by Deep Green Resistance News Service | Mar 17, 2013 | Colonialism & Conquest, Indigenous Autonomy, Lobbying, Mining & Drilling
By Survival International
Amazon Indians from Peru and Brazil have joined together to stop a Canadian oil company destroying their land and threatening the lives of uncontacted tribes.
Hundreds of Matsés Indians gathered on the border of Peru and Brazil last Saturday and called on their governments to stop the exploration, warning that the work will devastate their forest home.
The oil giant Pacific Rubiales is headquartered in Canada and has already started oil exploration in ‘Block 135’ in Peru, which lies directly over an area proposed as an uncontacted tribes reserve.
In a rare interview with Survival, a Matsés woman said, ‘Oil will destroy the place where our rivers are born. What will happen to the fish? What will the animals drink?’
The Matsés number around 2,200 and live along the Peru-Brazil border. Together with the closely-related Matis tribe, they were known as the ‘Jaguar people’ for their facial decorations and tattoos, which resembled the jaguar’s whiskers and teeth.
The Matsés were first contacted in the 1960s, and have since suffered from diseases introduced by outsiders. Uncontacted tribes are also at extreme risk from contact with outsiders through the introduction of diseases to which they have little or no immunity.
Despite promising to protect the rights of its indigenous citizens, the Peruvian government has allowed the $36 million project to go ahead. Contractors will cut hundreds of miles of seismic testing lines through the forest home of the uncontacted tribes, and drill exploratory wells.
The government has also granted a license for oil explorations to go ahead in ‘Block 137’, just north of ‘Block 135’, which lies directly on Matsés land. Despite massive pressure from the company, the tribe is firmly resisting the oil company’s activities in their forest.
The effects of oil work are also likely to be felt across the border in Brazil’s Javari Valley, home to several other uncontacted tribes, as seismic testing and the construction of wells threaten to pollute the headwaters of several rivers on which the tribes depend.
Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said, ‘The Canadian state was founded on the theft of tribal land. When Europeans invaded Canada, they introduced alien diseases, seized control of natural resources, and brought about the extinction of entire peoples. It’s a great irony that a Canadian company today is poised to commit the same crimes against tribes in Peru. Why doesn’t the Peruvian government uphold its own commitments to tribal rights? History tells us that when uncontacted peoples’ land is invaded, death, disease and destruction follow.’
From Survival International: http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/9023
by Deep Green Resistance News Service | Oct 6, 2012 | Colonialism & Conquest, Indigenous Autonomy, Mining & Drilling, Obstruction & Occupation
By Survival International
A protest involving Earth’s most threatened tribe, the Awá, has forced the world’s largest iron ore mine to suspend operations along its main railway line.
On Tuesday, hundreds of Indians including the Awá, took to the tracks of Vale’s Carajás railway to voice their opposition to Brazilian government plans that could weaken their land rights, if legalized.
The demonstration follows months of anger surrounding a draft text called Directive 303, which prohibits the expansion of indigenous territories.
The government has refused to scrap the proposed directive, despite it violating national and international laws by suggesting certain projects can be carried out on Indian land without proper consultation.
Frustrations spilled over on Tuesday, with several different tribes uniting to demand that their land rights are respected.
The blockade is the latest in a string of controversies to involve mining giant Vale, whose railway borders the territory of the Awá.
Last month, a judge reversed a ruling that had stopped the company from doubling its railway line to increase production.
The decision was a blow for the Awá, who blame the railway for bringing thousands of invaders into their lands and scaring off the animals they hunt.
Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘If Brazil wants to lead the way and show the world that it respects its indigenous peoples, it should not be entertaining the harmful propositions of a handful of rural lobbyists. This protest shows that for tribes like the Awá, land rights are make or break.’
From Survival International: http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/8722
by Deep Green Resistance News Service | Sep 18, 2012 | Colonialism & Conquest, Indigenous Autonomy, Lobbying, Mining & Drilling
By Survival International
Supporters of India’s Dongria Kondh tribe are celebrating after controversial British mining company Vedanta Resources declared it will close its bauxite refinery in the state of Orissa, this December.
The news is a major breakthrough for the tribe, who have fought a David and Goliath battle against Vedanta’s plans to extract bauxite from their land.
