El extractivismo minero no alimenta ningún ninguna necesidad básica, sino que está atada a las modas de la joyería global o a las necesidades de los financistas. Y lo peor, la actividad tiene efectos negativos en las dimensiones sociales, ambientales y económicas.
Gold mining has become a scourge that afflicts most Latin American countries. In some places, a few giant transnational corporations operate. In others, hundreds or even thousands of people crowd into jungle rivers or the guts of mountains for a few grams of gold.
Economic crisis, product shortages, and polarization paint a scenario in which the continuity of the Bolivarian movement is at stake. So is the sovereignty of a country that dared to challenge dependence on the global superpower.
After three decades of struggle for agrarian reform, Brazil's Landless Movement paused during its 6th Congress to evaluate its experience and reflect on the new reality. The goal: to change while changing themselves.
There have been major advances in truth and justice movements in recent years. But of all the goals of the movements for truth and justice, the most important is the least achieved: to guarantee the crimes will not be repeated.
The fear that mass demonstrations could take place during the World Cup – like those during the Confederations Cup last June – is leading the government to militarize against the protests, with incredibly repressive strategies. And half of the Brazilian population rejects the Cup.
The peace agreements are being boycotted by the far right though the FARC and the Santos government are moving towards the end of the conflict. But the main push for peace comes from the changes that come about in a society tired of war.
At some point, they will have to find a name for this new culture that is beginning to open up in places where individualism and machismo are under control. For now it is enough to recognize that there are some non-institutional movements with strong ties to base communities and a fairly horizontal organizational structure, that are renewing the political culture, with women in the lead.
Mothers of May: The Difficult Democratization of of the Genocidal State of Brazil “My son”s name was Edison and he was 29 years old. […]
On March 7th—International Women’s Day—dozens of Brazilian women occupied a research site of the U.S.-based agricultural biotechnology giant Monsanto in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, destroying the greenhouse and experimental plots of genetically-modified (GM) corn. Participants, members of the international farmers’ organization La Vía Campesina, stated in a note that the act was to protest the Brazilian government’s decision in February to legalize Monsanto’s GM Guardian® corn, which came just weeks after the French government prohibited the corn due to environment and human health risks.
