Measures to stop global warming run the risk of being as harmful to tribal people as climate change itself. This is the message of a new report from Survival International, an organisation supporting the rights of indigenous people.

Kenya’s government has repeatedly tried to evict the Ogiek, citing climate change as a key motivation.

The report, “The most inconvenient truth of all: climate change and indigenous people”, highlights four “mitigation measures” to combat climate change, which it believes hold a threat to tribal people.

Biofuels, hydro-electric power, forest conservation and carbon offsetting. All four measures pose threats to the land and livelihood of indigenous people across the planet.

It’s a scary thought that by taking action against climate change in an attempt to better our lives, could in fact threaten others’.  You might, for example, try and “do the right thing” and buy carbon offsets – but this adds monetary value to ancestral lands, which in turn increases the threat of restrictions to the traditional use of the land and its natural resources, and could potentially lead to land grabs and even eviction.

Stephen Corry, Director of Survival International, expressed his concern that climate change could be used as a smoke screen: “Hiding behind the global push to prevent climate change, governments and companies are mounting a massive land grab. As usual, where money and vast profits are at stake, the world’s indigenous people are being shamefully swept aside.’

Eviction

So where does this leave us in the fight against climate change?

Well the report’s not trying to prevent these measures taking place – it’s campaigning for the way in which they’re executed:

• It’s calling for tribal people to become fully involved in the decisions that affect them and for their unequalled knowledge of their environments to be drawn on.
• It’s also asking for their rights to be recognised and respected – in particular land ownership rights and their right to give or withhold consent to developments within their territories.

Stephen Corry summarized the report saying it “highlights ‘the most inconvenient truth of all’ – that the world’s tribal people, who have done the least to cause climate change and are most affected by it, are now having their rights violated and land devastated in the name of attempts to stop it.”

Sembra la lotta fra Davide e Golia. Da una parte c’è il piccolo Davide:  i Dongria Kondh, una

Un aborigeno della tribù Dongria Kondh, nello stato indiano dell'Orissa

delle 645 tribù di adivasi, gli aborigeni dell’India. I Dongria sono ottomila persone, quasi tutte seminalfabete, sparse in poverissimi villaggi nello stato indiano dell’Orissa. Dall’altra parte c’è il gigante Golia: la multinazionale mineraria Vedanta Resources, fra le prime 100 società quotate alla Borsa di Londra. In gioco, i diritti di sfruttamento della montagna sacra dei Dongria, che la Vedanta vorrebbe sventrare per farne una miniera di bauxite, dislocando altrove gli aborigeni e trasformando un paradiso naturale in un piccolo inferno. L’esito della battaglia sembrerebbe scontato. Ma a sorpresa, gli aborigeni trovano un potente alleato: l’organizzazione  Survival International, che si batte in tutto il mondo per i diritti dei popoli indigeni. E improvvisamente l’esito della battaglia cambia…Su questa storia esemplare ho scritto un articolo, apparso sul settimanale Tu Style nel numero in edicola fino al 27 ottobre 2009. Ma se volete potete leggere l’articolo anche qui sotto….

“Sukul non lo sa, ma non esiste. Lei crede di esistere, mentre raduna in un cesto le semplici cose che porterà al mercato del villaggio:  frutti,  fiori e grandi foglie di palma (queste ultime le venderà come “piatti” o ciotole per il cibo). Del resto, lei credeva di esistere anche quando viveva con il marito e il figlioletto in una capanna su loro minuscolo campo coltivabile – appena tre acri.

Invece no: Sukul si sbagliava. Non esiste lei e non esiste nemmeno il suo piccolo popolo, i Dongria, una tribù di ottomila aborigeni sparsi nei poverissimi villaggi ai piedi della catena montuosa di Nyamgiri, in una fitta foresta dello stato indiano dell’Orissa.

Il problema è che se uno non esiste non ha neanche diritti. Perciò, Sukul è stata espropriata dei suoi tre acri di terra. E gli indigeni Dongria vengono cacciati dai loro villaggi; la loro cultura tribale cancellata; un intera minoranza etnica minacciata di estinzione.

Perché? Per fare posto alla “modernità”. In questo remoto e povero angolo dell’India la modernità coincide con gli interessi della grande multinazionale anglo-indiana Vedanta Resources. E la Vedanta ha deciso: trasferire gli indigeni e impadronirsi della montagna più importante della zona, la Niyam Dongar,  perché è ricchissima di bauxite, una roccia da cui si ricava l’alluminio. Il progetto è semplice: scavare una grande miniera sulla cima della montagna e lavorare la bauxite nella raffineria che la Vedanta ha già aperto ai piedi della catena dei Niyamgiri.

Peccato che la Niyam Dongar sia la montagna sacra dei Dongria. E’ il centro della loro religione, basata sul culto degli elementi naturali: l’acqua, il vento, la terra. Ed è  anche la fonte del loro sostentamento, perché i Dongria vivono, da sempre, in queste grandi foreste di montagna: andando a caccia con archi e frecce, raccogliendo frutta da vendere ai mercati, coltivando qualche campo. Perciò non hanno nessuna intenzione di andarsene da qui per far posto a miniere e impianti industriali. Non potrebbero nemmeno. «I Dongria sono un popolo delle montagne: spostarli a forza nelle pianure e nelle città equivarrebbe a un genocidio», spiega l’antropologo Felix Padel, studioso dei popoli tribali dell’India. «Vivono sulle montagne, venerano le montagne, e traggono il nutrimento dalla natura delle montagne. I monti Niyamgiri non sono solo il posto in cui vivono, bensì l’essenza stessa dell’identità dei Dongria. Traslocare questa gente significa annientarla».

Ma in questa faccenda, il punto di vista di Sukul e del suo popolo non conta un accidente. Loro non esistono per la Vedanta. La loro non è l’India scintillante del boom economico con una crescita dell’8% annuo, i film di Bollywood, le città che si modernizzano ogni giorno di più. No, l’India degli aborigeni è “l’altra India”: quella nascosta, lontana dalla globalizzazione, l’India dei paradisi naturali ancora ricchi di animali come tigri elefanti e leopardi, ma anche di materie prime che fanno gola alle industrie. Immense foreste dove vivono da millenni, seguendo le proprie tradizioni,  le 645 tribù indigene dell’India (vedere riquadro più sotto). Fra cui, appunto, i Dongria.

Ma il loro paradiso naturale sta già andando in pezzi: la raffineria della Vedanta (che per ora lavora bauxite importata dall’estero) ha già creato un lago di fango velenoso ai piedi delle colline, inquinando la terra e l’acqua e facendo ammalare numerosi indigeni.

Sembra la lotta fra il piccolo Davide e il gigante Golia: da una parte un popolo di aborigeni “arretrati”, dotati di lingua propria ma priva di scrittura, quasi sempre analfabeti, però legatissimi da un vincolo ecologico e spirituale alla propria terra; dall’altra una multinazionale mineraria quotata fra le prime 100 società alla Borsa di Londra.

Eppure il piccolo Davide ha deciso di battersi contro il gigante Golia. «Non posso dire cosa

Donne della tribù Dongria Kondh nello stato indiano dell'Orissa

succederà quando morirò, ma finché sarò viva la Vedanta non entrerà nel mio villaggio. Non lo permetterò», dice una contadina del villaggio di Sakata. Le fa eco un’altra donna, Malari, del villaggio di Gorta: «Come potremmo lasciare la nostra montagna? E’ lei che ci dà il cibo. La Vedanta non ha il diritto di prenderci la nostra terra. Io non voglio trasferirmi in città e comprare il cibo là. Qui lo prendiamo gratuitamente dalla terra. Ora c’è il bambù, e diversi frutti in ogni stagione. Non voglio lasciare questo posto. I miei antenati ci hanno vissuto per generazioni. Non posso dimenticarlo».

