Plea from Turkey 1st June

Turkey’s protests against the logging of trees in Gezi Park have grown into a nation-wide upheaval. The heavy-handed police response, using tear gas and pepper spray against bystanders and protestors, alike, has ignited a profound response against state repression in Turkey.

Environmentalism in Turkey as well as Eastern Europe/West Asia has been on the rise in the last 5-10 years, and this massive demonstration rising from anti-logging protests presents a landmark in the history of this region.

Thousands of protestors have swelled in the streets of every major city in Turkey. More solidarity demonstrations are planned from Germany to the US. From Athens to London, San Francisco to Boston, protests are already drawing thousands of people, and more are planned for the future.

Gezi Park is one of the smallest parks in Istanbul, but the symbolic value of replacing it with an Ottoman-style barracks aggravates the anti-imperial drive of the Turkish people. The police brutality is shocking even to veterans of pro-democracy struggles.

Here is an urgent message from an anonymous source in Turkey right now: “I am writing you all to ask that you please share any and all information you can about the current situation in Istanbul. There is desperate need of int`l support from what I witnessed last night and from the news coming via social networking, etc. They are getting no domestic media attention, and the Prime Minister has offered no explanations for the unprecedented police violence. Gov`t supporters also went completely unchecked by police last night, beating (and as i understand it) killing at least one protester on their walk home.”

New Teargas Crackdown on Anti-government Protesters in Turkey 31st May

Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon on Friday at protesters occupying a park in central Istanbul, injuring scores in the latest violent crackdown on anti-government demonstrations.

The protest at Gezi Park started late on Monday after developers tore up trees but has widened into a broader demonstration against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Riot police recently clashed with tens of thousands of May Day protesters in Istanbul. There have also been protests against the government’s stance on the conflict in neighboring Syria, a recent tightening of restrictions on alcohol sales and warnings against public displays of affection.

Police staged a dawn raid on demonstrators who had been camping for days in Gezi Park in anger at plans to build a shopping mall, and clouds of tear gas rose around the area in Taksim Square that has long been a venue for political protest.

“We do not have a government, we have Tayyip Erdogan…Even AK Party supporters are saying they have lost their mind, they are not listening to us,” said Koray Caliskan, a political scientist at Bosphorus University who attended the protest. “This is the beginning of a summer of discontent.”

The Istanbul Medical Chamber, a doctors’ association, said at least 100 people sustained minor injuries on Friday, some of them when a wall they were climbing collapsed as they tried to flee clouds of tear gas.

Amnesty International said it was concerned by what it described as “the use of excessive force” by the police against what had started out as a peaceful protest.

Erdogan has overseen a transformation in Turkey during his decade in power, turning its economy from crisis-prone into Europe’s fastest-growing. Per capita income has tripled in nominal terms since his party rose to power.

He remains by far Turkey’s most popular politician, and is widely viewed as its most powerful leader since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded the modern secular republic on the ashes of the Ottoman Empire 90 years ago.

The unrest has been far from the sort of mass demonstrations seen in other parts of the Middle East or even parts of Europe in recent years, but it reflects growing opposition concern about Erdogan’s authoritarianism.

DEFIANCE

Hundreds of military officers have been jailed on charges of plotting a coup against Erdogan in recent years; others including academics, journalists and politicians face trial on similar accusations.

Erdogan has made no secret of his ambition to run for the presidency in elections next year when his term as prime minister ends, exacerbating opposition concerns.

“These people will not bow down to you” read one banner at the Gezi Park protest, alongside a cartoon of Erdogan wearing an Ottoman emperor’s turban.

Postings on social media including Twitter, where “Occupy Gezi” – a reference to protests in New York and London last year – was a top-trending hashtag, and Facebook said similar demonstrations were planned for the next few days in other Turkish cities including Ankara, Izmir, Adana and Bursa.

“Kiss protests” – in which demonstrators are urged to lock lips – had already been planned for Istanbul and Ankara this weekend after subway officials were reported to have admonished a couple for kissing in public a week ago.

Erdogan is pushing ahead with a slew of multi-billion dollar projects which he sees as embodying Turkey’s emergence as a major power. They include a shipping canal designed to rival Panama or Suez, a giant mosque and a third Istanbul airport billed to be one of the world’s biggest.

Speaking just a few miles from Gezi Park at the launch on Wednesday of construction of a third bridge linking Istanbul’s European and Asian shores, Erdogan vowed to pursue plans to redevelop Taksim Square.

Architects, leftist political parties, academics, city planners and others have long opposed the plans, saying they lacked consultation with civic groups and would remove one of central Istanbul’s few green spaces.

