Equalogy

Posts Tagged ‘Vedanta’

The Dongria Kondh tribe in Orissa, India is doing everything they can to protect the mountains they worship as god.  The tribe’s livelihood is being threatened by the mining company Vedanta.  More than 8,000 people would lose the ability to live off the land if Vedanta has their way.

The mountains in question are the Nyamgiri Hills.  Jeff Biggers, author of United States of Appalachia, is one of many forces supporting the tribe.  As he writes in a piece for Common Dreams, author Arundhati Roy and other London celebrities have stepped forward to back the tribe.

Roy declared: “If Vedanta is allowed to go ahead with its plans for mining the Niyamgiri Hills for bauxite it will lead to the devastation of a whole ecosystem, and the destruction of not just the Dongria Kondh tribal community, but eventually all those whose livelihoods depend on that ecosystem.”

To protest the mining company, the tribe has set up road blocks, organized human chains to stop bulldozers and have gotten their name and cause out into the media.

The following youtube clip is the story of their struggle: