Unpeople is a term I got from Noam Chomsky (don't know if he created it). Unpeople are those generally hidden from view in popular culture. People with physical and mental disabilities can be unpeople (even more likely if they also happen to be minorities). Our poorest of the poor, homeless with mental health barriers, are seldom seen as little more than a public nuisance. That's if they are seen at all. There are our elderly stashed all across this country warehoused in for profit "rest-homes" wasting away from loneliness, depression and countless other ailments who rarely, if ever, get to feel sunshine. "Unpeople" reminds me of all the small towns in every state painfully dying of neoliberalism. They are slowly being reclaimed by Mother Earth. I'm sure you can think of a number of others. Who are some of the Unpeople beyond our borders?
There are stateless people such as the Palestinians and Kurds. Being stateless often means being deprived of basic rights, decent healthcare or even steady employment. These people are caught in a more or less permanent refugee status. They are often restricted on where they can go and too many get labeled as "terrorists." Opportunities for improvement are few and far between. Arbitrary borders and national governments that leave out entire segments of local populations set up by outsiders help create stateless peoples. These groups often find themselves in dangerous high conflict zones deprived of safety and security. They have few legal protections or representation (voice). There is another group with an opposite problem or situation.
Uncontacted indigenous peoples sometimes belong to states they are unaware of. The Sentinelese people live on an island in the Indian Ocean. They kill anyone who shows up on their island's shore. The world has thankfully taken a hands off / leave them alone approach. Unknown to the Sentinelese, the Indian Government is charged with their protection from outsiders. Every now and then someone slips through and meets with a predictable fate. The Sentinelese have lived on their island for thousands of years. It would be fascinating to know their origin stories, myths and how they maintain continuity over centuries. I think it is best to leave them alone. I also have no doubt they will still be there long after this thing called the United States is long gone. There are also uncontacted tribes still in South America. Many are under threat from deforestation, environmental changes and expanding clear-cut farming. Contact with outsiders could have dire consequences in the form of pathogens they've never encountered before. Entire cultures, customs and languages could be lost forever. Unpeople can be those rejected by society.
Around fifteen million people around the world live in garbage dump communities. That's fifteen million too many. They are exposed daily to a multitude of dangers; dangerous pathogens, possible serious injuries, gang violence, being buried alive in garbage and suffocating to death and even more additional dangers. They find food (often unsafe), things to recycle and often live in less than $2.00 a day. Fifteen million is a large number but let's look at one more much larger group.
The Bottom Billion is a book by Paul Collier. Some of the poorest nations on Earth get caught in four traps; conflict, poor natural resource management, landlocked with bad neighbors and bad governance. Most of the suffering falls on the poorest of the poor. They are at the mercy of rich countries and take the brunt of climate change's consequences (for now). I believe there is nothing natural about this. It is a result of choices made by the most powerful for their own benefit. There are enough resources to go around, the problem is how they are distributed. We can do better. It is also in our own best interest to reduce extreme poverty, conflict and suffering.
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