¡Salir del petróleo! - ONG mexicanos

Enrique Peña Nieto
57e presidente de Mexico: Wikipedia

PRONUNCIAMIENTO SOBRE LA REFORMA ENERGÉTICA DE PEÑA NIETO  para el Grupo ¡Salir del Petróleo!

ver tambien: Muerte a quien se oponga a las reformas de Peña Nieto 19 oct 2013

La situación mundial del petróleo cambia drásticamente desde inicios del siglo, a tal punto que hay una nueva historia al respecto que todo mundo debe conocer:

1. Se consuma en estos años el agotamiento de los pozos petroleros convencionales en tierra firme de todo el mundo, situación geológica que cualquier persona puede confirmar al analizar las razones por las que los gobiernos poderosos prefieren ahora perforar pozos en aguas profundas marinas o extraer el llamado gas y petróleo shale , por medio de la tecnología de fractura hidráulica  o fracking  del manto rocoso existente entre los 1,500 y los 4,000 metros de profundidad, donde se encuentran las lutitas o esquistos, que para su extracción consume enormes cantidades de agua y utiliza productos químicos muy tóxicos o venenosos; es decir que hay que invertir cada vez mucho más dinero en ese muy riesgoso y costoso negocio al que los gobiernos ahora llaman Petróleo No Convencional. El ocultamiento gubernamental de esta situación petrolera en el mundo, tiene por objeto manipular a la opinión pública al respecto del futuro del petróleo; afirman que hay todavía mucho petróleo en el mundo y que EUA  logra ya la autosuficiencia, sin embargo, ocultan el costo económico real, y por supuesto el social y ambiental que hay que pagar para extraer ese petróleo bajo la tierra o el mar.

2. Otro dato fundamental: la economía mundial no podrá crecer en adelante sin la extracción de hidrocarburos -gas y petróleo-  No Convencionales, unos energéticos que, además de su enorme costo económico, producen al menos diez veces más daños ambientales y quizás más aún sociales, lo que llevará a la aprobación de leyes cada vez más duras, injustas y antidemocráticas, y a la emergencia de gobiernos cada día más autoritarios y manipuladores, necesarios para poder contener las protestas sociales contra los efectos políticos, económicos, sociales y ambientales de este gas y petróleo No Convencionales. Los grandes empresarios exigen a los gobiernos el “gas barato” del shale-fracking, como se produce en EUA, y el petróleo de aguas profundas, para salvar sus inescrupulosos negocios. La extracción de gas shale en los últimos siete años en los Estados Unidos, ilustrada por las notas, estudios y diversos videos de información que envían las organizaciones sociales de ese país, de Inglaterra, Francia, España, Argentina y otros países afectados, es un  infierno gasero que se quiere imponer en muchas regiones del mundo, mucho más vulnerables, como México,  para salvar los grandes negocios transnacionales. Resulta indispensable ver el premiado documental Gasland.

3. Tras ocasionales períodos de baja en los precios del gas y el petróleo, en los próximos años, estos precios seguirán subiendo consistentemente y podrían hacerlo inesperada y radicalmente y ocasionar fuertes y prolongadas caídas en la economía mundial. Estos nuevos tiempos se llaman ya: la Era del Petróleo Caro o Petróleo Extremo, o de los Tres Dígitos (más de 100 dólares el barril), o del Pico, Cenit o Techo del Petróleo. Entramos en una época de transición sumamente peligrosa para la sociedad, la economía y la política mundial y nacional: en los próximos años van a dispararse las tarifas de la electricidad, las gasolinas, el transporte y los alimentos, la vivienda, la salud, y hasta la educación; puede incluso emerger una tiranía mundial que controle a muchos o a todos los gobiernos del mundo. El caso Snowden,  demuestra que ya está en marcha la construcción de esta tiranía, dentro de un Estado Global o Nuevo Orden Mundial.

4. Las adicionales emisiones de gases llamados de efecto de invernadero (GEI), como el metano o el bióxido de carbono o CO₂ y otros, se producen a gran escala en la extracción, distribución y quema de gas y petróleo y provocan que otras emisiones similares se desencadenen en otras actividades económicas, como la agropecuaria o el transporte y aún en la Naturaleza, como los hidratos de metano bajo los mares polares o el permafrost en tierra firme, entre otros; de esta forma la producción de esas emisiones se acelera hoy en día en un círculo vicioso en todo el globo: en mayo pasado rebasamos las 400 ppm de CO2 en la atmosfera, un hecho insólito en millones de años; estas emisiones son causa principal de las catástrofes o eventos climáticos que cada vez son más intensos, atípicos, impredecibles, mortíferos y costosos. Las prolongadas sequías encarecen mucho la alimentación y producen crecientes hambrunas; la destrucción de los nichos ecológicos fomentan la dispersión de los virus y las bacterias y las enfermedades en el mundo y crean nuevas epidemias y pandemias; las migraciones por efectos del clima van en aumento y cientos de millones de personas seguramente migrarán a otros territorios en los próximos años.

 Por otra parte, el negacionismo  ante el desastre climático, impulsado desde hace décadas por las transnacionales y los gobiernos poderosos, ha creado una gran parálisis social y política que conduce a la multiplicación de los ecocidios y genocidios, y a la extinción de muchas especies, incluida la probable de la humanidad en este mismo siglo. Hoy en día es ya mayor el costo económico de estos eventos climáticos que el crecimiento de la economía mundial, ya que implica al menos 3% de su valor. Pronto será aún mayor el costo de estos eventos. El 50 % aproximadamente de las emisiones de GEI que producen el desastre climático lo causa el 1% más rico de la población del mundo. Los efectos destructivos del desastre climático afectan a todos, pero afectan más mientras  más pobres o miserables son las comunidades. Desde el inicio de las cumbres climáticas de la ONU, los gobiernos poderosos y los grandes inversionistas sabotean sistemáticamente las propuestas válidas para frenar la emergencia del desastre climático: casi no pueden esperarse medidas benéficas de parte de los gobiernos, de las transnacionales, y en general, de las grandes instituciones, con respecto al clima. Sin embargo, sí podemos esperar de ellos en los próximos años la proliferación de falsas soluciones climáticas, como el dizque gas limpio, la energía nuclear, los cultivos para agro combustibles, las grandes eólicas y solares, los mercados de carbonos, los Mecanismos de Desarrollo Limpio, los programas REDD+, la economía verde, el crecimiento verde, y muchos otros engaños. Literalmente, los financieros y políticos dueños del mundo se comportan como criminales de cuello blanco.

5. La catástrofe climática de dimensiones apocalípticas que enfrentamos hoy, lleva a que un número creciente de organizaciones sociales del mundo adopten la consigna: DEJAR EN EL SUBSUELO AL PETRÓLEO, EL CARBÓN EN EL HOYO, EL GAS BAJO LA TIERRA (Leave the oil under the soil! leave the coal in the hole! Leave the gas under the grass!) Esta consigna se impone como la única posible ante la violencia, la corrupción y despiadada destrucción ecológica y también, ante la distorsión y el desgarramiento del tejido social, ya causados antes por la era del petróleo barato, iniciada a fines del siglo XIX. La era del petróleo caro puede resultar mil veces más destructiva. El “progreso” y el “desarrollo” que promete esta nueva era resulta suicida para la humanidad.       Voluntariamente -o por la fuerza de las circunstancias- la humanidad abandonará en pocos lustros la extracción de petróleo para sobrevivir. Mientras más pronto se dé voluntariamente este abandono será menos dolorosa la transición hacia la era post petrolera y post desarrollo. Por el bien de las actuales y futuras generaciones es urgente abandonar la extracción del petróleo en México.

