalism Award for Indigenous Broadcasters

Simon Maghakyan — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 13:17:53 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Indigenous Rights.

Norway is widely known for hosting the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize Awards. This month, the Scandinavian country is hosting the debut of another important yet largely unknown journalism award ceremony for the World Indigenous Television Broadcasters Network (WITBN) on March 29, 2012.

Nine finalists have been selected out of 24 entries in the indepth reporting category of the WITBN Indigenous Journalism Awards (2012 WIJA). The ceremony will be held in Kautokeino, Sápmi, Norway.

The official announcement from WIJA explains:

2012 WIJA is the first international Indigenous journalism award dedicated to presenting Indigenous perspectives through journalism in television and audiovisual media. While journalistic standards and ethics are the essences of this honor, the awards in particular look for the portrayal of Indigenous perspectives on stories of local, national or international impact.

This videos shows the 2012 finalists from indigenous networks in developed countries such as Taiwan, Australia, Norway, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States.

One of the nominated programs, from Māori Television, Aotearoa New Zealand, covers what should be labeled as “Occupy Easter Island” (it started a year before the Occupy movement in the U.S.), a rarely reported protest by Rapanui activists who occupied a government-owned hotel for half a year, demanding recognition of Indigenous rights and demonstrating the unfairness of occupation.

'We are ready to die for our land' says Rapanui activist in program broadcast by Maori Television of New Zealand

Easter Island (or Rapa Nui) is a land where colonization has forced the indigenous population to a small corner of the land, and where tourism had created an unsustainable economy. The sustainability problem is widespread in indigenous peoples' struggles all over the world to survive and preserve their culture.

The indigenous use of broadcast journalism and modern technology to promote the rights of their communities is a step forward. Read more about the finalists and their programs, here.

AMAZIGH NRK Sápmi Norway

AMNESTY CHIEF VISIT TO UTOPIA National Indigenous Television, Australia

JOURNEY HOME Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, Canada

KIMBERLY GAS HUB SERIES National Indigenous Television, Australia

POLITICIAN REPORTS HIMSELF TO THE POLICE NRK Sápmi, Norway

TE PITO O TE HENUA Māori Television, Aotearoa New Zealand

THE VALUE OF WATER ‘Ōiwi TV, Hawai’i

VUVU’S LAST PIECE OF LAND Taiwan Indigenous Television, Taiwan

WATER EXPLOITATION Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, Canada

This post is part of our special coverage Indigenous Rights.

USA: Has NASA Discovered a Life-Friendly Planet?

Simon Maghakyan — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:31:15 +0000

With at least a hundred billion galaxies in the observable Universe and two hundred billion stars in Earth's Milky Way alone, the potential for planets with the conditions to support human-like life is considerate. But there is no solid evidence that such a planet exists.

However, on December 5, 2011, the United States space agency, NASA, announced the Kepler Space Telescope discovery of Kepler-22b, a planet within the right distance of its star for potentially having a habitable temperature. Science bloggers have reacted to the news with analysis and theories of their own.

Diagram comparing Earth's solar system to an artist's rendition of Kepler-22b, a star system containing the first "habitable zone" planet discovered by NASA's Kepler mission. Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech

Hampshire College astronomy professor Salman Hameed is excited about the discovery:

Yes. Astronomers have the first confirmed detection of an earth-like planet located in the star's habitable zone - the distance from the star where water can exist in liquid form…The discovery is amazing, if not really surprising. There are just too many planets out there, and we are bound to find planets in places that match conditions of the Earth. And life is also likely to be quite common. Life that can build telescopes? Don't know.

He gives more details:

So what do we know about this planet? It is called Kepler 22b. This is the sexiest name that astronomers could come up with (actually, it is because it is discovered by Kepler telescope). It is located about 600 light years away - just far enough that we can't start thinking about packing our bags for a trip…

Is there life there? We don't know. This planet was detected when it passed in front of its star, dimming the light of the parent star a bit. We do not have an image of the planet. When we do - and it may take years - then we can potentially analyze the composition of its atmosphere. The presence of oxygen in the atmosphere will be a good indicator for life, as oxygen in our own atmosphere is a by-product of life itself.

We are getting closer to finding life.

