fPcN interCultural:

friends of Peoples close to Nature

The Guarani Indians of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul suffered a setback last week when FUNAI, the government's Indian affairs department, suddenly suspended studies being carried out to identify their territories.

FUNAI’s president Mercio Meira arrived in the state capital to be greeted by a demonstration of farmers opposed to Guarani land rights.
After a tense meeting with the state governor and rural producers' associations, Meira temporarily suspended the studies. Survival has just received reports that they have been resumed.

The Lani Singers will be special guests on BBC Radio 3 this Saturday 27th September, when they make an appearance on the World Routes show.
Deeply emotive and compelling, their songs are rooted in the sacred rituals of the Lani tribe – a tribe whose way of living has remained largely unchanged since the Stone Age. But their music has also come to embody a powerful modern day message - the struggle that their fellow people endure under a brutal and illegal Indonesian occupation.

Two hundred and ninety one Papuan tribal people have died from cholera since April this year in West Papua, Indonesia, according to local church officials, sparking fears of a major epidemic.

In 1961, a global cholera pandemic began in Indonesia. It spread rapidly to other countries in Asia, Europe, Africa and finally, in 1991, to Latin America. There were nearly 400,000 cases and over 4,000 deaths from cholera in the Americas that year.

A cut together compilation from a number of films with voice commentary by a Papua activist. This is a good introduction to this border conflict between tribal culture and civilisation. Ripped from the DVD "Indigenous Resistance in New Guinea"

made by Solidarity South Pacific: www.eco-action.org/ssp - respect!

The ongoing logging of the state forests in northern Finland for years has reached now the potential to wipe out very soon the Saami reindeer herding economy. The film describes the deforestation in Finland and the extinction of the Saami culture.

Revolutionary Anti Colonialism & Anti Capitalism in the Pacific.

"Australia and NZ remained unrepentant for their brutal suppression of indigenous independence movements in the Pacific. They rationalized such behaviour as enhancing the welfare of the Islands and the human development of their people – just as they justified similar behaviour towards indigenous peoples in their own countries"

by Ana
Kulin Nations,
Occupied Aboriginal Australia

Indigenist Intelligence Review from Angry Indian.

IIR Editorial Policy:
"We called for the creation of a network of independent media, a network of information.... We need this network not only as a tool for our social movements but for our lives: this is a project of life, humanity -- humanity which has a right to critical and truthful information.."

A month-long blockade of logging roads by indigenous people in the state of Sarawak, Malaysia set to protest illegal logging on their communal lands is about to be broken up by police.

More than 100 indigenous Kenyah people gathered at the blockade site on the upper Moh River on the island of Borneo claim that the blockade is their only way of calling on representatives of the Samling Timber Company and government authorities to have a consultation and meet with them to listen to their problems and demands.

TOKYO -- Japan on Friday moved to recognize the Ainu as an indigenous people, pledging to support the traditionally nature-worshipping community that has endured centuries of discrimination

It is a landmark move for Japan, which has prided itself on being ethnically homogeneous but where the Ainu have sharply lower incomes and educational levels, according AFP.

The upper house of parliament voted 231-0 to adopt the resolution on the Ainu. The lower house was expected to follow suit with a unanimous vote later in the day, parliament officials and lawmakers said.

Indonesian Military & Police’s alcohol business kills Papuans

* Illegal alcohol business run by Indonesian Military & Police
* Alcohol smuggled in on Indonesian military transports
* Hundreds of Papuans are victims of alcohol poisoning
* Regent’s wife is one of main illegal alcohol traders

(Tanah Merah [red earth], Boven Digoel is in the south of West Papua, near the PNG border)

http://maroke.wordpress.com/2008/06/05/bisnis-miras-tni-polri-di-boven-d...

This is the story of the Dani, capturing a glimpse of their daily lives. Content with their basic life in the mountains, strong western influences are now severely changing the way they live. The film is made by Clara Collins, new member of fPcN South Africa.

The Akha Heritage Foundation, a partner organisation of fPcN, speaks at the UN HQ about Akha Human Rights issues. The film is made by fPcN UK.

An Interview with Roy Sesana, Botswana Bushmen and founder of the "First People of the Kalahari". He is the winner of the Alternative Nobelprize 2005. The Film is made by fPcN Germany.

Benny Wenda, the leader of the Koteka Tribal Assembly and founder of the Free West Papua Campaign UK (partner organisation of fPcN), speaks at the UN Human Right Commission in 2005. Benny Wenda came with the help of fPcN to Geneva. The film is made by fPcN UK.

The film describes the struggle for independence of the West Papuans from Indonesia, the history of colonialisation and the exploitation of natural resources. The film is made by fPcN UK.