Wednesday, April 30, 2008
We watched Leonardo DiCaprio’s “11th hour” last night (you might be able to watch it here or via quicksilversreen.com and read more about it here) and although it was by no stretch of the imagination a very good film on any terms (structure, presentation of material, cinematography or in terms of delivering a profound radical political message) it was still a positive surprise. But hey! what would you expect, come on, be honest?
In the critical (mainstream environmentalist?) words of Rikke Bruntse-Dahl, writing for smartplanet.com:
“The overall message was that we’ve forgotten that we’re part of nature and even though the Earth as such will survive, it will not be a pleasant — or indeed habitable — place to be if we don’t start looking after it and each other. While it’s undoubtedly a good message, which we’d like as many people as possible to hear, the film itself is just not up to scratch.
Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | 
Capitalism, Direct Action, Ecuador, Globalisation, Green Politics, Life, Napo-Ucayali corridor, Neo-socialism, Philosophy, Photography, Photos, Politics, Tree Hugging, bio-fuel, capitalism is murder, colonisation, ecological justice, ecuador and china, food aid, greenwash, indigenous movements, keep the oil in the soil, latin american integration, logging, magic, manta-manaus, media distortions, private property, propaganda, property and persuasion, rain forest, state of exception, strategy of tension, sub-empires, the moon, with god on our side, world domination disorder, yasuni | Tagged: 11th hour, critique, documentary, leonardo dicaprio | 
Permalink
Posted by colono
Sunday, January 13, 2008
This article from The Independent deserves to be reproduced in full. Notwithstanding the lack of an analysis of the World Bank’s agenda with regard to its “green” projects, the article sheds an important (if nauseating!) light on the state of the Amazon and its tragic future.
* * * * *
World Bank pledges to save trees… then helps cut down Amazon forest. A month ago it vowed to fight deforestation. Now research reveals it funds the rainforest’s biggest threat.
By Daniel Howden
Published: 13 January 2008
The World Bank has emerged as one of the key backers behind an explosion of cattle ranching in the Amazon, which new research has identified as the greatest threat to the survival of the rainforest.
Ranching has grown by half in the last three years, driven by new industrial slaughterhouses which are being constructed in the Amazon basin with the help of the World Bank. The revelation flies in the face of claims from the bank that it is funding efforts to halt deforestation and reduce the massive greenhouse gas emissions it causes.
Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | 
Amazonia, Brazil, Bush meat, Capitalism, Ecuador, Environmentalism, Globalisation, Green Politics, South America, Veganism, Vegetarianism, bio-fuel, deception, ecological justice, greenwash | 
Permalink
Posted by colona
Monday, December 3, 2007
Mainstream reporting:
“The risks of food riots and malnutrition will surge in the next two years as the global supply of grain comes under more pressure than at any time in 50 years, according to one of the world’s leading agricultural researchers … Recent pasta protests in Italy, tortilla rallies in Mexico and onion demonstrations in India are just the start of the social instability to come unless there is a fundamental shift to boost production of staple foods, Joachim von Braun, the head of the International Food Policy Research Institute, warned in an interview with the Guardian.”
… and another example:
“Bangladeshi officials say the price of cooking oil – of which it imports 1.2m tonnes a year – has almost tripled in the past two years because it is now valued as an alternative to diesel oil.”
1 Comment | 
News, Politics, bio-fuel, ecological justice | 
Permalink
Posted by colono
Thursday, November 22, 2007
This article by CarbonWeb.org deserves to be reproduced in full:
Yasuni – Our Future in Their Hands?
Ecuador proposes to claim compensation in exchange for leaving crude oil in the ground. Esperanza Martinez examines what this means for resource sovereignty.
Oil, for countries that possess it, is often centre stage when it comes to issues of sovereignty. Invasions have been launched to access it and military and political interventions pushed through to control it, leaving the door wide open for corruption.
Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Amazonia, Anarchism, Anti-capitalism, Anti-militarism, Capitalism, Coca to Iquitos, Collective Bio-Cultural Heritage, Direct Action, Ecuador, Environmentalism, Globalisation, Green Politics, ITT, Ishpingo, Life, Napo-Ucayali corridor, Neo-socialism, Philosophy, Politics, Rio Napo, Road Protest, South America, UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, UNASUR, Volunteering, asamblea constituyente, bio-fuel, bio-privateering, constitutent assembly, corridors, culture boat, deception, durban group for climate justice, eco-socialism, ecological justice, ecuador and china, enclosure, grass-roots, greenwash, indigenous movements, keep the oil in the soil, kichwa, latin american integration, manta-manaus, people power, rain forest, revolution, shaman, sub-empires, we are winning, yachak, yasuni | Permalink
Posted by colono
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Leave a Comment » | Direct Action, Environmentalism, Globalisation, Green Politics, Tree Hugging, bio-fuel, compost loo, flow, grass-roots, hippie shit, rooh star | Permalink
Posted by colono
Thursday, October 4, 2007
INDIGENOUS ANARCHISM IN BOLIVIA – An Interview with Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui,
by Andalusia Knoll, Rustbelt Radio, Pittsburgh
“What happened in Bolivia is that there have been two official histories: the official history written by the [Revolutionary] Nationalist Party—MNR—that basically denies all the agency of both workers and peasants and indigenous peoples; and the official history of the left that forgets about anything that was not Marxist, thus eclipsing or distorting the autonomous history of anarchist unions,
Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Amazonia, Anarchism, Anti-capitalism, Anti-militarism, Capitalism, Direct Action, Ecuador, Globalisation, Green Politics, Politics, asamblea constituyente, atheism, bio-fuel, bio-privateering, corridors, enclosure, grass-roots, latin american integration, people power, revolution | Permalink
Posted by colono
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Leave a Comment » | Amazonia, Anti-capitalism, Capitalism, Environmentalism, Globalisation, News, Politics, South America, bio-fuel, eco-socialism, greenwash, media distortions | Permalink
Posted by colono
Friday, August 17, 2007
Seeking refuge in Europe, to breathe and to reflect, the long, light evenings and the friendliness of the forest (that is the absence of the eternal threat of creatures out to get you) have besieged our imaginations.
The loved ones, the long-time friendships and the new friends are the medium of reflection – telling stories, observing reactions and thinking about it all at a distance ….we get high on our own anecdotal supply with a little help from our friends.
Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | Amazonia, Anarchism, Anti-capitalism, Anti-militarism, Bush meat, Capitalism, Collective Bio-Cultural Heritage, Direct Action, Ecuador, Environmentalism, Free Software, Globalisation, Green Politics, Life, Peru, Photography, Photos, Rafael Correa, Rain Forest Flowers, Rio Napo, South America, Spiritual, Travel Info, Tree Hugging, Trip Report, Volunteering, asamblea constituyente, atheism, bio-fuel, bio-privateering, breathe, constitutent assembly, corridors, culture boat, cyberspace, deception, eco-socialism, enclosure, f-spot, grass-roots, healer, people power, private property, rain forest, shaman, ubuntu, yachak | Permalink
Posted by colono
Monday, May 7, 2007
Recently an ex-pat Ecuadorian commented in this blog that we had it all wrong and that our pessimism was disrespectful to the Ecuadorian people. It now seems that our opinions are very similar -in some ways- to what the mainstream analysts come up with.
Two articles, as usual compiled by Ecuador Rising, sum it all up. Go read them if you want to know who had it all wrong:
Left with Paradoxes – interview with Economist Pablo Dávalos, who “served as undersecretary to Rafael Correa when the now-President was Minister of the Economy under the previous Administration of Alfredo Palacio in 2005. He’s an advisor to the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) and member of the Latin American Council of Social Scientists (CLACSO). Although he supported Correa’s successful presidential bid, he is skeptical of the direction the government is taking.”