6. Las organizaciones ecologistas de México deben de:

a. Rechazar rotundamente cualquier cambio legal que facilite la aplicación en México de las principales tecnologías que propone la reforma energética de Peña Nieto: el fracking para extraer gas shale o de lutitas y la perforación en aguas profundas para extraer petróleo. Igualmente, rechazar cualquier facilidad legal para la producción de electricidad a partir de la energía nuclear o, por medio de grandes proyectos eólicos o solares y de cultivos para producir agro combustibles.

b. Oponerse a cualquier cambio constitucional o de leyes secundarias promovido con el propósito de aumentar la extracción de gas y petróleo en México o permitir la intervención de empresas transnacionales en cualquier nivel de operación del gas, el petróleo o la electricidad, tal como lo propone la reforma energética de Peña Nieto.

c. Exigir a la brevedad posible la aprobación de un programa a diez años, para reducir en 80% la exportación de petróleo, la importación de gas y el consumo interno actual de gas y petróleo.

d. Reclamar a los gobiernos y las instituciones educativas la difusión de la más amplia información sobre lo que representa mundialmente la extracción de gas shale por medio del fracking y la perforación en aguas profundas, en términos de RIESGO AMBIENTAL Y SOCIAL Y DE SEGURIDAD CIUDADANA.

e. Exigir la realización de debates técnicos sobre el Petróleo No Convencional: ¿Por qué se la da tanta importancia a este tipo de petróleo de tanto riesgo? ¿Qué efectos tiene este petróleo en la economía, la política y el clima del mundo y de México? ¿Cómo afecta a la legislación y la sociedad este nuevo tipo de petróleo?

f. Reclamar la realización de una auditoria que refleje el estado de la corrupción en PEMEX y en la CFE y que conduzca a una reestructuración completa de esta empresa pública.

g. Exigir la elaboración urgente de un Programa para la Transición Petrolera y Energética que promueva la Reducción Radical en el  despilfarro de energía: de la electricidad, las gasolinas y los productos del petróleo, en el campo y la ciudad.

h. Adoptar como consignas: “NO AL FRACKING  Y A LA EXTRACCIÓN EN AGUAS PROFUNDAS”, “NO A LOS CAMBIOS CONSTITUCI0NALES EN EL 27 Y 28”, “NO A CAMBIOS LEGALES QUE PERMITAN LA INTERVENCIÓN DE TRANSNACIONALES EN LOS ASUNTOS DEL PETRÓLEO Y LA ELECTRICIDAD”, “NO A LA REFORMA ENERGÉTICA DE PEÑA NIETO”...

MOVIMIENTO ¡SALIR DEL PETRÓLEO!

México DF, 9 de septiembre de 2013

Suscriben: Adriana Matalonga de ECOMUNIDADES; Adriana Luna Parra, feminista; Alberto Villar Calvo; Ana Leticia Vargas, locutora de Radio Educación; Andrea Fernández, locutora de Radio Educación; Antonio Vital de la Alianza de Trabajadores de la Salud y Empleados Públicos; Alejandro Corona de la UNTyPP; Alfonso Cuevas de Bicicletarios; Ana María Yustis Guadarrama del grupo Sotelo; Andrea Fernández de Radio Educación; Ariadna Urbina de IMPULSAC, AC; Arnold Ricalde de Organi-K, AC; Bernardo Benítez, sociólogo, urbanólogo; Berta Zapata Vela del MTS; Beatriz Eugenia Romero de Educación Ambiental; Carlos Fazio, escritor y profesor de la UNAM;  Carlos Rivera del comité de amigos de Puerto Rico; Carmen Arias Velázquez; Cañadas del Sur AC; Carmen Buerba del Comité de Defensa Ecológica de Michoacán; Colectivo de Salud(Intlapa’tianime) las sanadoras; Comité Ciudadano “El Nuevo Contrato de Vivienda de Interés Social y Popular” AC; Cristina Barros del Frente Amplio contra la Supervía Poniente; Christian Gallegos de la Fundación PAS en Verde; Colectivo Rosario Castellanos AC; Comunidad Indígena Mazahua; Comunidad Indígena Otomí; Daniel Rodriguez; David Jiménez de La Casa de la Chinampa; Eduardo Correa Senior del MTS; Eduardo Farah de la revista Espejo Red Polanco; Eduardo Rincón del programa de Energía de la UACM; Elva Luna Marenco Fernández de Radio Educación; Elizabeth Maier de la Red Nacional Genero y Economía, REDGE; Elsa Ángeles periodista y activista; Enrique Leff del Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales de la UNAM; Erendira Salazar de Radio Educación; Esteli García Fernández de Radio Educación; Estrella Vázquez Osorio del PRD; Fabiola Morales Salazar; Fernando Hernández del MTS; Frente del Pueblo-Resistencia Organizada; Gabriela Sosa Martínez, locutora de Radio Educación; Germán Hurtado de Frente del Pueblo; Guadalupe Bringas; Gustavo Armando Vega Martínez del Mandala, Centro de la Madre Tierra; Horacio Almanza Alcalde, antropólogo; Hugo David Uriarte de Radio Chinelo, Cuernavaca, Mor; Hugo Rossel;  Ignacio Peón del IPN; Iván Azuara Monter, del CEC, UACM , UCCS; Iván Jaime Uranga Favela; Jaime Robles Vázquez;  Javier Ruiz Maldonado del Grupo Sotelo; Jorge Bastida; José Antonio Contreras Ramírez del INAH, Veracruz; José Antonio Salas del Frente del Pueblo; José Arias Chávez de la Asociación de Tecnología Apropiada AC; José de Jesús Castillo Mallorquín de la Maestría en Educación Ambiental, UACM;  José Enrique González Ruiz del MTS; José Jacques Medina;  José Luis Guzmán, locutor de Radio Educación; Juan Castro Soto del MTS; Juan Ignacio López Espinosa del MTS; Julia Maitret, escritora; Laura Collin de Tlaxcala, del MTS ; Laura Nava Arontes; Lena García Feijoo profesora de la UNAM; Leonor Cortes Bolívar, antropóloga física; Leonor Aida Concha, feminista; Luc Binette, astrónomo; Lucero Márquez Franco; Lucrecia Noemí Mazadiego de Por una Madre Tierra Viva-Ecocienciarte; Marcelo Herrera Herbert; María Eugenia Pulido, locutora de Radio Educación; María Luisa Mejía del Movimiento GRIAL, Región Morelos; Mario Antonio Padilla Becerra del MTS; Mario Saucedo del PRD; Marina Vicario del MTS; Margarita Hernández Ruiz de La Quijota hACe;  Martha Torricellas del MTS; Mauricio Villegas Ibarrola de Comida No Bombas;  Miguel Valencia Mulkay de ECOMUNIDADES; Mina Lorena Navarro, Profesora de la Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales de la UNAM; Mujeres por el Diálogo AC; MULT, Movimiento de Unificación y Lucha Triqui; Norberto Amaya director del Centro de Estudios Económicos y Regionales de México, AC;  Norma Mogrovejo de la UACM; Oralia Sylvia Rocha Herrera de la Organización Mundial Ambientalista Educativa OMAE; Pacto de Grupos Ecologistas; Patricia Gutiérrez Otero, profesora;  Patricia Ruiz Anchondo del MTS; Pastor Ricardez del Grupo Tacuba; Pedro Humberto Moreno Salazar, doctor, investigador de la UAM-Xochimilco; Preparatoria Popular Tacuba; Ramón Álvarez Martínez; Ramón Ojeda Mestre de la Corte Internacional de Derecho Ambiental; Rafael Reyes García del Grupo Sotelo; Redes Unidas por la defensa de la Madre Tierra; René Torres Bejarano profesor de la ESIME- IPN; Rodrigo Mendoza Martínez de Diálogos Interactivos, DIRAS, AC, Mérida Yucatán;  Rodolfo Basurto del MTS; Rodolfo Bernardo Macossay, abogado ecologista de la Cooperativa de Consumo Responsable Punto Verde de Mérida Yucatán;  Rodolfo Buentello, arquitecto; Rodrigo Mendoza Martínez de Diálogos Interactivos AC, Mérida, Yucatán; Rosa Martha Zárate Macías del MTS; Rosa Evelia Villaruel Figueroa del Pacto Nacional de Mujeres; Rubén Almeida de la Casa Ecológica de Teotihuacán AC; Rubén Estrada Talonia del MTS; SACLAN, AC; Salomé Mendoza; Susana Clares Popoca de la Cooperativa TNL; Tonantzin AC; UPREZ-Benito Juárez; UPREZ Centro; Víctor Toledo Mansur, Premio Nacional de Ecología; Yolanda Boerci de Polanco.

