..A must read for for every US voter and concerned citizen.. challenges the reader to explore new possibilities and new mindsets that will ultimately be required if the world is truly ready to make a change.. amazon.com US onlyTopics in this digest:
1. Agrofuels on Real World Radio at the European Social Forum 2008
From: almuthbernstinguk
2. Victories of peoples' resistance in Peru and Brazil
From: almuthbernstinguk
Messages
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1. Agrofuels on Real World Radio at the European Social Forum 2008
Posted by: "almuthbernstinguk" almuth@ernsting.wanadoo.co.uk almuthbernstinguk
Date: Sun Sep 21, 2008 7:02 am ((PDT))
There are three radio interviews recorded at the 2008 European Social
Forum in Malmo which are specifically about agrofuels and to which
you can listen here:
http://www.radiomundoreal.fm/rmr/?q=en
Other interviews on that webpage may also be of interest.
+ "Agrofuels will not answer to climate change"
Interview with Raoul Bhambral, Friends of the Earth Europe's agrofuel
campaigner. [2:26 minutes]
+ "GE trees are not a solution for agrofuels and will be more
destructive for the climate"
Interview with Anne Peterman from the Global Justice Ecology Project,
member of the Global Forest Coalition. [6:49 minutes]
+ "Agrofuel promotion and expansion of EU, Asian, US and Australian
corporations in Indonesia"
Interview with Torry Kuswardono, coordinator of the Agrofuels
Campaign of Friends of the Earth International and member of Walhi-
FOE Indonesia [6:41 minutes]
Messages in this topic (1)
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2. Victories of peoples' resistance in Peru and Brazil
Posted by: "almuthbernstinguk" almuth@ernsting.wanadoo.co.uk almuthbernstinguk
Date: Sun Sep 21, 2008 7:07 am ((PDT))
Article from World Rainforest Movement Bulletin, September 2008,
www.wrm.org.uy
At a time when large corporate interests are gaining control over
ever more land and resources, it is refreshing to hear news of
victories won through the tenacious resistance of local communities.
In Peru, within the framework of the implementation of the free trade
agreement with the United States, the government of President Alan
García has passed more than 30 laws and decrees aimed at extending
the frontier of extractive activities in the Amazon region. These
laws were intended to dismantle community rights and communities
themselves, by facilitating the sale of their lands through more
flexible mechanisms for the division and sale of collectively owned
lands and the withdrawal of the special protections these lands once
enjoyed. Ultimately, the goal was to strip the Amazon peoples of
their territory to such a voracious extent that there was even talk
of granting concessions over lowlands and riverbanks where poor
people grow their rice or corn. These efforts where enthusiastically
backed by the agrofuel, tree plantation, oil and mining industries
(see WRM Bulletin No. 129).
One of the companies that hoped to benefit from this process was
CMPC, a Chilean pulp and paper company. CMPC owns vast tracts of pine
and eucalyptus plantations in Chile that were established in Mapuche
indigenous territories during the Pinochet dictatorship. Referring to
CMPC's plans to invest millions of dollars in Peru, Fernando Léniz,
former minister of finance under Pinochet and current president of
Corporación Chilena de la Madera, a national association of wood
producers, stated: "Over there [in Peru] there is a better labour
climate and better control against violence. This idea that pressure
groups can achieve their demands though violence and illegality is
doing a lot of harm to Chile." Mr. Léniz was alluding here to the
legitimate struggle of the Mapuche people to regain control over
their ancestral lands.
But neither Mr. Léniz nor the Peruvian government were expecting the
forceful response of the peoples of the Amazon in defence of their
rights. On 8 August, more than 3,000 indigenous and campesino
protestors from various parts of the Amazon region declared an
indefinite national strike against the new legislation.
On 22 August, as a result of this massive opposition and protest, the
Peruvian Congress repealed Legislative Decrees 1015 and 1073, which
the government had attempted to impose in violation of the collective
rights of indigenous peoples and for the benefit of powerful economic
groups. The indigenous victory in Peru is a clear demonstration of
power against those who would attempt to destroy the Amazon, and has
blocked the way to the establishment of large-scale monoculture tree
plantations in the region, at least for the time being.
Meanwhile, in Brazil, a historic court decision has reinforced the
popular struggle against eucalyptus monoculture plantations. On 28
August, the Court of Justice passed and unanimously upheld a decision
that ordered the immediate suspension of eucalyptus planting in the
municipality of São Luiz do Paraitinga, São Paulo, in view of the
disastrous environmental and social impacts of the industrial
expansion of this monoculture. The suspension is to remain in effect
until the transnational companies operating the existing plantations
carry out environmental impact assessments in all of the areas where
they are located, along with mandatory public hearings with the rural
populations affected by them. Violation of this decision will be
punished with a fine of 10,000 reals (around 6,000 U.S. dollars) per
day.
In another landmark decision, the Court of Justice also rejected a
motion filed by the São Luiz District Attorney's Office that sought
to prevent the Public Defender's Office from monitoring compliance
with the decision and challenged its right to take part in the
proceedings. The Court of Justice unanimously found that the Public
Defender's Office not only can but must act on behalf of the
population with regard to environmental issues.
Public Defender Wagner Giron, who filed the suit, declared that the
companies that own the eucalyptus plantations, particularly
Votorantim Celulose e Papel and Suzano Papel e Celulose, "do not
respect any environmental norms whatsoever. They plant the trees on
mountains, in native forests, encroaching on springs and drying up
waterways. There have already been cases of poisoning of human beings
and deaths of fish and animals here, all as a result of this
violation of environmental norms." (1)
It should be stressed that eucalyptus plantations currently cover
around 20% of the municipality of São Luiz.
Victories like these in Peru and Brazil are like rays of hope that
light the way for the legitimate resistance struggles of local
communities around the world.
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Biofuels are a wide range of fuels which are in some way derived from biomass.
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