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India’s Na’vi

By LIFS April 5, 2010 at 6:09 AM
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An Indian tribe is taking a cue from James Cameron’s Avatar to seek international support for its campaign to block a mining company from drilling on its land.

Suivival, a nonprofit company advocating on behalf of the 8,000 Doria Kondh tribals in eastern India. implored in an ad in Variety “Appeal to James Cameron. Avatar is fantasy... and real.”

 
The charity explained: “Just as the Na’vi describe the forest of Pandora as ‘their everything’, for the Dongria Kondh, life and land have always been deeply connected. The fundamental story of Avatar — if you take away the multi-coloured lemurs, the long-trunked horses and warring androids — is being played out today in the hills of Niyamgiri. Like the Na’vi, the Dongria Kondh are also at risk, as their lands are set to be mined by Vedanta Resources who will stop at nothing to achieve their aims. The mine will destroy the forests on which the Dongria Kondh depend and wreck the lives of thousands of other Kondh tribal people living in the area.”

The tribe is seeking to protect a mining project on Niyamgiri, a mountain the tribals view a god, much as the Na’vi population sought to defend their sacred tree.

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Odds & Ends | Magazine | April 2010

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