Discussion of "natural" alliances between conservationists and indigenous peoples and the need to work closely with local communities, common just a few years ago, has largely disappeared. It has been displaced, in the biggest conservationist NGOs, by talk of changed priorities, with a new focus on large-scale conservation strategies and the importance of science, rather than social realities, in determining their agendas...coupled to all of this has been the partnering of conservationist organizations with multinational corporations--particularly in the businesses of gas and oil, pharmaceuticals, and mining--that are directly involved in pillaging and destroying forest areas owned by indigenous peoples. Complaints against the activities of the Big Three conservation NGOs have now been heard from Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, Papua New Guinea, and the Congo Basin, among others.
Among others?
Perhaps SOS Clinton can use Avatar's Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) as a role model. Grace likes "plants better than people," and is an expert on Avatar's fictional Pandora's Na'vi culture. But the facade is all bluff and as the story unfolds, we learn that Grace has a deep spiritual affinity for the indigenous Na'vi and gives the ultimate sacrifice of her life in their defense.
Would SOS Hillary sacrifice her role in the cautious Obama
administration to actually affect some good? Clinton has more power
than anyone at this point in history to do so. Certainly Obama is as
ineffectual in world matters as he is at home.
In the movie, Avatar,
Weaver redeems her dismal and inaccurate portrayal of Dian Fossey in
Gorillas in the Mists, for which she received an Academy Award
nomination. She was so convincing in her fictional portrayal that many
people in Rwanda and DRC confuse her with the real Dian Fossey. This is
unfortunate and a travesty to Fossey's memory. Coincidentally, today,
December 26, is the anniversary of Dian Fossey's murder on December 26,
1985. She was slain while she slept in her cabin at the Karisoke
Research Center in Rwanda.
Myth has it that it was collusion between indigenous "poachers" which resulted in her death. In fact, in an echo of today's headlines coming from eastern Congo, it was more likely to be machinations between smugglers and the government of Rwanda.
Although she cannot be blamed for inaccuracies in the Gorillas in the Mists screenplay, Weaver truly aquits herself in Avatar.
In unscripted interviews, Weaver seems to have developed a better personal understanding of Dian Fossey and her fight not only for the future of the mountain gorilla, but African society as well.
It is not well known that Fossey broke with the "scientific community," including National Geographic Magazine, the African Wildlife Federation and the State Department when she realized the mountain gorillas would be used for tourism and monetary exploitation. In her final days, Fossey developed solidarity with indigenous populations of Batwa, Hutu and Tutsi, calling them the "backbone of Karisoke."
It will take a motivated, powerful individual to save Congo. The peacekeeping force of MONUC is certainly not up to the task. In a December 23 press release, Human Rights Watch called upon the United Nations to focus on protecting civilians. In a statement that sounds like a non-sequitur, HRW asked UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to ensure "that the UN peacekeeping force in Congo focuses on protecting civilians and avoids supporting Congolese army operations that implicate peacekeepers in violations of the laws of war."
In line with this request, Human Rights Watch called on the secretary-general to urgently deploy an independent Civilian Protection Expert Group to eastern Congo to examine the implementation of MONUC's conditionality policy. Sending an expert group would be consistent with the UN Security Council Resolution 1894 to advance and ensure protection of civilians and the secretary-general's own recommendations from his March 2009 report to the UN Security Council, HRW said.
They should send an AVATAR.
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