#shompen people

[skyprowler]

A spokesperson for human rights group Survival International said: “The Shompen are nomadic and have clearly defined territories. Four of their semi-permanent settlements are set to be directly devastated by the project, along with their southern hunting and foraging territories.

“The Shompen will undoubtedly try to move away from the area destroyed, but there will be little space for them to go. To avoid a genocide, this deadly mega-project must be scrapped.”

The $9bn (£7bn) port project, planned to transform the Indian Ocean island of 8,000 inhabitants into what has been called the “Hong Kong of India”, includes the construction of an international shipping terminal, airport, power plant, military base and industrial park. It will also develop tourism

[lookninjas]

Here's a recent article on attempts to delay/stop the project. (June 17, 2024)

Genocide experts warn that India is about to genocide the Shompen people

Who are the Shompen?

The Shompen are an indigenous culture that lives in the Great Nicobar Island, which is nowadays owned by India. The Shompen and their ancestors are believed to have been living in this island for around 10,000 years. Like other tribes in the nearby islands, the Shompen are isolated from the rest of the world, as they chose to be left alone, with the exception of a few members who occasionally take part in exchanges with foreigners and go on quarantine before returning to their tribe. There are between 100 and 400 Shompen people, who are hunter-gatherers and nomadic agricultors and rely on their island's rainforest for survival.

Why is there risk of genocide?

India has announced a huge construction mega-project that will completely change the Great Nicobar Island to turn it into "the Hong Kong of India".

Nowadays, the island has 8,500 inhabitants, and over 95% of its surface is made up of national parks, protected forests and tribal reserve areas. Much of the island is covered by the Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve, described by UNESCO as covering “unique and threatened tropical evergreen forest ecosystems. It is home to very rich ecosystems, including 650 species of angiosperms, ferns, gymnosperms, and bryophytes, among others. In terms of fauna, there are over 1800 species, some of which are endemic to this area. It has one of the best-preserved tropical rain forests in the world.”

The Indian project aims to destroy this natural environment to create an international shipping terminal with the capacity to handle 14.2 million TEUs (unit of cargo capacity), an international airport that will handle a peak hour traffic of 4,000 passengers and that will be used as a joint civilian-military airport under the control of the Indian Navy, a gas and solar power plant, a military base, an industrial park, and townships aimed at bringing in tourism, including commercial, industrial and residential zones as well as other tourism-related activities.

This project means the destruction of the island's pristine rainforests, as it involves cutting down over 852,000 trees and endangers the local fauna such as leatherback turtles, saltwater crocodiles, Nicobar crab-eating macaque and migratory birds. The erosion resulting from deforestation will be huge in this highly-seismic area. Experts also warn about the effects that this project will have on local flora and fauna as a result of pollution from the terminal project, coastal surface runoff, ballasts from ships, physical collisions with ships, coastal construction, oil spills, etc.

The indigenous people are not only affected because their environment and food source will be destroyed. On top of this, the demographic change will be a catastrophe for them. After the creation of this project, the Great Nicobar Island -which now has 8,500 inhabitants- will receive a population of 650,000 settlers. Remember that the Shompen and Nicobarese people who live on this island are isolated, which means they do not have an immune system that can resist outsider illnesses. Academics believe they could die of disease if they come in contact with outsiders (think of the arrival of Europeans to the Americas after Christopher Columbus and the way that common European illnesses were lethal for indigenous Americans with no immunization against them).

And on top of all of this, the project might destroy the environment and the indigenous people just to turn out to be useless and sooner or later be abandoned. The naturalist Uday Mondal explains that “after all the destruction, the financial viability of the project remains questionable as all the construction material will have to be shipped to this remote island and it will have to compete with already well-established ports.” However, this project is important to India because they want to use the island as a military and commercial post to stop China's expansion in the region, since the Nicobar islands are located on one of the world's busiest sea routes.

