Survival International's new report finds at least 196 uncontacted Indigenous groups living in 10 countries, and half of them will face annihilation if nothing is done.
Great piece. One critique; when blaming white people as a whole it slams the door.
I am Metis but look white and basically raised ‘white’.
Fact is white people are indigenous people that have had their land, autonomy etc. usurped further back. Also, they have been used and abused as pawns and canonfodder (under coercion, deception, false promises, threat of violence and inflated expectations) by the POS predator class.
This predator class only wins when the insult whiteness is used. Division amongst all those under these totalitarian psychopaths is their best tool.
Yes there are definitely white people that have been fooled into being racist fucks. This needs to change. The bigger problem of the predator class being solved would do much to knock racism into the grave it needs be in.
Thanks for reading! And thank you for the very thoughtful comment! I have a response, and I hope you don’t take it personally or like an attack. I think we may just view history a bit differently.
This is how I understand and have studied history:
When one people leave their homelands (Europe), and go colonize another, they are settlers and they imposed their systems of governance while stealing Native lands. The Europeans keep their identity, but in these new lands, they aren’t Indigenous to Turtle Island. They are white European settlers. They also created and institutionalized the “racial” differences between Whites and Indians. Indians were supposed to die off, disappear, be killed by marauding settlers on horseback.
Métis, as I understand, are Native mixed with French, and (I believe I’ve heard) struggle with finding belonging. That’s tough. Belonging is a difficult issue for many Native peoples. Whiteness and white-passing are also real issues that many Native people struggle with, but that doesn’t mean the imposed systems of white supremacy are excused, nor the countless tribes that were completely wiped out by white settlers. Colonialism here wasn’t by Indigenous-on-Indigenous crime of genocide, it was by Europeans who viewed their whiteness and Western civilization as superior, and Natives would inevitably die out to make way for more Europeans.
Another example: Africans stolen from Africa are indeed Indigenous but not to America or Brazil or Caribbean Islands, but from African lands. Over time, they lost their connection to the land and their ability to identify as indigenous peoples.
Indigenous is a political identity (“American Indian” is ascribed in US Federal Law) that is not attributable to European settlers on colonized lands (no white citizen can claim to be “American Indian” without blood quantum proof), but also denotes who is “from” a land and who is not.
Also, reading history, Europeans would not describe themselves as tribal people (until the Nazis began to appropriate a disingenuous Indigenous identity for their ethnostate). Probably the closest to tribal peoples in Europe that still exist today are the Romani people (sometimes called ‘travellers’, but slurred as ‘Gypsies’).
Excusing white settlers for settling Turtle Island would be whitewashing history (pun not intended). Native peoples of the Americas did not colonize any European homelands. But Europeans did that to Natives, and thus we live in industrialized societies we find ourselves today.
White peoples claiming to be Indigenous when they aren’t is what is happening in Palestine with American-European Zionist Jews colonizing Native Palestinian lands.
“Blaming” white people is not what the piece is about. It’s about holding those accountable and acknowledging history for what happened to Native peoples.
I hope that helps clarify my thoughts. And thanks again for your interest in my work!
hey! there is actually still a group of indigenous peoples in europe called the Sami! they are land defenders and trying to protect their reindeer herds, they are indigenous and have been good relatives to all their fellow indigenous peoples facing encroachment by western expansion under capitalism
really liked this article! such a great breakdown of the problem and bringing in the recently contacted communities was such a great angle, one i haven’t seen in any other publications on the issue
Thing is, when one is held responsible for the actions of their ancestors it doesn’t make sense.
No culture is without some darkness in their past and even indigenous people moved into and occupied other lands.
I understand the problems caused by colonialism. It is a convoluted story from both sides.
The poor whites that exist now hsve more in common and as much to loose as the indigenous at this point. To use someone’s skin colour for exclusion or preference seems wrong and likely closing more peace than opening to me.
What is a poor white to do? How much hardship should they be forced to endure for the actions of their overlords ancestors?
More importantly what do you want done to them? And would you be willing to do it?
Hmmm, I still think that you believe I’m attacking all white people, which is simply not the case. Im confused where exactly I made this argument.
And overall, I respectfully disagree. Colonialism isn’t a convoluted story “for both sides”. I’m confused where this “not all whites” argument is coming from, when this is a story backed by facts about uncontacted peoples being victimized by a system put in place my colonialism.
I am at a loss for understanding your defense of poor whites when the story isn’t about that. If you think whites are just as systemically oppressed as their non-white counterparts than that is not a good reading of history, politics today, or why white supremacy and colonialism is the driving force against Indigenous peoples today. When whites help abolish systems of white supremacy, than we will truly be equals.
https://muse.jhu.edu/book/26080
"Cultural Forests of the Amazon: A Historical Ecology of People and Their Landscapes" William Balee
2013
Great piece. One critique; when blaming white people as a whole it slams the door.
