Wednesday, October 15, 2008
As a curious reader of the blog stats is has once again been brought to my attention that there is widespread interest for information about the Jatun Sacha Foundation’s involvement in what is sometimes wrongly called biopiracy. There was never anything privately owned in the first place, as was the case when pirates liberated goods from the capitalist (slave) ships, hence bioprivateering is more to the point.
Colonos have previously posted about Jatun Sacha twice (1/2) and when looking in the stats today I noticed that quite a few people were clicking on the external link to see some proofs of the allegations. So I thought I’d save people some clicking and reading and excavate with a bit of gimping some of the relevant paragraphs of the Rafi Communique, September-October 1995 for all to easily see:
from:
Biopiracy Update: A Global Pandemic
Download PDF (2 MB) – about 348 seconds on a 56k modem
Cases from Thailand, Gabon, Ecuador, and Peru
RAFI is now called www.etcgroup.org
Leave a Comment » | 
Amazonia, Capitalism, Ecuador, Environmentalism, Green Politics, Life, Politics, colonisation, dark forces, deception, ecological justice, environmental destruction, grass-roots, human rights violation, jatun sacha | Tagged: Ecuador, business as usual, jatun sacha foundation, tena, biopiracy, bioprivateering, pfizer, theft, rafi, etc group | 
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Posted by colono
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
This is a press release brought here on the request of Earth Peoples. It notes that, business as usual, the United Nations have produced a report that condemns the actions that they nevertheless will take:
September 24, 2008, New York, NY — On the third day of the General Assembly’s 63rd Session United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Prime Minister of Norway launched the United Nations REDD program, a collaboration of FAO, UNDP, UNEP and the World Bank.
The inclusion of forests in the carbon market, or REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) has caused anxiety, protest and outrage throughout the world since it was created at the failed climate change negotiations in Bali and funded by the World Bank.
An estimated 60 million indigenous peoples are completely dependent on forests and are considered the most threatened by REDD. Therefore, indigenous leaders are among its most prominent critics. The International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change declared that: ‘…REDD will steal our land. States and carbon traders will take control over our forests.’
Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | 
Capitalism, Environmentalism, Green Politics, Life, Politics | Tagged: business as usual, carbon trade, climate change, deception, deforestation, earth peoples, evil, forests, indigenous, redd, the end of the world, un | 
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Posted by colono
Saturday, September 27, 2008
“Being in favour of the Ecuadorian constitution, then, is to sentence the Amazon to death, notwithstanding any little points they have thrown in here and there to make environmentalists jump and cheer with laughter.”
It is circulating on many global civil society mailing lists, Ecuadorian politrix are once again on everyone’s lips. “A new law of nature“, writes The Guardian, “Ecuador [tomorrow, Sunday, Sep 28] votes on giving legal rights to rivers, forests and air. Is this the end of damaging development? The world is watching.“
What people marvel at is the inclusion of something in the order of “respect for Pachamama”, so to speak: “Ecuador’s tropical forests, islands, rivers and air similar legal rights to those normally granted to humans“.
“Una nueva Constitución y una nueva decepción“
Although it has some interesting aspects to it (that can give jobs to lawyers and environmental rights experts), including this new right for pachamama, the new Ecuadorian constitution that is put to the vote tomorrow [September 28, 2008], is principally speaking the most decisively industrialist, progressivist constitution ever written, because it defines a very specific and environmentally destructive trajectory for the Ecuadorian economy, including article 321, which affirms that the capitalist owners of the means of production can sleep tightly and secure forever after:
“Articulo 321: El Estado reconoce y garantiza el derecho a la propiedad en sus formas publica, privada, comunitaria, estatal, asociativa, cooperativa y mixta“.
Read the rest of this entry »
4 Comments | 
Amazonia, Capitalism, Ecuador, Environmentalism, Globalisation, Green Politics, Politics, South America, grass-roots | Tagged: amazon, constitutent assembly, correa, correa's spin, corridors, death of the amazon, deception, Ecuador, ecuador's constitutional vote, environmental rights, IIRSA, News, pachamama, Politics, spin | 
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Posted by colono
Monday, September 22, 2008
Pop singer and celebrity-industrial complex charity twat, Bono of U2, has made a bad name for himself in radical grass roots circles by undermining any efforts that could bring substantial change and a “Good” name for himself in the public by doing so and by making it look like “something is being done”.
