LIVE AND LET LIVE

Sowmen Mitter

The news of an Amazonian Indian tribe trying to make contact with the outside world, beyond the confines of the thick of the forest they have been dwelling in for generations and somehow still surviving the onslaught of civilization has come to the fore and very obviously, jolted some of us out of the slumber, or rather smug indifference with which we have looked up to things thus far. It has set us thinking about how we are going to deal these indigenous people who have, so far, remained so detached and removed from the influence of the sophisticated world that it seems, it's not only unlikely for them to get along with it, but instead, will also be highly prone to falling prey to the germs their system has not developed any immunity to.

But what led them to try to establish contact with the settled population living in the flanks of the forest? It is alleged that it is because of the drug traffickers that they were compelled to go and seek help from the people living somewhat close to them; having felt somewhat uncannily that the people living on the outskirts might treat them with sympathy. And they did. Members of the Ashaninka community, themselves indigenous but settled, tried to help them out with clothes, while maintaining that it was for the first time in decades that the former group, still uncontacted, tried to pay a visit to the neighbouring village.

First, it was the loggers and now, it's the drug peddlers, as alleged, have made life so unbearable for them. Lust for lucre and complicity of the powers that be have made it possible. In this case, the manoeuvring parties concerned or their activities may be apparently unlawful, but that is just another stupefying paradox because when corporates are involved, things are made to appear lawful and sundry other obstacles or clearances, however insurmountable they may appear to be, are made to give way to the marauding magnets, and thereby  the complaisant politicians as well.

So, the need of the hour is to continually widen the scope and periphery of our awareness and if need be, take a check of our 'human quotient' at repeated intervals, while at the same time intensifying our zeal to resist. If it sounds funny, I am helpless. But that's how, I think, we can somehow ensure our passage to safety, however brittle and make a success of the motto, "Live and let live."

Indigenous people from a previously uncontacted tribe are filmed at Alto Envira, Acre State, by Brazil’s National Indian Foundation

EPA/Funai
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/video-shows-amazonian-indian-tribe-making-contact-with-brazil-village-9640077.html

Courtesy: http://waterfordwhispersnews.com