<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div>Thanks for that perspective, Stan. I was just thinking the article makes the issue very one-sided.</div><div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><br><div style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px"><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> Stan Anonby <stan-sandy_anonby@sil.org><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> Language Policy List <lgpolicy-list@groups.sas.upenn.edu><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Tue, April 13, 2010 1:13:45 AM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [lg policy] Not exactly language policy, but close: Tribes of Amazon Find an Ally Out of ‘Avatar’<br></font><br>I live in
Brazil, and my work takes me to these remote areas. Most people <br>I've met are quite happy to give up their traditional life. Life lived in a <br>traditional society is extremely hard. I saw the video which accompanied the <br>NYT report, and some of the indigenous people in it were clearly city <br>dwellers. I wonder how much of a grass roots protest this really is? <br>Sometimes these battles remind me a bit of the Cold War. The two opposing <br>groups are actually based in cities in the industrialized world, and the <br>Amazonians are doing their work by proxy.<br><br>Stan<br><br>----- Original Message ----- <br>From: "Harold Schiffman" <<a ymailto="mailto:hfsclpp@gmail.com" href="mailto:hfsclpp@gmail.com">hfsclpp@gmail.com</a>><br>To: "lp" <<a ymailto="mailto:lgpolicy-list@groups.sas.upenn.edu" href="mailto:lgpolicy-list@groups.sas.upenn.edu">lgpolicy-list@groups.sas.upenn.edu</a>><br>Sent: Sunday, April 11, 2010 12:56 PM<br>Subject:
[lg policy] Not exactly language policy, but close: Tribes of <br>Amazon Find an Ally Out of ‘Avatar’<br><br><br>> Tribes of Amazon Find an Ally Out of ‘Avatar’<br>><br>> André Vieira for The New York Times<br>> The director James Cameron backs efforts to halt the building of a dam<br>> in Brazil.<br>><br>> By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO<br>> Published: April 10, 2010<br>><br>><br>> VOLTA GRANDE DO XINGU, Brazil — They came from the far reaches of the<br>> Amazon, traveling in small boats and canoes for up to three days to<br>> discuss their fate. James Cameron, the Hollywood titan, stood before<br>> them with orange warrior streaks painted on his face, comparing the<br>> threats on their lands to a snake eating its prey.<br>><br>><br>><br>> André Vieira for The New York Times<br>><br>> The Arara tribe, who live along the Xingu River in Brazil, are among<br>> the indigenous peoples who
oppose a proposed dam.<br>><br>> “The snake kills by squeezing very slowly,” Mr. Cameron said to more<br>> than 70 indigenous people, some holding spears and bows and arrows,<br>> under a tree here along the Xingu River. “This is how the civilized<br>> world slowly, slowly pushes into the forest and takes away the world<br>> that used to be,” he added.<br>><br>> As if to underscore the point, seconds later a poisonous green snake<br>> fell out of a tree, just feet from where Mr. Cameron’s wife sat on a<br>> log. Screams rang out. Villagers scattered. The snake was killed. Then<br>> indigenous leaders set off on a dance of appreciation, ending at the<br>> boat that took Mr. Cameron away. All the while, Mr. Cameron danced<br>> haltingly, shaking a spear, a chief’s feathery yellow and white<br>> headdress atop his head.<br>><br>> In the 15 years since he wrote the script for “Avatar,” his epic
tale<br>> of greed versus nature, Mr. Cameron said, he had become an avid<br>> environmentalist. But he said that until his trip to the Brazilian<br>> Amazon last month, his advocacy was mostly limited to the<br>> environmentally responsible way he tried to live his life: solar and<br>> wind energy power his Santa Barbara home, he said, and he and his wife<br>> drive hybrid vehicles and do their own organic gardening.<br>><br>> “Avatar” — and its nearly $2.7 billion in global tickets sales — has<br>> changed all that, flooding Mr. Cameron with kudos for helping to<br>> “emotionalize” environmental issues and pleas to get more involved.<br>><br>> Now, Mr. Cameron said, he has been spurred to action, to speak out<br>> against the looming environmental destruction endangering indigenous<br>> groups around the world — a cause that is fueling his inner rage and<br>> inspiring his work on an
“Avatar” sequel.<br>><br>> “Any direct experience that I have with indigenous peoples and their<br>> plights may feed into the nature of the story I choose to tell,” he<br>> said. “In fact, it almost certainly will.” Referring to his Amazon<br>> trip, he added, “It just makes me madder.”<br>><br>> Mr. Cameron is so fired up, in fact, that he said he was planning to<br>> go back to the Amazon this week, this time with Sigourney Weaver and<br>> at least another member of the “Avatar” cast in tow.<br>><br>> The focus is the huge Belo Monte dam planned by the Brazilian<br>> government. It would be the third largest in the world, and<br>> environmentalists say it would flood hundreds of square miles of the<br>> Amazon and dry up a 60-mile stretch of the Xingu River, devastating<br>> the indigenous communities that live along it. For years the project<br>> was on the shelf, but the government