Malari, Sukul, e tante altre: sono le donne a condurre in prima fila la lotta degli aborigeni contro la Vedanta. Molto spesso sono analfabete, eppure si presentano combattive agli incontri pubblici  con i dirigenti della multinazionale che cercano di convincere (e spesso costringere) gli indigeni a vendere le loro terre e lasciare i villaggi. Le donne, in effetti, sono la spina dorsale delle società aborigene tradizionali. Sono loro che organizzano e sostengono la famiglia, mentre i maschi tradizionalmente sono guerrieri, cacciatori o sciamani. Può sembrare sorprendente questo ruolo attivo delle donne, in un popolo come i Dongria, che pratica ancora la poligamia; eppure le Dongria imparano sin da ragazzine a capire chi sono, cosa vogliono e quale partner vada bene per loro. Per tradizione infatti le adolescenti vivono in case comuni “per ragazze” dove imparano a confrontarsi fra loro, a scambiarsi idee e raccontarsi desideri, ascoltando le leggende, i racconti e i pareri delle anziane.

Le coraggiose sfide lanciate pubblicamente da queste donne analfabete ai manager della Vedanta hanno fatto conoscere la loro storia ai media e all’opinone pubblica indiana, e la questione dei diritti violati dei Dongria è arrivata fino all’Alta Corte di Delhi, che prima ha dato il benestare agli scavi per la miniera, ma ora sta riconsiderando il caso.

Eppure tutto questo non basterebbe se il piccolo Davide non avesse trovato un potente alleato nella lotta al gigante Golia. Questo alleato è Survival International, l’unica organizzazione mondiale che sostiene i popoli tribali di ogni continente attraverso campagne di mobilitazione dell’opinione pubblica. Nata nel 1969, oggi Survival è presente in 60 Paesi del mondo, Italia compresa, e si batte con tutto il suo peso organizzativo e politico per i diritti dei Dongria.

Survival ha presentato il caso dei Dongria in sede internazionale, all’OCSE, l’Organizzazione per la Cooperazione e lo Sviluppo Economico e il 12 ottobre è arrivata da Londra una magnifica notizia: il ricorso presentato da Survival è stato accolto! Il governo britannico (responsabile del verdetto, perché la Vedanta è una società inglese) ha condannato il comportamento dell’azienda, che ora dovrà ricontrattare tutto con i Dongria. «Siamo molto felici che il governo britannico abbia finalmente preso posizione su questa vicenda» ha commentato Stephen Corry, direttore generale di Survival.« Le tattiche adottate dalla Vedanta ci rituffavano in un passato colonialista, e l’estrazione della bauxite da Niyamgiri era diventato uno dei progetti minerari più famigerati al mondo». Dunque, Golia ha vinto? «Non ancora, ma abbiamo vinto una battaglia», risponde con un sorriso Francesca Casella, della Sezione italiana di Survival. «Ora vedremo come reagirà la Vedanta. Noi comunque resteremo a fianco dei Dongria, per imporre il rispetto del loro territorio e del loro stile di vita». Così forse, nonostante tutto, Sukul e le altre potranno continuare ad esistere. Nel loro piccolo paradiso verde, intorno alla montagna degli Dei.

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LE ANTICHISSIME  TRIBù DELL’INDIA

Chi sono e quanti sono gli aborigeni dell’India? I Dongria di cui si parla in questo articolo sono un piccolo sottogruppo della tribù dei Kondh, una delle 645 tribù riconosciute come tali dallo Stato indiano. I membri di queste tribù sono aborigeni che vivono in India “da sempre”, cioè da molto prima che l’India venisse invasa e conquistata dai popoli arii (o ariani) nel secondo millennio avanti Cristo. Gli aborigeni indiani sono noti con il nome di “Adivasi” (che significa appunto “abitanti originari”) e oggi sono circa 85 milioni di persone, cioè l’8,2% del totale della popolazione indiana.

Come vivono gli aborigeni in India? Le tribù aborigene dell’India conducono una vita molto ai margini della società indiana. Sono minoranze etniche con lingua e cultura propria, vivono in zone isolate o difficilmente accessibili (come montagne e foreste), sono povere e si nutrono con la caccia, la pesca o con un’agricoltura primitiva. Tendono ad avere pochi contatti con gli altri indiani.

Com’è la situazione in Orissa? I Dongria, di cui parliamo nell’articolo, sono una delle 62 tribù che vivono nello stato indiano dell’Orissa. I tribali dell’Orissa sono circa 7 milioni di persone e vivono in una condizione di sottosviluppo: il 72% vive al di sotto della soglia di povertà e il 66% è analfabeta. Fra le donne, il tasso di alfabetizzazione raggiunge appena l’8,3%, eppure sono loro a mandare avanti la società e l’economia delle tribù.

Survival International present a book We Are One to celebrate the lives, homelands and values of tribal peoples, much of it in the face of the unequal, unjust exploitation of the earth’s natural resources.

Speaking of the worlds rescources, two things:  Naomi Klein has just penned some thoughts on the upcoming conference on climate change in Copenhagen….Oh bama! Secondly, Sigourney Weaver narrates the Acid Test documentary which is available to view online.

Produced alongside tribal rights campaigners Survival International, Marco Bechis’ Birdwatchers details beautifully the ongoing ideological battle between Brazil’s indigenous people and local landowners, working both as an absorbing narrative and a means of raising awareness. Directly addressing the cultural dislocation suffered by Mato Grosso’s marginalized Guarani-Kaiowá tribespeople, Bechis encourages recognition of their plight, a recognition which, according to Survival’s campaigns co-ordinator Fiona Watson, is central to their endurance.

“On one level they felt really proud, recognized, there’s that feeling of wanting to share, not just the problems, but their spirituality. It’s about talking about them as a people, their identity and culture, but also a realisation that this could be a very important tool in this land struggle.”

Highlighting the disintegrating tribe’s fruitless efforts in their fight for ancestral lands, Bechis conjures a grim state of affairs which, as Watson has experienced, is all too real. “If you take Ambrósio who played Nádio in the film, when I first met him a few years ago, he and his community were living on the side of the road and there was no hope. They’d been evicted by a cattle rancher, they were starving. What you saw in the film was his community.”

As in Nádio’s case, most of the actors are genuine Guarani-Kaiowá members, only one of whom having previously set foot in a cinema; “from what they’ve told me, it was a really amazing experience because they were very interested in the whole medium of film.” But, with their subsequent return to real life posing much the same predicament as their characters, actors are challenged by bleak prospects: “the reality of it is that they’ve all gone back, and are facing huge problems to do with land, to do with security, to do with food.”

And while Kaiowá actors enjoyed the film making process and their consequent ascent to film festival fame, its remarkable detachment from tribal roots reflects a troubling unrest amongst younger members, whose allegiance to their community continues to be rocked by the ever-powerful West: “they’re pulled between two worlds and I think a lot of them want to be in their own world, but they can’t because that doesn’t exist without the land.” Perhaps most distressing, as Watson believes, is the widely acknowledged and steadily increasing rate of native American suicides; “young people just don’t see a future or any hope, and they don’t particularly want to, or they know they can’t, make it in the ‘white’ world, so the alternative is to kill yourself.”

However, with a flourishing fundraising campaign in place, Survival aims not only to provide a tangible means of support for local tribal organizations, but also to help Brazil’s indigenous people gain the recognition and respect they rightfully deserve – key to stemming teen suicides. Much boosted by the success of Bechis’ associated film, Watson considers Survival’s unique public action-orientated approach to be crucial to the Guarani’s ongoing struggle: “our philosophy is not just about raising the money; it’s that individuals can be a force for change.” And in the week that has seen 130 Guarani-Kaiowá Indians evicted from their land and forced to live on the roadside, the need for change, it seems, is more urgent than ever.

