Tribe & Nation State-Comparative Study of Tribal Communities in India & Other Countries | Anthropology Optional for UPSC PDF Download

Tribe And Nation State

• Traditionally, a nation-state is a specific form of state, which exists to provide a sovereign territory for a particular nation, and which derives Its legitimacy from that function. The state is a political and geopolitical entity; the nation is a cultural and/or ethnic entity. The term "nation state" implies that they geographically coincide, and this distinguishes The "nation-state from the other types of state, which historically preceded it. If successfully implemented, this implies that the citizens share a common language, culture, and values — which was not the case in many historical states. A world oration-states also implements the claim to self-determination and autonomy for every nation, a central theme of the ideology of nationalism. (More on this in Paper 1, Ethnicity and Nation States).
• In some cases, the geographic boundaries of an ethnic population and a political state largely coincide. In these cases, there is little immigration or emigration, few members of the "home" ethnicity living in other countries. 
• Portugal is seen as one of the best examples of a nation-state. Although surrounded by other lands and people, the Portuguese nation has been the same for almost 900 years. Since its foundation, in Portugal remained as a single nation living in a single country. Ethnically, Portuguese people are related to Celts, Romans, Berbers arid Moors. During its long colonial Empire, Portugal received a lot of African a very singular country that is still seen as a nation-state.
• Iceland is often seen as a strong example of a nation-state. Although the inhabitants are ethnically related to other Scandinavian groups, the national culture and language are found only in Iceland. There are no cross-border minorities— the nearest land is too far away.
• Japan is also traditionally seen as a good example of a nation-state, although it includes minorities of the ethnically distinct Ryukyu peoples in the south, Koreans, Chinese and Filipinos, and on the northern island of Hokkaido  the indigenous Ainu minority; see also Japanese Demographics and Ethnic issues in Japan.
• Both Iceland and Japan are island nations. Portugal, curiously, is not an island and is surrounded by other historic nations in Europe.
• The notion of a "national identity" also extends to countries that host multiple ethnic or language groups. For example, Switzerland is constitutionally a confederation of cantons, and has four official languages, but it has also a 'Swiss' national identity, a national history, and a classic national hero, Wilhelm Tell.
• Many historical conflicts have arisen where political boundaries do not correspond with ethnic or cultural boundaries. For example, the Hatay Province was transferred to Turkey from Syria after the majority-Turk population complained of mistreatment. The traditional homeland of the Kurdish people extends between northern Iraq and eastern Turkey, and western Iran. Some of its inhabitants call for the creation of an independent Kurdistan, citing mistreatment by the Turkish and Iraqi governments. An armed conflict between the Kurdistan Workers Party and the Turkish government over this issue has been ongoing since 1984.
• Belgium is a classic example of a disputed nation-state. The state was formed by secession from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1830, and the Flemish population in the north speaks Dutch. The Flemish identity is also ethnic and  cultural, and there is a strong separatist movement The Walloon identity is linguistic (Francophone) and regionalist. There is also a unitary Belgian nationalism, several versions of a Greater Netherlands ideal, and a German-speaking region annexed from Prussia in 1920, and re-annexed by Germany in 1940-1944.
• China covers a large geographic area, and uses the concept of "Zhonghua minzu"—"a Chinese people” — although it also officially recognizes the majority, Han ethnic, group, and no fewer than 55 national minorities.
• Where part of the national group lives in a neighboring nation-state, it is usually called a national minority. In some cases states have reciprocal national minorities, for instance the Slovaks in Hungary and the Magyars (ethnic Hungarians) in Slovakia.
• National minorities should not be confused with a national Diaspora, which is typically located far from the national border. Most modern Diasporas result from economic migration, for example the Irish diaspora.
• The possession of dependent territories does influence the status of a nation-state. A state with large colonial possessions is obviously inhabited by many ethnic groups, and is not a mono-ethnic state. However, in most cases, the colonies were not considered an integral part of the motherland, and were separately administered. Some European nation-states have dependent territories in Europe. Denmark contains virtually all-ethnic Danes and has relatively few foreign nationals within it However, it exercises sovereignty over the Faroe Islands and Greenland.

