Action Reports – Page 119

Peru: 10,000 Aymaras Protesting against Transnational Mining Company

31st May 2011
For the past three weeks, more than 10,000 Indigenous People, mostly Aymaras, have been protesting against the oncoming Santa Ana silver mine in southeastern Peru near the border with Bolivia.

The Indigenous people are concerned that pollution from the new mine would threaten their livelihoods and contaminate local rivers and lakes. For those reasons, the protesters want to see the Peruvian government revoke the mining license it granted to the company behind the mining project, Canada’s Bear Creek Mining Corporation. The protesters are also calling for a definite ban on all mining in the region.

The massive protest, for which the Aymara and some Quechua have set up a sequence of blockades along a 300km stretch of road on both sides of border, was facing a media blackout until this past weekend.

On May 27, a number of government buildings in the Peruvian border town of Puno were looted and set ablaze.

That seemed to give the media what they needed; however, the organizers of the protests are insisting that they aren’t responsible for the violent lash out. Rather, they say, it was brought on by individuals who have infiltrated the protests.

In hand with the lack of media coverage, the police and military presence throughout the protest has been almost non-existent. On May 28, Reuters reported that President Garcia has indeed authorized the military to “maintain order”, but so far they haven’t tried do so.

That’s partly because of the sheer scale of the protest; but moreso because of the upcoming presidential election in Peru, which is set for June 5. According to Reuters, Garcia has stated that he won’t give the order to stop the protests until after the election concludes.

There was, however, at least one violent confrontation before the protest was in full swing. As noted on the WW4 Report,

At least one is reported dead in Peru’s southern region of Puno after the National Police fired on protesters April 26, the second day of a 48-hour civil strike or paro called by campesino groups to demand a halt to local mining and petroleum leases. The deceased, identified as María Choque Limache, 61, died after inhaling tear gas as police broke up a protest at the village of Yohoroco, in Huacullani district of Chucuito province, according to Walter Aduviri Calisaya, president of the Puno Front for the Defense of Natural Resources. National Police commander Jaime Cordero Ayala denied this version of events, insisting she had not been at the protest and had died of natural causes.

Most recently, on May 29, the protesters rejected a deal to stand down in exchange for a 12-month moratorium on mining. Negotiators for the protesters initially agreed with the offer, but the protesters themselves said they won’t settle for anything less than a definitive ban on mining which must be ratified through a presidential decree.

Video 1and 2

Coal protesters show solidarity with the people of South Mongolia, and stand against China’s crackdown on freedom of expression

Today, 30th May 2011, a small group of anti-coal protesters rallied to a call out by South Mongolian human rights activists for global protest [1] and held a short vigil outside the Chinese Consulate in Edinburgh. This comes at the end of a month of protests in Mongolia against the Chinese coal industries destruction of Mongolian herders land in which two people have been killed. One was a Mongolian herder and local anti-coal activist, Mergen, who was deliberately run over by by a coal truck while trying to stop it from taking short cuts across herders land on the 10th of May. According to the Guardian another protester was killed four days later [2].

These protests have rattled the Chinese state, which has responded with brutal crack-downs, and total censorship. Cities in South Mongolia are awash with para-military police and intense surveillance as areas are placed under Martial Law [3]. Internet a phone communication has been shut down. This is a continuation of the repression of people who dare to stand up for the rights of Mongolians. One case of particular concern to the South Mongolia Human Rights Information Centre is that of Mr Hada and his family [4].

