Ottawa, Canada, February 19, 2009 – United States President Barack Obama is meeting today with Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada for his first foreign visit as a President. The main discussion will center on trade between the two nations as well as topics of environment, climate and energy security in North America. Obama's concerns about implementing an agenda for a clean and green energy economy highlights' Canada's oil sands, a vast potential oil source that comes at a big cost to the environment and the human rights of Aboriginal communities. "Obama is building a new energy economy and importing dirty oil from the Canadian tar sands is not a right fit", says Clayton Thomas-Muller, Native tar sands campaigner of the Indigenous Environmental Network from his office in Ottawa. "Canada needs to stop expansion of this carbon intensive fossil fuel in Alberta that is destroying the boreal forests, degrading the sacredness of the watershed and creating environmental health concerns of First Nation communities surrounding the tar sands development", added Thomas-Muller.
Canada's tar sands consist of huge deposits of heavy crude oil mixed with sand and clay in the province of Alberta and represent the biggest oil reserves outside of Saudi Arabia. The ecological footprint of approved projects in the tar sands and its infamous tailings ponds already represents an area the size of Vancouver Island. In the years to come it will grow to an area 90,720 square kilometers in size with 20-30 % being stripped mined and the other 70-80% being developed by a process called SAG-D which requires immense amounts of water and energy as well as the building of thousands of miles of roads and pipelines. The use of water in the process of extracting the tar sands and upgrading the bitumen for transport is of particular concern. If the current development continues at the same pace the tailings ponds will grow to a combined size comparable to Lake Ontario.
The Athabasca Chipweyan First Nation and the Mikisew Cree First Nation are two of five Aboriginal communities within the Athabasca tar sands development zone that comprises approximately 60% of the First Nation population in the region. "Residents of my community have for the past thirty years recognized the impacts from industrial development on our lands, water, air, wildlife and most recently the health of our people. The devastation of our homelands in this short period of time is perplexing to my people since it is only a fraction of the time that these impacts have occurred compared to the thousands of years we have inhabited these lands." says George Poitras, former chief of the Mikisew Cree.
Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipweyan First Nation is also concerned about President Obama meeting with Harper. Joining forces with environmental organizations and Mikisew, Chief Adam says, "Obama must ask Canada to clean up its tar sands and to respect the rights of our aboriginal First Nations. Both the federal and provincial governments of Canada have failed our aboriginal community for the sake of money, for the sake of corporate interests, and for the sake of increasing energy exports to the US. We are seeing disheartening toxicity levels in our animal life and have now received confirmation of unacceptable cancer rates."
"There are many political layers surrounding a campaign towards a bi-national energy and environmental policy between Canada and the US. The rapid expansion of the tar sands infrastructure results in a road of destruction directly affecting the rights of First Nations, American Indians and Alaska Natives on all sides of the political borders," added Thomas-Muller.
The tar sands expansion has an infrastructure with many connecting and supplying pipelines and associated projects that are needed to transport fuels for the production of tar sands bitumen and to move crude oil to the lower 48 of the US for refining. This involves some massive new pipeline projects to Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Illinois, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Louisiana, California, Pennsylvania, Texas and elsewhere including efforts to send the crude oil to existing refineries in Ontario and Quebec. The Canadian government is further compounding land and water rights issues with the approval and construction of expansion projects infringing into traditional territories in Northern Saskatchewan as well as Alberta. The projects for the delivering of this crude oil include major pipeline construction in traditional aboriginal territories in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, British Columbia and US States. The bulk of these projects are raising questions of adequate consultation with the First Nations and American Indian communities.
"The Alberta government's approval of the NCC pipeline directly infringes upon our inherent rights as aboriginal peoples especially since we, the Lubicon Cree have never ceded our rights to the land," relates Melina Laboucan-Massimo who is Lubicon Cree. "We already have logging and conventional oil exploitation taking place on our territory, how much more can the land or our people take?
