Fwd: letter to UNESCO about SIL
Andrej A. Kibrik
По просьбе коллеги из Бразилии (Denny Moore) пересылаю письмо
бразильских лингвистов в Юнеско о деятельности Summer Institute of
Linguistics в Амазонии. В последовавшей переписке Денни заверил
меня, что подписи российских лингвистов очень нужны авторам
письма.
Я лишь пересылаю данное письмо и ни к чему вас не призываю. В самом низу данного сообщения - фрагмент нашей переписки, отражающий мои сомнения и содержащий ответ Денни (чуть отредактированный).
Если у вас есть какие-либо вопросы относительно письма или
содержащихся в нем сведений, прошу вас связываться с Денни (denny...@gmail.com)
на английском или португальском языке.
АК
-------- Перенаправленное сообщение --------
| Тема: | letter to UNESCO about SIL |
|---|---|
| Дата: | Sun, 6 Mar 2022 18:36:44 -0300 |
| От: | Denny Moore <denny...@gmail.com> |
| Кому: | Andrej A. Kibrik <aaki...@gmail.com> |
To:
Ms. Marlova Jovchelovitch Noleto, Director and Representative of UNESCO in Brazil
Ms. Lido Brito, Director, UNESCO’s Regional Bureau for Sciences in Latin America and the Caribbean
Ms. Audrey Azoulay, Director-General, UNESCO
We wish to thank UNESCO for the consult with the linguists participating in the AMAZONICAS VIII conference, on June 4th, 2021, about the upcoming Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032). We express our great interest in this initiative, which will be an opportunity for progress in supporting and maintaining indigenous languages and cultures.
As specialists in indigenous languages, we are well acquainted with the situation of the indigenous peoples of Amazonia and the effects of the various agents that are active among them. In this respect we wish to present information which indicates that the activities of one of UNESCO’s consultants[1] and collaborators,[2] SIL International, based in Dallas, Texas, USA, formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics, are incompatible with UNESCO’s stated aim of promoting cultural diversity.
As observed by UNESCO, Article 4, “The defense of cultural diversity is an ethical imperative, inseparable from respect for human dignity. It implies a commitment to human rights and fundamental freedoms, in particular the rights of persons belonging to minorities and those of indigenous peoples.”[3] Unfortunately, the missionaries of SIL International are dedicated, by virtue of their basic goals, not to maintaining diversity but rather to replacing traditional native beliefs. In a typical example, among the Pirahã, the missionaries describe the people to be “isolated and primitive”, with “spiritual warfare” occurring as the “spirits fight back” against the missionaries’ attempts to replace native beliefs.[4]
This view is shared by the many fundamentalist missionary organizations affiliated with SIL. One of these is its sister organization (with joint membership), the Wycliffe Bible Translators, based in Orlando, Florida, USA.[5] The Wycliffe Global Alliance financial statement (p. 6) observes that “The Alliance and many of its AOs [Affiliated Organizations] partner closely with Summer Institute of Linguistics, Inc. (SIL)…”.[6]
The Associação de Missões Transculturais Brasileiras (AMTB) has SIL on its list of participating evangelical organizations that deal with indigenous groups,[7] along with other major cooperating missionary organizations, such as Missão Novas Tribos do Brasil (now called Ethnos360, based in Sanford, Florida, USA), JOCUM - Jovens Com Uma Missão (Brazilian branch of Youth With A Mission, based in Seattle, Washington, USA) and ALEM (Associação Linguística Evangélica Missionária, offshoot of SIL). Beginning in 1973, SIL trained missionaries of various other organizations in its Linguistics Methodology Course (CML), which was taken over by ALEM in 1983.[8]
JOCUM, which received this training, has a close association with SIL.[9] It produced a fake documentary (now banned in Brazil) which denigrates and stigmatizes traditional indigenous culture by portraying the Suruwaha tribe as practicing child murder because of their evil shaman and traditional beliefs.[10] This was denounced by Survival International[11] and by the Suruwaha, one of whom said, “When I saw this film, I thought, ‘What distortion!’ They completely lied, down to the very last detail”.[12]
In February of 2020, Edward Luz, son of the president of New Tribes Mission, Edward Gomes de Luz, was expelled from an indigenous area in handcuffs by the Federal Police.[13] He was there to block the work of the national conservation agency, IBAMA, and to support rural invaders. He was expelled from the Associação Brasileira de Antropologia and the Anthropology program of the University of Brasília. In Brazil, one of the justifications for recognizing the traditional lands of indigenous groups is to maintain their traditional lifestyle. So, the maintenance of cultural diversity is essential to prevent loss of the land of native groups and their consequent marginalization. There are increasing threats to indigenous lands from mining, lumbering and agricultural interests, supported by the same political forces that support fundamentalist missionaries.[14]
Because of its own activities against cultural diversity and its support of the activities of other fundamentalist missions, SIL has met resistance by entities concerned with protecting native culture. In Brazil, an agreement between the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) and SIL in 1985 was repudiated by 41 entities, including the Associação Brasileira de Antropologia, the Associação Brasileira de Linguística, and the União das Nações Indígenas.[15] Currently, no non-religious Brazilian university has a cooperation agreement with SIL and there is little interaction between SIL or other missionary organizations and Brazilian scientific linguists. Elsewhere in the Amazonian countries, governmental and academic support for SIL generally ended in the 1980s, though SIL often maintains a discreet presence and supports fundamentalist organizations in those countries.
