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Massacre of Indigineous Amazonians in Peru - 25 dead and counting
international |
environment |
feature
Monday June 08, 2009 20:28 by Dunk - Transition Barcelona - from Oil dependancy to local resilience... fuspey at yahoo dot co dot uk Barcelona, el mundo
"This government disregards the indigenous people.” was what they said a week before being shot at from helicopters
Awajun, Wampis, mestizos y blancos unidos en defensa del territorio, luchando para derogatoria de los DS
Related Links:
Racism, Violence and Neo Nazism: Politics as usual in Santa Cruz
Bolivia |
Shell security attack Willie Corduff after illegal Glengad compound dismantled | Shell on Trial in New York for the Murder of Ken Saro Wiwa | Shell on CorpWatch.org | A Timeline of Oil and Violence | DemocracyNow.org: "Peruvian Police Accused of Massacring Indigenous Protesters in Amazon Jungle"
Basta! Latin America, for the first time in 500 years, is moving towards a degree of independence and a kind of integration, which is a prerequisite for independence So Peru is not Bolivia, BUT, perhaps the Amazonian tribes and peoples feel HOPE-ful, having seen their Andean compañer@s, their native brothers and sisters battle and win, or at least begin the journey toward victory. If direct action, peacefully blocking highways to prevent destruction, uniting the peoples, spreading word of the struggle worked there in Bolivia, perhaps the same might happen in Peru. Who knows, as so much positive change is happening in the continent in these strange and exciting days. Like many places in the rest of America Latina, Peru has seen its fair share of violence and murder. Only last month, the head of government some time back, Alberto Fujimori, received 25 years in prison for massacres- the first time a democratically elected Latin American president has been found guilty in his own country of such offences. It has been claimed that the present head of Government, Alan García, who had a deep close relationship with Fujimori and who gave the orders for yesterday's blood letting, is not un-familiar with the use of assassination and murder of local peoples, like what happened in the Ayacucho region in the late 80´s resulting in deaths of thousands. Speaking on Democracy Now, Indigenous Activists spokesman Miguel Palacin, who helped organize the fourth Continental Summit of Indigenous People which happened in Peru last week, stated: “The government of Peru is really going against the rights of native people. The indigenous territories are being handed over to mining companies, oil companies and loggers. And today, after a forty-nine-day protest by the indigenous people, there is still no answer. We have an unstable government. And from here, we will send a message to the world to say that this government disregards the indigenous people.” Yesterday, sadly, he told reporters in Peru's capital, Lima: "I hold the government of President Alan Garcia responsible for ordering the genocide," indigenous leader Alberto Pizango . In a recent award winning film by Australian long time journalist John Pilger, The War on Democracy, he outlined very graphically the bloody story that has happened in Latin America, much of the causes of the conflicts, how brutally people were attacked, arrested, tortured, murdered... Some horrific stories, which, although Pilger did not mention in the film, also happened with similar brutality in Peru. Thankfully, much of the continent is awakening and massive change is underway, but still there are areas where the old ways have not changed; as we saw in Peru yesterday. But, as words spread, and as anger grows, we have HOPE. We can take a stand with our brothers and sisters in this, their difficult time, learn from them, listen to their fears and do what we can, wherever we are, whatever we are, to assist them. How we do that, I'm not too sure, but it's heartening to see that people are finally waking up to the full impact of destruction that has been, and still is being, caused at the closing days of one of the most destructive epochs in our collective story on this little planet of limited resources: The Oil Age. HOME, Pachamama, 3rd rock from the sun... As stated, the day the Peruvian government choose to attack was World Environmental Day, so while some of us were here in Barcelona´s CCCB watching the beautiful, sad and at times depressing, then uplifting film about our HOME, people in Peru were moving their dead comrades out of harm's way after being fired upon at 5am in the morning (Peru time) Globally speaking, things have got so bad, in terms of the cancerous, sick and corrupt political systems, irreversible destruction to earth's bio diversity, massive inequality and poverty for most people of the planet, that something profoundly strange is happening, the likes of which we have never experienced before: A movement, seemingly from nowhere, has somehow, somewhere been born and is growing; a movement of movements. US ecologist Paul Hawken has aptly called it the Blessed Unrest, and likens it to the immune system of humanity finally kicking in. Social Justice, Environmental protection and Indigenous are the 3 strands that comprise this morphing organism... To add to that, new communication tools are being created and morphing to permit quick passage of critical informations to this ever widening community, to increase our collective resilience and to take appropriate action to put a stop to the planet's cancer and start to reverse the damage. Hopefully the deaths in Peru will further assist in this global connectivity and action. (indymedia, WISER earth and various NING sites all assist in this strange platform) As we face the realities of THE OIL AGE and peak oil time that we are either quick approaching or already experiencing, many of us are beginning the TRANSITION away from oil dependence to local resilience. This is the time of "Thinking Global, acting local", but also of "Thinking Global, acting global, as well as continually thinking local, acting local, at the same time." ***Links*** --- Massacre in Peru Peru police use snipers to kill in Bagua http://incakolanews.blogspot.com/2009/06/peru-police-us....html Amazon: International Tribunal to prosecute genocide of Alan García. " We must stop the slaughter of Indigenous. Organizations from six countries accuse the president of Peru for slaughter and genocide. Bolivia believes that Garcia is a tool of imperialism to undermine the progress of peoples. http://www.kaosenlared.net/noticia/amazonia-tribunal-in...-hay- VIDEO - Official condemnation of the 25 deaths of PEACEFUL PROTESTORS, CONDENAN MASACRE 25 MUERTOS INDIGENAS ABALEADOS PERU AMAZONAS BAGUA 5/JUN/09 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w05nZd1Y9Co Protesta indigena en Bagua http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Exjj4RAoszw Enfrentamiento entre policías y nativos en Bagua deja trágico saldo http://enlacenacional.com/2009/06/05/enfrentamiento-ent...aldo/ fotos - DIOGENES AMPAM WEJIN · Sets - paro amazonico 2009 http://www.flickr.com/photos/diogenesampam/sets/7215761...8022/ Inca Kola News - Peru: indigenous vs gov't and oil: The killing begins http://incakolanews.blogspot.com/2009/06/peru-indigenou....html ¡Feliz día del medio ambien… Represión! (Happy Environmental day... Repression) http://accioncritica.blogsome.com/2009/06/05/p138/ The people defend their lives...And the government responds with bullets POLICÍAS LLEGARON A MATARNOS (The police are coming and killing us) http://paroamazonicocondorcanqui2009.wordpress.com/2009...viva/ Various from IMC-BCN http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/375223/...x.php http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/375224/...x.php http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/375208/...x.php http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/375183/...x.php Reuters - Peru clash with tribes, police kills at least nine http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN05465450 Peru mainstream media http://www.larepublica.pe/ --- Related Infos Noam Chomsky on Democracy Now! - the Global Economic Crisis, Health Care, U.S. Foreign Policy and Resistance to American Empire http://www.democracynow.org/2009/4/13/noam_chomsky_on_t...nomic WSM article: What’s happening in Bolivia? http://www.indymedia.ie/article/90029 The War On Democracy A film by John Pilger (09/10/2007 ) http://video.google.es/videoplay?docid=-4221598130733050551 4 Continental Summit of Indigenous Nations http://www.ivcumbrecontinentalindigena.org/ http://www.cumbrecontinentalindigena.org/ Peru's Fujimori gets 25 years prison for massacres http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5363RH200...90408 7,000 Indigenous Activists Gather in Peru http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/1/headlines Rossport struggle in Ireland http://www.indymedia.ie/article/92596 http://www.corribsos.com/ Blessed Unrest - How the largest movement came into being and how no one saw it coming http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1fiubmOqH4 WISER earth - Connecting YOU to Communities of Action http://www.wiserearth.org/ Indymedia Peru http://peru.indymedia.org/
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Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46Barcelona in Transicions film night about OIL AGE, problems, resistance, movement etc
http://bcnentransicion.wordpress.com/2009/05/30/pelis-p...mama/
Film about previous communities in Peru who died due to Oil exploration:
Una Muerte en Sion - A death in Sion (North West Peru, near to yesterdays massacre)
http://video.google.es/videoplay?docid=1789624491349502624
Film about similar story, to lesser extent in Rossport Ireland, where nobody has died, YET, but many have been beaten.
