Video of tribe's first contact shows both tension and friendly overtures

[Judi Lynn]

Video of tribe's first contact shows both tension and friendly overtures

Video of tribe's first contact shows both tension and friendly overtures
By Heather Pringle 31 July 2014 5:30 pm

Today the Brazilian Indian affairs department, FUNAI, posted an 8-minute video (also above) of a complex contact episode between members of an isolated tribe and outsiders, some of whom appear to be Brazilian officials. Seven tribespeople first made contact in late June along the Upper Envira River in western Brazil, and subsequently contracted influenza. After being treated by a FUNAI medical team, the tribespeople, ranging in age from about 12 to 21, returned to their Amazon forest village.

The video shows young tribesmen, all male, interacting with what appears to be the Brazilian government contact team and local villagers. In the first 2 minutes of video, the young men gesture from across a river at officials and villagers. According to anthropologist Kim Hill of Arizona State University, Tempe, they frequently repeat words in the Panoan language family meaning “friend” as well as “good or beautiful.” Later (minute 3:04), the tribesmen accept bananas, a welcome gift of exchange among isolated people in the area. But one appears to be carrying a rifle (minute 3:40). And the young men then take cloth, a machete, and an ax from a household, (minute 6:18), despite repeated shouts of “No!”

FUNAI has a history of filming contacts with tribal people and making them public, and these videos are valuable, says anthropologist Robert Walker of the University of Missouri, Columbia. “It’s kind of good to know what happened, and it shows how complicated these situations are,” Walker says.

But Walker is struck by the strained nature of some of the filmed episodes. The young tribesmen in the video, “want axes, machetes, and cloths, and they probably want food,” he says. “But FUNAI did not provide this for them, because they are so completely underfunded.”

There was plenty of opportunity for misunderstanding, he adds. “It’s not like a nice, sustained contact. Things are still really sketchy.”

http://news.sciencemag.org/latin-america/2014/07/video-tribes-first-contact-shows-both-tension-and-friendly-overtures

[Judi Lynn]

1. Tribe Emerges from Brazilian Jungle Possibly for First Time

Tribe Emerges from Brazilian Jungle Possibly for First Time
Thursday, July 31, 2014 at 3:00PM by AuthorJeanette Torres

(RIO DE JANEIRO) -- A remarkable video shows a group of indigenous people coming into contact with the outside world, possibly for the very first time.

The group of men are believed to be natives of Peru but they were filmed in northern Brazil on the banks of the Envira River, which runs near the Peruvian border. It's not clear when the encounter took place, but the video was released on Thursday by the Brazilian indigenous authority FUNAI.

The tribal men are naked except for belts and loincloths and carrying different weapons at points in the eight-minute video.

A few of the tribal men are seen with markings on their faces and they all have styled their dark black hair in a similar bowl-cut fashion.

Some are holding bows-and-arrows or spears, and at one point one of the men blatantly steals a machete-type knife while another takes an ax from a settlement, despite shouts of protest by the villagers. Another member of their group grabs a blue material that looks like either a towel or a piece of clothing.

Brazilian authorities have not identified the group, but were able to determine that the dialect of the language that they're speaking is a form of the Panoan linguistic group.

More:
http://abcnewsradioonline.com/world-news/tribe-emerges-from-brazilian-jungle-possibly-for-first-time.html

[Judi Lynn]

2. Ekklesia UK: 'Massacre'reported by uncontacted Indians as rare video emerges

'Massacre'reported by uncontacted Indians as rare video emerges
By agency reporter
1 Aug 2014

Rare video footage of the first contact with a group of uncontacted Indians near the Brazil-Peru border has emerged alongside new accounts of horrific violence against their community, prompting experts to call for the urgent protection of their land or risk their “extermination” and “genocide”.

The video clip was released by FUNAI, Brazil’s indigenous affairs department, and first published by 'Amazonia Blog'. It shows several young and healthy Indians exchanging goods such as bananas. But disturbing reports by the Indians suggest that many of their elder relatives were massacred and their houses set on fire.