Prior agreements between the Bush administration and Harper have been made to retrofit over forty oil refineries, double some in size and with some plans to build new refineries in the US to prepare for the export and processing of Canadian tar sands crude oil. American Indians in the US are afraid Canadian export of more crude oil will result in an increase of cancer clusters in the communities that live next to these refineries. "We have on our reservation, on our Ponca land in north-central Oklahoma, a ConocoPhillips refinery which has been here for over 50 years," explains Casey Camp-Hornik, a member of the Ponca Nation who works with the Coyote Creek Center for Environmental Justice. "This company is active in the oil sands in Canada and making plans to ship this dirty oil to its refinery next door to our Ponca territories to be refined. Our people already have cancer, asthma and other health effects from the petroleum infrastructure in our homeland."
An oil refinery is being proposed to be built on the land of the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold in North Dakota. The crude oil that will feed this refinery is coming from the tar sands in Alberta. Kandi Mosset, tribal member of the Three Affiliated Tribes says, "Canada will be shipping its dirty oil to my people. We're not going to get the energy, only the pollution. Our Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara people are already experiencing disproportionate environmental fallout from oil development and from the burning of lignite coal in power plants that surround our lands. Several community members, including myself, are tired of being sick and are tired of seeing everyone, even babies, dying from unprecedented rates of cancer. We are taking a stand and fighting back, not only for our own lives but for the lives of those who cannot speak for themselves and we will not stop fighting until we have a reached a true level of environmental and climate justice in our Indigenous lands. We hope Obama tells Canada to stop shipping its dirty oil to the US. People have told me the reason that Canada is not meeting its Kyoto Protocol target commitments to reduce its greenhouse gases is because of the tars sands. Climate change is affecting my community, something has to change."
"Our Alaska Native subsistence way of life has been under constant threat by oil and gas development since the discovery of oil in Prudhoe Bay. REDOIL has consistently objected to the subsistence rights of our communities being eroded to satisfy the high fossil fuel consumption needs of the US. We strongly oppose the proposed Alaska natural gas pipeline that will link the gas fields of the North Slope to the tar sands development in northern Alberta. We should have a Canadian-US energy policy that does not put Native communities in peril," says Faith Gemmill, Executive Director of Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL) based in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Dene, Cree and Métis communities of Canada and other Native communities being affected by the tar sands infrastructure want to look beyond the dependence on a fossil fuel regime and be visionaries and doers on supporting the development of clean production and clean renewable energy within their lands.
The Indigenous Environmental Network working in alliance with the First Nations and Métis of the community of Fort Chipewyan located downstream of the tar sands development zone are looking for solutions to provide a healthy sustaining community for their future generations. "The sustainable future for First Nations in Alberta and Canada isn't going to be sinking all our eggs into one of the dirtiest, most energy intensive and destructive sources of oil on the planet," said Eriel Deranger, Dene campaigner with the Rainforest Action Network, based in Edmonton. "It's time we focus our efforts on building a clean sustainable future with our people working in a safe, green energy economy."
On behalf of the team that constitutes Tlachinollan, I am writing to ask for your help with an Urgent Action for RAUL LUCAS LUCIA and MANUEL PONCE ROSAS, two Indigenous human rights defenders and leaders of the Organization for the Future of the Mixteco People (OFPM) - which works in coordination with the Organization of the Me Phaa Indigenous People (OPIM) - who have been disappeared since February
13th.
The disappearance took place on Friday, February 13th around 1:35p.m. when three armed men who identified themselves as police officers, entered the public event that Raul and Manuel were attending, proceeding to take them away by force. Since that moment, they have been disappeared, without any authority having responded for them. For
these reasons we are incredibly worried for their safety and physical and psychological integrity.
Attached is a sample letter which can be used, although original letters tend to be more effective. The sample contains a brief summary of the case. Please send letters to each of the authorities listed at the end of the sample letter. We greatly appreciate your solidarity.
