Dos na'vi protestan a las afueras de la Junta de Accionistas de Vedanta. © Survival

Los na’vi se sumaron a la organización de derechos indígenas Survival International en una manifestación contra la empresa, por su controvertido plan de abrir una mina en la montaña sagrada de los indígenas dongria kondh.

El diputado Martin Horwood, presidente del Grupo Interparlamentario sobre Pueblos Indígenas y Tribales, también acudió a la junta.

Al pueblo indígena de los dongria kondh se le ha descrito como a “la tribu real de Avatar” por los paralelismos que guarda su desesperada situación con la de los extraterrestres del éxito de taquilla de Cameron.

El propietario mayoritario de Vedanta Resources es el multimillonario Anil Agarwal.

En el último mes los planes de minería de Vedanta han sufrido tres grandes varapalos. El ministro de Medio Ambiente y Bosques de la India ordenó una investigación acerca de los derechos de los dongria sobre su bosque, el secretario jefe del estado indio de Odisha encargó otra investigación sobre el mismo asunto y la empresa holandesa PGGM anunció la venta de su participación en Vedanta a raíz de su preocupación por cuestiones de derechos humanos.

Entre los inversores que vendieron sus acciones con anterioridad se encuentra el Gobierno noruego, la Iglesia de Inglaterra y la Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

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Two Na’vi protested outside Vedanta’s AGM. © Survival

The Na’vi joined tribal rights organization Survival International in a demonstration against Vedanta, over its controversial plan to mine the sacred mountain of India’s Dongria Kondh tribe.

Martin Horwood MP, Chair of the all-party parliamentary group for tribal peoples, also attended the AGM, whilst former Monty Python star Michael Palin sent a message of support: ‘I’ve been to the Nyamgiri Hills in Orissa and seen the forces of money and power that Vedanta Resources have 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. The tribe I visited simply want to carry on living in the villages that they and their ancestors have always lived in.’

Vedanta’s AGM was the same day that British Prime Minister David Cameron met Indian PM Dr. Manmohan Singh. Martin Horwood MP wrote to David Cameron urging him to raise the issue of the plight of the Dongria Kondh at the meeting.

The Dongria Kondh tribe have been described as ‘the real Avatar tribe’ because their plight closely parallels that of the aliens in James Cameron’s blockbuster.

Vedanta Resources is majority-owned by billionaire Mayfair resident Anil Agarwal.

In the past month Vedanta has suffered three major blows to its mining plans. India’s Environment and Forests Minister ordered an investigation into the Dongria’s rights to their forest; the Chief Secretary of Odisha state ordered a separate probe on the same topic; and leading Dutch investment firm PGGM announced it had sold its stake in Vedanta over human rights concerns.

Previous shareholders who have sold their stake include the Norwegian government, the Church of England and the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

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