Brazil: The People of Gê Anomaly - Bororo

In the forests Brazil, live a host of peoples all speak the dialects of Gê language family, Bororo is one of them in the central of Mato Grosso.

It was generally considered by most anthropologists in early years that, the technological sophistication is the measure of the complexity of a society, however, another school argued that from the biological standpoint, every human culture has the similar mental capability, whether the advancement is manifested through technology is not a definite sign of genetic superiority, but rather cultural choices made along historical circumstances. This viewpoint is shown through the discovery of Gê peoples in Brazil, where there is stark difference between their primitiveness in the sense of technology, and the complex and sophisticated world views, this phenomenon is hence called Gê Anomaly.

The social structure of Bororo is complex where each community is divided into moieties. Each moiety is again divided into several matrilineal sibs, which are further subdivided into several matrilineages. Each sib is entitled to some special rights and privileges, for example, certain names, designs, knowledges etc.

Marriages are initiated by women, if it is accepted by the male, the couple will take up residence in the wife's family's house. Little ceremony is given to marriage and birth. Major ceremonies are reserved for naming the child when at about three years of age, male initiation and death.

The physical arrangement of houses and working ares are planned according to the social structure. The circular village is divided into various parts by imaginary lines, theoretically one is the diameter which runs parallel to a river, with the men's house (baitemannageo) situated at the centre of the circle.

The men's house is where the bachelors sleep and where the male members spend their days when they are not hunting or fishing. Women are strictly forbidden to enter the men's house. It is also where the ceremonial activities take place, and acts as temple.

The Bororo way of thinking is governed by a fundamental opposition between nature and culture. The human life is regarded as belonging to culture. When a native dies, the death is considered as natural and anti-culture, which means the loss of the community is caused by nature and thus puts nature in debt. As a result of this reasoning, the village will organize a collective funeral hunt - an expedition against the nature - with the aim to kill a large animal, preferably a jaguar, as compensation.

Funeral is the longest ritual of Bororo. The deceased's body is wrapped with straw mat and buried in a shallow grave at central court. it is watered daily to accelerate the decomposition of the body. The bones which left after two or three months are painted and decorated with mosaics of stuck-on feathers, then placing them in a basket at the bottom of a lake or stream.

The Bororo society operates in duality - the two village moieties, that exchanging women, possessions, services, intermarrying the children, burying each other's dead etc. By this system the village is arranged in such a way that balances out the contradictions and works through cooperations.

Bororo Village
Photo by Iluciano

References:
i. Claude Lévi-Strausse
ii. Wade Davis
iii. Eleanor C Swanson

China: Tibetan Buddhism under Exploitation

Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama is considering naming his successor prior to his death, breaking the tradition that has been practiced for centuries.

Usually, after the death of a Dalai Lama, senior Tibetan Buddhist officials will be guided by dreams, signs and divinations to locate a young child who believed is the reincarnated Dalai Lama. However, the Chinese government has been interfering the process and freedom of Tibetan Buddhists based on political reasons.

Since the invasion of People's Liberation Army in 1949, China has been claiming its sovereignty over Tibet from time to time despite protests from various parties. However, Tibetans remain loyal to His Holiness of Dalai Lama even after his exile to Dharamshala, India in 1959, after the Lhasa uprising was crushed by Chairman Mao Zedong. Dalai Lama has been criticized by Chinese government and viewed as separatist who involves actively in politics.

On 14 May 1995, Dalai Lama announced a six-year-old boy, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, in Lhari district of Nagchu, to be the Eleventh Panchen Lama, the second most important figure in Tibetan Buddhism, China detained that boy on 17 May 1995 and replaced him with one who is and would be loyal to Chinese rule, since then Gedhun Choekyi Nyima together with his parents have not been seen.

Since 17th century Panchen Lama has acted as the religious leader when the identification of reincarnated Dalai Lama is in the process. After the death of Dalai Lama, Panchen Lama will be the ultimate authority in identifying the reincarnated Dalai Lama. Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama have alternately been the religious teacher of younger person throughout the centuries.