Helen Chappell, a former astronomer who studied physics at University of Colorado Boulder, offers three reasons why she doesn't care about Kepler-22b:

Kepler is finding hundreds of extrasolar planets, and it’s going to keep on finding hundreds more until the project’s funding runs out. Kepler 22b is just the poster child for NASA’s announcement of more than 1,000 new planet candidates.

[..]

Venus [like Kepler 22b] isn’t too far outside the habitable zone…[but] we know that it’s actually hot enough to melt lead on the surface. Venus is not a nice place for life, but extraterrestrial astronomers would have no way to figure that out if they used the same technology as us. Perhaps folks on Kepler 22b are giddy at the prospect of life on Venus.

[…]

We have no clear way to figure out whether Kepler 22b — or any other extrasolar planet — actually harbors life.

She does see one positive aspect of the excitement over the discovery:

Discoveries like Kepler 22b get everyone excited about astronomy, and open up opportunities to teach folks (especially kids) about science.

[…]

So hooray for science, even if I just burst your Kepler 22b bubble.

Another critic, an anonymous blogger who studies tornadoes for living, discusses misconceptions about Kepler-22b, concluding nevertheless:

It's a first step, and it's a step we've never taken before. That's big news! And the fact that we still have 48 other candidate planets in the habitable zones of their respective stars is a Big Deal. But it's news in a way that a lot of the media seems to be missing out on.

In the comments section, the blogger discusses the actual distance between us and Kepler-22b:

At present top speeds, it'd take us, what, tens of millions of years to get there. That's a bit beyond even the scifi-ish dreams of generation ships and cryostasis. And the corollary to that: any further observations we make will be of the planet as it was 600 years ago.

600 light years may sound a lot, but it is minute in astronomical terms, even if it would take millions of years to travel to Kepler 22b at our current speeds. If we were able to build a machine traveling close to the speed of light, it might be possible to survive travel to Kepler 22b since, according to Einstein's Theory of Relativity, the travelers would experience less, about 24 years.

Some bloggers have expanded on the idea of space travel with some less serious than others.

Eight Days to Amish, a blog by freelance writer Chris Rodell, writes:

I’m sure the Republicans thought, “Hallelujah! Now, there’s a place the lousy Democrats can Occupy for as long as they want!”

The Democrats thought, “You can bet greedy Republicans are already packing their Louis Vuitton suitcases, drilling rigs and barrels of Halliburton fracking liquids to exploit yet another pristine wilderness before Obama declares it off-limits.”

Advocatus Atheist, a blog by Tristan D. Vick, an English teacher in Japan, is more hopeful about communicating with Kepler-22b, if it were to have a civilization capable of space communication. He suggests building a wormhole (a hypothetical shortcut through spacetime), which would make it possible to communicate. He admits, however, that his suggestion is only possible theoretically.

Vick concludes in what seems to be a good summary of the lesson of Kepler-22b:

Regardless of whether or not we could ever make first contact with an alien race, it seems to me that Kepler 22B represents a dream which all people share–the dream of adventure, of interstellar travel, and of being a part of history. It seems to me, we may already be witnessing history in the making and not even truly be aware of it.

Global: Amnesty International Celebrates 50 Years

Simon Maghakyan — Tue, 31 May 2011 08:28:42 +0000

Global human rights champion Amnesty International celebrated their 50th anniversary on May 28, 2011. The organization has 3 millions members and is credited for supporting the release of thousands of prisoners of conscience. See photos of celebrations on Flickr, and a special birthday present by Dutch designer Maarten Baas: a giant empty chair.

USA: Native Americans Take Offense at Osama Nickname

Simon Maghakyan — Tue, 10 May 2011 11:40:22 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage The Death of Osama Bin Laden and Indigenous Rights.

For the United States government, “Geronimo EKIA” (Enemy Killed In Action) is the code for Osama Bin Laden's death. For many Native Americans, however, comparing their folk hero Geronimo to the world's number one terrorist is offensive.

Geronimo was the most famous Chiricahua Apache figure who fought against Mexican and US armies to defend Apache lands. He eventually surrendered to the US army and lived as a prisoner of war.

Apache leader Geronimo in 1887. Image available in public domain.

