Supporting communities against mining giants

Merry Cross reports on a powerful meeting she attended:

Yesterday I managed to track down and attend a really interesting meeting in Reading organised by the World Development Movement . It was about the terrible effects of the activities of the Cerrejon coal mining giant in Colombia but as importantly, about the British banks financing it, both in Colombia and Indonesia.

There was a talk by a wonderful woman of the Wayuu people, who is a leading member of the women’s group, Movimiento Fuerza de Mujeres Wayuu. Their land and way of life is being devastated, as swathes of once beautiful rainforest are destroyed. She spoke for a short while in her native language (which no-one could translate) and then in Spanish, explaining that her people are deeply spiritual and that speaking in Wayuu keeps her connected to her roots and her spirituality.

She was extremely knowledgeable about the geo-politics, as well as the devastating effect on her people. Apparently the Colombian government receives just 1.5% of the profits and appears content with that. Needless to say, they do not support the indigenous people who are being driven off their land.Pollution is leading to adults becoming blind and babies being born with deformities. She was so clear about the damaging effect of global capitalism and imperialism.And the latest suggestion is that the company wants to divert a river, in order to expand.

The woman who spoke told us that her people regard the river as being like an artery in the body of the land and they are fiercely opposed to any attack on its integrity. She told us that occasionally they have been successful in blocking mining activity, but they need all the help they can get.

Alex Scrivener from WDM emphasised that the most important way of supporting her and her people is by opposing the practice of British banks of pouring money into Correjon. Chief amongst these is HSBC, but Barclays and others are also involved. There have already been demos in a number of towns against HSBC and if you go to the WDM website there may still be some planned where you live. And there are postcards to the bank that you can sign. I am going to try to mobilise support from the international disability community.

What do you think you – or your local group – might be able to do?

see http://www.wdm.org.uk/events/carbon-capital-speaker-tour for more information about the tour – including meetings still to come