The Plunder
http://politube.org/show/957
Film about the fullness of the impact of THE OIL AGE, including the Chernobyl of the Amazon, next door to yesterdays massacre in Equador:
Crude Impact
web - http://www.crudeimpact.com/show.asp?content_id=9665
trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwyAA2Zt8CI
Crude Impact: Oil Companies and the Environment - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLzelMyjBOw
Transition movement - the viral growth of communities learning about peak oil and organising to face the shock:
The definitive TRANSITION INITIAVE film (so far) - The Powerdown Show - Episode 8, Transition Towns and Energy Descent Pathways
(from irish communities in transition, convergence and some top music)
http://transitiontownsireland.ning.com/video/the-powerd...ode-8
part of the POWERDOWN dvd set, featured on transition culture
http://transitionculture.org/shop/the-powerdown-show/
The transition handbook, how to move from petroleum dependance to local resiliance, also talks much about HOPE and VISION
http://uniteddiversity.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/t...k.pdf
other transition movement links
http://bcnentransicion.wordpress.com/links/
"This government disregards the indigenous people.” - Miguel Palacin
"I hold the government of President Alan Garcia responsible for ordering the genocide," indigenous leader Alberto Pizango
Why Indigenous took to the streets - too many of them have already been killed by OIL exploration
CRUDE IMPACT - Critical film about full impact of OIL AGE, including CHERNOBYL OF THE AMAZON
The Indigenous are organising, building resistance and seek global support
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URGENT SUPPORT needed for indigenous people in Peruvian
Amazon
A bloody World Environment Day in the Peruvian Amazon
Indigenous organizations call for support from the international
community
On April 9, local communities began what they call an "indefinite strike"
throughout the Peruvian Amazon region to protest the Peruvian
Congress' failure to review six government decrees that endanger the
rights of indigenous peoples. These decrees were issued by the
Presidency in the framework of the implementation of the Free Trade
Agreement signed with the United States, and pave the way to opening
up the Amazon region to socially and environmentally destructive
industries such as mining and oil exploitation.
In the early morning hours today (June 5) the Alan García government
unleashed a violent wave of repression in the Peruvian Amazon.
Reports from the area are conflicting and there are no official figures
available, but it appears that there have been between 10 and 20
deaths so far in Bagua, in the area around Corral Quemado and Curva
del Diablo.
The Andean Coordinating Body for Indigenous Organizations (CAOI),
which includes indigenous organizations from Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru,
Colombia, Chile and Argentina, describes the situation as follows:
"Once again they are trying to impose death over life, massacre over
dialogue. This is the dictatorial response after 56 days of peaceful
indigenous struggle and supposed dialogue and negotiation, which
ended with bullets as always, the same bullets of more than 500 years
of oppression."
The violent crackdown began only hours after the Peruvian Congress
decided once again to postpone debate on the repeal of the decrees
which would permit the invasion of indigenous territories. This close
timing clearly suggests collusion between the Congress and the
Presidency.
The CAOI is calling on "indigenous organizations, social movements
and human rights organizations around the world to take concrete
action, by writing letters to the Peruvian government, the United
Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples, Amnesty
International, Survival International, the Nobel Peace Prize Foundation,
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and the
International Labour Organisation (Convention 169), urging them to
send missions to Peru immediately to stop the violence and demand
respect for indigenous rights." The CAOI is also calling for "sit-ins in
front of Peruvian embassies in every country of the world until the
bloodbath is stopped and the legislative decrees for the Free Trade
Agreement with the United States are repealed."
The CAOI adds that "UN agencies should speak out firmly and join in
the demands made by the chair of the UN Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, to lift the state of emergency,
cease the use of repression, and fulfil international commitments that
guarantee the exercise of indigenous rights."
The World Rainforest Movement joins in this call for support for the
peoples of the Peruvian Amazon, whose lives, cultures and means of
survival are in grave danger.
Please send letters to the Peruvian embassy in your country,
demanding an immediate end to the current wave of repression and
full respect for the rights of indigenous peoples. Contact information for
Peruvian embassies worldwide is available at:
http://www.embassiesabroad.com/embassies-of/Peru
For more information:
Norma Aguilar Alvarado
Communications office
Coordinadora Andina de Organizaciones Indígenas/Andean
Coordinating Body for Indigenous Organizations (CAOI)
Fax: 0051-1-2651061
Mobile: 980129692
Website: http://www3.minkandina.org/
Please disseminate this information as widely as possible
2 events from yesterday, firstly yesterday at about 4pm, participating in the free global stereo screening that happened in many places around our little planet. Secondly, later finding out that while I was watching it, people were being picked out by sniper viewfinders and being shot dead in Peru. The irony is profound, and I really hope that this erupts into something far deeper than just another unfortunate killing in a poor place far far away from the safety of Ireland and Europe.
What is happening in Peru, affects all of us.
HOME, the film, is a carbon neutral project and 88,000 people participated in its making. It poined out, beautifully, how strange our world is, but how due to our (humankind) destruction of our precious HOME, we might be destroying things beyond repair that could end life here for us, and failing that will cause huge damage and change to life as we know it. There are solutions but we must act, NOW!
WATER, AIR, SOIL are the main things which sustain us. The Amazon is one of the main green lungs of the planet, it is being hacked to bits daily, this has to stop. The FTA deal done between the Peruvian government (of which there are much cries of corruption etc) and the US allows multi nationals to enter the indigenous area and to do as they please, which going by past records means destroy, destroy, destroy. So you can understand why the people have stood up to resist. After a bit of hunting, I found from BBC´s summary of Peru:
An exception event for exceptional times: HOME the movie!
http://www.goodplanet.org/
Full version of HOME film here, in French only - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNGDj9IeAuI&hl
BBC´s summary of Peru
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/country_profi...6.stm
An exception event for exceptional times: HOME the movie!
Caption: Video Id: NNGDj9IeAuI&hl Type: Youtube Video
HOME
Today I died in Bagua, I was shot today. Today I was tortured, they dragged my body and then burned me down. My remains were thrown to the river. Today I was the art student shot in the chest, the four year old girl shot in the stomach. Mine was the immobile and bleeding body that the Peruvian Police has shot again cowardly, I am the mother who saw his son dying with my body was shaking in the road. Today I was the Indigenous man who went crazy and burned the government of Peru’s facilities because they do not represent me anymore.
I am the victim of genocidal racism of the right-wing Garcia government with the complicity of a mafia of apristas and fujimoristas. Today I'm hurt, I died today, today I am lying on a road and my body will be eaten by animals, because the police are shooting my family and friends who wants to rescue me. Today I am the Indigenous Peruvian, I am my people, my blood, my pain, my inquiry, my body, my anger.
