The Open Veins of Bagua

"Utopia is on the horizon. Walk two steps, it is two steps away and the horizon runs ten steps further. So where is utopia? It is made by walking"

The Open Veins of Bagua

As part of our environmental work lets make tribute to the solidarity show by the town of Bagua to the brothers of the Awajun and Wampis; before, during and after the 5th June; thanks to the brothers of Bagua for giving us their confidence and warmth that has enabled us to carry out our work of documentation, research and reporting and delivery to all defenders of the nature of Lambayeque, Peru and the world.

What is giving me real hope is the confidence and organisation of the indigenous, I am getting lots of stuff direct from 'the young defenders of the rainforest', I will try and translate some of it.

There is an ongoing investigation into the deaths at Bagua on 5th June and discoveries of human remains are being carefully collected.

its horrible to see these photos...but this is what the crisis on our planet is about, people killed to extract oil, log forests and devastate the Earth.

Human rights and ecology are part of the same struggle....indigenous people are in this struggle, the good news is that they are increasingly winning....we need to show our solidarity and spread the word

If you read Spanish there is a full report here

Irish Green Party betrays LGBT community

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-13151.html# is where to look for this story.

One prominent Green Party member over here has noted

I can confirm that on my recent trip to Ireland I found considerable
hostility to the Irish GP leadership from ordinary Greens and other
progressives over their role in the quite reactionary coalition
government, including over their compromise on same-sex civil
marriage.

At a recent LGBT conference, five Irish activists told me they were no
longer supporting the GP because of its acceptance of the second best
option of civil partnerships - instead of marriage equality.

A sad but probably justified decision.

I suppose the hostile comments will be coming in soon from the Irish Green Party loyalists, all two of them...lets just recycle this comment to save them the energy needed.

here goes:

This analysis is broadly typical of what is wrong with Green politics, in that very many people who think they are involved in Green politics are actually involved in moral crusades, that are built around vanity and arrogance rather than any sense of urgency regarding what is happening to our planet.

Prince Charles and the merchant bankers

"Just as our banking sector is struggling with its debts... so Nature's life-support systems are failing to cope with the debts we have built up there too," he said. "If we don't face up to this, then Nature, the biggest bank of all, could go bust. And no amount of quantitative easing will revive it."

However the bankers are in charge of climate change policies, making £bns out of carbon trading but doing nothing to reduce greenhouse gases.

Be nice if we took the job away from the bankers.....I am not sure this has dawned on Prince Charles though.

One lesson the current financial crisis teaches us is: beware of the new carbon markets that constitute today's main official response to climate change. These markets are startlingly similar to the financial derivatives markets that have thrown banking systems into chaos and the world economy into a tailspin.

THE COUP IN HONDURAS

by Diane Raby

The recent coup in Honduras (which I gather has received very inadequate, and biased, coverage in the UK media - surprise, surprise!) is extremely serious. It is clearly directed not just at President Zelaya but at the entire popular and anti-imperialist trend in Latin America headed by Venezuela, with the aim of halting and indeed reversing the most important progressive development in the world in recent years. It is also almost certainly part of the behind-the-scenes struggle for power in the US, with the mini-Pinochets in Honduras being backed by the Republicans, the Pentagon and CIA as part of a strategy to neutralise Obama.

Fortunately the US military-industrial complex and their Honduran puppets miscalculated, and were met with a totally unprecedented unanimous vote of condemnation by the Organisation of American States, the UN General Assembly, the US government (although with some ambiguity resulting from the aforementioned tensions) and the EU. Equally, they underestimated the level of consciousness and combative disposition of the Honduran people, who have taken to the streets on a massive scale despite brutal repression.

It is still by no means clear exactly how and when the Honduran junta will fall. Unlike the Venezuelan coup in 2002, where the people in the streets could count on a large revolutionary section of the Armed Forces to join them in overthrowing the coup-mongers, the reactionaries led by Mr Micheletti (or “Pinochetti”, as he was described on one demonstrator´s poster) can count on a thoroughly disciplined repressive force trained for decades by the Pentagon.

But fall the junta certainly will before very long: total international isolation and a fragile internal base of support guarantee this. Moreover, when it does fall the result will almost certainly be an acceleration of the process of popular change in Honduras, where the people are now mobilised as never before behind “Mel” (President Manuel Zelaya) and his project for a popular Constitutional Assembly.

This in turn will further consolidate the regional ALBA alliance (which now has nine member states) and its project for alternative development based on anti-capitalist principles. It will also increase international awareness of the idea that democracy in today´s world can only mean real popular participation in government, and not just a formal charade controlled by elites - something which is very relevant right now to us in the UK!

Diane Raby is a national council member of Respect. She sent this report from Venezuela.

