The North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee Blog
See our home page.(Our old blog on tripod.com is still active, but it is now also appended to the archives of this blog.)
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Coal delegation--May
Witness for Peace New England
Delegation to Colombia
May 24-31, 2008
THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE COAL
Colombia is the largest recipient of U.S. military aid in the hemisphere, and also the country with the highest levels of official and paramilitary violence, including forced displacement, killings of journalists, trade unionists, and human rights activists.
Foreign corporations are some of the major beneficiaries of this situation, and multinational corporations control Colombia’s two largest exports, oil and coal, much of which comes back to U.S. markets. Most of the coal goes to supply power plants in Massachusetts and the southeastern U.S., including the Salem Harbor and Brayton Point power stations in Massachusetts.
Colombia’s coal comes from two of the largest open-pit coal mines in the world: El Cerrejón, begun by Exxon in the 1980s and now owned by a consortium of European-based companies, and La Loma, owned by the Alabama-based Drummond Company. Both of these mines export large quantities of coal to the United States, and both have been accused of serious human rights violations.
This delegation will follow the trail of the coal that supplies power to New England, meeting with human rights activists, trade unionists, members of Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities, and others affected by coal production in Colombia. We will explore how we as consumers can work in solidarity with communities and organizations in Colombia to hold corporations accountable for human rights.
Cost: $1150. The delegation fee covers all set-up, preparation, meals, lodging, interpreters, transportation within Colombia. The fee also covers extensive reading and activist tools both before and after the delegation.
Fund-Raising: You can ask us for fund-raising materials or advice. Occasionally scholarship money becomes available.
Deadline: ASAP: Application with a non-refundable deposit of $150.
Contact: Avi Chomsky (achomsky@salemstate.edu; 978-542-6389); Steve Striffler (striffler@hotmail.com; 479-283-4795).
Witness for Peace (WFP) is a politically independent, grassroots organization of people committed to nonviolence and led by faith and conscience. Our mission is to support peace, justice, and sustainable economies in the Americas by changing US policies and corporate practices that contribute to poverty and oppression in Latin America and the Caribbean. For more info on the WFP Colombia program: www.witnessforpeace.org.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
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Dalhousie University invited Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, chairman of AngloAmerican, the world's second-largest mining company, to address a packed house about "Sustainability Challenges for Extractive Industries Operating Globally." "This company, through its stake in the Cerrejon mine, is responsible for forcibly displacing hundreds of subsistence farmers in northeastern Colombia," says Bronwen White, a fourth-year international development studies student at Dalhousie, who passed out critical leaflets prior to the event. Moody-Stuart is no stranger to this sort of controversy---as former head of Shell Oil's Nigerian operations, he learned to handle tough questions. Because of his work at Shell and the ensuing allegations of collaborating with Nigeria's military to murder environmental activists, Moody-Stuart was featured in the popular documentary The Corporation---he served tea to radical environmentalists as they protested on his front lawn. He doesn't believe profit should be the driving force for corporations. "The ultimate goal of a company is to produce quality goods and services," he told the audience. "There is not much trust in big business these days." Activists, however, weren't buying what Moody-Stuart was selling. One audience member, a masters student at Saint Mary's, accused him of "corporate green washing" while others held colour photos of Colombian families displaced by AngloAmerican's operations. The Cerrejon mine, owned by AngloAmerican and two other multinationals, is the largest open-pit coal mine in the world. Until recently, it supplied 17 percent of the coal burned in Nova Scotia. In 2001, bulldozers contracted by the mine smashed the village of Tabaco, inhabited by Afro-Colombians and indigenous Wayuu. Students showed video footage of Tabaco's destruction before Moody-Stuart's presentation. In the video, a small girl with pigtails and pink overalls cries and pushes against the shields of Colombian riot police as bulldozers ram her family's home. "Cerrejon employs thousands of Colombians, paying high wages," Moody-Stuart said before the lecture. "The original relocation [of Tabaco], I think, was carried out in accordance with Colombian law." However, he added, "we have always said