Call for napalm bombing of ’savages’ wins Survival racism award

26 August 2009

An article implying Peruvian Indians should be bombed with napalm has been named by human rights organisation Survival International as the ‘most racist article’ published in the last year by the mainstream media.

The article was published in the Peruvian national newspaper Correo. It calls indigenous people ‘savages’, ‘Palaeolithic’ and ‘primitive’; says that their languages have no more than eighty words; and declares that, in the protests that have recently engulfed much of Peru’s Amazon, they were manipulated by ‘communist excrement’.

‘For those of you who still think of these ‘ethnic groups’ as ‘good’, ‘naïve’ and ‘pure’, I will remind you that it was these same people who perfected the art of shrinking the heads of their enemies and wearing them on the belts holding up their loincloths. If the ‘natives’ didn’t shrink the heads of the policemen they killed (in the recent protests) and eat their remains, it was only because there wasn’t time.’

The article also attacks three indigenous congresswomen, ridiculing their names and referring to them as the ‘three starlets in the parliamentary sewers’. Its response to the indigenous protests against the exploitation of natural resources on their land is: ‘Get f****d, loincloths and all’. The penultimate sentence is: ‘I don’t know what keeps the president from providing the air force with all the napalm necessary.’

The ‘most racist article of the year’ award is part of Survival’s ‘Stamp it Out’ campaign which aims to challenge racist descriptions of indigenous peoples in the world’s media. The winner receives a certificate inscribed with a quotation from Lakota Sioux author Luther Standing Bear: ‘All the years of calling the Indian a savage has never made him one.’

Stamp it Out is supported by eminent journalists such as the BBC’s World Affairs correspondent John Simpson, George Monbiot, John Vidal, and best-selling authors Tim Butcher and Simon Garfield.

Survival’s director, Stephen Corry, said today, ‘This article makes depressing reading for anyone who thinks newspapers should educate and inform their readers. We hope the publicity this award receives will make the paper think twice before printing such offensive rubbish again.’

Read an English translation of the article

For more information and images please contact Miriam Ross:
T (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or (+44) (0)7504543367
E mr@survival-international.org

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1DIemlpZIk

Andrés Bedoya Ugarteche vs. an ex leftist Congressman Ricardo Letts Colmenares

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMw_ImQvaw8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qVhtGej7nM

Video source: You Tube by perumedia1

It is true that the writter Andres Bedoya Ugarteche of the ’most racist article of the year’ offended the Peruvian Amazon natives and any inteligent human being who read part of his article shown down here, but, ideas should be discuss with ideas- Unfortunately, in the video shown up here, a popular Peruvian comedian named ‘Cholo Cirilo’ just insulted him making a joke about Bedoya Ugarteche’s place of birth that is Arequipa not so loved in Perú.

Who do you believe indoctrinated that pseudo-native chuncho1, the one wearing the ridiculous feathered hat, to organise the entire slaughter and then escape over the rooftops like the rat that he is15 (I hope the rats forgive me for the comparison)? – with the help, no less, of the Huarilloccllas and the Choquecallatas in Congress, who should be chained and thrown into the coldest, dampest dungeon in Lurigancho.16

And to add to our misfortune, all this will go on . . . and on. I don’t know what keeps the president from providing the air-force with all the napalm necessary.

1 Offensive Spanish slang used to refer to indigenous people in the Amazon.

15 A reference to AIDESEP’s president, Alberto Pizango who, following the violence in Bagua, has been charged with ‘sedition and rebellion’ and has sought asylum in Nicaragua. 16 A prison in Lima.

The good thing Bedoya Ugarteche said was he did mention the word napalm cause was angry for the events happened in Bagua where natives killed policemen. On the other hand to be racist today means to be stupid since every race is mixed with some other, there is no one ‘pure’. It would be as humans were dogs asked for pedigree.

Um chamado para bombardear “selvagens” com napalm ganha prêmio de racismo

A organização de direitos humanos Survival International outorgou o prêmio ao artigo mais racista publicado em um meio de comunicação prioritário no ano passado a uma noticia que insinua que os indígenas peruanos deveriam ser bombardeados com napalm.

O artigo, que foi publicado no jornal nacional El Correo, se refere aos indígenas como pessoas “selvagens”, “paleolíticas” e “primitivas”; diz que suas línguas não têm mais do que oitenta vocábulos e declara que, nos protestos vividos recentemente em grande parte da Amazônia peruana, os indígenas foram manipulados pelo “excremento comunista”.

“Para aqueles que ainda consideram estas `etnias’ como grupos humanos de pessoas `boas’, `ingênuas’ e `cândidas’, lhes recordo que foram estas as que aperfeiçoaram a arte de reduzir as cabeças de seus inimigos e levá-las nos cintos de pele que seguravam seus tapa-sexo (…) Em todo caso, se os `nativos’ não fizeram o mesmo com os 25 policiais que assassinaram e comeram seus restos, foi somente por falta de tempo.”

O artigo também ataca três congressistas indígenas, ridicularizando seus nomes e referindo-se a eles como “três vedetes do esgoto parlamentar”. Sua resposta ao protesto indígena contra a exploração de seus recursos naturais em sua terra é: “Vão todos à m…!”. A penúltima frase é: “Não sei o que espera Alan [García, Presidente do Peru] que não aciona a sua FAP [Força Aérea Peruana] com todo o napalm necessário.

O prêmio ao “artigo mais racista do ano” é parte da campanha de Survival “Racismo na Mídia”, que tem como objetivo questionar as descrições racistas de povos indígenas nos meios de comunicação de todo o mundo. O ganhador recebe um certificado inscrito com uma citação do autor lakota sioux Luther Standing Bear (Urso de Pé): “Tantos anos chamando o indígena de selvagem não o converteram em um”.

“Racismo na Mídia” conta com o apoio de importantes jornalistas, tais como Lorenzo Milá, Rosa Montero, Carmen Sarmiento, Rosa María Calaf, John Simpson, correspondente de assuntos internacionais da BBC, George Monbiot, John Vidal e os autores de best-sellers Tim Butcher e Simon Garfield.

Fontes internas de Survival expressaram hoje: “Este artigo é uma leitura deprimente para quem pensa que os periódicos deveriam educar e informar os seus leitores. Esperamos que a publicidade que este prêmio receberá faça com que o jornal pense duas vezes antes de publicar tal lixo ofensivo de novo”.

Leia esta notícia online: http://www.survival.es/noticias/4901

Penan armed with blowpipes block road as Shin Yang logging trucks approach.

Protests by the Penan tribe in Borneo have escalated, with twelve villages coming together to mount new road blockades against the logging and plantation companies that are destroying their rainforest.

Journalists covering at the blockades were intercepted by police with machine guns and taken away for questioning.

Hundreds of Penan have blocked roads at three new locations in the interior of Sarawak, in the Malaysian part of the island of Borneo. The protestors are demanding an end to logging and plantations on their land without their consent, and recognition of their land ownership rights.

Via Survival International.

Incredible video of Resistance from Survival International.

Survival’s new short film, ‘Mine’, tells the story of the remote Dongria Kondh tribe’s struggle to protect the mountain they worship as a God.

London-based mining company Vedanta Resources plans a vast open-cast bauxite mine in India’s Niyamgiri hills, and the Dongria Kondh know that means the destruction of their forests, their way of life, and their mountain God.

James Petras, in an essay that is being widely reproduced across the web (as it will be here as well), articulates a series of critical points regarding the nature of the Peruvian regime, the political history of President Alan García (profile) and his APRA party (which continues to use grand revolutionary symbols), and its service to the local Euro-Peruvian elites and international capital. As a Latin Americanist with a research records that spans numerous decades, it is worth paying close attention to Dr. Petras’ analysis.