IRC Americas Program Report: Ecuador’s Prolonged Instability – in which the claim is repeated that Correa’s movement is a consumerist middle class movement living off remittances from their estranged, emigrated families and boosting the supermarkets and car industries.
So, yea, nothing new really, –politics is business as usual–, except that what colonos have been suggesting all along, and which passed our dear commenter by, is now the general talk of the town.
3 Comments | Amazonia, Anarchism, Anti-capitalism, Anti-militarism, Capitalism, Collective Bio-Cultural Heritage, Ecuador, Environmentalism, Green Politics, Philosophy, Politics, Rafael Correa, South America, asamblea constituyente, bio-fuel, constitutent assembly, corridors, eco-socialism, greenwash, people power, police state, rain forest | Permalink
Posted by colono
Monday, April 23, 2007
The environmentally insensitive actions of Rafael Correa –that has been a blog subject for a while– opposed by social movements in the constituent assembly:
NO PERMITIRAN INGRESO DE PETROBRAS AL YASUNI
Cuestionan posición ambiental del Presidente Correa en Brasil
Los movimientos sociales, pueblos indígenas, organizaciones campesinas y poderes locales de la amazonía ecuatoriana no permitirán la explotación petrolera del ITT y bloque 31 y la entrada de Petrobrás al Yasuní, porque es una compañía transnacional acusada de violar las leyes del Ecuador, provocar graves perjuicios económicos en la explotación del campo Palo Azul e impactos ambientales, por lo cual enfrenta una solicitud de caducidad contractual en el Ministerio de Energía y Minas, informó Fernando Villavicencio, vocero del Frente “Somos Poder Constituyente”.
Los movimientos sociales cuestionan la afirmación del Presidente Correa realizada en Brasil de que “la pobreza es el principal peligro para el medio ambiente”, eso es desconocer una realidad inobjetable de la historia, de que la principal causa de la contaminación y del propio empobrecimiento es la voracidad extractivista de las transnacionales que privilegian la acumulación de capital sobre los intereses del ser humano y la naturaleza.
More information on Ecuador Indymedia
Leave a Comment » | Amazonia, Anarchism, Anti-capitalism, Anti-militarism, Ayahuasca, Bush meat, Capitalism, Chocolate, Collective Bio-Cultural Heritage, Direct Action, Ecuador, Environmentalism, Globalisation, Green Politics, Neo-socialism, News, Philosophy, Politics, Rafael Correa, Rain Forest Flowers, Rio Napo, South America, Tree Hugging, asamblea constituyente, bio-fuel, constitutent assembly, corridors, eco-socialism, grass-roots, people power, rain forest, revolution | Permalink
Posted by colono
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
A new era in South America has formally commenced in the form of the “Union of South American Nations” (UNASUR). Agreed April 17, 2007, at the First South American Energy Summit being held on the Island of Margarita, Eastern Venezuela, UNASUR is a manifestation of a renewed attempt at South American integration.
“The South American presidents did agree to name their diplomatic mechanism Union of South American Nations (Unasur). The organization’s Executive Secretariat will be based in Quito, President Chávez said. He added that proposals would be disclosed later to designate the Permanent Secretary of Unasur -which is replacing the South American Community of Nations (CSN). This project is aimed at integrating the South American countries … This is what we decided by consensus today (Monday). We also addressed other issues such as the Bank of the South, and agreed to enter into a sort of energy accord guaranteeing energy supplies for 100 years. These meetings have been quite important,” the Venezuelan ruler added.”
But there are already some complex, political problems…..
Read the rest of this entry »
16 Comments | Amazonia, Anti-capitalism, Capitalism, Collective Bio-Cultural Heritage, Environmentalism, Globalisation, Green Politics, Neo-socialism, News, Philosophy, Politics, Rafael Correa, Rain Forest Flowers, South America, Tree Hugging, UNASUR, bio-fuel, corridors, eco-socialism | Permalink
Posted by colono
del.icio.us
