It’s better to die than to live without killing.
May 24, 2015 5:26 PM   Subscribe

Indigenous tribes have been painting their bodies with pulverized minerals and stretching their lips for millenia in the remote Omo valley a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Africa, where the earliest known Homo sapiens remains have been found.
Their whole way of life is now threatened thanks to the Gibi III dam in construction and as the tribes now decorate themselves for tourists.
Photographer and adventurer Jimmy Nelson journeyed the Omo valley.
Some of the tribes : Mursi, Hamar and Karo. (See previous).
posted by adamvasco (12 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
The link about decorating themselves for tourists reminds me of a friend of mine who did six months ethnographic fieldwork in a remote part of highlands New Guinea. It was becoming more reachable and more popular with tourists, who liked to see the locals all dressed up and painted as they do for traditional ceremonies. The villagers would oblige, but they thought it was hilarious to also paint and dress my friend, and put him among them in the photos. For days afterwards they would laugh about the fact that the tourists understood and cared so little about true authenticity that they didn't even notice one of the "indigenous people" they were photographing was actually a white dude from Australia.
posted by lollusc at 6:32 PM on May 24, 2015 [16 favorites]


I think we have to defer to the government and people of Ethiopia here. The country is trying to find a way out of extreme poverty and this dam is the path they chose after considering their options.
posted by humanfont at 7:23 PM on May 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


Total crop failure as floods fail to irrigate fields
The Kwegu people of Ethiopia's Lower Omo Valley are facing starvation because of the loss of their land to a huge sugar plantation, the destruction of their forest and the damming of the Omo river - supported by a UK, EU and World Bank funded 'aid' program.
If they take the water out of the riverbed where will we live? If the fish are gone what will we feed the children?”
posted by adamvasco at 7:36 PM on May 24, 2015


As a counterpoint to annecdotes. In the last 15 years Ethiopian life expectancy at birth has increased from 52 to 62. Water and power expansion from the dam building program has played a mJor role in this. For the 90 million Ethiopians that's a major improvement to their lives.
posted by humanfont at 8:03 PM on May 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


In the US we are just barely starting to grapple with the environmental (and cultural) impacts of dams, after decades (in the west) and centuries (in the east) of reaping the economic and flood control benefits of the dams. For all that I am a fan of getting rid of my local dams, I have trouble begrudging another country the desire to have those same economic benefits. I just hope that they learn from the experiences here and elsewhere and try to leapfrog at least some of the problems.

The photographs are striking, though I would love to see photography by an insider in addition to the outside eye that we are used to.
posted by Dip Flash at 9:26 PM on May 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


The Gibe III dam is also having serious negative effects downriver in northern Kenya; an acquaintance of mine (Ikal Angelei) has been campaigning against the effects of damming the Omo river on Lake Turkana, the only significant source of water in the impoverished and underdeveloped Turkana region. In particular, this will have significant negative consequences for the Turkana and Pokot people, who already live very difficult lives in marginal circumstances (environmentally, economically, and politically speaking).
posted by ChuraChura at 7:16 AM on May 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


I think we have to defer to the government and people of Ethiopia here. The country is trying to find a way out of extreme poverty and this dam is the path they chose after considering their options.

It's not that simple. A good friend of mine lived with the Mursi for a long time and is one of only a handful of Westerners who speaks Mursi. He has been working in support of the Omo tribes, who are undergoing forced resettlement, amidst human rights violations.

"If my land is taken, I’m going to die fighting for it."
posted by the_blizz at 9:14 AM on May 26, 2015 [1 favorite]


It isn't simple, but who decides? A handful of mostly western activists and environmentalists working with the group's who will potentially lose in this land use decision? Or should the government of Ethiopia get to decide? Should those of us participating in this thread jump to the original post's anti-dam viewpoint, or try to understand the point of view of the government as well.
posted by humanfont at 5:23 PM on May 26, 2015


Amnesty Internation report on Ethiopia and here is their Human rights record.
Africa Resources Working Group (ARWG) report on Gibe III is highly critical (pdf) both to the project itself but also of the origional government Downstream Environmental Impact Assessment.
Further as ChuruChara points out there will be a huge negative effect on a neighbouring country namely Kenya in the arid Lake Turkana region probably resulting in Humanitarian catastrophe and regional armed conflict .
But hey government knows best as all their friends get rich from mega-projects no matter how badly thought outç and the finaciers behind the deal why it's our old friends JP Morgan Chase when even the rapacious EIB dropped out.
posted by adamvasco at 5:58 PM on May 26, 2015 [1 favorite]


"Prior to the consideration of financing, JP Morgan Chase should ensure due diligence of project compliance with Ethiopia's national laws, international standards and its own policies as well as consider the integrity of this project in relation to Ethiopia's development needs."
JP Morgan - due diligence what a load of cock. Start counting the profit now; they can always pay a fine if it goes tits up.
posted by adamvasco at 6:02 PM on May 26, 2015


...though I would love to see photography by an insider in addition to the outside eye that we are used to.

Incidentally, my friend's photos of his time in Ethiopia are pretty cool and exactly that. I wish I could post them!
posted by the_blizz at 8:01 PM on May 26, 2015


I use the photos of one tribe from this area in my art classes to demonstrate incredible skill in the arts and an evocative and beautiful relationship with the natural world. Robbing the planet of these unique treasures is one crime, and robbing indigenous peoples of their everything is the other. This is not to mention the other non-human dwellers too. The other crime is that these people are then converted to displaced poor, without culture, because their culture is tied to their unique relationship with place and survival strategies, then the other ineffable qualities like grace, beauty, whimsey, joy, and home.
posted by Oyéah at 8:16 PM on May 26, 2015


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