Today I ask you, I require you, I demand you Alan García to resign, leave, get out! you're not my president, you are a genocidal criminal. Take your fucking murderers with you. One day you will end up behind bars. Evil, murderer, genocidal, racist, thug, you disgust me Alan García.
(BE WARNED - SHOCKING photos and videos of the racist massacre of Bagua in Peru at link below)
This is really really nasty; reports coming in that cops have been burning bodies and taking in body bags, in attempts to lower the numbers of those assisinated. Also images of the brutality of the police; rounding up people, beating, torturing, and finishing some of with gunshots through the mouth.
From Inca cola news, http://incakolanews.blogspot.com/2009/06/peru-police-us....html
WHERE IS THE FU*KING ANGER IRELAND, is it because its far away in Indigenous land? You remember how 1 gunshot ignited Greece? What if Willie Corduff was the one in whose mouth the barrel was unloaded...
IKN´s quote of the times goes to the chief of command Garcia:
On separate note, 1 of the killed, probably targeted for assisination is Santiago Manuin was shot to death by Peru police yesterday at Bagua. President of the Condorcanqui Amazon defence group, he won the Queen Sofi a of Spain award for his work in defending the environment and human rights work in the Amazon Basin.
http://www.larepublica.pe/node/198291 via inca cola news; http://incakolanews.blogspot.com/2009/06/bagua-peru-new....html
Up to 36 killed now, according to updates on Google news: http://news.google.com/news?ned=us&hl=en&ncl=1255185827...ing=n
Solidarity with Peru
(Most of) Latin America is more independant of the US than Europe (unfortunately Peru is still under the thumb)
Bagua - Exceptional event for exceptional times
Is it OK to shoot young indigenous through the face, if its FARAWAY?
Garcia: "Its OK, They (Amazon indigenous) are not first class citizens."
have been reading about the events in the Bolivian Press. Even the right wing Santa Cruz papers are shocked. Helicopter gunships were used to disperse the protesters who numbered about 5000 from the roadway. The number dead is uncertain. At least 27 indigenous and 9 policemen were shot dead.
All the shooting was done by government forces. The indigenous were armed only with tribal spears.
It is another Bloody Sunday type event.
There is an english speaking version of the film HOME at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU
2 main slides being added here; advent of use of OIL and destruction of TREES
OIL
TREES
The last time was in 2007, when we all noticed that the amount of Peruvian Amazon territory opened to exploration had risen from 13% to 70% in the two year period from 2005 to 2007. The then recently elected President Garcia of Peru said this sell-off of Peruvian national resources or the planet's rainforest lungs (up to you how you see it) was all part of his plan to tackle widespread poverty. Strangely enough the widespread poverty didn't budge an inch or hectare, though to be more realistic poverty is rarely measured in hectares and is more often measured in one extended family per small room without sanitation, a standard which of course defies the detail of modern statistics and looks messy. How big is one small room without sanitation & how big is one extended family exactly? Perhaps due to such difficulties of saying exactly what that project was all about and maybe in no small part due to the resistance put up by the people who lived in the rainforest, possibly for their "not in my back garden" attitude or plausibly for their belief that rainforests benefit the human population of Earth as a whole - - -
Resistance saw the plans shelved and the army who had been sent in to put manners on their locals were redeployed without even need to employ the supplemental services of Irish security firms, bodyguards or neonazi's of Hungarian loyalty.
How things change.
President Garcia of Peru has just gone on telly and said that outside interests put the indiginous up to their resistance and basically caused their deaths. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U56Hv0FNu6U "Which are to be regretted" as always. Before telly watchers in Peru and on satelite or their colleagues and peers and solidarity networks on the internet could blurt out "oh well Dunk must be one of those foreigners being recently very well informed through a zapatista organised video festival on the barbarity with which all Latin American states trample the rights of both their poor and indiginous communities in the name of essential economic progress and exploitation of resources" , president Garcia qualified himself by naming Hugo "the man" Chavez as being the gurrier and of course his Peruvian sympathiser and champion of a certain type of ethnic and indiginous rights, Ollanta Humala who lost the last presidential elections.
So Dunk is in the clear there & none of the indy ireland readership need worry he's going to be the victim of a death squad or suffer the irksome experience of summary detention complete with near death beating and / or rape. Thank our God Dunk is simply well-informed and white of skin.
This aint about trees, so whether you hug them or not don't miss out on the demographic here. Nor is it about indiginous Amazonias, of either Paddington Bear's Aunt Lucy Darkest Peru variety or the kind you see on National Geographic with the droopy tits.
This is about the air you breathe involuntary thanks to the regular contraction of your diaphragm muscle which allows your lungs send oxygen to your brain along with carfumes and tobacco fumes.
We are all in favour of the Air We Breathe, no?
So we really have to make noise & do the Peruvian embassies or if there isn't one locally (for example in Ireland) we have to do Peruvian interests. & that means learning more about Paddington Bear's Aunt Lucy and the hope for justice which only so recently all people in that state had & thus hopefully realising what a travesty and barbarity and affront to human rights and constitutional progress President Garcia's regime has presented the international community with. c/f http://www.indymedia.ie/article/84337
ridiculous story on BBC.news website. Gives Peruvian Govy version that troops attacked to free police hostages. Shooting indiginous protesters with gunships is insane imho.
The story is total spin.and leads with the killing of the 9 policemen. They died when the army shot into the crowd!!! yet the story says they were killed by indigenous protestors.
It appears that the oil rights in the region have been granted to a company known as Olympic Peru Inc. It would be interesting to get more information about this company.
http://mirror.perupetro.com.pe/exploracion01-e.asp
Horrific stuff. Strong parallels here with the Nigerian situation!!
just thought this was worth looking at.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Hunt_Oil_Company
http://mirror.perupetro.com.pe/estadisticas01-e.asp#link7
old news, but may be related to the source of the latest massacre.
http://www.amazonwatch.org/newsroom/view_news.php?id=1020
Amazingly enough it even got a mention on RTE ! Wonder how long it will be before they black that out too? Surprised it even made it on there but maybe the Irish Govt are distractted with other things, ha...
Not long I bet.
Might highlight the fact that oil companies and corrupt governments are a toxic combination for the environment and human rights. Not what the Irish government or their state broadcaster want the public to hear given the Elephant in the Room in Mayo.
Tonight's sundown in the Peruvian Amazon, which will occur in approx five hours will be subject to military Curfew. This naturally complicates the gathering of information and the work of journalists and must be seen by us as a tactic of military intimidation and state repression. There are few reasons and fewer examples to argue that limited curfews are of either policing or military use in a constitutional state of law. Extended curfews are undoubtedly a breach of human rights & nothing more than arbitrary collective punishment.
After yesterday's initial reporting the BBC suite of reports (meaning their Spanish coverage as well as their English) seemed to tone down the blaming of indiginous hostage takers for the massacre. The Spanish language media in South America split down the usually left and right bias, those of the left blaming Garcia and those on the right blaming indiginous troublemakers. I linked to in my previous comment to the first interview given by president Garcia, this was followed almost immediately in "our small hours" by a feature compilation on the South American continental TV channel "telesur" which was mostly sympathetic to the indiginous and carried an interview with one of their leaders, a member of the group AIDESEP (indeed this chap is in semi-hiding because the Peruvian police have a locate and detain order out on him).
