FW: EMERGENCY AMONG THE MANSI PEOPLE

Mon Sep 16 08:22:55 UTC 2002

Forwarded, a lengthy message representing a recent discussion on the
Estonian UGRIMUGRI list. The discussion was provoked by a BBC story where (a
small group) of the Mansis were portrayed rather like pandas in a Chinese
zoo. The most constructive proposal so far came from Kirsikka Moring, a
Finnish journalist who has visited Mansi villages and was genuinely shocked
by what she saw. She is beginning to organise support for Mansi children
(daycare centres and schools) - her e-mail address is
kirsikka.moring at sanoma.fi. For further details see below.

Best,
Johanna
--
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Johanna Laakso
Institut für Finno-Ugristik der Universität Wien
Universitätscampus, Spitalg. 2-4 Hof 7, A-1090 Wien
Tel. +43 1 4277 43009 | Fax +43 1 4277 9430
johanna.laakso at univie.ac.at | http://mailbox.univie.ac.at/Johanna.Laakso/

----------
Von: "Toomas Help" <thelp at solo.ee>
Datum: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 09:42:46 +0300
An: <ugrimugri at lists.ut.ee>
Cc: <johanna.laakso at univie.ac.at>
Betreff: EMERGENCY AMONG THE MANSI PEOPLE

Tere!

Tegin meie listi MANSIDE HÄDA
arutelust ingliskeelse kokkuvõtte,
mida võiks ju ehk igaüks kellele
tahab ja kuidas tahab levitada
kui vaid iganes seda õigeks peab.
Ma loodan, et proua Kirsikka
Moring ka ei pahanda, et tema nimi
seal nõnda keskselt sees on.
Kui ma ise kaa kuidagi praktiliselt
kaasa aidata saan, teen seda kohe.
(Vaba raha mul praegu pole).