Interpreter Zé Correia reported, “The majority of old people were massacred by non-Indians in Peru, who shot at them with firearms and set fire to the houses of the uncontacted. They say that many old people died and that they buried three people in one grave. They say that so many people died that they couldn’t bury them all and their corpses were eaten by vultures.”

The uncontacted Indians are thought to have fled violence in Peru, and made contact with the settled Ashaninka community and agents of FUNAI at the end of June. The Indians were treated for an acute respiratory infection, to which they have no resistance, and kept in quarantine for several days before returning to the forest.

According to experts, tragedy in the form of an epidemic was narrowly averted, but they warn that FUNAI lacks the resources and staff to respond to similar incidents in future. Guard posts in the area were closed after being ransacked by drug traffickers in 2011.

. . .

* Video footage of the first contact and accounts of the incident can be viewed here: https://ninja.oximity.com/article/Blog-da-Amaz%C3%B4nia-Exclusivo-V-3

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/20698

[Judi Lynn]

3. 'Massacre' of Uncontacted Tribe in Peru Revealed in New Reports

'Massacre' of Uncontacted Tribe in Peru Revealed in New Reports
LiveScience.com
By by Megan Gannon, News Editor
4 hours ago

Updated Friday, Aug. 1, at 9:30 a.m. ET.

An indigenous tribe living near the Brazil-Peru border may be facing violent attacks from illegal loggers and drug traffickers who are exploiting the densely forested region, according to an advocacy group.

After years of living in isolation from the outside world, several young members of this "uncontacted" tribe recently entered a nearby settled community in Brazil. Through interpreters, they told harrowing stories about their encounters in the forests.

"The majority of old people were massacred by non-Indians in Peru, who shot at them with firearms and set fire to the houses of the uncontacted," an interpreter named Zé Correia reported through Survival International, a group that advocates for tribal people's rights. "They say that many old people died, and that they buried three people in one grave. They say that so many people died that they couldn't bury them all and their corpses were eaten by vultures."

In late June, a few members of the tribe emerged from the forest and voluntarily made contact with Ashaninka people in the village of Simpatia, in Brazil's Acre state. FUNAI, Brazil's indigenous affairs department, released a video clip of this initial contact today (July 31) that shows young tribe members exchanging bananas and other goods.

FUNAI representatives learned that these people had walked several days to Simpatia from their home turf within Peru's borders. Most of the tribe members appeared healthy at first. But after several visits to Simpatia, some showed flu-like symptoms. Earlier this month, seven of them were treated for acute respiratory infections.

More:
http://news.yahoo.com/massacre-uncontacted-tribe-peru-revealed-reports-134158121.html

[Judi Lynn]

4. In Brazil, Uncontacted Indians Tell a Horror Tale of a Massacre Against Them

In Brazil, Uncontacted Indians Tell a Horror Tale of a Massacre Against Them
2014 - July 2014
Written by Newsroom
Friday, 01 August 2014 23:04

Rare video footage of the first contact with a group of uncontacted Indians near the Brazil-Peru border has emerged alongside new accounts of horrific violence against their community, prompting experts to call for the urgent protection of their land or risk their "extermination" and "genocide".

The video clip was released by FUNAI, Brazil's indigenous affairs department, and first published by "Amazônia Blog" maintained by journalist Altino Machado and shows several young and healthy Indians exchanging goods such as bananas. But disturbing reports by the Indians suggest that many of their elder relatives were massacred and their houses set on fire.

Interpreter Zé Correia reported, "The majority of old people were massacred by non-Indians in Peru, who shot at them with firearms and set fire to the houses of the uncontacted. They say that many old people died and that they buried three people in one grave. They say that so many people died that they couldn't bury them all and their corpses were eaten by vultures."

The uncontacted Indians are thought to have fled violence in Peru, and made contact with the settled Ashaninka community and agents of FUNAI at the end of June. The Indians were treated for an acute respiratory infection, to which they have no resistance, and kept in "quarantine" for several days before returning to the forest.

More:
http://www.brazzilmag.com/component/content/article/136-july-2014/13114-in-brazil-uncontacted-indians-tell-a-horror-tale-of-a-massacre-against-them.html