Sapien Nonengo alledges that a signinficant number (150+) of indiginous rights spokespersons have been subject to summary detention and moved to the temporary Peruvian military operational base of the 16th batallion. Telesur reported his description of those detainees being kept on their knees in fear of summary execution. Importantly the feature put together was filed under the title "Peruvian indiginous accuse government of distorting public opinion".
http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/secciones/nota/51514-...lica/
In my last comment I was being bloody serious in my usual sarcastic ironic way when I said indy ireland readers need not worry that Dunk who broke this news to us will face that fate.
Allowing for time differences the expanded news then got selectively picked up by global English print media, Latin American and US Hispanic media but escaped detailed print copy in the European Spanish press. By 3am Continental European time (2am Ireland) the Spanish state TV 24 hr news channel & Catalan language 24hr news channel were carrying slightly differently pitched reports light on pictures but these were by morning time supplemented by comment from human rights observers by the time the decision to place the Amazonian provinces under military curfew had circulated and been absorbed.
The human rights pitch and the contrast between what is happening now and the hope that Peruvians only recently had to leave state repression and violence aimed at ethnic minorities behind is the angle which needs to be explored by us, the observers in Europe, be it Ireland or the Spanish state or anywhere else. (the link to the Peruvian truth and reconciliation report for those who can't be bothered to explore the link I left in the last comment - http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/index.php
Within Peru itself the centre-liberal/leftish (in our European bourgois sense & not any south American way) Lima based "El Commercio" newspaper chose to put the story on first and fifth and sixth pages. There was the usual "sensible thinking people who enjoy big rooms and don't live with extended family" attempt at balance.
-- Garcia is reported as seeking dialogue with the leadership of the indiginous community. I could sarcastically ask do they have to get up off their knees first and will this mean they're not worrying about being beaten to near death or having things put up their orifices in a way that not even an ex-premier of the Czech republic would like. His belief that outside and foreign elements with arms have infiltrated the indiginous community with the aim of destabilising Peru was expanded upon. Yet nobody mentioned Hungarian neonazi would be state-makers...... yet......
-- Then the justice minister in Garcia's cabinet demanded that Pizango the leader of AIDESEP and others of the group (like the chap interviewed by Telesur) assume responsibility and allow themselves face a "proper judicial process". Pizango is in full hiding it would seem, coz he aint giving interviews.
-- All that Lima middle class crap finished with the kind of insider knowledge stuff which would keep those with links to the old military estabilishment happy & get those who don't like that kind of thing clucking about anything other than the deadly arrival swine flu [which was the other main story in local Peruvian media. Apparently Peruvian intelligence had warned Garcia about secessionist elements & recommended that troops be sent in.
Finally the story has been picked up extensively through the Indymedia network, with many nodes compiling reports based mostly on the same links available on the Peru IMC newswire. Alas, Peru IMC had awful problems years ago / its own editorial team don't update features anymore. Those past problems & pressures need not be explored too much now nor would they be helpful because it would regrettably mean reflecting on the class differences between those in Lima and the people who get shot at tonight if they leave their homes.
That's how curfew works you know. You go out at night you get shot at or summarily detained. & what makes it even shitter in the 21st century - the soldiers keeping curfew have night sight equipment and infrared devices. So you really can't just slink around anymore. Not even if you're a journalist interested in counting the disappeared.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0608/122....html
Heres main report form Democracy Now;
It seems that the story is the following;
1 - the cops and army were sent in to attack, assisinate, end the direct action strike by the indigenous. (This act has been called an act of genocide by some)
2 - Many natives were killed there and then, many many more injured.
3 - The indegenous, armed with speares, outraged at seeing their brothers and sisters killed, responded by attacking the police, see the cops report below.
Democracy Now: Peruvian Police Accused of Massacring Indigenous Protesters in Amazon Jungle
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/8/peruvian_police_ac...enous
Peru accuses Bolivia of international intervention to rule on the slaughter of the Amazon, the Bolivian government rejects claims
imc-boliva report
http://sucre.indymedia.org/es/2009/06/45817.shtml
that in english
http://translate.google.ie/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=es...ate0=
Perú 08 Jun. (CMI Sucre).- On June 7 the ambassador of Peru in Bolivia, Fernando Rojas, called Sunday for intervention in internal affairs of his country condemning the statements of some Bolivian authorities on the bloody slaughter of peasants and police department in the Peruvian Amazon. While the government refused boliviano possible interference and requested the Government of Alan García to assume their responsibilities on that fact.
"There were official statements, including ministers, who spoke with quite a lot of adjectives and hardness with information on these events which were not proven, these statements are intervention in Peruvian internal affairs," said Rojas, a contact with the media La Paz. ...
Indegenous women protesting; You cant sell the forests
Gold Oil is one of the companies exploiting oil on or adjacent to indigenous lands.(I dont have a map) Its Managing Director John Gary Moore is Irish and it has a a strategic partnership with Minmet Plc, an Irish company with oil, gas and mining interests.
Its block is adjoining Olympic Peru a US venture mentioned previously.
GLOBAL IMC features about the Bagua massacre
From IMC-PERU
The Mobilisation on World Environmental day in defense of the regions forests and her peoples (This did not happen, as the "Genocide" began at 5am, as indegenous were sleeping by the roadside...)
http://www.peru.indymedia.org/calendar/event_display_de...15669
IMC-ORG- new feature- http://www.indymedia.org/en/2009/06/925277.shtml
IMC-PERU - http://www.peru.indymedia.org/
+ youtube vid; (Vigil in Lima, Peru´s capitol) Vigilia Lima 06 Junio 2009 por muerte de nativos amazónicos en Bagua - Perú
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBNS6ABnK6Q
Features from Other countries:
IMC- Bolivia / Sucre - http://sucre.indymedia.org/es/2009/06/45817.shtml (which became the imc-org feature)
IMC-VENEZUALA - ¡Repudio a la masacre de indígenas perpetrada por el gobierno de Alan García en el Perú!
http://venezuela.indymedia.org/or/2009/06/21020.shtml
IMC-COLOMBIA- http://colombia.indymedia.org/news/2009/06/102748.php
IMC-NEDERLANDS - Bloody conflict in Northern Peru
http://ovl.indymedia.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=..._id=1
http://ovl.indymedia.org/news/2009/06/26605.php
June 11 - International day of action in support of Peruvian defense of their land against neo-liberalism
IMC-BCN - Jornada Nacional de Lucha 11 de junio en Perú
http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/375439/...x.php
"The Open Veins of Latin America" - More background about the Latin American story
Hour long interview on Democracy Now with Uruguayan Author Eduardo Galeano. He is the writer of "The Open Veins of Latin America", (5 centuries of the pillage of a continent) the book which Hugo Chavez gave as a present to Obama at the meeting of the Americas last month. (The book shot to the top of the book lists very soon after):
Fresh Off Worldwide Attention for Joining Obama’s Book Collection, Uruguayan Author Eduardo Galeano Returns with “Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone”
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/5/28/eduardo
on youtube (1 of 4): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObQbFhUUHrU
Here is an NBC news report about this symbolic book donation:
Chavez Gives Obama Book on Latin American History
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z4DUOHnRNQ
And lastly here is something from pre massacre support and protest from NYC (new york city):
International solidarity protests against Peruvian forest laws (Before the massacre)
http://peru.indymedia.org/news/2009/06/44495.php
NEW YORK – Thousands of demonstrators on two continents have joined the struggle to defend the rights of indigenous peoples in Peru, who have been staging road and pipeline blockades for more than 50 days.
