URGENT- First Nations Protests- Human Rights, Land rights, water rights

[MarathonTmatt]

Oh yeah-
And now that I think on it, I read a news article today about Indonesia. Activists and indigenous in-land people in that area are mapping places out w/ GPS. A lot of clear-cutting and land grabbing going on over there for centuries, too. People living in these traditional places get labeled "squatters" overnight when the corporation pays for a land title w/ the govt. So they are using GPS as a way to legally record these ancestral lands before they all disappear- I guess the case being that this will help stop some of the land grabs.
IMO, British and other European colonization reared its ugly head all over the world centuries ago, and the system we are under (in different places) pretty much still has it's roots in this. They were able to almost break and conquer the Americas- Asia was hit hard too, but didn't get hit as bad as the Americas.

[bawang]

people in my region of china were the wu people. 2500 years ago they used to file their teeth, wear loincloth, and tattoo turtle shell pattern on their back. the land was a jungle.

you have to adapt or perish.

you CAN evolve without losing your identity. the Indians think farming and leaving the reserve is a terrible thing and violates their identity. their very identity is tied to hunting animals and shaman dances. that's why they are a shallow people and why they will disappear forever.

[Syn7]

Can anyone name anywhere that is ruled by a class/race that is 100% indigenous to the land they are in? Off the top of my head, I can't. This issue is just more recent. But really, people have been jacking land since the beginning of the communal experience. Right or wrong, it is what it is. While I support First Nations getting their communities to a healthy state and on equal terms, what they could have been is a non issue. It's done. We're global now, and integration is the name of the game. We need to collectively decide what kind of world we want to live in. Segregation is a thing of the past. Some times you fight the good fight for so long, you forget what you were fighting for and it ends in squabbles over land rights and in the end.... monetary gains. Natives may have once been a more free, minimalist type society/societies, but like I said, that's long gone. Time to build TOGETHER. I have many native brothers and sisters. We grew up together, inter married etc etc. I want what's best for everyone. I'm just not sure that piecing them off is the answer anymore. Had we been more fair from the get go, who knows. But that didn't happen and it's not going to happen... EVER. Natives are a fast growing demographic in Canada, IMO we all need to re-think our roles as we move forward. Just my two cents.

[Jimbo]

IMO, British and other European colonization reared its ugly head all over the world centuries ago, and the system we are under (in different places) pretty much still has it's roots in this. They were able to almost break and conquer the Americas- Asia was hit hard too, but didn't get hit as bad as the Americas.

The Ainu of Japan, who are the last remnants of the Jomon people, were given every bit as terrible treatment by the later-arriving Yayoi, as the Native Americans received from the Europeans. Now there are very few "pure" Ainu left, mostly on Hokkaido. Most with Ainu blood have been intermixed into the general population in varying degrees. And discrimination against those with Ainu blood is still very bad in Japan today.

Though it was never brought up, my father's side of the family has very clear Ainu/Jomon physical characteristics, except my paternal grandfather was quite tall for his time (around 6' 1" tall; he lived 80 years and died in 1951). That's almost 4 inches taller than I am. Ainu were generally characterized as shorter as well as shorter-limbed than the majority Yayoi Japanese...neither of which describes our family. But I am proud of the Ainu/Jomon characteristics that I've inherited.

Ironically, many of the popular actors, athletes, and many well-known people in Japan have varying degrees of Ainu or Jomon characteristics, such as Tatsuya Nakadai, Sonny Chiba, Toshiro Mifune, etc. I say it's ironic, because they are/were very visible to the Japanese public, and those characteristics contributed to their unique looks. Yet among many Japanese, Ainu characteristics are often considered something to be ashamed of or kept hidden.

[MarathonTmatt]

people in my region of china were the wu people. 2500 years ago they used to file their teeth, wear loincloth, and tattoo turtle shell pattern on their back. the land was a jungle.

you have to adapt or perish.

you CAN evolve without losing your identity. the Indians think farming and leaving the reserve is a terrible thing and violates their identity.

Thanks for saying that- it's a good point!

[MarathonTmatt]

The Ainu of Japan, who are the last remnants of the Jomon people, were given every bit as terrible treatment by the later-arriving Yayoi, as the Native Americans received from the Europeans. Now there are very few "pure" Ainu left, mostly on Hokkaido. Most with Ainu blood have been intermixed into the general population in varying degrees. And discrimination against those with Ainu blood is still very bad in Japan today.

Though it was never brought up, my father's side of the family has very clear Ainu/Jomon physical characteristics, except my paternal grandfather was quite tall for his time (around 6' 1" tall; he lived 80 years and died in 1951). That's almost 4 inches taller than I am. Ainu were generally characterized as shorter as well as shorter-limbed than the majority Yayoi Japanese...neither of which describes our family. But I am proud of the Ainu/Jomon characteristics that I've inherited.

Ironically, many of the popular actors, athletes, and many well-known people in Japan have varying degrees of Ainu or Jomon characteristics, such as Tatsuya Nakadai, Sonny Chiba, Toshiro Mifune, etc. I say it's ironic, because they are/were very visible to the Japanese public, and those characteristics contributed to their unique looks. Yet among many Japanese, Ainu characteristics are often considered something to be ashamed of or kept hidden.

I have heard the Ainu mentioned before- I was always wondering that about Japanese people- how many might have Ainu blood and such. It sounds a lot like the northeastern United States/ Canada, a lot of mixing up here too is evident with our (First Nations) people.
I am of mixed ancestry myself. And, that is not a bad thing at all- I am proud of my roots and proud of my heritage that has been passed on to me. Yes, the discrimination/misunderstandings has existed and will always exist against minorities which is a bad thing.
That's a good point about actors like Sonny Chiba! Indigenous is beautiful, that's why they have that camera charm!

[MarathonTmatt]

@ Syn7-
I agree we need to be progressive. We need to work together. We can keep our identities and still move forwards. No problem there.
What I would be concerned about is this, for example (getting off the original topic a bit but whatever)-
In Central and North America there are a lot of old ruins- temples, cairns, walls, effigys etc. etc. In Midwestern USA they simply call them "mounds" but they are really earthern pyramids (refrence the Cahokia Mounds). A lot of times these are not protected in any way from development and being destroyed. In some cases these places are even more massive than the highly publicized pyramids in Egypt, to give one an idea. Just as the Chinese had the concept of Feng shui, these places were designed with the same pattern of thinking and sophistication. You may look at a city skyscraper and think that's more impressive- in some ways, yes. But these old sites that are still around have that Feng shui-like element worked in with the landscape that our modern works do not.
And hey, my grandfather was a steel worker, so don't get me wrong- I'm not pointing fingers at anyone (you could say he was a stereotype Native who was not afraid of heights). I feel as much at home in the city as I do the country.
But lets say we are building a new highway- and we discover a cave. Do we blow it (the entrance) up, or do we find a new way to work around it so we can preserve this historical "national treasure."

[bawang]

all u need to do to save ur people is breed. if 1000 women are willing to have 10 children each, and their children willing to have 10 children, you can make 100k natives in 36 years. in 54 years u wll have one million natives.