文字难度：★★★
Every year in late February, the Dongria Kondh tribe of the eastern Indian state of Orissa gathers at the top of Niyamgiri Mountain to celebrate the annual festival of Niyam 2)Raja, the king of the mountain. This year’s celebration began on Feb. 20th with a three-hour climb to the summit. Women in white silk saris danced and sang, adorned with wooden jewelry, flowers and tiny knives tucked into their hair as a reminder of their daily confrontation with the forest. Hundreds of Dongria then shared a communal feast of rice and 3)lentils in honor of nature and their 4)deity, the spirit of Niyamgiri. As always, they made offerings of fruit and medicinal plants, reminders of the mountain’s 5)bounty, but ended the ceremonies with an acknowledgement of their uncertain future. The Dongria, who number about 8,000, believe that a planned 6)bauxite mine in Niyamgiri threatens their way of life—and they are determined to fight it. This year, for the first time, they opened their ceremonies to outsiders and ended the festival with speeches condemning the mine. Says Satyabadi Naik, an activist who supports the Dongria: “This year, it was a matter of life or death for them.”
每年的二月底,印度东部奥里萨邦的东加里亚空达部落都会聚集在奈彦吉利山山顶,庆祝一年一度的奈彦山王节。今年的庆典于2月20日开始,部落的一众男女攀行3小时到达山顶。该部落的女性身穿白色丝质纱丽,载歌载舞。她们戴着木制饰品、鲜花,发髻上还插着象征与森林抗衡求生的小刀头饰。接着,几千名东加里亚空达人一起享用米和小扁豆煮成的大餐,以此表达对自然、神和奈彦吉利山山魂的敬意。像往年一样,他们献上水果和草药作为贡品,寄意奈彦吉利山的丰饶。和往年不同的是,在今年的庆典结束之际,东加里亚空达人表达了对本族未来生存状况的彷徨。东加里亚空达部落大约有8000名族人,他们认为针对本地铝土矿的开采计划威胁到了他们的生活方 式——并决心抗争到底。今年,他们首次允许外人参与奈彦吉利山庆典,并以谴责开采本地矿产的演讲结束庆典。一位支持东加里亚空达部落的社运人士萨特亚巴蒂·奈克说道:“今年,对东加里亚空达部落而言,这是生死攸关的大事。”
An isolated tribe of nature-worshipping forest dwellers threatened by a mine—yes, the Dongria 7)bear no small resemblance to the Na’vi of 8)James Cameron’s Avatar. That point has not been lost on the international network of activists who have taken up the Dongria’s cause. On Feb. 8th, they ran an advertisement in the Hollywood 9)trade publication 10)Variety, urging Cameron to support them. “Avatar is fantasy ... and real,” the ad said. “The Dongria Kondh tribe in India is struggling to defend their land against a mining company 11)hell-bent on destroying their sacred mountain. Please help the Dongria.”
一个受到采矿业的威胁、崇拜自然、与世隔绝的森林部落——是的,东加里亚空达部落的遭遇和詹姆斯·卡梅隆导演的电影《阿凡达》里的纳美人的遭遇有诸多相似之处。关注该部落存亡的社运人士抓住了《阿凡达》全球热映这个极好的机会,在国际网络上呼吁大家关注东加里亚空达部落的困境。2月8日,他们在好莱坞电影业界刊物——《综艺》杂志上刊登了一则广告,促请卡梅隆支持东加里亚空达部落的抵抗运动。“《阿凡达》是部科幻 片……却也是真实的写照,”广告上写着,“生活在印度的东加里亚空达部落正处于保卫家园的奋战中,抵抗某矿业公司为利润一心摧毁其圣山的计划。请支援东加里亚空达部落。”
While India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests 12)ponders whether to clear the way for the Niyamgiri bauxite mine, the Dongria’s supporters are 13)mounting a campaign to block it. Survival International, a London-based advocacy group, bought the Avatar ad and has produced a short film about the Dongria. Lindsay Duffield, a London-based spokeswoman for the group, says the Indian government should postpone its decision, expected later this year, until India’s 2006 Forest Rights Act is fully implemented. The act aims to protect the interests of India’s traditional forest dwellers. “The mine should only go ahead if the Dongria accept and want it,” Duffield says.