Advocates are fighting against a series of Forest Laws that facilitate the seizing of indigenous land by various corporations as part of a Free Trade Agreement with the United States, and that criminalize protest and provide immunity to military who kill demonstrators.
This year’s demonstrations follow actions staged last year when Peruvian indigenous leaders shut down parts of the country and lifted the strikes weeks later after being promised concessions. The concessions, according to spokespeople, did not materialize and the Inter-ethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Amazon or AIDESEP renewed the struggle in April with the help of 40,000 indigenous peoples. As the blockades and counter-measures unfolded, some allies have responded with protests of their own. One of the more highly visible actions took place in New York City May 23 in front of the Peruvian Mission to the United Nations.
Indigenous leaders from the U.S., Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and other countries were in New York to attend the eighth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Egberto Tabo, general coordinator for the Coordinating Body for the Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin, read from a statement entitled “Solidarity with our Peruvian brothers and sisters.”
“As indigenous leaders from the five continents, we are profoundly concerned about current events in the Peruvian Amazon. This past May 9 the Peruvian Government declared a State of Emergency in various districts. … The State of Emergency is nothing more than a disproportionate response to the legitimate complaints and demands for indigenous rights. … and is worsening conflicts, criminalizing social protest and putting at even greater risk indigenous peoples rights.”
Tabo said COICA, and the 63 other organizations that signed the petition, received support from the UN Permanent Forum. The signatories had a list of requests and denunciations aimed at the Peruvian government. According to the statement, the protestors requested the lifting of the emergency decree and they denounced government press releases sent to Peruvian media that avoided addressing the main concerns of the demonstrations, as well as demanding that the government respect the International Labour Organization treaty 169 “…which has constitutional status in Peru. … and which both establish that Native peoples should be consulted regarding all actions that impact them.”
“It is clear that the development of the Amazon is being carried out ignoring the wishes of the indigenous people and that the Amazon is seen as having natural riches that should be sold to the highest bidder,” Tabo said. “We cannot continue to allow a group of transnational companies to divide up the Amazon, as if it were just a business without consideration given to the territory of ancestral peoples, or without taking into account that this is the ‘lungs of the world’ and the greatest source of fresh water on the continent. We will not permit the continuation of this exploitation.”
Among the signers of the statement were the National Organization of Indigenous Peoples of Colombia, and the Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Bolivia, the Council of All the Lands of Chile and the National Network of Mayan Peoples of Guatemala. The list included indigenous and allied groups from Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Argentina, the U.S., Peru, Kenya, Papua, Suriname, Algeria, South Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Canada (Assembly of First Nations), Venezuela, Brazil, Nepal and India. The U.S. featured several organizations including Amazon Watch, Diné CARE, Environmental Defense Fund, Hawaii Institute for Human Rights, Indigenous Environmental Network, and the Xicana Indigenous Woman’s Network.
Tabo presented the statement to a representative of the Peruvian Mission who gave no comment upon receiving the document.
In the week after the New York demonstration, allies and sympathizers in Los Angeles, Calif., as well as Lima and Puno, Peru held events to call attention to the struggle of the indigenous peoples of Peru. While UN Permanent Forum officials did not issue a formal response during the New York protest, Chair Victoria Tauli-Corpuz released an official statement June 2, after the meeting.
“The Chair of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues expresses her deep concern on the reports received during the Eighth Session of the UNPFII, regarding the current situation in Peru. According to the information received, a state of siege was decreed by the Peruvian Government on 8 May 2009 in response to the mobilization of indigenous peoples in the Amazon region against extractive industries concessions in the area without the adequate consultations and respect for their free, prior and informed consent.
“The Chair wishes to recall that the Peruvian Government is under the obligation to consult and respect indigenous peoples’ rights as a Party to ILO Convention 169. Furthermore, Peru led the negotiations on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and was one of the countries which actively supported the adoption of the Declaration, which calls for the full respect of indigenous peoples’ rights, including the rights related to their traditional lands, territories and resources and to their free, prior and informed consent.”
According to comments made by AIDESEP President Alberto Pizango in the first week of June, further protest actions in Peru will continue. (One of the protest issues involves criminal charges filed against Pizango for his involvement in the blockades.)
Mobilisation in support of hte Amazonian struggle and in defense of the life - World Environmental Day
"The Open Veins of Latin America", (5 centuries of the pillage of a continent)
Caption: Video Id: IBNS6ABnK6Q Type: Youtube Video
Vigil in Lima, Peru´s capitol, after Bagua massacre
Caption: Video Id: 5Z4DUOHnRNQ Type: Youtube Video
Chavez Gives Obama "The Open Veins of Latin America", Book on Latin American History
Discussion on politics.ie: Peruvian battle for oil - up to 50 dead and rising
http://www.politics.ie/environment/75039-peruvian-battl....html
excellent work
what can we do to help?
"Work friendly governments", "Peruvian authorities welcome new oil companies without placing too rigorous corporate criteria"
Can someone explain these terms.
By the way, notice the spelling mistake in the first passage, not very profesional
Chances are, all this is above board. The whole NAFTA and FTA deals enable big messes to be created, and, as we were reminded by the fine film HOME; we really have to start taking action now, before it is too late.
Gold Oil´s targets: "Work friendly governments + not too rigorous corporate criteria
Gold Oil´s area of interest, where on world environmental day a local indigenous massacre happened, "not too rigorous" behaviour?
Best I can tell folks, there is no Peruvian embassy in Ireland. London hosts one:
EMBASSY OF PERU IN THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND
52 Sloane Street, London SW1X 9SP
Tel: 00 44 20 7235 1917, 0207235 2545
Fax: 00 44 20 7235 4463
postmaster@peruembassy-uk.com
Telesur (Latin American cable TV) claim with find of 15 more genocide victims, the death toll is up to 47
http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/secciones/nota/51587-...uana/
Inca Kola News posts
- opinions of the bagua massacre in peru
http://incakolanews.blogspot.com/2009/06/opinions-of-ba....html
linking to: http://huancayorktimes.blogspot.com/2009/06/todas-las-i....html
- Peru's next protest flashpoint
http://incakolanews.blogspot.com/2009/06/perus-next-pro....html
This map (link below) shows the place on the roads of San Martin Department, norther Peru, where indigenous protestors have been blocking three sections of highway for the last 20 days.
Suddenly, according the reports, some 600 police officers have turned up at on the scene and "asked" the blockaders for a temporary respite in their protest to allow the tailbacks of trucks to get through. It seems this temporary deal has been agreed upon by locals, but the police have said that they will try to stop the protests from restarting "in the next 24 to 48 hours".
Full map
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7Se7iswAanA/Si085QDaWwI/AAAAAAAAHvo/5BtSRAd58AI/s1600-h/san_martin_mapa_vial.jpg
- Bagua: García leading and controlling a racist backlash
http://incakolanews.blogspot.com/2009/06/bagua-garcia-l....html
Mate Pastor is good for a succint and accurate soundbite on what's happening in Peru right now:
The government is using the death of members of the police force to incite citizens against our indigenous compatriots. This is a fascist attitude and must be denounced, even to international organisms.
related links: http://mate-pastor.blogspot.com/2009/06/masacre-en-bagu....html
Thanks to this link from Cathar; http://www.energydigital.com/Gold-Oil-Plc_2743.aspx
on p.ie http://www.politics.ie/environment/75039-peruvian-battl...56247
It turns out our Irish Golden boy, Gary Moore, first went to Peru as a consultant with Shell in 1996.
hhhhhmmmmmmm
Ireland and Shell enter the Peruvian equation...