Toomas

-----
To Whoever It May Concern,

> Dear Friend,
>
> I thought maybe you would be interested
> in the following, rather passionate discussion
> concerning a small people in Siberia -
> the Mansi people - who are related to Finns,
> Estonians, and (most closely) Hungarians, and who
> seem to be in a very big trouble.
>
> I forward (and translate) you three messages
> from a chain of messages in our Finno-Ugrian
> Friends' mail list here in Estonia ("the ugrimugri list";
> ugrimugri at lists.ut.ee) that was initiated by a
> stupid coverage of the Mansi problems in
> a BBC programme on September 5, this year:
>
> (i) a message by a Finnish TV-reporter
> Kirsikka Moring,
> (ii) the original BBC story
> (iii) an example of a protest to the BBC coverage
>
> My point for writing to you, Dear Friend,
> lies is the words by Kirsikka Moring:
>
> > Jos joku teistä on aidosti kiinnostunut mansilasten tulevaisuudesta,
> ottakaa minuun yhteys. Ryhdyn järjestämään keräystä
> > IF ANYBODY OF TOU IS GENUINELY INTERESTED IN THE FUTURE OF THE MANSI
> PEOPLE,
> > CONTACT ME. I AM STARTING TO ORGANIZE A CHARITY SUBSCRIPTION
> > (rahan) lasten päiväkodeille ja kouluille.
> > (MONEY) FOR CHILDREN NURSERY SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLS>
>
> Yours,
> sincerely,
>
> Toomas Help,
> a paricipant in the "ugrimugri" list
>
> (i) THE MESSAGE BY MS. KIRSIKKA MORING
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Moring Kirsikka" <Kirsikka.Moring at sanoma.fi>
> To: <ugrimugri at lists.ut.ee>; "Pertti Pyhtilä" <pejupyht at cc.jyu.fi>
> Cc: <ural-lista at helsinki.fi>
> Sent: Friday, September 13, 2002 3:24 PM
> Subject: [ugrimugri:277] MANSIEN HÄTÄTILA
>                                       T H E  M A N S I  E M E R G E N C Y
>
> > Hei,
>    HI
> > eipä siinä BBC:n jutussa ihan moni muukaan asia täsmännyt. Oli enemmän
> fiktiota kuin faktaa, journalistista
> IN THAT BBC STORY THERE WERE A LOT OF OTHER INACCURACY AS WELL. THERE WAS
> MORE FICTION THAN FACT, JOURNALISTIC
> mielikuvitusta,  hyvin lennokasta...
> IMAGINATION, AND RATHER FULL OF SWING...
> > Olen viimeiset kaksi vuotta tehnyt Suomen TV 2:n Dokumenttiprojektille
> elokuvaa mansilapsista, ja viimeksi viime kesänä
> THE LAST TWO YEARS I HAVE BEEN WORKING FOR THE FINNISH TV2 DOCUMENTARY
> CHANNEL WITH A MOVIE ON MANSI CHILDREN AND PREVIOUSLY LAST SUMMER
> olimme kuvaajan kanssa mansikylissä Sosva- ym. Obin sivujoilla kolmisen
> viikkoa.
> WE WERE TOGETHER WITH THE OPERATOR IN MANSI VILLAGES ON THE SOSVA RIVER
AND
> OTHER TRIBUTARIES OF THE OB RIVER FOR THREE WEEKS.
> > Tilanne kylissä on kylläkin ERITTÄIN vaikea:
> THE SITUATION IN THE VILLAGES IS  E S P E C I A L L Y  DIFFICULT, INDEED:
> > sosiaalisesti, taloudellisesti, kielellisesti ja kulttuurisesti,
> terveydestä puhumattakaan, mutta aivan toisella tasolla, paljon
> SOCIALLY, ECONOMICALLY, LINGUISTICALLY AND CULTURALLY, NOT TO SPEAK ABOUT
> HEALTH,
> BUT ON A TOTALLY DIFFERENT LEVEL, ON A MUCH
> syvemmältä koskettavalla,  kuin BBC:n jutussa.
> MORE DEEPLY TOUCHING WAY, THAN IN THE BBC STORY.
> > Olen paljon kiertänyt Siperiaa, mutta mansien hätätila ylittää melkein
> kaiken aiemmin näkemäni.
> I HAVE BEEN TRAVELLED MUCH AROUND IN SIBERIA BUT THE MANSI EMERGENCY
> SURPASSES
> ALMOST ALL WHAT I HAD SEEN BEFORE.
> > Jos joku teistä on aidosti kiinnostunut mansilasten tulevaisuudesta,
> ottakaa minuun yhteys. Ryhdyn järjestämään keräystä
> IF ANYBODY OF TOU IS GENUINELY INTERESTED IN THE FUTURE OF THE MANSI
PEOPLE,
> CONTACT ME. I AM STARTING TO ORGANIZE A CHARITY SUBSCRIPTION
> (rahan) lasten päiväkodeille ja kouluille.
> (MONEY) FOR CHILDREN NURSERY SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLS
> > Kirsikka Moring,
> KIRSIKKA MORING
> > kulttuuritoimittaja
> TV-JOURNALIST ON CULTURAL ISSUES
>
> Kirsikka.Moring at sanoma.fi
>
> -----
>
> (ii) THE STUPID STORY IN BBC
>
> The starting point of the MANSI EMERGENCY DISCUSSION
> in our Finno-Ugric mailing list was the following:
>
> >>>>>
> BBC
> 5 September 2002
> Siberia's dying Mansi people
> By Alan Quartly
> Moscow
>
> It is not easy to find the Mansi people of the Urals.
>
> >>From the nearest small town, it is a six-hour, 150-kilometre,
bone-shaking
> drive through mud, swamps and woods - not to mention a few rickety wooden
> bridges across rivers, one of them considered sacred.
>
>
> And that is only if you can find the petrol for the truck and avoid the
> bears and wolves.
>
> What makes things even harder is that the Urals Mansi are a dying breed.
> The last census said there were only 194 left, spread out over isolated
> villages in the woods.
>
> In the village of Yurta Anyamova, the biggest settlement, we found 32 of
> the Mansi. They told us we were the first truck to get through to them
this
> year.
>
> One of 45 indigenous peoples living in Russia, the Ural Mansi speak a
> Finno-Ugric language. The name "mansi" means "forest-dweller".
>
> After years of state support under the Soviet system, they are now
> experiencing extreme difficulty in keeping their nation alive - literally.
>
> Wife shortage
>
> Added to the hardship of severe winters, which leave them cut off for
> months on end and reliant only on their traditional hunting skills, is a
> demographic crisis threatening to wipe them out.
>
> We met Prokopy Bakhtyarov, 31, outside his wooden house in the centre of
> the village.
>
> "Here in the village everyone's related, it's hard to find a wife. I'd
like
> to get married, to have a family, a house... you come home and
everything's
> ready, it's warm," he says.
>
> "But I don't know where I can find a wife. Everyone's trying to marry
> Russians and to leave the village."
>
> What that means is that the number of pure Urals Mansi is declining
> rapidly, now hovering around 150 in total.
>
> It was not always like that. In Tsarist Russia and then the USSR, the
Mansi
> flourished as a people, herding their reindeer in the woods of northern
> Russia, untroubled by what others called "civilisation".
>
> Traditions ran deep and the Mansi had there own rites of passage to secure
