Author: earthfirst

Tension mounts as Brazilian Indians retake land

27 May 2011
A community of Guarani Indians in Brazil has retaken part of its ancestral land in an act of desperation, having lived by the side of a highway for a year and a half.

The Guarani marched back to their land last week, unwilling further to endure the appalling living conditions they have been subject to on the roadside.

27 May 2011
A community of Guarani Indians in Brazil has retaken part of its ancestral land in an act of desperation, having lived by the side of a highway for a year and a half.

The Guarani marched back to their land last week, unwilling further to endure the appalling living conditions they have been subject to on the roadside.

The Indians of Laranjeira Nanderu community had their lands stolen from them in the 1960s, to make way for cattle ranches. They returned to their land in 2008, but were evicted again in September 2009 – soon after, their village was brutally attacked and burned down.

Since then, the Guarani have been living under tarpaulin sheeting, with little access to clean water, food, or medical care, and subject to intense heat and flooding, by the side of a highway. Large trucks and cars thundered past day and night, and one Guarani was run over and killed.

Faride, spokesman of the community, told Survival researchers before the reoccupation, ‘Laranjeira Nanderu was my father’s land, my grandfather’s land, my great grandfather’s land… We need to go back there so we can work and live in peace… that is our dream.’

Watch a film clip of Faride talking about his community’s land – http://assets.survivalinternational.org/flash/syndicated-player.swf’ width=’480′ height=’270′ allowFullScreen=’true’ wmode=’opaque’ bgcolor=’111111′ allowScriptAccess=’always’ flashvars=’config=http://assets-production.survivalinternational.org/films/412/config.xml’ />“>
Some Guarani leaders who have led their communities’ reoccupations of their land, such as the internationally-renowned Marcos Veron, have been assassinated.

The community is now urging the government officially to protect their land so they are not evicted again.

The Guarani have a deep spiritual connection to their land, upon which they rely for their mental and physical well-being.

Following the loss of almost all their land to ranches and soya and sugarcane plantations, thousands of Guarani are living in overcrowded reserves, and some are camped by the side of highways.

Survival’s Director, Stephen Corry, said today, ‘It is no surprise that having been forced to endure such precarious conditions for so long, the Guarani have taken matters into their own hands and returned home. This should surely act as a wake-up call for the authorities to protect the land and remove the lurking threat of another eviction. That is the least the Guarani deserve’.
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Download Survival’s report on the situation of the Guarani, sent to the United Nations last year. ( in English and Portuguese pdf, 2.4 MB).

Anti-mining protests shut down Peru-Bolivia border

24th May 2011
For more than two weeks, thousands of people have blocked an international border in Peru — and almost no one in the English-speaking world seems to have noticed.

24th May 2011
For more than two weeks, thousands of people have blocked an international border in Peru — and almost no one in the English-speaking world seems to have noticed.

The story has fallen through the cracks, but here's what's happening:

A proposed mining project on the shores of Lake Titicaca has provoked outrage among Peruvians. Protests are growing in the southeastern part of the country.

About 10,000 people gathered in the city of Puno this week, shouting "Mina no, agro si" (roughly "Mines no, farms yes"). Shops, schools and public transit all shut down.

The protests were sparked by the announcement that a subsidiary of the Canadian mining company Bear Creek would be allowed to build a silver mine near Lake Titicaca.

Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world and the largest lake in South America. The lake was considered sacred by the Incas and is a major tourist draw today.

The protesters say mining would pollute Lake Titicaca, the Desaguadero River and its tributaries. They are demanding the cancellation of all mining and oil concessions and the repeal of the decree that allows mining in the border area.

Bear Creek says the proposed project offers a "low-cost 'pure silver' mine" in a "mineral-rich nation with a favorable investment climate."

The Peruvian government said it would dispatch the military to control the protest and clear the road linking the two countries.

Bolivian businessmen estimate they have lost between $7 million and $16 million because of the blockade. The president of the Chamber of Exporters of Bolivia, Goran Vranicic, told Efe that daily losses total $1 million.