In my last comment I mentioned that a warrent had been out since last weekend on the leader of AIDESEP & it seemed pretty obvious he was in hiding because he wasn't giving interviews. Last night in Peru or very early in our morning he turned up in the Nicaraguan Embassy.
This fact was broken to media by Yehude Simon of president Garcia's cabinet to a meeting of the Peruvian defense commitee. The news has since been relayed by AIDESEP on their website http://www.aidesep.org.pe/index.php?codnota=782 & has now been commented on by the Nicaraguan authorities in the form of their ambassador to Peru, Tomás Borge, who has told RPP say his case is under consideration and a decision will be made on Tuesday (today).
This means that for the moment he is not being granted asylum status and is thus in "refuge".
It is perhaps worth noting that the Nicaraguan embassy is on Avenida Álvarez Calderón, 738 and about 4km from the centre of Lima in a very affluent area within the general pleasant stroll between Sant Isidre and Miraflores. This prime real estate zone boasts ample swimming pools as you can see for yourself on google-earth at these co-ordinates 12°6'13"S 77°2'45"W - without getting so precise even the dimmest of us will realise that Alberto Pizango Chota is very far away from the Peruvian Amazon and has probably made the journey using some form of transport which is quicker than bare foot and even we may speculate has not been wearing his usual traditional dress. Such things would get noticed in the vecinity of Calderon Avenue. It might be too early to wonder why he chose Nicaragua or is it a case of him being brought there. There are after all several other diplomatic missions in the neighbourhood. For example the Bolivian embassy is less than 2 km away a distance which we know can be covered walking or pleasantly strolling in less than an hour. Or if you fance the Austrian embassy is a few doors seawards from the Nicaraguan.
Nicaragua is currently led by Daniel Ortega leader of the "Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional" (FSLN). He was elected to the presidency in 2006 but of course the history of the FSLN and CIA sponsored terrorism opposed to leftists (Ortega's Nicaragua belongs to the Bolivarian group of Latin American states) etc ought be familiar to anyone interested in latin American history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Ortega Relations between Peru and Nicaragua would generally be termed cordial in the nefarious language spoken by diplomats. Probably because they don't actually do much trading with each other and not sharing a border rarely get up each others' noses.
Pizango in my opinion chose his embassy well.
Alberto Pizango Chota without feathers is now awaiting status update : fugitive or refugee?
a few things:
1 - Amazon Watch PRESS RELEASE: Eyewitness Reports Accuse Peruvian Police of Disposing the Bodies of Dead Indigenous Protesters
2 - Indegenous re-strike for thursday 11th. AIDESEP, the national indigenous organization of Peru has called for a nationwide general strike
3 - Barcelona Thursday "Demo for Bagua" at Peru consulate, wed night vigil with green candles
4 - Amazon Watch: Send a Message to the President of Peru
5 - Some OIL companies with interests in the Peruvian Amazon region
6 - ROYAL DUTCH SHELL FORCED TO SETTLE HUMAN RIGHTS CASE OUT OF COURT, pays $15 million
*** Amazon Watch PRESS RELEASE ***
(CLICK ON LINK TO READ FULL PRESS RELEASE)
http://www.amazonwatch.org/newsroom/view_news.php?id=1843
Amazon Watch, AIDESEP, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 2009-06-08
In the U.S.: Nick Magel 1-419-283-2728 nick@amazonwatch.org
In Peru: Gregor MacLennan + 511 - 993 916-389
Eyewitness Reports Accuse Peruvian Police of Disposing the Bodies of Dead Indigenous Protesters
Garcia Government Makes Troubling
Racial Slurs and Fear-mongering
Indigenous Leaders and Allies Call for an
End to Violence on All Sides
Bagua, Peru (June 8, 2009) – In the aftermath of Friday's bloody raid on a peaceful indigenous road blockade near Bagua in the Peruvian Amazon, numerous eyewitnesses are reporting that the Special Forces of the Peruvian Police have been disposing of the bodies of indigenous protesters who were killed.
"Today I spoke to many eyewitnesses in Bagua reporting that they saw police throw the bodies of the dead into the Marañon River from a helicopter in an apparent attempt by the Government to underreport the number of indigenous people killed by police," said Gregor MacLennan, spokesperson for Amazon Watch.
"Hospital workers in Bagua Chica and Bagua Grande corroborated that the police took bodies of the dead from their premises to an undisclosed location. I spoke to several people who reported that there are bodies lying at the bottom of a deep crevasse up in the hills, about 2 kilometers from the incident site. When the Church and local leaders went to investigate, the police stopped them from approaching the area," reported MacLennan....
AIDESEP, the national indigenous organization of Peru has called for a nationwide general strike starting June 11th.
*** Indegenous re-strike for thursday 11th. ***
The Amazonian indigenous have decided to go on indefinite strike as of Thursday 11th June.
http://incakolanews.blogspot.com/2009/06/bagua-indigeno....html
On todays democracy now, the indegenous say only 1 way to end strike; repeal the law:
Indigenous Protester Atilio Pisango: “We have carried on this fight for more than fifty-seven days. The government has killed our indigenous brothers in Bagua. If the government repeals the law, we will lift the strike. Our leader, Alberto Pizango, did not send armed men; it was the army.”
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/9/headlines#3
*** Barcelona solidarity actions begin with the indegenous of Peru ***
Wednesday night; vigil and concentration @ Peru consulate. With green colored candles
Thursday, "Manifestastion/ demo for Bagua" - 13h (mid-day Dublin time)
http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/375597/...x.php
*** Amazon Watch: Send a Message to the President of Peru***
Tell the Peruvian Government:
1. Immediately suspend violent repression of indigenous protests and the State of Emergency
2. Repeal the Free Trade Laws that allow oil, logging, and agricultural corporations easy entry into indigenous territories
3. Respect indigenous peoples' constitutionally guaranteed rights to self-determination, to their ancestral territories, and to prior consultation
4. Enter into good faith process of dialogue with indigenous peoples to resolve this conflict
http://amazonwatch.org/peru-action-alert.php
*** Some OIL companies with interests in the Peruvian Amazon region: ***
British French; Perenco (big gas group in UK), Argentina; Plus Petrol, Canada; Petrolifera, Spain; Repsol, Brazil; Petrobras... + much more
http://www.survival.es/noticias/4643
http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/375576/...x.php
*** ROYAL DUTCH SHELL FORCED TO SETTLE HUMAN RIGHTS CASE OUT OF COURT, pays $15 million***
https://www.indymedia.ie/article/92632
Shell to Pay Out $15.5 Million to Settle Landmark Lawsuit over Death of Nigerian Activist Ken Saro-Wiwa
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/9/shell_to_pay_out_1...llion
The oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to pay a $15.5 million settlement to avoid a trial over its alleged involvement in human rights violations in the Niger Delta. The case was brought on behalf of ten plaintiffs who accused Shell of complicity in the 1995 executions of Nigerian writer and environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others.
Amazon Watch - defending the Amazon
Los Angeles protest in support of Peru's Indiginous Peoples rights , May 26,2009 (before the massacre - If hes behind them, perhaps many more Irish people might get behind this)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I15dDC9BeaM
Celebrities Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Qorianka Kilcher , Jesse Garcia, Alex Meraz and Clifton Collins pull together in an effort to call attention to Peru's Indigenous peoples plight and struggle for survival , health and basic human rights In the wake of the FTA and the Peruvian governments attempts to allow multinational oil, gas, logging and mining corporations to take over their land, without previous consultation or consent of the local inhabitants.
