ALAI
Revista de la
Agencia Latinoamericana de Información
Bolivia and Ecuador:
The State against the Indigenous People
by Raúl Zibechi
“These people are gringos who are coming here with NGOs. Take it somewhere else. These people’s stomachs are full enough”, said the president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, in reference to the protesters who belong to the National Confederation of the Indigenous in Ecuador (CONAIE) [1]. Evo Morales said almost the same thing: “Since the Right can’t find arguments for opposing the process of change, it’s using rural, indigenous or original people leaders who have been paid off in special favors by NGOs”.[2].
It seems the presidents of both countries have neglected to realize that they are using the same arguments as their enemies when they accuse social movements of being part of the “international communist subversion” or of being financed by “Moscow gold”. They’re making two mistakes in one: believing that the indigenous can be manipulated, and believing that the manipulation comes from outside the country. It isn’t surprising that the indigenous have interpreted the statements of their presidents as insults meant to distract attention from real problems.
However, it is possible that USAID, a United States aid organization, has infiltrated some social movements and encouraged actors to protest against the government, as per statements by the Vice President of Bolivia, Álvaro García Linera. He notes that, of the 100 million dollars that USAID invests in his country, 20 million is used for technical costs and the rest “for their friends and their political clients, for sponsoring courses, publications and groups that promote conflict”[3].
The social organizations involved in the protests refused funding from USAID, though what is most striking is that this critique hasn’t come to light before, but just when people have begun to demonstrate against the government. The head minister of Hydrocarbon in Morales’ administration went even further and reminded the president that he owed everyone an explanation as to why he allowed USAID, the World Bank and European ONGs to design the current Plurinational State. In fact, “In 2004, USAID financed the Coordinating Unit for the Constitutional Assembly”, among other official activities[4].
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Ecuador’s Economy Under Rafael Correa:
Twenty-First Century Socialism or the New-Extractivism?
An Inteview with Alberto Acosta
I spoke with Alberto Acosta, ex-Minister of Energy and Mines, and ex-President of the Constituent Assembly, in his Quito office on July 8, 2010.
Jeffery R. Webber: In a few words, can you describe your political formation and political trajectory?
Alberto Acosta: I’m an economist. I’ve worked as an international consultant and as a university professor. I’ve been an advisor to social movements, to the indigenous movement. I’ve been involved in various struggles in the last few years which are trying to build a country based in equality, liberty, and justice. In the early part of the Rafael Correa government, I was the Minister of Energy and Mines and the President of the Constituent Assembly.
JW: As a former Minister of Energy and Mines, can you talk about the strengths and weaknesses of the economic model being advanced by the Correa government in the current conjuncture?
AA: We can’t talk about the economic development model of only this government. Stretching way back, Ecuador has had a model of accumulation based on the extraction of natural resources. Ecuador has been a country based in the production of bananas, flowers, shrimp, and oil, and there are people who now believe that it can be a country based in mining production.
In reality, we’ve been living off the rent of nature. In the last few decades, since the 1970s, Ecuador has had as its principal source of revenue the exploitation of oil – the extraction of crude oil and the export of oil into the international market. This is a fundamental characteristic of the Ecuadorean economy. And this has not changed substantively under the government of Correa.
It’s true that he’s sought greater participation of the state in generating the oil rent. There’s been a certain increase of state control over oil activities. There’s been an attempt to increase the efficiency and to strengthen the state oil company. And the state’s greater take of the oil rent has allowed for improvements in education, health, and social welfare.
But at the root of things, the fact that Ecuador has an economy dependent on natural resources has not been altered, and we remain highly dependent on our insertion into the world market.
read more
ALBA without Indigenous Peoples
is not a True Alliance of the Americas
Otavalo, June 24, 2010.