México DF, 19 de septiembre de 2013

Organizaciones: Academia Mexicana de Derecho Ambiental AC; Alianza de la Costa Verde; Cooperativa TNL;  Diálogos Interactivos AC; ECOMUNIDADES, Red Ecologista Autónoma de la Cuenca de México; Frente Amplio contra la Supervía Poniente;  Grupo Sotelo; Impulsac, AC;  La Casa de la Chinampa; La Quijota hACe; Mandala, Centro Madre Tierra, Cuautla; Movimiento GRIAL, Región Morelos; Orgáni-K, AC; Organización Mundial Ambientalista Educativa AC; Radio Chinelo, Cuernavaca; Red en Defensa de la Ciudad de México; Pacto de Grupos Ecologistas; Salir del Petróleo.        

Observador de la consulta: Unión Nacional de Trabajadores y Profesionistas Petroleros. UNTyPP.

REDD in the Lacandon forest -- by Silvia Ribeiro

Silvia Ribeiro is a researcher with ETCgroup; this was translated from her article in La Jornada, 23 Apr 2011.

The gap of Usumacinta, Montes Azules, Chiapas: photo Rich Hoyer

Based on an agreement between Chiapas and California state governments working together with organizations like El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (Ecosur) and big conservation NGOs, REDD projects are invading Chiapas -- selling the very air of the forests and dispossessing native communities of their right to the territory.

In order to sell carbon permits to the California government and polluting industries that support its cap-and-trade plan,  Chiapas authorities propose driving a line through the Lacandon Jungle to define the REDD area, with consequent abuse and pollution of indigenous territory. In March 2011, state government officials admitted to Global Justice Ecology that they plan to open the Lacandon by bridging the area of the canyons, "where the Zapatistas live". The new cutline would define a forest preserve.

Exactly what they planned four decades ago, when a survey of the territory of one of the seven indigenous peoples to open up "the Lacandon cutline" united the entire region against it, and sparked formation of the EZLN.

In 1971, the government granted 614 321 hectares (almost 10,000 each) of forest to 66 "Lacandon community members" -- despite the fact that they are not of that tribe, nor original inhabitants of that region -- adding to the existing chaos of overlapping land titles; the grant was never surveyed because of indigenous resistance. But ever since these so-called "Lacandon" have given signed consent for timber, tourism or (most recently) REDD projects and contracts submitted to them by the government. The real Lacandones were killed around 1700; other communities migrated there or were displaced under threat in recent decades.

REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) is presented as a program to prevent the emission of greenhouse gases caused by deforestation, paying carbon credits to owners to avoid clearing forest. But local communities, once foreign consultants certify a management plan, cannot use the forest and lose autonomy over the territory.

This is great for polluters, who get "indulgence" to continue emissions and/or resell credits at a profit  to other companies. It costs them nothing and defeats environmental regulation. On April 7, 2011, Greenpeace International published Bad Influence, a report denouncing McKinsey, a Wall Street  consultancy long active in privatization projects, and now a REDD "adviser" to poor countries. McKinsey inflated statistics for Guyana and the Congo, to show future deforestation trends far greater than the real; these baselines allow higher REDD credits and further deforestation, because it is supposedly less than the inflated projection.

Previous "payments" to communities in Mexico reveal concrete examples of resource-stripping that  these schemes can cause. REDD and PES are similar mechanisms. "Payment to protect the forest" actually means depriving small communities of their land rights. There are cases in Oaxaca where after a 5-year payment for environmental services, the state declared a 30-year "protected natural area" against the will of the community. Deprived of their traditional forest livelihood, they had to migrate, even though they held the land title.

That's what is about to happen in the forests and jungles of Chiapas: selling corporations permits to trade pollution for the carbon absorbed by forests, dislocating the forest communities (another government strategy) to so-called "sustainable rural towns".  Displaced and uprooted, deprived of the means to live in dignity, they are mere pawns of the state, to be replaced with biofuel plantations.

Technically these are not REDD projects, but they forecast the future. The Mexican example shows  what happens when a state governor (Juan Sabines) and cronies lay a foundation for market mechanisms. When consultants inflate statistics to justify claims of "biomass", "less" deforestation, and "carbon absorption." When Ecosur graduates, the national REDD committee and an alphabet soup of government agencies (Conafor, CONABIO, SEMARNAT), and carbon traders provide "greenwash" for polluters to claim they are promoting conservation and biodiversity. Who loses? The indigenes, the forest, and the planet.

Last but not least is remote-sensing technology, by a semi-military satellite that "indicates the capacity of carbon sequestration" combined with on-the-ground monitoring for which local men are already in training. All very clean and scientific, tracking not only wildlife but also the humans who live there -- monitoring "Zapatistas" and preparing for the next generation of biopiracy.

***

See also the Durban Statement on REDD (2010), and  No REDD: a reader, prepared for the Cancún climate negotiations by Global Justice Ecology Project, Censat Agua Viva, Amazon Watch, Acción Ecológica, COECOCEIBA, OFRANEH, World Rainforest Movement, Carbon Trade Watch, RisingTide, ETC Group, Indigenous Environmental Network and REDD-Monitor.

Death in Oaxaca -- LAWG

Making the world safe for investors can make it violently unsafe for the poor and powerless. (AP photo: CNS News)

On Tuesday, April 27th a peace caravan of 25 human rights observers, reporters and teachers was ambushed by an armed group of paramilitaries in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. We agree with Latin America Working Group (LAWG) that violent attacks on aboriginal rights are an essential part of modern "resource wars".

"They started to spray us with fire," said one of the survivors (see video). "When we tried to back up, they shot out the tires. We threw ourselves on the floor. The vehicle was shaking from the bullets."

29 Apr CSN reported that 40 people were in the caravan to the Triqui Indian mountain town of San Juan Copala. At least three other foreign accompaniers, and an unknown number of Mexicans, are missing, presumed dead.