The May 26th protests outside the Peruvian Embassy in Los Angeles were organizes by
On-Q initiative/Peru Youth Activists
in support and solidarity with Perus 48 day long indigenous protests, involving over 1200 indigenous Amazon communities and more than 30 thousands indigenous protesters who, in peaceful protests, are blockading roads and river traffic throughout the Amazon, demanding the repeal of a series legal decrees imposed by the Garcia Administration under the pretext of implementing the Free Trade agreements (FTA) with the United States.
The new laws favor free access for multinational companies over indigenous rights and directly undermines indigenous peoples rights recognized in the national constitution as well as in international treaties, including the United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples and the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 169.
On may 9th in an effort to silence indigenous community opponents of extractive industrie and suppress the peaceful protests, the Garcia regime declared a state of emergency , allowing the deployment of military forces , and the use of violence and repression as weapon against the just fight of a peaceful and humble people whose only arm is their voice and simple presence.
Furthermore, In an aggressive harassment campaign, the Garcia government has filed criminal charges of treason and sedition against 6 indigenous leaders including Alberto Pizango, president of AIDESEP, Perus national indigenous organization representing over 350,000 indigenous peoples in the Amazon
We thank the "Harmony Keepers" for providing harmony and peace for the Los Angeles Protests and DANZA CUAUHTEMOC for their ceremonial dances and prayer.
more as it comes at; http://www.youtube.com/user/OnQinitiative
Caption: Video Id: I15dDC9BeaM Type: Youtube Video
Los Angeles protest in support of Peru
June 5th. 2009 ...Violent Confrontations in Bagua Peru:
Initial Reports from the Ground
View vid at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ur9duUg0Wo
Peru Government Minister Resigns in Protest
from IKN; http://incakolanews.blogspot.com/2009/06/peru-governmen....html
Carmen Vildoso, Peru's Minister of Women and member of the Peru cabinet, has just resigned in protest over her government's handling of the Bagua protest and particularly because of the government spin in reporting incident to Peru
13 > 70 % Giveaway of Amazonian area resourses in 2 years
LASC (latin American solidarity campaign) in Ireland links to 2 articles from its NEWS section on its site:
http://www.lasc.ie/
Upside Down World: 50 Days of Protest and One Massacre in the Peruvian Amazon
An article by Ben Powless, written on Sunday
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1895/1/
Take Action Against The Massacre of Indigenous People In Peru
from blog Integral Psychosis, Philosophy, Politics, and Opinions from the Lunatic Fringe
http://integralpsychosis.wordpress.com/2009/06/07/take-...peru/
First article links to
Al Jazeera; Scores killed in Peru land clashes
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/06/2009....html
Also newly set up, via p.ie thread, http://www.politics.ie/environment/75039-peruvian-battl...60094:
Sign up for Facebook to join Unite with the Peruvian Indiginous People.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=93416587471&ref=nf
A young gentleman I met while over there. c/o floatingingalway
(link found via IMC-PERU)
http://www.indymedia.nl/nl/2009/06/59939.shtml
http://peru.indymedia.org/news/2009/06/44526.php
Seeing as the Peruvian embassy for Irish affairs is in London, perhaps there could be a gathering of sorts at the top of Grafton Street to look for signatures, distribute infos, adresses to be given for people to write to london... just an idea.
Oiche mhaith
Dunk
Solidarity actions in Holland today at Peruvian embassy at den Haag
Solidarity actions in Holland today at Peruvian embassy at den Haag- funeral
Fair play for all the info and work your putting in.
The Nicaraguans have made their decision & it is one which obviously internationalises the situation in the Peruvian amazon in a way which our solidarity grumblings or Bolivian government comments have not done. Explaining the decision, the ambassador Señor Borges in comments to Nicaraguan radio has said that Pizango satisfies the conditions for political asylum as he is clearly subject to political persecution in Peru.
He will now be brought to Nicaragua out of Lima, where the authorities want to charge him and put him away for a very long time for sedition and rebellion.
In my last comment I had wondered why he chose the Nicaraguans, it is now reported that prior to seeking asylum with them he had indeed knocked on the doors of the US, French & Bolivian embassies. They all refused him refuge. In the case of the US and French embassies this ought not be surprising but the attitude of the Bolivians contrasts with their recent rhetoric which has been the most outspoken in its support of the Amazonian indiginous and its criticism of Garcia.
http://www.rfi.fr/actues/articles/114/article_12065.asp
Meanwhile the Peruvian parliament is meeting today to debate the removal of the raft of laws which have allowed Garcia to expropriate Amazonian lands and brought this political conflict through bloodshed to the continuing state of curfew in the Amazon and thus collective abuse of human rights & let's be specific Peru's first leader to be granted political asylum in another Latin American state since its ex-president Fujimoro.
Now that's so ironic it ought hurt.
Protesters block a road in northern Peru, 10 June 2009
Indians have been blocking roads to protests against the land laws
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8094304.stm
This is what the people were protesting against, it is a win for direct action, unfortunately it has been a bloody win
Peru has a long racist history, with the disenfranchisement and enslavement of indigenous people, then Blacks and Chinese. It has not changed, with restaurants in Lima refusing service to racial minorities while the Spaniard lineage (white) continues to soak up national wealth for themselves. Alan Garcia, nearly as bad as human rights violator Alberto Fujimori who had death squads assassinating students and professors while raiding the national treasury to send his children to schools in the USA and groom his daughter, Keiko, for her 2010 race for the presidency to pardon him of his crimes, continues on the path of murderers, tyrants and dictators. After destroying the GNP of Peru in 1986 with an inflation of 7649% (cumulative of 2,200,002%), Garcia first fled to Guatamala and then to France before returning to Peru to run again and win the Peru presidency on a platform of lies and distortions. His cavalier attitude in caving into the government of the USA has enriched his supporters and impoverished the country--a program he has continued with the rape of the Amazonian lands and people through the nefarious TFL pushed by Washington DC. Garcia is too arrogant to resign and Peru too weak to arrest and try him for crimes against humanity, thus the thugs in the National Police will continue to assassinate Amazonian leaders while murdering women and children in a putsche to steal their land and destroy their fields and forests. Bolivia is the one true friend of the Amazonians, for Garcia has declared an unholy war against them, sending heliocopters and troops to slaughter while "police" toss bodies over a cliff as if it were a mass grave. The world refuses to watch or listen to the screams of the innocent while Garcia mourns the butchers in his police force.
Peruvian President Alan Garcia changed a number of economic policies that would open areas in the Amazon to oil, mining and timber development after protests among indigenous people led to violent confrontations. Garcia announced several cabinet and governmental changes, including the resignation of Prime Minister Yehude Simon. Mining and oil exploration are nevertheless expected to be the cornerstone of Peru's economic policy. Photographs captured by two Belgian aid workers reveal police suppressing unarmed protesters and shooting others as they flee. Los Angeles Times (6/19) , Financial Times (free content) (6/18) , The Independent (London) (6/19)
Peru’s Congress Overturns Land Laws
The Peruvian Congress has overturned two controversial land laws that led to an indigenous uprising and dozens of deaths in the ensuing police crackdown. The laws would have opened large areas of the Peruvian Amazon to logging, dams and oil drilling. Indigenous leader Daysi Zapata praised the decision by the Peruvian Congress.
