Amazon warriors occupy Belo Monte

Amazonian Indigenous Peoples Occupy Belo Monte Dam Site

Date:

Saturday, June 23, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Altamira, Brazil – Indigenous peoples affected by the controversial Belo Monte Dam complex now under construction along the Xingu River in the Brazilian Amazon have occupied the Pimental coffer dam that cuts across channels of the river since last Thursday, June 21. Warriors from the Xikrin and Juruna indigenous groups arrived from the Bacajá River and Big Bend of the Xingu River in order to occupy one of Belo Monte’s main dams and work camps, expressing dissatisfaction with the blatant disregard of their rights and the dam building consortium’s non-compliance with socio-environmental mitigation measures. The groups independently organized the action and are demanding the presence of the Norte Energia (NESA) dam-building consortium and the Brazilian government.

The occupiers come from a region of the Xingu downstream of Belo Monte that would suffer from a permanent drought provoked by diversion of 80% of the river’s flow into an artificial dam to feed the dam’s powerhouse…. Continue reading “Amazon warriors occupy Belo Monte”

Rio treaty ‘written for billionaires’..283 paragraphs of fluff.

How “Sustainability” Became “Sustained Growth”

The draft and probably final declaration is 283 paragraphs of fluff. It suggests that the 190 governments due to approve it have, in effect, given up on multilateralism, given up on the world and given up on us.

The Rio Declaration rips up the basic principles of environmental action. In 1992 world leaders signed up to something called “sustainability”. Few of them were clear about what it meant; I suspect that many of them had no idea. Perhaps as a result, it did not take long for this concept to mutate into something subtly different: “sustainable development”. Then it made a short jump to another term: “sustainable growth”. And now, in the 2012 Earth Summit text that world leaders are about to adopt, it has subtly mutated once more: into “sustained growth”…. Continue reading “Rio treaty ‘written for billionaires’..283 paragraphs of fluff.”

Rio+20: Manifestação e protesto da Via Campesina

“Comida ruim ninguém aguenta, é a Syngenta./É veneno em todo canto, é a Monsanto./Mata gente e mata rio, é a Cargil./Agronegócio, a mentira do Brasil.”

rio — Foto: Manifestantes organizam intervenção dentro da AgroBrasil, no Pier Mauá, espaço coordenado pela Confederação da Agricultura e Pecuária do Brasil

Rio de Janeiro Manifestantes ligados à Via Campesina Internacional, que congrega movimentos sociais de pequenos agricultores de diferentes países, realizaram na manhã desta quinta-feira, 21, um protesto contra produções baseadas no uso de agrotóxico e monocultura. O ato aconteceu dentro do Pier Mauá, onde foi instalado o AgroBrasil, espaço coordenado pela Confederação da Agricultura e Pecuária do Brasil (CNA). A entidade é presidida pela senadora Kátia Abreu (PSD-TO), uma das principais lideranças da Frente Parlamentar de Agropecuária, a Bancada Ruralista.

O AgroBrasil tornou-se a principal base utilizada pelos parlamentares ligados ao setor e empresários durante a Conferência das Nações Unidas sobre Desenvolvimento Sustentável, a Rio+20. Com apoio de Monsanto e JBS, entre outros, o espaço virou uma feira de negócios com expositores oferecendo alternativas para ampliar a produção e com monitores defendendo e explicando a importância do uso do veneno para aumentar a produção. Até simuladores de máquinas utilizadas na aplicação foram instalados.

Com gritos, música e cartazes, os manifestantes procuraram chamar a atenção dos demais visitantes para o fato de o Brasil ser hoje líder no uso de agrotóxicos no planeta e as conseqüências relacionadas a uma produção de alimentos cultivada com veneno. Uma maquete, na qual os expositores exibiam o que consideram modelo ideal de agricultura, com amplas áreas de pasto, monocultura de eucalipto e grãos, foi coberta de cartazes e manchada de tinta. Continue reading “Rio+20: Manifestação e protesto da Via Campesina”

Spanish heroes STRIKE..for obsolete coal mines

Spanish miners deploy bazookas and guerrilla tactics

Outside of Spain there has been little publicity of the miners’ strike in Asturias, even though the region is now in a state of near civil-war with armed clashes daily and the majority of the local population supporting the miners. Spain is also preparing for a general strike, involving all the main unions, including the CNT and the UGT. Below are details of the Asturias campaign, plus video footage.