Last year, 70 former government officials and ambassadors wrote to the Indian president saying the project would “virtually destroy the unique ecology of this island and the habitat of vulnerable tribal groups”. India's response has been to say that the indigenous tribes will be relocated "if needed", but that doesn't solve the problem. As a spokesperson for human rights group Survival International said: “The Shompen are nomadic and have clearly defined territories. Four of their semi-permanent settlements are set to be directly devastated by the project, along with their southern hunting and foraging territories. The Shompen will undoubtedly try to move away from the area destroyed, but there will be little space for them to go. To avoid a genocide, this deadly mega-project must be scrapped.”

On 7 February 2024, 39 scholars from 13 countries published an open letter to the Indian president warning that “If the project goes ahead, even in a limited form, we believe it will be a death sentence for the Shompen, tantamount to the international crime of genocide.”

How to help

The NGO Survival International has launched this campaign:

From this site, you just need to add your name and email and you will send an email to India's Tribal Affairs Minister and to the companies currently vying to build the first stage of the project.

Share it with your friends and acquittances and on social media.

Sources:

India’s plan for untouched Nicobar isles will be ‘death sentence’ for isolated tribe, 7 Feb 2024. The Guardian.

‘It will destroy them’: Indian mega-development could cause ‘genocide’ and ‘ecocide’, says charity, 8 Feb 2024. Geographical.

Genocide experts call on India's government to scrap the Great Nicobar mega-project, Feb 2024. Survival International.

The container terminal that could sink the Great Nicobar Island, 20 July 2022. Mongabay.

[Maps] Environmental path cleared for Great Nicobar mega project, 10 Oct 2022. Mongabay.

[faircatch]

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A post shared by Survival International (@survivalinternational)

via: survivalinternational Uncontacted tribal people on an Indian island face genocide in the name of 'mega development'. The Shompen, one of Earth's most isolated tribes, are at risk of being wiped out for a 'Hong Kong of India' project.

Watch this video made by @fairplanet_ (on Instagram) in collaboration with Survival.

Take Action: svlint.org/ShompenIG

[tchaikovskymacy]

regarding the construction project in India of completely changing Andaman Nicobar Island to 'Hong Kong' by ruining the ecosystem, and threatening the lives of the Indigenous, shompen living there. and then the tribal minister manages to comment something like this

like? if it weren't threatening the ecosystem and the people why would 39 scholars and 13 countries worldwide warn you? They are clearly evil in justifying their future actions and trying to continue the project. And the media is up to no good, they are busy writing shit and soaked up in celebrities' lives instead of actually covering what should be covered.

Here is the NGO link to help stop this PROJECT.

[hongtonie]

reading up a bit more on the plan that the indian gvmt has to build on (aka destroy the local flora and fauna of) the great nicobar island that has the potential to begin a genocide on the shompen people and endanger other indigenous peoples and it’s just so infuriating that we’re witnessing 3+ genocides right now and experts are warning about another. like i don’t have the words for how angering it is ESPECIALLY because the people in high places of power don’t fucking care to do anything about it. i’m hoping this plan won’t come to fruition but honestly i don’t have much or any faith in governments or organizations like the un to stop or prevent it anymore

[singingrainbows]

"The Shompen are one of the most isolated tribes on Earth. They live on Great Nicobar Island in India, and most of them refuse all contact with outsiders. 

Numbering between 100 and 400, they are now at risk of being totally wiped out by a “mega-development” plan of the Indian government to transform their small island home into the “Hong Kong of India.”

If the project goes ahead, huge swathes of their unique rainforest will be destroyed – to be replaced by a mega-port; a new city; an international airport; a power station; a defense base; an industrial park; and 650,000 settlers - a population the size of Las Vegas.

Uncontacted tribes are the most vulnerable people on the planet and the Shompen will not be able to survive this overwhelming and catastrophic transformation of their island.

Please, will you tell India’s Tribal Affairs Minister that the project must be scrapped?" 