28 Apr Boston.com said that San Juan Copala was surrounded and cut off by paramilitaries. The Caravan was meant to be a peaceful way to break the blockade.

30 Apr Amy Goodman interview traced the violence to paramilitaries (set up by PRI governor Ulises Ruiz). Of the two shot in the head, Finnish human rights activist Jyri Jaakkola had come to Oaxaca to do environmental workshops; Betty Cariño was the director of CACTUS, an organization for indigenous rights.

30 Apr Christian Peacemaker Teams said the caravan was carrying food, water, and other basic necessities. San Juan Copala declared itself an autonomous community in January 2007 in a nonviolent effort to create a space for political participation.

Similar peace-town declarations have been made in Colombia. There too, paramilitaries have attacked with impunity. In both countries, the US War on Drugs/Terror has been a pipeline for military aid to paramilitaries.

4 May CDHAL reports that death squad threats continue in Chiapas.

Socialist Project tells the story of the "Oaxaca Commune" aka APPO, and violent attacks by PRI on it since 2006. The source of the conflict is not explained but is likely encroachment by mines, paper co's, ranchers and agribusiness connected to the corrupt government, on traditional native lands. Among US resource companies in Oaxaca are Arco Resources, Rio Tinto/Kennecott, Boise Cascade and others (for a full list see below).

The conflict stems from the NAFTA "road to resources" Plan Puebla-Panama, whose corridors go through Oaxaca -- part of the Security and Prosperity Partnership plans that include tarsands pipelines, rail, bridge and truck corridors from Canada and Latin America to serve US imperial interests and corporate profits.

PPP map from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM): note the corridors running though Chiapas and Oaxaca. Click on image to see details.

1 Apr Mamaradio/Z magazine says a US military-funded mapping project is direct aid to corporate interests and Mexican opponents of indigenes. "Mapping and property rights are necessary tools to advance U.S. security strategies, such as Plan Colombia."

*****

Other references:
1 Feb interview with one of the murdered human rights accompaniers

video of repression in Oaxaca 2006
Global Exchange analysis of Plan Puebla Panama
Nadir.org and Project Censored documents on environmental impacts and earlier murders
Oaxaca Mining Wiki lists the US, Canadian and multinational companies that are profiting from death and repression
LAWGEF`s Just the Facts
CDHAL en français
LAWG is affiliated with FCNL

Canada: the Liberian flag of mining

Mexico City mining protest 24 July 09: photo Carlos Ramos Mamahua

Updates 30 Oct. 2010: Canada Corporate Accountability Bill C-300 defeated in House of Commons. It asked simply for corporate disclosure similar to US SEC requirements. 21 Jul. 2010: US Dodd-Frank law tells SEC to tighten disclosure rules. 23 Mar. 2011: Globe and Mail: Canada's anti-corruption enforcement deliberately lags behind US. 1 Oct 2014 Kairoscanada: Harper government refuses mining oversight bill C-584.

A system of sleaze was created over the last two decades by successive Canadian governments and financial wizards. Like Liberian shipping, you fly the flag, follow no rules, answer no questions, do what you want and take your profits elsewhere. And better yet, the Canadian taxpayer will bankroll you.

More than 2/3 of the world's oil, gas and mineral companies are now Canadian (most of them in name only). They get hundreds of millions of dollars in export credits. They have given us a world reputation for toxic dumping, murder, massacre, forced displacement of aboriginals, cozying up to dictators, and financial fraud. (1) Our diplomatic service have become their touts and apologists. (2) Says Development and Peace, a Catholic NGO, “This is not a case of a few bad apples: Canadian extractive companies have been implicated in human rights abuses and environmental disasters in more than 30 countries." The latest annual report of the Canadian Mining Association boasts 4900 projects, a huge worldwide expansion thanks to lax supervision by the 'virtual' Toronto Stock Exchange. (3)

Riding roughshod over aboriginal rights is nothing new in Canadian mining. To name only a few of the most flagrant: BC's century-long refusal of treaty, yellowcake poisoning of NWT Dene that left a “village of widows”, the shameful treatment of the Lubicon Cree, and a rash of recent jailings of native protesters in Ontario. (4) With world commodity prices soaring, Canadian governments have made things even easier at home. Ottawa overrode its own environmental legislation to allow lakes to be used as toxic dumps. (5) Ontario has exempted mines from environment assessments for at least a decade. (6) To the Bay Street boys, the message is clear: “anything goes”.

Even worse things were happening in the Third World, where corruption, bribery, and murderous contempt for natives were added to the mix. A map of the most notorious cases has been published by the Halifax Initiative; Amnesty has protested CPP investment in some of them (7). A few examples must suffice. There are many more.

Talisman Energy (ex-BP Canada), Sudan was accused in 2002 by the Presbyterian Church of helping the Sudan government "bomb churches, kill church leaders and attack villages in an effort to clear the way for oil exploration." A US lawsuit failed, but divestment by Ontario Teachers and other pension plans forced Talisman to sell out its Sudan holdings. (8)

Ivanhoe's joint Monywa copper mine with the SLORC dictatorship of Burma has been marked by 13 years of slave labour, torture, and genocide, according to Amnesty International (9); in all that time Canada consistently failed to take action. In July 2009 the company hired ex-Prime Minister Jean Chretien as “senior adviser” -- meaning lobbyist -- to get US sanctions lifted. (10)

Ms Otiego Mseti, one of the Tanzanian villagers suffering from Barrick's “alleged” contamination of the Tigethe River: courtesy ProtestBarrick.net

North Mara mine, Tanzania, June 2009: “More than 20 people have died in recent weeks as a direct result of the contaminated water. We have no problem with investors. But the investors must respect and treat us like human beings. These Canadians are killing us... they are not doing business,’’ says a villager. (12) Protests have gone on for eight years, with forced evictions, dumping on village land without permission or compensation, arrests of elders, company collusion with corrupt politicians, and murder of at least 6 villagers. Recently scientists found cyanide and heavy metal contamination associated with “a wide range of carcinogenic effects such as skin, kidney, teratogenic effects; mutagenic effects; and brain damage". For years, the company has refused to clean up. (13)

Colombia: Canadian mining lobbyists were the spearhead of the neoliberal Washington Consensus. After the World Bank ordered deregulation in 1996, Canadian experts rewrote Colombia's mining law, slashing royalties and safety provisions. In 2003 the World Bank ordered the state to sell off its national mines. Since then, corrupt deals with politicians, paramilitaries and big landowners have resulted in evictions of afro-Colombians and aboriginals, over 400 murders and disappearances. Last year two environmental groups challenged the Mining Law, on grounds that it violates the Constitution by permitting destruction of unique ecosystems. (14)

Colombia mining on U'wa aboriginal land: courtesy FOEI

Omai mine, Guyana: in 1995 there were five cyanide incidents. In the worst and last, a tailings pond spilled 120 million gallons of toxic effluent into the Omai and Essequibo rivers. Aboriginals, traders and miners reported dead fish and animals; they complained of skin rashes and blistering for two months after the accident. Many of the 50,000 inhabitants fish, boat, bathe and drink water from the river. The government issued warnings to all residents downriver of the mine to cease using the river for washing, drinking and fishing. No current information on cleanup activity is available. (15)