Otavalo—a city two hours north of Quito that is known for its verdant mountains and tranquil lagoons—is anticipating the arrival of Latin American heads-of-states, including Bolivian President Evo Morales and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. These high- profile guests are participants in the Summit of the Bolivian Alliance for the Peoples of the Americas (ALBA), held in Otavalo from June 24 to 25, 2010.
Summit themes include cultural diversity, the rights of nature, climate change, racism, and foreign trade.
While the Ecuadoran government coordinated a delegation of 300 indigenous and afroecuatoriano participants, the CONAIE and its member organizations did not receive invitations.
“[The government] has not taken into account the active participation of the indigenous peoples,” said Marlon Santi, president of the CONAIE in a press conference this morning at the headquarters of FICI, an organization which represents indigenous peoples from the Ecuadorean province Imbabura. “...furthermore, they have been persecuted and jailed for thinking differently and coming from the point of view of a plurinational state,” said Santi.
According to the CONAIE, the indigenous delegates participating in this summit—which is organized by Ecuador´s Secretariat of the People and Social Movements—are members of the government and not leaders of the indigenous movement.
However, exclusion from the ALBA Summit has not prevented the CONAIE and its member organizations from traveling to Otavalo today to host an alternative event.
From June 24 to June 25, the CONAIE, CONFENAIE (amazon), CONAICE (coast), ECUARUNARI (highlands) and FICI (Imbabura) are holding the Plurinational Assembly of Ecuador. During this event, members of the indigenous organizations will hold their own discussions about climate change, the fight against racism and discrimination, the rights of nature, and cultural diversity.
“What happened to the rights of indigenous peoples, the right to education, the right to health care and the right to participate?” asked Delfín Tenesaca, president of the ECUARUNARI, during today´s press conference.
Olindo Nastacuaz, president of the CONAICE added “We are united in our diversity and will continue fighting for the construction of Sumak Kawsay [a Kichwa word that means to live well] for all peoples of Ecuador.”
Tomorrow, the Plurinational Assembly participants will march through the main streets of Otavalo at 9am to protest the ALBA summit.
Communications-CONAIE
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À propos du modèle néolibéral équatorien
Alors qu’il entame sa quatrième année à la tête de
l’Etat équatorien, Rafael Correa fait aujourd’hui face à un défi majeur de la part de certains des acteurs sociaux qui l’ont propulsé au pouvoir, sur fond d’exploitation des ressources naturelles.
by Roger Burbach (16 February 2010)
Des groupes indigènes s’opposent à Rafael Correa
Lors d’un discours adressé à l’ensemble de ses concitoyens
début janvier, Correa a exprimé tout son courroux concernant
« une série de conflits à venir ce mois-ci, parmi lesquels des mobilisations des populations indigènes, des ouvriers,
des conflits à propos de la politique de communication,
et même, des différends avec les forces armées.»
Le pays, emporté par la crise mondiale, est actuellement
confronté à un ralentissement de l’économie et pâtit
de pannes électriques chroniques. Pourtant, les racines
de l’actuel affrontement sont plus profondes :
il s’agit bien de la désillusion croissante de la
« révolution citoyenne »
qui a porté Correa au pouvoir en 2007
et qui constitue le fondement de son organisation politique,
l’Alianza País, ou Alliance Pays.
Correa avait alors promis de refonder le pays avec
une nouvelle Magna Carta et de débarrasser le pays de la partidocracia corrompue, composée des élites financières et politiques qui,
pendant près de deux décennies, avaient imposé
des politiques économiques néolibérales
désastreuses pour l’Equateur.
