17 Jul 2009

The struggle for the Amazon can save humanity!


Lucha Indigena has a very nice new website, if you read Spanish it will be particularly useful, I have attempted a crude translation of the editorial from issue 35....if you do read Spanish you can probably do better than me. What is very clear is that uprising by Amazon people against the sale of the forests, which resulted in a murderous attack at Bagua in June, has transformed Peru.

If you ask me it also transforms green politics....the indigenous are highly organised, militant in the defence of their forests, are the most effective at slowing the advance of climate change and other ecological ills.

The editorial clearly notes, even to my poor Spanish, that the indigenous have 'lifted' the whole country, Peru is very diverse but people in the cities, in the forests, in the Andes, are increasingly united....they want constitutional change, similar to that has occurred in Bolivia which is plural recognising that different groups exist, they do not believe the promises of the government, it helps foreign capital, most Peruvians see no benefit.

The kinds of processes that have occurred right across Latin America, to lesser or greater extent, is occuring in Peru, its on the verge of really major political change. More than anywhere except perhaps Bolivia, this process is led by the indigenous.

The indigenous network seems to have united very diverse Peruvian indigenous communities....across the world we need to show solidarity, above all we need to learn, the people of the forests are remaking not just Peru but the world, we can all be part of this process.

The politics of Lucha Indigena are my politics, ecosocialism without apology. I get the impression that diversity of opinion and culture, has given way to unity of action in Peru. The Inter Ethnic Association of the Peruvian Amazon, who also have a great website http://www.aidesep.org.pe/ are very impressive.



People get ready!



Lucha Indigena Editorial 35

A feeling of sadness, of rage, of indignation, remains a month after the massace at Bagua, The campaign to bring the perpetrators of the massacre and compensation of Awajun and Wampis victims of the massacre will continue until it succeeds. This edition of the magazine is mainly dedicated to the story in our Amazon: The massacre, the political persecution, the continued resistance right across the forest and the record of solidarity right across the planet.

There are several lessons that can be drawn from these events. The truly fascist face of the APRA (President Alan Garcia's governing party) and the right, and the presence of the Amazon peoples as a very important actor in the country and the world, for the advocacy of nature, the bonds that have been weaving between Amazonian, Andean and urban populations

The country is in convulsion. The dominant racism has been challenged with growing protests, whether the workers of La Oroya mining or carriers, certainly the biggest protests of southern Andean peasants . Andahuaylas, Canchis, Puno, Chumbivilcas, are expressing not only their claims but that their decisions will no longer tolerate the plundering of their lands and territories, and do not believe in false promises and deceit of the neoliberal. Indigenous are "lifting".

The social movements of the world observe the events of Peru together, turning in their countries, as well as action against the military coup in Honduras, designed by the oligarchy in this country to contain the social advances. The fight against imperialism is occuring across the globe.

In Peru, people are demanding a presidential vacancy and Constituent Assembly to end the legacy of Fujimorism neoliberal constitution. It is necessary to implement a multi ethnic constitution, as in neighboring countries, which recognizes the autonomy of all nationalities and people, so that no authority can dispose of their land or sell concessions to large foreign capital.

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