It is widely believed that by replacing the Panchen Lama with a false one, Chinese authorities are able to control and train the child with Chinese communist doctrine and thought, to see things from pro-Chinese standpoint, in addition, after the death of Dalai Lama, Panchen Lama will be the religious leader, responsible in identifying the reincarnated Dalai Lama, at that time it will be easy for them to replace or control the new Dalai Lama and thus secure the threat of Tibet from breaking away.

In August 2007, China issued an extremely absurd and chilling new law that came into effect on 1 September 2007 to ban Tibet's living lamas from reincarnation if permission is not granted. Those who reincarnate without approval will be considered illegal and invalid. Anyone outside China is banned from seeking and identifying a reincarnated lama. This effectively exclude the role of Dalai Lama to recognize any further reincarnated lamas.

Various nations and international organizations have strongly criticized China for the suppression and attempt to deny the rights and destroy the traditions of Tibetans. It is both immoral and injustice to further exploit the Tibetans of their religious traditions and Panchen Lama his proper religious training and spiritual responsibilities. China government should stop all brutalities set against the Tibetans, give them free reign in restoring their millenniums-long traditions and faith.

His Holiness of Dalai Lama

Missing Panchen Lama

Malaysia: Is Asking for Fundamental Rights so Threatening?

Two weeks after the largest demonstration in a decade that held in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, to ask for fair and clean election, another rally was organized by HINDRAF (Hindu Rights Action Force) on 25 Nov 2007 in the city to hand in the petition to British High Commission asking for compensation to two millions ethnic Indians whose ancestors were brought into the country in 19th century but without taking care of their rights. However, the real goal of the demonstration is believed to highlight the unfair treatments received by marginalized Indians in Malaysia. Many ethnic Indians still live in poverty because Malaysian laws and policies favour the majority Malays.

It is the constitutional right in democratic country to have the freedom of expression and assembly. In Malaysia, gathering of 5 people or more will need to apply for permit. However, both applications for permits for rallies on 10 November 2007 and 25 November 2007 were rejected by police based on the fear of public disorder and racial hatred, despite it had been claimed and assured numerous times by organizers as peaceful and orderly rallies. Instead of applying the police force to guide the traffic during the rallies that would last only a couple of hours, road blocks had been set up days before for roads incoming to the city centre causing much inconvenience and massive traffic congestions. Despite facing peaceful crowds, police force had used excessive force by firing teargas and water cannons to disperse the unarmed demonstrators. More than one hundred people were arrested during the rally. Government and police forces are there to serve the people, but it appeared the other way round in Malaysia.

More and more Malaysians have started to stand up for their rights in social reforms. Most are still relying on internet as main source of news to hear the voices of oppositions. In the main stream media, most news are one-sided, even the largest rally held in a decade was rarely covered in local newspapers, that is because media is not totally free to report as permits need to be applied every year, which has caused most voters uninformed about the real situations, particularly for those who are lack of access to internet.

What are the objectives of these two rallies? For the first rally held on 10 November 2007, the objective is to ask for electoral reform in order to have a fair and clean election, which might be held next year in 2008. For the second rally held on 25 November 2007, the objective is to highlight the unfair treatments, the minority Indians are asking for basic equality of rights, not even any privileges over other races. Both objectives represent the most basic qualities a democratic country should have, what is so threatening to the authorities? however, the government and police have handled it undemocratically by refusing the fundamental and constitutional rights of its citizen and over-reacting by using excessive force towards unarmed peaceful demonstrators.

Demonstrators pledged for their constitutional rights

Teargas was fired over to unarmed peaceful demonstrators
Photo by hidupku

Russia: Spy Games - The Murder of Alexander Litvinenko

An ex-KGB agent, Alexander Litvinenko, who fled from Russia and kept his attacks against the Kremlin during his exile in London was found poisoned with a rare radioactive isotope polonium-210, later died in a slow and painful way on 23 November 2006, a couple of days before his death he issued a statement accusing President Putin for the murder.

Litvinenko first felt ill on 1 November 2006 after having tea with two Russians at Millennium Hotel in central London, followed by lunch with an Italian at a London sushi bar, Itsu, in Piccadilly. Traces of radiation have been found in both locations. Positive detection have been recorded from a total of 12 sites, including three British Airways planes that have flown between UK and Russia.