Pour lire plus
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ACtions
Amazonie équatorienne:
le pétrole menace la Réserve de Biosphère Sumaco
Une majeure partie de la province Napo dans l’Amazonie équatorienne est désignée par l’UNESCO comme la Réserve de Biosphère Sumaco. La société canadienne Ivanhoe Energy a contracté avec le gouvernement équatorien pour exploiter le pétrole dans Block 20, qui est situé à l’intérieur de la réserve. La société projette d’extraire entre 4,5 et 7 milliards de barils d'au moins 30 puits de pétrole. Les projets n’ont pas été étudiés suffisamment et nous craignons qu’ils aient un impact social et environnemental majeur. (Début: 08.04.2010)
Pétitions
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ECUADOR:
HISTORIC TRIAL AGAINST CHEVRON
ADD YOUR SIGNATURE TO THE GLOBAL PETITION TO NEW CHEVRON CEO JOHN WATSON
James Cameron Returns to the Brazilian Amazon with
Avatar Stars Sigourney Weaver and Joel David Moore
to Shine Spotlight on the Destructive Belo Monte Dam
Visit Planned to Indigenous Communities Affected
by Dam Project on April 13-14
Press Conference and Protest with Dam Affected People in Brasilia at 2 pm on April 12
in the Centro Cultural de Brasília. SGAN 601
Belo Monte Dam Project
Download High-Res Photos Here
James Cameron Letter to President Lula
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ACtions
Pétitions
Des projets de centrales de charbon menacent les pingouins de Humboldt au Chili
Depuis le 06.05.10 443 personnes ont signé la pétition
Pingouin de Humboldt Pingouin de Humboldt
Les trois centrales de charbon prévues doivent être construites sur la côte de la région Coquimbo, particulièrement importante pour la faune et la flore marine, et à proximité immédiate de réserves maritimes et du territoire national protégé des pingouins de Humboldt menacés d’extinction. Les pingouins de Humboldt chassent les poissons principalement dans l’eau peu profonde et dorment dans des nids souterrains, des grottes ou des failles sur la côte. Des intrusions dans l’écosystème ou des incidents auraient des conséquences dramatiques sur ces tronçons de mer et de côte.
La population locale est aussi fortement touchée. Elle ne tirerait même aucun profit économique de ce projet, la technologie des centrales à charbon étant désespérément obsolète. Uniquement de l’électricité serait produite.
Le degré d’efficacité techniquement qu’il est possible d’atteindre (70 pourcent), ne sera ainsi pas du tout exploité à son maximum. De l’eau de mer doit être utilisée pour le refroidissement, qui sera déversée réchauffée et polluée dans l’océan. Ceci ne menace pas seulement la faune et la flore maritimes, mais aussi la pêche et le tourisme locaux.
De plus, la construction de deux ports est également planifiée, où le charbon importé d’Extrême-Orient devrait être livré. Différentes expertises indépendantes confirment les inquiétudes des habitants, qui se sont organisés dans le mouvement citoyen MODEMA (Movimiento Defenso Media Ambiente).
Grâce à ces protestations, un des projets de centrale a déjà été annulé en 2008. Pour les deux autres, l’étude d’impacts sur l’environnement est en cours. Certes, le Ministère de la Marine compétant a refusé les concessions nécessaires au refroidissement à l’eau de mer, et s’est également prononcé contre la construction prévue d’un port – et a ainsi posé les jalons pour un « non » supplémentaire.
Toutefois, le président chilien encore fraîchement élu, Sebastián Piñera, a la réputation d’être très pro-industriel. Pour la centrale de 540 mégawatts, prévue par le consortium franco-belge Suez Energy, une décision des administrations est imminente. MODEMA, conjointement
avec l’association allemande SPHENISCO pour
la protection des pingouins de Humboldt, appellent
à une protestation internationale.
S’il vous plait, écrivez jusqu’au 15 mai au président Piñera et aux membres de la Commission pour l’Environnement. Vous trouverez ici une traduction française de la lettre ci-dessous en espagnol, et plus d’informations de fond sur la page web de SPHENISCO : www.sphenisco.org
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Luis Yanza (center) with Emergildo Crillo (right) speak out at Chevron's 2008 shareholder meeting in San Ramon, CA.