Dongria leader, Lodu Sikaka, said today, ‘We will be happy if the company leaves. If the refinery is there, they will keep trying to take our mountain, if not today, then tomorrow, or two years, 10 years from now.’
The Lanjigarh refinery sits at the base of the Dongria Kondh’s Niyamgiri Hills, which are home to the 8,000-strong tribe, and the seat of their god Niyam Raja. The company has spent more than one billion US dollars expanding the site without securing all the required clearances, as well as knowing it was unable to source enough bauxite to run the refinery at capacity.
Vedanta has now blamed the closure on a ‘depleting stock position of bauxite’. But, there are concerns the company’s announcement is intended to pressure the government into allowing it to mine the Niyamgiri Hills. The issue has returned to India’s Supreme Court, but the case is currently adjourned.
Opposition to Vedanta’s push to mine the mountains has embroiled the company in a near decade-long dispute, and forced the Lanjigarh refinery to be run with bauxite from different mines across India. A Vedanta spokesman claimed this has cost the company half a billion dollars.
Survival International’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘When we started our campaign for the Dongria Kondh, we were repeatedly told it was a hopeless case and the mine would be built. It hasn’t been. The infrastructure is rusting away and now Vedanta says it will shelve its refinery. This is a fantastic vindication of the tribal people’s determination to keep the lands which are rightfully theirs, and the pressure brought to bear by thousands of their and our supporters around the world. Public pressure is the only thing which can save tribal peoples in the long-term, and it works.’
From Survival International: http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/8670
by Deep Green Resistance News Service | Aug 17, 2012 | Colonialism & Conquest, Indigenous Autonomy
By Survival International
A 74-year-old Nasa Indian leader has been shot dead following protests against the militarization of his land in Cauca, south-west Colombia.
Lisandro Tenorio, a traditional healer, was at home with his family when two unidentified men arrived, shook his hand, and shot him three times in the head.
The Nasa made international headlines last month when they forcibly expelled soldiers from a military base on their land.
Illegal armed guerrillas of Colombia’s rebel group, the FARC, were also confronted by the Nasa and ordered to leave their territory within days.
Colombia’s army have been battling with the rebels for decades, with the Nasa caught in the violent crossfire.
According to Lisandro’s family, he had been repeatedly threatened by the FARC, who have been blamed for his death.
Survival has been campaigning against violence in Cauca since 1974, and has supported its regional indigenous organization CRIC.
Yesterday, CRIC released a statement that said, ‘Members of the FARC, stop your war. Our people are tired of so much humiliation and accusation. To kill an indigenous traditional healer is to put an end to the knowledge, soul, and wisdom of a people’.
From Survival International: http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/8587
by Deep Green Resistance News Service | Aug 13, 2012 | Colonialism & Conquest, Indigenous Autonomy, Reclamation & Expropriation
By Survival
More than 50 gunmen have launched a full-scale attack on an Indian community in southwest Brazil, shooting, threatening and then reportedly kidnapping one of their leaders.
The violence began on Friday, shortly after the Guarani community reoccupied part of its ancestral land, which is now occupied by ranchers.
A Guarani spokesman described how 50 gunmen surrounded around 400 Indians, firing shots at them, whilst laughing and shouting, ‘You Indians! Today, not one of you Indians will get out of here alive!’
He says hundreds of shots were fired at the Guarani men, women and children, who fled into the forest to try to escape injury.
The Guarani say that one of their leaders, a man in his fifties, was taken by gunmen and put into a car. He has not been seen since but the burnt remains of some of his clothes have been discovered.
The shooting stopped hours later, when a police vehicle arrived at the scene. No arrests have been made.
The Guarani of Arroio Korá community have been living in makeshift roadside camps, and in overcrowded reserves, while they wait for the government to map out their land and return it to them.
Unable to further endure the appalling living conditions in the camps and reserves, the Guarani decided to march back to their ancestral land on Friday, after two days of traditional prayer and rituals.
A community member said on Saturday, ‘We are surrounded by gunmen. They could attack us again. They could kill us all!’
Last November, Guarani leader Nísio Gomes was shot dead by gunmen when his community reoccupied some of its land. They drove off with his body, which has yet to be found. Eighteen men have been arrested in connection with his murder.
The Guarani at Arroio Korá remain fearful but resolute, saying, ‘We will not be silenced in the face of the assassinations… and the violations of our indigenous and human rights’.
From Survival International: http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/8581