当印度环境及林业部寻思着是否该为奈彦吉利山铝土矿开采清除“路障”时,东加里亚空达部落的支持者正着手开展一项运动以阻碍其进程。总部位于伦敦的“国际生存组织”是该部落的拥护者,其买下《阿凡达》的发行广告,并制作了一部关于东加里亚空达部落的短片。该组织在伦敦的发言人林赛·杜菲尔德表示,印度政府应该推迟作出决议,至少得推延到今年年底,因为届时印度的《森林权利法案(2006版)》将全面执行,而这项法案旨在保护居住在印度原始森林的部落其利益。“唯有东加里亚空达部落接受并且愿意,采矿行动才能开展。”杜菲尔德说道。
As if following its own Hollywood film script, Survival International points the finger at a villain: a London-based mining company called Vedanta Resources that is controlled by billionaire businessman Anil Agarwal. Vedanta’s 14)aluminum 15)subsidiary plans to invest $2.5 billion to extract some 78 million tons of bauxite from Niyamgiri Mountain. Its chief operating officer, Mukesh Kumar, insists that the mine will benefit the Dongria—the company will set aside 5% of the mine’s pretax profits for a local development agency—and that it has followed all the relevant Indian laws. “Whatever we do, we do in a transparent manner,” he says. Yet the Dongria have become a 16)cause célèbre. On Feb. 5th, Vedanta’s opponents got a boost when the17)Church of England sold it s shares, worth $5.9 million, in the company, citing concerns about policies for compensating those displaced by mining. Three other investors followed on Feb. 18th, selling stakes worth about $3.4 million.
与好莱坞的剧本如出一辙,“国际生存组织”把矛头指向一个“恶棍”——总部位于伦敦的一家名为“韦丹塔资源集团”的矿产公司,该集团由商人兼亿万富豪安尼尔·阿加瓦掌控。韦丹塔资源集团负责铝业的子公司计划在奈彦吉利山投资25亿美元,从奈彦吉利山开采出7800万吨的铝土矿。该集团铝业部营运总监穆克什·库马尔坚持认为,开发当地铝矿对东加里亚空达部落有利——该公司会将采矿获取的税前利润的5%拨给当地一家发展机构——并且所有的运作都会遵循印度相关的法律。“我们的一举一动都会公开。”穆克什说道。然而东加里亚空达部落的遭遇已在全球范围内掀起轩然大波。2月5日,韦丹塔资源集团的股票持有者英国国教会出售了该公司价值5900万美元的股票,并对该公司对受采矿影响而搬迁的东加里亚空达部落居民作出补偿的政策表示担忧,这一举动鼓舞了韦丹塔资源集团的反对派人士。另外三个韦丹塔资源集团的投资方随后也于2月18日出售了该集团总价值340万美元的股票。
Conflicts like the one in Niyamgiri are becoming increasingly common in India as the country tries to extract and exploit the mineral wealth in its forests and mountains. India allows state governments to 18)appropriate land for use by private companies provided the people displaced are compensated and resettled. People living on that land cannot object once the state acquires it, and in Orissa the authorities have approved 54 projects worth $46 billion. That process has already displaced 1.4 million people in the state since 2001, according to India’s Rural Development Ministry. The Dongria are challenging this policy in the courts. Says Prafulla Samantara, an activist in Orissa and one of the original 19)petitioners in the case: “How can the state give away land which is not theirs in the first place?”
