'Keiko's politics are kind of "Jamie Oliver meets Pol Pot"

An on the ground report from the Green Party's Matt Wootton on today's Peru elections.

Its between Humala who would probably not be my ideal choice in an ideal world but is the left candidate and the far right Keiko Fujimori whose dad is in prison and was a notorious human rights abuser when he was President in the 1990s.

The markets are keen that Fujimori wins, she will be full steam ahead for opening up the Amazon and extracting the resources.

Humala has been crushed by media attacks and is far less radical than figures like Morales and Chavez. However he and his party gave enormous solidarity when the Amazon indigneous were massacred at Bagua for resisting rainforest destruction, which is a huge plus (or if you are the markets keen on trashing the biosphere for quick profit a big minus).

Serious Greens like Matt have their eye on this but much of the environmental movement ignores the actual political and social struggles in the Amazon, what ever the outcome Aidesep the indigenous Peruvian Amazon network will put up huge resistance to rainforest destruction and the seizure of their land.

There is also a great article on why Humala must win from the Ecosocialist here.

On to Matt's report...the Jamie Oliver reference is to free school meals as a bribe for voters, incidentally the Shining Path who fought in Peru in the 1990s were similar to Pol Pot but that's another story....

And one issue that stays with many people, especially the many scarred for life, is the Fujimori government’s coerced sterilisations of 100s of thousands of rural (mainly indigenous) people.

So, this is the legacy that Keiko defends when she calls her father “Peru’s best president ever”, a remark she was forced to back-track on.

Ms. Fujimori’s spokesman Jorge Trelles didn’t help matters when he said of Mr. Fujimori’s record. “We killed fewer people than the two prior governments”. Trelles was subsequently removed from his post, but the fact is that Keiko’s popularity rides on the back of her father’s perceived strength and toughness. More popular appeal comes from her being perceived as a sympathetic, young, perhaps slightly exotic movie-star-like female figure, and a faithful daughter. Propaganda is full of her hugging indigenous old women, kissing indigenous babies and wearing indigenous costume. But this can all be put down to marketing spin (which Keiko’s campaign, funded by huge business interests, can clearly afford, where her rival Humala’s cannot). The fact is that Keiko, despite her cuddly side, is a tough moralist on the side of punishment and crackdowns, and will use those values to effect political crackdown on anyone opposed to big business exploitation of the Peruvian Amazon.

MORE HERE

Stop killing for bananas.

Just got this from Councillor Samir Jeraj, he is a Norwich Green Party councillor and as you can see has a global focus working for a just and ecological economy.

Thanks Samir

This is from Banana Link, an NGO I worked for (and where I'm doing some volunteering at the moment). This is the latest in a long string of killings and attacks of trade union leaders in the last couple of years. I also seem to remember that the special investigator appointed by the government in 2008 was blown up in his car.

http://www.bananalink.org.uk/content/view/556/1/lang,en/

You can email the President of Guatemala:
http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/campaigns/show_campaign.cgi?c=575

And/Or William Hague:
http://www.bananalink.org.uk/component/option,com_actonline/pid,6/lang,en/

'We wont let fear rule the streets'

Public Forum, Weds 8th June, 7pm,
*New guest speaker MERLIN EMMANUEL - speaking out for JUSTICE FOR SMILEY CULTURE

Plus:*Jody McIntyre* *Alfie Meadows* * Tony Benn*
*UK Uncut* *Bryan Simpson (arrested for occupying Millbank) *
*The Guillotine 3 (under suspicion for conspiracy to commit street theatre during the Royal Wedding) * *John Mcdonnell MP *
* Sara Tomlinson –NUT striking on 30th June & Stop Kettling our Kids

Introductions, general discussion & practical organising
Followed by banner & placard making for court protests

www.defendtherighttoprotest.org

The right to protest is under serious threat. From the student protests against fees to the M26 TUC anti-cuts demonstration, the police are responding to a growing movement by resorting to extreme tactics including kettling, mounted horse charges and battering protesters.
Alfie Meadows suffered severe head wounds from a baton blow during the student protests and had to undergo emergency brain surgery to save his life. Ian Tomlinson was killed on the G20 demonstration with the police officer involved now facing charges of manslaughter.

Peaceful activists have been targeted for arbitrary arrest and detention including 145 members of UK Uncut who were charged with “aggravated trespass” for a sit-in at Fortnum & Mason. On the day of the royal wedding, protesters were held for over 24 hours in police cells on suspicion that they might be about to commit a ‘breach of the peace’.

These actions are designed to intimidate and undermine a growing protest movement against government cuts. They represent serious attacks on our right to protest - that we can beat.

In Spain the real democracy movement defied attempts to ban their occupation of the country’s squares inspiring the world with their slogan “without fear.” In Britain up to a million workers are preparing to strike against austerity on June 30th. Anti-cuts and student groups have pledged to join them. The best way to defend our right to protest – is by protesting. But we must also campaign to make sure no one is left behind – not Alfie Meadows or Bryan Simpson or the Fortnum & Mason occupiers all of whom face prison terms for the sole crime of taking a stand against cuts.

Support arrested protesters

The meeting has been called to build support for Alfie Meadows, Bryan Simpson, Fortnum & Masons occupiers and other protesters facing hearings over the next few weeks.

Show your support for them.
9th June (Alfie Meadows) and 10th June (Bryan Simpson)

Westminster City Court, 70 Horseferry Road, at 9am on each day.
More info www.defendtherighttoprotest.org

Indigenous in the Amazon say vote for Humala, manana!

