Date: 01 Oct 91 23:08 PDT
From: ekemper@igc.org
Subject: VANISHING HOMELANDS RADIO SERIES
Message-ID: <1563600036@igc.org>

NPR "VANISHING HOMELANDS" SERIES SET FOR COLUMBUS DAY

National Public Radio (NPR) will air three special documentaries
-- part of a series on "Vanishing Homelands" -- on its
newsmagazines ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, MORINING EDITION, AND
WEEKEND EDITION during the Columbus Day weekend.

The "Vanishing Homelands" series, a joint production of NPR and
Desert West Research of Tucson, Arizona, examines the impact of
overpopulation, colonization, ecological destruction, and
resource exploitation on indigenous and rural people throughout
Latin America and the Caribbean.

Sandy Tolan, executive producer of the series, says "Columbus Day
is the perfect time to begin airing the series because so many of
the documentaries examine the impact of technological New World
on less advanced cultures coming in contact with that world for
the first time."

On October 11 on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, the story "saving Jungle
Souls" focuses on two missionaries who left Chicago in the early
1960s to work in the Bolivian jungle and bring the word of God to
the nomadic Yuqui tribe.  Today about 125 Yuquis live with Bob
and Mary Garland on the banks of the Chimore River in central
Bolivia.  While giving testimony to the increasing power of
Protestant evangelicals throughout Latin America, the Yuquis are
also living evidence of the cultural devastation that awaits
primitive nomads emerging from the jungle for the first time.
The documentary follows the path of a Yuqui leader, Ataiba, who
abandons the jungle and becomes a Christian.

On October 12 on WEEKEND EDITION on Saturday, "Homelands
Regained" highlights the Cauca province in southwestern Columbia.
In a twist on the "disappearing habitats for indigenous people"
story, the Paez Indians who live high in the Andes have come down
to reclaim their ancestral lowland territory from the Spaniards
who displaced them.  This victory is questioned since the Indians
themselves now recognize that agriculture in 1990 is much
different than it was in 1490.  The Spanish descendents, now
landless, doubt the Indians will ever learn to make their lands
productive and are waiting for an invitation to manage, rent, and
perhaps, once again, own their former plantations.

On October 14 on MORNING EDITION, the third program in this
series, "Celebrating the Discover,"
 sheds some light on the hostile reactions of many people in the
Dominican Republic toward the multi-million dollar tribute to
Christopher Columbus -- a massive, cross-shaped lighthouse
towering over the city of Santa Domingo.

While the lighthouse is guaranteed sufficient power to shine each
night -- representing a "beacon of culture" -- hundreds of
thousands of people in Santo Domingo live without electricity or
running water.  The construction of the lighthouse and other
tributes to Columbus, including the construction of a 500th
anniversary freeway and new, luxury condominiums, have displaced
thousands of Dominicans.

Following these three stories, additional documentaries will air
on NPR newsmagazines in the next six months.