Minorities, Tribes and Nation States

• The most obvious deviation from the ideal of 'one nation, one state', is the presence of minorities, especially ethnic minorities, which are clearly not members of the majority nation. The nationalist definition of a nation is always exclusive: no nation has open membership. In most cases, there is a clear idea that surrounding nations are different, and that includes members of those nations who live on the ‘wrong side' of the border. Historical examples of groups, who are specifically singled out as outsiders, are the Roma and jews in Europe.
• Negative responses to minorities within the nation-state have ranged from state-enforced cultural assimilation, to expulsion, persecution, violence, and extermination. The assimilation policies are Usually state-enforced, but violence against minorities is not always state-initiated. It can occur in the form of mob violence such as lynching or pogroms. Nation-states are responsible for some of the worst historical examples of violence against minorities— that is, minorities that were not considered part of the nation.
• However, many nation-states do accept specific minorities as being in some way part of the nation, and the term national minority is often used in this sense. The Sorbs in Germany are an example: for centuries they have lived in German-speaking states, surrounded by a much larger ethnic German population, and they have no other historical territory. They are now generally considered to be part of the German nation, and are accepted as such by the Federal Republic of Germany, which constitutionally guarantees their cultural rights. Of the thousands of ethnic and cultural minorities in nation-states across the world, only-a, few have this level of acceptance and protection".
• Multiculturalism is an official policy in many states, establishing the ideal of peaceful existence among multiple ethnic, cultural, and linguistic groups. Many nations have laws protecting minority rights. India is a classic example.
• The spread of European Colonization, modernization of economies, implementation of community development programs and increased transport and communication infrastructure connecting all the people and the emergence of modern nation-states and introduction of uniform administrative structures has resulted in greater and active interactions between the tribes and non-tribe populations. As a consequence, the tribal groups are no more identified as “primitive groups" but as another ethnic groups living in the larger population of a nation.
• Many nations in the world have maintained a policy of “non-interference" with their tribal populations and have always ensured the autonomy of tribal areas in the overall politico-administrative structures in the modern nation-states. Its only the proactive industrialization and economic development of the nations that warranted governments to make 'in-roads' into tribal areas, a process that unleashed a number of challenges for the nation-states vis-a-vis the tribal groups. In this context, we have discussed the issues of tribal welfare and administration and in this chapter we shall examine the approach adopted by other nations.

China

• In 1990, the population of China was 1,133,682,501 persons, of whom 1,042,482,187 belonged to the Han nationality, the people generally referred to as Chinese. The remainder were divided among some fifty-five "minority nationalities", that are recognized officially by the state, at least 749,341 persons claiming membership in ethnic groups not yet accorded official recognition and 3,421 naturalized foreigners. The recognized minorities range in size from the 15,489,630 Zhuang to the 2,312 Lhoba; at least eighteen groups have populations over 1,000,000
• There are fifty-six recognized minzu, meaning "nation," "nationality," "ethnic group," or "people." All but the Han are referred to as shaoshu minzu. The criteria for identifying these groups are unevenly applied and guided in part by political considerations. The term implies legal equality together with subordination to the higher state authority that governs Han and minorities alike. It is worth noting that the term minzuxue, often translated as "ethnology," refers only to the study of China's minority peoples.
• Since 1949, a number of areas have been designated as autonomous regions wherein the minorities are guaranteed, within limits, the rights to express and develop their local cultures and representation in the political arena. There are five large autonomous regions (Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Guangxi Zhuang, Ninjxia Hui, Xinjiang Uigur), each named after the predominant minority group. These regions contain multiple nationalities, the Han now being the largest group in all but Tibet In addition, by 1985 there were thirty autonomous prefectures and seventy-two autonomous counties, or "banners," often of mixed ethnicity and sometimes listing two or three minority groups in their official name. Under continuing pressure to grant minorities greater autonomy and representation, the government organized minzuxiang (minority townships) in the 1980s for areas of mixed settlement outside of the larger autonomous units. These townships incorporate Han and minority villages under one; administration at the lowest level of government Minority representatives are thus guaranteed seats a various administrative levels from the township up through the county and prefecture, and there are reserved seats for minority representatives in the provincial and national peoples congresses. The State Nationalities Affairs Commission, directly under the State Council, also includes minority representatives, as do provincial and prefectural branches.