[akashscribbles]

Oil pastels Art Of Jarawas. #exploreandamanwithme Jarawas are the one of the six native peoples of A&n islands, along with the sentinelese, the great andamanese, the onge, the shompen and the nicobarese. From 1997, Jarawas began to initiate contacts with settled populations instead of being coaxed to show themselves. Meetings with outsiders, especially with tourists, remained extremely dangerous to the Jarawas due to the risk of disease. . . . . . . #andamanart #jarawa #jarawas #jarawatribe #tribeart #tribalart #oilpastels #oilpastelart #artoftheday #art #artistsoninstagram #artgallery #andamanartist #andamanislands #andamanandnicobar #islands #tribes #tribevibe #indiatribes #indigenous #peoples #nature #abstractart #portblair #andaman #artistsupport (at MY Portblair) https://www.instagram.com/p/CNg1SenHVsu/?igshid=1grqfq4952xgq

[travelsmadurai]

andaman Best Places To Visit in February

Blue seas, virgin islands and colonial past

Replete with turquoise blue water beaches and a bit of history, Andaman & Nicobar Islands is a little slice of paradise tucked around 1,400 km away from the east coast of mainland India. Port Blair, the capital of this union territory, has a major airport and seaport connected with the rest of the country and with various tourist islands via multiple daily ferries. Havelock and Neil Islands are popular among tourists for their white sandy beaches and excellent diving options.

Andaman & Nicobar Islands comprises 572 islands, only 37 of which are inhabited, and a few are open to tourists. Havelock Island is one of the largest and the most popular islands of all Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Travellers typically enter from Port Blair via flight or ship and spend multiple nights in Havelock and Neil Islands that offer some great resorts.

Port Blair is generally used as a base city to catch ferries to nearby islands. However, tourists also spend a day or two here to explore the town and nearby beaches. People also take day trips to Ross Island and North Bay Island or Baratang and Jolly Buoy island from Port Blair.

Andamans have the most exotic beach and some of them also give the opportunity of trying out a number of water sports such as Scuba Diving, Snorkeling, Sea Walk etc. North Bay Island near Port Blair, Elephant Beach in Havelock Island and Bharatpur Beach in Neil Island are three popular beaches to try out watersports.

Must Know Before You Visit Andaman

1. Keep INR 10,000-15,000 in cash before visiting the islands.

2. Keep one day extra in Port Blair while going and while returning as well

3. Make all your bookings in advance as the prices increase at the last moment

4. Make sure you book the ferry with a time gap of 1.5-2 hours after landing.

5. The ferries get cancelled at times because of bad weather, so be mindful of that while booking the hotels. Please book the ferry first and then the hotel.

6. There are some government ferries and private ferries of Markuzz and Green Ocean. They can be booked from the website go2andaman or at the booking counter at the ports.

7. Apart from BSNL, the Airtel network is now available in Port Blair and Andaman and at a few points in Neil Island. It will be difficult to get connectivity for any other cellular service.

Relive the Independence Struggle at the Cellular Jail

Once known for its Cellular Jail- ‘Kaala Paani’ in Port Blair which primarily imprisoned the freedom fighters who were exiled from the mainland of India during the British Era, the graph of the Andaman and Nicobar islands have lately changed drastically.

Once a brutal prison, it has now been converted into a museum that depicts the entire struggle behind Indian Independence. Here, you must definitely check out Freedom Fighters Photo and Exhibition Gallery, Library on Freedom Movement, Old Photographs Gallery and an eternal flame of Freedom-Swatantrya Jyot erected in memory of all freedom fighters and martyrs.