Matt Thompson at Savage Minds - a blog ran by anthropology scholars - writes:

[W]hat does a nineteenth century Apache leader have to do with twenty first century Saudi millionaire? Perhaps nothing when viewed from an academic standpoint, it seems more like a non sequitur. But when read as expression of an underlying ideology, one that has legitimated American military action for centuries, the answer is: quite a lot, actually.

[…] Making Bin Laden into an Indian elevates him. The Washington Post isolates Geronimo’s elusiveness, “[he] was rumored to be able to walk without leaving any tracks,” as the key trait that links him to Bin Laden. This is meant to illustrate some degree of respect the American military leaders have for their foe. It also serves to cast the United States in a better light. We are, after all, magnanimous in victory. By heaping praise upon one’s enemy, likening them to such a worthy opponent as Geronimo, the American military bestows prestige upon themselves. They won the fight by besting a legend.

Lise Balk King, a student at Harvard writes on Indian Country, a website that brings “essential news and information from Indian country”:

[…] As news of bin Laden’s death spread relief across America and the world, revelations that the assigned code name of Enemy Number One was “Geronimo,” a legendary Apache leader, caused shock waves in Indian communities across the country. It is being interpreted as a slap in the face of Native people, a disturbing message that equates an iconic symbol of Native American pride with the most hated evildoer since Adolf Hitler.

[…] Time Magazine’s Swampland blog first reported the details yesterday that the target, Osama bin Laden, was code-named Geronimo, in keeping with The White House’s afternoon press conference.

But the story coming from the White House evolved by evening, with what appears to be a “re-tooling” of the message, which now states that the “mission” was code-named Geronimo.

An e-mail statement from Harlyn Geronimo, a descendant of the famous fighter, reads:

Whether it was intended only to name the military operation to kill or capture Osama Bin Laden or to give Osama Bin Laden himself the code name Geronimo, either was an outrageous insult and mistake. And it is clear from the military records released that the name Geronimo was used at times by military personnel involved for both the military operation and for Osama Bin Laden himself.

Obviously to equate Geronimo with Osama Bin Laden is an unpardonable slander of Native America and its most famous leader in history.

[…] As the son of a grandson of Geronimo, who as a U.S. soldier fought at Omaha Beach on D Day and across West Europe to the Rhine in World War II, and having myself served two tours of duty in Vietnam during that war, I must respectfully request from the President, our Commander-in-Chief, or his Secretary at the Department of Defense, a full explanation of how this disgraceful use of my great grandfather’s name occurred, a full apology for the grievous insult after all that Native Americans have suffered and the expungement from all the records of the U.S. government this use of the name Geronimo. Leaving only for history the fact this insult to Native Americans occurred in all its pity.

This post is part of our special coverage The Death of Osama Bin Laden and Indigenous Rights.

USA: Voices of Support for Egyptian Protesters

Simon Maghakyan — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 02:02:25 +0000

While the official US response to the protests in Egypt is a desperate hope for stability, lesser televised American voices are supporting the protesters in the land of the pyramids.

Human Rights Now, the blog of Amnesty International USA, has a post by one of its Middle East country specialists, Geoffrey Mock, who sees a specific American connection in the developments:

News that after five days of protests Omar Suleiman has been named vice president of Egypt is a reminder that the abuses that drove the people into the streets there had too much assistance from America, including right here in my home of North Carolina.

According to journalist Stephen Grey, Suleiman was the Egyptian conduit for the US extraordinary rendition flights closely linked to torture.

[…]

I was also reminded of the Johnston County flights when I received reports this week from people in Cairo of the tear gas canisters being used against them. Made in the USA, the canisters said.

When you are watching the footage of the Egyptian people in the street, showing their frustration of 30 years of tyranny and abuse, it’s safe and appropriate to feel solidarity with them. But it’s not enough. To support the people in Cairo trying to change those abuses, we in the US and in North Carolina must end our own policies and acts that have sustained them.

Demonstrators singing the Egyptian anthem in New York by the United Nations; video by blogger Ahmed Al Omran of Saudi Arabia, aka “Saudi Jeans,” currently a student in New York.