In Moscow, Russian intelligence denied any involvement in the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko. Litvinenko had been a vocal critic of Russian authorities since 1998 and published two books on the respective subjects including the allegation of the plot of a series of apartment bombings across the country in 1999 causing the death of 300 people to be directed by Russian government to legitimize the invasion of Chechnya which led into second Chechen war.

Polonium-210 is an effective and convenient poison, it is 250,000 times more toxic than hydrogen cyanide, 0.1 microgram is enough to kill. In theory, one gram of it is enough to poison 2 million people, of this one million would die. Pure alpha particles emitted by Polonium will damage organic tissues easily if it is inhaled, ingested or absorbed, although outside the body it does not penetrate the epidermis or even a thin sheet of tissue paper, which makes it non-hazardous outside the body and convenient to transport undetected.

Alexander Litvinenko remains a controversial figure, some named him a traitor to his native land while others praised him a courageous whistleblower against the powerful authorities. The case will most probably remain unsolved, at least to public, as most of the spy games are. However, where did the polonium-210 come from? According to Professor Nick Priest, one of the few UK scientists who had worked with polonium-210, said there are at least three ways to make polonium-210, i) extracted from rocks containing radioactive uranium, ii) separated chemically from radium-226, iii) produced from nuclear reactor, but to obtain the amount enough to kill a person, it can only be produced by nuclear reactor. British investigators suggested the amount used to kill Litvinenko was massive and could only be obtained either from a nuclear reactor or well connected black market smugglers.

The murder brought UK-Russian relationship to a new low after Russia refused to extradite a prime suspect, Andrei Lugovoi, claiming it was against Russian constitution. UK expelled four Russian diplomats in July 2007 and Russian followed suit by expelling four UK embassy staffs in the same month.

Alexander Litvinenko, before and after poisoning.

ASEAN: Non-Interference Policy A Stumbling Block for Growth

The new ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asia Nations) Constitution signed in Singapore in November 2007 is claimed to commit to promoting human rights and democracy of the regions, an agency is to be set up to monitor the rights across the region.

This monitoring is based on the principles of consensus-based and non-interference on internal affairs of one another, and further protects all members from the interference put forth by other nations. This non-interference principle implies the reluctance of compliance and adherence to universal rights and democracy especially by the staunchest supporters like Myanmar/Burma, Cambodia and Laos. The monk-crushing Myanmar/Burma has greatly affected the reputation of ASEAN in the west, further complicated the group's effort to form a trade bloc, by which EU has hinted as a stumbling block for free trade negotiations.

The 10-nation ASEAN comprises of Myanmar/Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei and Philippines. As globalisation sets in from all corners, inter-dependence has become increasingly important. In order to grow and compete in international stage, ASEAN must drop its non-interference policy and moves towards constructive intervention, to act with credibility and legitimacy as a regional organization. The non-interference policy has allowed the problems in Myanmar/Burma to persist, as members are prevented from criticizing, let alone sanctioning a nation that severely violates the human rights and shows no urgency in moving towards democratic reform. Without concrete actions to promote human rights and democracy according to international standards, the ambition of ASEAN to become a next 'European Union'-like success will fall far short in reality, if leaders are just contended in rhetoric form rather than making it a fact instead.

Pakistan: Wearing the Coat of Democracy

President Pervez Musharraf did not come to power through a democratic process, he suspended the constitution twice, he imposed emergency rule to remove whosoever that might be an obstacle to his supreme power, judges, political opponents, activists or the likes, yet he still wants to legitimize his position through election.

It is indeed interesting to see how democracy can be bended and distorted whichever ways a dictator likes. Not uncommon is the claim that whatever a dictator wants to do is for the sake of the country, for the stability of the society, for the wellness of the people; which in fact is obvious that it is for the sake of the dictatorship, the stability of his power, the wellness of his own self.

