Peaceful Societies

Some very poor Yanadi families in India’s Andhra Pradesh state seem to be getting more welfare support, but others are losing out due to official corruption. Two articles last week in The Hindu, a major paper in India, provided details about the situation.

An article on Thursday, the more hopeful one, indicated that over 10,000 Yanadi families in the Nellore District of the state were going to be receiving much more generous ration allotments, called Antyodaya cards, which will allow the recipients to receive 35 kg. of rice per family per month. Those amounts are not varied depending on the sizes of the families.

Apparently, officials in the district led by District Collector B. Sridhar carefully studied the very poor living conditions of the Yanadis and came to the conclusion that a large number of them needed additional assistance. They tend to subsist on rice and the fish that they catch in canals and roadside ponds. They eat the fish with their rice and sell the excess for income.

An earlier ration card that allows only 4 kg. of rice was clearly inadequate, so they were forced to buy rice from others at a cost of Rs. 10 per kg, money which was difficult for them to raise. Mr. Sridhar said, “more rice allotment is going to be a big relief for them. The Antyodaya ration will be given to them from March 1.”

Out of nearly 84,000 people classified as members of Scheduled Tribes in the Nellore District, about 65,000 are Yanadis. A project officer for the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (IDTA), Y. Venkateswarlu, was quoted as saying, “a little change is being seen now.”

That same day, last Thursday, The Hindu carried another story by a different journalist from another area in Andhra Pradesh, the West Godavari District, where the news about relief for the Yanadi was not as positive. A group of tribal peoples, including Yanadi, demonstrated outside the local offices of the IDTA, protesting corruption in the agency that prevented them from receiving the benefits that had been allocated to them.

Sodim Venkateswara Rao, a representative from Girijana Samakhya, a tribal support organization, said that welfare funds were not reaching the people. They were being skimmed off by people in the ITDA. Despite large amounts of money being allocated by the government to help the living conditions of the Yanadi and the other tribal peoples, their conditions, at least in that district, have not changed due to the corruption.

D. Prabhakar, the local District Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI), pointed to the recent suspension of two ITDA officers due to charges of graft as an indication of the high levels of corruption in the agency. This situation has a severe impact on the tribal people. Corruption helps prevent appropriate health care, road networks, and mobile health units being provided for the Yanadi, Prabhakar alleged.

A spokesperson from the Yanadi community in the district, Ravuri Syambabu, said that the ITDA was not extending the proper welfare assistance to his community. He argued that out of the 200 people from 30 families living in one Yanadi colony, Balusumudi, only five to ten were able to write their names, and only one child, a girl, had studied up to the intermediate level of schooling. Poor literacy is a hallmark of the Yanadi people in the district, he complained.

Other recent news stories have similarly focused on corruption in Andhra Pradesh and its effect on the Yanadi. One, in March 2010 reviewed how corruption was affecting the construction of new housing for Yanadi families in the Nellore District. Another, in July 2010, described corruption by the IDTA office in the same district and its affect on the Yanadi people.

On Wednesday last week, the First Lady of Tanzania, Salma Kikwete, extolled the importance of education to over 1,000 girls at a school in Sumbawanga. The wife of President Jakaya Kikwete said that many young females have been dropping out of school due to pregnancies. She urged girls in the major city of the nation’s Rukwa Region to make other choices.

Ms. Kikwete said that many girls lack support from their parents, and due to poverty and health problems they fail to complete their educations. She said that focusing on studies is more important than engaging in other activities that might be more fun but which might prevent them from achieving their dreams.

It is not clear if the first lady is aware of the long history of equality for women in Fipa society, the predominant people in the Rukwa Region of southwestern Tanzania. Her comments certainly support that tradition. Roy Willis wrote (1989b), in an article entitled “Power Begins at Home: The Symbolism of Male-Female Commensality in Ufipa,” that Fipa women shared a lot of power and enjoyed much respect and equality in their society.

Willis wrote that 19th century changes in Fipa society made social advancement contingent on peacemaking and socializing skills, both of which were symbolized by the twice-daily meals and frequent sessions of beer-drinking. In both of those activities, adult men and women participated equally, a custom unique among African peoples, according to the anthropologist.