In another post calling for action, Mock lists a number of events organized in the US: “Demonstrations have already been held in San Francisco, New York and DC,” he writes, adding that Amnesty International USA organized a rally outside the Egyptian consulate in Chicago on Saturday, January 29.

A demonstration in Boston in support of Egyptian protests. Photo by Jillian C. York on Flickr (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike)

Rana Rizk, a native of Egypt's capital Cairo, joined her compatriots' protests from New York. She writes in The Huffington Post:

I have been on the phone with my family in Egypt getting eyewitness reports from what they see out their window, very close to Tahrir square and I am reporting back international news I see online, since the Internet was and still remains cut off. They are completely isolated. I am writing before I go to sleep in New York City in commemoration and thought of all those who were injured today, arrested, or even killed. Of course, Egypt was a black hole today with no light coming out. I am scared to find out what happened to our courageous protesters today.

[…]

Contrary to what I always believed, non-violent demonstration in the Middle East is possible and deserves great respect. Their demands must be answered and encouraged by the international community. And please, I say to the U.S. stop selling tear bombs to the Egyptian government. How can you encourage Mubarak to listen to the pleads of protesters and in the same breathe provide them with ammunition to harm those very same protesters?

Vermont lawyer Jack McCullough worries for the future of Egypt's democracy in his blog Rational Resistance:

I have the feeling I've seen this movie before. A dictator who is largely friendly to the United States and its foreign policy goals is in trouble, shaken by massive street demonstrations.

It's not quite the same as Iran, because in this case the dictator wasn't installed by the United States. Still, things are not looking too stable for Hosni Mubarak.

[…]

It's almost impossible not to identify with the demonstrators in the street, to say, as a friend of mine just observed, we are all Egyptians now.

If you're old enough you remember the same feeling watching the students in Tehran, risking murder by Pahlavi's SAVAK. I sure did. In fact, when I was in law school I had the chance to represent an Iranian student who was arrested on campus at the University of Michigan for wearing a mask at an anti-Pahlavi demonstration.

[…]

Is there any chance that Mubarak can be escorted out without creating and Iranian-style Islamic dictatorship?

Geoffrey Mock, quoted earlier, has a response. “This was a protest that crossed class, ideology and religion, and that is what scares the government.”

USA Now Alone, as Canada Votes to Adopt Indigenous Declaration

Simon Maghakyan — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 12:29:51 +0000

Despite an ongoing re-examination of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the United States now finds itself as the only country to have voted against the 2007 document. That's because Canada, as Australia and New Zealand earlier, has unexpectedly made a u-turn and decided to adopt the Declaration.

Indigenous Inuit throat singing in Canada

Human Rights Now, the blog of Amnesty International USA, has a post by staff member Angela T. Chang on Canada's action:

On November 12th, Canada joined the majority of the world in supporting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). The Declaration is a non-legally binding human rights instrument which affirms universal standards for the survival, dignity, and well-being of all Indigenous Peoples.

[…]

It is past-due time for the United States to endorse the UNDRIP. Unqualified support for the Declaration is fundamental to ensuring that the United States follows international human rights standards for Indigenous Peoples, who are among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable peoples in the world. In the United States, nearly 24% of indigenous people live in poverty.

Chang asks her readers to send a message to Barack Obama urging endorsement of the Declaration.

Not everyone is happy with Canada's endorsement, however. Pam Palmater a Toronto lawyer and professor, writing on the blog Non-Status Indians, defending the rights of those who are not officially recognized as Indians, calls the news “The Illusion of Justice in Canada”:

I would like to think that Canada has moved past some of its double-dealings of the past, but this limited endorsement of UNDRIP by the Conservatives proves otherwise. From one side of their face they promise to make changes to address our issues and from the other side, they rally public support against us and find creative political spin to keep from acting on their promises. Canada did not truly, in letter and spirit, endorse UNDRIP - they issued a “Statement of Support” that does not change Indigenous rights (or lack thereof) in Canada.

USA: Indigenous Rights Declaration under Reexamination

Simon Maghakyan — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 23:53:00 +0000

Almost three years after rejecting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in September 2007, the United States government is now asking for input from Native American leaders, renewing their hopes that the election of President Barack Obama may help open a path to ratification. The declaration calls for “reasonable reparations” for stolen indigenous lands, but not at the expense of violating a nation-state's territorial integrity.