Warm greetings and for more information,
Jane Jones
Collaborator with the International Area
Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña
(Human Rights Centre of Montaña)
Tlachinollanjanetlachinollan@gmail.com
********************
DATE/NAME
Dear (name),
We/I am writing (from NAME OF ORGANIZATION if aplicable) to express my/our concern for the security of RAUL LUCAS LUCIA and MANUEL PONCE ROSAS; two human rights defenders of the the Organización para el Futuro del Pueblo Mixteco (OFPM) who were arbitrarily detained in a public event in Ayutla de los Libres on February 13th by three men who identified themselves as police officers. They have been disappeared.
The OFMP, like the Organizacion del Pueblo Indigena Tlapaneco (OPIT) comes from the Organizacion Independiente de Pueblos Mixtecos y Tlapanecos (OIPMT). It has its base in Ayutla de los Libres and is dedicated to the defense of the indigenous communities of the region and to denouncing the attacks and violations of human rights as well as expanded its work to the creation and management of productive projects which aid in the improvement of the economic conditions and nutrition of the indigenous peoples of this region.
Raul Lucas Lucia is the President and Manuel Ponce Rosas is the Secretary of the organization. Lucas Lucia has suffered a series of threats for his work in denouncing multiple cases of human rights violations by the Mexican Army, highlighting acts of illegal searches, detentions and interrogations, amongst others. He suffered interrogation and illegal detention by members of the Mexican Army on October 18th, 2006. On February 15th, 2007, he was the target of an ambush by unidentified persons who left him with a bullet wound in his neck which almost cost him his life.
On February 13th, 2009, at approximately 1:15p.m., Raul Lucas Lucia and Manuel Ponce Rosas were at an event to which they were invited by Guadalupe Castro Morales, the Councilor of Indigenous Affairs, wife of Raul, for the inauguration of the construction of some offices for the General Secondary Schools, in the city of Ayutla de los Libres, Guerrero. This event was to take place in the supervision zone of Secundarias, located on the highway Ayutla-Tecoanapa.
At the above-mentioned event were also present the Director of Public Works of the Municipality of Ayutla de los Libres, Guerrero, the Director of Public Safety of the same municipality, Luis Jose Sanchez Hernandez, as well as a commission of Councilors and one teacher. The inauguration event began approximately at 1:30p.m., with the participation of 35 people, between guests of the Municipality and other teachers. It must be pointed out that before the event began, the Director of Public Safety, along with 25 Preventive Police officers were securing the area, but when Guadalupe Castro Morales, in her role as Councilor, began to speak, she noticed that the Director received a phone call and immediately left along with his officers in the direction of the centre of the city of Ayutla.
Minutes later, at about 1:35p.m., three subjects carrying heavy arms entered the event and went towards where the President and the Secretary of the Organizacion para el Futuro de los Pueblso Mixtecos, Raul Lucas Lucia and Manuel Ponce Rosas, were sitting. They both shouted “police” and were immediately assaulted by blows to the head in order to overpower them and practically drag them out of the event.
Lucas Lucia and Ponce Rosas were taken against their will into a vehicle which was already on and had a driver waiting in it. The vehicle took off at high speed with Manuel, Raul and their captors in the direction of the Ayutla-Acapulco highway. Since that moment, the whereabouts of the Secretary and the President of the indigenous organization are unknown.
It is important to mention that around 2:30p.m., Mrs. Guadalupe Castro Morales received a call on her cell phone which was coming from the cell phone of the missing Manuel Ponce Rosas. When she answered, a male voice told her “Don’t start ‘fucking around’, stay quiet or else we’ll kill your husband, this is happening to them for defending Indians”. Mrs. Castro attempted to dialogue with them to ask that they not harm the men and let them free, however, the man hung up.
Between the afternoon of the 13th and Saturday the 14th, Guadalupe Castro Morales observed on two occasions, a pair of strange persons who stopped on the corner in front of her house. For fear that she was being observed or that her house would be entered, she felt it necessary to temporarily leave her home.
It is important to also mention that on February 13th, Guadalupe Castro went to the office of the Public Ministry of the Common Jurisdiction of the Prosecutor of Guerrero, in Ayutla, to denounce the forced disappearance of her husband. However, personnel of the Prosecutor refused to open an investigation into the crimes committed and only opened a Ministerial act numbered ALLE/SC/03/AM/015/2009 so that there would be a legal antecedent. This act, however, does not open up an investigation.
