Dongria Kondh Ask James Cameron To Help Save Their Tribe: 'Avatar Is Fantasy ... And Real' (VIDEO)

James Cameron's Avatar may have broken ground at the box office and with advanced visual effects, but some observed that the Oscar nominated film's plot was all too familiar.

Unfortunately for the Dongria Kondh, a tribe in eastern India, this story isn't merely confined to history books or 3-D movie screens. The narrative is their nightmare.

According to an ad taken out in Variety and addressed to the film's director, the tribe is, "struggling to defend their land against a mining company hell-bent on destroying their sacred mountain."

Amnesty International released a video containing allegations against Vedanta Resources, which has been mining in the area and plans on going a step further. They claim that pollution from the company's mining activities has already leached in to the Vamsadhara River, causing skin disease -- and even two deaths -- in the village of Chhattarpur. Now, authorities have agreed in principle to begin a 25-year mining project on Niyamgiri, a mountain the Dongria view describe as their god.

The plot is familiar to anybody who has seen Avatar, whose Na'vi population fought to defend their sacred tree.

In a poignant moment of the Amnesty International video, a local resident sums up his people's predicament.

"Either the company stays or we stay."

According to the Guardian, the tribe has roughly 8,000 people. They hope that Cameron hears their plea for assistance:

"Avatar is fantasy ... and real."

WATCH:

Comments

[Lex10]

03:03 PM on 03/09/2010

Go, James Cameron! Go!

[Coyote50]

02:10 PM on 03/09/2010

You know, some corporation here in Minnesota wants to build a copper mining operation right by the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, which is one of the most amazing places in the world -- lake after lake, big, little, all connected and you can canoe all the way into Canada and on to Hudson's Bay. Pristine. But, not content with poisoning Michigan's Upper Peninsula with copper, they now want to poison our lakes and forests too. To me, those lakes and forests are sacred - and the idea that they could be ruined forever for 20 years worth of jobs that will also poison the workers -- it's incredible. Avatar has lots of resonance in today's world, and not just for isolated tribes in India...

[Pyroclast]

04:56 PM on 03/09/2010

stop complaining.
while you like the aesthetic element of those lakes, I'm prety sure you use copper and tin and lead and...
change your consumption habits and then the real change will follow.

[entreMundo]

05:43 PM on 03/09/2010

stop telling people to stop complaining. it's not your place. you don't know what people use and what efforts they are making to stop using these things.

[Klimb]

07:30 PM on 03/09/2010

Same thing's been happening in Africa for years...and some places are being used as dumping grounds

[Retrofuturistic]

01:58 PM on 03/09/2010

The similarity between these indigenous people and the way they are treated by corporations/ imperialists and the way the American people are treated by their own government is hard to miss.

As far as our own government (and its corporate partners) are concerned, WE are now indigenous....

[CoronaDischarge]

12:49 PM on 03/09/2010

That unobtanium is just too important to let stay in the ground. The company will move them to a condo in Mumbai with cable access. What ore could they want?

[westreal]

09:35 AM on 03/09/2010

People will do anything for money. Heartlessness and greed.

[uhavenoface]

09:21 AM on 03/09/2010

meanwhile, james cameron is somewhere sitting on a platinum commode wiping his butt with kashmir toilet paper

[JailNeoconVicts]

03:49 PM on 03/09/2010

And you know this how? He made the most successful film of all time with an environmental message. I suppose you've done something better, and therefore are in a position to look down on him.

[uhavenoface]

09:59 PM on 03/09/2010

success != quality. as an environmental message it's pretty weak and shallow

sorry but not everybody loved your white guilt movie about blue people

[moonflowerjewelry]

09:14 AM on 03/09/2010

Imagine if a multinational mining company bribed governments to mine uranium, gold, silver, manganese or whatever in, around and under places considered "holy" by Western religions. The company's executives would forever live in fear of their lives from some holy warrior or another.
The kicker is this, the West will ignore this because many Christians find this to be some sort of Satanic thing, and if they can't put a cathedral on it, they'll relish it's destruction and rejoice that another people have lost their culture and have no choice to migrate to polluted, overcrowded city slums to work in factories or hustle their bodies.
Think tribes in Mexico, Central and South America.

[escobar]

09:13 AM on 03/09/2010

He'll have to fight the Indian government...paying them off more than the mining company.
They don't give a whit for their people look at how they sold out their own at Bhopal.
Of course they like to blame foreigners as they kill their own people who are considered worthless.
The devil made me do it.

[entreMundo]

12:31 PM on 03/09/2010

Were you aware that they have not yet given permission for this mine and by some reports are starting to lean against it?

[Greg0658]

09:06 AM on 03/09/2010

if you can't run with the big dogs stay on the porch .. or crawl under it and die

that this is why China had to get on the stick

[infidel2]

09:01 AM on 03/09/2010

I wish them good luck but we all know how this story usually ends.

[sanobahini]

07:23 AM on 03/09/2010

This is a cause that has long been espoused by Booker Prize winning author Arundhati Roy (God of Small Things). Amnesty International is right to call up James Cameron on this. If he is sincere in the message he sends in Avatar, then he needs to stand up and act. Otherwise, all of us who have paid to see this film will simply have paid another corporate tool (which he is, and the movie, but that's another story entirely).

[DoesItMatter]

09:50 AM on 03/09/2010

Ah....I did not ever imagine Arundhati Roy would be mentioned in Huffington Post. She makes name and fame out of protesting and rallying against everything. She is becoming a joke. One thing that anybody serious would do is not associate her name with real cause. The moment she and her ilk descent on any cause - it just becomes a mere showcase on earth. For the good of the tribes, hopefully she stays out of it.

[sanobahini]

02:49 PM on 03/09/2010

As a writer/activitist, Arundhati Roy is no different than Cameron (or any other celebrity) in trying to bring awareness to an issue or cause (although Cameron doesn't name his cause, the movie makes it abundantly clear). Her fame comes from being a writer, and a great one. Perhaps more of us could emulate Arundhati Roy. Let's hope Cameron takes some of the mega millions he's making and uses it to effect change, instead of sitting on his backside, fat and content with his profits. At least Roy acts on her convictions.

[Delphine]

03:53 PM on 03/09/2010

What is her "ilk"?

So she uses her name to call attention to issues. I disagree with her take on some things but she has as much right as anyone else to lend her name to a cause.

If she were NOT famous for writing a book or anything else, but lent her money or voice to a bunch of causes, or rallied against "everything" (sounds impossible, no?), would you begrudge her right to have and voice her opinion?

Saying "well, I'm sick of all those actors/writers/celebrities using their jobs to raise awareness" is like saying "well, I'm sick of all those truckdrivers using their jobs to raise awareness". Being a writer, artist or actor doesn't make a person less credible as an activist.

[davidgoldmandg]

05:14 AM on 03/09/2010

Not that the world's "best" democracy is doing much better.

[davidgoldmandg]

05:13 AM on 03/09/2010

Definitely true.

Bunch of multinational and export oriented companies are up and about tearing up the few natural places left all over south asia including India - and bribing the government to let them do it.

The world's largest democracy may be that in name only.

[disgruntledprogressives]

05:04 AM on 03/09/2010

Calling Tom Friedman; here is the future you saw in the New World of India.

[ratatat33]

03:53 AM on 03/09/2010

Go here to post a comment on Vedanta's facebook page....

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vedanta/164527104972?filter=1#!/pages/Vedanta/164527104972?v=wall&ref=mf