Brazilian Public Service Fakes Lost Tribe to Justify Own Existence
August 24, 2018
By Rick
This little New Zealand news item had deeper roots….
Most read: Drone captures un-contacted Amazon tribe members for first time– TVNZ
LAST OF THEIR KIND Amazing drone footage captures first pictures of Amazon jungle tribe who have never had contact with the outside world!– Sun
Amazon Tribe Never Seen by Outsiders Is Spotted by Drone– NYT
Dramatic drone footage showing an previous unknown and uncontacted indigenous tribe living deep in the Brazilian jungle has been seen for the first time.– Daily Mail
Incredible drone footage!– Fox
What is all this viral fuss? Source: Funai, the Brazillian State Department whose very existence and funding relies upon there being indigenous people for it to bureaucratically administer. Their mission is to nationalise indigenous people of the wild, much as The Department of Conservation does with kea, weka, kiwis etc. in New Zealand.
Well, I guess it’s time for a budget review because although they’ve been doing their ‘job’ since 1967 this brand new ‘unknown’ ‘uncontacted’ tribe has suddenly popped up on the drone view finder: “Hey look! We found some more indigenous humans over here!”
Helpfully, the Funai also controls the area and anyone seeking independent verification must go through them. Likely they will refuse such independent verification for ‘preservation’ and ‘safety’ reasons. No doubt they have close ties (or actually are identical) to the likes of Survival International (est 1969) who implore us to ‘Give’ (them, money) and ‘Act’ (raise them, money.)
Behind all this Anarchist Skepticism and fake news tearing around the wire of the Associated Press is there any truth to the story of a newly discovered tribe? Going right back to the source on Funai’s page what do they actually say prior to the hyperbole of various media outlets?
21 August: Brazilian Military Police, local indigenous guides, and a token white guy are back from a field trip to the Brazilian interior.
They found evidence that poachers of exotic animals have been illegally in the area, evading the small team. However, they did encounter two separate poaching groups and made them release their animals. “Go back and try again when we’re not looking,” they may have said.
Still no talk of drones or lost tribes. However, the team did warn some local farmers to stay on the right side of the boundary line and make sure their fences are secure. Images shared on the Funai article date from 2017 and are not attributed to the supposedly newly discovered tribe this month. However, these are the same images doing the rounds on AP.
Token White Guy above appears to be unpaid volunteer, Dr. Adam Mol from Poland. The “amazing” and “dramatic” drone footage was taken by him using his own equipment, “equipment that FUNAI did not have” says Taipei Times.
Actually the new drone footage (from 2017) is incredibly boring and indicative of nothing at all. This story is a huge beat-up. So too, it appears, were the rumours 2 months ago of a “massacre” in the Brazilian outback which nobody has been able to back up. However, such stories do have the effect of stirring up attention and international sympathy dollars to help ensure the Funai and Survival International gravy trains keep their directors employed.
“..the agency has been decimated by budget cuts under the austerity regime of Brazilian President Michel Temer.”- ibid
Ah- as I suspected! Nothing like some fake news stories about massacres and lost tribes to keep the funding going for your Government Department and its charity shadow company going. They wont let the truth get in the way of that, nor mind that millions of readers are having their trust and genuine interest and concern manipulated.
More about the state of Brazil’s State here