Such cases are not limited to Pakistan alone, there are a number of countries all using the similar claims to legitimize their exploitations with different degrees of damage. Not only the person in power is capable of manipulating the democratic process, he or she can alter the news, hence including the history to be written in his or her favour. Terms like 'democracy', 'anti-terrorism' are all subject to manipulation in these regimes, twisted with the motive for their own interests.

While shouting criticism against Musharraf's decision on emergency rule, US fails to back up its words with concrete sanctions due partly to its own concerns of fighting against Taliban and al-Qaeda with the support of Pakistani troops.

Under current condition, if opposition parties believe the proposed election in coming January will be rigged anyway, an united boycott and refusal to participate in the election can at least be a strong affirmation of their protest and criticism, by not giving in to help paving a way for Gen Musharraf to legitimize his plan for another five years in power.

The whole government is indeed illegitimate since the coup in 1999 in the sense of democracy, yet US based on its own interest keeps funding and playing the ball. Both sides are not genuinely interested in democracy other than their own interests. Since this is the case, it would not be surprised to see the dismiss of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, it would not be surprised to see the declare of emergency rule, it would not be surprised to see the erosion of whole democracy system, including judicial independence, including freedom of assembly and expression, including media freedom and independence, including fair and clean election, including the president is also the army chief, it would not be surprised to see Pakistan is wearing a coat of democracy but indeed is under dictatorship.

Suriname: New Frog Species Found

A new species two-tone frog of genus Atelopus, with irregular fluorescent purple-coloured loops on a background of aubergine, was found by Surinamese scientists Paul Ouboter and Jan H. Mol during an expedition led by Leeanne E. Alonso from Conservation International around Nassau plateau in eastern Suriname.

The expedition was sponsored by two mining companies there, surveys, documentation, together with the Rapid Assessment Program carried out by Conservation International in these regions were used to guide decisions of these mining companies and also the governmental bodies.

It was found that this new found species of frog did not have the Chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) that is responsible for the decline in the amphibian population. The fungus attacks the parts of a frog's skin that have keratin and also the nervous system, since frog uses the skin to breathe, the infection will cause difficulty in respiration, affect the behaviour and thus slowly kill the infected frog.



The Chytrid fungal infection in the amphibian population is believed to have connection with the higher temperature caused by global warming.

With the new found species these regions in Suriname will become important in monitoring the ongoing process and discovering the reasons and factors that stave off the fungus.

Scientists believe there may be another 4000 amphibian species on the planet yet to be found, with more than 6000 species already known and recorded at the moment. The total number is expected to be dropping fast if global warming is not controlled and conservation is not done as soon as possible, with more than one hundred species have already gone extinct since 1980, and about one third of known species have been classified by IUCN The World Conservation Union as threatened in 2007, the number has increased more than ten folds as compared to the record in mere ten years ago.

In coming years, further changes in global climate will continue to impact the biodiversity, the food chain will be disrupted with the dramatic decrease in amphibian species and others, encourages the increase of certain insects and also the spread of infectious diseases.

Human activities since industrial revolution have pushed the whole environment towards a most dangerous edge, all conservation programs cannot be done effectively without taking on the main cause - one species that disrupts a whole lot of all the others - we the Homo sapiens. Despite all the alarming facts, most of us are still living without paying heed, the boiling frog syndrome is going to haunt us sooner or later if consensus among nations and effective and drastic actions are still inadequate.

Photo by Paul Ouboter

Colombia: The People of Anaconda - Barasana

In the northwest Amazon of Colombia, live a group of people called Barasana who believe they came up the Vaupes River; the western affluent of Rio Negro, a principal tributary of the Amazon River; in canoes dragged by sacred anaconda or from its belly but later to be disgorged onto different parts of the river banks of Amazon, settled with their own languages. Therefore, to avoid incest, people only marry those who speak different language. From this perspective, their world is divided into "brothers" and "marriageables".

Cognitively these people cannot differentiate the colour green from the colour blue, because the canopy of the forests is equated as sky. However, together with other Amazonian tribes, their ability to distinguish plants is exceptional.