The protest began on May 9 with the closing of the Desaguadero border crossing. The route is still blocked with large rocks, logs and barbed wire.

About 600 trucks are stuck on the Bolivian side of the border, and in the last couple of hours, many of the trapped truckers have begun returning to the Bolivian capital of La Paz. The closure largely affects Bolivian cargo headed to Peru or to third countries through Peruvian ports (Bolivia doesn't have access to the sea).

In April, after a protest left three dead in the nearby region of Arequipa, the Peruvian government canceled the Tia Maria mining project.

THWAC is dead, long live THWAC! Another era in the fight against Scottish Coal ends, but the struggle continues…

May 23rd, 2011

May 23rd, 2011
After eight months of occupation and struggle, Coal Action Scotland has decided to bring an end to the Happendon Wood Action Camp. The camp was taken in September last year to resist Scottish Coal’s plans to open-cast the woodland, and to act as a base in South Lanarkshire to take direct action and work with affected communities in the ongoing struggle against the coal industry. Having felt that those goals were met as much as they were going to be, and with Scottish Coal’s application being submitted for a new 4 million ton open cast at Glentaggart East, we have decided to change our focus. We are in no way abandoning South Lanarkshire, or the struggle against Scottish Coal, and will continue to be active in the area in new and exciting ways.

Surrounded by three active open cast coal sites, and multiple scars being “restored”, the residents of THWAC placed themselves alongside the people of the Douglas Valley, right in the belly of the beast. Making the threat of new coal exploitation and the constant noise and disruption a part of everyday life for ourselves is one way in which we felt we could show solidarity. We were able to build on links forged during Mainshill, and met many more people campaigning and working to halt Scottish Coal’s march across the Douglas Valley.

During our time at Happendon Wood we tried to impact as little as possible on the environment we were staying in. This included using solar panels to charge the batteries to power the laptops and the lights in the communal and office, donating our shit to a local housing coop who will compost it and use it to grow food in their orchards, grey water systems to filter our waste water and using paths to reduce the soil erosion. Great effort was taken to return the small area of woodland we inhabited to its original state as we left, and we left the land better than how we found it. More than Scottish Coal can say.

The camp became a useful hub in the community for sharing information and ideas. Public meetings were organised and links between the many communities were forged. During our time at Happendon Scottish Coal launched their “Forward Strategy.” Their land grab of the Douglas Valley involved three new open cast coal sites, with plans to remove a total of 5.4 million tonnes of coal, flying in the face of local opposition and global opinion on climate change. This catalyst ignited a local campaign with opposition reaching from Glespin to Lesmahagow and a series of public meetings, kick started by people from THWAC. People from all over the Douglas Valley have continued their generosity with food, water, building materials and lock-on cement. We would like to say a massive thank you to the all the people who came down and provided vital practical and moral support in a winter cold enough to rival last year’s at Mainshill.

During the occupation of Happendon Wood, Coal Action Scotland continued campaigning against coal expansion in Scotland. The Health Study Group and Community Ecology Group carried out vital research into the negative effects of the coal industry. Ecological studies have been carried out at prospective coal sites in the Douglas Valley, discovering protected species which were somehow overlooked by Scottish Coal’s paid for ecological surveys. More and more research has been conducted showing the links between coal extraction and respiratory diseases, regardless of Scottish Coal or South Lanarkshire Council’s refusal to listen. CAS also continued to support the campaign in Midlothian against an open cast by Scottish Coal near the village of Cousland, and we thank the local campaigners for their support in return. The community managed to defeat the proposal at the planning stage.

A Smooth Newt found during tat down.

As the name suggests, THWAC was started as a base for direct action. During the eight months affinity groups from across the UK, and further afield, came and carried out a wide variety of direct action and protests at open casts in the area and targets further afield. This included: mine gates locked shut at night three times, digger diving at Mainshill twice, Mainshill offices were attacked with paint, Ravenstruther coal rail head was blockaded twice, South Lanarkshire Council’s offices had banners hung from the roof and stink bombs let off inside the committee room, Scottish Coal contractors RPS and Weber Shandwick had their offices glued shut and slogans painted on their walls, and according to anonymous reports posted online there were six sabotage actions with over thirty three vehicles incapacitated. These add to the already impressive list of actions taken against the coal industry since Coal Action Scotland formed. Through this campaign of sustained direct action we have cost Scottish Coal a considerable amount.

