Peaceful Societies

The seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has decided that an Indiana police officer used excessive force when he pointed a submachine gun at some Amish men, and others, during a routine search. The court upheld a district court decision that the officer is not entitled to qualified immunity in such an incident.

The problem started when the Shelbyville, Indiana, police decided to check the Vehicle Identification Number of a 1937 Lincoln Zephyr hot rod belonging to Joe Baird of that city. The officer verified the VIN number, but later he decided that the number might have been altered so he went to an industrial park, jointly owned by Baird and Randy Robinson of Shelbyville, to check again.

The officer, John Renbarger, pointed a nine mm submachine gun at Baird, and everyone else he could round up at the industrial park, including some Amish men, in the process of checking the suspect VIN number a second time. No one resisted his orders, and he released them after two hours. He determined, after he looked again, that the VIN number in the vehicle had not been altered.

Baird and Robinson sued the officer in federal district court for his use of excessive force and for violating their civil rights. The district court found in favor of the two men, finding that the officer’s actions were “so unreasonable that they would violate clearly established law under the Fourth Amendment.”

Renbarger appealed to the Circuit Court of Appeals, which denied his claim. Judge Diane P. Wood, writing for the Court of Appeals, stated that the officer’s use of a submachine gun to hold the people was “objectively unreasonable in the setting that Renbarger faced.”

She wrote that the officer’s expressed concerns about safety at the industrial park could not have reasonably required him to use such heavy-handed force. The police officer was familiar with the setting, and had no reason to suspect that anyone would resist him. She indicated, “we see a scene of peaceable folks (including the famously pacifist Amish) going about their business, while the police inspect various vehicles for identifying information.” The police officer’s use of the submachine gun was thus quite unwarranted.

Judge Wood went on to write, in her opinion for the court, “Renbarger urges this court to view his behavior at a high level of generality; he sees it as the mere pointing of a gun. We decline to take this perspective.” In fact, “Renbarger pointed a submachine gun at various people when there was no suggestion of danger, either from the alleged crime that was being investigated or the people he was targeting. The Fourth Amendment protects against this type of behavior by the police.”

Mark Dowie’s article on the hazards of the nuclear industry, published in the March-April 2009 issue of Resurgence magazine, was reprinted last week, apparently with permission, on a web site in Sri Lanka. The version of the article published by the magazine is not available on its own website.

In his investigation of the claims and controversies surrounding the industry, titled “Nuclear Nightmare” in the magazine and “Makings of a Nuclear Nightmare” in the text from Sri Lanka, Mr. Dowie repeats familiar arguments by industrial proponents. Developers trumpet the notion that the industry supposedly does not contribute carbon pollution to the atmosphere, which means that nuclear is a clean energy source that does not contribute to global climate change.

Dowie carefully rebuts these industry claims by examining the overall environmental impact of the nuclear cycle: he cites problems posed by uranium mining and processing, the hazards and costs of constructing the massive nuclear power plants, and the long-term dangers posed by the nuclear wastes.

He illustrates his points, in part, by discussing plans for uranium mining and processing in Nunavut and their potential impacts on the Inuit. When the price of nuclear fuel skyrocketed a few years ago, hundreds of uranium claims were staked in Nunavut. By April 2008, there were 28 mining exploration teams—engineers, geologists, and Inuit support staff members—prospecting for possible mine sites in the territory.

One of Dowie’s major arguments is to refute the claim that the nuclear industry is nearly free of a carbon footprint. In Nunavut, one proposed mining operation will require the construction of a port at Baker Lake, which has access into Hudson Bay, plus a 70 mile paved road into the interior to a mine site. Equipment and fuel supplies for the operations will be sent by railroad to Churchill, barged up the bay 1,000 km to Baker Lake, then trucked into the mine site itself. All supplies and materials will be hauled in by rail, boat, and truck. All electricity for the mine and the processing plant will be supplied by diesel generators, and of course the diesel will be trucked in.

The uranium ore that is extracted will be milled and refined into uranium oxide, called yellowcake, near the mine. It will be trucked back to Baker Lake, shipped south to the railhead at Churchill, and sent south to Ontario where it will be further shipped to nuclear facilities around the world. During the winter, when the bay is frozen, the yellowcake will be shipped by air to Toronto, and on to markets.

