Indigenous Revolution

Stephen Hershey
Amazon.jpg

BBC News has reported that two land laws which sought to facilitate more development on Amazon soil have been repealed by Peru’s Congress due to severe protests from indigenous tribes. The protests lasted over ten days, where indigenous groups took control of a major gas field, an oil pipeline, and held several police officers hostage.

Roger Naja, president of the National Commission for Andean, Amazonian and Afro-Peruvian Peoples said that the repeal would be remembered as "the day that the disappearance of the indigenous communities in the jungles and mountains was avoided."

Seventy percent of the Amazon is already leased for hydrocarbon exploration, and the new laws would have given large corporations the opportunity to buy sacred tribal areas with a simple majority vote by community assemblies.

Story suggested by ST Frequency.

Creative Commons Image: "Orosa Tributary" by LollyKnit on Flickr.

Comments

condemed to poverty or not.

Submitted by JeJoue on Wed, 09/10/2008 - 17:05.

its their choice and thier home. im happy protest worked for them. i also think its funny that "they want to live in freedom and not in oppression." they understand money doesnt make make the world run.

 

perhaps they should do something for the environment, something innovative and smart considering they do not want oil companies to take over. it would show them.

 

 i think they did the best thing.

 

 

Let us reform the norm

That's what I call homeland security

Submitted by luisflores on Wed, 09/10/2008 - 20:39.
I remember watching an interview to a leader of a Peruvian native tribe that lived in the Amazon and he says that they prefer to kill a man that is deliberately destroying the forest they live in that actually cutting off a tree trunk. This might be very extreme but it has actually happened and well, the government in Peru I think not only leases these lands for energy companies, but also moves people from other parts of the country there to use the deforested terrains for agriculture, and these people have been attacked by the natives and viceversa so it's a huge problem of stability and totally unsustainable growth.

Kudos to the fact that the protests worked out, but the real problem is still there and will be until they finally face the fact that destroying the jungle to make money is wrong, they must learn from the natives above all the respect to the homeland we do not own but we are part of.

although I disdain violence...

Submitted by vivifidal on Wed, 09/17/2008 - 02:55.
fertilizer is the best use for some people...