that we don't think [the displacement] was perfectly executed." Pressed about whether shipping coal, tainted by allegations of human rights abuses, from Colombia to Nova Scotia represents a sustainable business practice, he said, "We can stop producing coal, but your lights are going to go out." In 2007, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development launched an investigation of BHP Billiton, an Australian multinational with a stake in the Cerrejon mine, for the eviction of Tabaco. Moody-Stuart thinks a similar OECD investigation of AngloAmerican is a realistic possibility. In response to human rights concerns around AngloAmerican's operations, AngloAmerican has struck a committee, chaired by the President of Cape Breton University and consisting of NGOs from Chile, a Colombian economist and other notables to investigate allegations around Cerrejon. That doesn't console Garry Leech, a lecturer at CBU who interviewed dozens of farmers displaced by AngloAmerican's mining operations. "Cerrejon has been harassing people living in [four more villages], demanding that they leave the area," he said, adding that the mine refuses to collectively negotiate with the nearby communities. "Throughout history, people have had to move for industrial projects," Moody-Stuart said. "The question is how you manage those displacements." "Everyone can make mistakes," said Bronwen White after Moody-Stuart's talk. "But it seems like AngloAmerican's Colombian operations haven't learned anything from the displacement of Tabaco. These aren't just numbers: We're talking about people's homes and lives that will be destroyed." | |||||||
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Witness For Peace, NE Delegation to Colombia
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Friday, February 01, 2008
Article about Orlando's talk in Brown student newspaper
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Colombian union leader calls for fairer labor practices
George Miller
Colombian union leader Orlando Acosta spoke last night to a packed Joukowsky Forum in the Watson Institute for International Studies, criticizing both the Colombian and American governments for failing to end human rights violations and unfair labor practices in the Colombian mining industry.
Acosta, who spoke in Spanish through an interpreter, told the audience of more than 60 how mining practices in Colombia displace communities and harm the environment. "The so-called third-world countries," he said, make a mistake in misusing natural resources in the pursuit of development. Acosta is a leader of the mine workers' union at Drummond Mining Company in Colombia.
He described how companies intimidate union leaders and their families to try to quell protests. "A message is sent to the families and union leaders themselves telling them that if they do not stop their denunciation of the policies of the mining companies they're going to lose what they cherish most," Acosta said. He said he had been sent a leaflet printed with a skull - to him, the message was clear.
U.S. aid to the Colombian government doesn't help the situation, Acosta said. The money that comes from this support keeps guerrillas and paramilitary groups - many of which fight against union interests - alive, he said. Americans should be aware of the impact of U.S. trade in South America, he added.
"The coal that is being extracted in Colombia and elsewhere really ends up here, and it's what allows or pays for these commodities that you enjoy here," he said.
Avi Chomsky, history professor at Salem State College and a member of the North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee, spoke after Acosta and echoed his concerns. "We all participate in unfair trade all the time," she said. "We have no choice of where we get our electricity and we can't live without electricity."
Acosta addressed at length the proposed free trade agreement between the United States and Colombia. He said Colombian union leaders have formally proposed putting the agreement up for referendum. That treaty was signed in 2006 but has not been ratified by Congress due, among other factors, to Democratic leaders' concerns over the Colombian government's failure to curb anti-union violence.
Acosta's appearance was organized by several campus organizations, said Jake Hess GS, including Colombians United at Brown, the Center for Latin American Studies and Colombian Solidarity Network, of which Hess is a member. Acosta was on a tour of the Atlantic region and stopped in New England for a week, Hess said.
The crowd, mostly students, quickly filled available seats, forcing attendees to stand or sit on the floor. Sales of books and handmade shoulder bags as well as a collection envelope passed around during the speech raised money for the labor unions' efforts and Acosta's travel expenses.
Drew Smith '10 said, in reaction to the speech, that consumers should be more aware of the international effects of their actions. "I think we all need to get more involved in these kinds of issues," he added.
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