The study of Amazonian indigenous languages by Latin American and international scientific linguists has grown spectacularly in the last two decades, with essentially no assistance from SIL. National linguistic programs have been strengthened and at least fifteen universities in Amazonian countries have granted PhDs for the study of native Amazonian languages. Latin American students have also received doctorates for indigenous language studies in a variety of international institutions: U. Amsterdam, Free U. Amsterdam, U. Arizona, U. British Columbia, U. at Buffalo, U. California Santa Barbara, U. Chicago, U. Essex, U. Hawai’i, La Trobe U., Leiden U., U. Limoges, U. Lyon, U. Manitoba, U. Marburg, U. Massachusetts Amherst, MIT, U. Oregon, U. Paris V, U. Paris VII, U. Pittsburgh, Radboud U., Rice U., Rutgers U., U. Texas at Austin, and U. Toulouse. The publications by non-missionary Amazonian language specialists are now much greater, in quality and quantity, than those of missionary linguists. The most prestigious awards (Mary R. Haas, Pāṇini, MacArthur, Rolex, etc.) are all being awarded to non-missionary linguists.
Modern digital documentation programs and projects are carried out among native Amazonian groups with international support (ELDP, DOBES, NSF), as well as with national support (e.g. ProDocLin of the Museu do Índio (FUNAI-RJ), in partnership with UNESCO). Surveys of the situation of native languages are being carried out in Brazil. The great work of Glottolog[16] has made it the most advanced database on the world’s languages in terms of inventory and classification. Unlike Ethnologue of SIL, it enjoys extensive cooperation with the scientific linguists of the world, is accessible online for free, and provides comprehensive references. It would be an excellent consultant for UNESCO, to avoid dependency on Ethnologue.
The relative importance of SIL’s health assistance is low and steadily decreasing. For example, in Brazil, the Secretaria Especial de Saúde Indígena (SESAI) is responsible for health care for the population of indigenous areas. In fact, the Covid-19 vaccination campaign for the native population was impeded by missionary interference.[17]
The relative importance of SIL’s educational contribution is also steadily diminishing. The Ministry of Education in Brazil, as well as various state educational agencies, have programs and projects for bilingual education. A number of Brazilian universities have programs of advanced study for indigenous students.
The sector of Isolated and Recently Contacted Indians of Brazil’s FUNAI has become much more professional, though there is some danger of regression as missionary control increases.[18] Native peoples with little or no contact are special targets for evangelical missionaries because of the missionary belief that they are controlled by satanic forces. These people are additionally vulnerable due to their relative lack of knowledge of national society.
The main remaining function of SIL is to devalue and supplant indigenous belief systems and associated practices, which is contrary to UNESCO’s commitment to cultural diversity. We recommend (1) that this anachronistic organization not be included in the Decade of Indigenous Languages in Amazonia, and (2) that UNESCO discontinue its relationship with SIL as a consultant and partner. This is an inappropriate partnership in this increasingly decolonized world, where other, less destructive, options are available.
(TO SIGN THIS LETTER, PLEASE SEE THE FOLLOWING PAGE)
Those who agree with this letter and wish to indicate their support for native Amazonian cultures can easily sign it online, by means of a Google Form, which can be accessed via the following links:
In English:
In Spanish:
In Portuguese:
To facilitate distribution of the letter to interested people in countries without access to Google, there is also a fillable PDF form of this letter which can be downloaded and sent to those people. They can sign it and send it to someone with access, asking them to upload the data to the online form. Link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/164yokEC0WNXPxCrM0NzLPWrC_eIn-7u5/view?usp=sharing
The names, institutions and countries of the signatories will be automatically sent to a Google Spreadsheet, in the chosen language, available for viewing via the following links:
In English: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1F3Fkh5-NnT4SaBHh4zx9uQdowBisZDZDHrT44hYBwIc/edit?usp=sharing
In Spanish: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dUMkC_4gpIlWDD-GMssDvCMlDANZM7Z9tup7B64asis/edit?usp=sharing
In Portuguese: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GGfIF0jqxd1wa5x2R94zOudeWyNFNYJ-IlUEfDl9bJE/edit?usp=sharing
Please send this information on to others who might be interested.
[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20210812233315/https://www.sil.org/international-relations/partnerships
[4]https://web.archive.org/web/20090705163948/http://www.canadianchristianity.com/cgi-bin/bc.cgi?bc/bccn/0101/supgod
[13] https://www.opovo.com.br/noticias/brasil/2020/02/17/conhecido-como--antropologo-dos-ruralistas---edward-luz-e-preso-por-invadir-terras-indigenas.html
[14] https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/war-on-indigenous-amazon-communities-in-brazil
[17] https://povosisolados.com/2021/02/17/covid-19-por-que-ha-missionarios-que-nao-querem-vacina-para-indigenas/
[18] https://bocado.lat/pt/fui-obrigado-a-entrar-na-terra-indigena-com-um-missionario/
================================
Я:
As
for the content of the letter, I am inclined to agree.
On the other
hand, I know many SIL people who are very respectful
regarding native
cultures and definitely aim at not harming those
cultures. If the letter
is successful, could not it be that such people would be
marginalized
and fundamentalists prevail?
Денни: