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Wednesday, October 7th 2009

11:57 PM

Tribes in India determined to stop British mining company

www.survivalinternational.org/news/4978

"The great war has begun": Tribes in India determined to stop British mining company

Survival International
6 October


3,000 marched against Vedanta at yesterday's rally. 
3,000 marched against Vedanta at yesterday's rally. (c.) Satyabady Naik


Thousands of people rallied yesterday against billionaire Anil Agarwal's mining company, Vedanta Resources, which wants to mine a sacred mountain in India for aluminium ore. The event marked the end of a week-long march around the villages of the Niyamgiri mountains in Orissa.

The demonstration brought the town of Muniguda to a virtual standstill, shutting down the main road for several hours.

The crowd of over 3,000 protestors - comprising members of the Dongria Kondh tribe and other local communities - had a unified message for Vedanta: leave our forests, streams and sacred mountain alone.

One of the organizers of the rally, Balachandra Sarangi, said, "The Mahayudh [great war] against Vedanta has started- the people have united against Vedanta to oust it and never to allow mining of Niyamgiri."

Resistance to Vedanta's project in Orissa continues to grow. Yesterday's rally is the latest in a string of demonstrations, road blocks and marches organized by local communities determined to stop the mine.

Vedanta Resources intends to mine bauxite from the sacred mountain of the Dongria Kondh tribe in Orissa. The Dongria have never been consulted, even though the mine will destroy swathes of their forest, disrupt their water sources, and desecrate their most sacred site.

An appeal against the mine's environmental clearance is currently being heard in Delhi. Following complaints from Survival International, both the Indian Human Rights Commission and the UK government are investigating the case. The UK investigation addresses whether Vedanta's treatment of the Dongria Kondh breaches international guidelines for multinational companies.


Act now to help the Dongria Kondh
Your support is vital if the Dongria Kondh are to survive. Write to the Prime Minister of India asking his government to safeguard the Dongria Kondh's rights.

-- sample letter --

To: Dr Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister of India
Prime Minister's Office
South Block, Raisina Hill
New Delhi 110 001
India

[insert Date]

Dear Prime Minister,

I am extremely concerned about the future of the Dongria Kondh tribal people of Orissa state, in the light of the Supreme Court's decision to approve Sterlite/Vedanta's application to mine bauxite in the Niyamgiri hills.

Mining Niyamgiri will destroy the livelihoods, culture and self-sufficiency of the Dongria Kondh.

I understand that Sterlite/Vedanta is required to produce plans and funding for 'tribal development'. No amount of funds can compensate for the destruction of the mountain that the Dongria Kondh revere, or for the loss of their land and way of life. When tribal people lose their land, 'development' does not improve their quality of life. Rates of depression, addiction and suicide soar and rates of ill-health, especially among children, rise.

The Dongria Kondh, like all other citizens of India, have the right to basic health care and education, but this right should not be dependent on the construction of a mine which will destroy them.

Mining Niyamgiri without the Dongria Kondh's free, prior and informed consent would also violate the principles of the UN Declaration on Indigenous Peoples, for which India voted in September 2007.

I urge you to safeguard the rights of the Dongria Kondh, and to ensure that the proposed mine in the Niyamgiri hills is not allowed to go ahead.

Yours sincerely,
[+ your full name & full address]

-- end sample letter --

____
(c.) Survival International, 2009 Registered charity no. 267444 501(c)(3) registered nonprofit


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Wednesday, October 7th 2009

12:23 AM

ACTION ALERT - Guinea: No sanctions for massacre and rape?

Date: Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:25:36 -0700
From: "Alice Jay - Avaaz.org" avaaz@avaaz.org
Subject: No sanctions for massacre and rape?


Dear friends,

[] 


A bloody massacre in Guinea could undermine peace across West Africa. Sign the call for targeted sanctions on the Guinean junta and let's raise a popular outcry worldwide against this crackdown:

Last week, over 150 civilians were killed when the military opened fire on a peaceful pro-democracy rally in the West African country of Guinea. Women were raped and people were bayoneted on the streets as they tried to escape -- a terrifying message to a nation crying out to elect a democratic, civilian government for the first time.

In spite of the international community's condemnation of the violence and calls for the regime to allow elections, the junta is clinging to power, warning ominously that the army is acting beyond the chain of command. The tense situation threatens to spiral into inter-factional fighting or a counter-coup, which would likely see violence spill over and destabilize the whole region.

We need to act fast. The international community must send a clear message that unless the regime agrees to step down and allow a peaceful democratic transition, they will face immediate, tightly-targeted sanctions. The African and European Unions have discussed invoking travel and banking sanctions on the ruling elite, who love to fly and shop: this could be the best chance to have quick impact, without hurting Guinea's people -- who desperately need our help. We'll deliver this campaign to European and African leaders before they meet later this month -- click the link below to sign the petition and forward this email:

www.avaaz.org/en/guinea_stop_the_crackdown


The military ruler of Guinea, Capitan Moussa Dadis Camara, seized power in a military coup last year. He had agreed to step aside and allow for democratic elections next year -- but after months of tension, recently reneged on that promise. The people of Guinea have suffered over 50 years of brutal and corrupt dictatorships. Tens of thousands of civilians who attended last week's rally were clamouring for an end to military rule and opposing his candidacy in elections.

The violence against civilians was brutal. A human rights watch witness stated: "I saw the Red Berets [an elite unit within the military] catch some of the women who were trying to flee, rip off their clothes, and stick their hands in their private parts. Others beat the women, including on their genitals... the women were crying out."

Firm action is needed not just to make clear that we reject the violent repression of people anywhere who stand up to demand democratic and accountable government, but because what happens in Guinea will affect dozens of other fledgling democracies across Africa, where would-be dictators are closely watching the response from the international community. Years have been spent establishing a fragile peace in neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia. If Guinea blows, they too could be at risk.

An international inquiry is needed into the violence and the army must return to barracks. But a week after the massacre, opposition leaders remain in military detention, and Capitan Camara is shirking responsibility for the violence, blaming the opposition and banning all public 'subversive' meetings -- sending a clear signal that he isn't going step aside easily or bend to initial international declarations.

The regional body, Economic Community of West African States, has nominated a negotiator for Guinea. But any talks must be backed up by clear international pressure -- otherwise the mineral-rich regime could hold on, ruling through the biggest army in the region. A policy of targeted AU and EU sanctions, affecting the leadership personally, could be pivotal -- not only could it help halt more bloodshed, it could start to lay the foundation for a democratic transition.

www.avaaz.org/en/guinea_stop_the_crackdown


Guinea's people desperately need international help and support now. Let's stand with them, send a clear message to the Guinean military and forces across Africa who seek to rule by the gun that the time for repressive military rule is over. Sign the petition and send it on to family and friends:

www.avaaz.org/en/guinea_stop_the_crackdown

With hope,
Alice, Luis, Benjamin, Ricken, Graziela, Paula, Pascal, Iain and the whole Avaaz team.


More information:
* Guinea massacre tolls put at 157, BBC, 30 September
* Human Rights Watch witnesses from the rally
* Capitan Moussa Dadis Camara says army is out of control
* ECOWAS negotiator nominated 
* Violence in Guinea threaten the whole region 
* Guinea's Capital Fades Into a Ghost Town After Soldiers' Rampage, New York Times, 30 September  
* Guinea's military leader banned all gatherings and demonstrations until further notice, AP, 30 September 
* Guinea asks Russia to block UNSC sanctions 
* African Union statement on Guinean massacre 

____
ABOUT AVAAZ Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in Ottawa, London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Buenos Aires, and Geneva. Click here to learn more about our largest campaigns. Don't forget to check out our Facebook and Myspace and Bebo pages! You can also follow Avaaz on Twitter!
To contact Avaaz, please do not reply to this email. Instead, write to us via the webform at www.avaaz.org/en/contact. You can also call us at +1-888-922-8229 (US) or +55 21 2509 0368 (Brazil).

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Wednesday, October 7th 2009

12:19 AM

Global Mobilization for Mother Earth

www.movimientos.org/defensamadretierra/show_text.php3?key=15835

October 12 to 16, 2009

Global Mobilization for Mother Earth

Convocatoria en Español
Convocatoria en Italiana
 

The Earth is a live being and is seriously ill. We, her inhabitants, are those who are affecting her with the virus of developmentalism. We inhabit an ocean called the atmosphere, as fish live in water. Without it, there would be no life, because it contains oxygen and water, together with the forests and rains that give sustenance to live beings. But we are affecting her terribly.
 
The Pachamama generates climate phenomena to heal herself from global warming and she seeks a new balance that many life forms cannot tolerate. If we don't change course, the global temperature will increase by 2°C in a few years and the cataclysms will be uncontrollable. It will be the greatest social-environmental climatic catastrophe of human history.
 
Technological advances, thousands of industries, millions of vehicles, generate huge amounts of gases that contaminate and endanger the stability of life. Greed for profit and accumulation, the individualism of capitalism, have brought about a deep financial, economic, productive, social, cultural, racial and religious crisis. The speculative financial bubble, structural unemployment, social exclusion, global warming, cultural shock, racist violence and religious fanaticism, all simultaneously.
 
So many and such deep simultaneous crises form an authentic crisis of civilization itself: a crisis of the myth and the snare of "capitalist development and modernity"; of Eurocentrism, with its one-nation state, cultural homogeneity, Western positive law, developmentalism and commercialization.
 
Does this mean that we have lost the capacity to coexist with the planet? Has the time to change come? The Mother Earth will transform and save herself: our challenge is to save ourselves. This means taking urgent measures.
 
We, the indigenous peoples, for thousands of years have built civilizations based on balance and harmony between human beings and Mother Nature. For that reason, we knew how to conserve biodiversity and to produce foods essential for humanity, in societies without exploitation. Today we offer our values, our practices and our knowledge to save the planet; wthout capitalist imposition, destruction nor contamination.
 
