Righteous Indignation

The tension between minority indigenous populations and the "ruling" majority is a constant and challenging reality of the modern world. For example, here in the USA we have a sad legacy in regards to our national treatment of the Native American. Across the way, in China, nationalistic fervor and authoritarianism result in the systematic oppression of the "aborigines". William Harlan and Ryan Wylie have made an excellent short documentary of the conflict between the Raramuri, an indigenous group in Mexico, and commercial loggers. It provides an instructive example of the elusiveness of providing justice to the indigenous and of obtaining an equipoise between societal morality, preservation, and modernity in the setting of many years of fault.

Photo: Opening screen shot of the documentary, "Running For Their Lives".