Ecuador: in April 2008 after a political movement of aboriginals voted against corruption and environmental destruction, the government revoked 4/5 of mining concessions. But in 2009 president Correa restored the concessions, winning high praise from the Canadian mine lobby. Canadian church protests stopped his attempt to outlaw the NGO Acción Ecológica, which is now backing the native group CONAIE's court challenge to the new mining law as a violation both of aboriginal rights and the Rights of Nature law. (16)

Porgera, Papua New Guinea: a Barrick mine has dumped millions of tonnes of toxic tailings into rivers. Hundreds of natives have been killed or injured by security guards. In protest, the Norwegian Pension Fund has divested its stock. CPP and QPP continue their holdings. In April 2009 PNG police torched over 300 houses in the area. (17)

Marinduque, Phillipines: "forests, river basins and coral reefs have been smothered by hundreds of millions of tons of pulverized mining waste rock and toxic tailings laden with arsenic, cadmium, lead, manganese, nickel and sulfate". Bankrupt, facing civil suits and angry stockholders, the original owner Placer Dome was bought out by Barrick. National mining laws had been gutted under the Ramos dictatorship in the 1990s. Those who protested were murdered or disappeared by security forces, a practice which has continued to the present day under President Macapagal-Arroyo. (18)

blasting at Cerro San Pedro: Tamara Herman photo

Cerro San Pedro, Mexico: Metallica plans to level the sacred mountain, destroying most of the historic town, poisoning the water and soil for miles around with cyanide. It will take 32 million litres of water daily, has defied court orders to stop blasting, and sent gangs to attack peaceful protesters, the majority of the population. Corrupt federal politicians refuse to enforce the law. In May 2009, Montreal sympathizers “staked a claim” and announced an open-pit mine in Mount Royal park – to show what a Canadian equivalent would be. (19) A secret July 2009 memo from the Canadian Embassy in Mexico City says it is seriously worried by country-wide protests against mine pollution and corruption; "4/5 of the companies are Canadian," it admits. Two weeks later it was occupied by a sit-in -- see top photo. (20)

a pile of D&P petitions to Harper 2008

Canadian churches and human rights groups have kept the cause alive. This spring, Development and Peace took another 150,000 petitions to Parliament calling for a mining ombudsman who can hear evidence of offshore violations, and a new corporate accountability law. The Conservative government refused, ignoring the advice of expert Roundtables which urged it to create “a Canadian CSR Framework for all Canadian extractive-sector companies operating in developing countries.” Nevertheless, a private member's draft (Bill 300) passed first reading in April. (21)

Here are the principles that should underlie such legislation, according to Development and Peace: (22)

1. The Earth is sacred. All life is interconnected and interdependent. Therefore, the Earth’s ecological diversity, beauty and health must be protected.
2. The Earth’s resources must be shared by peaceful means in an equitable manner that allows current and future generations to meet their needs.
3. All people have the right to participate fully in and have control over decisions that affect their lives and communities.
4. In the interests of solidarity and the common good, decisions made for the benefit of one community must not violate the rights of other communities.
5. The importance of the Earth’s resources to the common good takes priority over any possible commercial value. In the extraction, management, and use of resources, human rights must be respected.
6. Preference must be given to the rights of indigenous peoples and those who are marginalized by poverty or because of race and gender.

******

Notes
(1) See 13 Jun 09 public statements by Development and Peace and Halifax Initiative.
The latter, a coalition of churches, human rights lawyers and environmental groups, in 2003 severely criticized Export Development Corporation's seven deadly secrets: huge export subsidies to mining projects without real environmental assessment or public hearings.
(2) In the USA, Barrick lawyers in 2003 and 2009 admitted financial fraud, claiming that the company was acting on on behalf of central banks, which cannot be sued.
(3) For the role played by Canadian diplomats in bribery and death in Tanzania, among other places, see Alain Denault, Noir Canada: Pillage, corruption et criminalité en Afrique (Montréal, Ecosociété, 2007). Barrick Gold launched a $6 million SLAPP suit in Canada trying to stop the book's distribution, although the company had lost a similar suit in a UK court against a British journalist who first broke the story. See also http://Protest.Barrick.net
(4) See Wikipedia on Toronto Stock Exchange, now the TSX/TSVX. In 2001 it closed its floor to trade entirely online (and unsupervised) after swallowing up the penny-stock Vancouver and Calgary exchanges. Its 2009 report crows that it is now bigger than New York's NYSE. Many US firms have shell listings on TSX/TSVX, allowing them to avoid SEC disclosure.
(4) The century-long Gitksan case in BC, NWT yellowcake poisoning, the Lubicon story; on recent jailings see previous posts in this blog: one two three four five six
For a full account see the highlights and CD of the 1990s Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. The current Tory government has refused to honour the resulting Kelowna Accord.
(5) CBC news 16 Jun 08.
(6) Ontario extends EIA moratorium 2002-2012: MiningWatch report.
(7) example of an Amnesty protest of CPP investment.
(8) Halifax Initiative's map, part of the campaign for government supervision, gives details of human rights abuses by Canadian mining companies and $100s of millions in taxpayer subsidies. CPP and QPP have also invested heavily: see note 22.
(9) Amnesty 2002 statement to Ivanhoe shareholders. Our previous posts on Burma.
(10) Chretien hired by Ivanhoe, Rabble.ca news July 2009.
(12) Mother Africa blog 29 Jun 09.
(13) Protest Barrick 17 June 06.
(14) Colombia stories from Friends of the Earth and IPS news.
(15) Omai is one of the world's worst ten toxic sites.
(16) For native protests and police killings see Mining Watch, Ecuador Rising and Grain. Canadian churches campaign Mar 2009 in support of Acción Ecológica. Protests in Peru and Bolivia June 2009, linked to “special clauses” in free-trade agreements imposed by the US and Canada, were broken by police massacres.
(17) Wikipedia on Porgera; June 2009 police action.
(18) quotation from Wikipedia on Marcopper disaster in Marinduque.
(19) Cerro San Pedro and Montreal sympathy action.
(20) secret Canadian Embassy memo and later sit-in.
(21) Development and Peace news 12 May 09; see also its reasons for CPP disinvestment and for an ombudsman. The March 2007 national Roundtable report calling for a corporate accountability law, was refused by the Harper government. The Montreal Social Justice Committee's Upstream July 2009 issue notes that the government's March 2009 proposal for a "CSR counsellour" is far nore restricted than an ombudsman; the proposed CSR centre has no enforcement powers; and corporate compliance is voluntary. NGOs and corporations provide the main impetus in Voluntary Principles (VPs), an international stakeholders group which Canada just joined. Liberal John McKay introduced the private member's Bill 300 in February 2009.
(22) Development and Peace Declaration of principles. See also the Natural Resource Charter and Publish What You Pay.

Update from Africa Report 26 Nov 2013: Harper imposes "investor rights" on Africa
Update from Mining Watch 21 Sep 2015: Canadian corporate offenders in the Americas.