History Of Andaman

Some of the earliest archaeological pieces of evidence suggest that the inhabitation of the islands dates back to 800 BC, which was sometime during the middle of the Palaeolithic age. The islands were occupied mostly by the tribes called as Andamanese and others including Jharwas, Onges, Shompens and Sentinelese. Initially, the empire was used by the Chola dynasty as a strategic naval base for an expedition against the Sriwijaya Empire in Indonesia. Later it became a colony of the Danish, and they named it Danish East India Company. Soon after, the islands were repeatedly abandoned due to outbreaks of epidemics, mostly malaria. Later, the British set up their colony in Port Blair and bought the island from the Danish. Finally, when the British left India, the islands became a part of India in 1950 and were declared a Union Territory in 1956.

[best-of-asia]

The Andaman Islands form an archipelago in the Bay of Bengal between India and Myanmar. Most are part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Union Territory of India, while a small number, including the Coco Islands, belong to Myanmar.

Andaman Islands அந்தமான் தீவுகள் Coordinates 12°30′N 92°45′E Total islands 572 Population 343,125 (2011) Ethnic groups Shompen, Mainland Indians, Jarawa, Onge, Sentinelese, Yashiha, Great Andamanese

Most of the tribal people in Andaman and Nicobar Islands believe in a religion that can be described as a form of monotheistic Animism. They believe that Paluga is the only deity and is responsible for everything happening on Earth. Paluga resides on the local Saddle Peak. People try to avoid any action that might displeases Paluga. They believe in the presence of souls, ghosts, and spirits, and put much emphasis on dreams, letting dreams decide different courses of action to take in their lives. Other religions practiced here are Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Baha'i Faith.

[newsdoorway]

The booth is around 20 km from the southernmost point of the Indian subcontinent, Indira Point. In 2014, two members of the aboriginal Shompen tribe had cast their votes — the first time people of the indigenous tribe of Great Nicobar Island are recorded as having voted. from India News | Latest News Headlines & Live Updates from India - Times of India http://bit.ly/2UeDdkg via IFTTT

[no-passaran]

Video transcription: warning racism & discrimination. Indian settlers dressed as Indigenous Jarawa in blackface dance at the official opening of Andaman airport. The Indian government's racist attitude to Andaman and Nicobar Islands' tribes is a threat to their lands and survival - like the uncontacted Shompen people, who won't survive the Indian government's plan to turn their island into the "Hong Kong of India".

From Survival International:

The indigenous peoples of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India —including the Great Andamanese, Jarawa, Sentinelese and Shompen— have endured centuries of racism that has justified the theft of their land and their near-total annihilation. Indigenous peoples of India are still often treated with contempt, as racist displays like this video of Indian settlers wearing blackface shows. These attitudes continue to fuel land thefts today.

For example, the Indian government is set on using Indigenous land for development without consent. The Shompen who live on Great Nicobar Island are at risk of being wiped out if their forest is used for a mega-development project, which aims to settle over 650,000 people on the island— the equivalent of an 8,000% increase in population.

Without their forest, the Shompen, most of whom are uncontacted, could be totally wiped out.

More information on the Shompen, the Indian Government's mega-project for turning their island into a military, commercial and touristic base through ecocide and genocide, and a link to easily send a pre-written email to the government officials and companies involved here:

Some context to understand why Indian settlers are caricaturely dressed up as Jarawa people in this airport:

The Jarawa are a nomadic cultural group indigenous to the Andaman Islands, where nowadays indigenous peoples are outnumbered by settlers from India. Still, like most tribal peoples who live self-sufficiently on their ancestral lands, the Jarawa people thrive and their numbers are steadily growing. Research on their nutrition and health found that their nutrition is "optimal", in large part thanks to their deep knowledge of their natural surroundings (they have detailed knowledge of more than 150 plant and 350 animal species) and the well-being of the forests.

In the 1990s, the local Indian settler authorities revealed their long-term ‘master plan’ to settle the Jarawa in two villages with an economy based on fishery, suggesting that hunting and gathering could be their ‘sports’. This meant forcing the Jarawa, who are nomadic and get their food from hunting and gathering, to abandon their way of living. The plan was so prescriptive it even detailed what style of clothes the Jarawa should wear.