I initially read this essay on Canadian Dimension.

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Peru: Blood Flows in the Amazon

James Petras | June 12th 2009

In early June, Peruvian President Alan García, an ally of US President Barack Obama, ordered armored personnel carriers, helicopter gun-ships and hundreds of heavily armed troops to assault and disperse a peaceful, legal protest organized by members of Peru’s Amazonian indigenous communities protesting the entry of foreign multinational mining companies on their traditional homelands. Dozens of Indians were killed or are missing, scores have been injured and arrested and a number of Peruvian police, held hostage by the indigenous protestors were killed in the assault. President García declared martial law in the region in order to enforce his unilateral and unconstitutional fiat granting of mining exploitation rights to foreign companies, which infringed on the integrity of traditional Amazonian indigenous communal lands.

Alan García is no stranger to government-sponsored massacres. In June 1986, he ordered the military to bomb and shell prisons in the capital holding many hundreds of political prisoners protesting prison conditions – resulting in over 400 known victims. Later obscure mass graves revealed dozens more. This notorious massacre took place while García was hosting a gathering of the so-called ‘Socialist’ International in Lima. His political party, APRA (American Popular Revolutionary Alliance) a member of the ‘International’, was embarrassed by the public display of its ‘national-socialist’ proclivities, before hundreds of European Social Democrat functionaries. Charged with misappropriation of government funds and leaving office with an inflation rate of almost 8,000% in 1990, he agreed to support Presidential candidate Alberto Fujimori in exchange for amnesty. When Fujimori imposed a dictatorship in 1992, García went into self-imposed exile in Colombia and later, France. He returned in 2001 when the statute of limitations on his corruption charges had expired and Fujimori was forced to resign amidst charges of running death squads and spying on his critics. García won the 2006 Presidential elections in a run-off against the pro-Indian nationalist candidate and former Army officer, Ollanta Humala, thanks to financial and media backing by Lima’s rightwing, ethnic European oligarchs and US overseas ‘AID’ agencies.

Back in power, García left no doubt about his political and economic agenda. In October 2007 he announced his strategy of placing foreign multi-national mining companies at the center of his economic ‘development’ program, while justifying the brutal displacement of small producers from communal lands and indigenous villages in the name of ‘modernization’.

García pushed through congressional legislation in line with the US-promoted ‘Free Trade Agreement of the Americas’ or ALCA. Peru was one of only three Latin American nations to support the US proposal. He opened Peru to the unprecedented plunder of its resources, labor, land and markets by the multinationals. In late 2007, García began to award huge tracts of traditional indigenous lands in the Amazon region for exploitation by foreign mining and energy multinationals. This was in violation of a 1969 International Labor Organization-brokered agreement obligating the Peruvian government to consult and negotiate with the indigenous inhabitants over exploitation of their lands and rivers. Under his ‘open door’ policy, the mining sector of the economy expanded rapidly and made huge profits from the record-high world commodity prices and the growing Asian (Chinese) demand for raw materials. The multinational corporations were attracted by Peru’s low corporate taxes and royalty payments and virtually free access to water and cheap government-subsidized electricity rates. The enforcement of environmental regulations was suspended in these ecologically fragile regions, leading to wide-spread contamination of the rivers, ground water, air and soil in the surrounding indigenous communities. Poisons from mining operations led to massive fish kills and rendered the water unfit for drinking. The operations decimated the tropical forests, undermining the livelihood of tens of thousands of villagers engaged in traditional artisan work and subsistence forest gathering and agricultural activities.

The profits of the mining bonanza go primarily to the overseas companies. The García regime distributes state revenues to his supporters among the financial and real estate speculators, luxury goods importers and political cronies in Lima’s enclosed upscale, heavily guarded neighborhoods and exclusive country-clubs. As the profit margins of the multinationals reached an incredible 50% and government revenues exceeded $1 billion US dollars, the indigenous communities lacked paved roads, safe water, basic health services and schools. Worse still, they experienced a rapid deterioration of their everyday lives as the influx of mining capital led to increased prices for basic food and medicine. Even the World Bank in its Annual Report for 2008 and the editors of the Financial Times of London urged the García regime to address the growing discontent and crisis among the indigenous communities. Delegations from the indigenous communities had traveled to Lima to try to establish a dialogue with the President in order to address the degradation of their lands and communities. The delegates were met with closed doors. García maintained that ‘progress and modernity come from the big investments by the multinationals…,(rather than) the poor peasants who haven’t a centavo to invest.’ He interpreted the appeals for peaceful dialogue as a sign of weakness among the indigenous inhabitants of the Amazon and increased his grants of exploitation concessions to foreign MNCs even deeper into the Amazon. He cut off virtually all possibility for dialogue and compromise with the Indian communities.

The Amazonian Indian communities responded by forming the Inter-Ethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP). They held public protests for over 7 weeks culminating in the blocking of two transnational highways. This enraged García, who referred to the protestors as ‘savages and barbarians’ and sent police and military units to suppress the mass action. What García failed to consider was the fact that a significant proportion of indigenous men in these villages had served as rmy conscripts, who fought in the 1995 war against Ecuador while others had been trained in local self-defense community organizations. These combat veterans were not intimidated by state terror and their resistance to the initial police attacks resulted in both police and Indian casualties. García then declared ‘war on the savages’ sending a heavy military force with helicopters and armored troops with orders to ‘shoot to kill’. AIDESEP activists report over one hundred deaths among the indigenous protestors and their families: Indians were murdered in the streets, in their homes and workplaces. The remains of many victims are believed to have been dumped in the ravines and rivers.

Conclusion

The Obama regime has predictably not issued a single word of concern or protest in the face of one of the worst massacres of Peruvian civilians in this decade – perpetrated by one of America’s closest remaining allies in Latin America. García, taking his talking points from the US Ambassador, accused Venezuela and Bolivia of having instigated the Indian ‘uprising’, quoting a letter of support from Bolivia’s President Evo Morales sent to an intercontinental conference of Indian communities held in Lima in May as ‘proof’. Martial law was declared and the entire Amazon region of Peru is being militarized. Meetings are banned and family members are forbidden from searching for their missing relatives.

Throughout Latin America, all the major Indian organizations have expressed their solidarity with the Peruvian indigenous movements. Within Peru, mass social movements, trade unions and human rights groups have organized a general strike on June 11. Fearing the spread of mass protests, El Commercio, the conservative Lima daily, cautioned García to adopt some conciliatory measures to avoid a generalized urban uprising. A one-day truce was declared on June 10, but the Indian organizations refused to end their blockade of the highways unless the García Government rescinds its illegal land grant decrees.

In the meantime, a strange silence hangs over the White House. Our usually garrulous President Obama, so adept at reciting platitudes about diversity and tolerance and praising peace and justice, cannot find a single phrase in his prepared script condemning the massacre of scores of indigenous inhabitants of the Peruvian Amazon. When egregious violations of human rights are committed in Latin America by a US backed client-President following Washington’s formula of ‘free trade’, deregulation of environmental protections and hostility toward anti-imperialist countries (Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador), Obama favors complicity over condemnation.

Dozens of people are estimated to have been killed last week in clashes between police and indigenous activists protesting oil and mining projects in the northern Peruvian Amazonian province of Bagua.  Peruvian authorities have declared a military curfew, and troops are patrolling towns in the Amazon jungle.  Authorities say up to twenty-two policemen have been killed, and two remain missing.  The indigenous community says at least forty people, including three children, were killed by the police.

London-based Survival International, which promotes tribal rights, called Friday’s melee “Peru’s Tiananmen Square,” comparing it to China’s bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.  Please visit Amazon Watch to learn more.

‘Peruvian Indians are being driven to desperate measures to try and save their lands which have been stolen from them for five centuries.