The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR) has been hit hard during what one human rights organisation is calling the “coal rush.” Last year IMAR’s coal exports exceeded 700 million tons, with an estimated 732.3 billion tons of coal reserves still under the ground. This extraction has come at the expense of the local population and environment. The Mongolian people who have herded livestock on the land for generations are now being thrown from their land and Chinese coal corporations are moving in to dig up the coal. During the extraction convoys of coal trucks have been taking short cuts through herders land, destroying fences and livestock. Bayaguut, a Southern Mongolian cyber dissident, said “this really is a three-dimensional attack on us by the Chinese: they have destroyed our land, polluted our air, and now digging up what we have below ground. What we will be left with is a barren land uninhabitable to human beings.” [5]

The protest in Edinburgh was held at midday and the group held placards with slogans such as “End China’s Coal Rush” “Justice For Mergen Killed By The Coal Industry” and “Stop The Killings In Southern Mongolia!” One also called for the release of political prisoners in Mongolia. The protest was organised at short notice by people from Coal Action Scotland, a group which takes direct action and works with communities facing the coal industry in Scotland.

Luke Douglas, who attended the protest, said “It’s really important to show solidarity with the people of Southern Mongolia, and to show the Chinese state that there are people outside of Mongolia and outside of their control who are watching what’s going on. The brutal repression of the herders and students protesting is despicable. People should not be imprisoned just for calling for human rights and cultural and political freedom. I am inspired by the bravery by the people protesting in Southern Mongolia, and hope that today’s protest helps them in some way.”

Tammy Price added “I’ve worked with communities in Scotland who have been affected by the Coal industry. The health and environmental impacts of the open casts, plus the disruption caused by the transport of the coal, are devastating. It’s important to have a global perspective on coal as an issue, as it is one that affects people all across the world. As well as people in Scotland, we have previously heard from those in Indonesia [6], Columbia [7] and the US [8] fighting against the Coal industry. The coal industry globally is responsible for environmental destruction, human rights abuses, corruption and colonialism on a scale difficult to fathom until you start making these links between people affected on a global scale.”

Coal Action Scotland

media@coalactionscotland.org.uk

1. http://www.smhric.org/news_384.htm

2. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/30/mongolia-protests-communist-party-crackdown

3. http://www.smhric.org/news_385.htm

4. http://www.smhric.org/Hada/Hada.htm

5 http://www.smhric.org/news_376.htm

6 http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/?p=2197

7 http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/?p=1433

8 http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/?p=2553

squatting stories wanted

Calling All Squatters!

Got any positive, funny or random stories from your squatting experiences?

We’re putting together an exhibition and zine with positive squatting stories to contradict and show the other side to squatting, to the one regurgitated again and again by the mainstream media.

Calling All Squatters!

Got any positive, funny or random stories from your squatting experiences?

We’re putting together an exhibition and zine with positive squatting stories to contradict and show the other side to squatting, to the one regurgitated again and again by the mainstream media.

Wherever you squatted, be it Brixton or Kurdistan, or whether you squat now or you did in the 70s, any positive stories are welcomed – the more varied in time & place the better. Some of the stories we have so far include from after the second world war when families took refuge by squatting abandoned army barracks, as so many homes had be bombed in the blitz, as well as some stories of how newly arrived Asian families to Britain gave up the council housing they had received to squat together in empty estates to avoid the racial abuse they were suffering.

Your stories don’t have to be this extreme though, anything that is positive, funny or in some way a success of managing to stick it up to the landlords or a successful use of squatting for a protest or campaign, is very much welcomed. The stories don’t have to be your own experiences but can be ones of friends, or ones you’ve heard, just so long as they are true.

Any good pictures you might have that can accompany the stories would be brilliant too. Also, if you have pictures of transformations you’ve made turning a destroyed building into a beautiful home, they would also be really appreciated. Of course you can be completely anonymous from anything you contribute.

Email stories & stuff to homemade@lorax.org.uk

Many thanks!

Inner Mongolians protest against Coal extraction

May 28, 2011

China: Inner Mongolia: street protests against Chinese abuses

Beijing – Protests are spreading in Inner Mongolia, as demonstrations spread following the death of two local herder leaders opposed to environmental destruction due to coal mining.

Yesterdays, protests were held in two towns in Inner Mongolia, the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Centre (SMHRIC) said.