Leisurely meals among the Fipa were, at least when he was in Tanzania, eaten with a great deal of conversation. People would eat and converse without haste, taking food from the central bowls without intruding on their neighbors’ spaces and without appearing to be too eager. If a bowl was out of convenient reach of someone, subtle glances and casual conversation about other topics would be sufficiently strong hints to prompt people to pass the desired food.

People would take balls of dry, but still warm porridge, press their thumbs into them, and using them as spoons, scoop out some of the sauce or relish to quickly but discretely get the food into their mouths. The idea was to avoid getting fingers messy with the sauces, and to have a hand in front of the mouth for the brief moment that the mouth was open. Ceremonial washing of the right hand before and after eating, plus various ritual comments, completed the meal.

Drinking rituals differed from eating, but people were careful when passing bowls of beer around the assembled group from one to the next, since the same principle of avoiding any appearance of greed or selfishness applied as during meals. The critical point was that men and women participated as equals both at meals and during drinking occasions. Even when people became quite inebriated while drinking, Willis wrote, everyone maintained correct forms of courtesy and no one ever became violent. Willis did his field work among the Fipa in the mid-1960s, so social conditions may have changed since then.

Despite the passage of 50 years since the field work by Willis, one can hope that the words of Salma Kikwete will resonate with the girls of the Rukwa Region, and that at least some of them will recall the proud heritage of Fipa women before them.

The government of the Isle of Man is hosting a couple from Tristan da Cunha, sort of an island to island exchange, so the Tristanians can see how things are done in another British dependency.

Martin Green and his wife Iris Green arrived on Monday last week in Douglas, the capital and major town of the Isle of Man, where they were welcomed by a variety of people who gave them an orientation to the community. Arrangements for the four month exchange have been made by the Mann government, with funding provided by Tristan.

The Isle of Man is located in the Irish Sea about halfway between Blackpool and Belfast. It is much larger than Tristan and has a far larger population—over 84,000 compared to about 260.

Its economy used to be focused on agriculture and fishing, much as Tristan’s is today, but it is now mostly based on tourism, manufacturing, and offshore banking. A self-governing British dependency, the island has a history of human habitation stretching back more than 8,500 years. The people used to speak Manx, a Celtic language which is now critically endangered.

Mr. Green, an employee of Tristan’s Agriculture Department for 23 years, will be working in the Isle of Man’s Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture while they are living on Mann. He will work on Manx farms, with veterinarians, and at the island’s creamery.

Mrs. Green, who is in charge of the Post Office and the Philatelic Bureau on Tristan, a major source of revenue for her community, will work at the host government’s post office, the Tourism Division of its Department of Economic Development, and at the Manx National Heritage. The Isle of Man Post sells stamps and first day covers to collectors, much as Tristan does.

Martin commented that “we have enjoyed a very warm welcome in the Isle of Man and are looking forward to experiencing life in another island community.” Notwithstanding the warm welcome, the Tristan couple are finding the weather somewhat chilly in Douglas. Perhaps their departure from the South Atlantic during the austral summer left them a bit unprepared for the cold northern winter. Iris commented that her husband should have ample opportunity to use his Tristan sweater when touring farm fields, with the wintry blasts coming in off the Irish Sea.

Mrs. Green summed up benefits they anticipate from their exchange experience. “This is a fantastic opportunity to work alongside the people of the Isle of Man to see how things are done here and to develop our knowledge and skills,” she said.

Raymond King, an Amish farmer in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is building on earlier measures he has used to save his soil by incorporating the latest management practices to protect his local watershed. He has been using a no-till technique of planting on his 75 acre farm since 1979, which has helped retard soil erosion. He also protects his land by planting in contour strips.

But according to an issue of the PA Environment Digest last week, he has gone far beyond those rather standard practices. With help from several agencies—the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Lancaster County Conservation District—he has implemented additional environmentally sound practices other than the soil control measures he had long ago adopted.

He has constructed a barnyard wastewater collection system, a new manure storage facility, and a better way of collecting drainage fluids from his milk house. He planted shrubs and trees along the stream that runs through his farm. He erected fencings and a cattle crossing to protect the stream.