> a healthy future for their people.
>
> Hunched over a wooden table, Nina Anyamova is mincing a batch of moose
meat
> for today's meal. She remembers how things used to be.
>
> "Before, if a man liked a woman, his parents would buy her. They'd give
> them, say, 50 reindeer, or sable skins, if they had it.
>
> "Then the brides' parents visited the bridegroom's parents, then the other
> way round... That's how they used to do it. Sometimes the men would steal
> their brides."
>
> Match-making festival
>
> It has been a long time since anyone paid any attention to the plight of
> the Mansi, but things are slowly changing.
>
> Viktor Vakhrushev, a representative of the regional government, has come
to
> Yurta Anyamova to do his bit for the reproduction of the nation.
>
> His bosses have cooked up a plan to marry off as many of the Urals Mansi
as
> possible to partners in the neighbouring region of Khanty-Mansiisk, home
to
> a separate, but related, Mansi group.
>
> "For almost 17 years, their hasn't been a wedding here - the Mansi numbers
> are going down. There are potential brides and grooms, but there aren't
> many to match them with," he says.
>
> The Mansi need new blood - and the way to do it is by putting the southern
> Urals Mansi together with other Mansi living in the north."
>
> So Viktor and his colleagues have been photographing and interviewing the
> potential brides and grooms in both areas. They hope to bring them
together
> in a match-making festival later this year.
>
> Success story
>
> With seven slain bears to his name, Vasily Anyamov, 42, is reckoned to be
> the best hunter in the village.
>
> He is seen as one of the potential success stories in the campaign to save
> the Mansi.
>
> He has already fixed himself up with a northern Mansi bride - she is
called
> Raya, but so far she is still a helicopter ride away in the neighbouring
> region.
>
> When we visited him, he was consulting his Auntie Shura for tips on Mansi
> marriage traditions.
>
> "I want our tribe to multiply - there are so few left," he says. "I think
> mixed marriages are not good. It's best to marry within our own people.
> It's important to continue the nation, the traditions."
>
> While campaigns to protect indigenous groups have been high profile in
some
> areas of the world, Russia's native peoples have attracted little
attention.
>
> There used to be a whole ministry in Soviet times which, at least on the
> surface, defended their interests.
>
> The Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples (RAIPON) is doing its best
to
> raise the issue of peoples like the Mansi at an international level.
>
> According to the association's Rodion Sulyanziga, it is vital to do
> everything possible to help Russia's indigenous peoples.
>
> "It will be a tragedy for human society if a group such as the Mansi die
> out. Today indigenous people are like a last barrier between industrial
> development and the environment health," says Rodion.
>
> Living in the past
>
> But for some of the residents of Yurta Anyamova, it is already too late.
>
> With life expectancy a mere 42 for Mansi men, Roman Anyamov is facing a
> bleak future.
>
> He is 50 and now the oldest villager, after his two elder cousins died -
> one killed by a bear in the forest and the other dying of tuberculosis.
>
> He says his father told him of the northern Mansi girls - but for him the
> prospect of paying for a helicopter ride to find a bride is out of the
> question.
>
> He spends his days recording the traditions of his people - for him there
> is only history left.
>
> -----
>
> (iii) ONE OF THE FIRST REACTIONS
> TO THE BBC STUFF IN OUR UGRIMUGRI LIST
>
> This unbelievably superficial coverage created
> much anxiety, e.g. as expressed by Mr. Pertti Pyhtilä
> (a Finn who worked for many years as the Director of
> the Finnish Culture Centre in Tartu, now in Jyväskylä, Finland):
>
> > > Lähettäjä: Pertti Pyhtilä[SMTP:pejupyht at cc.jyu.fi]
> > > Lähetetty: 12. syyskuuta 2002 21:46
> > > Vastaanottaja: ugrimugri at lists.ut.ee
> > > Kopio: ural-lista at helsinki.fi
> > > Aihe:  [ural] RE: [ugrimugri:270] Re: Fwd: BBC News Online  (MSG0013)
> > >
> > > KIRJUTASIN BBC:le nii:
>        I WROTE TO THE BBC AS FOLLOWS:
> > >
> > > "Subject: Mansis are THOUSANDS - not 194
> > >
> > > I was shocked on the next article:
> > >
> > > "BBC
> > > 5 September 2002
> > > Siberia's dying Mansi people
> > > By Alan Quartly
> > > Moscow
> > >
> > > It is not easy to find the Mansi people of the Urals.
> > >
> > > >>From the nearest small town, it is a six-hour, 150-kilometre,
> > > >>bone-shaking drive through mud, swamps and woods - not to mention a
> > > few rickety wooden bridges across rivers, one of them considered
sacred.
> > > /- - -/ What makes things even harder is that the Urals Mansi are a
> > > dying breed. The last census said there were only 194 left, spread out
> > > over isolated villages in the woods."
> > >
> > > - because we visited Khanty-Mansijsk some years ago and THERE IS
> > > THOUSANDS OF MANSIS LIVING AND ACTIVELY TAKING CARE OF THEIR
TRADITIONS:
> > > http://www.suri.ee/eup/mansis.html
> > >
> > > See also this: http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/mansis.shtml
> > >
> > > "/- - -/ 1989 = 8474. In 1979 the number of people who considered
Mansi
> > > their native language was 3742, in 1989 the number was 3140."
> > >
> > > Please DO GIVE ME and MY COLLEAGUES SOME KIND OF EXPLANATION???
> > >
> > > Pertti Pyhtilä
> > > Taitoniekantie 9 A 109, FIN-40740 JYVÄSKYLÄ, Finland
> > > puh. +358-40-5838910, +358-14-607009; +372-51-42731
> > > Pertti.Pyhtila at jyu.fi
>
>
> As a result, this created a very passionate
> discussion in our "ugrimugri"-list of which
> the message by Ms. Kirsikka Moring above
> was, in my opinion, the most constructive one.
>
> -----------------
>
> Dear Friend,
>
> could you or anybody you know contribute
> somehow to the Mansi emergency? What do you
> think?
>
> Yours,
> Toomas

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