I am Metis but look white and basically raised ‘white’.
Fact is white people are indigenous people that have had their land, autonomy etc. usurped further back. Also, they have been used and abused as pawns and canonfodder (under coercion, deception, false promises, threat of violence and inflated expectations) by the POS predator class.
This predator class only wins when the insult whiteness is used. Division amongst all those under these totalitarian psychopaths is their best tool.
Yes there are definitely white people that have been fooled into being racist fucks. This needs to change. The bigger problem of the predator class being solved would do much to knock racism into the grave it needs be in.
Thanks for reading! And thank you for the very thoughtful comment! I have a response, and I hope you don’t take it personally or like an attack. I think we may just view history a bit differently.
This is how I understand and have studied history:
When one people leave their homelands (Europe), and go colonize another, they are settlers and they imposed their systems of governance while stealing Native lands. The Europeans keep their identity, but in these new lands, they aren’t Indigenous to Turtle Island. They are white European settlers. They also created and institutionalized the “racial” differences between Whites and Indians. Indians were supposed to die off, disappear, be killed by marauding settlers on horseback.
Métis, as I understand, are Native mixed with French, and (I believe I’ve heard) struggle with finding belonging. That’s tough. Belonging is a difficult issue for many Native peoples. Whiteness and white-passing are also real issues that many Native people struggle with, but that doesn’t mean the imposed systems of white supremacy are excused, nor the countless tribes that were completely wiped out by white settlers. Colonialism here wasn’t by Indigenous-on-Indigenous crime of genocide, it was by Europeans who viewed their whiteness and Western civilization as superior, and Natives would inevitably die out to make way for more Europeans.
Another example: Africans stolen from Africa are indeed Indigenous but not to America or Brazil or Caribbean Islands, but from African lands. Over time, they lost their connection to the land and their ability to identify as indigenous peoples.
Indigenous is a political identity (“American Indian” is ascribed in US Federal Law) that is not attributable to European settlers on colonized lands (no white citizen can claim to be “American Indian” without blood quantum proof), but also denotes who is “from” a land and who is not.
Also, reading history, Europeans would not describe themselves as tribal people (until the Nazis began to appropriate a disingenuous Indigenous identity for their ethnostate). Probably the closest to tribal peoples in Europe that still exist today are the Romani people (sometimes called ‘travellers’, but slurred as ‘Gypsies’).
Excusing white settlers for settling Turtle Island would be whitewashing history (pun not intended). Native peoples of the Americas did not colonize any European homelands. But Europeans did that to Natives, and thus we live in industrialized societies we find ourselves today.
White peoples claiming to be Indigenous when they aren’t is what is happening in Palestine with American-European Zionist Jews colonizing Native Palestinian lands.
“Blaming” white people is not what the piece is about. It’s about holding those accountable and acknowledging history for what happened to Native peoples.
I hope that helps clarify my thoughts. And thanks again for your interest in my work!
hey! there is actually still a group of indigenous peoples in europe called the Sami! they are land defenders and trying to protect their reindeer herds, they are indigenous and have been good relatives to all their fellow indigenous peoples facing encroachment by western expansion under capitalism
Oh my god yes, how could I forget the Sami!? Thank you!
really liked this article! such a great breakdown of the problem and bringing in the recently contacted communities was such a great angle, one i haven’t seen in any other publications on the issue
Thank you, and I’m glad you liked the article! 🙏🏽 yeah, the stories of the recently contacted are harrowing
Oh yes. I totally get those points.
Thing is, when one is held responsible for the actions of their ancestors it doesn’t make sense.
No culture is without some darkness in their past and even indigenous people moved into and occupied other lands.
I understand the problems caused by colonialism. It is a convoluted story from both sides.
The poor whites that exist now hsve more in common and as much to loose as the indigenous at this point. To use someone’s skin colour for exclusion or preference seems wrong and likely closing more peace than opening to me.
What is a poor white to do? How much hardship should they be forced to endure for the actions of their overlords ancestors?
More importantly what do you want done to them? And would you be willing to do it?
Hmmm, I still think that you believe I’m attacking all white people, which is simply not the case. Im confused where exactly I made this argument.
And overall, I respectfully disagree. Colonialism isn’t a convoluted story “for both sides”. I’m confused where this “not all whites” argument is coming from, when this is a story backed by facts about uncontacted peoples being victimized by a system put in place my colonialism.
I am at a loss for understanding your defense of poor whites when the story isn’t about that. If you think whites are just as systemically oppressed as their non-white counterparts than that is not a good reading of history, politics today, or why white supremacy and colonialism is the driving force against Indigenous peoples today. When whites help abolish systems of white supremacy, than we will truly be equals.
Fair enough. I did not articulate well. No fault on your part. I appreciate the time taken.
Busy with kiddos now.
More later?
Peace.
A better world is possible.
Sounds good, have a good night! Appreciate you reading the story.