Four very different people arrived last night in New Orleans on a late flight from Quito, Ecuador. One is a quiet but fierce 71-year-old grandmother with 27 grandchildren. Another is a gentle, soft-spoken man who is a leader of his Indigenous tribe from the Amazon. Another is a serious and sober man who has won worldwide acclaim for his unique work. And the last is another Indigenous man from the Amazon, who is more sharp-tongued than his traveling companion, but shares his good humor and dignified demeanor.
The four Indigenous and community leaders from Ecuador's Amazon rainforest are on the front-lines of the nearly two-decade struggle to demand oil giant Chevron clean up the massive contaminate the company left behind in their lands. I've written profiles of two of them here before; Cofan leader Emergildo Criollo was in the U.S. in early March to help deliver 350,000 letters of support for cleanup in Ecuador to new Chevron CEO John Watson and campesina activist Mariana Jimenez was in Houston just a few weeks ago to speak out at Chevron's 2010 shareholder meeting.
With them is Humberto Piaguaje, a leader of the Secoya tribe who has been outspoken about Chevron's impact on
his people, and Luis Yanza, who has helped organize the 30,000 people who have mounted the historic legal action against Chevron. In 2008, Luis won the Goldman environmental prize, often described as the Nobel Prize
for the environment.
They have come to the U.S. Gulf Coast in order to share their experiences with the long-term impacts of oil pollution with communities dealing with the tragic BP oil spill that continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico.
The United Houma Nation, a Native American tribe living on the Gulf Coast in southeast Louisiana and already suffering serious consequences of the spill, are hosting a cultural exchange with their Ecuadorean counterparts.
Read/listen to this National Public Radio report on the BP spill's impact on the Houma tribe:
Native American Group Hit Hard By Oil Spill.
Photo of burning oil and oil slick on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico by James Duncan Davidson, part of the powerful TEDxOilSpill Expedition photography set.
The Amazon leaders will tour areas of the Bayou affected by the spill, have community exchanges with the Houma and other Gulf coast residents, and participate in a public Town Hall forum in the heart of the largest Houma community this coming Thursday evening.
Today, with the support of Amazon Watch's Clean Up Ecuador Campaign and our allies at Rainforest Action Network's Change Chevron campaign, the Ecuadorean leaders released a report, entitled The Lasting Stain of Oil: Cautionary Tales and Lessons from the Amazon.
The report begins:
While BP and the United States Government work to stop the oil that continues flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, coastal residents are preparing for the long-term impacts of the oil spill, and working to determine how they will maintain their environment, culture, and livelihoods in the wake of such a disaster. What can Gulf Coast residents learn from other communities that have suffered the terrible consequences of oil industry recklessness?
The report contains ten lessons from the Ecuadoreans' experience with Chevron that Gulf Coast residents – and others affected by oil spills – can learn from in order to hold polluters accountable, and design strategies for recovery from environmental disasters. Here is the first of the ten sections:
1. Public Awareness and Support is Invaluable It took decades for communities in the remote Ecuadorean Amazon to draw the world’s attention to Chevron’s systematic pollution of the rainforest. While affected communities in Ecuador have spent years working to raise public awareness of their plight, there has thankfully been worldwide attention focused on BP’s tragic oil spill in the Gulf since day one. Gulf Coast communities have a tremendous opportunity to hold BP accountable by capitalizing on the worldwide attention this terrible tragedy has garnered. Although BP says that it plans to take full responsibility for the damages caused by its spill and restore the Gulf Coast to the way it was before – “make it right" – the experience in Ecuador shows that oil companies do the right thing only when compelled to do so by a combination of political, financial, media, and community pressure. Nearly half a century has elapsed since Chevron began oil operations in the Ecuadorean Amazon, and the company is still fighting tooth and nail to evade responsibility. Lesson: Seize the moment. With support of environmental and health organizations, affected communities must take advantage of widespread attention on the BP disaster, and make clear and strong demands now for a permanent place at the table in all decision-making about remediation and restoration of their communities and the environment.
