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<p class=MsoNormal>FYI… The article frames a dilemma in terms of “whether
to leave them [isolated peoples] to their fate or to assimilate them into the
larger world before they are extinguished.” I assume the range of options
is not quite that simple. Pardon the dumb question, but are indigenous groups
of any sort involved in initial contacts, or is this still an area dominated by
people from the dominant cultures?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Twilight for the Forest People<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/weekinreview/08wilford.html<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Published: June 8, 2008<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>The world is closing in on the few remaining people who live
in such remote isolation as to seem not of this world.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>…<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>A reminder of their situation came recently with the
publication of aerial photographs of the encampment of a tribe in the upper
reaches of the Amazon River in Brazil, near the border with Peru. The pictures
showed a line of neat huts and people looking up at the small airplane. Two
men, their faces and bodies painted red, raised bows and arrows as a pointed
warning to the intruder.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>As survivors whose continued survival is very much in doubt,
these last primitive tribes hidden away in the planet’s most remote
reaches pose a dilemma for their would-be protectors: whether to leave them to
their fate or to assimilate them into the larger world before they are
extinguished.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Neither course promises a happy ending.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>If they remain isolated, these populations may cling to
their way of life a little longer. Some have moved deeper into the rainforest,
away from encroaching loggers and oil prospectors. But the bulldozers and saws
seem destined to end their solitude.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>If they are removed and survive the exposure to diseases
they have never encountered, it is likely that the unique knowledge and beliefs
that define them, the spirit of their life, will probably slip away.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>The Brazilian government’s National Indian Foundation,
Funai, came upon the encampment as it was making one of its regular patrols of
the scattered settlements of tribes in the State of Acre who are thought to
have had little direct contact with the outside world. The picture-taking plane
had no intention of landing: it was only checking the location and apparent
well-being of the people.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Survival International, a London-based organization
supporting the cause of struggling indigenous people, estimates that at least
100 similarly isolated tribes remain in the world, about half of them in Brazil
and Peru.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>…<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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