In Chiapas - by Rolene Walker

Rolene is now visiting Friends in Chiquimula, Guatemala, and raising funds for international scholarships. See her web journal Walk With Earth | Caminata Por La Tierra from which this is an excerpt:

Dec 2: Here I am in southern Mexico, walking through pine forests near San Cristobal de las Casas. It’s cold! I wear long underwear, turtle necks, fleece and have a fleece blanket over me just to sit and read at night. It gets down to about 50 degrees F. In San Cristobal I visited the Museum of Mayan Medicine, and went to a workshop on green building, including making one of the famous dry toilets, the ones that separate urine from excrement, and use them as fertilizer and compost, eliminating the need for sewers.
When I left Zanatepec, I had my spare tire firmly attached on a great triangle to my bumper. I went to the high school to talk to three classrooms,
and drove a small distance to Tepanatepec, the last town in Oaxaca. When I got there, the tire was gone. So I drove back and forth and couldn´t see it anywhere. The next three days in Tuxtla Gutierrez I went to the Toyota dealer, four tire places, and had two people scouring the deshuesaderos (junk yards). Nothing. The truck has dual wheels in the back, but they are very small, and there are no rims anywhere in Chiapas. So I guess I`ll have to have one sent from the US.

Walking from Tuxtla to Chiapas de Corso, my tooth starthing aching, so I caught a bus back to Tuxtla, and the driver wouldn´t charge me after I told him about the Walk. I got the name of a dentist from Antonio Lopez, and went to her just before she closed for lunch. She checked out the tooth (it`s fine) but said we would have to wait to see what was up underneath (meaning a root canal if the pain doesn’t go away). So I´m staying close to San Cristobal instead of taking off into the mountains. I will l still get to the border, but by the coast instead of inland. I told my son I could have had a toothache or lost my spare tire in San Francisco, but here I am, having an adventure too. So I´m not complaining, just kvetching a little bit.

This last month I have been given such wonderful hospitality in Oaxaca and Chiapas. I stayed with the Reyes Vera family in Juchitan, after their son in law referred me to them. I stayed at a roadside restaurant in Zanatepec with Adelma, who used to be the mayor of the town. I had left my harp in Juchitan but really didn´t want to drive back there since the winds across that isthmus are so strong I already lost one sky light. So the mayor of town who was going there for a meeting, brought me my harp!

5-minute preview of a video whose final title is No Son Invisibles: Maya Women and Microfinance, by Melissa Eidson. See also Mariano Estrada's Mujer indígena: la vida olvidada | Indigenous Woman: The Forgotten Life (2003); Chiapas Media Project; the Canadian NGO Inter Pares.

Oaxaca Mexico - environmental conference 19-23 Feb 2009

Oaxacan traditional costumes: photo by Teyacapan
Rolene Walker of Walk With Earth announces a conference for grass roots environmentalists in southern Mexico, in collaboration with the Universidad de la Tierra. She writes,

"It will be February 19 to 23rd in Oaxaca. On Thursday we will have a couple of speakers, On Friday will be site visits to permaculture, water treatment, waste management, and reforestation sites. There will also be presentations by the enviromentalists on Mayan medicine, women´s cooperatives, reforestation projects, preservation of corn seed varieties. Saturday and Sunday there will be workshops and booths by the different organizations, including demonstrations on building dry toilets, alternative energy supplies (solar, biodigesters), rain cachement systems, etc. It will be in a local park, and open to the public. We are inviting groups from 50 organizations outside Oaxaca and all the groups in Oaxaca City. Most of these groups can´t pay for this kind of conference, so Walk With Earth has agreed to pay $5,000.00 US for ground transportation and food for people coming from out of town. Universidad de la Tierra is providing lodging in a local church and with families. WWE has decided it is so valuable to do this conference, that even if it means we have to cut the walk short by a couple of months, it is worth it. It is so exciting to be part of this conference, to let them see how much is going on in southern Mexico, and that they have much to teach the rest of the world.

"Oaxaca is the most advanced area in ecological terms I have seen in Mexico or the United States. There is an indigenous community that has planted 475,000 trees, and aims for a million. There are 20,000 "dry" toilets that separate urine from excrement, use them for fertilizer and compost, and eliminate the need for new sewers. They have a great public transportation system that uses big buses, small buses, vans and collective taxis. There are solar panels and windmills. A trash company in Morelos handles 1000 tons of trash a day and recycles 79%, selling the inorganic stuff to different vendors, the PET plastic they make into thread that can be used to manufacturer things, and uses bacteria from Colombia to make compost of the organic stuff (including disposable baby diapers) in one months time. Most importantly, there are eighteen indigenous cultures that still treat the earth as sacred space."

If you are interested in more information, email Rolene. If you can help with the expenses of the conference, you can make a contribution via Paypal on the website www.walkwithearth.org. See also Wikipedia article, LABD, LANIC on Oaxaca.

Caminata por la Tierra

Notícias de el jornal web Walk With Earth | Caminata Por La Tierra de Rolene Walker

en Tlalpan: photo de Rolene

! Recien tuve ella un llamado. : .. este llamado fue realizar una caminata dese mi casa en los EEUU hasta Chile! -- Juanita Terrones.

Mientras le acompanamos a Rolene en su aventura por las carreteras, orando por ella y por las tierras que pisa, podemos acompannarle tambien en nuestros lugares, con nuestro caminar diario.

Como? Observando, discerniendo como nos movilizamos, como nos vestimos, como nos divertimos, como comemos y bebemos. Es nuestro caminar por el planeta un caminar respetuoso, gentil, que honra al Creador y la Creación, la tierra y sus criaturas?

Creo que esto es lo que Rolene nos invita a enfrentar con su caminata. Muchos vivimos como si nuestras decisiones, nuestras acciones no sirvieran para nada. Si sirven. El cambio comienza por dentro, y se abre paso a traves de nuestros movimientos. Es lindo. Cada cual en parcelita, pero compartiendo semillas, frutos, y herramientas con sus vecinos/as.

Mientras mas aprendo, mas voy sintiendo que una area en donde mas bien podemos hacer por nuestro planeta, por nuestras co-criaturas, nuestro projimo y nosotros mismos es la de la comida. Cuanto daño y cuanta crueldad generamos por nuestros apetitos, nuestra ignorancía y autocomplacencía!

Por hacer algo que puede ablandarnos un poco mas la conciencía, que Dios le bendiga a tí, le guie y el cuide.

Que Dios nos de ojos para ver y un corazón humilde para caminar con El/ Ella.

(Te acuerdas del profeta Miquéas? Que quiere Dios de nosotros? Que hagamos lo justo, que amemos la misericordía y que… caminemos humildemente con nuestro Dios.)

-- Jorge Martinez, Casa de los Amigos, Mexico DF.

El Comité Americano de Servício de los Amigos (American Friends Service Committee) apoyó a la Casa de los Amigos con recursos económicos y voluntarios despues 1984.

Urban Agriculture in Mexico City / Sembradores Urbanos para Lily Foster, Carolina Lukac & Gabriela Vargas

Sembradores Urbanos se dedica a promover la agricultura urbana en la Ciudad de México. Sabemos que cultivar tus propios alimentos – hortaliza orgánica, hierbas medicinales y flores comestibles – es posible, aun viviendo en uno de los centros urbanos más grandes del mundo. Ahora consideramos que nuestra misión es difundir técnicas de agricultura urbana y apoyar a las personas interesadas en sembrar alimentos sanos.

Nuestra propuesta de trabajo incluye una variedad de actividades – desde talleres de capacitación, instalaciones de huertos urbanos, diseño y difusión de material didáctico, pláticas y programas en escuelas, entre otros.

Te invitamos a explorar esta página y a sembrar semillas de conciencia y vida en la ciudad.

We are three young women dedicated to promoting urban agriculture in Mexico City, working under the name Sembradores Urbanos (“Urban Cultivators” in English). In August 2007, we inaugurated the first urban agriculture demonstration center in the country, believing that people need to see real examples of how to grow food in the city. The Romita Urban Garden has become our “show garden” – an office, edible garden, education center, workshop site, and a gardening supply store, all on less than 80 square meters of concrete.”

