Thursday, May 22, 2008
Six months before the colonos blog came into being the article below – here translated into English – was written in Castellano. It is about what we have been labelling corridors (or interoceanic corridors) or the Manta-Manaus commodity highway. In this article a much more comprehensive perspective is offered – and shows how big, concerted and damaging to the continent and the rest of the world that this global capitalist project is.
Get the whole article in .pdf format.
Re-mapping Latin America’s Future
IIRSA: Integration Custom-Made for International Markets (#1)
Raúl Zibechi | June 13, 2006
Translated from: IIRSA: la integración a la medida de los mercados
Translated by: Nick Henry
Americas Program, Center for International Policy (CIP)
The project for Integration of South American Regional Infrastructure (IIRSA, by its initials in Spanish), is swiftly but silently moving forward. IIRSA is the most ambitious and encompassing plan to integrate the region for international trade. If completed in full, the project would connect zones containing natural resources (natural gas, water, oil, biodiversity) with metropolitan areas, and both of these with the world’s largest markets.
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1 Comment | Amazonia, Anti-capitalism, Napo-Ucayali corridor, Rafael Correa, South America, UNASUR, capitalism is murder, corridors, dark forces, deception, environmental destruction, human rights violation, indigenous movements, latin american integration, manta-manaus, rain forest | Tagged: Amazonia, business as usual, environmental destruction, IIRSA, napo, Neo-socialism, South American Regional Infrastructure, UNASUR | Permalink
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Tuesday, April 8, 2008
When Rafael Correa came into government he soon announced that he was investing more powers in the police and the military to repress popular protests, which is one of the main means of political expression for many largely illterate indigenous and campesino communities; and those powers are “well” used, Upside Down World writes:
“The peaceful demonstration began at 5am was met with state repression around noon, leading to the arrest of 17 protestors, which include the parish priest of Victoria del Portete, dairy farmers, and University of Cuenca students. Approximately 80 soldiers blasted tear gas into to the crowd of protestors— around 300 strong. Female students report that they were later taken to a casino for police and forced to undress.
“We are here to defend the right to pure and clean water,” declared Miriam Chuchuka, a 36-year-old dairy farmer from Victoria del Portete. Small farmers fear that cyanide and mercury related to gold mining and production will pollute local water sources.
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Leave a Comment » | Amazonia, Anti-capitalism, Capitalism, Ecuador, Environmentalism, Globalisation, Green Politics, Politics, Rafael Correa, Road Protest, South America, grass-roots, inconvenient truth, latin american integration, manta-manaus, police violence, propaganda, revolution, state of exception, yasuni | Tagged: Ecuador, Neo-socialism, Rafael Correa, repression | Permalink
Posted by colono