在印度,由于政府试图从其森林和山脉中攫取矿产财富,类似在奈彦吉利山发生的冲突正变得愈加常见。印度政府允许邦政府拨地给私营公司使用,前提是被迫搬迁的当地人能获得经济补偿和安置。一旦邦政府决定征用一块地,当地居民就没有任何反对的权利。而在奥里萨邦,当局已经批准了54个项目,这些项目总价值460亿美元。根据印度农村发展部的统计,自2001年,这些项目的开展已导致140万人的搬迁。而现在,东加里亚空达部落正向法院提出诉讼,挑战这一政策。奥里萨邦的社运人士,同时也是本案最初的请愿人之一的帕夫拉·萨曼塔雅说道:“那些邦政府怎能拨出本不属于他们的土地?”
The Dongria don’t want to leave their mountain, but that doesn’t mean they want to be left in an untouched state of nature. At one point in the film, Avatar’s hero, Jake Sully, 20)laments about the Na’vi, “They’re not going to make a deal ... There’s nothing that we have that they want.” But that’s not necessarily true for the Dongria or the millions of other so-called tribal people who live in India’s vast 21)stretches of undeveloped forest. While they are largely self-sufficient, living on what they can grow and hunt, they do sell some of their22)produce to traders in neighboring towns. Gautam Navlakha, a volunteer with the People’s Union for Democratic Rights, another civil-liberties group based in New Delhi, says that while the Dongria and other tribal populations 23)are disillusioned with the government’s resettlement schemes, they would welcome real help. Ponds and other simple irrigation projects would make their livelihood less dependent on the 24)monsoon and make their agriculture more productive, allowing them to grow two or three crops a year instead of just one. “They say, ‘You’ve never done anything for us, now please let us be,’” says Navlakha. “‘If you are going to develop this area, then do what we want.’”
东加里亚空达部落不愿离开他们的大山,但那并不意味着他们希望一直生活在原始而封闭的自然环境中。影片《阿凡达》中有一个片段,男主角杰克·萨利为纳美人悲叹道:“他们不会做这笔交易的……我们根本没有什么东西是他们想要的。”这点对于东加里亚空达部落,以及其他数百万居住在印度大片未开发的森林里那些所谓的“部落人”来说并不属实。尽管他们中的大多数都能自给自足,依靠他们所种植或打猎所得过活,他们还是会把农产品或狩猎品拿到临近的小镇出售。高汤·纳拉卡哈是另一个总部位于新德里的民权组织“人民民主权力联盟”的一名志愿者,他表示,东加里亚空达部落和其他部落人民一方面对政府的安置计划大失所望,一方面也不拒绝来自政府的真正帮助。挖池塘或者修建其他简易的灌溉设施能减少其对季风季节的依赖,提高农业收成,使得他们的农作物每年能有两到三次收成,而不仅仅是一次。“他们说,‘你们从未为我们做过任何事,现在也请不要干涉我们的生活。如果你们想开发我们这块地方,那就做些我们期望的事。’”纳拉卡哈说道。
Near the end of the film, the Na’vi fight a long and heroic battle with a 25)corporate 26)militia to save their sacred forest. In real life, a violent conflict is unlikely to end well for the Dongria. The Dongria’s battle has been peaceful so far. While the Dongria possess bows and arrows, they “are not violent people,” says Samantara. “But if the government uses violence, they will 27)retaliate. That is my biggest fear.” If the helicopters head into the Dongria Kondh’s 28)abodes, there won’t be any fearsome, winged 29)Ikran 30)swooping in to save them.
影片末尾,纳美人为了挽救其神圣的森林而和人类部队展开了一场漫长而英勇的战斗。而在现实中,暴力冲突不太可能会给东加里亚空达部落带来好的结果。到目前为止,东加里亚空达部落保护家园的斗争还是采取和平的方式。尽管东加里亚空达部落拥有弓箭,但他们“并非暴力分子,”萨曼塔雅说道,“但如果政府使用暴力,他们也会反击。这是我最担心的事。”要是直升机飞进了东加里亚空达部落的住所,可没有那些神勇无敌的依克拉姆飞龙飞翔而至来拯救他们。