Now he meets with Sarah Palin, so that the world can see that she understands global politrix well – and what better credentials than Bono? He is capitalism’s unfettered expansion poster boy:
Twat
Here with some of his mates: 
…. and what’s he up to next? Now that the job’s done (discrediting social movements and sucking up to the centre-left/right elite) he moves on to lend support to dodgy neo-conservatism, to show that Palin is in tune with, what, the youth?, which is exactly the kind of celebrity-industrial support that the neo-cons don’t get much of, even Hollywood despises the medieval war mongers of the Republican party. Maybe he will bring a Mars Bar with Mick Jagger in mind, or a Clintonian cigar. May you have fun together.
Leave a Comment » | Anti-capitalism, Capitalism, Globalisation, Politics, grass-roots | Tagged: bono, bono and palin, disgusting, News, politrix | Permalink
Posted by colono
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
WARNING: The Big Bad Google has released a web browser – and it is very fast reviews are telling us, but don’t start using it too fast, better read the license and face(book) the consequences:
11. Content license from you
11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.
11.2 You agree that this license includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services.
11.3 You understand that Google, in performing the required technical steps to provide the Services to our users, may (a) transmit or distribute your Content over various public networks and in various media; and (b) make such changes to your Content as are necessary to conform and adapt that Content to the technical requirements of connecting networks, devices, services or media. You agree that this license shall permit Google to take these actions.
11.4 You confirm and warrant to Google that you have all the rights, power and authority necessary to grant the above license.
More at TapTheHive.
See also the similar theft by Facebook:
“When you post User Content to the Site, you authorize and direct us to make such copies thereof as we deem necessary in order to facilitate the posting and storage of the User Content on the Site. By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing.”
The enclosure of knowledge is progressing strongly, fast and the thought police is coming for you any minute.
12 Comments | Capitalism, News, private property, world domination disorder | Tagged: browser war, chrome, extremism, google, google is evil, new browser, News, thought crime | Permalink
Posted by colono
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
It almost seems as if colonos can go to the beach – the word is finally out and spreading slowly, but safely – just as we’ve been on about all along:
“What is little understood outside of Ecuador, is that, despite Correa’s rhetoric of the “Socialism of the 21st Century” for Ecuador, the president seems to be committed to a capitalist dependency model of development for the country. As Daniel Denvir puts it, only outside Ecuador is Correa viewed as a “leftist,” while inside Ecuador itself “conflicts between Correa and the social movement Left—the indigenous movement, environmentalists and unions, among others—have become increasingly heated” (I recommend the full article – linked and quoted to earlier in this blog).
Speaking from Chongón, in the province of Guaya, the day after accepting the new Constitution from the Assembly, Correa again castigated the “infantile leftists” and “infantile environmentalists” and “infantile indigenous” without being more specific about what made them “infantile” and why they caused him so much ire. After all, he’d gotten what he wanted: his people had “edited” the entire Constitution prior to the final vote by the Constituent Assembly, some argued so as to make it more amenable to his “reformed-capitalist extractionist policies” and also to strengthen his own presidential powers. Because his party, Alianza País (Country Alliance) was the majority, all the “infantile” sectors had to choose between approving the illicitly redacted document or voting against it and allying themselves with the oligarchy and its religious lackeys.”
1 Comment | Capitalism, Ecuador, South America | Tagged: correa, correa is not a socialist, Ecuador, manipulation | Permalink
Posted by colono
Thursday, August 14, 2008
This came a little while back in an email – and also deserves wide attention, describing business as usual and the destruction of yet another part of the planet by greedy bastards.. we should write something ourselves one day soon, but life has been hectic, homelessness and being up against the wall with looming deadlines seem to not permit faff-blogging attitudes…
Pines on the Páramo: The Disastrous Local Effects of the Carbon Market, by Thea Riofrancos – from http://nacla.org/node/483
In northern Ecuador, a pine tree plantation was planted to absorb enough carbon to “offset” the emissions of coal-fired power plants on the other side of the globe. Despite the questionable scientific
reasoning behind such “carbon offsetting” projects, the local indigenous community expected the plantation would help improve local economic conditions. Instead, everything went terribly wrong.