Only three other countries initially opposed the declaration, which is legally non-binding yet provides solid framework for respecting and advancing collective indigenous rights. Two of these, New Zealand and Australia, have since changed their mind, leaving the U.S. and Canada as the only “no” voters. (Eleven others – Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burundi, Colombia, Georgia, Kenya, Nigeria, Russia, Samoa and Ukraine – have abstained from voting.)

An ongoing mountain carving of Crazy Horse in the Black Hills of South Dakota, a few miles away from Mount Rushmore. The Lakota say this is sacred land that was stolen from them. © Simon Maghakyan 2010

On June 4, 2010, the U.S. State Department announced that public input should be be sent to the email address declaration@state.gov by July 15. Earlier, an official State Department blog post promised a review process:

On Tuesday, April 21, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice announced the U.S. decision to review our position regarding the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. President Obama has promised greater engagement with federally recognized tribal governments, and improved communication with Native American tribes is a prominent theme in the Administration.

It was also in April that New Zealand became the second country, after Australia, to endorse the Declaration after an initial vote of “no.” But not everyone thinks New Zealand made the right decision.

Indigenous Maori opposition politician Nanaia Mahuta, whose Labour party voted against the document in 2008, claims the government is stressing the “symbolic” nature of the Declaration. She writes on her blog:

Under the veil of secrecy the Minister of Maori Affairs signed the Government up to the UNDRIP. National Ministers were quick to downplay the move as “aspirational” and “non-binding”! The PM must have stressed that point at least three times during question time. The test for National is whether they intend to leave this document as a symbol of aspiration that has no currency in New Zealand or whether they intend to deliver any of the expected outcomes which the MParty allude to?? […] A whole heap of window dressing of empty promises and hollow gains – meanwhile Maori unemployment continues to rise…

If like New Zealand and Australia, the U.S. ratifies the declaration, which seems to be the likely scenario, Canada will remain the only “no” signatory. On the blog of the Center for World Indigenous Studies, Fourth World Eye, Rudolph Ryser describes Canada’s reasoning for being against the declaration, and concludes that change will come from indigenous peoples themselves, not from governments.

The symbolism of indigenous peoples sitting in the UN General Assembly Hall is powerful, but there is no substitute for the exercise of political authority. States like Canada and the United States will continue to offer platitudes and tired expressions of confidence for the future development of native peoples, but only vigorous political action by indigenous peoples will force the respect and lawful acceptance of indigenous peoples sitting at the table of decision-making they so richly deserve.

On progressive activism blog Docudharma a writer by the name “winter rabbit” offers several arguments for why President Obama (alternately known as Awe Kooda Bilaxpak Kuuxshish – his adopted Crow tribe name) should ratify the declaration. One of several links in his post goes to a news story from 2009 that quotes the South Dakota attorney general for saying he has never read the original Ft. Laramie Treaty from 1868 that guaranteed ownership of the Black Hills to the Lakota, before it was eventually seized when gold was discovered there.

It is unclear whether the adoption of UNDRIP would compel South Dakotans, among other Americans, to rethink indigenous rights in their country. But the fact that the U.S. is asking input from Native Americans in the reexamination process is encouraging.

Armenia: Ex-President’s Wild Games

Simon Maghakyan — Sat, 01 May 2010 14:18:23 +0000

Newly-revealed summer 2009 photos of ex-Soviet Armenia’s former president Robert Kocharian posing with hunted “wild game,” including a lion, in Tanzania have Armenian bloggers talking. Yet few seem surprised – a national reserve employee’s illegal boar hunting and an oligarchic donkey-lion fight were caught on tape the same year. One blogger, nonetheless, reads political overtones in the ex-president’s luxurious safari adventures.

The Armenian Observer Blog, Artur Papyan’s resourceful site, posts one of the controversial photographs with the following note:

Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharian is a big fan of safaris. Here he is proudly posing on a killed lion. Years of observing Kocharian have taught me one thing – he never does anything without a purpose. The fact he has posed on a lion means he wanted to let everyone know he is the lion killing kind.

