“Human Safaris” exposed

The human zoos of colonial times are now quite rightly seen as a barbaric and cruel exploitation of indigenous peoples. And yet, every year hundreds if not thousands of tourists illegally pass through protected national parks and nature reserves in order to glimpse tribal communities in their natural land. The latest tribe to be involved in the controversy is the Jarawa tribe of the Andaman Islands in India. With a population of just 200-300 people they are already under threat from poachers who occupy their land and steal their means of survival. This tribe, and many like it, have chosen to resist interaction with the outside world although they have already had a severe decline in population numbers due to outbreaks of Western diseases such as measles.

Recently the British newspaper, The Observer, along with other charities and NGO’s dedicated to protecting the lives of indigenous people uncovered evidence of local authorities being bribed to turn a blind eye to such excursions. Videos have been revealed of policemen ordering Jarawa women to dance in order to entertain the tourists who eagerly snap photos of the tribes’ exotic attire. Furthermore, an audio recording of an under-cover journalist discussing bribes with a tour provider has caused outrage as it exposes not only the corruption of the authorities but also the discrimination against the native tribe as the journalist is told tips and tricks to tempt the people out of their safe environment with biscuits and sweets.

In the vast majority of cases, these trips are the result of an innocent curiosity about the tribes’ way of life shown by many tourists. However, tour operators are exploiting this interest for monetary gains and care little for the welfare of the people themselves. The roads built to accommodate such trips are damaging to the wildlife and environment surrounding the Jarawa and providing their means for subsistence. NGO’s both in India and abroad are working to encourage the Indian government to do more to help as well as raising awareness amongst tourists about the negative effects of the industry.

A world without Wiki?

Can you imagine a world without every student’s favourite reference site, Wikipedia? On the 18^th of January such a world became a reality as the largest online encyclopaedia, which has taken over a decade to build, blacked out its website for a day in protest of legislation proposed by US Congress which might put the future of websites such as Wikipedia, Facebook and Google at serious risk. The bill, if passed, would enable officials to prevent access to websites which contain pirated material. Wikipedia have commented saying that the The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) “will severely inhibit people's access to online information. This is not a problem that will solely affect people in the United States: it will affect everyone around the world”, and therefore they are hoping to encourage users to share their views with through social media and other mediums. Despite many websites being monitored for copyright infringements, it is possible that some of the millions of pages published every day go undetected. However, if this is detected by officials, the entire site will be shut down, not just the specific page. The bill even extends to cover links to pages which are associated with piracy. There are many signs that protests like these are working; last weekend, Senator Cardin, who cosponsored the legislation, announced he will vote against it along with President Obama. The cause has now reached a tipping point, but with Wikipedia leading the protest, the issue has been thrust into the public interest and the reaction has been overwhelming.