Manuel drives up the winding cobblestone road in the northern highlands of Ecuador, expertly steering the rickety truck while discussing local politics. Thirty minutes into the drive, the páramo suddenly unfolded before us. The páramo, an ecosystem unique to the Northern Andes at altitudes between 3,100 and 5,000 meters, is a burst of life where least expected.
Tough grasses called paja, moss, and arboles de papel (paper trees) dominate the landscape, which literally oozes with water. The frequent rains and snowmelt from surrounding peaks feed rushing streams and lakes of all sizes. About 15 minutes after Manuel, our guide, parked the car and we began hiking, it started storming.
Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Amazonia, Anti-capitalism, Capitalism, Ecuador, Environmentalism, Globalisation, Green Politics, Politics, South America, grass-roots | Tagged: capitalism is death, carbon trading bullshit, Ecuador, environmental destruction, profafor, profafor is evil | Permalink
Posted by colono
Saturday, August 2, 2008
This article collects many of the stories that colonos were first to bring in English – we’ve tracked Correa’s journey from populist and opportunistic origins in left wing rhetoric to his current position, firmly based based in the right wing of things – or at best in an authoritarian pseudo-socialist order of progressivist industrialism. Colonos have been travelling in Peru – at the ethnobiology conference in Cusco, then in the deep forest, and recently in Iquitos doing ayahuasca ceremonies with our friend Fidel Andy, which is why the blog has been mute for a longer while, but we’re back with this piece, which is “Painful – but necessary – to read”.
Here is a quote from the horse’s mouth – from the same man who said that environmentalists are infantile romantics:
“I hope that the Leftist radicals who do not believe in the oil companies, the mining companies, the market or the transnationals goaway,” said Correa.
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1396/1/
Wayward Allies: President Rafael Correa and the Ecuadorian Left
Written by Daniel Denvir
Friday, 25 July 2008
Outside of Ecuador, most progressives consider President Rafael Correa to be a Leftist champion of social and economic justice. Inside the country, however, conflicts between Correa and the social movement Left—the indigenous movement, environmentalists and unions, among others—have become increasingly heated….
Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | Amazonia, Anti-capitalism, Capitalism, Ecuador, Environmentalism, Globalisation, Green Politics, Politics, South America, grass-roots | Tagged: constituent assembly, correa, deception, Ecuador | Permalink
Posted by colono
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
While we’d surely have some disagreements about what exactly is to be done with Sutton – we strongly encourage to listen to the very good and sober presentation of the imminent danger that humanity faces as a consequence of climate change in the Reality Report interview with “Philip Sutton of the Greenleap Strategic Institute and coauthor of a new report called “Climate Code Red: the Case for a Sustainability Emergency.” 
http://www.climatecodered.net/ The report reviews disturbing new data and scientific understanding of climate change, explains why existing institutions have failed to respond adequately to the problem, and outlines an appropriate response.“
Download interview (.mp3) here.
and read Climate Code Red Full Report
1 Comment | Anti-capitalism, Capitalism, Environmentalism, Globalisation, Green Politics, grass-roots | Tagged: act now, climate change, climate code red, greenleap strategic institute, philip sutton, rising tide | Permalink
Posted by colono
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
6 Comments | Amazonia, Anti-capitalism, Capitalism, Ecuador, Environmentalism, Globalisation, Green Politics, Politics, South America, grass-roots, indigenous movements | Tagged: indigenous struggles, protest, United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, youtube | Permalink
Posted by colono
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Writes Mongobay: Up to a quarter of global carbon emissions are caused by deforestation. That means that in the next five years deforestation around the world will release more CO2 into the atmosphere than all aircraft from the Wright Brothers’ first flight until at least 2025.