Besides the massive amounts of carbon-producing diesel fuel involved in all of these operations, the entire mining, processing, and shipping of the uranium poses significant environmental dangers to the Inuit people, many of whom apparently are eager for the jobs the development will open up. An accident on the open bay, perhaps during a storm, could spill yellowcake uranium into the water and affect the ecology of the bay, and the lives of the Inuit living near it, for thousands of years. Spills inland could have a similar, devastating, effect on the local people and fauna.

The author interviewed Sheila Watt-Cloutier, the former head of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference and a prominent nominee for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, about the subject. He found Ms. Watt-Cloutier reluctant, at first, to speak out against the uranium industry, despite the fact that the Inuit Circumpolar Conference officially opposes nuclear developments in the polar regions. It is a sensitive subject in Nunavut because of the potential for generating jobs.

However, she later expressed her thoughts to Mr. Dowie, though still cautiously. “Mining is the easy way out. And we’re moving too quickly to embrace it,” she said. She told him the development of uranium mining could harm the efforts of the Inuit to rebuild their culture. As always, her observations were very thoughtful.

“We need to step back and ask ourselves what kind of society we are trying to create here. Will we lose awareness of how sacred the land is, and our connection to it? Do we abandon or rebuild institutions we have relied on for generations? Or are we just going to allow ourselves to become dependent on new industries, substances and systems?”

Her thoughts reflect the perceptions of people around the world who treasure their connections to the earth, and to the peace that their traditions bring to them. “Do we want to lose the wise culture we have relied on for generations,” she asked Mr. Bowie rhetorically?

The government of Botswana last week stepped up its persecution of the G/wi by arresting and committing to jail six people for hunting in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR). Their cases were to be heard in a court on Monday.

According to a news release from Survival International last week, the charges were based on incidents that occurred in 2007 and 2009. The government continues to ignore the 2006 ruling by the country’s own High Court that the G/wi and the other San people who were expelled from their homes in the CKGR have the right to return. The court also condemned the government’s ban on their hunting rights and its destruction of the water resources used by the San.

Stephen Corry, director of Survival International, condemned the government for persecuting the San people. He said that preventing them from hunting in the CKGR, and arresting them when they do, is illegal, “an outrageous act of hypocrisy by the Botswana government.”

The same day that Survival International issued its statement, Mr. Dikgakgamatso Seretse, the Botswana Minister for Defense, Justice, and Security, answered a question in parliament about the rights of the San people who want to live and hunt in the CKGR. He defended the government’s attempts to control the issuance of hunting licenses.

Even though the nation’s High Court decided that the government refusal to issue hunting licenses to the San people was against the law and unconstitutional, he said that still does not guarantee that they have an automatic right to licenses. “They are free to apply for them and their issuance lies at the discretion of the Director of Wildlife and National Parks,” he told parliament. He argued, basically, that the decision of the nation’s supreme court does not really apply to existing laws and procedures, which prohibit hunting inside game reserves.

Several news sources reported on Wednesday this week that the local magistrate found the six guilty of hunting without permits, but released them from jail with only a warning. In contrast to the national government, according to Mr. Corry’s statement yesterday, “the magistrate in this case takes a more humane view of how to treat people.”

On Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Hutterites living in the Wilson Colony, located near Lethbridge, Alberta, must have their photos taken if they want provincial driver’s licenses.

By a vote of four to three, the justices rejected the colony’s claim that their right to freedom of religion was violated by the Alberta Provincial ruling in 2003, which required photos on all drivers licenses, without exceptions. Previously, the province had allowed drivers with religious objections to receive licenses without them.

In May 2006 the Wilson Colony won the right from the Court of Queen’s Bench in Lethbridge to not have their photos included on their licenses. The colony argued that driving is essential to their way of life and the pursuit of their commerce, but taking photos violates the biblical second commandment forbidding people from making graven images. Photos violate their freedom of religion, they believe.

The Alberta provincial government argued that the integrity of the driver’s licensing system would be destroyed if exemptions would continue to be permitted. In May of 2007 the province lost its appeal in the Alberta Court of Appeals. In November 2007 the province decided to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, which finally ruled last week.

