Chile's president, Sebastian Pinera, announced during the country's bicentenary celebration that he would spend $4 billion for development in southern Araucania, which is where most Mapuche live, and that he would open talks with Mapuche leaders on land rights issues and other concerns. The announcement comes as 34 Mapuche activists are conducting a hunger strike in prison to protest their being jailed on charges of terrorism.
After decades of protests and battles, the proposed hydroelectric Belo Monte Dam was given written approval by Brazil’s president President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The dam is to surpass the Three Gorges Dam in China in size and volume. The hydroelectric project on the mouth of the Xingu River will devastate vast regions and ecosystems in the Amazonian state of Para and displace more than 50,000 Indigenous people.
Logging giant threatens to suspend all transport services for locals unless Penan retract sexual abuse allegations
MODEL LETTER
DATE
Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal
Presidente de la República
Presidencia de la República
Panamá 1
República de Panamá
Fax +(507) 527-9034
Email: prensa@presidencia.gob.pa
Dear Sr. Presidente,
Ministry of Finance excludes Samling Global from the Norwegian Government Pension Fund
OSLO, NORWAY. One of the world's largest institutional investors, the Norwegian Government Pension Fund, has sold all its 16 million shares of Malaysian timber giant Samling Global, worth 1.2 million US $, as a consequence of a groundbreaking decision announced today by the Norwegian Ministry of Finance.
While Indigenous land owners prepare for their day in court, hoping to prevent the Chinese mining company CMCC from dumping waste from its nickel mine and refinery into the sea, the Papua New Guinea (PNG) government keeps changing its laws to remove legal barriers to the Ramu mine.
Between August 9th and 12th of 2010, over 400 Indigenous and riverine people, victims of dams, and farmers from the Amazon region gathered at the port of the city of Altamira, Pará, Brazil at the riverside of the Xingu river, to discuss the impacts of major infrastructure projects in the Amazon region, with emphasis on the Belo Monte dam.
It began on July 2 when workers for the Bocas Fruit Company went on strike because they had not been paid for two weeks. By July 8, police reported 7,000 protesters in Bocas del Toro province, and on July 9 the estimate rose to 10,000. The largely Indigenous population poured out its anger over new laws and government repression by marching and blockading the major roads. Police cracked down with brutal force, killing at least two and possibly as many as seven Indigenous protesters, injuring and jailing hundreds, and affecting thousands with tear gas.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