Coincidentally, the animal’s name is synonymous to the name of Kocharian’s bitter political rival, Armenia’s first President Levon Ter-Petrossian. In a recent display of distaste for each other, Kocharian told an allegoric story about his African safaris, directing pro-Ter-Petrossian media to finding and publicising this very photo, which made a headline story on “Haykakan Zhamanak” today.

[…]

Ahuramazd, a pro-opposition Live Journal community member, posts four photographs without comment. But he prompts quite a discussion.

Fellow user Dabavog reacts in Armenian:

[…]

հայ ժողովրդի, հատկապես, ղեկավարության եւ բնության անհամատեղելիությունը հատուկ ուսումնասիրություն է պահանջում

The lack of harmony between Armenians (especially the government) and nature requires a special study.

Pigh, a pro-government activist, defends the former president in Russian:

Мазд,а в чем преступление? Ты мясо не кушаешь?

[Ara]mazd, what’s the crime? You don’t eat meat?

USA: Native Cherokees Fight for Sacred Mound

Simon Maghakyan — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 06:32:15 +0000

Cherokee Native Americans in North Carolina are currently fighting the construction of an electrical station they say would impede the spiritual experience at Kituwah, a sacred mound that is cherished as the place where God gave the Cherokee their laws and their first fire. It is believed to have survived nearly ten thousand years.

The mound is 170 feet in diameter and five feet high.

Although indigenous remains – both human and cultural – are protected in the United States by the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, sacred earthworks called mounds are still vandalized in the eyes of many Native Americans.

The Cherokee fight to keep the mound untouched is on Facebook with more than 2,000 “SAVE KITUWAH” fans.

Photo of Kituwah posted in Facebook group by Red Gryphon

Assistant attorney general of the Cherokee reservation, Hannah Smith, sent an email to Duke Energy. It is posted on Facing South, the website of the Institute for Southern Studies. She describes the effort to guard the area that the Eastern Band of the Cherokees repurchased in 1996:

While I understand the need for power and know that change is by-product of progress, I explained my desire to have Duke Power mitigate as much as possible the visual impact this tower structure is going to have on the experience Cherokee people have when they visit Kituwah. I used a metaphor to describe the impact on this ancient view shed of Kituwah in hopes that it might convey a better understanding of how I (and most Cherokees) are going to be affected. I said that erecting this unattractive industrial looking “eye sore” so close in proximity to our ancient and sacred Mothertown was like putting up a power substation next door to a great Cathedral (like St. Peter's Basilica in Rome). The Cherokee culture values the Kituwah site and what is left of its unspoiled beauty like most of the world values St. Peter's for its iconic beauty and ancient place of worship.

If the Cherokees persuade Duke Energy to halt construction, it would be their second victory this year. In January 2010, according to Save the Sacred Sites blog, the Department of Defense stopped construction of an airport on Iolta – an ancient Cherokee village and burial site in North Carolina – until further investigation. But other Native American sites, as summarized by Facing South, were not as lucky:

Last year a mound near Oxford, Ala. was used as fill dirt for the construction of a Sam's Club, and another Indian mound in the Oxford area was recently found to have disappeared during construction of a municipal sports complex.

In the late 1990s, an Indian burial site in Nashville, Tenn. was demolished to build a Wal-Mart Supercenter, while another Indian burial site along the Cumberland River in that city was disturbed during construction of a stadium for the Tennessee Titans National Football League team. And Georgia is building a four-lane highway near the Ocmulgee National Monument, a site of great significance to the Muscogee (Creek) people.

More photos of Kituwah can be seen here and here.

India: Death of a Prehistoric Language

Simon Maghakyan — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:33:44 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Languages and the Internet.

The last speaker of the ancient Bo language, Boa Senior, has died in her native Andaman Islands (part of India) in February 2010. It's a vivid confirmation of last year's report from UNESCO, warning that 2,500 languages are at risk of disappearing.

Video: Boa Senior singing in her native Bo, via Survival International

In her Minnesota-based True to Words blog devoted “to the exploration of language and writing,” Sara Duane reports the news and adds that some formerly dead languages have recently revived:

In 1992 a prominent US linguist predicted that by the year 2100, 90% of the world's languages would have ceased to exist. One of those languages died last month when 85-year-old Boa Sr. passed away. She was the last speaker of Bo, which at 70,000 years was one of the world's oldest.