The government of Alberta reacted positively to the news Friday morning. “We’re very pleased with the decision,” a government communications officer said. “It ensures Alberta driver’s [licenses] are among the most secure in North America.” The province had issued non-photo ID cards for the dissenting Hutterite drivers until the Supreme Court would finally decide the issue.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Union had intervened on behalf of the colony. It had argued that the province had not considered the problems that the 2003 requirement would pose to a rural colony that needed, for economic and health reasons, to have driver’s licenses for at least some of its members.

Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, who expressed the opinion for the majority on the Supreme Court, wrote that “The goal of setting up a system that minimizes the risk of identity theft associated with drivers’ [licenses] is a pressing and important public goal. The universal photo requirement is connected to this goal and does not limit freedom [of] religion more than required to achieve it.” She added that “the negative impact on the freedom of religion of colony members who wish to obtain [licenses] does not outweigh the benefits associated with the universal photo requirement.”

The freedom of religion argument was overwhelmed, for the majority of justices, by the belief that all driver’s licenses must have valid photos. In other words, the provincial system is more important than the rights of the individual. According to the ruling, “the objective of the driver’s [license] photo requirement is not to eliminate all identity theft in the province, but rather to maintain the integrity of [the] driver’s licensing system so as to minimize identity theft associated with that system.”

The judges felt that if the colony continues to refuse to have photo driver’s licenses, it may pose an economic burden for the members but not a religious problem. Nothing will require the Hutterites to have driver’s licenses—they just won’t be able to drive, legally, on provincial highways. “To find alternative transport would impose an additional economic cost on the Colony, and would go against their traditional self‑sufficiency, but there is no evidence that this would be prohibitive,” Judge McLachlin wrote.

Three of the judges voted against the majority. Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella, one of the dissenters, wrote that the provincial photo requirement “seriously harms” the ability of the Hutterites to maintain the economic viability of their colony as well as their religious rights. She reasoned that the religious exemption had been in existence in Alberta for 29 years before 2003 without doing any harm to the driver’s license system. Furthermore, 700,000 Albertans without driver’s licenses are missing anyway from the facial recognition database of the province. What harm could it cause if a few hundred Hutterite faces were missing also?

“This makes the mandatory photo requirement a form of indirect coercion that [places] the Wilson Colony members in the untenable position of having to choose between compliance with their religious beliefs or giving up the self-sufficiency of their community,” Judge Abella reasoned.

As might be expected, the Hutterites were not pleased with the decision. Greg Senda, an attorney for the colony, said that he and his clients are quite disappointed and troubled by the ruling. “This is a sincerely held belief of theirs, that they can’t willingly allow their pictures to be taken, so they have to now determine what their response to this will be,” he said. Attorneys for the colony had argued that the province had not presented any evidence that allowing Hutterites to be exempt from the photo ID requirement would pose a threat to provincial security.

Sam Wurz, the manager of the Three Hills Hutterite colony, which had joined the Wilson Colony in their suit, was discouraged by the decision. “It’s a sad day for Canada, for Alberta. We are law-abiding people, we are honest,” he said. He explained that the two colonies will have to consider their options, of either obeying the command to get photos on their licenses, or possibly of leaving Alberta.

Mike Gross, Manager of the Pincher Creek colony in southwestern Alberta, explained that the rest of the Hutterite groups in Alberta are not as fervently opposed to allowing their photos to be taken for their driver’s licenses. “It’s just those two colonies,” he said.

News accounts last Friday highlighted the importance of preserving and fostering the musical traditions of two different peaceful societies.

According to Indian news sources, the Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA), the Indian National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama, just awarded the coveted SNA prize—Rs.50,000 (US$1,000)—to Hildamit Lepcha for her dedication to preserving and performing, with the help of her husband Sonam Tshering Lepcha, the traditional music of the Lepcha people.

Sonam apparently was collecting traditional Lepcha songs when he arrived in Hilda’s village in 1974. Her father arranged for the scholar to marry his daughter so that he could foster her musical talents. She joined her husband, helping him collect songs and musical information from villagers, and they have been working together in the cause ever since.

Hilda explains that the traditional Lepchas, who are nature worshipers, have songs for every occasion or task. “We worship nature so we have songs on rivers, seasons, mountains etc,” she says, and she starts to sing: “ka ku ku ka ku ku chakdun chakdun dun dun.” The people sing it when they sow their seeds.