The refusal to open a Preceding Investigation (Averiguación Previa), shows the inefficiency of the existing resources, since in the State of Guerrero, there exists the Law to Prevent and Sanction the Forced Disappearance of People which establishes that the said human rights violation is a crime and as such, the Prosecutor is obligated to investigate it.
In the same manner, it is important to point out that Margarita Martin de las Nieves and Guadalupe Castro Morales submitted before the Seventh District Court, which is found in the city of Chilpancingo, Guerrero, an appeal for lack of communication, asking that their husbands who are disappeared be searched for in installations of the police and armed forces though the said appeal has thus far not produced any results in determining their whereabouts.
BEFORE THESE FACTS, WE DEMAND:
- (Before the State and Federal governments), the presentation of Raul Lucas Lucia and Manuel Ponce Rosas alive, with the preservation of their physical and psychological integrity.
- That the authorities which carry out justice start an effective, diligent and impartial investigation in order to sanction those responsible for the detention of Raul Lucas Lucia and Manuel Ponce Rosas as well as disclose their whereabouts.
- That protective measures be put in place for the relatives of Raul Lucas Lucia and Manuel Ponce Rosas in order to avoid an attack on their physical and psychological states.
Sincerely,
NAME
Please send copies to:
C. Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza
Procurador General de la República
Procuraduría General de la República,
Av. Paseo de la Reforma Nº 211-213, Piso 16
Col. Cuauhtémoc, Delegación Cuauhtémoc, México D.F., C.P. 06500, MÉXICO
Fax:+52 55 5346 0908 (si responde una voz, digan: “me da tono de fax, por favor”)
General Guillermo Galván Galván
Secretario de Defensa Nacional
Manuel Avila Camacho, esq. Con Av. Industria Militar S/N
Col. Lomas de Sotelo
México DF
Tel: +52 55 5557 5571 5395 3663
dn_sdn@mailsedena.gob.mx
Lic. Zeferino Torreblanca Galindo
Gobernador del Estado de Guerrero
Palacio de Gobierno, Edificio Centro, piso 2, Ciudad de los Servicios
CP 39075, Chilpancingo, Guerrero, MÉXICO
Fax:+52 747 471 9956
Lic. Eduardo Murueta Urrutia
Procurador del Estado de Guerrero
Carretera Nacional México-Acapulco Km. 6+300
Tramo Chilpancingo-Petaquillos, Chilpancingo 39090, Guerrero, MÉXICO
Fax: +52 747 472 2328
cprocurador@pgjgro.gob.mx
Armando García Rendón
Presidente Municipal de Ayutla de los Libres
Palacio Municipal de los Libres, Gro.
Plaza Principal, C.P. 39200
Tel: (01-745) 455 02 21 (Ayuntamiento)
Fax: (01 745) 4-55-06-71
Enrique Jorge Alonso Garrido
Comandante de la novena Región Militar
Tel: (+52) (01) 744 444 4029
Centro de Derechos Humanos de La Montaña Tlachinollan.
Mina #77, Col. Centro, Tlapa de Comonfort, Guerrero, México.
C.P. 41304
Teléfono: (+52) (01) 757 476 12 20
Fax: (+52) (01) 757 476 12 00
Correo electrónico: cdhm@tlachinollan.org
Me emocioné mucho cuando hace unos días recibí finalmente el link para poder ver el video que grabamos sobre el producto de nuestro II Encuentro AccionArte, que tuvo lugar en la Ciudad de Santiago del Estero, en el marco de las actividades simultáneas de la Sección Infancia y Juventud del 10* Festival Internacional de Cine de Derechos Humanos.