Brazil Police Shoot Indians – More Violence Feared 31st May

The Belo Monte occupation is the latest in a series of protests over the government’s failure to consult with the indigenous population.

Police in southern Brazil yesterday killed a Terena Indian and wounded several others while violently evicting them from their land. Members of the tribe had returned to live on part of their ancestral territory currently occupied by a rancher who is also a local politician.

Elsewhere in Brazil, an eviction order was served on Kayapó, Arara, Munduruku, Xipaya and Juruna Indians occupying the controversial Belo Monte dam site. Armed police have surrounded the protesters and tensions are rising amid fears that there will be similar violence.

Munduruku Indians are also protesting construction of a dam on the Tapajós river. One Munduruku was shot dead when police invaded a community last November.

Paygomuyatpu Munduruku said, ‘The government is preparing a tragedy. We will not leave here. The government has ignored us, offended us, humiliated us and assassinated us… They are killing us because we are against the dams.’

The Brazilian constitution and international law enshrine the right of tribal peoples to be consulted about projects on their land. Yet a raft of bills and constitutional amendments proposed by a powerful agricultural and mining lobby threaten to undermine these land rights. Indians are angry that, despite being in office for two and half years, President Dilma Rousseff has yet to meet any Indians.

The Belo Monte occupation is the latest in a series of protests over the government’s failure to consult with the indigenous population.

Survival International is calling on President Rousseff to halt the eviction of indigenous protesters, to consult with the Indians, and to recognize the territories of Terena tribespeople immediately.

Survival’s director Stephen Corry said, ‘History is repeating itself. The Figueiredo report, chronicling the genocidal atrocities of a past generation, has been unearthed at exactly the same time as new attacks on the Indians are unleashed. Killings of Indians should not be tolerated anywhere, let alone in a country planning to host world sporting events.’

Update From the Amazon: No Consultation, No Construction! 31st May

Indigenous protesters are once again occupying the construction site of the Belo Monte Dam in the Brazilian Amazon to shed light on how hydroelectric mega-dams cause serious environmental and social impacts and destroy the way of life of the region’s peoples and traditional communities. For example, the construction of Belo Monte will cause 100 km (60 miles) of the Xingu to dry out on the river’s Big Bend if completed. In the case of the hydroelectric dams planned for the Tapajós River, the ancient riverside villages of the Mundurukú people would be completely flooded.

Indigenous protesters occupied the Belo Monte Dam construction site in early and late May 2013 to protest the government’s lack of consultation with affected communities thorugh out the Amazon.

Photo courtesy of Ruy Sposati via mundurukudenuncia on Flickr

This is the second occupation of Belo Monte’s construction site in less than a month. On May 2nd the indigenous protestors occupied the same work camp and stayed there for eight days. They left the last occupation peacefully because the federal government ensured that there would be a negotiation, which did not happen. In this case the protestors guarantee that they will maintain their occupation until representatives of the federal government talk with them and meet their demands.

Indigenous people also criticize the presence of the military’s National Force in the region in order to ensure safety of teams carrying out environmental impact studies for dams on the Tapajós River.

In addition to the police officers who were already housed within the construction site to ensure the protection of Belo Monte, other contingents of police have been arriving at the occupation site.

See the latest letter from the occupation below:

Letter No. 7: Federal Government, we have returned

We are indigenous Munduruku, Xipaya, Kayapo, Arara and Tupinambá people. We live in the river and the forest and we are opposed to the destruction of both. You already know us, but now we are more.

You (the Government) said that if we left the construction sites of Belo Monte, we would be heard. We left peacefully – and prevented you from the shame of using force to take us out of here. However we were not heard. The government did not receive us. We called Minister Gilberto Carvalho and he did not come.

Waiting and calling did not work for us. So we again occupied your construction sites. We didn’t want to be back in your desert of holes and concrete. We have no pleasure in leaving our homes and our lands to hang our hammocks in your buildings. But how not to come when that could mean we losing our lands?

We want the suspension of studies and the construction of dams that flood our territories, cut the forest down the middle, kill the fish and scare the animals, and open the river and the land to the devouring miners. That will bring more companies, more loggers, more conflicts, more prostitution, more drugs, more diseases, more violence.

We require that you consult us about this construction before it begins, because it is our right guaranteed by the Brazilian Constitution and international treaties. This right was disrespected here in Belo Monte, on the Teles Pires River, and it’s not being complied with on the Tapajós River as well. It is not possible that all of you will continue repeating that indigenous people were consulted. Everyone knows that this is not true.