[..]

Languages can be brough back from the brink, or even from total extinction, if the will is strong enough and most importantly, if enough of it has been written down. Hebrew was a dead language at the beginning of the 19th century. It existed as a scholarly written language, but there was no way to know how the words were pronounced. Persistence and will from Israeli Jews brought the language back into everyday use. There has also been a revival of Welsh in the UK and Maori in New Zealand.

Transubstantiation, which described itself as trying to “make sense of the legacy of the Tower of Babel,” suggests documenting dying languages:

If we are able to preserve language life then by all means let us preserve it. However, sometimes this is not possible and then perhaps our most important task as linguists is to analyse, describe and document; set the dying language down so that we can use knowledge about it to further research into the general understanding of the human condition.

Andaman Islands from above by Venkatesh K on Flickr

Madhu Baganiar, who belongs to the indigenous Oraon (Kurukh) community comments on the demise of Bo language with the death of Boa senior:

Every language has its own unique history, culture style, story. When a language dies, a vast store house of knowledge associated with the language also dies. Today, a living tribal language “Bo” has died. Tomorrow more tribal languages of India are bound to die. There are hundred of reasons which will kill the living tribal language…

Ireland-based blogger The Poor Mouth mourns the loss of Bo, and says:

Languages come and languages go - we can see the traces of several lost languages in the British Isles (Yola, Norn, Cumbric etc) – but I can’t help feel that when they die something significant is lost from the rich, dark soup that makes up humanity. Boa’s passing diminishes us all.

This post is part of our special coverage Languages and the Internet.

Avatar: For or Against Indigenous Rights?

Simon Maghakyan — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 18:14:52 +0000

While James Cameron's visually-stunning Avatar (2009), a sci-fi about earth-human's ultimately unsuccessful attempt to colonize another planet, is widely seen as expressively anti-imperialist, others claim the movie - history's fastest to make a billion at the box office - contains subtle racism against indigenous peoples.

Telegraph blogger Will Heaven, who usually writes about politics, internet and religion in the United Kingdom, charges the movie with racism and Western left-wing arrogance:

I won’t spoil the plot, but here’s the basic set-up: a group of mercenary humans have colonised a faraway planet, called Pandora, in order to extract an enormously valuable mineral found there. Pandora’s “natives” – a race of tall, blue-skinned aliens called the Na’vi – live on an area of land which is set to be mined. They won’t relocate, so the humans attack.

[…]

By far the most contemptible theme in Avatar involves the hero, a young disabled American called Jake Sully, played by Sam Worthington. Before the humans declare war on the Na’vi, Sully is sent to them (in the form of a blue-skinned avatar) in a last ditch attempt to find a diplomatic solution. But, lo and behold, he becomes one of them – sympathising so much with their plight that he decides to lead them into battle against the humans.

As Left-wing conceits go, this one surely tops all the others: the ethnic Na’vi, the film suggests, need the white man to save them because, as a less developed race, they lack the intelligence and fortitude to overcome their adversaries by themselves. The poor helpless natives, in other words, must rely on the principled white man to lead them out of danger.

Thinking for You, a Florida-based blogger, agrees:

I was rather struck that so many people in the audience would accept the corporation and the caricatures of the US military as enemies, that they would literally applaud the destruction of the strike force. But perhaps the joke is on me, because ultimately the representation of military loss is only pretend, and the message that remains attached to the visual spectacle seems to be that the fate of nature and culture depends not on right, or justice, or even on inner strength, but on the disputes and intervention of Anglo, male, U.S. Marines. Whether you are a predatory corporate enterprise, or a valiant blue native, you can't win without an Anglo male Marine on your side. Everything else is incidental, and resistance is futile.

Eric Ribellarsi, blogging at The Fire Collective: Fight Imperialism, Rethink and Experiment, disagrees:

I found the movie to be a nuanced and beautiful film that told the story of an elitist white soldier for imperialism who goes to exploit and oppress an indigenous nation of aliens (the Na’vi), but is instead transformed by them and won to take up armed struggle against imperialism along side them.