• Within the autonomous units the state sets some policies. For example, the government has prohibited landlordism, slavery, child marriages, forced marriages, elaborate festivals, and what the state regards as harmful facets of religion and traditional medicine everywhere in China since the early days of the Revolution. The state also controls population transfers: minority people cannot opt to resettle in the autonomous region of ethnic choice, and the authorities even discourage travel across county boundaries. Most minorities are not yet affected by the one-child policy of recent years, although the government encourages them to practice family planning. Also, for registration purposes, most minority people must select a Chinese name for their children and follow the Chinese model of the paternal surname. Aside from these constraints, the minorities are free to use their own languages, follow culturally valued styles of housing, dress, and diet, practice customs that are not in direct violation of national laws, develop and perform their traditional arts, and practice their own religions.
• One could argue that since 1949 some of the earlier differences between local cultures or nationalities have weakened or disappeared. This occurrence is a result of a number of factors: the spread of Mandarin as the language of the schools and media; the uniform political and social ideology promoted via the Communist party, the Youth League, the Women's Federation, the Peasants Association, and the Peoples Liberation Army; nation wide participation in a series of political campaigns; state control of the news and entertainment media; and the uniformity of socioeconomic organization between 1950 and the early 1980s. Further more, the suppression of some local religious practices and the development of secularized, state-revised festivals and state guidelines for betrothals, weddings, and funerals have all contributed to the blurring of the differences between regional Han cultures, and they have also had their effect on the practices of the minorities.
• Over recent decades, population movements have also played a part Han families from diverse regions have been resettled in large numbers in newly developing areas such as the northeastern provinces, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia, whereas some minority communities have been relocated closer to Han areas of settlement During the Cultural Revolution years this process was accelerated by the transfer of at least 12 million young Han urbanites to rural villages and state farms, some of these in areas primarily inhabited by the ethnic minorities. Many of these transfers have become permanent Since the 1980s there has been population movement from the country side into established urban areas/both by assignment and voluntarily, heavy immigration into the new Special Economic Zones and Development Zones, and a flow into underpopulated areas that hold promise of economic opportunity.
• Despite these unifying trends, there are also signs of intensification of ethnic awareness and sentiment among the minorities. Some of the official classifications have taken on new meaning. This development is clearly evident in the 1990 census, which reports a large jump in the number of individuals or communities claiming minority status. Some groups have had a dramatic rise in population since the 1982 census, most markedly the Manchu, Tujia, She, Gelao, Xibe, Hezhen, Mulam, and those claiming, Russian nationality. There is increased demand for school texts and other publications in minority languages (including tongues formerly classed as "dialects"), with recognized standardized romanizations or reformed versions of earlier traditional writing systems. With these come demands for separate schools at the primary level, and the recognition of additional autonomous counties or townships in areas with large minority populations. Among many groups there is revival, elaboration, or even invention of local dress and other visible markers of ethnic difference. There is also increased production of local craft items (or items with a minority "feel" to them) for a wider market, as well as a revitalization of local festivals. Some of these changes relate to the growing international and internal tourist market, as at the Dai Water-Splashing Festival in Xishuangbanna, the Miao Dragon Boat Festival in eastern Guizhou, or the tourist souvenirs and entertainment provided by the Sani (Yi) at the Stone Forest near Kunming. Among the Hui and other Islamic groups, religion has been revitalized and is tolerated by the state because of its desire to maintain and increase good foreign relations with Islamic countries. Buddhism among the Dai and Christianity among the Miao, Yi, Lisu, Lahu— and, of course, the Han them selves— are tolerated for The state allows and in some ways even encourages the upsurge of ethnic expression, as long as it does not move toward separatism. China takes pride in describing itself as a multinational country. Minority themes figure strongly in contemporary Chinese painting and graphics, and television frequently airs travelogues and commentaries about the minorities and performances by song-and-dance ensembles whose material is drawn in large part from the minority cultures. Books about the strange customs of the shaoshu minzu find a wide market; occasionally, they also spark protests by the minorities.