From now on, YOU (the Government) has to stop telling lies in press releases and interviews. You need to stop treating us like children: naive, irresponsible, and manipulative. We are indigenous people and you need to deal with it. You also need to stop lying to the press that we are fighting with the workers: they are sympathetic to our cause! We wrote a letter to them yesterday! Here at the construction sites we played soccer together every day during the last occupation. When we left, a worker to whom we gave many necklaces and bracelets told us: “I’ll miss you.”

We have the support of many relatives in this fight. We have the support of all the indigenous people from the Xingu. We have the support of the Kayapo. We have the support of the Tupinambá; the Guajajara; the Apinajé; Xerente; Krahô, Karaja; Xambioá-Tapuia; Krahô-Kanela; Avá-Canoero; javaé Kanela from Tocantins and Guarani. And the list is growing. We have the support of the national and international society even though that bothers you – you are alone with your campaign donors and companies interested in craters and money.

We occupied your construction sites again – and how many times will we need to do this until your own law is respected? How many restraining orders, fees, possesion orders will cost you until you hear us? How many rubber bullets, bombs and pepper sprays do you plan to spend until you admit that you are wrong? Or will you kill again? How many indigenous will you kill besides our relative Munduruku, from the Teles Pires, simply because we do not want dams?

And do not send the National Force to negotiate for you. Come yourselves. We want Dilma to come talk to us.

The Unist’ot’en People Maintain a “Soft Blockade” On the Morice River 30th May

The Unist’ot’en People (a.k.a C’ilhts’ekhyu) of the Wet’suwet’en Nation maintain a “Soft Blockade” keeping pipeline workers and subcontractors out of their territories. The blockade is located 66km on the Morice West Forest Service Road south of the town of Houston BC.

Hundreds of supporters, volunteers, recreationalists, and mushroom pickers have been able to cross into the guarded territory by showing respect to the territory owners and answering some simple questions. The questions were as follows:

Who are you?
Where do you come from?
How long to you plan to stay?
Are you working for government or industry?
What is your business here?
How will your visit benefit the Unist’ot’en People?

There were some people who have chosen not to answer any of the questions and were not permitted into the lands. Some of the people rejected were outright racist and belligerent; some people refused to recognize the authority of the territory owners; and some were simply unable to truthfully answer any of the questions until they could develop a relationship with the Unist’ot’en.

The decision to control territory traffic came when workers for the proposed Apache/Chevron Fracking Gas Pipelines were caught in the territory last November after being previously warned for trespassing. The Unist’ot’en have been leading a movement among the larger Wet’suwet’en population to stop ALL proposed Pipelines (including Fracking and Tar Sands) from crossing their territories.

In 2008, the Unist’ot’en alongside the other four Clans of the Wet’suwet’en walked away from the BC Treaty Commission negotiation process. They found that since the 1997 Supreme Court of Canada’s Delgamuukw v. Queeen Court decision, government and industry have only escalated their activities on their lands at an alarming rate without meaningful consultation.

Freda Huson, the Spokeswoman for the Unist’ot’en states, “The plaintiffs in the landmark Delgamuukw Supreme Court of Canada case are the Hereditary Chiefs and their members. Government and Industry are breaking their own laws when they choose to only consult with Indian Act band councils. The propaganda writers for the Pacific Trails Pipeline like to say that they have 15 First Nation People’s support, when in fact they have only been talking to Indian Act communities. That has to stop. This struggle to protect our lands is not about holding out for financial gain. It is about protecting our lands from destructive practices from industry. Our actions will not only benefit our future generations but everyone’s future generations.”

The logging road leading into the territory is managed by the CANFOR logging company and CANFOR is taking the lead to begin a meaningful process of consultation. The Unist’ot’en are welcoming this new relationship with CANFOR and are hopeful that other industry projects will choose to begin asking permission rather than implementing projects without meaningful consultation.

Icelanders Protest the New Government’s Environmental Policy 30th May

At least one thousand people gather outside of the government offices yesterday to deliver a challenge to the prime minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson. The government is challenged to withdraw statements regarding changing the power plant program, but the government wants to change it so that more areas can be used for power plants.

The protesters want to spare the environment and not build too many power plants. The challenge comes with reviews regarding the power plant program that the public, institutions, municipalities, organizations and companies have sent to the parliament and to the ministries.

The new center-right government is said to focus too much on power plants and aluminum factories. The government has merged the ministry of the environment together with the ministry of agriculture and fisheries. Critics say that the government has in effect abolished the ministry of the environment, and will now focus on building power plants and factories and seriously damage the environment.

