Yesterday in New Zealand, a mother of 4 collapsed and died shortly after Mercury energy cut off the power to her house.

Folole Muliaga had just recently been released from the hospital, and was dependant on a respirator for oxygen. Folole’s energy bill was $299.

And now it seems mercury reps are trying to make the company into the hero of this story of ‘business as usual’. There’s a protest set for tomorrow (see below)

From uriohau.blogspot.com

A family spokesman, Brendan Sheehan, told Radio NZ that when a Mercury Energy representative arrived …

On May 23, sixteen traditional land owners of the Yuin people served an eviction notice on Forests NSW, demanding the immediate cessation of logging in the Bodalla State Forest.

Spokesperson and traditional landowner Arthur Ridgeway said: “We have taken this act to signal our protest at the cultural damage that will be created by any further logging of this area.” He explained that “Gulaga is of unique cultural significance to the Yuin people and all who live around her” and argued that Forests NSW “has not properly consulted our community”.

Just a few days prior, around one hundred people met for …

SPECIAL AUTONOMY HAS FAILED, THE INDONESIAN GOVERNMENT MUST CARRY OUT RESPECTFUL DIALOGUE WITH PAPUA

From adnki.com - More than 1,500 students on Friday gathered in front of the governors palace in Jayapura, the capital of the Indonesian province of Papua, demanding an end to the province’s special autonomy status, which they say does not work. The protestors called instead for dialogue with the government to decided the future of the province. “We want a three-way dialogue, involving Jakarta, a delegation from Papua and a representative …

On Wednesday, hundreds of children between the ages of 5 and 12 demonstrated against a proposed steel plant, in Orissa, India.

from http://www.andhracafe.com After walking across five villages including Trilochanpur, Patana and Govindpur, the children congregated at Dhinkia village. They were protesting under the banner of POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), the main organisation opposing the project in the district.

The children shouted slogans against POSCO, holding placards and distributing leaflets, the police official said. Some children also delivered speeches.

‘I am ready to give my life with my parents because we will lose everything if the plant starts,’ Sujit Das, 5, …

On April 8th, around 80 people gathered at a Barrick Gold mine at Lake Cowal in central New South Wales and entered the mine, the offices, and chaining themselves to the machinery - grinding mining operations to a halt.

The next day, the police arrested 14 people at the site, charging them with entering “inclosed land”, under the obscure Inclosed Land Act of 1901.

From an April 9 Media Release on Save Lake Cowal:
Wiradjuri Traditional Owners have been holding convergences at Lake Cowal for a number of years …

To: All those who oppose the Desert Rock Energy Project
From: Dooda Desert Rock Camp
Date: April 9, 2007

This is an URGENT CALL for support from the headquarters of Dooda Desert Rock. We would appreciate a large presence of physical bodies and a variety of posters and images on April 16, 2007 at 9 am in Window Rock, Arizona.

The Spring Session of the Navajo Nation Council will convene on this day, April 16, 2007. The Dooda Desert Rock is organizing a multi- organizational protest MARCH from the Window Rock …

As mentioned on this page, Pit River Tribe members along with supporters were to deliver an eviction notice to Calpine Energy Corporation on January 29, to demand “they drop their decades-long attempt to build polluting power plants in the Medicine Lake Highlands near Mount Shasta…” See below for a video, the delivery of the Eviction Notice.

Updates
On 2/21/07 the US Department of Justice (DOJ), acting on behalf of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Forest Service (FS), requested that the 9th Circuit Court review the issues involving the …

Chiapas: campesinos protest illegal land sales
from ww4report.com
April 12, 2007

Representantives of dozens of ejidos (agricultural collectives) in the northern zone of Mexico’s Chiapas state issued a statement denouncing the approval of illegal sales of collective lands. The protesters, mostly Chol Maya from the municipalities of Tila and Salto de Agua, acused the federal Certification Program for Eijdo Rights and Land Titles (PROCEDE) of skirting regulations by approving sales which had not been agreed upon by all collective members, as required by law. The statement said the illegal sales have “left entire families without their patrimony.”

The affected communities include Usipá, La …

Apr 03 - In Southern Australia, a group of Indigenous people set up a blockade at the Yumbarra Conservation Park, in protest against the activities of the mining company Iluka Resources, whom are threatening sacred sites. Here’s a couple stories from ABC News Australia (1, 2); both of which interestingly portray Iluka as the innocent victim… I also found the following article on Critical times

MINING EXPLORATION ACTIVITIES STOPPED
April 4th, 2007

Iluka Mining Corporation’s activities were disrupted by Indigenous Traditional Owners, their families and supporters on a dusty back road in the Yumbarra Conservation Park near Ceduna on …

Chile Explodes
from: www.infoshop.org
March 31 2007

Today on the anniversary twenty years ago when two brothers belonging to the MIR, Rafael and Eduardo Toledo, were shot down by the Chilean police, student protesters shut down the center of Santiago Chile and set up barricades in the poor neighborhoods in the southern part of the city.

The government is blaming the movement on guerilla groups like the Frente Patriotico and the GAP and its propaganda is claiming that they are connected to drugs. The police raided the University of Chile and claimed to find a molotov cocktail factory and an arms deposit with …