Despatch provided to Darker Net from the Asturias frontline… “Over 8000 miners in Spain have been on strike since May 23… our protests have been met by Guardia Civil firing tear gas and rubber bullets… two days ago we retaliated by using a bazooka against the Guardia Civil. The strike was prompted by an announcement by the conservative government of Mariano Rajoy of drastic cuts in subsidies to the mining industry, which will threaten the livelihoods of around 8,000 miners and endanger another 30,000 jobs.

The miners strike is a rallying cry with sympathy actions spreading daily. Hopefully leading to a new indefinite General Strike. Generations of miners have given their lives to the industry, only to be thrown on the slag heap to save cash for paying the bankers. The miners deserve and demand the best deal and pensions possible.

asturiashuelga3 — strikers escort an old lady past barricades

But lets not forget that these mines have been obsolete for decades, kept open only for fear of near total energy dependence.

And secondly of course, all coal mines need to be closed down immediately, if we are to have any hope of preventing a runaway Greenhouse Effect and maintaining a habitable planet for our children.

The miners deserve and demand the best deal and pensions possible. But keeping those mines open is subsidising fossil fuels that are now lethal, and makes it impossible to argue for cuts elsewhere. Support the Miners…But close the Mines!!

We are holding sit-ins, occupying the main square of Oviedo, the provincial capital of Asturias and the centre of the Spanish coal country, and are blocking and barricading highways connecting Asturias to the rest of Spain. Sixteen main roads in Asturias have been blockaded and two rail lines have been shut down by the strikers. In some areas of Asturias and Leon the clashes have escalated into near civil war. We are appealing for support and solidarity from around the world.”

To see more clashes between miners and Guardia Civil: click http://darkernet.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/spanish-miners-d

Here is an account of the historic 1962-1963 Asturias miners’ strike by Guy Debord (Situationist International).

Another video (from 4 June):

http://act.350.org/sign/make-rio-count/

7 injured as Spanish miners clash with police (sfgate.com)

Brazil port blocked over Amazon law /Veto parcial mantém florestas sob risco

Greenpeace temporarily blocked a freighter from being loaded at a northern Brazilian port in protest over a partial presidential veto of a land-use bill seen as harming the Amazon

The environmental group said on its website on Saturday that activists ferried by its Rainbow Warrior vessel occupied a giant pile of pig iron on the dock while another team scaled two cranes to stop them from loading the raw material of iron and steel onto the US-bound Clipper Hope.

The activists then unfurled banners proclaiming “Amazon Crime” and “Dilma’s dirty secret,” in protest at President Dilma Rousseff’s partial veto Friday of 12 controversial articles of the new code regulating the use of land on rural properties.

“The Amazon turns to Charcoal, Brazil Stop the Chainsaw,” said a huge banner tied to a crane by the activists. Continue reading “Brazil port blocked over Amazon law /Veto parcial mantém florestas sob risco”

new book: Imperiled Life, Revolution against Climate Catastrophe.

Anarchist Interventions #4: Imperiled Life by Javier Sethness-Castro,

Now Available for Pre-order

Imperiled Life theorizes an exit from the potentially terminal consequences of capital-induced climate change. It is a collection of reflections on the phenomenon of catastrophe—climatological, political, social—as well as on the possibilities of overcoming disaster.

The fourth title in our Anarchist Intervention Series, co-published with AK Press!

Javier Sethness-Castro presents the grim news from contemporary climatologists while providing a reconstructive vision inspired by anarchist intellectual traditions and promoting critical thought as a means of changing our historical trajectory.

Praise for Imperiled Life:

“Imperiled Life is an angry and urgent dissection of the omnivorous economic system that is mercilessly turning the planet into a death camp.”—Jeffrey St. Clair, author Born Under a Bad Sky

About the author:

Javier Sethness-Castro is a libertarian socialist and an animal rights advocate. Imperiled Life is his first book.

This title is available for preorder from AK Press! Order now and get 25% off the list price! http://www.anarchist-studies.org/node/549

Related articles Javier Sethness “Imperiled Life” @SubRosa Santa Cruz, CA 5/26 6pm (revolutionbythebook.akpress.org)

Arctic melt :150,000 methane seeps in Alaska and Greenland

Arctic melt releasing ancient methane

By Richard Black

Using aerial and ground-based surveys, the team identified about 150,000 methane seeps in Alaska and Greenland in lakes along the margins of ice cover.

Many of the sites were bubbling methane that has been stored for millenniaScientists have identified thousands of sites in the Arctic where methane that has been stored for many millennia is bubbling into the atmosphere. Continue reading “Arctic melt :150,000 methane seeps in Alaska and Greenland”