We'll share additional excerpts from the report throughout the week but please download and read it, and share it widely.
In addition to excerpts from the report, we will be reporting from the Amazon delegation to the Gulf Coast all week, and sharing photos, video, and stories from this exchange of solidarity between front-line communities affected by oil.
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ACtions
Équateur: les industriels du bois avec le
sigle FSC chassent les petits paysans
Jose Aguilar, un protecteur de la forêt assassiné
Depuis dix ans, le petit paysan équatorien Jose Aguilar
se battait pour la forêt tropicale, à présent sa femme
et lui-même ont été assassinés.
La trame de fond de ce drame est un lourd conflit terrien
avec une entreprise de bois certifiée par le FSC.
S'il vous plait, soutenez notre action, afin que lumière
soit faite sur le meurtre des activistes, et
que les coupables soient punis:
Pétitions
Méga barrage au Brésil:
nous ne voulons pas de Belo Monte
Une leader indienne explique à des fonctionnaires
son refus du barrage Belo Monte
Depuis plus de 20 ans, les Indiens Kayapo et les activistes environnementaux se battent contre la construction
du barrage hydroélectrique de Belo Monte en Amazonie brésilienne. Leur patrie et leurs fondements de vie
vont être à jamais détruits par cette gigantesque
construction, le troisième plus grand barrage du monde.
S’il vous plait, aidez-nous à empêcher que le fleuve
soit barré et que la forêt tropicale
soit engloutie par les eaux.
Pétitions
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AC-Reportages
RUKULLAKTA IDENTITÉ ET CULTURE
Dans les premiers jours de février, le peuple
Kichwa Rukullakta (PKR), situé dans la région du
nord de l'Amazone, a célébré le troisième anniversaire
de sa création et la vie organisationnelle.
Ses 17 communautes ont participé à la proclamation de la
Ñusta Warmi, le chiffre d'affaires de commande
pour le
nouveau Kuraka (chef) de la PKR.
À cet événement culturel est pleine de couleurs, du chant et des concours de danse, avec la participation des enfants de différentes réseaux d'éducation interculturelle bilingue Porotoyaku.
Pendant trois ans, le réseau d'éducation bilingue travail pour le développement et la valorisation
de leur échange
et identité culturelle.
Kitu-Équateur-23-03-2010
Santiago Aguirre
Journaliste d'Action Créative
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AC-Reportages
Napumanta Kichwakuna
LES KICHWAS DE NAPO
Miriam Shiguango
Elle prépare purée de yuca et mélange avec les plantains et la boisson de chicha chonta, ensemble sont fondamentales pour l'alimentation quotidienne de Napo Kichwa.
Jonathan Shiguango
Il, comme beaucoup d'autres enfants représente une nouvelle génération de personnes Napo Kichwa amazonienne ou Kichwa, héritier de cultures anciennes comme les Quijos et Omaguas.
Son territoire situé dans la forêt est divisée en centaines de collectivités, qui représentent 80% de la population de la
province dans laquelle chaque groupe nucléaire a sa
propre parcelle ou la ferme.
La Runa Napo ou gens de Napo, c'est une peuple qui
s'accrochent à une racine ancienne, qui a son siège
dans la culture de la forêt, qui résiste au changement social
rapide et que vivre dans une relation pacifique, mais
culturellement distincts avec le métis, lemonde blanc, tout en conservant leur mode de vie traditionnel, en travaillant leurs champs ou des fermes, ce qui porte la famille de socialiser
autour d'un feu de camp, de boire Wayus, chasse,
pêche et cueillette des fruits.
Kitu-Équateur-11-02-2010
Santiago Aguirre
Journaliste d'Action Créative
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RevolutionArt 2
Services d'Action Créative
Danse pour rappeler la lune cachée par l´éclipse, Qagyuhl, 1914
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