Two 'Na’vi' from 'planet Pandora' landed in London today to participate in multinational mining company Vedanta Resources’ Annual General Meeting.  The happening was part of a colourful demonstration against the miners, over their controversial plan to extract bauxite (Ed. surely unobtainium?) from Niyam Penu (Niyamgiri Hill) the sacred mountain of India’s Dongria Kondh tribe, that they worship as creator and sustainer, in the Indian state of Orissa. Monty Python star and travel writer Michael Palin  expressed his support to the 3 year campaign, supported by Survival International and Amnesty Int. saying he had  "seen the forces of money and power ... arrayed against a people who have occupied their land for thousands of years, who husband the forest sustainably and make no great demands on the state or the government."

India’s Environment and Forests Ministry is currently investigating the Dongria’s claim to the forest while Odisha state is conducting a separate probe.

Yesterday Vedanta dismissed as "incorrect" an Amnesty International report citing human rights abuses and environmental damages by the company.

In May 2009 Amnesty had written to the Indian authorities requesting that the clearance for the mine be withdrawn "until all necessary measures are taken to ensure that the mining project will not negatively impact the human rights of Indigenous and other communities who may be affected". Expecting the corporately responsible wolf to care for the 'sheep'? I think it did not work out quite like that in the movie...

In fact in a reply to Survival International, the miners had defended the project along the lines of  "We should not try to keep the tribal and other backward people in a primitive, uncared-and-unprovided-for socio-economic environment."  'We', as in 'We the capitalist Dinosaurs'?

Related: Survival International short film

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4tuTFZ3wXQ&fmt=18 400x300]

Update 24 Aug 2010:

Survival International have just announced that the tribe has "won a stunning victory" and that India's Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has blocked the bauxite mining plan.

A victory, hopefully for the billions of people against the billions of dollars! Hopefully the celebrations are not premature...

Indeed, Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘The concerned public must remain vigilant about these so-called development projects –  companies simply cannot be trusted voluntarily to abide by human rights standards, particularly when dealing with tribal peoples who can't know what they're up against.'
Full details: http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/6385