Daysi Zapata: “Today is a very historic day for all indigenous people and the entire country of Peru. We, the indigenous peoples, are present here because we believe that the demands of the indigenous peoples are just.”
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/19/headlines#10
amazon watch press release 2009-06-18
Peruvian Congress Votes 82 – 12 to Repeal Two Controversial Laws
Government Urged to Drop Criminal Charges Against Indigenous Leaders and Allow Independent Investigation into Violent Incidents in Bagua
Lima, Peru – The Peruvian Congress voted today 82 – 12 to repeal two of nine contested laws in an attempt to end widespread indigenous protests that have been paralyzing transportation and commerce in the Peruvian Amazon for 70 days. In a complete shift of discourse, President Garcia admitted that "there were a series errors and exaggerations" in the government's handling of this conflict and asked Congress to repeal decrees 1090 and 1064, which were passed in 2008 as part of a package of new laws to facilitate the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement with the United States.
Having witnessed the vote in the Peruvian Congress, Daysi Zapata, acting President of AIDESEP, Peru's national Amazonian indigenous organization welcomed the President's comments and declared: "Today is a historic day. We are grateful that the will of the indigenous peoples has been heard and we only hope that in the future governments listen and attend to indigenous peoples, and not legislate behind their backs."
Zapata said that AIDESEP it is calling on our base organizations and communities to end their blockades and protests while also calling on the government to enter into a good faith and transparent dialogue...
http://amazonwatch.org/newsroom/view_news.php?id=1860
Bird of the amazon
'Climate change is extremely dangerous for all of us'
Shaman Davi Yanomami talks about the threat posed to South American Indians by loggers, miners and climate change
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2009/jun/13...erous
The fight for the Peruvian rainforest
The extraordinary story of how Peru's Indians and English priest Brother Paul are fighting to the death to protect their way of life and their rainforest
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2009/jul/03...orest
edited report of this lengthly report found at http://itsafunnyoldworld.wordpress.com/2009/06/08/bagua/
amazon watch report found at http://www.amazonwatch.org/documents/amazon-in-focus-20...9.pdf
More events are being organised in Barcelona with the Peruvian community to keep this struggle growing...
Peru: Indigenous Peoples Protest over Land Rights
By Gregor MacLennan (speaker on DN! interview)
After two months of peaceful indigenous protests across the Amazon, on June 5,
2009, armed police violently attacked a roadblock occupied by 3,000 indigenous
people in the northern Peruvian Amazon province of Bagua. The ensuing violence
left more than 200 protesters hospitalized and at least 34 people dead, including
indigenous peoples, local townspeople and police officers. The June 5th incident
became a watershed moment for Peru’s policies related to the Amazon. The
tragedy has led to an unprecedented level of national debate and international
outcry about deep-rooted abuses and threats facing indigenous peoples.
For nearly two months prior, some 30,000 Indigenous people had paralyzed
transportation and commerce throughout the Peruvian Amazon demanding
that the Congress repeal a series of decrees that would make it easy for the
Government to grant indigenous lands to multinational oil, mining, and energy
corporations. Passed between December 2007 and June 2008, some 99 new
laws were promulgated under executive powers Congress had granted to
President Alan Garcia in order to implement the Free Trade Agreement with the
United States. In sum, the decrees systematically undermined the legal rights
of indigenous peoples to their territories, promoted the privatization of lands
currently under communal control, reverted lands classified as abandoned and
unproductive to state control and enabled petroleum and mining companies to
enter indigenous lands without prior negotiation with communities.
It was in August of 2008 when indigenous peoples first launched a national
strike in protest, closing river travel and marching in major towns in the Amazon.
Eventually the government agreed to repeal two of the decrees: 1015 and 1073,
which would have made it easier for a third party to buy land from an indigenous
community without the consent of the majority. The government also agreed to set
up a special committee within Congress to investigate the legality and the impact
of the new laws on indigenous peoples. The protests were called off....
¿A qué estamos esperando? what are we waiting for : HOME (film) and Bagua
If the amzon gets sold off, then the indigenous know what is in store, as this film about a community further north up in the forest demonstrates. Pollution from oil processing enters the water, the earth, the food, and eventually the bodies of the community, who are now dying, or dead... Una Muerta en Sion - A death in Sion
vid - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=178962449134950...2624#
Una Muerta en Sion - A death in Sion
Indigenous leader Segundo Alberto Pizango was arrested today upon his return to Peru after 11 months in exile in Nicaragua. Amazon Watch and actress Q'Orianka Kilcher accompanied him to Lima. Take action now: http://bit.ly/pizango
Saturday week, the 5th of June will be the anniversary. In Barcelona we are organising events to commerate the massacre and further help build understanding of what is going on as well as solidarity and resistance to further destruction of the Peruvian amazonian rainforest, the lung of the world. we will show the film "amazonia for sale" http://intercontinentalcry.org/amazonia-for-sale/
amnesty call out regarding Alberto Pizango - http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa12310.pdf
Amazonia For Sale - approaching the 1 year anniversary since Bagua massacre and leader Alberto Pizango is arrested today
If its not in there somewhere www.survivalinternational.org do a global newsletter on indiginous peoples under threat.
- Leftist Wins First Round of Peru Presidential Elections
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/4/11/headlines
- Peru elections: Fujimori and Humala set for runoff vote
Presidential polls will go to second round, pitting a leftwing former army officer against a disgraced autocrat's daughter
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/11/peru-electi...unoff
- Peru's presidential candidates face June runoff
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/11/peru-presid...unoff
- Ollanta Humala on wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ollanta_Humala
vid - Ollanta Humala plantea las Propuestas de Gana Perú.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO26_j6i_Qc
Meanwhile in neighbouring Bolivia, whose path Humala's critics are afraid Peru might follow, move even more forward in leading the change toward a radical more just world based on sustainable and social justice, the ideas of which are relevant in Ireland too:
- Bolivia enshrines natural world's rights with equal status for Mother Earth
Law of Mother Earth expected to prompt radical new conservation and social measures in South American nation
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/10/boliv...ights
Critics of Humala are also Peruvian anarchists who wrote an article on anarkismo.net when he lost out in the 2006 elections against Alan Garcia (who gave the orders to kill indigenous in Bagua):
Las Poses y Caretas de un Fascista (The poses and masks of a fascist)
http://www.anarkismo.net/article/2307
translation - http://translate.google.es/translate?hl=es&sl=es&tl=en&...F2307
Others on LA HAINE, also doubt whether he is truly leftist: Perú: ¿Por quién votar?
http://www.lahaine.org/index.php?p=52583
translation - http://translate.google.es/translate?hl=es&sl=es&tl=en&...52583
The next round of elections, the run-off will be on 5th of June, a day where, again, we will commerorate the massacre of Bagua, 2 years on.
Leftist Ollanta Humala - former army officer to be next Peruvian president?
Ollanta Humala, leftist on the side of poor and indigenous of Peru, will he protect Bagua?
Ollanta Humala: ultra nationalist fascist imagery c/o anarkismo.net
Caption: Video Id: fO26_j6i_Qc Type: Youtube Video
Ollanta Humala plantea las Propuestas de Gana Perú.
Here is an interesting debate about the issues of left/right nationalism/ fascism, again from 2006 when Humala was running for the elections, from the left anti-capitalist Spanish web: Izquierda Anticapitalista
DEBATE POLITICO ENTRE ANTARO HUMALA Y HUGO BLANCO
http://www.anticapitalistas.org/node/1355
translation - http://translate.google.es/translate?hl=es&sl=es&tl=en&...F1355