Brazilian government rejects calls for forced contact with isolated Amazonian tribes
Source: Reuters
Brazilian government rejects calls for forced contact with isolated Amazonian tribes
by Jo Griffin | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Thursday, 7 July 2016 17:24 GMT
Contact can lead to loss of land and resources to violent outsiders, exposure to diseases and loss of autonomy, authorities say
By Jo Griffin
LONDON, July 7 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The Brazilian government has strongly criticized a call by two U.S. anthropologists to force contact with South America's most isolated tribes to ensure their survival.
In an open letter signed by 18 experts, Brazil's Department of Indigenous Affairs (FUNAI) on Thursday rejected Robert Walker and Kim Hills' suggestion that remaining hidden was "not viable in the long term" for the estimated 50 to 100 remaining tribes in Brazil who have had no contact with the outside world.
The professors, from the University of Missouri and Arizona State University, argued in an article published last year in Science magazine that "controlled contact is the only possible strategy for protecting these people".
But FUNAI specialists said contact carries greater dangers including the loss of land and resources to violent outsiders, exposure to diseases such as measles and flu to which they have no immunity and the loss of autonomy and self determination.
Read more: http://news.trust.org/item/20160707172449-idky0/?source=fiOtherNews2
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)I hope they're left alone.
christx30
(6,241 posts)from having a Starbucks and McDonalds in their area?
That's my roundabout way of 100% agreeing with you. I hope they are able to keep their independence. I hope the government of Brazil protects them from having their land stolen. It's happened far too many times. Those tribes have nothing to gain from forced contact, and everything to lose.
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,350 posts)Trump could be our ambassador to Brazil, if Clinton's secretary of state so chooses.
christx30
(6,241 posts)with a permanent home there. Fully furnished, of course.
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,350 posts)Much cooler then.
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)the sooner they'll be exposed to country music, which is objectively and very literally the worst thing that can happen to any life form.