Russia

• The 'main indigenous populations of Russia are from the North. The Russian North, extends across a distance of 6000 km from the Finnish and Norwegian boundary through the Urals and Siberia to the Bering Strait and the Pacific Ocean. It covers vast areas of taiga (boreal forests], tundra (treeless swamps and pasture lands], and polar deserts. The north-south extension of this belt widens from about 1000 km in Europe to about 3000 km in central Siberia and the Russian Far East.
• Approximately 20 million people live in this land, mainly concentrated in towns and settlements along the rivers and in the industrial centres. Only about 180,000 of them belong to approximately 30 small- numbered, aboriginal groups - the indigenous peoples of the North. Their majority live in small villages close to their subsistence areas, where they pursue traditional occupations like reindeer-herding, hunting and fishing. But the reality these people face today is anything but an idyllic carryover from the past.
• Since the colonization of the North, large expanses have gradually been converted into areas for alien settlement, transportation routes, industry, forestry, mining and oil production, and have been devastated by pollution, irresponsibly managed oil and mineral prospecting, and military activity.
• In tandem with the environmental disaster went the social decay of the indigenous societies since the early Soviet era, with collectivisation of subsistence activities, forced relocations, spiritual oppression, and destruction of traditional social patterns and values. The result was the well-known minority syndrome marked by loss of ethnic identity, unemployment, alcoholism, diseases, etc.
• The recent socio-economic crises of Russia which Came along with the transition to a market economy, has led to a break-down of most of the supply and transportation system in remote areas of the North. Having been incorporated into the alien Soviet economic system, made dependent on modern infrastructure and product distribution, the people now find themselves left alone without supplies, medical care, rising mortality, and the economic means and sufficient legal expertise to deal with the situation. The desperate road back to the old ways of life has tempted many, but is often hampered by the degradation or destruction of the natural environment.
• Against this horrendous background, the cultural survival of these small ethnic groups may seem almost impossible. But they fight tenaciously, showing an unbelievable endurance, and their case has already won ground in many national and international forums.
• Like everywhere on earth, the Russian North has been subject to migration of peoples all through human history. Until ca. 2000 years ago, the North was dominated by ancient Siberian tribes whose cultural relations are poorly known. Pressure from the extension of southerly adjacent peoples gradually drove these tribes to the north, at the same time as they mingled with - and were partly assimilated into - the newcomers.
• One group of descendants of these ancient Siberian tribes is comprised of the Yupik (eastern Eskimo branch) and Aleuts, who mostly migrated to Alaska and form a common culture group with other North American peoples. In Russia, less than 2000 Yupik live in villages at the Bering Strait, and some 700 Aleuts on the Komandorsk Islands and in Kamchatka.
• The largest of the Proto-Siberian language groups is the Palaeo-Asiatic group, represented by the Chukchi, Koryaks and Itelmens. On the arrival of the Russians, these peoples inhabited most of Chukotka, Kamchatka and the areas around the northern Sea of Okhotsk. They are today concentrated to the Chukotkan and Koryak autonomous areas in the far north-east. With population numbers of 15,000 (Chukchi) and 9000 (Koryaks) these peoples belong to the larger ethnic groups. The Itelmens (2500) were once also wide-spread across Kamchatka. They are now restricted to a small land strip at the southwestern coast. Large parts of their former population are mingled with Russian immigrants, speaking the Russian language, but have developed a distinctive local culture. These people call themselves Kamchadals and claim the official status of an indigenous people that they had lost in 1927. Their number is about 9000.