She wears traditional clothing and uses an instrument called a tumbok while she sings a song, adapted by her husband, which accompanies the prayers the Lepcha use to encourage the souls of the deceased to be transported to the sacred mountain where they will join other souls. Hilda also performs at various ceremonies and festivals. For instance, she sings to ask an indigenous goddess to protect children during naming ceremonies, and she performs other songs to accompany marriage ceremonies or to highlight festivities that mark the start of the new year.

Hilda brings her singing to the stage and radio in India, while her husband continues his musicology research, going village to village studying Lepcha folksongs. Their focus on Lepcha music and their work to promote it helps keep the traditions of the people from disappearing.

In Peninsular Malaysia, radio station Asyik FM dedicates itself to programs for the indigenous peoples. It provides a special venue for the music of the Orang Asli societies, including the Semai. Last week, according to a news story, the station was unable to contact a Semai man, Jaafar Salleh, from RPS Pos Betau Kuala Lipis, to tell him that a piece he had written had won a song-writing contest and it would be performed in a few days as part of a music competition.

The Semai man heard the repeated announcements on the radio but was unable to call the station since he did not have a telephone. Later, he was able to borrow a phone to call and express his pleasure at the news. A 29 year old who does odd jobs in his village and writes songs, Jaafar was thrilled. “It is a dream come true. I have never experienced anything like this in my life,” he said.

Personnel from the station had toured Malaysia in May, holding auditions in ten different locations in order to find the best singing talents among all the Orang Asli peoples. They considered 453 aspiring singers, 40 of whom advanced to the semi-finals last month and 8 to the finals. The finalists will sing songs of their own choice, plus Orang Asli songs submitted by listeners, such as the one by Jaafar. The station was coaching the singers on performing techniques before the final event on Saturday.

The first prize singer will receive an award of RM10,000 (US$2,800) and the best composer will receive a prize of RM3,000 (US$850).

Alexander Mansutti Rodríguez describes some dramatic episodes of shamanistic violence in an article published last year in a book about lowland South America. One episode he describes, for example, concerns a very powerful Piaroa shaman, called a tjujaturuwa (lord of the people), who was preoccupied with defending himself from the attacks of potentially jealous rivals. One day another shaman moved into his neighborhood. Both men were conscious of the need to be very careful and to prevent confrontations. The two shamans arranged for a granddaughter of the tjujaturuwa to marry a son of the other. She quickly became pregnant.

The situation became complex when the older sister of the married girl suddenly was found hung, an apparent suicide. The one shaman was presumed to have attacked his rival, the tjujaturuwa, by killing his older granddaughter. Then, the married girl was also found hung, and again the powers of sorcery were presumably the cause. The affected family carried out appropriate revenge rituals after each death. A few months later the tjujaturuwa himself suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed, and shortly after that he died. The people attributed all of these events to shamanistic attacks from the newcomer, who was perceived to be envious of the powers of his rival.

Mansutti Rodríguez describes other instances of fighting. One shaman attacked a neighbor by sending a tumor into an adversary’s daughter. The adversary gained his revenge by attacking the other’s wife, sterilizing and paralyzing her. Another fought the shamans of the Wirö, a neighboring people. In revenge for his activities, they caused a massive windstorm to knock down some giant trees near his home.

Shamanism is omnipresent in the Piaroa world. Mansutti Rodríguez defines shamanism as “a cluster of practices sustained by metaphysical powers that allows those who control the tools to intervene in and control the world (p.226).” Shamanistic activities are not, in themselves, necessarily negative or positive. Rather, the effects they produce determine their value. The results of shamanistic attacks in Piaroa society are not predictable. If a shaman is powerful, attacks by others will probably not harm him or his family.

The work of the shaman produces the resources—the water, soil, animals, plants, stones, and fish—that are available to the community. He owns those resources and he must know how to control them by using his powers in complex prayers, rituals and formulas. His creative powers, however, frequently generate envy, which can produce aggressive attacks from other shamans.

