Over 200 organizations released a joint statement late last month, condemning the Roundtable on Responsible Soy (RTRS).

Made up of representatives from ADM, Bunge, Cargill, Shell, ABN Amro and the WWF, among others, the RTRS is currently gathered in Buenos Aries to develop policies that encourage “responsible soy,” a prospect they consider while ignoring “the very nature by which soy monoculture is produced, taking up vast swaths of land throughout South America, using massive amounts of water resources, depending upon chemical and synthetic fertilizers and pesticide inputs, and leaving a trail of contaminated and/or …

Venezuela: we denounce the forced delocation of indigenous
by wayùu of the Perija Mountains
March 21, 2007

We, the indigenous Wayúu inhabitants of the Socuy, Mache and Cachirí river baisns in the Sierra de Perijá, in the western state of Zulia, in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, inform all women and men of the world that our humble community, just as the Yukpa and Barí communities, will be forcefully relocated by the national government so that it may hand over our territories to multi-national coal companies, because the innards of the imperial monster needs more cheap coal to continue plaguing the peoples …

Press Release and Declaration by the Communities in Resistance in San Migual Ixtahuacan, San Marcos, Guatemala In the municipality of San Miguel Ixtahuacan, San Marcos, on March 7, 2007

TO NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC OPINION

We, members of the indigenous communities that live around the Marlin mine, owned by Montana Exploradora de Guatemala, a subsidiary of the Canadian multinational corporation GOLDCORP, declare as follows:

When the company arrived in our communities, they tricked us, taking advantage of our illiteracy and poverty. They promised us a variety of things: construction of health clinics in the communities, animal farms, small irrigation projects, houses, compensation for …

First Nations chiefs put the government on notice
by Zoe Blunt, Guerrilla News Network

“Our world is falling apart,” Basil Ambers, a hereditary chief of the Kwakiutl First Nation, warned the crowd. “Everything we hold dear is gradually eroding away.”

“We are putting you on notice that we are going to start fighting for those things.”

The Kwakiutl and their supporters gathered in Victoria, BC on Monday February 12 to protest a government-approved land transfer. The deal between Western Forest Products and the province would take private land out of three Tree Farm Licenses on northern Vancouver Island, including over 1400 hectares claimed …

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ CAUCUS,
UNITED NATIONS General Assembly, 61st Session
NEW YORK
13 November 2006

COMMUNIQUE

The Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus held an emergency meeting this morning due to a report that a few States will take procedural actions to derail the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This report is evidenced by the Government of Botswana’s statement delivered to the Third Committee on 10 November, which contained a highly inaccurate and prejudicial interpretation of the Declaration provisions. Upon review of this written statement, we note that Botswana has adopted the words and views of the governments of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, …

Please find below an excellent letter to Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice urging a resolution of Lubicon land rights.

Not only did this supporter write to the Minister directly, she sent copies of her letter and the National Lubicon Petition to a personal list of colleagues and friends, encouraging them to send similar letters and collect signatures on the National Lubicon Petition.

That’s a simple and effective way you can help build the network of people who are taking action to rectify this long-standing injustice.

Copies of the National Lubicon Petition and supporting documentation are available at: http://www.tao.ca/~fol/petition.htm

Friends of the Lubicon
P.O. Box …

May 3, 2006 - This statement was read at Glamis Gold’s Annual General Meeting. It was written by community representatives from regions of Honduras and Guatemala affected by the company’s mining operations. They were in Canada on an educational speaking tour with Rights Action.

Statement to Glamis Gold Shareholders from Honduras and Guatemala

Glamis Gold Ltd. Investors and Shareholders:

We, as inhabitants communities directly affected by Glamis Gold’s mining activities in Honduras and Guatemala, write this letter to you to inform you of the grave consequences your investments are having. Glamis Gold arrived in our Communities promising development and progress. However, the experiences …

(see below for a petition)

To: The Legislative Council of the Parliament of South Australia

The Honourable the President and Members of the Legislative Council in this present Parliament assembled:-

The humble Petition of the undersigned residents of South Australia Respectfully sheweth:-

PROLOGUE
The Googatha peoples are reaching out to the world to expose the wrong process that the South Australian State and the Federal Governments’ Native Title regime have implemented to the detriment of their sacred lands and waters.

The Yellabinna Regional Reserve, the Yumbarra Conservation Park and the Pureba Conservation Park are, as a result, in more danger than ever with mineral and …

Tibet’s exiled leader, the Dalai Lama, made a first public appearance with recently exiled Uyghur dissident Rebiya Kadeer, greeting her on stage in front of some 16,000 people at the U.S capital’s MCI Center.

In order to have genuine faith, you need to have one truth, one religion. But that does not mean you lose respect for those of other traditions, the Dalai Lama said, speaking in English as well as his native Tibetan. He also called on world leaders to make the 21st century “the century of dialogue”.

The 70-year-old Nobel peace laureate was joined briefly on stage by Rebiya …