Piaroa people
The Piaroa are an indigenous American ethnic group living along the banks of the Orinoco River and its tributaries in present day Venezuela, and in a few scattered locations elsewhere in Venezuela and in Colombia. The Piaroa number at a population of about 12,000.
Seeing competition as spiritually evil and lauding cooperation, the Piaroa are both strongly egalitarian and supportive of individual autonomy.[1] The Piaroa are also strongly anti-authoritarian and opposed to the hoarding of resources, which they see as giving members the power to constrain their freedom.[1] They are also regarded as one of the world's most peaceful societies, with murder a concept that is both unknown and entirely nonexistent.[1] Anthropologist Joanna Overing also notes that social hierarchy is minimal, and that it would be difficult to say any form of male dominance exists, despite leaders being traditionally male.[1] As a result the Piaroa have been described by some anthropologists as a functioning anarchist society.[1]
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