Mexico City is one of the urban centers that generate the most garbage in the world, with over 20 million inhabitants producing an average of 1.35 kilos every day. This translates into a massive 12,000 tons of garbage per day and serious environmental imbalances. However, this garbage is actually a valuable resource, especially in the language and application of urban agriculture.

Our garden mantra has become “transforming ‘waste’ into fertile soil, clean food, and family incomes”. We are rethinking the life cycle of materials and applying the “waste equals food” parallel to regenerate soil, feed ourselves, and create sustainable markets from 12,000 tons of “waste”.

At Romita we have set up a variety of urban agriculture techniques which include: a container composting area, worm bins and a worm bench, a vertical garden, a sheet mulching garden bed, a wall-hugging hydroponic installation, raised and ground level gardening beds, and an organoponic garden installation.

“Organoponics” is the perfect expression of our mantra – it is an urban agriculture technique that reuses organic and inorganic materials to grow clean, healthy food in limited space. We use old tires and buckets as containers, leaf litter as bedding material, kitchen wastes in the form of compost, and urine as an organic liquid fertilizer. Instead of taking rich soil out of the few forests that surround Mexico City, we use leaf litter as the main substrate in which we transplant seedlings and rely upon liquid fertilizers to add nutrients to the plants. After a year long season of urban gardening, we are we not only harvesting vegetables, herbs, and flowers – we are also harvesting the decomposed leaf litter that has turned into nutrient rich soil. So in addition to growing healthy food, we are showing how it is possible to produce fertile soil in the city.

In a landscape where information and experiences in urban agriculture are very limited, Sembradores Urbanos is establishing itself as a local resource center. In addition to hosting workshops in urban agriculture, the Romita Urban Garden site has also hosted screenings of environmental documentaries, storytelling events for neighbors, yoga in the garden, a green architecture conference, and hosts a weekly garden club for kids in the neighborhood. We sell handbooks on gardening techniques in Spanish (compiled and designed by us), organic seeds from a seed cooperative in the state of Veracruz, and our own compost and worms, among other urban garden accessories.

We have no doubt that we are participating in a blossoming moment for urban agriculture in Mexico City. As government secretariats are finally taking initiatives to fund urban agriculture pilot projects, we celebrate our own process of teaching the urban population about the magic of transforming “waste” into soil and food.

See also Michael Levenson's City Farmer News with stories from many countries.

El agua envenada, una lucha ecología en Guadalajara, México

Aguas poluadas en Juanacatlán. Foto: D.R. 2006 Magali Tirel
Preciosa la agua, de cual solo el 2.5% del mundo es potable. Despues de 2004 ha luchado contra la polución del rio Santiago el Ing. Arturo Gleason Espindola, apuyado de profesores y estudiantes de la Universidad Autonomía de Guadalajara. En los videos Salto de Juanacatlán (32 min) y El Peligro de la Presa de Arcediano (38 min) se muestren imágenes impactantes de los caudales de agua contaminada del río Santiago, la espuma dañina de la cascada de El Salto–Juanacatlán, las descargas de residuos tóxicos que hacen las empresas y el desperdicio de agua potable en fuentes naturales de abastecimiento, como el bosque Los Colomitos, el deterioro del sistema hidráulico intermunicipal de agua y los eufemismos débiles de las autoridades involucradas.

En 2003 una secunda seria Agua al borde del abismo pte 1, pte 2, pte 3, hecho para la Universidad, con Ing. Antonio Gómez Reyna, ha gañado el Premio Jalisco de Periodismo.

El Ing. Gleason Espíndola afirma que el gobierno del estado pretende poner el tinaco en el escusado de la ciudad. “Sería colocar, en donde está actualmente el escusado de la ciudad, el tinaco”. Uno médico de Juanacatlan aseveró que el projecto de la presa de Arcediano, que pondré más el rio al ralenti, traerá riesgos considerables a corto, mediano y largo plazo. En el corto plazo, dice ella, la población estará sujeta a enfermedades gastrointestinales “porque esa agua tendrá una buena proporción de excremento”. En el largo plazo, sentencia, esa agua producirá deformaciones en los niños nacidos y no nacidos, problemas psicomotores, del sistema nervioso, daños hepáticos y cáncer de pulmón debido a que el agua del río Santiago contiene metales pesados como el plomo, mercurio, cadmio, arsénico y cromo, consecuencia de la descarga residual de 250 empresas asentadas en el corredor industrial de El Salto.

Este año el IMDEC y sus brigadas de trabajo distribuirán mil copias de una version acortada de los videos, para involucrar a la sociedad de todos los barrios afectados. La presa todavía no esta ya construyendo, en eso están apunto empezar a construir la presa de aguas negras.

Ver también Magali Tirel, La Caravana “¡Aguas! en Movimiento” 2006, "Aguas inciertas" en La Jornada de Jalisco 16 dec 2007, el blog del CEPAD Centro de Justicia para la Paz y el Desarrollo, IMDEC Instituto Mexicano para el Desarrollo Comunitario, y MAPDER Movimiento Mexicano de Afectados por las Presas y en Defensa de los Rios. Para una visíon más global, Aguas inciertas de BBC Mundo muestra videos de México, España, Egipto, Bolivia, y Medio Oriente, todos en español. La onda verde del NDRC.

Éco-vidéos en français, English, Maya Ixcatec

photo: (c) Damaso Reyes - self-portrait

This is only a sampling of eco=blogs / ce n'est qu'un échantillon:
vloggeurs en français: Tristan Mendès France et Alban Fischer sur les réfugiés environnementaux au Kirghizstan et ailleurs. Seb et Aude en Tunisie & en Turkiye, Sophie Guérin au Brésil, Marie-Pierre Savard et Annie Larouche Ouellet La Traversée podcasts et videos: Maroc, Mauretanie, Sénégal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Cap-Vert.
blogues éco: Jacinthe Bordeleau, écotouriste en Nicaragua, Alexis Durand-Saddier au Thibet,
Maéva Gauthier en expédition scientifique Neptune, au large de la C-B, Philippe Terrier en expédition Antarctique
au Québec: Emile Baillargeon interpelle un autochtone attikamek de Manawan, le chanteur Reggie Brossard, va à la pêche à Ashuapmushuan. Au Rouyn-Noranda, Guillaume Fortier filme les écolos d'Aux Arbres Citoyens, Michael Berrigan les désouvrés de l'industrie forestière, l'impact des transports routiers et maritimes du Québec et l'environnement.
Philippe Laterreur montre les fermes et rivières des Laurentides et la jeunesse folle à Rouyn,
Annik Blanc Longueil faubourg montréalais.
vloggers in English: Yung Chang's award-winning Up the Yangtze, Mike Swanton meets the last Ixcatec speakers in Mexico, *Karl Mann exposes Burma's market of wild animal parts, *PETA shows tortured animals on Chinese fur farms, *Humane Society exposes abuse in US beef and *PETA in US chicken plants (* = these are NOT recommended for kids), Oxfam Be the Change! videos and discussion forums, Nick Anderson in Darfur, Peru rebuilding after the 2007 earthquake, US hurricane's Forgotten Communities, Unmet Promises Sept 2006 in Louisiana and Mississippi, and Tambogrande Peru (threatened by a Canadian mining co). BC ecologist Guy Dauncey on global warming and what we can do, Gambian women become barefoot solar engineers. Vivoleum: Yesmen's satire on oil use.
blogs et photos: Chiquitano in Bolivia, mothers on four continents speak out against No Dirty Gold, Bahamas Beautiful Oceans group blog, podcasts. Photojournalism by Damaso Reyes in Europe, Rwanda, Iraq, Indonesia and Tanzania.