Sigmundur David was busy when the protests were held because the president of Finland was visiting. But the prime minister´s assistant showed up on his behalf, and he was handed the challenge.

Thousands of Tibetans Protest Against Mine 30th May

As many as 5,000 Tibetans have protested against Chinese mining

operations at a site considered sacred by local residents, drawing a large security force to the area and prompting fears of clashes, according to Tibetan sources this week.

The protest last Friday took place at Naglha Dzambha mountain in Tibet’s Driru (in Chinese, Biru) county, the scene of similar protests two years ago, sources said.

“On May 24, about 100 members a Chinese company arrived at Naglha Dzambha on the pretext of putting up cable towers and power lines and building hydroelectric projects for the benefit of the people,” a resident of the area told an RFA Tibetan Service call-in show on Saturday.

“Actually, they were there to mine minerals,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

About 5,000 local Tibetans then gathered in Driru to protest, he said, and of that number, 3,500 went to the pilgrimage site to demand an end to the project, saying “Please leave our resources where they are.”

Six men chosen to represent the people of Driru approached the Chinese company with a petition not to further harm the local environment, but authorities on Saturday deployed security forces in about 50 trucks to the protest site, RFA’s source said.

County authorities later “gave in to the popular outcry and made an announcement to that effect,” easing immediate fears of a crackdown, but Tibet’s India-based exile government in a separate report described the situation in Driru as “tense.”

Frequent standoffs

Mining operations in Tibetan regions have led to frequent standoffs with Tibetans who accuse Chinese firms of disrupting sites of spiritual significance and polluting the environment as they extract local wealth.

In March, operations at the Gyama mine in Tibet’s Maldro Gongkar county near Lhasa caused a catastrophic landslide that killed 83 miners.

And in January, Tibetan sources told RFA that Chinese-operated mines in Lhundrub county, also near Lhasa, have caused “severe” damage to local forests, grasslands, and drinking water.

Waste from the mines, in operation since 2005, “has been dumped in the local river, and mining activities have polluted the air,” one source said.

Californians Against Fracking Launch Coordinated Protests Around State 30th May

Opponents of a controversial method of extracting oil and gas will deliver petitions to lawmakers around California on Thursday urging them to limit or ban the controversial practice.

Groups against fracking say the method could damage groundwater supplies and harm unspoiled habitat for native animals like the kit fox.

Organizers say around 70 groups are involved in the coordinated effort. One of the largest, MoveOn.org, plans to deliver petitions to a dozen assembly members asking for limits on the oil extraction method. The group is also organizing protests in Sacramento, San Jose, San Diego, San Ramon, and Los Altos, among other places.

Food and Water Watch and the Center for Biological Diversity are planning similar marches in San Francisco and here in Los Angeles. Documentary filmmaker Josh Fox, who directed “Gasland,” will join activists as they protest outside Governor Brown’s Los Angeles office on Spring Street.

The federal government estimates that as much as 15 million barrels of oil and gas are trapped in a rock formation that sprawls across southern and central California called the Monterey Shale. Petroleum companies say breaking open that rock will unleash an economic boom, including fuel, jobs and tax revenue.

Indigenous communities oppose ‘extreme energy’ at Shell’s AGM 20th May

As the business case for tar sands extraction falters, Arctic drilling is suspended, and the company is investigated for price fixing, Shell’s board will be under pressure to defend the direction it is taking at its AGM in The Hague on Tuesday 21 May.

Eriel and Mae in the Netherlands, preparing to take on Shell tomorrow!

Two Indigenous women, representing communities impacted by Shell’s operations abroad, will attend the AGM to confront the Chairman and Board over the massive human and ecological rights violations and economic devastation that the company’s operations bring to Indigenous communities. They will argue that Shell’s decision to pursue highly risky ‘extreme energy’ projects, like Arctic drilling and Canadian tar sands, will have little long term benefit for the company, and expose it to both reputational damage and political risk, including litigation.

One of the communities represented, the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN), which resides downstream from tar sands operations, is currently suing Shell for violating past agreements that have threatened their treaty rights. The community is also actively opposing two new tar sands mines Shell is proposing to develop on their land. For more details, watch the powerful film above. Legal challenges by other First Nations against tar sands extraction on their traditional territories is also increasing.

Eriel Deranger, community member and spokesperson for ACFN, states:

“Shell’s current and proposed tar sands projects violate terms of our treaty, destroy our land and contaminate waters critical to our survival. The ACFN leadership has made a commitment to protect our lands, rights and people currently being threatened by tar sands development. We have tried exploring amenable agreements and options with Shell only to be disappointed by their inability to compromise and adjust proposed plans to adequately work with us which has led and continues to lead toward litigation. Our culture, lands and rights can no longer stand for unabated and irresponsible development of tar sands in the region by Shell or any operator.”

