Life imitates "Avatar"; indigenous people gunned down in Peru as oil exploration begins

[Lorien]

on over a million acres of pristine rainforest:

http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0803-hambone_peru.html

Barely six weeks after a dozen Amazon natives were gunned down by the Peruvian Army in the oil town of Bagua for protesting the cozy relationship between Big Oil and the government of President Alan Garcia, I find myself on the banks of the Mother of God River in Salvacion, Peru, wondering if all those folks died in vain.

Any day now, the bulldozers will be moving in as Texas-based Hunt Oil Company – with the full go-ahead of the Peruvian government -- fires its first salvo in its assault against the million-acre pristine rainforest wilderness of the little-known and largely unexplored Amarakaeri Communal Reserve. By the time you read this, the choppers will probably already be here, womp-womping their way along the very edge of Manu National Park to supply the seismic survey crews whacking their way through the jungle and blowing off explosives to see what riches lie below the surface. The local natives that the “reserve” was created to protect, like so many before them, are getting ready to have their lives irrevocably altered, and are wondering how to react to this invasion.

In other words, it’s business as usual for the Planet Eaters in the Amazon jungle, as if Bagua never existed at all. I could write a book – indeed, I am writing a book – about the carnage going on down here in the heart of the Mother of God. Here is just a taste of what I’ve found so far in my first two months in Peru:

(more at link)

[bif]

1. Read "Savages" by Joe Kane

It's all about the same thing in Equador. Excellent book.

[Lorien]

2. When I hear of Avatar fans complaining of being depressed because it's not "real"

I wonder how insulated from the world they are. No, the Natives aren't blue and they don't ride dragons, but their lands are even more beautiful and are under just as much of a threat. If they want to see the real Pandora then they could get involved...but I suspect that a video game will suffice for the majority of them. :-(

[truedelphi]

10. + 1.

[Zix]

3. That's so one-dimensional. Yawn. Been there, done that.

Where's the nuance? I bet the dialogue's crap. "Arg! Please stop shooting me!" or some such Roland Emmerich shit.

[dorkulon]

6. LOFL

Horrible, but hilarious.

[MineralMan]

4. Hell, we did the same here in America.

Why is anyone surprised when it happens elsewhere. Humans are predatory, territorial, and vicious.

[hatrack]

5. Seriously, does anyone have any doubts as to why the Neanderthal disappeared?

I mean, we're still dehumanizing and "verminizing" today.

The only difference is that we're ostensibly more sophisticated, and that our propaganda-dispensing technology is definitely more sophisticated.

[MineralMan]

8. The out-group is always dehumanized. That's how it works.

Christianity doesn't prohibit genocide, it seems. The Old Testament is full of that crap.

Individually, we may be able to curb the impulse. Collectively, though, history shows us that we're always ready to wipe out the "others" amongst us or to wipe out groups who have what we want.

It's not one of our most charming attributes.

[Lorien]

13. You want to hear something really sick? A friend's niece has very conservative parents

she's 16 years old and they took her and her younger brother to see "Avatar". Afterwords, the 16 year old said that they plot of the film enraged her "WTF was that?? The humans were supposed to be the bad guys?? Humans are never the bad guys! America is ALWAYS RIGHT!!! If we need their stuff, we just take it! That's the way it's supposed to be; we don't talk or negotiate or make "Avatars"; we TAKE IT! We need it so it belongs to us. Why would anyone be confused about that??" Her repug parents were even appalled by her take on American exceptionalism and they had a talk with her, though it didn't seem to help.

Conservative teens in post BushCo America. :banghead:

[hatrack]

18. Wow. What a tiny little brain. What a tiny little person.

Her parents must be so proud of their little Teabagger.

:puke:

[dorkulon]

7. This scene is always playing out somewhere on the globe, and the fact is that no one cares at all.

They feel more for the fucking blue aliens than the brown natives. We're all happy to look the other way as long as it gets us our unobtanium. Look for this story to make the national press in just about never.

[Lorien]

11. It's sick alright. Our MSM has orgasms over Tiger Woods and fills every possible

minute with similar trivial trash, but the real stories, like this one, get a yawn...even from most on DU. Propaganda is very, very effective.

[Xolodno]

9. If oil was discovered underneath the Garden of Eden....

They would raze it in order to get that too. And the Bible thumping fundamentalist would be pointing out one verse saying they had the right to do so.

[SallyMander]

12. sad k&r. nt.

[Lorien]

14. Kick. I know it's not as enertaining as a lot of other stories today

but it's something we all need to know about-and make others aware of. This is yet ANOTHER reason to put all we can into clean, green renewables!

[mmonk]

15. Recommended. Thanks.

[The Doctor.]

16. The true sickness is the stark inability to 'put the shoe on the other foot'.

That's the core reason humans behave the way they do. No imagination, no empathy.

On 'Arguvation' sites, I often encounter RW idiots who cheer the acquittal of the marines in the Haditha incident, or otherwise give a pass to barbarism. So I turn it around, and ask them how they would feel if a foreign army murdered their family.

Very few answer. When they do, it's along the lines of; "It'll never happen here! We'd kick their ass!".

"Oh, so then you can understand why so many Iraqis are targeting American troops. Good for you."


They get all head-explody then.


It's a real deficiency in these people. They are so absolutely ego-centric and incapable of identifying with or imagining the plight of others, that they can justify anything with, "Well, they're not me, so who cares?"

[Cetacea]

17. "Many an Aborigine's mistaken for a tree"

Bang!' goes another kanga
On the bonnet of the van.
'See the light ram through the gaps in the land.'
Many an Aborigine's mistaken for a tree
'Til you near him on the motorway
And the tree begin to breathe.
'See the light ram through the gaps in the land.'

('Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha')

Coming in with the golden light
In the morning.
Coming in with the golden light
Is the New Man.
Coming in with the golden light
Is my dented van.

Woomera.

'Dree-ee-ee-ee-ee-
A-a-a-a-a-
M-m-m-m-m-
Ti-ti-ti-ti-ti-
I-i-i-i-i-
Me-me-me-me-me,'



The civilised keep alive
The territorial war.
'See the light ram through the gaps in the land.'
Erase the race that claim the place
And say we dig for ore,
Or dangle devils in a bottle
And push them from the Pull of the Bush.
'See the light ram through the gaps in the land.'
You find them in the road.
'See the light bounce off the rocks to the sand.'
In the road.

Coming in with the golden light
In the morning.
Coming in with the golden light
With no warning.
Coming in with the golden light
We bring in the rigging.
Dig, dig, dig, dig away.

'Dree-ee-ee-ee-ee-
A-a-a-a-a-
M-m-m-m-m-
Ti-ti-ti-ti-ti-
I-i-i-i-i-
Me-me-me-me-me,'


Ma-ma-many an Aborigine's mistaken for a tree
('La, la, oo-ooh!')
'See the light ram through the gaps in the land.'
You near him on the motorway
And the tree begin to breathe.
Erase the race that claim the place
And say we dig for ore.
'See the light ram through the gaps in the land.'
Dangle devils in a bottle
And push them from the Pull of the Bush.
'See the sun set in the hand of the man.'

'Bang!' goes another kanga
On the bonnet of the van.
'See the light bounce off the rocks to the sand.'
You find them in the road.
'See the light ram through the gaps in the land.'
In the road.
'See the light.'
('Push 'em from the')
Pull of the Bush.
'See the light bounce off the rocks to the sand.'
('Push 'em from the')
Pull of the Bush.
'See the sun set in the hand of the man.'

('Oh, re mikayina!')


Kate Bush

The Dreaming (1982)