Save Vestas rally this saturday

If you possibly can, please join a rally to save the Vestas wind turbine plant, this Saturday 11 July, 12 noon,St James Square, Newport,

Isle of Wight (outside Millets)



PDFs OF LEAFLETS, POSTERS AND PETITION SHEETS AVAILABLE

BY EMAILING INFO@CAMPAIGNCC.ORG



THE LEAFLET FROM THE SAVE VESTAS CAMPAIGN SAYS:



Save Vestas, save jobs, save the planet



The Island, as we know, hangs in a fragile balance, and with the closure of the Vestas wind turbine plant in Newport we will take another step closer to the edge. For as yet another company succumbs to the recession, 600 workers are soon to find themselves unemployed.



What they need is the support they deserve:



SUPPORT THE WORKERS: Help stop the Island’s rising unemployment rate and let these workers and others keep their jobs.



SUPPORT THEIR FAMILIES: Help the workers provide for those who still depend on Vestas.



SUPPORT THE ECONOMY: Help keep one of the Island’s largest employers and prevent the effect it would have on smaller businesses through its closure.



SUPPORT THE ENVIRONMENT: Vestas provides a clean ‘green’ energy source. Don’t deny the world Vestas’ climate saving product.



It may seem small, but your support is greatly needed. This would not just aid us locally, but on a global scale.



SAVE VESTAS, SAVE THE ISLAND, SAVE THE WORLD



Message from a Vestas worker:



“As a wind turbine manufacturer I was confident as the recession took hold that green or renewable energy would be the area where many jobs could be created not lost. So I was, along with many others, horrified to find out that our jobs were moving to America. Over 600 jobs from the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth were going to be added to the already poor state of island unemployment.



“This has and will continue to send shockwaves of uncertainty through countless families—many of which are being forced to relocate away from the island. I find this hard to stomach as the government are getting away with claiming they are investing heavily in these types of industry.



“I think it’s about time they stopped bailing out greedy bankers and started doing what they claim to be doing. The people of Vestas matter and the people of the island matter but equally importantly the people of this planet matter.



“I for one will not be brushed under the carpet by a government who is claiming to help us.



“Please show your support for Vestas workers as we try to take our concerns all the way to Number 10.”



Email messages of support to savevestas@gmail.com





Thank you,

Jonathan Neale, Campaign against Climate Change, findjonathan@hotmail.com

CLIMATE CAMP IRELAND!

Now you might think in a country like Ireland with a Green Party in government there would be some action to clean up sources of CO2, alas not...but the Green MPs are picking up some good salaries, Climate Camp Ireland look to be doing the real green political work...just had this.

This summer will see the first Climate Camp to happen in the republic of
Ireland. It takes place this August from the 14th to the 23rd.

The Camp aims to take direct action against the root causes of climate
change and in our case this is a Peat fired power station in Shannon
Bridge, Co Offaly.

Peat is dug from the bogs and has been a traditional household fuel for
generations but natural wet bog land is a fast diminishing natural
resource for wildlife and ecology. Peat is also a very dirty fuel,
releasing more CO2 per Kw than Coal.

We also intend to make a space for education and we have an extensive list
of workshops planned. The camp itself will be a model of sustainable
living.

We are organised in regional groups around Ireland and also working
groups- all the relevant contact info can be found at
http://www.climatecamp.ie/

The organisation process is running very well and we are confident of a
successful camp but help is always appreciated so if you would like to be
involved or have any questions don't hesitate to get in touch with me Rob
Mac at: contactrobmac-climatecamp@yahoo.co.uk

Regards from Climate Camp Ireland

'You can’t eat gold and you can’t drink cyanide'

The indigenous in Australia are fighting environmental destruction, just spotted this on Green Left Weekly.

Mine expansion delayed by Indigenous owners


The NSW Supreme court of appeal ruled on July 1 that a planned expansion of the Lake Cowal gold mine in the central-west of NSW cannot go ahead for up to three months.

Wiradjuri traditional owner Neville Williams welcomed the court’s decision. “Hopefully this further delay to the expansion will mean the mine will close forever,” he said.

Indigenous owners and environmental activists have run a 14-year campaign to close the gold mine. They argue it poses large health risks to the local community, is an immense drain on scarce freshwater resources and poisons the environment with cyanide and other toxic wastes.

The Lake Cowal mine is owned by mining giant Barrick Australia. The company is fighting to overturn a February decision of the Land and Environment court that put a hold on the mine expansion. Williams had brought the case against the expansion to the court.

Barrick wants to double production at the mine and increase its life-span by 11 years. Water use is projected to increase by up to 55%.

Williams said the struggle against the mine would continue. “You can’t eat gold and you can’t drink cyanide. We must remember water is more precious than gold. Water is life.”

The Wiradjuri have a website here on the campaign to save their sacred lake.