The Second round of the Presidential election in Peru takes places tomorrow.

The far right candidate whose father is currently in prison for human rights abuse when he was President in the 1990s is likely to win, there has been a huge media blitz funded by those who want to open up the Amazon to gas and oil exploration.

Aidesep the organisation of Peruvian indigenous people in the Amazon are calling on all Peruvians to vote for Ollanta Humala to stop the catastrophe of a Fujimori victory.

Greens are you watching, Amazon, climate change, etc....this is life and death stuff not just for the indigenous but for all of us.

Spread the word, do the solidarity, get involved....saving the environment is all about politics, power, economic change!

This is my translation of the Aidesep statement.

The CDN of Aidesep has today exhorted the people and all Peruvians to vote with hope, without fear, without forgetting, on 5th June voting for a country without discrimination, respecting the rights of indigenous people to free self-determination of their ancestral territories and respecting intenational law with convenion 169 of the ODT and the UN declaration of Indigenous people.

In this context, the polarization of the presidential campaign is depressing where the injury, the lies, the insults are transformed into the main form of media communication, forgetting the suffering of our country in the 1990s during the Fujimara government, the seizure of the main forms of media communication including writing, radio and audiovisual, the forced disappearance of college students, the control of judiciary, the destruction of the constitutional Tribunal, the buying of Congress, the armed forces, etc.

So the (indigenous) people have decided to support the project because Gana Perú as the best replacement option for the country, because they (Humala's Party) supported indigenous peoples during the peaceful protests of 2008 and 2009, where we sought to stop the government of Alan Garcia from meeting his dream of deforesting the Amazon for cash.
 
The CRC of the view that this project AIDESEP accept ethnic and cultural diversity of the country, solve the problems of collective ownership and respect self-determination of peoples and low these concepts, they decided to endorse a vote for this option (Humala).

ORIGINAL IN SPANISH HERE

I have now doubt Keiko Fujimori will kill

When Peruvian presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori arrived at a plaza in the city of Cajamarca for a recent campaign speech, she was met by a barrage of eggs thrown by activists who opposed her candidacy and called her a “murderer and thief.”



The activists were referring to the legacy of her father, Alberto Fujimori, who was Peru’s president from 1990-2000 and jailed in 2007 for a quarter century sentence after being found guilty of corruption and ‘crimes against humanity’.


A mock national vote one week before the upcoming June 5 election showed a tight race, with Fujimori leading her only opponent, left-leaning Ollanta Humala, by a single percentage point. For many voters, the election is not just about politics and economics – it’s a battle over memory and justice.



Despite her support at the polls, many human rights activists in Peru believe the younger Fujimori signals the resurgence of her father’s dictatorial policies, which involved torture, murder, rape, and the disappearance of thousands of Peruvians in the midst of a conflict involving the Shining Path guerrilla movement.


In reference to this conflict, Amnesty International stated “the widespread and systematic nature of human rights violations committed during the government of former head of state Alberto Fujimori (1990–2000) in Peru constitute crimes against humanity under international law.”

MORE HERE

Meet The Leftwing, Green, Catholic, Gay, Southern Italian Governer Who Brings Hope To The Italian Left

Stephen Wood asked me about the programme of the green left freedom party in Italy, must admit I haven't got there but this piece is very nice.

Build a social infrastructure for left green and promote renewables seems a start to me!


This is a profile of the impressive Nichi Vendola

A former Communist enthusiast, now voted the best-liked Italian politician, this man is full of surprises. Since his election, he has overseen the installation of mass renewables (now powering Italy with 13% of it’s solar and 24% of it’s wind power), and is one of the most social media-savvy politicians I’ve come across. Have a look at his website, or better – his Facebook page (more fans than any other European politician). British progressive elected officials take note.

He has invested much of his time building the radical infrastructure needed to support the future of the Italian left – local associations, youth clubs, single-issue campaign groups, and the hope is that this growth will coincide with a future run for the Italian Presidency in 2013.

MORE HERE

Green left humilates Berlusconi in Milan

The hyper rich steal and corrupt but as they are the hyper rich they pull strings and as they own the media they generally win.

In Britain we had a recession caused by a banking crisis, guess what in 2011 the bankers are getting fat bonuses and the recession seems to being blamed on the disabled.

So good news that Giuliano Pisapia the Ecology Left Freedom candidate beat Berlusconi on his home turf of Milan.

Great to see greens and the left cooperating, winning power and hopefully creating change.

Italy is a dirty mirror for Britain, Berlesconi looks like an angry clown but as he controls the media and can change laws just after he breaks them he has power.

The sleazy Tony Blair used to borrow Berlusconi holiday home. Indeed the Independent newspaper noted:

But what may have annoyed Labour activists more than anything is not the political affinity between Blair and Berlusconi but the Prime Minister's love of Italian hospitality. In 2004, the Blair family spent part of their summer holiday in Mr Berlusconi's 27-bedroom Sardinian villa. And last year the Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera, ran a graphic account of the trappings of wealth that the Blairs have been gifted by Mr Berlusconi, cruelly nicknaming the Blairs the "Sultans of Bling".

Money, as Francis Bacon (the science guy not the painter) used to suggest, is like muck and stinks if it is in a big pile.

Good to see power being eroded and re-redistributed.

Pisapia won with 55% of the vote, I guess this is on some kind of second round system.

Find out more about Sinistra Ecologia Libertà here