May 28, 2011

China: Inner Mongolia: street protests against Chinese abuses

Beijing – Protests are spreading in Inner Mongolia, as demonstrations spread following the death of two local herder leaders opposed to environmental destruction due to coal mining.

Yesterdays, protests were held in two towns in Inner Mongolia, the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Centre (SMHRIC) said.

It has been difficult for the foreign press to reach the area, but pictures were surfaced online showing hundreds of protesters marching through the county seats of Huveet Shar Banner (county) and Left Ujumchin Banner.

The protesters carried banners bearing Mongolian slogans including ‘defend the rights of Mongols’ and ‘defend the homeland.’

Six more protests are planned in other areas of Inner Mongolia from Friday to 2 June, SMHRIC said. Using online social networking, Mongolians were invited to further gatherings in Alshaan Left Banner on Friday, Ordos City on Saturday, and Tongliao on Sunday.

Protest first broke out on Monday in Xilinhot, the administrative centre of Xilin-Gol, when hundreds of ethnic Mongolians gathered in from of a government building after a Mongolian herder leader was killed by a coal hauler driven by ethnic Han Chinese. Mergen, that is the herder leader’s name, was trying to stop coal-hauling lorries from taking a shortcut across fragile grazing land

Photos showing his body were posted online. They show his head, crushed under the wheels of a 100-tonne coal hauler driven by two Han Chinese drivers on 10 May, and his body, dragged by the lorry for 150 metres.

On Tuesday, more than 2,000 people, mostly students, took to the streets in protest, demanding Chinese authorities respect the rights of Mongolian herders to their land and lifestyle.

Indigenous Mongolians have complained for a while that China is only interested in the region’s mineral resources, especially coal. For them, mining and industrial development is destroying grazing land, undermining the traditional herding economy, already under stress from expanding desertification and lack of rain.

Shen Wenyin, deputy chief of the Xilingol League government, said on Tuesday night that the two Han Chinese drivers, Li Lindong and Lu Xiangdong, had been arrested by police. He did not comment the protest.

He did however confirm that residents in the Abag mining area tried to stop operations at a nearby coal mine on 14 May because of noise, dust and water pollution.

One of the protesters, Yan Wenlong, 22, was killed when Sun Shuning, a worker, drove a forklift truck into Yan’s car. Sun was arrested for intentional homicide. Official sources said that the mine stopped operations.

The wave of protests is increasingly taking on an ethnic connotation as indigenous Mongolians resent domination by ethnic Han Chinese who have become the largest ethnic group in Inner Mongolia, following a deliberate immigration policy pursued by Beijing that includes tax and financial breaks as well as other advantages.

Ethnic Mongolians now number only 6 million out of 23 million people in the province, a minority in their native land.

Experts note that the situation remained calm until recently. Things began to change when large-scale environmental degradation began to threaten the local herding economy. Action by ethnic Mongolian groups based abroad has also played a role.

From Signalfire

http://signalfire.org/?p=10797

Anarchists Attack Surveillence Industry

May 27, 2011
Last night Inside Out Security in New Basford had it’s windows smashed.

We did this because they are responsible for making surveillance equipment that watches us everywhere we go. They are specifically responsible for a large number of CCTV cameras in schools around Nottingham. These cameras in schools further stigmatise and terrorise the young, positioning them as the dangers to each other, training them to become used to being watched, controlling their behaviours and taking away their freedom. Instead of encouraging the young to love and live with wild passion this society is caging them- forcing them into a lives not of their choosing.

We want to destroy these companies that profit from the sickness of social surveillance on behalf of capitalism and the state.

We also did this in solidarity with those who resist the G8 and G20 conferences occurring in France this week. While the government leaders from around the world discuss ways to keep their power, we will fight their systems of oppression that are all around us.