Responding to this historic challenge and fulfilling the mandate of the 4th Continental Summit of Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities of Abya Yala, we CALL FOR the Global Minga*/Mobilization in Defense of Mother Earth and the Peoples, against the commodification of life (foodstuffs, water, biodiversity, natural goods); contamination and depredation (by mining, hydrocarbons, hydroelectric projects, logging, cattle ranches, agrofuels, GMOs); consumerism and criminalization of social struggle; and for setting up the Tribunal of Climate Justice.
 
From October 12 to 16, in every corner of the planet, all those who want to save life will raise our voices against capitalist aggression, expressed in the pillage and commodification of life. Because we know that other worlds are not only urgent: they are, above all, possible. And we are already building them.
 
(* "Minga": kichwa term meaning a collective community endeavor).

 
Organizations launching the call:
 
Coordinadora Andina de Organizaciones Indígenas (CAOI) / Coordinadora de las Organizaciones Indígenas de la Cuenca Amazónica (COICA) / Consejo Indígena de Centro América (CICA) / Movimiento de los Trabajadores Rurales Sin Tierra (MST) / Conferéncia de Nacions sense Estat d'Europa (CONSEU)  / IV Cumbre Continental de Pueblos y Nacionalidades Indígenas del Abya Yala / Indigenous, autochthonous, farmers', environmentalists and social movements of America, Africa, Asia and Europe.
 
 
Aims
* To fight for the continuation of life, for being at peace with the Earth, for the Greater Law, for natural goods and spirituality linked to the Pachamama, collective rights, natural laws, water for the future generations.

* To raise awareness in society on the necessity of coexisting with Nature, in balance with her.

* To raise an alert about the imminent danger of an environmental catastrophe that threatens the planet and to point to those responsible: global capitalism, transnational companies and complicit States.

* To demonstrate that it is possible to respond to this change from the proposals and practices of our peoples, in harmony and reciprocity with Mother Nature: with Good Living, plurinational States and an integration model based on fairness, reciprocity and complementariness. 

* To denounce neoliberal capitalism, that criminalizes social protest in order to impose the pillage and depredation of Mother Nature. 

* To demand amnesty for all indigenous and social leaders and environmental activists who are on trial for defending the rights of the peoples and of Mother Nature. 

* To implant the Tribunal of Climate Justice (Cochabamba, Bolivia, October 13 and 14), to judge transnational companies and complicit States, as the first step towards an International Tribunal on Environmental Crimes. 

* To open up the debate on the crisis of capitalist civilization, with the proposal of the indigenous peoples, so as to halt climate catastrophe.
 
 
Activities
* Manifestos by a wide range of organizations of indigenous and social movements, with alternatives to halt global climate and environmental catastrophe. 

* A memorial with concrete proposals to present to the Convention on Climate Change, Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN, Inter-American Commission on Human rights and similar organizations of other continents. 

* Mobilizations around the world (in urban and rural communities), for specific demands, at the local and national level, and the common goal of the Global "Minga".

* Sit-ins in front of UN offices and those of transnational companies in the extractive sector (hydrocarbons, mining, logging, water), and those of agrofuels and GMOs.

* Discussion forums and cultural or political rallies around defense of Mother Earth and the peoples, against the commodification of life, contamination and social criminalization.

* Holding Tribunals of Climate Justice to judge environmental crimes. 

* Assemblies to coordinate strategies towards the Alternative Summit to the Kyoto Protocol Conference (Copenhagen, December 2009).
 
 
Climate Justice Tribunal
 
85% of the gas emissions responsible for the green-house effect that causes global warming are generated in the richest countries. Only 3% in Latin America. But the harmful effects such as flooding and droughts hit the poorest countries hardest. Thus, developed countries have brought about a series of imbalances in poorer countries, which is the origin of the ecological debt owed to our peoples.
 
The model of irrational exploitation of natural goods is to blame, since it is imposed worldwide, devastating human rights, the collective rights of peoples and those of Mother Nature, creating imbalance.
 
For this reason, in accordance with the mandate of the 4th Continental Summit of Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities of Abya Yala, in alliance with a broad network of social movements and organizations from all around the planet, we are building the Tribunal of Climate Justice, to morally judge those who cause the environmental crisis. It will be installed on October 13 and 14 in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
 
The Tribunal of Climate Justice will make it possible to morally identify and impugn the transnational companies and complicit States that pillage natural goods and undermine the rights of the peoples and of Mother Nature. And it is a first step towards the creation of an International Tribunal of Environmental Justice, along the lines of the Court of The Hague.
 
Moreover, the Tribunal will give visibility to the cause-effect relation between the extractive corporate model of development imposed by transnational companies and climate change. The Tribunal will pass ethical judgment on those responsible for the ecological debt, caused by the consumerism that turns biodiversity into commodities.
 

Coordinadora Andina de Organizaciones Indígenas - CAOI
Jr. Carlos Arrieta 1049, Lima 1, Perú
Telefax 00511-2651061
Website: www.minkandina.org
e-Mail: prensa.caoi@gmail.com


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