Posted on 02/16/2022 9:19:39 AM PST by Red Badger
A previously unknown uncontacted tribe has been confirmed for the first time by authorities in Brazil, according to Survival International, an organization that "champions tribal peoples around the world."
Very little is known about the tribe, but it’s already clear they are facing a myriad of threats ranging from organized violence to COVID-19.
The uncontacted tribe’s presence was recently verified by an official expedition by FUNAI, Brazil’s federal agency for indigenous affairs, in an area along the Purus River in the western Amazon region of Brazil. The expedition did not make contact with the tribe, but confirmed their presence after discovering numerous hunting shelters, baskets, pots, and bows in the area. Members of the expedition also heard members of the tribe talking nearby.
“They know very little about them, but in order to protect them and their land immediately, they don’t need to know who they are or what language they speak. The Land Protection Order can and should be declared in order to give FUNAI’s field team time and space to do more fieldwork to determine the size of their territory and an estimate of their population,” Fiona Watson, Advocacy and Research Director at Survival International, told IFLScience.
Unfortunately, the area is not protected, becoming increasingly infringed on by non-Indigenous settlers. Disease is one of many threats this brings. Rates of both malaria and COVID-19 are extremely high in the area, while vaccine rates are reportedly very low – which could spell catastrophe for a community with no immunity to the infections of the globalized world.
“They are under huge threat, especially from a chance encounter with the settlers who live in and use the reserve collecting nuts and other forest produce. The risk of them spreading malaria, COVID-19 or flu is high and any disease could be lethal to the uncontacted since they have little or no immunity to diseases transmitted by outsiders like flu, malaria, measles, etc,” explained Watson.
There is also the very real risk of violence. There have been reports in recent years of other uncontacted groups in the neighboring Amazon state being slaughtered by loggers, miners, or drug traffickers.
The threat of violence has dramatically increased under the administration of President Jair Bolsonaro, whose personal brand of far-right populism has spelled disaster for the Amazon rainforest and the people who live there. Alongside a long history of racist jokes about indigenous people, Bolsonaro has called indigenous reserves “an obstacle to agri-business” and called for the forced “integration” of uncontacted tribes.
Survival International is pushing FUNAI to take immediate action to ensure the survival of this newly confirmed tribe.
Firstly, they argue the federal agency needs to fund more expeditions to the tribes’ area to gain a better understanding of their population and territory. Secondly, they need to build a protection post in the area and put a health cordon along the border area of the territory. If they fail to act with urgency, Survival International believes the tribe could face extermination.
“It should place an immediate Land Protection Order on the uncontacted tribe’s territory and ensure that the local FUNAI field team has the capacity to monitor the territory to prevent incursions and possible contact,” added Watson.
The people living in uncontacted tribes are likely to inherit the Earth when World War 3 goes hot.
This reminds me of a supposedly true story I heard about Christian charities putting wells in a very rural village in Ghana.
They put in the wells and were very proud of themselves for their good deeds.
A year later one of the Christians visited the village to check on their progress.
All of the wells were capped in concrete and were not being used.
The natives refused to answer any questions about it.
Eventually the Christian went to a neighboring village and asked if they knew anything.
Those villagers laughed hysterically and started blushing.
They finally explained.
It turned out that before the Christians arrived the villagers sent their children out to the neighboring creek to fill water buckets in the middle of the day. The round trip took about an hour.
That was the most important hour in the day in the village—it was when the locals could have sex without being interrupted by the children.
As soon as the Christians left the village, life could get back to normal!
They find these same guys every two years.
Great factoid. There always seems to be an unforeseen variable. And these “higher IQ” imports most likely thought their level of intelligence was superior to these inferior savages. lol
I saw a news story about an island off the coast of India, where native guys were chucking spears at a helicopter. I’m sure the sight of a helicopter is beyond their comprehension.
If outside world settlers are encroaching on them, then they are sitting ducks for all sorts of illness. Their days will be numbered.
They live in a jungle infested with all types of diseases, malaria, yellow fever, parasites, Botflies, waterborne diseases, etc. They eat wild animals and plants and survive each and every day...............................
Do these natives wear masks? Maybe we should air drop some masks for them????
Sarcasm
They probably are happy, living like they do. Doubt it will last long though, now that they have been “discovered.”
How can they survive not wearing masks?
You may be thinking of the Andaman Islands. Indigenous islanders live on some remote islands which are off limits to outsiders. They are known to be ready and willing to kill visitors.
There are similarities to this and new senior management in the corporate world that starts making lots of changes.
There are reasons why people do what they do, and there may be very good reasons why the “locals” are not comfortable sharing that information with outsiders.
That is a major reason why so many corporate reorganizations and re-engineering projects end in failure.
Here we go again.... “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
Run tribal dudes, run!!
Any primitive people who are suddenly discovered by what is mistaken as civilization are doomed to misery and extinction.
Are there delinquents among their juvenile descendants? Are they smart enough to know enough to regulate their taxes, so that the poor can pay the rich to keep the poor flat on their asses? (Slightly Irreverent, by Paul Stookey)
I was mistaken. The lines were taken from “The African Song” by the Mitchel Trio.
Makes sense too. :)
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