Wendy Coons, a technician in the NRCS, said that Mr. King built the manure storage facility so he could retain it for up to six months. That allows him to avoid spreading it on his fields in the winter, when it runs off quickly and causes more pollution.

King has developed a comprehensive manure and nutrient management plan for his farm. He is pleased with the results he sees by following the plan, which not only protects the environment, it saves him money. The plan shows him exactly where and when to apply manure, to give the plants the most benefit.

The streams in Lancaster County have been significant contributors of pollution to the Susquehanna River, which is a major tributary to the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the U.S. on the east coast of the Middle Atlantic states. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), a group devoted to protecting the bay, takes a strong interest in the farming practices in Lancaster County.

Lamonte Garber, from the CBF, says that Mr. King has done more than fence his cattle out of the stream on his property. He has fenced a wider, forested buffer along the waterway. “He is even considering the option of permanently preserving the buffer to protect it for future generations. That commitment is to be commended,” says Mr. Garber.

Ashley Spotts, a specialist in buffers for the CBF, has worked closely with King in developing the forested strip along the stream. He says he is aware that one of Mr. King’s neighbors has been observing his efforts to protect the stream, and has been inspired to work for the same ends—better conservation practices—on his land. Wendy Coons adds that one of the most important aspects of the improvements on King’s farm is that he “wants to pass on what he has learned about conservation to other farmers.”

The Amish in Lancaster County have traditionally hesitated to work with representatives of public agencies, whom they view as outsiders who should be avoided, but this farmer obviously feels that the benefits to the natural environment are worth the extensive contacts he has made with people outside his own community.

“The python is considered a good snake and a source of energy for the Orang Asli,” according to Achom Luji, a Semai man from Kuala Lipis in Malaysia.

Last week, the 63-year old man shared numerous stories about snakes and the ways the Semai think about them with a reporter from the New Straits Times. He said that snakes used to serve as guniks, spirits that could be summoned by shamans to help out in various types of ceremonies. Earlier writings about the Semai provide additional information about that statement.

A 1986 journal article by Clayton Robarchek indicates that the Semai considered guniks to be benevolent, protective spirits that help people in times of danger, in contrast with the mara’, malevolent spirits that surround and threaten them.

Robarchek argued that the Semai believe the guniks, in fact, were powerful kinsmen that could be of considerable help when illnesses threaten people. Furthermore, any discord in a Semai village could seriously offend the protective guniks, so much so that they might leave the people, or perhaps even become mara’ and attack them. The belief in the guniks thus help the people retain their peacefulness. It is interesting to learn that the Semai associate their protective guniks with snakes.

The reporter for the English language Malaysian newspaper included the comments by Achom Luji in a piece published on Sunday, February 10. The article was a way of celebrating the Chinese New Year and the beginning of the Year of the Snake. The NST story focused on snake beliefs among the various ethnic groups of Malaysia—the Malays, the Chinese, the Indians, and the Orang Asli—specifically the Semai.

Achom Luji repeated one Semai belief, that pythons were kings in their previous lives, when they were venomous. But due to their doing wrong things, they lost their venom and were made to live in trees. Their venom was taken from them and put into Ipoh trees, he said, which produce the poison the Semai use on the darts in their blowpipes.

The Semai man related a story from their folklore about relationships among the snakes themselves. Evidently, king cobras and pythons used to be friends. But one day a young woman encountered a python while she was approaching some fruit that had fallen from a tree. She was afraid to pick it up.

However, the snake assured her it was a reincarnation of a man who was once fond of her, so the two got married. But then, the man introduced his sister-in-law to a friend of his, king cobra. The sister-in-law violated some rules so the cobra killed her. From that day on, pythons and king cobras have been enemies.

Achom Luji said that the Semai think that snakes represent the reincarnations of human beings. “We believe that all living things were once human. But because of karma, they are reborn as something else. The same goes for snakes,” he said.

The Semai also used to believe, he told the NST, that pythons would go up into the hills above villages to meditate, but when they did that, they might be transformed into dragons. If that happened, the dragons might create lakes around themselves to keep people away. “Sometimes, when there is a landslide, some of us believe that it is because the snake has left its meditation spot,” he added.