• The Yukagirs, another Proto-Siberian group, once inhabited huge parts of north-eastern Siberia between the Lena mouth and the Bering Strait. The remaining 1000 people are mainly restricted to the Kolyma area in north-eastern Yakutia. The Chuvans (1300) at the upper Anadyr River are originally a Yukagir tribe that has adopted the Chukchi language, and assimilated partly into Chukchi, and partly into Russian culture. Isolated linguistic remains of an ancient Siberian population are also represented by the Nivkhi (4600) at the Amur mouth and on northern Sakhalin, and the Kets (1100) of the middle Yenisey River valley.
• The white man's conquest of the Russian North, Siberia and the Far East does not stand far behind the atrocities known from other parts of the world. The tsarist intention was to subject the entire northern part of Asia to its rule because of the expected rich natural resources. Peoples were rendered tribute- payers. They were forced to pay a tax, yasak, in exchange for the promise of protection by the Tsarist Empire. Yasak consisted mostly of furs. The often very high tax requirements changed the occupational pattern of many ethnic groups and endangered their subsistence.
• The Tsar's order read that the native peoples should be treated respectfully and accommodatingly, while military actions should only be applied against armed revolts. But the local governors and taxmen had their own laws, if any. Historians report continual pillaging and violent encroachment resulting in the extermination of entire nations. A usual procedure to make the native peoples pay yasak was to take hostages, often respected elders. It was also usual to abduct, or buy, and enslave women and children. Tax raids could escalate into pillage and sometimes murder raids. Many times, the entire subsistence basis of a local indigenous group was destroyed, and they died of cold or hunger. In places, the oppression continued into the 19th century.
• Towards the end of the 17th century, most of Siberia to the Pacific coast was subject to Russian control. When Russian economies became worse, politicians decided to subdue the last resisting and opposing peoples, the Chukchi and Yukagirs, by military force. The Yukagirs were reduced to approximately half their population. During the smallpox epidemics of the 18th century and subsequent disasters, another 80% of the remaining population disappeared.
• In areas of massive Russian settlement, the indigenous population was subject to russification with respect to language, economy, and social organisation. During the 19th century, large areas on both sides of the Trans-Siberian Railway were cleared of native population. Southern Siberia was affected most profoundly, and from there areas along the main waterways. But in other places, the opposite might happen. The most striking example is the yakutisation of Russian settlers in Yakutiya, where the native population had a strong social network that was not easily broken.
• The official Russian policy towards the indigenous peoples in the 19th century was not always bad. Considerations of humanity and concern for the exploited natives led to attempts to control the situation by means of various (rather ineffective) laws forbidding slavery, limiting the exaction of tribute, prohibiting the sale of liquor and, as late as 1912, forbidding Russian traders to enter certain native territories. Still, the major trend of the development continued: loss of land, economic decline, dissolution of subsistence patterns, disintegration of the social framework.
• During the post-revolutionary Civil War that lasted from 1917 to 1924 (locally in the Far East), the Soviet administration replaced the tsarist governmental system. Passive victims of warfare between the two Russian factions, the indigenous population slid into a dispute between two competing political lines: one intended to secure a development according to each people's own cultural premises, while the other - the Stalinist line - aimed at the complete elimination of ethnic differences and the integration of all national groups into a common Soviet society. The Stalinist line won towards the end of the 1920s.
• The administrative subdivision of Russia into national areas and districts was meant to reflect the ethnic composition of the respective territories. This was originally supposed to guarantee the influence of the individual peoples on local development, which was never realised. In contrast, the strict application of the class law turned the social pattern of the indigenous population upside down. Their natural leaders, wealthy reindeer owners and shamans, for instance, were regarded as exploiters and excluded from political positions, while the young, elected "working class" people often neither felt competent nor were expected by their fellow-tribesmen to make decisions on their own.