So their surveillance is there to protect us? Fuck that. Their cameras exist to make us live in fear, to do as we are told, to make us feel alienated and scared of one another. The surveillance system is there to serve the interests of the rich and protect their property, power and capital.

We see something that destroys our freedom, our relationships with each other and we wish to get attack it with the means we have available. So whilst this was a small act of defiance, quickly remedied in part by their insurance, we carry out this act because of the very fact that we search for freedom from all forms of social control. Every time we see similar acts of rebellion, from throwing rocks at cops to the burning of a prison, a smile spreads across our face and recognition that the attack against this society of domination continues. We will continue our participation in this attack, because it is our passion- settling for a life of meaningless subordination is not an option for us, not when all around us are examples of our friends, families and ourselves being continually fucked over by rampant capitalism, and the colluding state.

We must look to each other with love and solidarity.

We must destroy what keeps us apart with rage.

Against the prison society.

For total freedom.

South Coast climate camp eviction threat

26.5.11
The St Annes protest site in Lewes (http://brightonclimateaction.org.uk/)
has been under threat of eviction since 4pm yesterday!

Please come and support the resistance by coming to visit sometime soon.
OR come and stay on the beautiful site – we desperately need people to occupy. There are spare tents and bedding.

26.5.11
The St Annes protest site in Lewes (http://brightonclimateaction.org.uk/)
has been under threat of eviction since 4pm yesterday!

Please come and support the resistance by coming to visit sometime soon.
OR come and stay on the beautiful site – we desperately need people to occupy. There are spare tents and bedding.

Lots of fun things going on, including tree house building, seed planting, music making and tea drinking.

the address — St. Anne’s School (disused)
Rotten Row
Lewes
East Sussex
BN7 1LJ

and here’s a video about the site —
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B14oEZFLcHQ&feature=player_embedded

The Camp at the End of the Runway, Manchester, 27-29 May

Friday 27 May, 5.30pm to Sunday 29 May at 8.30pm
The Woods, Near Manchester Airport

Manchester Airport is planning to press ahead with its expansion plans, demolishing local homes and green spaces, and doubling air freight capacity. Come and spend a weekend in the woods, getting to know the area and local residents, and learning more about the campaign against expansion.

Friday 27 May, 5.30pm to Sunday 29 May at 8.30pm
The Woods, Near Manchester Airport

Meet 5.30pm at Piccadilly Station 27th May, or at 6pm outside Manchester Central Library for Critical Mass. We will go straight to the camp from Critical Mass.

Plans for the weekend include: Walk and Cycle Caravan to look at sites of campaigning significance such as Arthur’s Wood, the World Freight Centre, Hasty Lane, and the sites of the 2nd Runway Protest Camp; Pixie Picnic; Awareness Raising and much more besides.

Alternate meet time: 11am Heald Green Station Sat 28th May for the walk and cycle caravan.

Some hot (vegan) food will be provided, but the weekend won’t be fully catered. Bring enough food to be self-sufficient, and a little extra to share. Cater for your own dietary requirements.

What else to bring:
Bike (walkers welcome too, but cycling will be easier)
Decorations for your bike
Camping Kit
Food (see above)

See you there
manchesterairportontrial@gmail.com

http://www.facebook.com/?sk=events#!/event.php?eid=222153411131342

Common Ground For Climate Action, 4-5 June 2011

Common Ground for Climate Action (the meeting after CC Space for Change)

A meeting facilitated by the Rhizome Collective

DATE: 10:30am 4th June – 5:30pm 5th June
VENUE: Grow Heathrow, Sipson, West London

Who is this meeting for?

People who:
– have previously been involved in organising CFCA or other radical grassroots climate action
AND

Common Ground for Climate Action (the meeting after CC Space for Change)

A meeting facilitated by the Rhizome Collective

DATE: 10:30am 4th June – 5:30pm 5th June
VENUE: Grow Heathrow, Sipson, West London

Who is this meeting for?