Over the next few months we will be setting our sites on Scottish Coal’s plot to tear up Glentaggart East in the Douglas Valley. We are joining with local campaigners in a call out for as many objection letters to South Lanarkshire Council against this application as possible. More information about this can be found on the STOP website. We will also continue to use direct action to apply pressure on them to abandon this open cast. If anyone wishes to join in then Target Brochures showing coal infrastructure across Scotland can also be found on our website. After the success of last year’s event we will be planning another Outdoor Skill Share from the 26th to the 29th of August, where we will run workshops on the practical skills needed to hold a protest site. More information can be found on the Outdoor Skill Share website.

All that’s left is to say thank you to all our visitors and see you all next time.

The Happendon Wood Action Camp

Indian resistance to steel works

May 22, 2011
The land acquisition for the proposed mega steel project of Posco in Orissa’s Jagatsinghpur district has been postponed following stiff resistance from villagers supporting as well as opposing the venture.

May 22, 2011
The land acquisition for the proposed mega steel project of Posco in Orissa’s Jagatsinghpur district has been postponed following stiff resistance from villagers supporting as well as opposing the venture.

The State Government had to stop the land acquisition work on Friday after the villagers supporting the venture protested, demanding that the process be completely stopped till their six-point demands are met.

As many as 33 members of the United Action Committee (UAC), the group supporting the project, were arrested on Thursday when they blocked the entry of officials engaged in the land acquisition work. On Sunday, a large number of villagers supporting the UAC organised a rally in the area earmarked for the project reiterating their demands.

Meanwhile, Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti, the outfit that has been strongly opposing land acquisition for the project since 2005, has also decided to intensify its agitation in the coming days.

The Samiti has been demanding that the Government not acquire any land till the authorities organised Palli Sabha meetings in various villages to take the consent of the thousands of families that were to lose their land and livelihood sources.

The agitating villagers, who had staged a protest on May 18 when the authorities resumed land acquisition, have termed the Government action “illegal”.

The land acquisition work had shown little progress during the three days when administration officials entered the area amid heavy police presence to carry out the exercise. While the 1.52 acres of forest land was acquired by demolishing betel vineyards on May 18, it dropped to 72 decimals on May 19 and .27 acres on May 20.

In another development, the High Court has issued notices to the State Government and others on a petition challenging land acquisition for the project. The petition will come up for further hearing on May 25.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/article2040318.ece?homepage=true

Mexico: Indigenous community stands up to gangs, illegal loggers

On April 15, Purepechas from the indigenous community of Cherán detained a group of five loggers who were attempting to transport illegally-logged timber from their land.

On April 15, Purepechas from the indigenous community of Cherán detained a group of five loggers who were attempting to transport illegally-logged timber from their land.

Hoping to turn the loggers in, the Purepechas later informed local authorities about what had happened. But, two hours after doing so, a police car arrived in the community with two pick-ups that were occupied by more than a dozen heavily-armed men.

The armed men proceeded to open fire on the community, seriously injuring one person, Eugenio Sánchez Tiandón, who was shot in the head and remains in a coma.

Following the attack, the Purepecha, with few other options, declared an emergency “state of siege” and closed off all access points to the community.

The self-imposed state of siege is ongoing.

According to a May 5 report by Amnesty International, on April 23, “the community presented the five illegal loggers to representatives of the Federal Attorney General’s Office (Procuraduría General de la República, PGR) along with 140 complaints from residents.”

Four days later, another group of illegal loggers tried to gain access to the community; but they, too, were stopped by the Purepecha.

Unfortunately, the community came under fire once more–only this time, the armed men didn’t have a police escort. Two community members, Pedro Juárez Urbina and Armando Hernández Estrada, were killed in the attack.

