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Barefoot group against bullying NGO Can NGOs freely accuse any business of wrong doing, without substantiated research and evidence? | Aren't NGOs accountable for their words and actions? Doesn't responsibility apply to NGOs as well, or is this confined only to private business and governments?
The Blue Yonder & TravelToCare.com stand by Barefoot Group Survival International should apologise! |
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2. RESPONSE TO PRESS RELEASE OF SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL
DATED 15 JUNE 2009 REGARDING PROXIMITY OF A BAREFOOT RESORT PROPERTY TO THE
JARAWA TRIBAL RESERVE
Section 1:
Factual inaccuracies in survival international’s press release
Section 2:
Barefoot’s position on subjective aspects of the press release
Section 3:
Substantiation of barefoot’s claims to ‘sustainable and socially responsible tourism development’
Section 4:
Chronological sequence of events
Section 5:
1) The location in question is at a suitably far distance from the Tribal Reserve so as not to disturb the Jarawa.
2) Barefoot would not countenance any exploitation of Jarawa for tourism purposes from any of its guests, and most certainly will not attempt to do so itself. Barefoot’s track record as a sustainable developer speaks for itself, on all its other locations and will do so here as well. The reasons for locating a Barefoot resort here have already been documented above in Section 1 (3) and has everything to do with the beauty of the location and nothing at all to do with the Jarawa tribe.
3) The Jarawa have no access to the resort’s land. In fact, Barefoot has had an extremely positive impact on the Tribal’s interplay with the villagers in this area, demonstrated as follows:
Prior to Barefoot acquiring the said land, the Jarawa had, for a few years prior begun to, in an alteration of previous cultural behaviour, sporadically visit the Indian settlers then living here to trade with the people we bought the land from, for tobacco, alcohol and hibiscus flowers (they like the colour red) in exchange for Jarawa forest produce. This was been put to a complete stop by us, upon buying the land at the location and the Jarawa have not returned to the land for more than 2 years till date. This was a very positive development, because one avenue of resource loss from the tribal reserve and one avenue of procurement of contraband (alcohol and tobacco, not the hibiscus) had been blocked after the advent of Barefoot to the location. Barefoot in fact had then cut the hibiscus plants on its property and replaced it with endemic trees so as to remove the last remaining attraction the land held for Jarawa. All in all, we deem this to be an example of social responsibility on the part of Barefoot.
4) The location that our resort is based on has a history of tourism activity and development. It had been identified specifically in the Government commissioned ICZMP report of Anna University, as notified for tourism development, prior to 2004. Further, various publications of the Andaman Administration continue to market the location ‘Sunset Bay, Colinpur’ as a must-see tourist destination. Previous Andaman Administrations have actually worked hard to encourage tourism projects at that location and encouraged us to commence the project there. In fact, the Government’s Environment & Forests Department has itself constructed facilities for tourists (shanty huts for rest and picnicking) on the boundary of our property, in 2008, after the stay order (bad in law) was served on us!
5) Mass Tourism activity is ongoing at our location and has been for more than a decade. Every evening the area (Sunset Bay) attracts a large number of Tourist vehicles from Port Blair carrying tourists who stand on the beach in front of our property to watch the sunset or come there to swim and snorkel. No Jarawa are present at the location. We fail to see what difference our resort makes, in the midst of this scenario.
6) We have heard an argument mooted by the Administration that since Barefoot attracts wealthy foreign clientele, interaction with such people may be harmful to the Jarawa. We however are baffled by this argument. There should simply be no interaction to start with and there are enough mechanisms to ensure this. Then, also, to a Jarawa, an Indian from the mainland or a Indian settler in the Andaman Islands is no less foreign than a non-Indian passport holder, and the Jarawa are equally indifferent to their economic status. Barefoot makes no claims to being a “Celebrity Resort” visited by Kate Winslet as suggested by Survival International, but fails to see in any case why this makes a difference in the Jarawa context. An outsider is an outsider and has no business in the reserve area, whether celebrity or not or whether Indian or foreigner and we are amazed that Survival International should in any way suggest this distinction.
7) We have variously been advised by officials of the Andaman Administration (who claim to have the best interest of the Jarawa at heart but are still apparently stuck in a colonial mindset), that the Jarawa are ‘like their children’ and ‘intellectually incapable of making decisions on their own future’ and that the Tribal Welfare Department and that the people in charge of it are ‘like their mother and father’ and must make all decisions for them.
