Saturday, March 6, 2010

[IBNLive] Orissa tribes fight mining firm in real-life play out of the movie Avatar

"The fundamental story of Avatar -- if you take away the multi-coloured lemurs, the long-trunked horses and warring androids -- is being played out today in Niyamgiri mountain in India's Orissa state," said Stephen Corry, director of the British charity, Survival International.
In impoverished but mineral-rich Orissa, hundreds of indigenous tribes people are battling to stop London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc from extracting bauxite from what they say is their sacred mountain.
Read the full article here.
The point to take home, I think,  appears at the end of the article:
"Some of the villages want the mine, but many do not," said Tudu Majhi, 46, from the village of Khemdipadhar, near the planned site of the mine. "We want development but does it have to be at the expense of our mountain?"

Post Script : Also read an interview of  Bianca Jagger, former wife of rockstar Mick Jagger, who is a campaigner for the rights of indigenous peoples, including the Dongria-Kondh in Orissa who are protesting Vedanta’s proposed bauxite mines in the Niyamgiri hills of Orissa : Jagger tells Infochange about the campaign that has led the Church of England and others to withdraw their investment on ethical grounds.

1 comment:

  1. You might find this interesting:
    http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15606229&fsrc=rss

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