Ecuador allows oil drilling in UNESCO reserve in Amazon, home to indigenous avoiding contact

Ecuador allows oil drilling in UNESCO reserve in Amazon, home to indigenous avoiding contact

By Agence France-Presse

The license comes just days after a petition for a referendum on the project was rejected by the country’s election authorities.

The action, signed by Environment Minister Lorena Tapia, gives a state company, Petroamazonas, rights to develop an oil field in part of the forest designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

Home to two indigenous tribes that have resisted contact with the outside world, the rainforest park covers an expanse of more than 9,800 square kilometers [3784 square miles] between two rivers.

The field, known as Tiputini, is part of a vast bloc that lies partially within the park with proven reserves of 920 million barrels of crude.

Petroamazonas was also granted a license to develop the Tambococha field, which lies outside the park but within the same oil development bloc.

Yasunimos, an environmentalist group, has fought government plans to open the park to oil development, gathering what it said were nearly 728,000 signatures on a petition to put it to a referendum.

But on May 9, Ecuador’s National Electoral Council invalidated half the signatures and rejected the petition, clearing the way for Thursday’s action.

The decision, however, could be appealed to the country’s constitutional court.

In October, Ecuador’s Congress approved a government plan to develop the Yasuni oil reserves, on the promise that revenues would be used to eradicate poverty.

From Physorg: http://phys.org/news/2014-05-ecuador-oil-amazon-reserve.html

Kim Hill: It Is Up to Us to Act

Kim Hill: It Is Up to Us to Act

By Kim Hill / Deep Green Resistance Australia

Life itself has been stolen from us.

Genes, the very basis of life, no longer belong to the living beings who embody them, but to institutions that convert life into profit.

Our basic needs, of food and water, no longer come from the land where we live, but from distant corporations that use the exact same food and water as a dumping ground for their wastes.

Monsanto executives take up positions of power in the US Food and Drug Administration, and Environmental Protection Authority. These bodies, instead of protecting our food and water as they were intended to do, now protect the interests of those who are causing the harm.

Governments exist within the rules of Free Trade Agreements and The World Bank, institutions that exist to protect the profits of corporations. Governments have little power to create change.

So we cannot ask governments to act.

In India, 250,000 farmers have committed suicide by drinking Monsanto pesticides after their Bt cotton crops, sold to them by Monsanto, failed, and they were no longer able to provide for their families. Monsanto obstructs labelling laws, and suppresses the results of research that are not in its favour. It is not going to listen to the demands of the people. The purpose of a corporation is to make profit, regardless of the costs to other people and living beings. It is not possible for it to act in any other interest.

So we cannot ask corporations to act.

Even if Monsanto were stopped, there are plenty of other biotechnology companies ready to take their place. The entire economic system is structured to see living beings only as an opportunity for profits, or as standing in the way of profits. For life to continue, the entire system needs to be dismantled.

It is up to us to act.

As human beings, we are part of a natural community of rivers, forests, soil and myriad living beings. This community provides our food and water.

We need to act, not as consumers, not as citizens, but as humans.

We are accountable not to profits or institutions, but to the land that provides for us.

Actions that ask governments and corporations to change – rallies, petitions and letters – can never be effective on their own. Those who are profiting from the theft of life itself need to be physically stopped.

Every day, people are taking real action, by destroying GM crops, sabotaging equipment and infrastructure, and engaging in cyber-attacks against corporations. These actions are essential to stop Monsanto and all those profiting from the destruction of living communities.

On behalf of those whose lives have been stolen and manipulated for profit, those who cannot speak and cannot act, we need to give our full support to the people who are risking their own lives and freedom to defend life itself.

Album Review: “Modern Man” by The Filthy Politicians

Album Review: “Modern Man” by The Filthy Politicians

By Max Wilbert / Deep Green Resistance Great Basin

Most popular music makes me sick. If it isn’t misogyny and objectification of women, it’s blatant materialism. Even music that doesn’t fit into popular oppression is likely to be completely vapid, empty of any soul, culture, or political meaning.

That’s why I’m so pleased with British Columbia-based hip-hop artist The Filthy Politicians. Their latest album, “The Modern Man”, is also their first full-length album, with eleven tracks, and it’s a great album.

The music is characterized by samples from popular songs, elegant mixing, and humble, intensely political lyrics that just about anyone can relate to. Dan Peters, the vocalist and producer, largely avoids the contrived feeling that some political music conveys; instead, his lyrics come across as personal. Most hip-hop fans will enjoy just about every track on the album.

The album starts off with a strong beat in “On The Level”, where Peters raps:

Everything about now is fucked and I’m tired of tip-toeing around it.

Other strong tracks include the title track, “Modern Man”, which critiques the modern lifestyle, “6am”, which looks at the alcohol-fueled lifestyle of the average 20-something, and “200 Species Every Day”, which follows a hypothetical duo of underground saboteurs dedicated to shutting down industrial civilization.

Yes, that’s really what the song is about. And it’s great.

The Filthy Politicians don’t have a website or bio online, but I did find this:

In a world held captive by empty plastic promises, Dan Peters of the filthy politicians is trying to figure out how it’s all come to this and what we might do about it.  Beyond the shallow, token analysis and solutions offered up by the ones that continue to benefit from the destruction of our Mother Earth, the filthy politicians set out to take a deep look at an extreme situation and urge those with more human than machine left inside to respond accordingly- at the risk of being labeled extreme ourselves.  Equal parts urgency, analysis, vitriol, and encouragement, the effort is completely DIY with all tracks composed, recorded, and produced in the woods on a small farm on a small island.  the filthy politicians just released his first full length album ‘Modern Man’ on February 14, 2014.  If you love life then check it.

Learn more about The Filthy Politicians and check out their music here:
Bandcamp: http://thefilthypoliticians.bandcamp.com/ (free download of “Modern Man”)
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcj4UIyXiGZrXj7naWxp5lw (includes some old music videos)
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/thefilthypoliticians (every song they’ve ever made)