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5.2

TURKEY'S KURDS

On December 31, the first International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People will come to an end. For this edition, Cultural Survival Quarterly asked indigenous people from around the globe to take stock of what was achieved and what remains to be done.

THE PICHIS-PALCAZU PROJECT: AN UPDATE

Much has happened since a development scheme was first announced for the half-million hectares of tropical forest which form the Pichis and Pichis and Palcazu River valleys of central Peru. Because this land on the eastern slopes of the Andes was understood to be less densely populated and potentially more productive than the Andean highlands, yet relatively close to Lima's markets, the Peruvian government saw the valleys as sources for food and lumber, to be worked by colonists, surplus population from the nation's highlands and coast.

SOMALI REFUGEES OR REFUGEES IN SOMALIA? THE OROMO FLIGHT FROM ETHIOPIA

Even a huge international conference designed to draw attention to the plight of refugees in Africa (Geneva, 9-10 April 1981) was unable to answer basic questions about the nearly two million recent arrivals in Somalia. Journalists and relief workers alike cannot say who these people are, where they came from, why they left their homelands, and what plans they have for the future.

SOMALI EMERGENCY: 2,000,000 REFUGEES

There are two million refugees in Somalia; 1,316,845 refugees had officially registered as of 1 March 1981 in the thirty-plus camps in the country. An estimated 500,000-700,000 people have crossed the border and are attempting to survive on their own. Ninety percent of the refugees are women and children. The status of the men and their herds is unknown. Refugees continue to arrive at the rate of 4,500 per day (March, 1981). Most of those entering the transit camps on the border have walked for days without sufficient food or water.

SCHOOLING IN RURAL ALASKA

Having nice guys on our staff isn't enough when they stand for assimilation rather than cultural preservation. They think artifacts are the Native culture…

They (school people) just don't learn. For sure I now know that our language and culture will not be saved by any school.

IMPRESSIONS FROM ICARA

The General Assembly of the United Nations in November of 1980, called on the Secretary-General to convene an international conference to mobilize world support for African refugees. In concert with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Secretarial of the Organization of African Unity, April 9-10 heralded the opening of the International Conference on Assistance to Refugees in Africa (ICARA) at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.

ETHNICITY AND REFUGEES IN AFRICA

There are probably more refugees in the world today than at any other time in modern history. Nearly half of the world's 10 to 13 million refugees are scattered throughout the African continent.

WHAT IS REFUGEE?

According to the 1951 Geneva Convention a refugee is any person who:

HAITIAN REFUGEES

Immigrants to the United States have often faced discrimination based on race and nationality. Some immigrant groups, such as the Irish. Chinese, and Mexicans, have entered the U.S. in large numbers and have provided a source of cheap labor. But when these groups are perceived as threatening to displace the native labor force, discrimination has escalated and immigration rights curtailed. Haitians who have attempted to enter this country have encountered this sort of discrimination, especially since the late 1970s.

ART, ECOLOGY, AND THE HUICHOL'S FUTURE

In the rugged terrain of the northwestern Sierra Madre, in the Mexican state of Jalisco, live three linguistically distinct groups in Huichol Indians. They live on approximately 2,500 square miles of communal lands, relatively unaffected by Mexico's political, social, and religious history. This is due in part to the Huichol's resistance to cultural change, and in part to the land's remoteness and inaccessibility, and to its unsuitability for agriculture or ranching.

ABORIGINAL HEALTH WORKER TRAINING PROGRAM

A new program in central Australia is training the Aboriginal people to manage their own health care. The difficulties of providing medical attention to these isolated and scattered groups have been complicated by cultural and linguistic differences. Aboriginal technicians are now being trained to administer to the needs of their own groups, using methods that draw on both traditional and Western medicine.

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