They live in communal houses, or called malocas, with drawings on the walls. The front door is for the men while the back door for women. The border between the shaman and lay person in Barasana is not clearly defined as most adult men have the abilities and know many myths. The Barasana conceive the menstruation of women as a periodic rejuvenation process which the men are lack of. In replacing this, they need to perform ritually 'He' or 'Jurupari' ceremony, which is normally carried out in the front of maloca separated from the women by a screen. Ayahuasca, a hallucinogen, is usually consumed during rituals in order to reach the trance-like state.

A considerable part of Barasana diet comes from insects, these are often roasted while most Barasana food is smoked or boiled.

Barasana is considered as expert basket makers. In recent years Barasana also cannot avoid from the lure of consumer goods such as guns, cooking pots, fishing hooks or such likes that can make their lives in forests more convenient. Some of them need to grow coca for cocaine industry in order to obtain these things that they believe are infused with 'ewa', an irresistable attraction which affects their good judgment.

This brought up an issue as whether the way of Barasana living is by their preferable choice or by their limited choice. The inner urge to possess these modern convenience is so great that, according to Stephen Hugh-Jones, they can go the extra length of doing what they are warned to be bad, like growing coca (although coca is indeed a great nutritional food in this region), to squeezing out a pretension of liking the whites which in fact they feel otherwise. Balancing between pleasure and pain is the basic human nature, what constitutes pleasure and what constitutes pain are highly subjective to interpretation, it is this interpretation that differentiates us in thousand ways, mold a thousand worlds.

References:
i. Wade Davis
ii. Stephen Hugh-Jones
iii. Janet M Chernela

Photo by Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff 1968

Somalia: Worst Crisis in Decades Caused Million Homeless

According to UN, the humanitarian crisis in Somalia now is the worst in Africa. In past two weeks, 200,000 Mogadishu residents have fled their homes whatever ways they can during the renewed fighting between the Islamist insurgents of Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) and Ethiopian-backed government in the capital.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says a total of one million Somalis from the capital Mogadishu are now homeless since the fighting heightened last year in the area.

It is estimated about 8 millions people live in Somalia with about 1.5 millions in Mogadishu. Most of them speak the official language of Somali and are Sunni Muslims but divided among themselves according to the clans, namely Hawiye, Darod, Dir and Rahanwein, and also sub-clans, with each having its own militia because Somalia had been without government since 1991. These militias were originally set up to be taking care of local social order during the anarchy. Some of these later joined together to become the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC).

With the aim to restore the stability and social order in Somalia, some hardliners from UIC also determine to curb foreign influences which they consider as immoral, which includes closing down cinemas. However, it was claimed that Ethiopia does not want to see the emergence of an Islamic state as its neighbor and thus backs Somali government in fighting against UIC.

The involvement of Ethiopia has become part of the problem and viewed instead as an interference. As the government has gained control over most towns now including Mogadishu, Ethiopia should step back to let Somalis handle their own issues. Peace negotiations between the present government headed by President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and UIC must take place as soon as possible, the government should stop relying on the Ethiopia's intervention, while UIC should stop pressing on to build tribal regime, both sides should work together in paving the road for democratic process to solve the turmoil in their homeland.

Photo from zazamedia

Cambodia: Another Khmer Rouge Leader Detained

Khieu Samphan, the Khmer Rouge's former head of state, was taken out from Phnom Penh Hospital where he was being treated for a stroke, and arrested by the UN-backed genocide tribunal.

Khmer Rouge imposed an extreme form of social engineering based on an insane, impractical, and inhumane ideology in order to create the ideal communist society. During the regime's 1975-79 rule, peasants were classified as 'old people' and viewed as simple, uneducated, hard-working and not prone to exploiting others, where others, for examples, city dwellers and educated people were regarded as 'new people' and seen as the root of capitalist evil.

17 April 1975 was set as Year Zero for the new Cambodia, whoever was suspected as not fit to the ideology was arrested, tortured and eventually executed, causing an estimated of 1.5 million deaths during the four short years of cruel and insane ruling.

In the effort of building an ideal, simple and humane society, Pol Pot and his party exercised a most inhumane exploitation to his own people, when knowledge was wrongly perceived in the hands of people with abusive power, the result could be disastrous and horrible.