International Day of the World's Indigenous People:

People who are more connected to nature

World's indigenous people are unique communities with historical continuity and cultural kinship as societies common to their original territories prior to larger connected civilizations. They have their own cultural sovereignty and self-determination though they are called as minorities or non-dominant sectors within majorities

Aravinda HETTIARACHCHI

Indigenous People's traditional social values and customary ties along with the effort to pass on knowledge to their future generations make them exist in recognition as a people of desire who live according to natural character of earth with their own social systems of culture and law. Yet today, to an extent, these communities have been internationally recognized with respect and dignity to their identities such as Kayapo, Sami, Negriotos, Veddahs, Maya and etc who lived around the Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania.

The adjective of 'indigenous' has a meaning as 'from or of the original origin.' This means the origin of its territory, race, history, survival lifestyle and etc. Thus indigenous people have a more restrictive interpretation with it formalized, legalized and academic vocabulary. Consequently, we need a more reasonable condition to recognize these beings whose biological bodies are similar to anyone in the so-called civilization.

First of all the total population of the world's indigenous peoples are very difficult to compile due to difficulties of identification and insufficiency of available data. Yet the raw estimate says it is in the range from 300 million to 350 million (this is fewer than six percent of world's population) with 5000 distinct people in 72 countries as estimate of the start of 21st Century.

This population has undergone a dramatic decline in certain area due to relocation, migration, forced settlements, transformation of culture, loss of permanent language, loss of land, violation on traditional territories and lifestyles.

The common characters of indigenous people could be indicated with the meanings such as non-urbanized, nomadic, pastoral, hunting and gathering, horticultural and etc. Therefore, the connection and the inter-reaction between the indigenous communities and the non indigenous societies become complex with lot of relational contradictions because the 'civilized' society always centered with its economic base the urban capital.

This urban capital or its cities always functions according to the mechanical productions itself. The people who spend their life and labour to these machineries and the people who are connected to these machines' centered labourers (us) are totally different from these nature and earth centered indigenous people.

Thus it is not only a contradiction between the indigenous and non-indigenous. It is also a contradiction between the man-made machineries and the natural earth.

Thus, the cultural transfer to each other would work out only through a reasonable human seeking. Being a majority or being temporary powerful in material and machines is not a weapon to have the upper hand and to rule over them crowning ourselves as the rulers to decide everything. There should be similar status given to both parties for the indigenous are more connected to the natural Chakras of earth.