The author argues that the Piaroa have a highly peaceful society, marred only by shamanistic aggression. As he puts it, they are rarely physically aggressive, but they are “masters of the uses of symbolic violence (p.216).” He points out that the Piaroa idealize the absence of violence in families. To support that ideal, their myths establish a worldview that focuses on the debilitating effects of shamanistic attacks. That mythology helps them cope with envy and its potential for fostering physical violence.

In one myth, Keumoi, father-in-law of Wahari, the creator of the Piaroa, decided to eat his own grandson, Wahari’s son. He wanted to satisfy his consuming need to eat living flesh. One day when the grandson stopped by Kuemoi’s house, the old god captured, killed, cooked, and ate the boy to satisfy his hunger. When Wahari visited his father-in-law, Kuemoi offered him some soup made from the flesh of his own son. Wahari, of course, had the power to know what had happened.

He decided to kill his father-in-law. Assuming the body of a harpy eagle, he grabbed Kuemoi and flew off with him in his talons, dismembering the cannibal as he carried him away. The Piaroa recognize, of course, that revenge plants the seeds of more revenge, a major problem in any society. But Kuemoi was a heartless brute who used his shamanistic powers to satisfy his cannibalistic needs. The only reason he did not eat his son-in-law too was that he was unable to capture him. Kuemoi’s actions represent the epitome of evil to the Piaroa, so they feel that Wahari’s revenge was justified.

The author points out that the Piaroa generally try to prevent shamanistic attacks and cycles of revenge from occurring. For instance, when they hold a warime festival, which celebrates abundance, fertility, and wealth, they realize it might generate hostility and envy from neighboring shamans who may not have as many resources. The shaman holding such a festival tries to build alliances with numerous other shamans beforehand in an attempt to prevent attacks from occurring.

Some shamans perform a ritual of revenge when someone has died and the assassin, the shaman who caused the death, can be clearly identified. Called the tusuraoko, the ritual is based on the revenge that Kuemoi’s children used to avenge Wahari’s murder of their father. Family members collect pieces from the dead body, take them to a hidden area of the forest, mix them with certain leaves and plant parts, and bury them near a specified tree. A competent shaman performs the proper ritual, which directs attacks at the individual presumed to be responsible for the death. If the other shaman is too powerful, the attack may not succeed.

In sum, Piaroa society strictly prohibits physical violence and idealizes the control of passions. But all shamans, they believe, suffer from setbacks, the results of envy by other shamans, so they are constantly motivated to seek revenge. Their shamanistic attacks, as long as they are in defense from the aggression of others, can therefore be legitimate. Their society, the author argues, represents a delicate balance between these conflicting needs; the people base their abhorrence for physical violence on their acceptance of symbolic aggression.

Mansutti Rodríguez, Alexander. 2008. “Envy and Revenge: The Case of the Piaroa.” In Revenge in the Cultures of Lowland South America, Edited by Stephen Beckerman and Paul Valentine, p. 216-232. Gainesville: University Press of Florida

Despite the economic downturn that is hurting the publishing industry, novels classified as Amish fiction—family sagas and romances set in Old Order communities—are doing very well. Publishers and authors, gathered at the annual Christian Retail show in Denver last week, discussed the variations and successes in the Amish lit genre.

These types of novels are primarily aimed at Evangelical women who are interested in stories about simpler times, closed communities, and the strength of the traditional Amish faith. In contrast to other genres of Christian publishing, which have seen their sales lag, Amish fiction has experienced growing successes. One literary agent at the conference indicated that one path to success for a novel is to put a bonnet on it.

Beverly Lewis started the trend with her 1997 novel The Shunning, based loosely on her grandmother’s rebellion against her old order Mennonite childhood. It has sold over a million copies. It and its imitators tap into a fascination with the way the Amish reject modern technology and base their moral values on literalist interpretations of the Bible. The fact that the Lancaster County Amish community immediately forgave the murderer of five children in the Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, schoolhouse shooting of October 2006 continues to fascinate Christian women.

Wanda Brunstetter, a prominent author of Amish romances, commented during a book-signing event at the show in Denver that “people are learning from the Amish novels how they can simplify and set their priorities straight.”

Another author, Mindy Starns Clark, who writes gothic mysteries that are free of premarital sex and foul language, set her latest work in Lancaster County Amish country. Shadows of Lancaster County has a buggy on the cover, but Ms. Clark said that it also includes some genetic engineering. “It’s definitely not your grandmother’s Amish novel,” she observed.

