{"id":3694,"date":"2023-08-09T10:00:55","date_gmt":"2023-08-09T09:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3694"},"modified":"2023-08-08T09:41:26","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T08:41:26","slug":"justice-for-indigenous-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2023\/08\/09\/justice-for-indigenous-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Justice for Indigenous People"},"content":{"rendered":"

Film Review by Khalid Ali, Film and Media Correspondent<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wednesday 9th<\/sup> August 2023 marks the International Day of the World\u2019s Indigenous People<\/a><\/strong> celebrated by the United Nations (UN). The day commemorates the first meeting of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations held in Geneva in 1982. According to UN statistics, there is an estimated 476 million indigenous people in the world living across 90 countries. Inequalities and social injustice affecting indigenous communities are rife: while they account for 5% of the world\u2019s population, they represent 15% of the poorest. What distinguishes indigenous people is the fact that they still practise inherited unique traditions, socio-economic and political characteristics in contrast to the norms of the society they live in. Globally these people are unified by their historical struggle to assert their identities, their way of life and their right to land and resources. Their human rights have continuously been breached making them one of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups worldwide.<\/p>\n

As a group that has been \u2018socially, economically, and politically marginalised\u2019 indigenous women have repeatedly been targets of violence and hatred. They are 3 times more likely to be victims of violent crimes than other women<\/a><\/strong>. Several factors exacerbate their victimisation such as poverty and homelessness, as well as historical legacies of racism, sexism, and imperialism. These violations in Canada and the United States have reached epidemic levels triggering social movements such as \u2018Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women<\/a><\/strong>\u2019 (MMIW<\/a><\/strong>), also known as \u2018Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls<\/a><\/strong>\u2019 (MMIWG<\/a><\/strong>) and \u2018Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives<\/a><\/strong>\u2019 (MMIR<\/a><\/strong>).<\/p>\n

The following examples of film and TV represent the important role that journalism and media have in shining a spotlight on historical and contemporary violations of human rights of indigenous communities.<\/p>\n

\u2018Alaska Daily<\/a><\/strong>\u2019<\/em> an American TV drama series (created by Tom McCarthy, USA, 2022) is a fictional dramatization of the missing and murdered indigenous women crisis in the state of Alaska. In the series Eileen Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) is a high-flyer journalist from New York who seeks professional redemption by working in the local newspaper \u2018Alaska Daily\u2019. Eileen joins forces with a native woman reporter Roz Friendly (Grace Dove) and the community youth and elders to investigate the disappearance of a local woman, and in the process exposes police force institutional racism and political corruption. Episode 6 of the series \u2018You can\u2019t put a price on a life\u2019 <\/em>refers to the Alaskan governor\u2019s arrogant statement that a rescue mission for a missing white woman is costing millions because \u2018\u2019you can\u2019t put a price on a life\u2019\u2019. Similar resources and media attention are withheld when the missing woman comes from the indigenous community.<\/p>\n

\u2018Alaska Daily\u2019 TV series trailer <\/strong><\/p>\n