Forced settlement had been fatal for other tribes in the Andaman Islands, but a vigorous campaign brought success and in 2004 the authorities announced that the Jarawa would be able to choose their own future with minimal intervention. However, in the next years (most notably 2010), Indian settler authorities have again tried to force the Jarawa to abandon their way of life and become part of India's mainstream society. This pressure continues, including Indian MPs asking for residential schools to be created to take away Jarawa children from their families and strip them from their culture.

Indian government officials repeatedly refer to the Jarawa people as "primitive", "backwards" and "uncivilized".

Tribal peoples like the Jarawa are used as a tourist claim by Indian settlers, who organize "human safaris" for tourists to go see Jarawa people. Even though in 2002 India's Supreme Court ordered closing the highway that runs through Jarawa land, it's still open and used by thousands of outsiders who go watch them like they're wild animals in human safaris.

Outsiders, both local settlers and international poachers enter their rich forest reserve to steal the game the tribe needs to survive. Although in recent years many poachers have been arrested, none have been sentenced by the courts, despite the offence carrying a prison term of up to seven years.

Jarawa girls and women are sexually abused by poachers, settlers, bus drivers and others. Jarawa people report outsiders who get drunk on alcohol and high on marijuana going in Jarawa villages to rape Jarawa girls and women.

Vehicles queue to enter the Jarawa reserve along the Andaman Trunk Road © G Chamberlain/ Survival

Source: Survival International.

[faircatch]

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A post shared by Survival International (@survivalinternational)

via: survivalinternational

ALERT: 300 Shompen people - most uncontacted - live on an island in the Indian Ocean.

Their rainforest home is about to be destroyed by a plan to turn their island into "the Hong Kong of India"

Act: svlnt.org/ShompenIG

[sexysuzzy]

Meet The Sentinelese Tribe That Does Not Want Civilization

Meet The Sentinelese Tribe That Does Not Want Civilization

The Sentinelese, also known as the Sentineli and the North Sentinel Islanders, are an indigenous people who inhabit North Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal in India. Designated a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group and a Scheduled Tribe, they belong to the broader class of Andamanese people.

Along with the Great Andamanese, the Jarawas, the Onge, the Shompen, and the Nicobarese, the…

[andaman-tour-blog]

Andaman honeymoon packages from Chennai

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands have been occupied for a few thousand years, in any event. The prior archaeological proof yet archived returns around 2,200 years; nonetheless, the signs from hereditary, social and semantic disconnection thinks about point to home returning 30,000 – 60,000 years, well into the Middle Palaeolithic. In the Andaman Islands, the different Andaman’s individuals kept up their isolated presence through by far most of this time, broadening into unmistakable etymological, social and regional gatherings. By the 1850s when they originally came into continued contact by outside gatherings, the indigenous individuals of Andaman’s were: the Great Andaman’s, who altogether spoke to somewhere around 10 particular sub gatherings and dialects; the Jarawa: the wilderness (or Rutland Jarawa); the Onge; and the Sentinelese (the most separated of the considerable number of gatherings). The indigenous people groups of the Nicobarese (irrelevant to the Andamanese) have a correspondingly disconnected and extensive relationship with the islands. There are two primary gatherings: the Nicobarese, or Nicobarese living all through a significant number of the islands; and the Shompen confined to the inside of Great Nicobar.

The Andaman Islands are an Indian archipelago in the Bay of Bengal. These around 300 islands are known for their palm-lined, white-sand shorelines, mangroves and tropical rainforests. Coral reefs supporting marine life, for example, sharks and beams make for well-known jumping and swimming locales. Indigenous Andaman Islanders occupy the more remote islands, huge numbers of which are beyond reach to guests. These islands likewise brag of opportunity battling days' truly critical tourist spots viz. Cell Jail, Netaji SubhasChandra Bose Island, Viper Island, Hopetown and Mount Harriet. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands have been proclaimed as two of the 218 endemic winged creature zone of the world. Upwards of 270 species and sub-types of winged creatures have been accounted for existing in these islands, 106 of them being endemic. The Andaman Wood Pigeon, Andaman Padua and Dugong are proclaimed as State Bird, State Tree and State Animal individually. There are around 96 Wildlife Sanctuaries, nine National Parks and one Biosphere Reserve in the islands. These islands are honoured with the bounties of both south-west and north-east storms.