He said that, until the 1950s, Semai women used paste to paint the features of pythons on their faces, which symbolized the special values they placed on the snakes. To this day, when Semai artisans make pandanus mats, they sometimes use snakes as motifs.

The NST report suggests that the Semai formerly used snakes for medicinal and cultural purposes. A block of wood in the shape of a snake could be used to help remove bad spirits, or snake venom, from people. In addition, the Semai could retrieve fat from the body of the snake and make medicinal oils.

“One voice from an Inuit hunter can be more significant than [that of] 100 scientists,” says Martin Nweeia, a Harvard University scholar who specializes in the study of narwhal tusks. An Inuit hunter, he reported, was the first person to document the way a narwhal, a small whale that lives in the Arctic, sheds its skin. The rarity of the sighting is due to the fact that scientists normally don’t spend vast amounts of time in icy waters observing wildlife the way the Inuit do.

Nweeia’s observations about Narwhals are among the highlights of an article in Scientific American last week about the importance to scientists of Inuit knowledge about Arctic wildlife. The professor at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine indicated he has gotten a lot of scientific evidence and inspiration from Inuit hunters and elders, people whose ancestors have lived with the narwhals for millennia.

Nweeia also learned, from the Inuit, that the tusking behavior by narwhals is not a sign of dueling aggression, as scientists had previously thought. Rather, the narwhals rub their tusks together gently as a form of ritualized behavior. Their tusks are sensitive sensory organs that are designed to detect changing patterns in water currents. The Harvard scientist learned that the animals could bend their tusks 30 centimeters (nearly 12 inches) without breaking. He really didn’t believe that observation until careful scientific tests confirmed the flexibility and strength of the tusks.

Other scientists similarly gain useful insights from the Inuit, according to the Scientific American. Henry Huntington, at the Pew Environment Group in Alaska, says that since the Arctic is changing so rapidly, it is difficult for scientists to keep up. Changing conditions may prompt industrial developments that could harm wildlife habitats.

For instance, a huge iron ore project proposed for Nunavut might have serious impacts, not only on narwhals but also on beluga whales, bowhead whales, walruses, and caribou. Concerned Inuit are working with scientists investigating these important environmental issues.

Jack Orr, from the Arctic Research Division at Fisheries and Oceans Canada, agrees that it is important to work with the Inuit. “We have to try our best to work together in a cooperative way so that we all know as much as we can about how fragile these populations can be.” Orr mounts satellite transmitters on narwhals to try and find out more about their migration routes and diving behaviors. He relies on Inuit hunters for leads as to the best times, locations, and weather conditions for locating the whales.

Gabriel Nirlungavuk, the director of wildlife and environment programs for Nunavut Tunngavik, Inc., a group that advocates for Inuit land claims, sums up the relationship. He says that biologists realize hunters know what they are looking for and they have good eyes for spotting things. They can really help the scientists, he asserts.

Zapotec towns that have been harmed by the operations of multinational mining firms were in the news last week due to renewed calls for protecting indigenous people and their water supplies.

Last year at this time, several Zapotec anti-mining activists were gunned down in the town of San José Progreso due to the tensions raised by a local mine and the threats its operations posed to the safety of water for the community. The Canadian firm that owned the mine, Fortuna Silver Mines, Inc., denied it had any connection with the violence.

The people of San José Progreso were inspired, according to news stories last year, by the example of another Zapotec town, Capulálpam de Méndez, which had successfully prompted the Mexican government to close down the operations of its local mining company because water supplies for that community had been badly polluted.

A news article last week covered a meeting that had been held in Capulálpam de Méndez focusing on the rights of indigenous Mesoamerican peoples to protect themselves against the threats of mining. The Oaxacan Collective in Defense of Territories, which played an active role in the protests in San José Progreso last year, organized the conference last month.

The conference, held January 17 through 20 and titled “Yes to Life, No to Mining,” attracted over 500 indigenous leaders and community activists from 12 countries. They came to network, forge alliances, share experiences, and discuss strategies for defending themselves against the huge mining projects that destroy forests, lands, and waters. Participants felt that mismanaged mines will ultimately decimate their communities.

During the conference, leaders of Capulálpam de Méndez reviewed the ways their community has coped with its nearby mine. It had been ravaging their community for 200 years, contaminating the land with lead and arsenic, destroying the aquifers in the region, and, people argued, causing deaths and diseases in the community.