Gracias a todas las personas e instituciones que nos apoyaron en esta iniciativa autogestiva de los miembros de la Red AccionArte y de la Asociación Vientos del Sur.
e por falar em sexo
quem anda me comendo
é o tempo
na verdade já faz tempo
mas eu escondia
porque ele me pegava à força
e por trás
um dia resolvi encará-lo de frente e disse:
tempo
se você tem que me comer
que seja com o meu consentimento
e me olhando nos olhos
(sei lá quem é o autor, mas com certeza é alguém esperto)
Este jueves 30 de octubre comenzamos el ciclo de Talleres de Teatro y Reflexión Creativa del Proyecto Jóvenes Refugiados en la Ciudad de Buenos Aires: Una mirada desde adentro.
Este proyecto, de la Asociación Vientos del Sur, pretende ser un espacio de encuentro e intercambio que permita la autoorganización de jóvenes provenientes de diferentes países para facilitar su integración y el mejoramiento de sus condiciones de vida a través del conocimiento de sus derechos, el desarrollo de iniciativas propias y la valoración positiva de su identidad mediante el dialogo intercultural.
Participaron del encuentro unos 25 jóvenes de Sierra Leona, Costa de Marfil, Cabo Verde, Guinea, Bangladesh, Colombia, Inglaterra, Hungría, Alemania, República Dominicana, Senegal y, por supuesto, Argentina.
Fue un hermoso comienzo, con mucho entusiasmo y mucha entrega por parte de todas y todos.
En la foto, el afiche con el producto de la dinámica "El mar de las expectativas", donde quedó plasmado qué es lo que las y los participantes esperan de este espacio de encuentro, qué es lo que tienen para compartir y qué es lo que les preocupa.
Próximamente.... más novedades.
Un especial y enorme agradecimiento a todas las personas que generosamente están contribuyendo para que este sueño compartido sea una realidad =)
Envio essa mensagem na esperança de encontrar alguém, ou alguém que conheça alguém, de preferência do Cone Sul, mas que pode ser de qualquer um dos cantos do mundo, que seja da área de Ciências Sociais ou campo relacionado.
Estou desenvolvendo um estudo sobre o comparecimento de jovens eleitores nas eleições brasileiras desde 1989, e gostaria muito de aproveitar os dados que estou levantando para fazer um estudo comparativo entre países. Mas, como não me atreveria a falar sobre uma realidade que não vivencio, gostaria de ter como parceiro de pesquisa alguém que fosse nativo ou ao menos morador do país em questão. Se for um jovem estudante, como eu, melhor ainda!
Então, se você conhece alguém ou sabe de quem conheça, gostaria muito que encaminhasse esse e-mail.
Contato: Renata Florentino - tataflorentino@gmail.com - Brasil
Estudo focalizado já feito: http://www.scielo.br/pdf/op/v14n1/08.pdf
____________________________________español___________________________
Hola personas,
Envío ese mensaje en esperanza de encontrar alguien, o alguien que conozca alguien, de preferencia de Cono Sur, pero que puede ser de cualquier uno de los rincones del mundo, que sea del área de Ciencias Sociales o campo relacionado.
Estoy desarrollando un estudio sobre la participación de jóvenes electores en las elecciones brasileñas desde 1989, y gustaría mucho de aprovechar los dados que estoy levantando para hacer un estudio comparativo entre países. Pero, como no me atreveria la hacer referencia a una realidad que no vivo, me gustaría tener como compañero de investigación alguien que fuese nativo o por lo menos habitante del país en cuestión. Se fuere un joven estudiante, como yo, mejor!
Entonces, si usted conoce alguien o sabe de quien conozca, gustaría mucho que encaminase ese correo electrónico.
I´m sending this message hoping to find someone, or somebody who knows someone, preferentially from South America, but also from everywhere in the globe, who is from Social Sciences area or connected field.
I am developing a study on the attendance of young voters in the Brazilian elections since 1989, and I would like to reuse the data that I am raising to make a comparative study between countries. But, as I would not dare to speak on a reality that I have not live deeply, I would like to have as a research partner somebody who is native or is at least living in the country in question. If s/he is a young grad student, as I am, even better!
So, if you know somebody or know someone who does, I would appreciate if you could forward this message to him/her.
