fPcN interCultural:

friends of Peoples close to Nature

The forum for friends of Peoples close to Nature (f P c N) is a global movement of individuals and groups dedicated to the survival of triBal peoples, in particular hunter-gatherers. These were the first and are the last societies on Earth to have a non-exploitative relationship with the natural world. Our taskis to help them preserve their unique cultures from enforced assimilation,the ideologies of ''progress'' and ''growth'' and absorption in the global economy.

Among the peoples we work with and support are:

Artists from around the world unite in support of the independence movement In West Papua. Featuring exclusive tracks covering styles from bossa folk to African melodies, blues, world fusion, ethnic roots, ambient electro and latin jazz. All proceeds going directly to refugee support programmes.

(66 mins)

The 2nd in our series of CD's featuring FREEdom songs & sounds, from West Papua. Recorded on covert missions to help the tribal peoples of West Papua resist!

Like our previous CD, all profits from the sale of this 17 track album go towards helping liberate the West Papuans.

PAPUA MERDEKA

You can hear some samples in the Audio section of this site.

(58 Minutes)

Tribes and Tribulations is a tribal compilation sampled from the fPcN interCultural film festival of September 2004. With songs from Batwa pygmies, Hadzabe bushman, Lani highlanders of West Papua. Over 50 minutes long and with 14 track this worldwide glimpse of tribal life will inspire us all.

You can hear some samples in the Audio section of this site.

(58 mins)

West Papuan Sounds & Songs - Audio CD

You can hear some samples in the Audio section of this site.
(62 min)

Filmed by fPCN interCultural, this documentary details the recent horific history which the tribal peoples of West Papua have endured under the brutal Indonesian regime for more than 40 years.

PAPUA MERDEKA! PAPUA FREEDOM!

On Multi-Region PAL DVD and also available on VHS on request.

Latest CONFIRMED information received on situation inside is as follows. This is a follow on to the previous media alerts on the demonstrations in West Papua to call for referendum.

*Abepura*

At 1000 AM East Indonesia time, MONDAY MARCH 3, West Papuan students and political figures were gathering in Abepura to demand a referendum and dialogue with Indonesian government.

AFTER INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE; VOW DEMONSTRATIONS UNTIL INDONESIA LISTENS TO WEST PAPUANS

*JAYAPURA, WEST PAPUA, MARCH 5 2008*

WEST PAPUAN leaders calling for a Referendum on the future of West Papua who were arrested by Indonesian Police for “spreading hatred against the government”, have been released without charge from Police Regional Headquarters this afternoon.

MIRANDA and ANTONIO JOAO, Brazil, Feb 29 (IPS) - Thousands of indigenous people in the west-central Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul are living in precarious camps or small overcrowded reservations, lacking the land they need to grow the food needed to overcome high levels of malnutrition.

But despite government recognition of their ancestral land, their claims are tied up in court. Meanwhile, their community leaders face the threat of being killed for attempting to secure respect for indigenous people’s constitutional right to their traditional lands.

Rome, Feb. 14, 2008 - This morning Indigenous Peoples’ representatives formally withdrew from meeting of the Working Group on Protected Areas of the International Convention on Biological Diversity to protest their suppression of their effective participation at the meeting, being held at FAO headquarters in the Italian capital.

Mon, 02/04/2008 - Realizing that the Ogiek had fled the area around Chepyuk and took refuge at Teldet and Chepkitale, the Sabaot Land Defense Force (SLDF), Kenya's most dangerous and notorious, at least 1000 men strong armed militia, has now taken advantage of the lawlessness and the commitments of the police elsewhere to hunt and kill the Ogiek like rabbits.

From 1 December 2007 – 9 January 2008

Police arrest 36 people for flying the Morning Star Flag in Timika
On 1 December the police arrested at least 36 Papuans for flying the Morning Star flag in Kwamki Lama, district of Mimika Baru. Seven are due to be charged for the crime of makar (rebellion) at the district court.

Soldier tortures ELSHAM activist in Fakfak.
On 1 December a soldier named Ahmad Heremba, who is from the Babinsa command in Kramomonggo, 40 kms from Fakfak, is reported to have severely beaten Elias Kredenggo, 27 years old

Thu, 12/06/2007 - Dear all friends of West Papua,

I just want to say a big THANK YOU on behalf of my people to all of you for your solidarity and support for Freedom & Justice for West Papua!

On Friday, our West Papua Independence Day demo outside the Indonesian Embassy in London and our March for Justice to BP & Rio Tinto was the biggest ever! Because so many of you were with us you helped show all the world that we Papuans are not alone in our struggle any more.

Fri, 11/30/2007 - 09:24 — Carried out by North American missionaries, this ethnocide, is an outrage that just has to be stopped, before the extermination of the home less & land less Akha is completed. What kind of a world is this, if we just stand by and allow these so called christians! to get away with this.

Thu, 11/22/2007 - 23:44 — The Lani Singers will be he guests of DJ Ritu on her World Music Show on BBC Radio London 94.9fm, on Saturday 2nd February 2008.

Tune in for the 2 hour long session from 8-10pm, and hear Benny and Maria Wenda talk about the plight of the West Papuan people, their struggle for freedom, and the importance of music in acting as a unifying bond amongst them and their fellowcountrymen. They will also be playing music live on air.

Mon, 11/19/2007: A LOW FOG ENVELOPES the steep and remote valleys of southwestern Uganda most mornings, as birds found only in this small corner of the continent rise in chorus and the great apes drink from clear streams. Days in the dense montane forest are quiet and steamy. Nights are an exaltation of insects and primate howling. For thousands of years the Batwa people thrived in this soundscape, in such close harmony with the forest that early-twentieth-century wildlife biologists who studied the flora and fauna of the region barely noticed their existence.

Mon, 11/05/2007 - Akha

Press Release
Nov. 3, 2007
The Akha Heritage Foundation
PO BOX 6073
Salem, Oregon 97304
www.akha.org
akhalife (a t) gmail.com

"Ride For Freedom"
Coast to Coast by Horseback for Akha Human Rights

Matthew McDaniel and members of the Akha Heritage Foundation will be campaigning for Akha Human Rights and Akha Project advancement with a US National Human Rights Tour.

But there is something different about this tour.

Tue, 10/16/2007 - 12:18 — A German narrated film, about the Hadza, from the Rift valley, titled - "No need for development" this documentary from fPcN Germany describes the situation of the last hunter and gatherer in Tanzania, the Hadzabe, back in the late 1990s.

Hadzabe - Kein Bedarf nach Entwicklung ist eine Filmdokumentation von Freunde der Naturvölker e.V. und beschreibt die Situation des letzten Jäger- und Sammlervolkes in Tansania, die Hadzabe.

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 13 (IPS) - After 22 years of long and cumbersome negotiations, leaders of the world's 370 million indigenous people have won a powerful symbolic victory in their fight for recognition of the right to self-determination and control over their land and resources.

On Thursday, an overwhelming majority of the 192-member U.N. General Assembly said "yes" to a resolution calling for the adoption of the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.