Every year in late February， the Dongria Kondh tribe of the eastern Indian state of Orissa gathers at the top of Niyamgiri Mountain to celebrate the annual festival of Niyam 2)Raja， the king of the mountain. This year’s celebration began on Feb. 20th with a three-hour climb to the summit. Women in white silk saris danced and sang， adorned with wooden jewelry， flowers and tiny knives tucked into their hair as a reminder of their daily confrontation with the forest. Hundreds of Dongria then shared a communal feast of rice and 3)lentils in honor of nature and their 4)deity， the spirit of Niyamgiri. As always， they made offerings of fruit and medicinal plants， reminders of the mountain’s 5)bounty， but ended the ceremonies with an acknowledgement of their uncertain future. The Dongria， who number about 8，000， believe that a planned 6)bauxite mine in Niyamgiri threatens their way of life—and they are determined to fight it. This year， for the first time， they opened their ceremonies to outsiders and ended the festival with speeches condemning the mine. Says Satyabadi Naik， an activist who supports the Dongria： “This year， it was a matter of life or death for them.”
An isolated tribe of nature-worshipping forest dwellers threatened by a mine—yes， the Dongria 7)bear no small resemblance to the Na’vi of 8)James Cameron’s Avatar. That point has not been lost on the international network of activists who have taken up the Dongria’s cause. On Feb. 8th， they ran an advertisement in the Hollywood 9)trade publication 10)Variety， urging Cameron to support them. “Avatar is fantasy ... and real，” the ad said. “The Dongria Kondh tribe in India is struggling to defend their land against a mining company 11)hell-bent on destroying their sacred mountain. Please help the Dongria.”
While India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests 12)ponders whether to clear the way for the Niyamgiri bauxite mine， the Dongria’s supporters are 13)mounting a campaign to block it. Survival International， a London-based advocacy group， bought the Avatar ad and has produced a short film about the Dongria. Lindsay Duffield， a London-based spokeswoman for the group， says the Indian government should postpone its decision， expected later this year， until India’s 2006 Forest Rights Act is fully implemented. The act aims to protect the interests of India’s traditional forest dwellers. “The mine should only go ahead if the Dongria accept and want it，” Duffield says.
As if following its own Hollywood film script， Survival International points the finger at a villain： a London-based mining company called Vedanta Resources that is controlled by billionaire businessman Anil Agarwal. Vedanta’s 14)aluminum 15)subsidiary plans to invest $2.5 billion to extract some 78 million tons of bauxite from Niyamgiri Mountain. Its chief operating officer， Mukesh Kumar， insists that the mine will benefit the Dongria—the company will set aside 5% of the mine’s pretax profits for a local development agency—and that it has followed all the relevant Indian laws. “Whatever we do， we do in a transparent manner，” he says. Yet the Dongria have become a 16)cause célèbre. On Feb. 5th， Vedanta’s opponents got a boost when the17)Church of England sold it s shares， worth $5.9 million， in the company， citing concerns about policies for compensating those displaced by mining. Three other investors followed on Feb. 18th， selling stakes worth about $3.4 million.