Shell is also under fire for its Arctic operations. The company has spent $4.5bn securing permits to drill in Arctic waters. However it has been proven incapable of operating in the area and has had to suspend its plans for drilling this summer.

Mae R Hank, tribal member of the Native Village of Point Hope, Alaska, said:

“The Beaufort and Chukchi Seas are critical to the Inupiaq culture and traditions, and provide a vital habitat for the endangered bowhead whales, beluga whales, polar bears, walruses, seals and migratory birds. If an oil spill were to occur in the Arctic’s extreme conditions, there is no proven method to clean it up during Winter. Shell is taking a deadly risk with Inupiat and other Arctic Indigenous peoples’ cultures and food security for shortsighted profit, while the community faces long term consequences to their survival.”

Shell wants to drill in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, which provide a vital habitat for polar bears as well as many other endangered species. Photo by Martha de Jong-Lantink.

In addition, the UK Tar Sands Network is bringing concerns to Shell’s shareholders over other long-term risks to the company’s investments in tar sands.

The tar sands are landlocked, making them difficult and expensive to get to market. The pipelines that present the industry’s only viable solution to this problem – such as Keystone XL and Enbridge Northern Gateway – are facing massive public opposition, and look unlikely to be built soon. The price of tar sands crude has dropped as a result. Meanwhile, in Europe, the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) is likely to strongly discourage future tar sands imports into Europe. Lax standards and lack of adequate environmental regulation have led to several high-profile leaks and spills in recent weeks, including the flooding of an Arkansas suburb with tar sands oil. Meanwhile, a recent report by the Carbon Tracker initiative identified an alarming ‘carbon bubble’, arguing that 80% of oil companies’ current fossil fuel reserves are ‘unburnable carbon’, and anticipating a crash in prices as climate regulations kick in.

In March, French oil giant Total pulled out of one of its three Canadian tar sands projects, citing the high costs and fragile profit margins that are besetting the whole industry. Total was willing to take a $1.65 billion loss rather than press ahead with what has become a bad investment.

Shell will also be criticised by UK campaigners for heavily lobbying the UK government against the labelling of tar sands as highly polluting in the Fuel Quality Directive. Shell was revealed to have a close relationship with its former Chief Economist, now Secretary of State for Business and Industry and official ‘Minister for Shell’ Vince Cable, in a letter published last year. The letter urged him to harden the government’s line against the FQD, a move which was revealed to have happened in leaked documents published last week.

Eriel Deranger, Robert Thompson, Ron Plain, by Ben Powless

Representatives from Indigenous communities in Canada and the Arctic attended Shell’s AGM last year, but did not feel their concerns were taken seriously. Photo by Ben Powless.

Suzanne Dhaliwal, from the UK Tar Sands Network, commented:

“The risk factors that recently led Total to ditch a major tar sands project are increasing. The tar sands are landlocked and expensive, and opposition to new pipelines has led the price of tar sands crude to drop. Meanwhile, the industry’s high emissions mean that Canada’s oil is increasingly looking like ‘unburnable carbon’. Despite Shell’s frenzied lobbying, upcoming EU legislation on transport emissions could close off this key future market and set a precedent that other countries will follow. Shell should ditch its expansion plans before the carbon bubble bursts, exposing its shareholders to financial disaster.”

G8 protests – cuts, climate crisis & capitalism

“There is one common struggle against those who have appropriated the earth, the money, and the machines“. Voltairine de Cleyre.

11 June 2013. #J11.
One Common Struggle.
Carnival Against Capitalism.

Presenting the action map for the June 11 Carnival Against Capitalism. 100 locations in the West End connected to blatant murder, oppression and exploitation. Click on the link above to zoom in, download and print.

There is also an online map which will feature more details and even more addresses. It is still being updated. To check in for latest progress go to: mappingthecorporations.org/ and select “Mapping Capitalist London” in the sector menu.

If you have more information on any company, or want to add a new address, please email stopg8@riseup.net

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They Owe Us

12.30PM, FRIDAY 14 JUNE

We plan to appear somewhere in Canary Wharf, to reclaim and transform a space, bringing beauty and hope to the soulless heart of Capitalism.

In response to the combined crises of cuts and climate chaos, and the call for a week of action against the G8, we have come together to organise a gathering of those who want to stop the assault on people and planet. In the penthouse suite of global capitalism, in front of the eyes of the financial elite we will demand that They Owe Us.