USA to intervene Siberia? (fwd)

[Scott DeLancey]

Leaving aside the question of possible U.S. designs on Siberian
natural resources, notice that the main conclusion of this story is
the same old same old:

> another master. The relic tribes fit this purpose. But there is a
> problem ? there are only 15 people in this tribe, and they forgot their
> dialect. However, if there is no tribe, it should be invented.
>
> Specialists are hired. Native peoples are made of the fragments of tiny
> tribes, attempts are made to restore their genuine language.

In other words, "yes, what happened to these people is tragic, but it's
over, it's too late, forget about all this leftover language stuff, it's
time to move on".
     Haven't we heard that once or twice before?

     I have no trouble imagining that U.S. government and business
interests might have designs on Siberia.  I have a lot of trouble
imagining that they would try and concoct a justification for some
imperialistic action based on the rights of Siberian indigenous people.
The U.S., for obvious reasons, has never been sympathetic to that kind of
issue anywhere.  What we have here, unfortunately, is one more attempt
to discredit indigenous rights issues by mixing them up with world
politics--exactly like blaming native rights movements on "communist"
meddling in the old days.

Scott DeLancey
Department of Linguistics
1290 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1290, USA

delancey at darkwing.uoregon.edu
http://www.uoregon.edu/~delancey/prohp.html

On Fri, 2 Apr 2004, phil cash cash wrote:

> USA to intervene Siberia? - 04/02/2004 18:38
> http://english.pravda.ru/printed.html?news_id=12412
>
> The USA is getting ready to interfere in Russian domestic policy under
> the excuse of protecting human rights.
>
> The real cause of this interfering will be the oil-bearing territory of
> Siberia populated by small native peoples.
>
> The Wall Street Journal suddenly became interested in the native peoples
> of Siberia. The newspaper of the US business told its readers about the
> peoples of Siberia who are dying out, and the efforts of brave
> linguists on restoring the disappearing language of Khant people.
> American business is unlikely to be altruistic, this all is about
> controlling the oil-bearing Siberian regions. The easiest way to get
> hold of Siberian oil is using the native Siberian peoples as a tool.
>
> The Wall Street Journal wrote about 71-year old Elizaveta Sigiletova,
> one of the last bearers of the Khant language which is on the brink of
> disappearance after being attacked by Russian language. The lady was
> forced to speak Russian since she went to school, and this made her
> forget much of her native language. She was able to produce only
> several words in Khant.
>
> Being the crossroad of migration flows since the Stone Age, the forests
> of Siberia preserved the cultures of dozens of tribes, such as Saami,
> Karels, Veps, Mori and others. Rusification of the last 30-50 years
> brought these peoples on the brink of extinction.
>
> In the 18th century Slavs came here to introduce Christianity. The
> revolution of 1917 brought many changes. The Bolsheviks started
> implementing their idea to make minorities Soviet citizens. They put
> Khant children in boarding schools and their parents in the kolkhoz
> (collective farms), and requested them to speak Russian. In 1960 oil
> was discovered in Siberia, and millions of Russian-speaking oil
> industry workers arrived in the region.
>
> <?>
>
> Demoralized Khants accepted Russian way of life. Some of them became
> alcoholics (they drink vodka and home-brew). ?Russians keep telling us
> that we could neither write nor read before their arrival. Well, they
> brought culture, literacy and education, but they destroyed our way of
> life, says Klavdia Demko, one of the Khant activists.
>
> It does not matter to the Wall Street Journal that the tiny tribes were
> never engaged in oil industry and forgot their native language. The
> most important thing is to demonstrate that besides Russia, Siberia has
> another master. The relic tribes fit this purpose. But there is a
> problem ? there are only 15 people in this tribe, and they forgot their
> dialect. However, if there is no tribe, it should be invented.
>
> Specialists are hired. Native peoples are made of the fragments of tiny
> tribes, attempts are made to restore their genuine language.
>
> The Tomsk University linguists working on restoring the Khant language,
> are depicted as enthusiasts. The US leading media outlet for business
> is unlikely to write about enthusiasts. The interest of Americans to
> Khants in Siberian taiga looks suspicious.
>
> The USA is good in creating countries from nothing. In the beginning of
> the 20th century the USA was in need of controlling the Panama Canal.
> The States made everything possible to separate a part from Columbia
> and establish new state Panama. The USA made an agreement with Panama
> on leasing a part of its territory for constructing Panama Canal. Later
> it was detected, that the US citizen signed the agreement on behalf of
> Panama. The fake country was established, its fake people received
> freedom and independence, Americans benefited from using the Panama
> Canal.
>
> Today oil-bearing Siberia can become in the role of Panama. The article
> in the Wall Street Journal is just the first attempt. By starting the
> fight for the rights of Khants oppressed by Russians, control over
> Siberian oil can be obtained. And this, one should expect no mercy.
> Americans are excited with the way of life of the relic tribes living
> in nomads tents, and irritated with Russians who brought civilization
> in the area. It looks like Americans are preparing new Panama in
> Siberia.
>
> Yaroslav Rodin.
>