Elyse Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 Rights campaigners and politicians Wednesday condemned a video showing women from a protected and primitive tribe dancing for tourists reportedly in exchange for food on India's Andaman Islands. British newspaper The Observer released the undated video showing Jarawa tribal women -- some of them naked -- being lured to dance and sing after a bribe was allegedly paid to a policeman to produce them. Under Indian laws designed to protect ancient tribal groups susceptible to outside influence and disease, photographing or coming into contact with the Jarawa and some of the Andaman aborigines is banned. The tribe, thought to have been among the first people to migrate successfully from Africa to Asia, lives a nomadic existence in the lush, tropical forests of the Andamans in the Indian Ocean. India's Tribal Affairs Minister V. Kishore Chandra Deo on Wednesday said an investigation had been ordered. "An inquiry has been ordered and it is being headed by the chief secretary and director-general of police of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands," Deo told the Press Trust of India news agency. "It's deplorable. You cannot treat human beings like beasts for the sake of money. Whatever kind of tourism is that, I totally disapprove of that and it is being banned also," the minister added. Survival International, which lobbies on behalf of tribal groups worldwide, said the video showed tourists apparently enjoying "human zoos." "Quite clearly, some people's attitudes towards tribal peoples haven't moved on a jot. The Jarawa are not circus ponies bound to dance at anyone's bidding," said Stephen Corry, the group's director, in a press release. But state anthropologist A. Justin, who works on the Andaman islands, questioned whether the scenes were recent. "Before the 2004 tsunami, people might have forced them to dance and there may have been some much smaller violations since then," Justin said by telephone from the capital Port Blair. "Since the tsunami, a policy of maximum autonomy with minimum intervention has been put in place. Things are being taken care of these days. There is a lot of (security) coverage there now." Justin said the video appeared to be several years old, while police in Port Blair also suggested it was taken some time ago. "The video appears to be six to seven years old when Jarawas remained unclothed but now they wear dresses in public," Director-General of Police Samsher Deol said. "Nonetheless we have launched a probe because we want to know who is the videographer who has committed an offence and we also want to know who bribed and who has been bribed," Deol said. The Observer report said its journalist had recently seen tourists throw bananas and biscuits to tribespeople on the roadside, and had been told by local traders how much to bribe the police to spend a day out with the Jarawa. In June last year, Survival International accused eight Indian travel companies of running "human safari tours" so tourists could see and photograph the Jarawa. The London-based group called for tourists to boycott the road used to enter the reserve of the Jarawa tribe, who number just 403 and are in danger of dying out. The Andaman and Nicobar tropical island chain is home to four other rare tribes -- Onge, the Great Andamanese, the Sentinelese and the Shompens -- each numbering fewer than 350 members. Another tribe called Bo died out in January 2010. Yahoo! News http://ca.news.yahoo.com/outrage-over-human-zoo-indian-islands-114059047.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravenwolf Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 The more things change, the more they stay the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosemary Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 We have similar problems in SA with rural/indiginous people being exploited in the name of tourism Some of our rural populations still live very traditional lives, but with eco-tourism being the 'next big thing' they are being exploited - their traditional lands, where they hunt and farm, get incorporated into game parks or border on game parks. The men and women then work in the tourism industry - performing tribal dances or doing the menial work around the camps. A few game parks have a profit sharing scheme in place where the rural people 'benefit' financially, but their traditional way of life is being eroded. But, having said that, no visit to our country will be complete without seeing a traditional tribal dance. Contradictory? I know If you google South African tribal dance and choose the image option you can see pics of the dances - they are truly spectacular The San/Bushmen from the Kalahari are also tourist attractions - because of their way of life. The very thing that attracts people to seek them out is being destroyed because of it - but to be honest tourism plays a small part compared to other factors. The horror of the San/Bushmen story is that they were the first inhabitants of Southern Africa and have been here for an estimated 20 000 years (or 30 000 years, depending on who you believe) The caves around their home/hunting grounds have the most amazing drawings portraying their every day life dating back many thousands of years. Today there are an estimated 90 000 San people left and only about 3 000 follow their traditional lifestyle. This, more than anything, is one of the things I am most ashamed of. http://www.south-africa-tours-and-travel.com/san-people.html I wish I could invite you all to visit our country. I would so love to show you the REAL South Africa and get you to meet some of our amazing people Sorry, not really relevant to the original post but when I speak about my country I get carried away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loops Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 I did an overland trip from kenya to eithiopia and the kids all sang and danced in the villages, their huge smiles makes me hope they werent just puttting on a show for us.. along a similar vein we went to florida and a friend wanted to escape "the mouse" so we drove north to the university town of gainesville where we went to a theater where they were having a swing night... it was ace all these kids dancing to glen miller and wearing forties gear, we knew that it was not for the tourists Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosemary Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 I did an overland trip from kenya to eithiopia and the kids all sang and danced in the villages, their huge smiles makes me hope they werent just puttting on a show for us.. along a similar vein we went to florida and a friend wanted to escape "the mouse" so we drove north to the university town of gainesville where we went to a theater where they were having a swing night... it was ace all these kids dancing to glen miller and wearing forties gear, we knew that it was not for the tourists I have never been to either Kenya or Ethiopia, but I would think they were probably putting on a show, but in a good way Tourists are a huge benefit, financially, to any rural village and it creates a stir, especially if it is not a regular occurrence. The children learn to dance, as part of their culture, as soon as they can walk and they are more than happy to show off their skills, and like any child, they love the attention they receive, so yes, I would think the smiles were pretty genuine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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