now plans to hold an April 20<br>> auction to award contracts for its construction.<br>><br>> Stopping the dam has become a fresh personal crusade for the director,<br>> who came here as indigenous leaders from 13 tribes held a special<br>> council to discuss their last-ditch options. It was Mr. Cameron’s<br>> first visit to the Amazon, he said, even though he based the fictional<br>> planet in “Avatar” on Amazon rain forests. Still, he found the<br>> real-life similarities to the themes in his movie undeniable.<br>><br>> The dam is a “quintessential example of the type of thing we are<br>> showing in ‘Avatar’ — the collision of a technological civilization’s<br>> vision for progress at the expense of the natural world and the<br>> cultures of the indigenous people that live there,” he said.<br>><br>> Mr. Cameron said that he was writing a letter to President Luiz Inácio<br>> Lula da
Silva urging him to reconsider the dam and that he would press<br>> for a meeting with the president. “They need to listen to these people<br>> here,” he said.<br>><br>> Mr. Cameron, 55, first encountered the cause in February, after being<br>> presented with a letter from advocacy organizations and Native<br>> American groups saying they wanted Mr. Cameron to highlight “the real<br>> Pandoras in the world,” referring to the lush world under assault in<br>> his movie.<br>><br>> Atossa Soltani, executive director of Amazon Watch, who accompanied<br>> him on his trip last month, said Mr. Cameron lit up at the idea of<br>> learning more, saying he had grown up in the Canadian woods and had<br>> even logged thousands of hours underwater exploring the world’s<br>> oceans.<br>><br>> As for Mr. Cameron’s Amazon adventure, it got off to a rocky start.<br>> The boat he traveled to the village in
flooded when a hose became<br>> disconnected. Mr. Cameron chipped in, grabbing a plastic bucket to<br>> help bail for a few hours in the searing midday heat, he and others on<br>> the boat said.<br>><br>> Many of the indigenous leaders he was planning to meet with had never<br>> heard of him before, much less seen his movie. All they knew was that<br>> “a powerful ally” would be attending their gathering, Ms. Soltani<br>> said.<br>><br>> So, the night before Mr. Cameron and his wife, Suzy Amis, arrived with<br>> three bodyguards, a dozen or so villagers gathered in the house of<br>> José Carlos Arara, the chief of the Arara tribe here, to watch a DVD<br>> of “Avatar.”<br>><br>> “What happens in the film is what is happening here,” said Chief Arara, <br>> 30.<br>><br>> The morning after Mr. Cameron’s party arrived in the village, Chief<br>> Arara led them on a walk through the rain
forest. Mr. Cameron, almost<br>> mirroring the enraptured scientists in his movie, was calm but<br>> wide-eyed, peppering the chief with questions about the local fauna<br>> and flora and traditional indigenous ways. In seconds, the chief<br>> showed how he could fashion ankle braces from leaves to help him scale<br>> an açaí tree.<br>><br>> The leaders then invited Mr. Cameron to participate in their meeting.<br>> He sat at a small wooden school desk as they made speeches condemning<br>> the impending dam and the Brazilian government. Mr. Cameron seemed to<br>> tear up when some leaders said they would be willing to die to stop<br>> the dam.<br>><br>> Finally, Mr. Cameron was asked to speak. He stood and complimented the<br>> leaders on their unity, saying they needed to fight off efforts by the<br>> government to divide them and weaken their resistance.<br>><br>> “That is what can stop the snake;
that is what can stop the dam,” he said.<br>><br>> A rush of applause swept through the crowd. When the real snake fell<br>> from the tree, the director seemed unfazed. After clearing it away,<br>> indigenous leaders thanked him with gifts. One gave him a spear,<br>> another a black and red necklace of seeds. A third, Chief Jaguar from<br>> the Kaiapo nation, one of Brazil’s most respected, gave him his<br>> headdress before the dances in Mr. Cameron’s honor began.<br>><br>> “It’s not like there is any pressure on me or anything,” he said,<br>> half-joking, moments before boarding the boat. “These people really<br>> are looking for me to do something about their situation. We have to<br>> try to stop this dam. Their whole way of life, their society as they<br>> know it, depends on it.”<br>><br>> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/world/americas/11brazil.html?src=me&ref=general"
target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/world/americas/11brazil.html?src=me&ref=general</a><br>><br>> -- <br>> **************************************<br>> N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to<br>> its members<br>> and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner<br>> or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents.<br>> Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal.<br>> (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br>><br>> For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to<br>> <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>> listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>> *******************************************<br>><br>> _______________________________________________<br>> This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list<br>> <a
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