• In the 1920s, there was a variety of initiatives to compensate for economic loss suffered by the indigenous population during the Civil War, such as economic support bills, tax exemption for minorities, erection of support centres, etc. But during the 1930s, under the dictatorship of Stalin, most of the economic and social structure that might still have been intact was destroyed. The large-scale industrialisation of the Soviet Union needed the resources of the North. The state firms imported their own workers who stood outside the local authorities' jurisdiction. Natives whose subsistence was destroyed-became dependent on service functions for the foreign industry or sought refuge in more hostile mountain and tundra areas.
• Traditional reindeer herding, hunting and fishing occupations were forcefully transformed into collective farms, kolkhozes, all across the Soviet Union. Local uprisings were put down and punished hard, for instance, in the Nenets and Taymyr areas in 1930-32. A number of national areas were dissolved, and the North was divided between various ministries. No controlling agency existed that could survey the continuous colonisation and exploitation of the land and the fate of its native inhabitants.
• In 1941th Russia was drawn into World War II. Many indigenous individuals had to fight at the fronts. The lack of young men for domestic occupations especially affected the vulnerable, small indigenous societies. Excessive numbers of domestic animals had to be slaughtered, and river mouths were depleted of fish in the fight against hunger. The thousands of men returning from the front had changed their social attitudes and thus accelerated cultural assimilation. European immigration to Siberia increased.
• In the 1950s and 1960s, a large-scale campaign was pursued to lead the peoples into the "modern socialist civilization", by forced relocation into urban or semi-urban areas. The enforcement consisted in depriving rural areas of hospitals, schools and shops. Nomads were officially declared primitive human beings and were urged to settle. But there was not sufficient work in the new settlements to replace the lost traditional occupations. The consequences for many were further loss of economic ability and social structure, rising criminal rates and abuse of alcohol. In 1980, the ethnically based administrative areas were  ceased, the word "minorities" was removed from law texts, and the local administrative bodies lost all but consulting functions.
• The educational policies of Soviet Russia towards the indigenous peoples had been changing radically. The school system was renewed and underwent an important development in the 1920s. Linguists developed alphabets for all language groups, with special letters based on the Latin alphabet Illiteracy dropped markedly. In 1937, Stalin forced the application of the Cyrillic alphabet for all languages, and linguists that had worked, on customised alphabets were imprisoned as public enemies. A policy started that was aimed at wiping out all ethnic identity. After 1957, teachers were even punished for speaking anything but Russian to the pupils outside the mother tongue lessons.
• The boarding-school system - originally meant to give nomad children the opportunity of a higher education - had a destructive influence on the minority cultures when extended to primary school level. Children were growing up far from their parents and returned at an age of 16-17 as almost complete strangers with often weakened ties to their ethnic origin and language, and almost without practical skills for the traditional occupations. As a result/the system favoured assimilation into the Russian society. The decrease in people using or understanding their native language is enormous. Today, the elder generation - above the age of 50 - carries on the language.
• It would, however, be wrong to neglect positive developments during the Soviet era. One important example is that the role of women in the society achieved benefits, as many taboos were broken. Other examples were the improvement of health care, reduction of infant mortality, etc.

Environmental disaster

• Until ca. 1930, industrial development and large-scale extraction of natural/resources by the colonialists were largely confined to the area adjacent to the Trans-Siberian Railway. From 1930, large industrial projects were started in the North that caused severe, though local, Environmental damage: intensive forestry in the Igarka area (lower Yenisey), nickel mining at Norilsk (Yenisey mouth), and gold mining in Yakutiya. The major impacts in the far North started in the mid-1950s, especially the chopping down of forests for timber over great expanses. Vast hunting grounds were destroyed. Large amounts of timber were left to rot. The Soviet Far East lost more than 30% of its forests.
• The oil and gas boom started, in the mid-1960s. The largest oil deposits were in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Area. Enormous forest areas were razed and the land was devastated by careless tracked- vehicle driving; rivers and bogs were polluted, and large areas became worthless for any sort of primary subsistence. In addition to the devastation of nature, the alien workers abused the indigenous population through pillage, theft, killing of reindeer, and destruction of sacred sites, even robbery, rape, murder and burning of homes. The exploitation of the Yamal Peninsula was carried out quickly, though experts had not agreed on its profitability.