Seven years ago, town leaders pressured the Mexican federal government to close the mine, operated by the Canadian firm Continuum Resources, because of the environmental violations it had committed. The community today unanimously opposes any new mining activities. The hopeful message to other Zapotec people was conveyed by Salvador Aquino Centeno, an official from the town.

He explained that the town advocates an alternative vision for managing its natural resources, one that differs from the strategy of the multinational mining firms. “The community proposes the sustainable management of our territorial resources based on our models of communal use rather than indiscriminate exploitation,” he said. He contrasted that vision with the corporate approach of plundering and exploiting vital resources.

Other indigenous leaders from Mexico, the Central American states, and Canada, also shared their experiences and perceptions of ways to protect the land from the ravages of mining. For instance, a representative from Honduras, Dr. Juan Almendares, contrasted the way governments talk of development, but the people only see violence. And the violence they witness is often the result of resource extraction.

Dr. Almendares added that people “like to blame the violence on youth, on gangs. But we have to understand that this exploitative, extractive mining is a war against our peoples—to seize control of territories and cultures. The companies that mine lead from our lands use the same lead in the form of bullets against our people.”

The conference paid tribute to the men murdered in San José Progreso last year, and to the many others who have suffered from violent reprisals due to their opposition to the desecration of their communities.

Throughout the conference, people frequently called for unity and collective action. Those calls were captured by a declaration that concluded the conference, which was signed by 480 participants, representing 80 organizations and 50 communities throughout Mesoamerica. The declaration called for an immediate end to mining projects for which there is strong, local opposition.

It also advocated a new relationship between indigenous communities and national governments, one which recognizes the strength of local organizations, the importance of community networks, and the rights of indigenous peoples to control their own destinies.

A recent government decision in India highlighted the differing ways of handling conflict by people raised in a peaceful tradition, such as the Lepchas, versus those steeped in militarism and violence, such as the Gorkhas. Both societies were deeply affected by an announcement from the West Bengal state government two weeks ago.

The current round of troubles began when the Chief Minister of the state, Mamata Banerjee, met with members of the Lepcha community in Kalimpong. This prompted Bimal Gurung, the leader of the major Gorkha organization, called the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), to declare that the Chief Minister had a divide and rule policy. The Gorkhas maintain a long-standing demand for a separate Gorkhaland state, and they resent any implication that the Lepchas might have their own needs.

Mr. Gurung was not in the least subtle in his response to the meeting held by the Chief Minister with the Lepchas in late January. “You must be ready for the next phase of the agitation. Bullets will fly. We are ready to face police bullets as this is what they will do. She will send in the police force and their bullets, she will reopen old cases (against the agitators), we know all about it and we are ready to take bullets to achieve statehood,” he declared.

In response, Ms. Banerjee announced at a news conference on January 31 her decision to honor a request from the Lepcha people to form a Lepcha Development Board, which will work for the development of the Lepchas living in the hills of West Bengal. Details about the board will be announced later, but the chair and vice chair will be appointed from within the Lepcha community. The Chief Minister’s proposal was approved by the state cabinet on Tuesday, Feb. 5.

The proposed board will seek to improve Lepcha education, preserve their culture and language, and support their cottage industries, agriculture, tourism, and horticulture. The board will also attempt to promote better health among the Lepchas by creating rural and mobile medical facilities. The board will be named the Mayel Lyang Lepcha Development Board. Mayel Lyang, a Lepcha term, means “land of the Lepchas.”

A senior official in the government, doubtless realizing the political repercussions of the decision, emphasized that the board, to be based in Kalimpong, would not have any political powers. The leaders of GJM reacted immediately. One of them said the decision was arbitrary “and an encroachment on the powers and functioning of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) Sabha.”

The GTA, formed in 2011 as a semi-autonomous body in the northern hills of the state, was conceived as way of bringing peace to the region by partially satisfying demands for independent statehood by the Gorkha people. The GTA agreement, however, did not provide for carving a separate state out of West Bengal. The memorandum of agreement signed by the Gorkhas and the state government did provide for including minorities, such as the Lepchas, in the new GTA, but up to now the organization does not include any Lepcha members. To date, the GJM refuses to recognize the needs of the Lepchas.