Tell us about others / signalez-nous d'autres...

Enviados con gozo = Go forth with joy

para Loida Fernández, Reunión General de los Amigos de México, en la
Reunión Anual de la Sección de las Américas del Comité Mundial de Consulta de los Amigos, 2005. Ver texto completo. English translation follows.

Photo: Lago de Atitlán, Guatemala (D. Millar)

Jorge Fox nos dice: “Y esta es la palabra del Señor Dios a todos vosotros, y una encomienda a todos en presencia del Dios viviente: Sed modelos, sed ejemplos en todos los países, lugares, islas, naciones; por doquiera que viniereis. Y en medio de cualquier gente que sea vuestro porte y vuestra vida lo que les exhorte. Y agrega, “así, (y yo le pongo sólo así) es que vendréis a caminar gozosamente por el mundo, respondiendo a eso que hay de Dios en cada cual; para que así podáis ser una bendición en ellos, y hacer que el Testigo de Dios en ellos os bendiga a vosotros. Así seréis una bendición y un olor grato al Señor tu Dios.”

Hay en la pared de la Iglesia de los Amigos en San Ignacio, Chalatenango [El Salvador], donde es pastora la hermana Emma Espinoza, la siguiente inscripción...
LAS MISIONES SE HACEN CON LOS PIES DE LOS QUE VAN,
LAS RODILLAS DE LOS QUE SE QUEDAN,
Y LAS MANOS DE LOS QUE DAN.

Hay muchos ejemplos de cómo en el devenir histórico de los Amigos en este continente y alrededor del mundo se han realizado tareas inimaginables para otros (y esto lo digo con humildad y respeto), y una y otra vez, el llamado a alzar la voz profética ha iniciado en un individuo, ha sido probado en una junta o iglesia y se ha buscado en la espera expectante y en los diversos mecanismos que tenemos como Amigos, la dirección de Dios, que nos ha impelido a decir o a hacer tal o cual cosa….
Recuerdo a los Amigos Cubanos cuando fueron invitados a participar del servicio militar… hablar con firmeza, con miedo, pero con fe en Dios, ofreciendo sus servicios como ayudantes de servicios médicos, pero no realizando la labor que les pedían en caso de una invasión...
Allá estaban los Amigos Norteamericanos ofreciendo en México formas alternativas a la conscripción obligatoria…
Allí mismo, recuerdo a un Amigo, Heberto Sein, en adoración silenciosa en el Zócalo de la ciudad de México, sólo, pero a la vez con el apoyo de la Junta Mensual de esa ciudad, pidiendo el cese al fuego contra los estudiantes en 1968.
Cuántos y tantos de ustedes en este país y de Canadá, a nivel individual o como juntas enteras, participaron en la reconstrucción de países centroamericanos hermanos que pasaron por décadas de guerras civiles …
O los Amigos Canadienses apoyando la lucha por los derechos de los pueblos indígenas. Están también los Amigos que participaron en el movimiento Santuario. Los Amigos en Honduras que en los años ochenta junto con otros grupos pacifistas y otros no pacifistas se unieron para pedir el estatus de objetores de conciencia como parte de los derechos de sus ciudadanos.
Allí está el programa de becas en Guatemala para indígenas, a quienes en su propia patria se les dificulta estudiar, hoy ya con más de 30 años de existencia.
La casa cuáquera en Managua, La Casa Ridgeway y el centro de Paz de los Amigos en Costa Rica, Monteverde como comunidad. Y … otros ejemplos de nuestros propios países, de obediencia al llamado… para levantar la voz, y la acción.

Pero, ¿tiene un papel profético el CMCA hoy en día, hacia dónde vamos y quién nos envía, como Sección de las Américas? …¿A dónde más nos llama Dios a hablar? Nuestras sociedades, cualquiera que sea, están llenas de violencia en todas sus manifestaciones, explotación, corrupción.

Si nuestro llamado es como un “éxodo” a salir de situaciones conocidas, o cómodas o inclusive amadas, arriesguémonos en una “aventura” hacia el futuro arriesgándonos con fe en Dios.

* * * * *

Loida Fernández, Mexico Friends Meeting, keynote to FWCC Americas 2005
[see full text]
.
George Fox tells us: “And this is the word of the Lord God to you all, and a charge to you all in the presence of the living God: Be patterns, be examples in all countries, places, islands, nations, wherever you come, that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people, and to them.” And he adds, “Then (and I would say, only then) you will come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one; whereby in them ye may be a blessing, and make the witness in God in them to bless you. Then to the lord God you will be a sweet savour and a blessing.”

On the wall of the Friends Church in San Ignacio, Chalatenango [El Salvador], where Friend Emma Espinoza is the pastor, the following inscription appears...
MISSIONS ARE CARRIED OUT BY THE FEET OF THOSE WHO GO,
THE KNEES OF THOSE WHO REMAIN BEHIND,
AND THE HANDS OF THOSE WHO GIVE.

There are many examples in the history of the Friends, in this hemisphere and around the world, of how some have carried out unimaginable tasks for others (and I say this with humility and respect). Time after time, the call to raise the prophetic voice has begun with an individual, has been tested in a meeting or church, and Friends have sought in expectant waiting and in the various means we use as Friends, to hear God’s guidance, which has compelled us to say or do one thing or another. ..
I remember the Cuban Friends, when they were invited to participate in military service… how they spoke firmly, with fear, but with faith in God, offering to work as assistants for the medical services, but not doing the jobs asked of them in case of an invasion….
There were North American Friends, offering work in Mexico as an alternative to obligatory [US] military service for youth…
And I also remember a Friend, Heberto Sein, in silent worship in the Zócalo [central square] of Mexico City, alone, but with the support of the Monthly Meeting in that city, asking for a cease-fire against the students in 1968.
So many of you in [the USA] and in Canada, individually or as whole meetings, participated in the reconstruction of our brother Central American countries, [after] decades of civil wars… Canadian Friends supporting the struggle of indigenous peoples for their rights. There are also the Friends who participated in the Sanctuary movement. The Friends in Honduras [who] requested conscientious objection as part of the rights of their citizens.
There is the [30 year old] scholarship program for indigenous people in Guatemala, whose own country makes it difficult for them to study… The Quaker House in Managua, Casa Ridgeway and the Friends Peace Center in Costa Rica, even Monteverde as a community. And other examples from our own countries of obedience to the call to raise our voice, to action.

But, does FWCC have a prophetic role today? Where are we going and who is sending us, as the Section of the Americas? ... Where else is God calling us to go speak? Our societies, wherever they may be, are full of violence in all its manifestations, exploitation, corruption….

If our calling is like an “exodus” to leave situations that are familiar, comfortable or even beloved, then let us take risks on an “adventure” toward the future, risking ourselves with faith in God.

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See also Friends Journal special issue Oct 2007 on FWCC's work worldwide.
Western Independent Quakers' new book Spiritual Wisdom in an Ecological Age (Torrance CA: Friends Bulletin, 2007)