
Mission to find never-contacted Amazon tribe to stop “catastrophic” jungle war - bkohlmann
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/mission-find-never-contacted-amazon-14106577
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jmts
The dynamics of this situation are weird. Leave them uncontacted for however
long out of principle, monitor them from above, commit to preserving their
culture, but then intervene and try to manufacture a truce between tribes
(thereby interfering with their culture) because _we_ want to keep them
around.

"Hey guys, uh, you know, we were pretty happy to just let you do whatever, but
we've been watching you for a while and you've started taking risks. We're not
real fond of risks. Would you prefer not taking risks for us please? It would
make us feel much better about letting you do whatever you like if you didn't
take any risks."

~~~
caiobegotti
The prime directive lover in me tends to agree with such logic (I am also a
brazilian born/raised in the Amazon) but try to extrapolate that scenario to
some extraterrestrial "overlords" telling us the same thing in a pre-nuclear
winter situation. I would rather stick to their plan than risk my own ass. Of
course, I know, that's a reductio ad absurdum type of argument but still...

~~~
jmts
Ironically, I wouldn't mind if aliens came down and told us we were being
stupid some time soon...

We would still have to listen, however.

~~~
acct1771
Would we?

If we're foolish enough to get to the point of self-destruction in the first
place...

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jmts
Which nation should they belong to? They likely consider themselves to be
their own 'nation', and have for a long time. Simply because Brazil is now a
thing, does not necessarily mean that Brazil should own these people and that
these people should consider themselves to be a part of Brazil and be subject
to its laws. There are arguments either way.

You assume that these people have no 'law' of their own. Though I cannot say
either, it is entirely possible that distinguish between the ways a person is
killed and they are punished accordingly. Simply because it is not _your_ law
doesn't mean they don't have their own.

The article states these tribes are rivals. They may consider themselves at
war. Soldiers are not tried for killing other soldiers (within reason) in
wartime, so why should rival tribesmen be tried for killing other tribesmen
when they are at war?

~~~
nl
Well the logic is that just choosing not to be part of a country is
insufficient. Otherwise separatist movements would be extremely successful.

~~~
Retric
I can draw a map and say this is my country. But, if I don’t ever mention it
to the people living there then de facto that land is not part of my country.

~~~
frutiger
You also need to convince an army to agree with you.

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gregwebs
If you find this story intriguing, the book "Spirit of the Rainforest: A
Yanomamo Shaman's Story" is an amazing journey into a similar culture of
cyclical violence between neighboring tribes.

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new_guy
This is a horribly cynical interpretation but the new Brazilian President has
said he wants to open the Amazon to logging and he doesn't care much about the
indigenous people[0]

Of course if he tries anything the international community etc will protest,
but if this 'rescue mission' (read: death squad with plausible deniability)
can't stop the 'catastrophic jungle war' in time then the tribes kill each
other off, there's no outcry and the logging begins.

[0][https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/31/tribes...](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/31/tribes-
brazil-genocide-jair-bolsonaro)

~~~
soneca
These tribes of dozens of individuals are not what prevents logging for
happening. The mission will use boats and an helicopter on a long trip just to
reach the place. What would be the economic viability to estabilish a
commercial operation there?

The indigenous people that prevents some of the logging in some places are
much larger ones with total contact with the rest of society for centuries
that live in much more accessible areas

~~~
new_guy
It's not without historical precedent. Look at the Congo under King Leopold
for one example. Everyone is in the accessible areas, not as many in the
harder to reach places that makes it extremely economically viable for them to
set up shop there.

Like I said it's a cynical interpretation and I hope I'm wrong, but this is
literally history repeating itself.

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mutt2016
Shake hands. Kill tribe with common cold.

~~~
tqkxzugoaupvwqr
The article states the government tries exactly to prevent this from happening
since the isolated tribe is about to have contact with a non-isolate tribe:

> Anthropologists now fear that, as well as the prospect of both tribes
> launching deadly attacks on each other, the potential of contact between the
> Matis and the other, as yet still isolated Korubo tribe, as well as the
> desire expressed by the breakaway tribe to reestablish contact with their
> relatives, could lead to a breakout of disease which could bring the ancient
> tribe to extinction.

