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Title: Sacred land, scarred land Rating: 2.9 out of 4 Reference: Toronto: Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative,
2000. Library of Congress subjects: Indigenous peoples--Land tenure Indigenous peoples--Social conditions Investments, Foreign--Environmental aspects Investments, Foreign--Social aspects Sociology subjects: Aboriginal issues Environmental issues Globalisation & development Reviews and Numerical Ratings 3 Very good demonstration of links between Canadian multinationals/industry and environmental, cultural & social exploitation/disasters. 1st 2 minutes somewhat problematic because of romantic/essentialist view of Indigenous people. Lecture topics: corporations/multinationals, capitalism, indigenous peoples, environment, development, globalization. Peter Mallory & Riley Olstead 3 I’d rate it good (“3") for some uses, poor (“1") for others. It’s a good video for classes on development, globalization, or corporate power, where the instructor wants to hit students over the head with the fact that not all Canadians/Canadian companies are nice.Most of the cases have an environmental dimension, so it would also be appropriate for classes on environmental justice/racism. The video reviews four cases (in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Canada) in which Canadian corporations, often supported by the EDC loans that promote Canadian exports, have had major destructive impacts on the environment & people. It focuses particular attention on how many impacted people get sick, die, or are killed due to disease & violence associated with the projects. The credibility of the video is backed by its having been made with the participation of quite a few of the best international development NGOs in Canada, from Oxfam to the MCC. The instructor would need to give some background, e.g., who is the EDC, what is the broader role of Canadian mining globally. I wouldn’t use it for classes on questions of identity, except as an example of how not to do so. The video unnecessarily lumps all affected people in the four cases on four continents into the category “indigenous” & then makes breathtaking (but unfortunately typical) generalizations about them - especially their relationship with earth & nature - thus the title, sacred land. Peter Vandergeest 1 Boring, TV newscast format, can’t see the point of showing in class. A good piece of journalism would do a better job on land/resource/ecological/ aboriginal issues. Romanticizes indigenous cultures & presents them as static, experts & agents shown are almost all Western, organization is repetitive & predictable, images of children used in a World-Vision way, annoying narrator emphasizes every word equally. Andrew Paravantes & Kathy Bischoping 4 An excellent video that explores issues of the environment, displacement, genocide, war, and racism as they affect indigenous people the world over, as a result of Western capitalist exploitation. The video reveals how the Canadian government & multinational foreign investments are contributing to land confiscation, poverty, disease and death. One Canadian company, Talisman Energy, is directly tied to the civil war in Sudan, where it is funding military protection of its oil reserves - revealing the connection between war and capitalism. An excellent resource for sociology, anthropology, and environmental studies courses dealing with these topics. For students at any level. Kisrene McKenzie (undergraduate) 3.5 Excellent display of Canada’s role in tyrannizing
& destroying communities in the name of development outside &
inside Canada. This video makes one reconsider the concepts of development,
progress, & advancement. It is very clear who gets left outside
of this marked expression of civility & monetary advancement. The
video provides a stupendous display of what development & the building
of mega-projects mean to the poor, whose political voices & legal
rights become truncated by capitalist greed. Canada may claim its hands
are not tarnished but this video refutes that. Canada’s wealth
& strides in corporate capitalism shown to be secured by its role
in financing genocide, ensuring starvation of people, & promoting
the robbery of their lands by making business liaisons with the elites
in poor countries. In once self-sufficient communities, “development”
simply means the destruction of all means of subsistence, the contamination
of water by companies dumping toxins into their only usable water supply,
increased & uncontrolled disease, & the violation of constitutional
rights. The predatory nature of capitalism is displayed brilliantly.
For students at any level. Belinda Godwin
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