[P2P-F] Fwd: ZNet Daily Commentary: 'They Know They Are Not Alone': Anti-Mining Activists Connect-The-Dots In Oaxaca, Mexico By Liam Barrington-Bush

Wed Jan 30 15:23:11 CET 2013

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From: <info at zcommunications.org>
Date: Sat, Jan 26, 2013 at 7:01 PM
Subject: ZNet Daily Commentary: 'They Know They Are Not Alone': Anti-Mining
Activists Connect-The-Dots In Oaxaca, Mexico By Liam Barrington-Bush
To: michelsub2004 at gmail.com

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'They Know They Are Not Alone': Anti-Mining Activists Connect-The-Dots In
Oaxaca, Mexico

January 26, 2013 By *Liam Barrington-Bush*

Liam Barrington-Bush's ZSpace
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Between January 17th and 20th, nearly 500 activists from across Mexico,
Central America and beyond, gathered in the Mexican mountain town of
Capulálpam de Méndez, Oaxaca, to support a growing tide of resistance to
the human and environmental impacts of the extractive industries in the
region.

'Yes to life! No to mining!,' organized by the Oaxacan Collective for the
Defence of Territories, was one of the largest anti-mining gatherings the
region has seen, as local opposition to some of the many thousands of
individual extractive projects in Mesoamerica has grown dramatically in
recent years.

*Canada in the hot seat*

The perpetuation of violence against activists, the patterns of water and
soil contamination around extraction sites, and the total disregard for the
autonomy of indigenous communities, were as familiar to the Guatemalans, El
Salvadorians and Hondurans, as they were to Mexican activists present. John
Cutfeet, a guest from the KI Nation in Northern Ontario and active
participant in the Idle No More movement, brought parallel stories from his
own community.

When asked how the experience of a community in Northern Canada related to
those of the people of Mesoamerica, he explained that indigenous peoples of
the North and South "face similar experiences and similar tactics," in
which "companies and government ... try to access lands and rob us of our
birth rites to those lands."

And while Cutfeet’s contributions were received with great enthusiasm,
Canadian companies received a consistently strong rebuke throughout the
weekend’s events. Delegates and speakers also criticized the Canadian
government, and the Canadian Ambassador to Mexico, specifically, for
playing an active role in promoting policies abroad which favoured Canadian
mining interests at the expense of indigenous communities, human rights and
the environment.

According to Canada’s Department for Foreign Affairs and International
Trade (DFAIT), more than 75 per cent of the world's mining companies are
Canadian-based. William Sacher and Alain Deneault, in their 2012 exposé on
Canadian mining, Imperial Canada, Inc., argue that so many extractive
companies choose to make Canada their home due to a combination of
preferential tax loopholes, minimal legal recourse against the actions of
Canadian companies abroad, and the unwavering support of government for the
industry on the international stage.

*The bloody cost of silver*

Event attendees also heard from residents of another Oaxacan town, San José
del Progreso, where two activists critical of the practices of
Canadian-based Fortuna Silver Mines were murdered in 2012.

Rosalinda Dionicio from San José del Progreso attended the event in
Capulálpam.

Dionicio received gunshot wounds in the leg in March of last year and still
walks with a cane as a result of the attack. She is also the cousin of
another anti-mining activist, Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez, one of the two
community members murdered in 2012.

There were many eyewitnesses to the most recent shooting of anti-mining
activists in the town last June. These witnesses identified two of the
shooters involved as an employee of Fortuna Silver and the son of the
former municipal president (a strong proponent of the mine), respectively.
The company and the municipality have both denied any involvement in the
attack, dismissing the violence as the results of pre-existing conflict.

For the people of San José del Progreso and other communities affected by
mining, the site of the conference was significant, as Capulálpam de Méndez
is one of only a few towns in the region that has succeeded in suspending
all local mining activities. Due to water contamination, the nearby
Natividad silver and gold operation (run by another Canadian firm,
Continuum Resources) had its operations suspended indefinitely by the
federal prosecutors for environmental protection in 2007.

After the closure, Continuum Resources Ltd. became a subsidiary of Fortuna
Silver Mines. The company is still actively lobbying to re-open the mine,
as the people and municipality of Capulálpam de Méndez continue to fight
against its imposition.

*A growing sense of solidarity*

* *The event focussed on finding ways that affected communities across the
hemisphere could work in solidarity with one another to challenge the
mining industry and its political backers. Through stronger networks,
participants felt more confident that their local struggles were not
isolated instances, and thus could be challenged by a range of other
communities with connections to the relevant aggressors.

John Cutfeet described how this approach was being used by First Nations
communities within Canada. When one community was facing territorial
conflicts, others would spring to action across the country, increasing
pressure on particular companies and government agencies from many
different angles.

Stronger networks, many participants felt, meant their small-scale
struggles for land, water and basic human rights, had the potential to
challenge the power of large multi-national corporations and the
governments that support them, as both the KI First Nation in Ontario and
the people of Capulálpam, Oaxaca have been able to demonstrate in recent
years.

While the stories of the weekend were often harrowing, the energy was high,
with a sense of the collective power that comes from knowing there are
countless others facing similar struggles, and some who have even managed
to win, against significant odds.

"Five years ago we were the only ones in the country with the strength to
resist these mines," said Rurik Hernández, an organizer with the Broad
Opposition Front (FAO in Spanish) from Cerro de San Pedro, one of the first
communities in Mexico to challenge mining in their community.

"Now a lot of communities have this strength ... They know that they are
not alone."

*Liam Barrington-Bush currently lives in Oaxaca, Mexico and tweets as
@hackofalltrades<http://email.zsustainers.org/wf/click?upn=xrLDuKs9E-2FW2gJyS-2BCwKWy2v0NJWBJItFunynnuGqlmeLkw5rK61cUFWmd64Ipo7_V-2FUUiW5KvBPNV-2FItFYsbuIFOqr58NacNTIV3-2FGcH-2BSBpWJTQ8pth-2FapUHARyN5YGpUucrHqE9J-2BP-2BIGiodP9y2HsxCuEExk3ZdRLfcTKiYaAPfkP-2BpIsd47Yne8FsLutAinRkPZJKCH8AmGuv95z7SsPkB4g7S762zE4Rm1-2FjN8-3D>
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