Created with no budget or film crew, Drowned Out tells the story of the Jalsindhi villagers in central India, and their struggle to prevent the destruction of their land as well as their own displacement. The Jalsindhi are Adivasis - the original inhabitants of India - who have farmed their land by the Narmada River for at least 12 generations.

The Narmada Valley Development Project, the single largest river development scheme in India and one of the largest hydroelectric projects in the world, aims to build more than 3,000 large and small dams on the Narmada river, displacing hundreds …

Due to the grave crisis in which Colombian People find themselves in under the government of Alvaro Uribe Velez, a 3-day National Popular and Agrarian Mobilization will begin throughout Columbia tomorrow, October 10.

Organized by campesinos, workers and grassroots organizations, they will be seeking to raise awareness about the current reality of Columbia–a reality that’s nowhere near the image of prosperity and advancement we find in the mainstream media.

A central point in the crisis, as explained in a communique from the National Commission of Communications for the …

In the video below you’ll find Celina Harpe, an Elder who’s lived in Fort MacKay for all her life, talking about the reality faced by her people today.

Fort MacKay is a community located in Northern Alberta that’s populated by about 500 (mostly Cree) People–a community that exists on top of, and literally surrounded by naturally occurring tar sands (also known as oil sands).

In the 1960’s Companies began to arrive in Fort Mackay to extract the oil. At first there were only a few, but the gettin’ was …

During the second Latin American Parks Congress this week, the Wai Wai established a new precedent for Indigenous People, becoming the first to declare their territory a ‘Community Owned Conservation Area.’

Backed by a government decree and supported by US-based Conservation International (CI), they also banned miners and loggers from their section of the Amazon jungle in remote southern Guyana, near the border of Brazil–and pledged to pursue a sustainable economic strategy based on ecotourism, research and traditional crafts.

According to Cemci Sose, the Kayaritomo of the Wai Wai, …

This is a trailer to the film Tambogrande (2003), the story of proud fruit growers from Peru’s northern coast who came together to defend their lands and culture from foreign (Canadian) mining interests.

Canadian-based Manhattan Minerals was granted concessions by the government in the 1990’s to extract an estimated US$1 billion in gold, silver, copper and zinc from beneath the streets of Tambogrande.

The people were at no point consulted about this; and even though Manhattan made some significant offers to them, it was just not worth …

Intercontinental Encuentro will still proceed, but the Zapatista have announced they are suspending the second phase of the Other Campaign, because the government has launched a campaign against the Zapatista communities.

Here is the Comminque from Subcomandante Marcos:

The Sixth Commission of the EZLN will suspend the journey of the second phase of the Other Campaign to the states and regions of the center and south of the country that it had announced for the months of October, November, and December of 2007.

In its place, we will carry out civil and peaceful actions in defense of the Zapatista Communities.
Communiqué from the …

On September 14 there will be a protest in County Mayo, Ireland to highlight the ongoing community campaign against Shell and their proposed, highly controversial Corrib gas development—an onshore refinery and high pressure pipeline leading from the offshore Corrib gas field.

Since it was first proposed in 2000, local communities have been engaging in a steady campaign of opposition to this development, because:

1. Shell and the government plans to take land from local residents for the pipeline.
2. The pipeline will be going through boggy land with a history of …

The Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) and the Western Mining Action Network (WMAN) have begun a grant program for Indigenous communities and grassroots organizations in the U.S. and Canada who are working on issues related to mining.

The program runs from October 2007-September 2008, during which time individual grants of up to $4000 will be issued to those in need. There is also an emergency fund for extremely time-sensitive projects. Details, contact information, and the application can be found below…

Please pass the application around. You can download it here …

The letter campaign which focused in on the Yakye Axa People struggles to return to their Traditional Lands has just came to an end. All in all, over 17,000 letters were sent to the Paraguayan government, demanding it comply with a court order handed down by the Inter-American Human Rights Court.

In 2005 the IACHR declared that the lands in question – nearly 18,000 hectares – is the territory of the Enxert Yakye Axa and must be returned to them for free. The court also ordered the government …

On June 11, Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) held a peaceful demonstration to launch the People’s Charter, a document which came as a result of an eleven month process of consultation with Zimbabwe People on what they want in their society.

To start things off, the police decided to arrest two members of Woza — and then between 100 and 150 other women voluntarily handed themselves in. Everyone has since been released from jail.

From Woza - Minutes before the peaceful protest was about to begin, a police vehicle …