Isle Walk Travel is a cautiously arranged blend of visits, site visits, and hands-on learning openings, worked around clear learning targets. Through Isle Walk

Andaman and Nicobar islands

, visit bundle makes our movement simple and charming. As a matter of fact, see and enhance their insight into spots and masterpieces they've found out about in the classroom. Schools direct different exercises to improve the learning of understudies as they move from class to class. Exercises inside the school will upgrade different abilities of understudies, yet understudies need more extensive information. For this reason, numerous schools arrange instructive visits all the time. Instructive visits are trips that are focused towards giving an exuberant instructive condition to understudies. Understudies will most likely adapt more than what they simply find in their books. In this way, every school supports instructive visits that is all around arranged and guided by staff who are sound in the subject information. For more visit us:

https://islewalk.com

[akashscribbles]

Oil Pastels Art of Jarawas. #exploreandamanwithme Jarawas are the one of the six native peoples of A & N islands, along with the sentinelese, the Great Andamanese, the Onge, the Shompen and the Nicobarese. From 1997, Jarawas began to initiate contacts with settled populations instead of being coaxed to show themselves. Meetings with outsiders, especially with tourists, remained extremely dangerous to the Jarawas due to the risk of disease. Stay tuned for many more from andaman islands 🙌🏼. . . . . . #jarawa #jarawas #jarawatribe #andaman #andamanislands #andamanandnicobar #andamantourism #andamans #portblair #middlestraight #tribes #tribesofindia #tribalart #oilpastels #oilpastels #art #artoftheday #artistsoninstagram #artist #artcollector #andamanartist #jarawaart #explore #exploremore #exploreindia (at Andaman and Nicobar Islands) https://www.instagram.com/p/CNfXgftn6To/?igshid=ae1evcs1li4o

[joannrochaus]

Will John Chau Help or Harm Missions in India?

Two Indian missions experts weigh in on how the young American’s failed attempt will impact local efforts to reach Andaman tribes.

John Chau first heard of North Sentinel Island about 10 years ago, when the Washington state native made it his calling to evangelize the residents of the remote island on the other side of the world. But evangelicals in mainland India have known about the indigenous tribes in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands—territories under their country’s federal rule—for decades.

Two Indian missiologists shared their perspectives with CT on the young American’s failed attempt to evangelize the Sentinelese and how the story of his death may impact future efforts to reach tribal groups in the islands.

Even in India, Chau Raised Awareness of the Sentinelese

Atul Y. Aghamkar

India is a complex land with the most sophisticated, well-educated, urban, globalized, wealthy elites on the one hand, and—as recent news has reminded us—some of the most isolated people living in primitive conditions on the other.

The Anthropological Survey of India has identified at least 4,635 distinct people groups, including a large tribal population of about 10 million people (7–8% of the country), often referred to as adivasis, meaning “original inhabitants,” or “scheduled tribes” in government records.

The Andaman Islands are home to four “Negrito” tribes—the Great Andamanese, Onge, Jarawa, and Sentinelese—believed to have arrived from Africa some 60,000 years ago. The neighboring Nicobar Islands are home to two “Mongoloid” tribes—the Shompen and Nicobarese—believed to have come from the Malay-Burma coast 1,000 years ago. The number of original inhabitants of these islands is slowly diminishing, and some are even on the verge of extinction.

The Sentinelese—the ...

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from The Christian http://feeds.christianitytoday.com/~r/christianitytoday/ctmag/~3/U5PhL6T2rYk/john-chau-india-missions-sentinelese-unreached-people-group.html