It has been over three weeks since the two Purepecha men were killed on April 27; however, the community reports that warnings of reprisals have been sent to community leaders by the armed gang, which is believed to have ties to the main drug cartel in Michoacan.

According to the very latest reports on the “Cheran rebellion” as it’s been labelled by the press, the Mexican government has sent troops and federal police to patrol the outskirts of the community; something the Purepecha had been calling for since the state of siege began. But it remains to be see if they’ll actually do anything.

Providing some background, a community spokesperson recently told reporters that Cheran has been under attack for the past three years. Speaking on the condition that he remain anonymous, the spokesperson said that, since 2008, a total of nine people have been killed and five others have been disappeared.

In that same amount of time, Illegal loggers have deforested nearly 80 percent of the region’s 30,000-acre forest. “But during the past year, the groups seem to be supported by organized crime groups,” the spokesperson said.

Video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEHuoEdI1Kc

Grangemouth Biomass Protesters ‘Block Port’

16.5.11
Four people have been arrested in a protest against a proposed biomass power station at Grangemouth docks.

Twenty protesters from Action Against Agrofuels blocked both the access roads to the port, but police said South Shore Road had now been reopened.

16.5.11
Four people have been arrested in a protest against a proposed biomass power station at Grangemouth docks.

Twenty protesters from Action Against Agrofuels blocked both the access roads to the port, but police said South Shore Road had now been reopened.

The group said the wood-burning power station would threaten forests and worsen climate change.

Forth Energy has said it would use sustainably sourced wood that was a by-product of the timber industry.

The partnership with Forth Ports and Scottish and Southern Energy wants to create four plants in Scotland at Dundee, Rosyth, Grangemouth and Leith.

Central Scotland Police said the activists had been arrested for causing an obstruction at South Shore Road.
‘Necessary action’

Some of the demonstrators locked themselves to scaffolding tripods in the road to block the entrances to the port.

Protester Johnny Agnew, from Glasgow, said: “Vast renewable energy subsidies, paid through all our fuel bills, are being offered for big biomass, which causes more climate change, more deforestation and more pollution. We are effectively subsidising ecocide.”

The group said there was “nothing sustainable” about creating new demand for wood and that the plant would lead to health problems because of air pollution.

http://bio-fuel-watch.blogspot.com/2011/05/direct-action-against-forth-energy.html

Hundreds of Brazilian Indians set up protest camp in capital

14 May 2011
Over 700 Brazilian Indians from more than 230 tribes set up camp last week in the country’s capital city, Brasília, to urge the government to respect their rights.

14 May 2011
Over 700 Brazilian Indians from more than 230 tribes set up camp last week in the country’s capital city, Brasília, to urge the government to respect their rights.

Outraged by the advance of large scale infrastructure projects which threaten to devastate their land, the Indians marched, chanted and debated in the streets, calling on the government to act fast to prevent this destruction.

The Madeira dams, currently being built in the Amazon, are putting immense pressure on uncontacted Indians’ lands as migrants are arriving in the area and deforestation is increasing. The uncontacted Indians rely on their forest to survive and any form of contact with outsiders could be fatal for them.

The Belo Monte dam planned for the Xingu river in the Amazon threatens the livelihoods of thousands of tribal people, who have not given their consent for the dam to be built.

The protestors stated in an open letter, ‘We will not allow our Mother Earth, which we have been preserving for millennia and which contributes to the social and environmental sustainability of our country and of the world, to be torn away from us yet again, or destroyed irrationally’.

Last month, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights called on the Brazilian government to suspend the Belo Monte project, but Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff has refused to do so, and ordered an immediate break in the country’s relationship with the Commission.

Guarani Indians at the camp warned that the government is proceeding extremely slowly with its program to map out the tribe’s ancestral land, and that meanwhile, thousands of Guarani are living in overcrowded reserves or on the sides of main roads.

The current boom in sugarcane and ethanol production is of particular concern to the Guarani, some of whom have seen their lands taken over by sugarcane plantations.