‘Their protests signal that the colonial era has finally drawn to a close. No longer are Amazon Indians prepared to put up with the illegal and brutal treatment which has been routine. That’s finished. This is the Amazon’s Tiananmen. If it finishes the same way, it will also end Peru’s international reputation.

‘Oil companies operating in Peru should suspend their operations until calm is restored and the Indians’ communal land rights are properly respected – only then can they negotiate as equals.’ — Stephen Corry, Director, Survival International, 8 June 2009

The Government of Peru, under the presidency of APRA’s Alan García, has taken the dangerous step of backing up its intentions to allow oil companies to occupy and devastate indigenous lands with fierce violence. Over the past few days, heavily armed police, decked out as storm troopers (they look almost identical worldwide), have gone to the Amazon to forcibly remove thousands of protesting indigenous people from a blockade they had mounted to protest and impede encroaching oil and natural gas exploration, logging, and the threat of large-scale agriculture. The protesters come from many indigenous groups, including Achuar, Arabela, Asháninka, Awajún, Huambisa, Kichwa, Matsigenka, Shawi and Wampis.

The government of García, with the support of the national Congress, decreed new laws in compliance with a U.S.-Peru trade free trade agreement. According to an AP report, García, who as a previous president had challenged international financial institutions, is now “a free-market champion who is opening vast tracts of jungle to oil exploration by companies including France’s Perenco SA, Spain’s Repsol-YPF and U.S.-based ConocoPhillips.” Survival International adds to that list Canada’s Petrolifera and Brazil’s Petrobras. According to Survival International, already 70% of the Peruvian Amazon has been auctioned off to transnational oil corporations.

At least 30 indigenous protesters have been killed, and the videos below demonstrate some of the excessive force used by the police. Undaunted and fighting back, indigenous fighters killed some 23 policemen (see the news report sympathetic to the police at the very bottom of this post), some having been allegedly abducted, disarmed, speared, and in some cases their throats were slit. Appealing to long-established Latin American racist imagery, President García has accused the indigenous protesters of “savagery” and “barbarity”.

In addition, García has called for the arrest of Segundo Alberto Pizango Chota, the leader of AIDESEP, an organization representing 350,000 indigenous people of 57 native Amazonian nations, comprising 1,350 communities and 16 different language groups. AIDESEP is a constituent member of COICA, a trans-national Amazonian indigenous federation. Pizango has taken refuge in the Embassy of Nicaragua in Lima, which has agreed to grant him political asylum (see Survival International for more).

I personally would like to make it explicit that I fully support any actions that the indigenous protesters themselves deem to be appropriate in resisting internal colonization and further expropriation. They have every right to defend their land and their communities, and as in Canada, and other imperial states running various occupation regimes, the state’s use of violence is indefensible and must be countered by all means available.

To support Peru’s Indians, and for more news, see Survival International, and especially:

Indian leader forced into exile as President calls protesters ‘savages’ (10 June 2009)

Oil companies ‘should withdraw’ as Peru ‘faces its Tiananmen’ (8 June 2009)

‘Dalai Lama of the rainforest’ condemns Peruvian violence (8 June 2009)

‘27 dead’ as blockade broken up by authorities (5 June 2009)

Please be advised that the videos below sometimes show very graphic scenes of violence and in some cases dead bodies. The three Spanish language news videos are from Peruvian television, the first two from Punto Final.

Petite revue du net pour vous informer des évènements qui secouent le Pérou depuis quelques semaines et qui ont pris un cours dramatique ce week-end à la suite d’affrontements meurtriers entre policiers et nativos. Pour résumer TRES simplement, le congrès péruvien a voté des décrets autorisant l’exploitation de nouveaux lots pétroliers en Amazonie, sans prendre en considération le droit de propriété de la terre des autochtones. Ces derniers manifestent depuis près de deux mois en bloquant les principales voies de communication (routes et fleuves) et réclament l’abrogation de ces décrets et l’ouverture de négociation. Le gouvernement refuse, pour le moment, tout compromis, et a envoyé la police lever les blocus routiers. Au cours de cette opération, plusieurs policiers et indigènes ont trouvé la mort. Quelques policiers ont également été pris en otage. Le bilan “officiel” est de 34 morts, mais il est très contesté avec notamment des suspicions d’existence de fosses communes. Ce qui n’est pas sans rappeler les pires heures de la guerre civile qu’a connu le Pérou de 1980 à 1992.

La course au pétrole tue en Amazonie péruvienne (Rue 89)

Le leader indigène Pizango fuit la tension après les violences de Bagua (AFP). Il est recherché par la justice péruvienne après les affrontements de ce week-end. Il pourrait trouver refuge politique au Nicaragua.

L’ONG Survival International, qui défend les peuples indigènes appelle les compagnies pétrolières à suspendre leurs activités. Le directeur de Survival International, Stephen Corry, a notamment déclaré :

‘Les Indiens péruviens sont contraints de prendre des mesures désespérées pour tenter de sauver les terres qui leur ont été spoliées depuis cinq siècles.

‘Ces mouvements de protestation sont le signe que l’ère coloniale est définitivement révolue. Les Indiens amazoniens ne se laisseront plus traiter avec la brutalité et l’injustice qui ont inlassablement régné jusqu’à présent. Cette époque est terminée. C’est le Tiananmen de l’Amazonie et s’il se termine de la même façon, cela entâchera définitivement la réputation du Pérou.

Et voici le communiqué de Catapa une Ong belge présente sur place :

Des volontaires de CATAPA, une ONG flamande qui travaille sur le thème des mines en Amérique Latine étaient présents durant les troubles survenus ces dernières heures à Bagua dans le nord du Pérou. CATAPA dénonce la violence, condamne la réaction du gouvernement péruvien e appuie la revendication légitime des peuples indigènes qui exige d’être partie prenante dans les décisions prises pour le développement de l’Amazonie péruvienne. Nos volontaires Marijke Deleu y Thomas Quirynen sont évacués de la région en ce moment.

Le conflit qui perdure à Bagua entre l’état péruvien et la population indigène de la région “Amazona” s’est soldé par des confrontations violentes le vendredi 5 juin lorsque les forces policières tentèrent par la force de déloger ceux qui bloquaient la route. Selon les différentes sources il y auraient entre 30 et 84 morts et une centaines de blessés. D’après ,les sources officielles de la police, les indigènes ont tirés les premiers sur les forces de sécurité qui ont ensuite répliqué. Plusieurs représentants des indigènes contredisent cette version des faits et disent être seulement armés de leurs lances traditionnelles. La majorité d’entre eux confirme que la police à ouvert le feu sur eux depuis des hélicoptères. Thomas et Marijke ont vu comment la police emmenait les corps des victimes. « ils ,tentent ainsi de diminuer le nombre officiel de morts » nous commente Marijke de Deleu.

Un conflit annoncé :

Le conflit trouve son origine dans l’accès accordé aux entreprises multinationales présentent dans cette région du nord du Pérou riche en pétrole, en gaz et minéraux.

Durant presque 2 mois plus de 30.000 indigènes habitants les différentes provinces de l’Amazonie péruvienne et de hautes andines, menent une campagne de protestation dénonçant la manière avec laquelle l’état et les entreprises proposent d’investir dans l’exploitation des ressources naturelles.

Les peuples indigènes et les organisations paysannes exigent d’être partie prenante dans les décisions sur le développement de leur pays et en particulier de leur région.

Depuis 2 mois les routes étaient bloquées par les groupes indigènes. Durant ces 2 dernières années(années du gouvernement de l’actuel président Alan Garcia), plusieurs décrets ont été publiés retirant les restrictions écologiques et sociales à l’extraction des ressources naturelles. Cela permet de simplifier l’inversion étrangère directe au Pérou en facilitant l’exploitation des mines, du pétrole et du gaz.

