[P2P-F] Fwd: [CommonGood] Fw: [aepf] IMPORTANT: Statement for Endorsement in Support of Pablo Solon and Rafael Archondo

Sun Jul 16 10:00:41 CEST 2017

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Birgit Daiber <bir.dai at hotmail.com>
Date: Sun, Jul 16, 2017 at 1:17 PM
Subject: [CommonGood] Fw: [aepf] IMPORTANT: Statement for Endorsement in
Support of Pablo Solon and Rafael Archondo
To: "commongood at listi.jpberlin.de" <commongood at listi.jpberlin.de>

Dear Friends and Colleagues, please give your support to the following,
Yours Birgit

------------------------------
*From:* aepf-request at lists.riseup.net <aepf-request at lists.riseup.net> on
behalf of tina ebro <cgebro at gmail.com>
*Sent:* Saturday, July 15, 2017 5:40 AM
*To:* AEPF e-group
*Subject:* [aepf] IMPORTANT: Statement for Endorsement in Support of Pablo
Solon and Rafael Archondo

Dear Colleagues,

You already know about the persecution that Pablo Solon and Rafael Archondo
are facing at the hands of the Bolivian government.  A number of
organisations have come together and drafted a sign-on statement that we
will send to the Bolivian Government and President Evo Morales.

The statement is posted for endorsement in English, Spanish and French at
the link below.

https://focusweb.org/campaigns/signon-statement-support-pabl
o-solon-rafael-archondo-and-against-bala-chepete-megadams
<http://s.bl-1.com/h/L9SPzyM?url=https://focusweb.org/campaigns/signon-statement-support-pablo-solon-rafael-archondo-and-against-bala-chepete-megadams>

*We will collect endorsements till 19 July 2017.*

We request you to please endorse the statement yourself, and also share it
in with your contacts and networks for endorsements.

You can find more information about the case at the websites and Facebook
pages of Fundacion Solon and Focus on the Global South.

We are counting on your support.

Best wishes,  Shalmali Guttal

===========================================
Signon statement in support of Pablo Solon, Rafael Archondo and against the
Bala Chepete megadams
pablosolon2.jpg <https://focusweb.org/campaigns/file/4>

We the undersigned have been inspired by Bolivia’s social movements that
have shown that another world is possible. From the Water War in Cochabamba
to the approval of a new constitution and a plurinational state in 2009,
Bolivia has shown that it possible to challenge and present alternatives to
postcolonialist states, neoliberalism, multinational power and US
imperialism.

The election of Bolivia’s first indigenous president, Evo Morales and the
MAS government, heralded great hope for advancing not just a more
socially-just country, but a new international vision for a just society
and a harmonious relationship with Nature rooted in the profound indigenous
concept of ‘Buen Vivir’. Bolivia rightly became recognised on the
international stage for its advocacy of Mother Earth rights and for its
prophetic voice at UN climate summits and particularly for its hosting of
the historic World Peoples Summit on Climate Change and the Rights of
Mother Earth in 2010 in Cochabamba.

It is with profound disappointment, then, that we hear that one of the key
organisers of the historic Cochabamba climate summit, Pablo Solón, along
with Rafael Archondo, is being threatened by the Bolivian government with
criminal charges and potential jail sentences of up to four years. The
accusations six years on that allege Solón “illegally appointed” Archondo
and that Archondo committed the crime of “prolonging functions in the
Permanent Mision of Bolivia to the UN” can only be seen as attempts to
silence Solón for his vocal criticism of the government and the
construction of two giant hydroelectric projects, El Bala and El Chepete in
the Amazonian region.

These mega-dams, if built, also run completely against any vision of ‘Buen
Vivir’. According to the government’s own commissioned studies, done by the
Italian firm Geodata, they would inundate an area five times larger than
Bolivia’s city of La Paz, displace more than 5000 indigenous peoples, and
deforest more than 100,000 hectares. The evidence is also that they are not
even economically viable given the current prices of electricity in Brazil.

We also note that the accusations against Solón and Archondo are not
isolated cases, but are part of a series of threatened and implemented
legal actions against individuals as well as attempts to close
organisations in Bolivia that have a proud record of advancing social and
environmental justice. This attempt to silence dissent goes against the
principles of Bolivia’s new constitution and is deeply troubling for the
potential long-term success of Bolivia’s revolution. Participatory
democracy depends on a rigorous and robust debate, while environmental
justice can only happen if communities at the frontlines of extraction are
supported and empowered rather than silenced and criminalised.
We therefore urge you to drop the false charges against Pablo Solón and
Rafael Archondo and stop the hugely destructive El Bala and El Chepete
mega-dam projects. Bolivia will have no credibility on climate change and
the rights of Mother Earth if it invests in mega-dams and persecutes its
principal environmental defenders. We urge the Bolivian government to show
that its international rhetoric on ‘Buen Vivir’ and the defense of Mother
Earth is not empty rhetoric, but is reflected in its policies and practices
at home.

_______________________________________________
CommonGood Mailingliste
JPBerlin - Politischer Provider
CommonGood at listi.jpberlin.de
https://listi.jpberlin.de/mailman/listinfo/commongood

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