Survival International is calling on energy giant Shell and its joint venture partner in Brazil, Cosan, to stop using sugarcane planted on the Guarani’s ancestral land to produce ethanol.

Patagonian Hydroelectric Project Approval Spurs Protests in Chile

10 May 2011
Chile approved a hydroelectric project that would flood Patagonian valleys and become the country’s biggest power generator, sparking violent protests and more than a hundred arrests.

10 May 2011
Chile approved a hydroelectric project that would flood Patagonian valleys and become the country’s biggest power generator, sparking violent protests and more than a hundred arrests.

Police fired water cannons and tear gas at demonstrators outside the building in the city of Coyhaique where 11 of the 12 members of an environment commission voted in favor of the HidroAysen project that Santiago-based Empresa Nacional de Electricidad SA and Colbun SA (COLBUN) want to build.

HidroAysen’s five dams would flood nearly 6,000 hectares (14,800 acres) of land and require a 1,900 kilometer (1,180 mile) transmission line to feed the central grid that supplies Santiago and surrounding cities as well as copper mines owned by Codelco and Anglo American Plc. The government of President Sebastian Pinera says Chile needs more hydroelectric and coal- fired plants to meet demand that will double in the next decade and reduce power costs that are the highest in the region.

“We have to get that energy somewhere, independent of what the project is, because energy today is twice as expensive as in other Latin American countries,” Ena Von Baer, the government’s spokeswoman, told reporters yesterday in Santiago. “We want to be a developed country and to do that we need energy, especially cheap energy for the poor.”

Street March

Hundreds of protesters blocked the entrance to the room where the government’s regional representative Pilar Cuevas and other officials sat after yesterday’s meeting in Coyhaique. A police officer and at least one other person were injured by stones thrown by demonstrators, while more than 20 people were arrested during clashes with police involving tear gas and water cannons, regional governor Nestor Mera told reporters yesterday.

More than 120 were arrested last night in protests around the country, newspaper La Tercera reported. About 1,500 people gathered in a plaza in central Santiago before marching to the presidential palace, the newspaper reported. Police dispersed protesters who tried to block traffic in the downtown area.

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The results of the vote give the go-ahead to HidroAysén, a dam project run by the Italian group Endesa and its minority holding group the Chilean corporation Colbún, which holds a 49% stake in the project. The proposed series of dams would affect the Baker river, the most most voluminous in Chile, which attracts ecotourists, rafters and fishermen, and is an important ecological feature of the region. Project opponents say the project will badly impact 6 national parks, 11 national reserves, 12 important conservation sites, 16 wetlands and 32 privately-held protected areas. Meanwhile, proponents of the project project construction jobs and electricity production of 2.750 megawatts.

The organization Patagonia Sin Represas (Patagonia Without Dams) planned a peaceful protest in the wake of the approval, to take place at Plaza Italia, Santiago’s ground zero for demonstrations at 7:00 PM tonight. Thousands of people joined together, chanting (among other slogans), Piñera, entiende, Patagonia no se vende (Piñera (president of the Republic), understand, Patagonia is not for sale). Protesters held signs with messages opposing the project, including one written in English, shown below partially supported with a kayak paddle. When asked why their sign was in English, the protesters said it was for the international media.

The police then drove four buses along the curve of the street to block the protesters and their signs from view by the commuting public driving and walking east up Avenida Providencia, the street on which thousands of commuters travel home each weekday night.

At approximately 7:30 PM, the protesters attempted to cross the street from Plaza Italia and take over one direction of the Alameda (the main street which leads down towards the city centre), at which point the police shot water from water cannons at the protesters and began to release tear gas into the crowd. Many protesters scattered, and several offshoot groups tried to make their way down to the Moneda (the presidential palace) where tensions increased between the protesters and the police, and local news reported that 600 protesters arrived and later set several barricades aflame. As of approximately 10:00 PM a helicopter with a search beam could be seen overflying the Moneda and nearby streets.

Similar protests were planned in other cities throughout the length of Chile.

2010 protest