Le 9 mai passé, le gouvernement péruvien à déclaré les 7 provinces de la région en état d’alerte ce qui signifie « retirer temporairement les garanties constitutionnelles sur la liberté et la sécurité des personnes et l’immunité de la résidence ». Officiellement il s’agit d’assurer l’accès des routes et des aéroports et d’éviter que la production des entreprises soit affectée par les actions menées par les indigènes. L’état d’urgence est hélas aussi un moyen de justifier l’utilisation de la violence comme ce fut le cas vendredi passé.

Les négociations entre les représentants de l’état et ceux des communautés indigènes furent rompues le 15 mai. Les indigènes décidèrent alors de continuer leurs actions. Depuis lors la protestation populaire et les réponses du gouvernement se sont faites de plus en plus sévères.

La convention 169 de l’organisation internationale du travail impose la consultation des peuples indigènes

La convention 169 de l’organisation internationale du travail oblige le gouvernement péruvien à consulter les peuples indigènes pour l’exploitation des ressources naturelles de leur territoire. Le gouvernement péruvien a ratifié cette convention en 1004. Une consultation de la population a eu lieu dans la région « Amazonas ». Elle conclus que la biodiversité et la vie des populations indigènes sont menacées. Mais dans le contexte actuel mondial de manque de ressources naturelles les gains potentiels sont énormes. Ni l’état péruvien ni les entreprises muiltinationales entre lesquelles la pétrolière française PERENCO et l’espagnole REPSOL, ne sont d’accord de perdre du temps dans ce conflit long à résoudre.

Le président Alan Garcia commentait dans l’une de ces déclarations gouvernementales que « dans la constitution, les ressources naturelles sont la propriété de tous les péruviens et que tous les péruviens doivent pouvoir profiter de ressources naturelles du pais » De leur côté, les organisations indigènes ne demandent pas la souveraineté unique sur l’Amazonie péruvienne sinon d’être partie prenante dans les décision concernant le développement de leur région. Alberto Pizango, leader ce la centrale AIDESEP des peuples indigènes de l’Amazonie déclare ; « Nous ne sommes pas contre le développement, mais nous voulons que le développement se fasse suivant notre vision »

Indymedia Peru propose également une liste de liens en espagnol sur le sujet.

Ill-treatments of Penan attract global attention

The longer the government keeps a lid on the task force findings report commissioned by the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development to investigate into the allegations of Penan women been sexually abused by loggers operating on their land, the more attention and criticisms it will draw from the international communities. Survival International, a renowned UK-based international organization supporting tribal peoples worldwide through education, advocacy and campaigns, released this statement Government urged to release findings on sexual abuse of Penan women on their website most recently.

Survival International campaigner Miriam Ross who returned to London earlier this month from a trip to the Borneo rainforests in Sarawak to investigate the plight of the Penan tribe and to find out about their struggle for survival, have spoken to Ruth Walker of Scotland on Sunday and Frances Tamburin of The Guardian Weekly.

“… The concept of survival has different connotations for different people. But there are some living on this diverse planet we call home for whom the meaning is very literal indeed.

It is not war that is threatening the Penan people of Sarawak in Borneo, nor is it disease. It is trees. Or rather, the lack of them. Traditional hunter-gatherers, the Penan are still semi-nomadic and rely heavily on the forests around them for food and shelter. But a combination of aggressive logging, oil palm plantations and damming is destroying the habitat around them, exposing them to widespread hunger, hardship and displacement, and threatening their very existence …”

Read the full article of Ruth Walker of Scotland on Sunday “For centuries the Penan tribes people have lived peacefully in Borneo’s rainforests. But they face a struggle for survival” here.

“… As well as deforestation, the Penan’s land is threatened by plans to build a series of hydroelectric dams in Sarawak. The first dam is already under construction, and the communities who live on that land have been ordered to leave. But the state of Sarawak already has the capacity to produce more electricity than it needs. The surplus electricity will be sold and exported to other parts of Malaysia.

I went to several of the communities who were being told to make way for these dams. They were worried about what to do and didn’t want to move. They would be given only a small area of land, per family, to farm in government resettlement areas. They would have to grow food in these plots, which is a far cry lifestyle they are used to. They should have the right to choose if they want to grow crops or be hunters, or a mixture of the two, which is what many of them now do.

In many other countries indigenous land rights are at least recognised on paper, but the Malaysian and Sarawak governments do not recognise the Penan’s rights. But the Penan are not giving up. They government are out of step. I think if there is enough international pressure on the Malaysian government, hopefully the Penan can see their rights recognised and their land protected.”

Read the full article of Frances Tamburin of The Guardian Weekly “Tribes Struggle to Survive in Borneo” here.

novethic.fr, Béatrice Héraud, le 8 avril 2009

L’info.fr en mode durable

Fin mars, Yann Arthus Bertrand lançait « Goodplanet.info », un site d’information sur le développement durable destiné au grand public. Un de plus dans une toile française qui verdit à vue d’œil, dopée par le Grenelle, les nouvelles opportunités de business et l’actualité. Panorama des principaux sites à consulter pour s’y retrouver.

Alors que les sites d’information générale lancent tour à tour leurs rubriques vertes, les sites spécialisés se développent de leur côté. En témoigne le nouveau portail Good Planet lancé le 31 mars dernier. 

Les généralistes 

Primeur au dernier né donc : GoodPlanet. Fondé par Yann Arthus Bertrand, ce site est pensé comme une vaste encyclopédie interactive. Il poursuit l’objectif de l’association dont il est le dérivé en permettant à l’internaute de « comprendre l’environnement et ses enjeux». Destiné au grand public donc, Good Planet dissèque chaque sujet avec une analyse des enjeux, des tribunes d’experts, les chiffres clés, une riche iconographie et des actualités. Ne disposant que d’une équipe restreinte (3 personnes), les informations sont essentiellement fournies par un réseau de partenaires : CNRS, Ecole normale de Lyon, AFP, Green TV, New Scientist et les universités de Toulouse et de Plymouth ainsi que par la reprise d’articles. Le site, à but non lucratif, est financé par BNP Paribas qui soutient l’association Good Planet depuis ses débuts.

Autre site grand public : Terra eco dont le but est de vulgariser l’économie et les enjeux du développement durable. Jusqu’à cette année réservé aux seuls abonnés à l’exception de quelques articles, le site s’est enrichi en même temps que la formule papier qui a fait son apparition dans les kiosques le 2 mars dernier. Terra eco et son pendant collaboratif gratuit Planète terra cumulent aujourd’hui 300 000 visiteurs par mois et fournissent  quelques articles “d’appel”, issus du magazine, en libre accès. Des news quotidiennes sur l’économie, la politique, la société, l’environnement… sont alimentées par un réseau de 70 journalistes et correspondants dans le monde ainsi que des internautes. Indépendant, Terra eco tire ses revenus de ses lecteurs (abonnements et ventes aux numéros), de la revente de contenus et de la publicité.

Quotidien, Développement durable le journal émane de  l’agence de presse Naja fondée en 1987. Depuis deux ans, le site balaie l’ensemble de l’actualité du développement durable avec des rubriques -économie, social, technologie, politique et initiatives- alimentées par une vingtaine de journalistes et des correspondants à l’étranger. Gratuit, il compte aujourd’hui plus de 165 000 visiteurs par mois.

