Tag Archive for 'logging'

10
Oct

Penan mount blockade against Interhill group

Penan communities from the Middle Baram area of Sarawak (East Malaysia) have mounted a blockade against the logging company Interhill in order to stop them from destroying what remains of the age-old Sarawak rainforest.

The blockade, which was organized after negotiations with Interhill fell apart, is being led jointly “by representatives from the Penan communities of Ba Abang, Long Item, Long Kawi and Long Pakan. A similar blockade was erected by the Middle Baram communities in June 2006 but was dismantled by the police after two weeks,” reports the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF).

“The blockade comes shortly after Penan women launched a cry of alarm to the international community over cases of sexual abuse and violence by logging company workers in their region,” BMF continues.

Malaysian officials have responded to the cry by stating it would be a “waste of time” …

Published on
October 10, 2008
  0 Comments 239 views

01
Jul

Underreported Struggles #15

There were multiple offensives against indigenous people throughout the month of June. A Canadian court paved the way to reclassify 16 lakes as mine waste dumps; The US Supreme court issued at least three rulings against indigenous rights; Police in Australia barred a group of Indigenous People from visiting a scared site; and there was state-sanctioned violence against people in Guatemala, India, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru.

In other news, the O’odham of Gila River became the first Indigenous Community in the US (perhaps in the world) to ratify the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; The Anishinabek launched a campaign to abolish the term “Aboriginal;” a call for an independent government was established in the CHT; and finally, in northeastern India, Indigenous communities gathered for the first ever convention on peace and unity.

You will find these stories and more in …

Published on
July 1, 2008
  0 Comments 876 views

04
Jun

Victory for Grassy Narrows! AbitibiBowater Retreats

After more than a decade of direct action, the Asubpeeschoseewagong community at Grassy Narrows can finally rest easy. The industrial logging giant AbitibiBowater announced yesterday that they are retreating from the Whiskey Jack Forest, three-quarters of which is Grassy Narrows’ traditional territory.

See below for a press release by Greenpeace and links to further coverage. (Stay tuned for comments from Grassy Narrows)

A victory for community and a step forward for the logging company

Toronto, International — Greenpeace today welcomed a decision by forest-products giant AbitibiBowater to end its logging operations in the traditional territory of the Grassy Narrows First Nation and support the community in its struggle for rights over its traditional lands. The move follows a near decade-long campaign by the Grassy Narrows First Nation to suspend industrial logging in the one million hectare Whiskey Jack Forest, near Kenora.

“We congratulate AbitibiBowater for announcing an …

Published on
June 4, 2008
  0 Comments 623 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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