Survival launched tribal voice, a project to share the thoughts and experiences of some of the most diverse societies on earth. The project starts with two tribes in Brazil: the Guarani, whose land has been devastated by farmers and ranchers, and the Yanomami. It’s time to listen and spread the word.
Some photos tell us more than an entire book. The chief of a nomadic clan of Issah people (Somalia)…
Saintes Maries de la Mer, a nice town in the Camargue (southern France), colors of nomadic music and dances every May in honor of the saint of the travelers, Saint Sara. Rom, Sinti, Gitanos and Manouches arrive from all Europe, with their guitars and violins in order to render homage to their protecting, acting a ceremony always in balance between sacred and profane. The 24 of May, the statue of Saint Sara is advanced towards the sea, by the nomadic people. The statue of the saint is preceded by horsemen, musicians and a car with loudspeaker that diffuses the history of the persecutions against the Rom people, from nazism to social neglection. As soon as it arrives on the beach, a crowd of persons follows it in the water, singing “Vive Saint Sara!”. The ceremony that follows the religious celebration continues until latest night and involves anyone.
An unforgettable occasion in order to enter in contact with an extraordinary culture, often ignored because of the mutual distrust.
Thinking about the last week’s news coming from Bolivia (nationalization of the energetic resources), I was placing in doubt the ability of the Bolivians (and in general of Latin Americans) to positively take advantage of this opportunity, in order to involve in this process the indigenous movements. An article published on Selvas.org highlights this same issue, indicating the active participation of the movements as the fundamental step to assure that the political decisions could be built on sustainable and environmental friendly basis.
“Let’s begin from hydrocarbons, then it will be the time of the mines, therefore of the forests, and of all the natural resources that have left our ancestors to us. Finally, it will be the time of the earth that is for all the Bolivians” has said Evo Morales.
I do not have the role to criticize or to exalt the decision of the president of Bolivia to nationalize the resources of his country, decision which was largely preannounced, but I have got too many Bolivian friends not to know that this is a day of rave-up for them, a day that they dreamed for a long time, an unforgettable day. Unfortunately the game they are playing is so hard, the energy demand is so insatiable that we should at least expect a journalistic and/or ideological reprisal against this splendid Latin American country. And the history tells us the rest. Bolivia, if I can, it’s time you turn your free and raffish look to your fair culture, to your immense forests, to your beauty, don’t lose your way along paths that smell of oil…
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