Sur l’environnement 

Plus spécialisés sur l’environnement, actu-environnement, Enviro2b, et Actualités news environnement se disputent le créneau en proposant en plus des services emplois. Créé en 2003 par l’entreprise de presse Cogiterra, Actu-environnement vise un public de professionnels : ingénieurs, techniciens, chercheurs, responsables communications et marketing voire le grand public averti avec des informations techniques, règlementaires et économiques. Le site revendique 133 000 abonnés à sa newsletter hebdomadaire.
En ligne depuis 2000 et édité par la société rennaise, le site Web2B, Enviro2b diffuse lui aussi une information sur l’actualité par filière (eau, air, énergie, etc) aux professionnels par le biais d’informations quotidiennes et d’une newsletter. Mélange de d’articles, de tribunes et de communiqués, il dispose surtout d’une large base règlementaire et propose une revue de presse.
Dans la même veine, Actualités news environnement est un site édité par Recyconsult, « bureau spécialisé en conseil environnement, référencement, règlementation actualités et formation a distance sur internet ». Plutôt conçu comme un portail, il permet d’accéder à plusieurs sites spécialisés dans l’environnement : librairie, règlementation, actualité et emploi. Enfin, le portail Notre planète, réalisé et mis à jour par des passionnés bénévoles et chapeauté par Christophe Magdelaine (géographe et enseignant), propose des articles sur les enjeux environnementaux et le changement climatique.

Un site dédié à l’engagement

Tout nouveau, puisqu’en ligne depuis la mi-mars seulement, Youphil veut « décrypter un monde d’engagements ». Le site fondé par 9 associés venus du monde de l’entreprise ou des médias, dont l’ex-patron du monde Jean-Marie Colombani, vise un large public mais avec un point commun : l’engagement associatif, social, environnemental etc. C’est donc à travers ce prisme que sont développées toutes les informations (en français, anglais et espagnol) rédigées par une quinzaine de journalistes et correspondants, ainsi que des bloggeurs à travers le monde. Une newsletter gratuite hebdomadaire devrait être mise en place très prochainement pour le grand public avant l’arrivée à la fin de l’année, d’une autre, payante, destinée aux professionnels.

Sur l’économie

Plus récemment, des sites plus orientés business sont aussi apparus sur la toile. A l’image d’Ecolife, créé en 2006 par une société indépendante baptisée « Capitalisme durable ». Le site propose des analyses et solutions aux acteurs économiques soucieux du développement durable : dirigeants, investisseurs, communicants, etc. Composé de trois journalistes, il diffuse une newsletter hebdomadaire gratuite à 8 000 exemplaires mais fournit aussi ses contenus aux entreprises et à certains médias comme le Journal du Dimanche ou Eco89.
Plus spécialisé, Greenunivers est un site d’information économique et financière sur la cleantech créé par deux journalistes venues de la presse éco. Inspiré de sites américains, il cible essentiellement les professionnels : chefs d’entreprises, analystes, collectivités et autres du marché. Les deux newsletters – l’une concernant les deals fusions acquisitions et l’autre plus générale – ainsi que le fil d’info quotidien sont pour le moment gratuit mais des informations pointues devraient bientôt devenir payantes.

Les militants

Enfin, des sites plus institutionnels ou engagés fournissent une information originale. Lancé en 2002 depuis Johannesburg lors du sommet mondial sur le développement durable, Mediaterre est piloté par l’Institut de l’Energie et de l’Environnement de la Francophonie, un organe subsidiaire de l’Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. Le portail d’information est donc spécialisé sur le monde francophone, autour de rubriques sur la biodiversité, la jeunesse, les entreprises, les forêts, etc. Il est alimenté par les articles et communiqués de 22 organisations partenaires venues du monde de la francophonie et dont les auteurs sont identifiés par des profils accessibles aux quelque 8 500 visiteurs journaliers venus de 108 pays.

Par ailleurs, plusieurs ONG proposent des fils d’actualité sur leurs sites comme Greenpeace qui a mis en place une série de blogs thématiques accessibles depuis la page d’accueil (OGM, forêts, énergie …) ou Survival International qui donne les dernières informations sur les peuples indigènes menacés. De son côté, Planète Urgence propose une revue de presse hebdomadaire en piochant des articles dans les journaux et autres sites d’institutions ou d’ONG à travers le monde.

Survival International, a renowned UK-based international organization supporting tribal peoples worldwide through education, advocacy and campaigns, today warned that logging, oil palm plantations and hydroelectric dams are and will destroy the last remaining Sarawak rainforests and threaten the basic survival of the hunter-gatherer Penan tribe.

In a press statement released this week, its campaigner Miriam Ross has just returned from a trip to the Borneo rainforests in Sarawak to investigate the plight of the Penan tribe and to find out about their struggle for survival.

Ross says, ‘It was terrifying to see the devastation of the Penan’s land, and all the more so to know how quickly it is happening. I went to Penan communities where the loggers have taken so much of the forest that the animals have gone and the Penan have real difficulty finding food.

‘Where the forests have already been logged to death, they are being replaced with oil palm plantations for biofuels and other uses. Oil palm is even worse for the Penan than the logging, because the plantations leave no space for them to hunt or gather. Their way of life becomes impossible.

‘And this is not all. A series of twelve huge hydroelectric dams is planned for Sarawak, and will submerge the villages of Penan and other indigenous people. The first dam is already under construction, and the Penan in the area have been told they have to leave.

‘The Penan have spent years trying to prevent the devastation of their land and their lives by mounting road blockades. But they say, ‘Our voices are small compared to the government and the companies.’ They want help to make the Malaysian government listen to them before it is too late.’

Quoting a Penan man, the Survival International statement concludes: ‘The forest is like a bank for us. We’re not like the people in the towns who have money and can buy things. The forest is our life. If we lose it and everything it gives us, we will die.’

Survival International Website: http://www.survival-international.org

The full text of Survival International press statement, read here

SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE

6 April 2009

MALAYSIA: SURVIVAL CAMPAIGNER INVESTIGATES DAM AND BIOFUEL THREATS TO BORNEO TRIBE

A Survival campaigner has just returned from a trip to the Borneo rainforests to investigate the plight of the hunter-gatherer Penan tribe. The Penan are fighting to stop logging, oil palm plantations and hydroelectric dams destroying their last remaining forests.

London-based campaigner Miriam Ross travelled to Penan communities in the state of Sarawak, Malaysia, to find out about the Penan’s struggle for survival.

Ross says, ‘It was terrifying to see the devastation of the Penan’s land, and all the more so to know how quickly it is happening. I went to Penan communities where the loggers have taken so much of the forest that the animals have gone and the Penan have real difficulty finding food.

‘Where the forests have already been logged to death, they are being replaced with oil palm plantations for biofuels and other uses. Oil palm is even worse for the Penan than the logging, because the plantations leave no space for them to hunt or gather. Their way of life becomes impossible.

‘And this is not all. A series of twelve huge hydroelectric dams is planned for Sarawak, and will submerge the villages of Penan and other indigenous people. The first dam is already under construction, and the Penan in the area have been told they have to leave.

‘The Penan have spent years trying to prevent the devastation of their land and their lives by mounting road blockades. But they say, ‘Our voices are small compared to the government and the companies.’ They want help to make the Malaysian government listen to them before it is too late.’

One Penan man told Ross, ‘The forest is like a bank for us. We’re not like the people in the towns who have money and can buy things. The forest is our life. If we lose it and everything it gives us, we will die.’

–ENDS–

Photos and video footage available.

Miriam Ross is available for interview. Contact her on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or (+44) (0)7504 543 367 or email mr@survival-international.org

Human rights group Survival International has accused American evangelical missionaries of inciting racism and presenting false information with a controversial online video denouncing infanticide among Brazilian indigenous tribescalled “Hakani,” which has been viewed on YouTube over 350,000 times. The incident has put a spotlight on the fine line between digital activism and ethical responsibility.

