As residents of this once peaceful country, the Dega people were recruited and attacked by both sides of the Viet Minh and the French in the First Indochina War. Later, both North and South Vietnamese governments would do the same in the Second Vietnam War. The resulting crossfire killed hundreds of thousands of us, and the post-war period has not been kinder. The victors of the war, our people's old cultural enemies, have no interest in preserving us as indigenous peoples. They have publicly stated their intention to destroy our culture and continue to commit genocide against us. Our culture is oppressed, diluted and they want to kill us and erase us as a race of people.
Since the war, the central highlands have been virtually closed to foreigners; however, reports now suggest that only a few hundred thousand of our people are still left. These relics survive there today, trapped by geography and politics in a cultural assassination field where, unless the rest of the world intercedes, our people will surely be buried forever.