• Both areas suffered immense loss of land and water resources. Railways and pipelines cut off reindeer migration routes. In the Khanty-Mansiyskiy and the Yamalo-Nenetskiy Avt. Okrug together, 110,000 km² of reindeer pastures, 28 economically valuable rivers, 177 km² of spawning areas and feeding fields were destroyed. Similar encroachments were made in the Far East in 1970-87, where reindeer herds decreased by 30-40%.
• A significant impact of a different kind is nuclear pollution. From the atmospherical atomic bomb testing in Novaya Zemlya in the 1960s, large areas suffered radioactive contamination. In addition, nuclear explosions were often used for civil purposes like mining, attemps to divert rivers, and seismic sounding, some of which resulted in local radioactive fallout High rates of related diseases are known from, for instance, Chukotka, northern Yakutiya, Kolguyev Island, and the Kola Peninsula. The tuberculosis rate - high throughout the North - is locally close to 100%. Other lung diseases are common, while infant mortality is quickly rising.

Political reorganization

• With the beginning of the Perestroika policy, movements against the disastrous situation for the Northern indigenous peoples started with an increasing frequency. In 1986, Koryaks succeeded In preventing a village liquidation in Kamchatka. Other examples of successful protests followed, like the fight of the Udege people in the Bikin Valley (Primorye) against the cutting of timber by foreign Companies in the early 1990s. A large amount of regional associations developed which were supposed to defend indigenous interests.
• In 1989, an expert meeting on minority problems achieved agreement on the necessity of severe changes in the Soviet minority policy. The experts pronounced that the best way to secure the future of the Northern minorities would be the establishment of ethnic territories with self-determination, cessation of the former policy of forced relocation, replacement of large-scale development programs by locally adjusted small-scale projects, etc.
• An important initiative by the minorities themselves was the formation of the embracing "First Congress of the Small Peoples of the North" in Moscow, March 1990. It resulted in. the establishment of the "Russian Association of Indigenous Minorities of the North, Siberia and the Far East" (RAIPON), under the first elected president, Vladimir Sangi (Nivkh), who was later replaced by Yeremey Aypin (Khant) and then by Sergey Kharyuchi (Nenets). The association became the official representation of the Northern indigenous people towards Russian authorities and government. International institution building programs, initiated by ICC (Inuit Circumpolar Conference) Canada in 1995, helped to develop the organisation into a significant political tool which today spearheads the peoples' struggle for survival.
• In 1998, RAIPON - together with the other embracing Arctic indigenous peoples' organisations, Saami Council, ICC and Aleut International Association - was accepted as a permanent participant in the newly established (1996) Arctic Council. The main goal of this council is international co-ordination of development in the Arctic, with the pronounced participation of her indigenous populations.
• Environment, health, legal issues and economy are today on the agenda of the indigenous associations. RAIPON and associated organizations are working hard towards the Russian authorities concerning the emplacement of a satisfactory legal basis for indigenous rights. So-called ethnic communities are formed, where the native population executes a sort of self-determination in terms of traditional subsistence. Environmental violations have been brought to trial. Health-related development projects are initiated. Native communities are trying to go back to their traditional Social clan structure and to revive the old. ways of life in order to survive the present socio-economic crisis. The newly developed consciousness among the people, that their future is in their own hands, was nothing but a rhetoric phrase just a little more than a decade ago.
• Enormous progress has been made during the past decade, but much more is still to be done. One of the main obstacles is the lack of financial means - not only for the associations, but also at an individual level. In many rural areas, there is shortage of basic things like food, equipment and firewood. The need for continuous support from the outside is fundamental.
• The way the indigenous peoples of Russia have chosen is the one of partnership - with their neighbors, with the authorities - and at the global level. They are increasingly accepted as equal partners in the process of sustainable development in international for a Progress at the domestic level is still very slow due to the reactionary behaviour of many local officials. But they fight with endurance.