The video depicts scenes, now deemed to be reenactments, of Indians in an Amazon village digging graves and burying several live children in them. It was directed by David Cunningham, the son of the founder of an American fundamentalist missionary organisation called ‘Youth with a Mission’, which has a branch in Brazil known as Jocum. The “Hakani” campaign also maintains a website and a Facebook groupwith more than 13,000 members. The campaign is urging people to donate money and write letters in support of the Muwaji’s Law, which is a proposed Brazilian law that would make infanticide by indigenous groups illegal. Survival said the film is “faked, that the earth covering the children’s faces is actually chocolate cake, and that the film’s claim that infanticide among Brazilian Indians is widespread is false.” While infanticide is common with some indigenous tribes with ill children, the practice has become more rare as medical access to rural communities has improved.

“I think the missionaries are stirring up hatred against the Indians, who they profess to be concerned about,” said Fiona Watson, a Brazil campaigner for Survival, in a Reuters interview. “The infanticide is not being explained, it’s being taken out of context. They have now suddenly become baby-killers.”

The aim of Stamp it Out is to get rid of the use of out-of-date and racist phrases like ‘stone-age’ and ‘primitive’ from the language used by some journalists and writers to describe tribal peoples.

What’s the problem? “It is incorrect because all societies adapt and change, and it is dangerous because it is often used to justify the persecution or forced ‘development’ of tribal peoples. The results are almost always catastrophic: poverty, alcoholism, prostitution, disease and death.”

Find out more and support the campaign here: www.survival-international.org

“I am worried about the destruction, because we don’t know if the people in the forest are still living. I had a sister among them”. - Native Amazon Indian (Arhi)

Unfortunately, with the expansion of certain corporations, comes the high price paid by uncontacted tribes, who suddenly find their world invaded by loggers. These  loggers bring with them violence and diseases, which the uncontacted Tribes have not yet developed their immune system to fight, so even the most common flu can have a devastating effect on these communities, killing many.

These videos are really important, and we urge you to take a few minutes out to watch them. They are essential viewing for any serious traveler/adventurer.

It is produced by Survival International who campaign tirelessly to fight for the rights of nomadic and uncontacted Tribes. The film features narration by Julie Christie.

We must recognise and protect nomadic and uncontacted Tribes, we must give them a choice on how they choose to interact with the world around them and put them back in control of their own environment.

Copio unha noticia sobre os indíxenas de Botswana tal e como aparece na páxina española de Survival International:

112 licencias mineras concedidas en territorio bosquimano desde las expulsiones

3 Marzo 2009

Desde que en 2002 los bosquimanos fueron forzados a abandonar su tierra en la Reserva de Caza del Kalahari Central (RCKC), el Gobierno de Botsuana ha concedido 112 licencias a empresas mineras para explorar en la reserva. De ellas, 16 se asignaron para la exploración de uranio y 40 para carbón.

El Gobierno expulsó a más de 600 bosquimanos de la reserva hace poco más de seis años, aunque siempre negó cualquier conexión entre la actividad minera y dichas expulsiones.

Kitso Mokaila, el Ministro de Medio Ambiente, Vida Salvaje y Turismo de Botsuana, expresó su apoyo a la actividad minera en la reserva con estas palabras: “La política del Gobierno de Botsuana siempre ha sido la de abrir minas allí donde hay minerales. Botsuana se ha hecho gracias a la fuerza de la minería. Será algo muy bueno [minar en la reserva]”.

Los bosquimanos ganaron el derecho a regresar a su tierra en la reserva en un juicio histórico en el Tribunal Supremo de Botsuana, en el que los jueces reconocieron que las expulsiones habían sido “ilegales” e “inconstitucionales”. Pese a ello, el Gobierno del país está haciendo todo lo posible para evitar que los bosquimanos regresen a su hogar, prohibiéndoles el uso de un pozo para extraer agua dentro de la reserva e impidiéndoles cazar para conseguir alimentos. Mientras tanto, cualquier mina de la reserva tendrá que perforar múltiples pozos para poder operar, causando importantes trastornos a los bosquimanos y a la fauna y flora.

Survival International siempre ha mantenido que se expulsó a los bosquimanos para abrir la reserva a la actividad minera. Lideramos una exitosa campaña contra la diamantífera De Beers hasta que la empresa vendió por 34 millones de dólares su concesión minera en la RCKC a Gem Diamonds, que ha seguido adelante con los planes mineros en la comunidad bosquimana de Gope.

En la actualidad Survival desarrolla una campaña contra Gem Diamonds y también contra Graff Diamonds, que posee un 9% de las acciones de Gem. La organización ha escrito a Victoria Beckham, Elizabeth Hurley y Naomi Campbell, que aparecen en la página web de Graff, pidiéndoles que dejen de ponerse diamantes de esta firma hasta que los bosquimanos puedan regresar libremente a sus hogares, usar el agua de su tierra y cazar.

Fuentes internas a Survival han declarado: “No es una coincidencia que el Gobierno de Botsuana haya otorgado más de cien licencias para la exploración dentro de la Reserva de Caza del Kalahari Central desde que echó de allí a los bosquimanos, o que ahora esté haciendo todo lo posible para mantenerlos lejos de su tierra. Los bosquimanos tienen derecho a ser consultados con respecto a la actividad minera en la reserva según establece el Derecho Internacional, pero ¿cómo van a participar en debates significativos sobre el uso de su tierra mientras el Gobierno les impide vivir en ella?”

Versión en inglés: “112 mining licences granted on Bushman land since evictions”.

Today I’m talking about whether or not money can ever *not* be the bottom line.

Money is soon likely to cause the displacement of a small tribe in India through the destruction of their home, and the loss of their lifestyle as a consequence is probable. Charity ActionAid has been fighting against plans for Vedanta Resources to mine the Niyamgiri Mountain, in eastern India, since 2004.

Last year it carried out a stunt in an attempt to garner support for the indigenous community that lives there. To catch peoples’ interest ActionAid filed an application to demolish St Paul’s Cathedral in London. The stunt was at the same time both not, and very, serious. The charity had no real intention of tearing down the much-beloved London building. But we each hold different things dear and ActionAid needed to illustrate just how important the Niyamgiri mountain was to people from three tribes, Dongria Kondh, Kutia Kondha and Jharania e Kondh.

To the British mining company Vedanta, which plans to extract bauxite from the mountain, the site’s value can be expressed in pounds.

But if the plans go ahead – which currently seems likely – the tribes who live there could lose their sacred mountain, and the psychological, emotional and physical damage of that is much more difficult to quantify.

ActionAid has, on its website, reported that Vedanta tried to start clearing ground to make way for the vast mining pit. And ActionAid adds that this was only stopped by a blockade as 800 Kondh protested and were supported by thousands of other people from the region.

Survival International, which is also fighting against the mining, alleges that Vedanta tried to start clearing the ground under the cover of darkness only days after announcing to international journalists that mining would start “within a month or two”. Well it was certainly that.

Survival’s director Stephen Corry has called the action an “appalling way for a major British company to behave”… and I would have to agree with him.

But it is not just these alleged actions that appall me, and I hope I am not alone.

It seems almost farcical that while charities and organisations raise and spend thousands of pounds trying to save indigenous tribes who have fallen victim to the world outside their simple living, the destruction of these lives continues.

How much better would it be not to ruin these lives in the first place, and so spend our money in another area of development.

These three tribes are certainly not alone in their struggle for survival.

For decades, communities in Brazil have been fighting for their land. In 2005 the Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, officially recognised the Raposa Serra do Sol land in the northern state of Roraima, as belonging to five tribes, the Macuxi, Ingarico, Taurepang, Patamona and Wapichana. But CAFOD says powerful farmers are still refusing the leave the land.

Another charity, Forest Peoples Programme, helps forest communities to survive and currently supports indigenous people in the Omo Basin in Ethiopia, in Paraguay, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and Suriname, among many many others.

Oxfam, UNICEF, the UN – all of these and more have stated the importance of preserving the “institutions, cultures and traditions” of these people.
So why doesn’t it actually happen?