However, the Jarawa Policy and Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Legislation of the Indian Government clearly limits itself to activities INSIDE the Reserve; the Jarawa Policy – a widely acclaimed document meeting approval of many NGOs - however does give passing mention to surrounding areas of the reserve but only in that efforts are to be taken to sensitize populations around the reserve. In fact, an enlightened and defining section of the Tribal Policy states that “A policy of maximum autonomy to the Jarawas with minimum and regulated intervention shall be adopted by the Government towards the Jarawas. There shall be no intervention in cultural life of the Jarawas and they will be left at liberty to develop according to their own genius and at their own pace.”
This Jarawa Policy flies in the face of statements and attitudes like the above mentioned apparently colonial mindsets of certain government officials seeking to micro manage the lives of the Jarawa and now seeking to extend, through abuse of power and position, their reach to areas well outside the tribal reserve. It also flies in the face of concerted interventions by the Administration (and now by Survival International) to influence activities far OUTSIDE the Reserve areas.
It is also worth noting, {in the same spirit that Survival International in its press release stresses that “Barefoot claims that ‘sustainable and socially responsible tourism development’ is core to its philosophy” (a claim that we have substantiated in the following section, Section 3)}, that Survival International’s own letterhead carries the motto “We help tribal peoples defend their lives, protect their lands and determine their own future”, the last portion of which jars in light of Survival International’s unsolicited intervention and in light of the excerpt from the Jarawa Policy mentioned above, which policy wisely suggests that the Jarawa be left to their own genius.
It is interesting to note, in fact, that Sophie Grig of Survival International has previously been quoted as saying, in January 2005 in reference to the Jarawa and other isolated communities of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (http://ipsnews.net/new_nota.asp?idnews=26891) that: "The isolated communities have remained isolated from their own choice - they have made it clear that they wish to remain independent from outsiders and have defended themselves and their land from the settlers," Grig said. "Therefore, I would imagine that they will continue to resist outside help, even if it's offered."
In fact, the history of tribal tragedies over the years has been linked to unsolicited interventions – threats arising indigenously from more advanced warrior clans and expansionist kingdoms now perhaps being replaced by threats from misplaced interventions of local governments; and the external threats of ‘conquistadors’ and ‘pioneers’, that later gave way to ‘developers’, missionaries and the exceedingly dangerous concept of ‘The White Man’s Burden’ now perhaps being replaced by ill conceived interventions – again purportedly on behalf of indigenous tribes – by outsiders including NGOs who claim to mean well, but nevertheless operate from the same “Poor Noble Savages who need our help” mindset.
In the context of the Jarawa policy that states that the Jarawa should be left to develop at their own genius, perhaps it would be educative to hear a rationalisation from Survival International of how it “helps” tribals “determine their own future” (surely a contradiction in terms!) and how this fits in with a non-interventionist tribal policy.
This last bit is partially tongue in cheek but also relevant in the context of the spirit of Survival International’s Press Release and thinly veiled attack on Barefoot’s credentials.
8) From the
Press Release issued by Survival International, it appears that the entire
on-ground research on which the press release is based upon is “Survival
campaigner Sophie Grig, who visited the Andamans last year”. It must be stressed
that the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are a chain of 572 islands, islets and
rocks stretching over a longitudinal area of more than 600 kilometres. In the
same spirit that I, as someone who has visited London many a time, would
certainly not think to issue a press release commenting on the way Survival
International conducts its business within its own premises in Charterhouse
Buildings nor comment on Survival International’s own interface with its
neighbours and the wider local community, without at the very least having first
visited the premises and observing the impact on its neighbours and community;
in this same spirit, I wouldn’t expect that anyone; much less a member of
responsible organisation that owes a duty of care to all stakeholders (which
stakeholders includes members of the local settler community who derive their
employment and livelihood from our resort), an individual who has simply visited
the Andaman Islands last year and, on the face of it does not even know the
location of our property (leave alone having actually visited it), should pass
comment (much less a defamatory press release!) about our property.
Also read:
Section 1:
Factual inaccuracies in survival international’s press release
Section 2:Barefoot’s position on subjective aspects of the press release
Section 3:Substantiation of barefoot’s claims to ‘sustainable and socially responsible tourism development’
Section 4:
Chronological sequence of events
Section 5:
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