And then consider the very interesting report the Amazon Institute for Environmental Research (Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia—IPAM), the Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC), and the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais—UFMG – from before the current global food crisis – then go figure:
The Amazon in a Changing Climate: Large-Scale Reductions of Carbon Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Impoverishment – Authors: D. Nepstad (WHRC, IPAM), P. Moutinho (IPAM, WHRC), B. Soares-Filho (UFMG) Graphics: P. Lefebvre, M. Ernst, B. Soares-Filho, D. Nepstad Translation (to Portuguese): G. Carvalho For more information: dnepstad@whrc.org, moutinho@ipam.org.br, britaldo@csr.ufmg.br, www.ipam.org.br, www.whrc.org, www.csr.ufmg.br/simamazonia/
and check the recent (follow-up) interview with Daniel Nepstad who has a good analysis, but whose belief in the effectiveness of such market based ploys as the REDD initiative (see the next entry) leaves much to be desired……
TAKE RADICAL ACTION NOW
– don’t hold your breath, if we wait for capitalism to reform itself, we will suffocate
Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment | Amazonia, Anti-capitalism, Capitalism, Environmentalism, Globalisation, Green Politics, Politics, South America, grass-roots | Tagged: amazon, Amazonia, amazonia por la vida, climate change, daniel nepstad, deforestation, wood hole research center | Permalink
Posted by colono
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Ecuador to buy Brazilian warplanes, reports Ecuador Rising, so now we know for sure: let Brasil (and the Chinese, of course) take the oil out of the Amazon, repress the indigenous people who try to protect their land from severe contamination, and receive war machines in return – that is Correa’s anti-environmental neo-socialism in a nutshell. As if the world needed more of that sort of thing!?!?!?!?!?!
====================
PressTV, Wed, 30 Apr 2008
Brazil’s Defense Minister Nelson Jobim has said that Ecuador would buy 24 warplanes made by Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer.
“It’s a done deal,” Jobim told Reuters during a visit to Ecuador’s capital Quito when asked if Ecuador had agreed to buy the turboprop Super Tucano planes.
Earlier, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said he planned to strengthen country’s air force to protect its border with Colombia after the country bombed a leftist rebel camp inside Ecuador.
Jobim did not say how much Ecuador will spend for the planes, but local media speculates it could cost more than $200 million.
“I don’t know the price… the purchase details were arranged by the Ecuadorian government and Embraer directly,” Jobim concluded.
3 Comments | Amazonia, Capitalism, Ecuador, Globalisation, Politics, South America | Tagged: amazon, correa, correa's war, destroying the rain forest | Permalink
Posted by colono
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Interview with Marlon Santi, New President of Ecuador’s Indigenous Confederation
Written by Patricio Zhingri T.
Thursday, 17 January 2008
And so it goes, that history repeats itself and the day after the revolution anyone is a conservative, I think Hannah Arendt once wrote. The morning after in Ecuador – after the floods – and we know which way the wind blows. For that we don’t need a weather man.
Here is, however, what CONAIE’s new president, Marlon Santi, reckons about the Correan revolution and the reconstructive Constituent Assembly – well no news there, really, it is business as usual:
“PZT: As the new president of CONAIE, how would you evaluate the first year of this government?
MS: Proposals from the Indigenous movement and other social sectors from the coast, highlands, and Amazon are not present on the national government’s political agenda. Nor are they on the agenda of the Constituent Assembly. The government says a lot and they say that they are going to open petroleum explorations, that they are going to privatize water, rivers, páramos (high communal grasslands). Nothing has changed. The only change is when the Indigenous movement rises up, because even in light of this we have made some advances in Collective Rights and other demands. Rafael Correa has not recognized the demands of Indigenous nationalities and peoples, and he should do so.
PZT: How will the government of Indigenous Nationalities and Peoples act with the current government of Correa?
Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Amazonia, Anti-capitalism, CONAIE, Capitalism, Ecuador, Environmentalism, Globalisation, Green Politics, Marlon Santi, Miriam Cisneros, Neo-socialism, Politics, Rafael Correa, South America, capitalism is murder, constitutent assembly, ecological justice, environmental destruction, grass-roots, indigenous movements, people power, rain forest, revolution, sarayaku | Tagged: CONAIE, Ecuador, indigenous struggle, Marlon Santi, social change | Permalink
Posted by colono
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