In reading the Sunday New York Times, I came across a story of fighting in the jungle of Peru. What attracted me to the story was that the fighting was between the government forces of Peru and Peru’s indigenous Indians living in the jungles of Peru.
Recently I blogged about the South Dakota Indians called Lakota and their sad history of maltreatment at the hands of the American government and public. The unfolding story of the Indians in Peru today is interesting in light of my statement that most indigenous people that existed in the pre-Columbian New World were similarly treated by the invading Europeans and eventually were assimilated into the new, prevailing culture and I wondered why our Native American Indians were not.
In Peru, the government there has contracted with oil companies to go into the jungle and drill for oil since oil is the new gold. Well, the Indians living in these regions have objected and are fighting back just like our Indians did against the Western migration of European, white settlers who were running the Indians off their “own” lands.
Here is the kicker; some of the Indian tribes in the jungles of Peru are “un-contacted” which means they have lived in isolation from the modern people of Peru – wow!
What is happening is exactly what happened here with our own Indians in the early history of our country and obviously, continues to this day.
I am very interested to see how this develops and if the Peru government will actually do some thinking about their next steps instead of just sending in the army to protect the oil workers as we did to protect gold miners, trappers and settlers.
Historically, the Indians were not Christians and were therefore viewed as heathen savages which made them somehow sub-human and therefore did not have to be treated as civilized humans. It was easier to justify killing savages who were more animal than human, than killing civilized Christians.
I would hope we have moved on from that type of thinking although I am not quite sure all of us have moved on and that is why I would hope a wide exposure of the situation in Peru may bring some pressure on the government there to do the right thing BUT since only the New York Times seems to report such stories, I doubt the Indian’s plight will be widely known.
The interesting question here is can these Indians be eventually assimilated, should they be or should they be left alone, undiscovered and isolated from the “civilized” world?
Recently I blogged about the South Dakota Indians called Lakota and their sad history of maltreatment at the hands of the American government and public. The unfolding story of the Indians in Peru today is interesting in light of my statement that most indigenous people that existed in the pre-Columbian New World were similarly treated by the invading Europeans and eventually were assimilated into the new, prevailing culture and I wondered why our Native American Indians were not.
In Peru, the government there has contracted with oil companies to go into the jungle and drill for oil since oil is the new gold. Well, the Indians living in these regions have objected and are fighting back just like our Indians did against the Western migration of European, white settlers who were running the Indians off their “own” lands.
Here is the kicker; some of the Indian tribes in the jungles of Peru are “un-contacted” which means they have lived in isolation from the modern people of Peru – wow!
What is happening is exactly what happened here with our own Indians in the early history of our country and obviously, continues to this day.
I am very interested to see how this develops and if the Peru government will actually do some thinking about their next steps instead of just sending in the army to protect the oil workers as we did to protect gold miners, trappers and settlers.
Historically, the Indians were not Christians and were therefore viewed as heathen savages which made them somehow sub-human and therefore did not have to be treated as civilized humans. It was easier to justify killing savages who were more animal than human, than killing civilized Christians.
I would hope we have moved on from that type of thinking although I am not quite sure all of us have moved on and that is why I would hope a wide exposure of the situation in Peru may bring some pressure on the government there to do the right thing BUT since only the New York Times seems to report such stories, I doubt the Indian’s plight will be widely known.
The interesting question here is can these Indians be eventually assimilated, should they be or should they be left alone, undiscovered and isolated from the “civilized” world?
Note: My company makes and sells clinical laboratory testing products. For a number of years now, we have sponsored an American female doctor who runs a clinic in the Peruvian jungle. We have donated our products so she can treat, as best she can, the indiginous Indian population of the jungle. her stories are facinating to read.
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