Christian fiction in general is apparently showing more sophistication recently. Spiritual seekers do not need to follow conventional paths to salvation, and some of the newer works are venturing into unusual plots. Eric Wilson has developed a trilogy of novels called Jerusalem’s Undead, stories about characters who rise from the grave after being touched by the blood of Judas.

Another Christian publisher is pushing the envelope even further. Thirsty, by Tracey Bateman, will explore the demons that everyone must overcome in a story about vampires. While dripping fangs were edited out, the issue about whether a creature that is both dead and alive can be saved presents problems. “I think we can redeem a vampire,” Bateman said, though she wouldn’t reveal the rest of the plot.

IANS, a major South Asian news service, carried a story last week about the innovative features that have been built into the Druk White Lotus School in Ladakh. Located in the village of Shey, about 15 km southeast of Leh, Ladakh’s capital, the school building has been built using many path breaking, green technologies, according to the news story.

The building is constructed of local sandstone, willow, and poplar, as well as glass, steel, and solar panels, and it is reinforced with seismic rods and steel support structures to help it resist earthquakes. Approaches to the design of the building attempt to meld “sustainable” educational concepts, traditional Ladakhi Buddhist philosophies, and modern ideas about schooling. It has won numerous awards for its innovative design features.

The school building attempts to utilize and control sunlight, with glass building blocks, windows that face east to capture the morning sun, overhead light shafts to filter in the mid-day light, and glass panes facing west to capture the late afternoon sunshine. Solar panels outside the building generate electricity. That area of Ladakh receives over 300 days of sunshine per year. Trombe walls trap the heat from sunlight, releasing it slowly. Visitors to Ladakh are encouraged to reduce the carbon imprint from their flights in and out of the region by contributing to the cost of the school’s solar electric generator, which was installed in 2008. Also, the building has composting toilets.

Founded in the mid-1990s, the school has grown to the point where it now enrolls over 500 students, 260 boys and 246 girls, in nine grades, nursery through Junior Class 6. It plans to keep growing to include the higher grades of education. Instructors in the nursery levels teach with the Montessori system, while older children in the Junior School are taught with a more structured approach. The curriculum includes English, Hindi, Bodhic (a local language), math, social studies, information technology, and the creative arts.

The school was founded by, and continues to be a project of, His Holiness the 12th Gwalyang Drukpa, the head of the Drukpa branch of Tibetan Buddhism in Ladakh. Local villagers had asked him to establish a modern English school for their children, and he heeded their pleas.

Maureen Songhurst, a former principal at the school, provides a sensitive description of the school on the institution’s website. “The mission of Druk White Lotus School,” she writes, “is to enable the students to have the confidence and competence needed to succeed in the modern world, together with a sound grounding in the Ladakhi language, culture and traditions.”

She describes the programs the school offers, the nature of its residential facilities, and the attempts made by the school to foster an appreciation for the natural environment of Ladakh. All of these programs and approaches to education evidently spring from the vision articulated by His Holiness when he founded the school.

Although the government of Namibia has removed the Herero cattle that invaded the Nyae Nyae Conservancy in May, the Ju/’hoansi still have difficulties with the outsiders who remain on their property. Juhoan requests for assistance have still not been met.

Dr. Megan Biesele, Director of the Kalahari Peoples Fund and a member of the board of the Nyae Nyae Development Foundation, conducted an interview with the Chair of the Conservancy, /’Angn!ao /’Un—known as Kiewiet—to find out what exactly was happening. A newspaper in Namibia published a summery of the interview last week.

Kiewiet asked Biesele rhetorically if Namibia was a country that operated under the rule of law—or did the country have a separate set of laws just for the Ju/’hoansi. Didn’t Namibia’s laws guarantee their rights to their own land? He explained that his people derive food from hunting wildlife on the Conservancy property, and income from the sale of eggshell beadwork and the devil’s claw medicinal plant roots that they gather. The farmers from Gam who are squatting on their land are harming those enterprises.

Kiewiet told Biesele that weeks after the government seized the illegal cattle, farmers from the Gam area were still entering Conservancy property. He observed that people from the Kavango area of Namibia invaded the Conservancy a long time ago. The Ju/’hoansi have been telling them to leave and their requests have been ignored. Now, in addition to the Kavango people, they also have to contend with the invaders from Gam.