People who:
– have previously been involved in organising CFCA or other radical grassroots climate action
AND
– have energy to positively explore options and strategies for
co-ordinating nationally into the future.

This meeting is NOT:
– A place to revisit the decision to pause national climate camp
activities in 2011 (though we will talk about the various reactions to that decision)
– A place to talk about what to do with Climate Camp resources (this will need to be later on)

We will be:
– Learning about and exploring our common ground in three key areas:
* What is happening in the wider world?
* Where do we fit?
* What future impact could we have?
– Exploring ways to manage disagreement, live with difference, and build trust

ARE YOU COMING?
If you’re interested in coming please email
spaceforchange@climatecamp.org.uk (by 26 May if possible for planning).
Follow this link for lots more information about the background to the meeting, as well as venue details and the agenda so far:
http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/events/2011/06/04/common-ground-for-climate-action

KITCHEN CO-ORDINATORS NEEDED
We are in urgent need of kitchen co-ordinators, if you think you can do this then please contact spaceforchange@climatecamp.org.uk ASAP

SATURDAY NIGHT SOCIAL
If you would be interested in organising some live music or a social for this event, then please email spaceforchange@climatecamp.org.uk

WHO ELSE IS COMING?
Please forward this message to anyone you think would be interested in coming

Belgian Climate Action Camp, 6-11 July 2011

Capitalism is a system in crisis. Social injustice is increasing, the
banks and multinationals keep investing in fossil fuels. But there is also reason to be optimistic: the global climate movement is growing and getting more active. “System change, not climate change” is a message sounding louder and louder!

In the past, Climate Justice Action (Belgium) organized of a series of direct actions and two climate action camps. At the opening day of the UN Conference in Cancún, we occupied the offices of IETA, a lobbygroup for emission trading.

This year we chose to link the climate action camp to the local struggle in Antwerp against the ‘Oosterweel’ bridge/tunnel plans. In cooperation with GroeNoord and other partners (Ademloos, Climaxi, Climat et Justice sociale, Masereelfonds and others), there will be a new climate action camp in Antwerp. Our main focus will be on the the consequenses of road infrastructure for the quality of life in Antwerp.

We’ll also work around other climate-related themes: from nuclear energy, to vegan cooking, from ‘cap and trade’ to ‘how feminism can save the planet?’

The climate action camp will be a week full of interesting workshops, encounters, direct action, and an ecological way of living. But most of all, it’ll be fun! Make sure to write down the dates in your agenda. We are also still looking for people who want to help with the preparation of the camp. You can reach us at info@klimaatactiekamp.org.

Program and more information:

* The provisional program
* The subject of the camp
* Practical information (what to bring and what to leave at home, ?)

Visit http://www.climate-justice-action.be/

Register and help us:
Do you want to join us at the camp? Let us know at info@klimaatactiekamp.be!
Do you want to help making the camp possible? We still need help for the following:

* medical team
* garbage and recycling experts
* plumbers
* drivers
* people who know something about electricity
* handymen who can help building the camp (sanitary, composttoilets, showers, putting up tents etc.)
* people who can help facilitate meetings
* people to help breaking down the camp and cleaning the location
* translators (Dutch-French-English)
* mobilisation: spreading the flyers, sending mails etc.!
* child care

Send us a mail at info@klimaatactiekamp.org

South Coast climate camp: occupation continuing!

Following a number of meetings of the local community at the camp it has been decided to continue the occupation of the site, at least until it becomes clear what the situation is regarding the owner’s (East Sussex County Council) plans for the site. All the indications are that they wish to demolish the existing school buildings and sell the beautiful grounds to developers to be concreted over.

People are strongly encouraged to come down, get involved and perhaps stay for a while in order to defend the site and help this new community space flourish. Do get in touch if you can help in any way. E-mail southcoastcamp@riseup.net or call the site phone 07743 218521.

http://brightonclimateaction.org.uk/occupation-continuing/