Indigenous blogger Mindanaoan's Narratives sees Avatar as “an activist’s dream movie” and draws parallels with problems in her own homeland in the Philippines:

The movie is also a reflection of the struggle of the indigenous peoples and rural communities in the hinterlands of Mindanao. Mining and other ‘development projects' is linked with militarization and human rights violations; pitting lumads against lumads.

Jordan Poss Blog, based in the U.S. state of Georgia, takes a different view:

The equation of Na'vi with Native Americans is shameless and nauseating. Not because I think there's anything sacrosanct about the Indian experience–rather, the whole movie is so cloying and mawkish, the Na'vi so saintly and their earthly oppressors so evil I wanted to puke. This isn't storytelling, it's preaching. And lame preaching at that.

Asking the Wrong Questions, an Israel-based blog by Abigail Nussbaum, doesn't see the movie as romanticizing indigenous peoples:

When the film's production designer obliviously explains that making the film's Others blue-skinned aliens freed the filmmakers to tell a story that would have been considered racist if told about humans, and doesn't see the problem in what he's saying despite the fact that the only thing distinguishing those aliens from stereotypical Native Americans is their blue skin, what is there for a humble blogger to add?

USA: Thanksgiving, a Celebration of Genocide?

Simon Maghakyan — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:59:40 +0000

On Livejournal, Christopher Bradley in the USA explains why he hates Thanksgiving. “I don't think there's any need to have holidays with the specter of genocide over them,” he says.

USA: Historical Truth of Thanksgiving

Simon Maghakyan — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:55:11 +0000

“To European-Americans this holiday is laced with fanciful symbolism and metaphorical memories about that great feast between Pilgrims and Indians. But the historical truth often goes untold and unheard,” writes Rusty’s blog.

USA: No More Columbus Day at Brown University

Simon Maghakyan — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:26:38 +0000

In response to protests from Native American and other students, the prestigious Brown University in the United States has changed the name of the national public holiday Columbus Day to “Fall Weekend” on its academic calendar.

Bloggers are debating this modification of a holiday that honors the European explorer Christopher Columbus for “discovering” America in 1492.

First Landing of Columbus on the Shores of the New World. Painting by Discoro Téofilo de la Puebla.

Some celebrate the Brown change as a form of acknowledgment of the genocide of America's indigenous peoples; others denounce what one conservative blogger sees as, “Idiot College Liberals Ruin[ing] Another Holiday.”

Conversation Nation details the name change:

Hey Christopher Columbus, what can Brown do for you? They can take your name off a holiday.

The faculty at Brown University voted to drop the name Columbus Day after protests from a Native American student group on campus

The fall school holiday will now be known as the more generic “Fall Weekend” The faculty has control over the academic calendar and Brown officials don't plan to intervene

Some Native American groups maintain Columbus Day should not be celebrated, citing his “violent mistreatment of Native Americans”

Officials from Italian American groups in Providence slammed the decision telling The Providence Journal that Columbus should be recognized as a hero who discovered America

[…]

It's a federal holiday but several states and some other colleges have changed the name. Should they?

“Ignatius Reilly”, writing on Right Pundits, says:

[…]

I have news for Brown University students: most of the Founding Fathers owned slaves, Lincoln mistreated his wife, Malcolm X was a complete sexist, Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy were womanizers, and ALL of them were completely unacceptably politically incorrect by today’s standards. If you want to go down this road and judge people by today’s standards, then we cannot honor anything in America’s past.

Oh, and another thing, Native Americans went to war with and conquered each other, and also treated women really badly, so we can’t really celebrate them either […]. After all, life sucks.

[…]

Responding to another critique of the change, Left of Boston comments:

[…]

Columbus… enslaved and raped the people who he encountered in Central America and brought disease, as many of the other explorers did. Those are the facts, they're well documented […].

[…]

Columbus Day is an occasion where revisionist history prevails. We try to see him in a positive light to cover up what he actually did. He did not actually discover America (there were several who had before him), so the premise of why we have Columbus Day is interesting to consider.

[…]

It is possible to see this as “political correctness,” but when we celebrate someone who enslaved people - there's no reason to be politically correct.

[…]