{"id":1627775,"date":"2024-04-24T15:07:36","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T15:07:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/?p=1678000"},"modified":"2024-04-24T15:07:36","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T15:07:36","slug":"an-indigenous-tribe-is-facing-genocide-all-in-the-name-of-capitalist-settler-colonialism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2024\/04\/24\/an-indigenous-tribe-is-facing-genocide-all-in-the-name-of-capitalist-settler-colonialism\/","title":{"rendered":"An Indigenous tribe is facing genocide \u2013 all in the name of capitalist settler-colonialism"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Experts on Indigenous Peoples have warned that India’s controversial Great Nicobar Development <\/span>Project<\/span><\/a> must be scrapped. Crucially, their open <\/span>letter<\/span><\/a> demands that the Indian government alter course before they cause the extinction of the <\/span>Shompen<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, the letter follows a similar recent <\/span>warning<\/span><\/a> from 39 international genocide scholars. Importantly, they said that if the project goes ahead, Great Nicobar\u2019s Shompen People, who are mostly uncontacted, would be completely <\/span>wiped<\/span><\/a> out.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shompen: one of the most isolated tribes on Earth<\/h2>\n

The <\/span>Shompen<\/span><\/a> are one of the most isolated tribes on Earth. Since before records began, they have lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers, inhabiting the rainforests of Great Nicobar Island in the Indian Ocean. Whilst some Shompen have had limited contact with Indian officials, they mainly remain uncontacted, declining all interactions with outsiders.<\/span><\/p>\n

As non-profit Survival International wrote:<\/span><\/p>\n

They live in small groups, whose territories are identified by the rivers that criss-cross the rainforest. Being nomadic, they typically set up forest camps where they live for a few weeks or months, before moving to another site.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, scholars are warning that the Indian government project could lead to their extinction.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Indian experts include the former head of the <\/span>Anthropological<\/span><\/a> Survey of India. They took part in early government missions to attempt to contact the Sentinelese<\/a> tribe. Now, they advocate that:<\/span><\/p>\n

We should respect their wish to be left alone.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Moreover, t<\/span>he damning letter states that:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If this project is not scrapped, the Andaman and Nicobar Administration and the Government of India will be knowingly subjecting the indigenous communities of the Great Nicobar Island to irreversible damage, which will in due course lead to their extinction.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ultimately, the signatories concluded:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We urge the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to intervene immediately and put a halt to this project before it\u2019s too late.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Catastrophic transformation of the island<\/h2>\n

The Great Nicobar Development Project aims to <\/span>transform<\/span><\/a> the remote island into the \u201cHong Kong of India”. Alarmingly, if the government green lights the project, it will destroy huge areas of the Shompen\u2019s unique rainforest. <\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, in its place, it intends to build a $9bn development which will include a mega-port; a new city; an international airport; a power station; a defence base, and an industrial park. As a result, it will draw in 650,000 settlers. Significantly, this will mean a population increase of nearly 8,000%.<\/span><\/p>\n

Notably, the open letter <\/span>states<\/span><\/a> that Andaman & Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation Limited (ANIIDCO) has allowed a project which spans over 50% of the Tribal Reserve (166.10sq km), without even knowing the patterns of land used by the communities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As if this wasn\u2019t bad enough, the approvals granted for the project have <\/span>violated<\/span><\/a> multiple laws and policies that protect the rights of tribal communities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Given this, Survival International\u2019s director Caroline Pearce said:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the second time in a matter of months that a group of experts has demanded that the Great Nicobar Island Development Project is scrapped. Anyone with any knowledge of the Shompen and other uncontacted tribes knows that this project would completely destroy them – they simply won\u2019t survive the catastrophic transformation of their island that the Indian government is planning. No national development project can justify a genocide. Will the Indian authorities finally listen to their own experts, and <\/span>alter<\/span><\/a> their plans before it is too late and they have the extinction of the Shompen on their hands?<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The letter finished by pointing out:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In conclusion, if this project is not scrapped, the <\/span>A&N Administration<\/span><\/a> and the Government of India will be knowingly subjecting the indigenous communities of the Great Nicobar Island to irreversible damage, which will in due course lead to their extinction.<\/span><\/p>\n

The southern Great Nicobarese have barely recovered from the aftermath of the tsunami, and if the project is not stopped, they will be forced to see their ancestral land getting ravaged by pillars, earth cutters, and dredgers. The forest-dwelling Shompen community will be subjected to the unfathomable trauma of seeing a million trees cut.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
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Featured image via Survival International<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

By HG<\/a><\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on Canary<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Experts on Indigenous Peoples have warned that India\u2019s controversial Great Nicobar Development Project must be scrapped. Crucially, their open letter demands that the Indian government alter course before they cause the extinction of the Shompen.\u00a0 Moreover, the letter follows a similar recent warning from 39 international genocide scholars. Importantly, they said that if the project [\u2026]<\/p>\n

By HG<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34380,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441,5605,2106,393,452],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1627775"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34380"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1627775"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1627775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1627776,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1627775\/revisions\/1627776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1627775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1627775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1627775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}