Tag Archive for 'land'Page 15 of 35

10
Sep

Coca, Petroleum and Conflict in Cofan Territory

The Transnational Institute (TNI) has just released a report which examines the impact of coca cultivation, petroleum activity and armed conflict on Cofan, a people traditionally living in the tropical forest between Ecuador and Colombia.

Today their territory, culture and very survival are being threatened by the dynamics associated with the drugs trade, the armed conflict and large mega-projects being developed in their territory.

Here’s the Introduction to the report (links added by me) followed by TNI’s recommendations to the Government of Colombia:

Coca, Petroleum and Conflict in Cofán Territory

Spraying, displacement and economic interests

By examining the recent history of the Cofán people, this paper shows how, under the guise of the war on drugs and terror, the way is being cleared for major economic interests in the Lower Putumayo. Paramilitary groups have been the principal ally of large investors, …

Published on
September 10, 2007
  0 Comments 725 views

10
Sep

Yanomami oppose mining on their land

The Yanomami have been recently speaking out against a new law in Brazil which if approved, would allow mining on indigenous territories.

Davi Yanomami, was recently interviewed by Survival International, telling them: “I am very worried about the mining law. It will destroy our heartland. We use the water that flows through Yanomami land for drinking, cooking, washing and bathing.”

Davi also says he wants to inform others about what they are up against, and has asked “you who live far away” to help spread their message,
that the land of the Yanomami is once again being threatened.

During the 1970s and 80s, Brazilian Goldminers invaded their territory—shooting them, destroying their villages, and exposing them to diseases to which they had no immunity. Twenty percent of the Yanomami died in just seven years.

After an international campaign led by Survival, Yanomami territory was …

Published on
September 10, 2007
  0 Comments 929 views

09
Sep

Canada, Indigenous Land to Become a Nuclear Outhouse?

The Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) has expressed some major concerns about the possibility that Canada, the World’s largest Uranium Producer, may soon join the US-led Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), a “group of nuclear powers dedicated to spreading nuclear technology into developing countries.”

As a price of entry to the GNEP, President George Bush has suggested that countries like Canada and Australia should agree to accept the disposed nuclear waste from the countries to which they sell the uranium. IEN’s concern here is that Canada will therein become a Nuclear regime like America and proceed to store the waste on or near indigenous lands.

IEN points out that right now, there are no organizations in Canada, like for instance the Western Shoshone Defense Project and Shundahai, who can commit to sustained international campaigns and put pressure …

Published on
September 9, 2007
  0 Comments 744 views

08
Sep

An Appeal For The Katkari

The Katkari are a people based in the Raigad and Thane Districts of Maharashtra, India. Never formally recognized by the state, the Katkari have for years found themselves in abject poverty, living as bonded laborers on their own land.

With no rights or freedoms, they are exploited and forced to work under sub-human conditions on the brick kilns. Sexual exploitation of Katkari women is common while men are often beaten up, and even killed.

Any sort of resistance is met with violence from the police—a fact common to many tribal Peoples in India—thanks no less to the foundation brought on by the 1871 Criminal Tribes Act, which made about 150 tribes into Criminal Tribes.

Despite the abolition of this act after Indian independence, an institutionalized culture of discrimination against these tribal peoples now exists. As a consequence, the Katakari’s plight is largely ignored and they are bypassed by all …

Published on
September 8, 2007
  0 Comments 1,098 views

06
Sep

Mobilizing to defend the land in Argentina

Tired of putting up with the Argentine Justice system’s inaction, several campesinos from the La Rinconada’s community in Rio Seco, Cordoba recently cut down 10 thousand meters of fence that was illegally placed on their lands by an industrialist.

Representatives from the community had talked with the government about this matter on three separate occasions, pointing out that it was a blatant theft which was restricting them and preventing them from living. The public prosecutor assured them that he would personally take action, but the only action they saw came in the form of handbags and various other ‘gifts.’ Elections were coming up…

Marcos Vargas, a member of the community and representative of the National Movement of Indigenous Campesinos, recently said in an interview that the Campesinos believe it was fundamental to take action, that they must defend their rights …

Published on
September 6, 2007
  0 Comments 901 views

02
Sep

Sharbot Lake, Sept 2 - Injunction served.

On Friday, the injunction was officially served against the Ardoch and Sharbot Obaadjiwan Algonquins, and all supporters at the site. There are no more updates right this second, but Robert Lovelace recently said that now movement will be restricted, which means no more food or people can come in or go out.

Aswell, Police say non-aboriginal people who have been bringing medicine and food may now be arrested for “aiding in illegal movement.”

Updates will be posted as I come across them.

Secondly, here’s a radio interview with Robert Lovelace on Healing the Earth Radio. Robert, a retired chief of the Ardoch First Nation, talks about the history and the current situation. You can reach by phone at (613) 279-1327. Download

Arrests loom at uranium site after court injunction served

From CBC - A court injunction allowing police to arrest Algonquin protesters blocking the site of a potential uranium …

Published on
September 2, 2007
  3 Comments 943 views

01
Sep

Amazon: in the hands of a few

Recently, the Enawene-Nawe, a people indigenous to the Juruena River basin in the Mato Grosso state of Brazil, invited Greenpeace to visit them and document their ways of life, which Greenpeace had previously expressed an interest in doing.

Greenpeace accepted, and set out, accompanied by OPAN (Native Amazon Operation) members and 2 european journalists. But upon arriving on August 20, 2007—farmers, land owners, and politicians of the Brazilian municipality of Juína (Mato Grosso state) ‘warned’ them that they will not be permitted to visit the Enawene-Nawe.

Maybe ‘warned’ is speaking too lightly. The farmers, who insist the land and even the Enawene-Nawe themselves is ‘theirs’, repeatedly threatened the group with violence and even death. The group ended up not meeting with the Enawene-Nawe.

The entire time they were in Brazil, the group was followed by a mob of farmers that grew and …

Published on
September 1, 2007
  1 Comment 1,085 views

Video activism and the Chiapas Media Project

In the following presentation, Claudia Magallanes-Blanco from the University of Western Sydney talks about the role of video activism as a world-wide tool for empowerment and the Chiapas Media Project, a collaborative effort based in Mexico that provides indigenous Zapatistas in Chiapas and peasants in Guerrero with training and equipment to produce their own videos.

Since forming in 1998, CMP has distributed over 6000 videos, including: Zapata’s Garden, a film that looks at the society the Zapatista’s are building; …


I Am A Defender of the Rainforest

Known as ‘Soy defensor de la selva’ in Spanish, I am a Defender of the Rainforest is an award-winning documentary that was filmed, edited, and directed by members of the Sarayaku community in southern Ecuador.

The film shows how the …


Underreported Struggles #19, October 2008

In this month’s Underreported Struggles: 400,000 Guatemalans Reject Development Model, Philippines Indigenous People Unite for the Land, Riot Police Target Algonquin Blockade, Chagos Islanders Denied the Right of Return, and 17 other stories …


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