Anticipating Gorkha reactions to the government decision early last week, Lepcha leaders in the state kept a low profile. The president of the Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association and the coordinator of the Lepcha Rights Movement both refused to take calls. Doriji Lepcha, president of the Lepcha Youth Association, indicated he had heard the news, but, he said, “I am not the right person to comment on the development.”

Tensions continued to rise last week, however, due to the standoff between the state government and the Gorkhas. Mr. Gurung, who also was the chief executive of the GTA, announced that he would step down. It was his way of threatening new rounds of agitation in the West Bengal hills.

He also suggested that the agitation that was developing in Darjeeling, the major city in the district, might not remain peaceful, and that the members of his organization might be preparing to take up arms. The Gorkhas—also spelled Gurkhas—are Nepali/Gorkhali speaking citizens of both India and Nepal who have a long tradition of fighting. They first demonstrated their fierce fighting ability against the British Raj in Nepal in the early 19th century. The English, realizing their fighting ability, enlisted them into army units beginning nearly 200 years ago. Today, the Gorkhas in India number about 10,000,000 people and live in a number of North Indian states.

Mr. Gurung continued to make threatening speeches as the week went on. Referring to numerous earlier periods of agitation for a separate state, he said that the current opposition to the government’s latest proposal would be their “final movement.” “It is my promise to you that this is the third and final agitation towards creation of Gorkhaland,” he told a meeting of GJM workers.

On Wednesday, the GJM announced a 12 hour, dawn to dusk, general strike in Darjeeling and adjoining regions for Saturday, Feb. 9. Mr. Gurung sought to lay the blame for any violence that might develop from the shutdown on the government. He said, “our agitation will be peaceful but the government will try and make it violent.” He blamed the Chief Minister of the state. “It looks like Mamata Banerjee is inviting us to start an intensified Gorkhaland agitation….It seems she has no intention of normalizing the situation and is hell bent on disturbing the harmony.”

As strains deteriorated on Thursday, GJM activists prevented the principal secretary of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, Saumitra Mohan, from entering his office in Darjeeling. A spokesman for the GJM accused him of not conceding to their demands.

On Friday, news sources in India indicated that Lepcha activists had decided to launch an action of their own. The Lepcha Rights Movement began an indefinite hunger strike in the town of Kalimpong to show support for the government’s decision to form the Lepcha Development Board.

Bhupinder Lepcha, a leader of the Lepcha Rights Movement, in announcing the hunger strike, said that the Lepcha Development Board was being politicized by the Gorkhas, and it would not harm anyone. It would improve the education of the Lepcha people, including instruction in their own Lepcha language.

Mr. Lepcha added that the Lepchas had never demanded a distinct territory, and all they wanted were some rights. “We are innocent people and we are not into politics. We only wanted [the] right to education, employment guarantees, and preservation of our culture.”

News stories on Saturday reported that the 12 hour strike by the Gorkhas had so far gone peacefully, as had the hunger strike by the Lepchas. The city of Darjeeling that day was virtually empty of vehicles and people.

The disputes after a 2009 invasion of the Ju/’hoansi Nyae Nyae Conservancy by 32 neighboring Herero farmers may have finally been resolved in a Namibian court. Judge Nate Ndauendapo has ordered the national government to pay the 32 farmers from the Gam area, to the south of the Conservancy, damages amounting to N$3.2 million (US$360,000).

The payment is for the 995 cattle the government had seized and destroyed. The judge also ordered the government agencies involved in the seizure to pay the farmers an additional 20 percent interest, calculated from July 17, 2010, until the principle amount has been fully paid.

The farmers explained in court that they had been forced to cut the fences and illegally enter the conservancy lands owned by the Ju/’hoansi in 2009 because their cattle were being poisoned by a wild plant, named gifblaar, the Afrikaans term, and sometimes known in English as poison leaf (Dichapetalum cymosum). The Herero farmers claimed that by confiscating their cattle, the government had left them permanently destitute. The judge evidently agreed.