These invaders pose many problems, Kiewiet contends. They cut trees in order to construct their homesteads, their children crowd the schools, they introduce new alcohol problems, and of course their animals stress the land. All of this affects the economic and social life of the Ju/’hoansi.

His comments were quite direct. “I don’t know what to do. The only thing I knew to do, I have done: I have spoken to the police and asked them to return these people to Gam. Whether there is a court case or not, they should stay in Gam and take care of themselves there. They cannot remain here. Because if they do, they will ruin the livelihoods of the Ju/’hoansi.”

The Conservancy, with the support of the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA), is threatening to sue the farmers for over N$600,000 (US$73,000) for damages due to the loss of income from trophy hunting, diminished harvests of devil’s claw roots, grazing foods consumed, water used, and infringement on Ju/’hoansi rights.

While Kiewiet hopes the situation can be solved through negotiations with the Herero Traditional Authority and the government instead of court suits, he insists that the invading Herero people have got to leave. “We Ju/’hoansi have nothing we want to ask except that we be allowed to go forward. These people who have entered our land without consulting us are causing us to go backward.”

News sources in Africa also reported last week that a restriction placed on all the cattle owned by farmers in the Gam area has been officially lifted by the State Veterinarian. After the veterinary cordon fence was broken and over 1200 cattle moved north onto the Conservancy, which has had an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the past, the entire Gam area was temporarily quarantined too. Officials feared that cattle could become infected in the Conservancy and wander back into Gam, infecting cattle there.

At this point, all the invaders’ cattle have been removed and placed in quarantine elsewhere, the veterinary cordon fence has been reestablished, and officials have carried out proper surveillance for diseases, so the health agency feels it can lift the restrictions on the cattle that remain in Gam.

The government has indicated that it intends to auction off the seized cattle and that it does not intend to compensate the people who had owned them, except for ex gratia payments. Andrew Ndishishi, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, insists his agency will inform the public when the cattle are to be auctioned off. He also says that criminal proceedings are taking place against the invading Herero farmers. The latter are seeking legal counsel.

Some Birhor young people are learning about competition through a boxing instruction program in one of their communities. The Dhanbad District Amateur Boxing Association, located in the Dhanbad district of India’s Jharkhand state, is providing instruction, gloves, head-guards, and punching bags for the student boxers in Chalkari, a Birhor village.

Paritosh Kumar, the boxing coach, feels the Birhor kids will make great competitive boxers—they will be stronger and more adept at it than kids from the cities, he believes. He apparently has altruistic feelings toward them. “I chose the Birhor children because they are the least educated and deprived,” he said. “I want to help them in getting noticed and bring them onto the map of India through boxing.”

The students are evidently thrilled at the prospect of being able to make a name for themselves in the boxing ring. “We learn boxing in the mornings and evenings. This is going to help us move ahead in life,” said Mahesh, a student in Chalkari.

Birhor parents are pleased at the advantage their children are being given. One local Birhor man told the press, “our children are studying and also learning the sport of boxing. Such things were not there earlier. It feels very good.”

One of the news stories on the boxing Birhors includes a brief, televised news clip that shows the coach teaching his students in the village how to box properly. The television narrator comments that “fighting for survival is what life is all about if you’re poor and marginalized.” The Birhor want to fight their way out of poverty, she says.

The coach intends to guide his budding fighters to train for district and state boxing competitions. If properly instructed in competitive boxing, they should do well, he says. Neither the coach nor the media covering the story appear to be aware of the traditional Birhor avoidance of competition, an important aspect of their peacefulness according to an ethnography by Adhikary.

Peaceful Societies

Peaceful Societies

Amish Men Held by Submachine Gun

Uranium Mining in Nunavut

G/wi Hunters Jailed for Hunting

Hutterites Lose Supreme Court Case

Awards for Music among the Lepchas and the Semai

Piaroa Envy, Revenge, and Nonviolence [anthology chapter review]

Growing Popularity of Amish Fiction

An Innovative School in Ladakh

Ju/’hoansi Demand that the Invaders Leave

Birhor Learn Competitive Boxing

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