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Picture book pokes fun at "sustainable" approach to resource exploitation by big companies
It's a story we've heard time and time again. Big multinational mining corporations exploiting vast mineral deposits in the developing world with consequences - not always positive - for the indigenous tribes who've lived there for centuries.
The long-running debate over industrialisation versus development is played out in many mineral-rich regions across the world, where poor governments - desperate for foreign investment and economic growth - dish out licenses to companies that promise to bring prosperity to impoverished locals.
But in many cases activists say this has ended in the destruction of age-old habitats and livelihoods, as well as the displacement of tribes – putting their very existence at threat. India is no exception.
Tussles in the lush forests of its underdeveloped yet resource-abundant belt covering Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa regions clearly illustrate the issues. Yet many Indians know little of their country's development dilemma.
A satirical comic book launched in India this week, called "There you go!", aims to take the issue to a wider audience using humour and illustrations, says Survival International, a British charity that promotes the rights of the world's indigenous peoples.
The cartoon, designed to be read in two minutes, will also be sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, government ministers and universities.
COLONIALISM IN DISGUISE?
"I have not come across anything else that hits the bull's eye with such simplicity, accuracy and irrepressible humour," writes Survival International director Stephen Corry in a foreword to the comic.
"Today the subject of tribal peoples and development is saturated with words, but if you really want to understand what's going on, read this book."
The briefcase-wielding officials in the cartoon claim they want to bring "sustainable development" to an imaginary forest-dwelling tribe, but instead they clear the forests, destroying the local people's livelihoods and culture.
The once self-sufficient communities are then reduced to poverty, dependent on welfare and living in rubbish dumps on the edge of a polluted city.
Corry says the "development" of tribal communities against their wishes is rooted in the 19th-century "we know best" brand of colonialism, dressed up in a 20th-century "politically correct" euphemism.
"Tribal peoples are not backward, they are independent and vibrant societies which like all of us always, are constantly adapting to a changing world," he writes.
"The main difference between tribal peoples and us is that we take their land and resources and believe the dishonest, even racist, claim that it's for their own good. It's conquest, not development."
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