Judge Ndauendapo had earlier required the 32 farmers to testify, one by one, as to the exact numbers of cattle that the government had confiscated after the invasion. The government had feared that the cattle might have contracted foot and mouth disease from wild ungulates after the Herero farmers had herded them into the Conservancy lands, hence the quarantine.

The farmers had been awarded N$4.4 million (US$495,000) by the government in July 2011 for 1,333 cattle that had also been confiscated and destroyed.

The livestock had been initially held at the police station in Tsumkwe, the major Ju/’hoansi town in the Nyae Nyae Conservancy. They were then moved outside Tsumkwe to Apel Pos, then into a quarantine facility. The farmers claimed that the government had no right to confiscate and kill their animals.

A court case in late March 2011 had appeared to finally settle the invasion dispute in favor of the Ju/’hoansi. At that time, the 32 Herero farmers were fined N$1,500 (US$224) each for their illegal invasion of the conservancy lands. That case, nearly two years ago, appeared to have settled the invasion related issues. Apparently the Herero persisted and have gotten back from the government significantly larger sums than they had to pay in those fines.

Lye Tuck Po, a prominent Malaysian anthropologist, has visited her Batek friends in the Taman Negara National Park, and once again she has posted some wonderful photos of them. As she has had time over the past several weeks, Dr. Lye has been adding images to her blog, and to her Flickr site. She has generously given us permission to reproduce a few of them, which hopefully will entice visitors to Peaceful Societies to check out her work.

One particularly fetching photo is of a couple boys that she admits she set up by challenging them to jump into a river. Titled “On Batek rivers | 2″ and dated January 31, the caption to the photo indicates it was taken where the Yong River merges with the Tembeling, below Kuala Yong, in Taman Negara National Park. It appears as if she didn’t mind wading out into the water to get her shot.

In a group of pictures posted on January 21, she includes an image of one of her Batek friends, a man named Muncup, and next to it a photo of his great grandson. Below that she posts an image of him taken in a 1996 group shot.

Below those images, she includes a charming photo of a young mother carrying two children, a baby of about four to six months in a sling on her left hip, and an older boy, between two and three, clinging on her right. Dr. Lye indicates how much he looks like an older uncle, whose picture she took in 1999 when he was two years old, and a grandfather, whom she photographed in 1996. The toddler could well be playing like any other normal kid, but he chose to have a moment of comfort from his mom.

Another charming photo from her 2013 visit shows several children holding their hands up to their mouths pretending as if they are hunting with their blowpipes. She writes that the children were making V signs with their fingers, a trick that she feels they learned from local Malay villagers or tourists. Adult Batek never make those signs. So she protested, telling them they should play at being Batek hunters and pose as if they were in the forest with their blowpipes.

Dr. Lye also gave them elastic bands so they could make catapults and try their skills at hunting squirrels or birds. She also gave them toy blowpipes for encouragement. The kids were not able to shoot any game that day, however.

She also has posted, from her 2013 trip, some images of general scenes in the area. She took a couple good pictures on the water of the Tembeling River, the southeast border of the national park and the edge of Batek territory. One photo shows three men in a boat, one of whom is talking on his cell phone, the second is stretched out smoking, and the third is simply sitting there in a relaxed manner looking out across the water.

She included a shot taken in Kuala Yong, the permanent Batek settlement in the Taman Negara National Park where she stayed during her visit. She wrote in her 2004 book Changing Pathways: Forest Degradation and the Batek of Pahang, Malaysia, that Kuala Yong was established by the Batek when they were forced to leave their original settlement area, located about ten minutes away by boat.

Readers who are acquainted with Dr. Lye’s book may remember her moving discussion of a speech by an informant named Tebu, who told her about the importance of the forests to the Batek. The fate of the forests is linked to the fate of the world, in his view. The anthropologist talked with him at length in that community, Kuala Yong, a place that has evidently been important to her for several decades.

Peaceful Societies

Peaceful Societies

Yanadi Families in Andhra Pradesh Gain and Lose Welfare

Equality for Fipa Women

Tristan Couple on Isle of Man

Amish Protect the Land

Semai Beliefs about Snakes

Scientists Collaborate with the Inuit

Zapotec Communities Confront Mining

Conflict in the Hills of West Bengal

Court Settlement of Herero Invasion

Photos of the Batek

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