Archives – Page 125 – Upside Down World

Oaxaca: The Ongoing Extermination of San Juan Copala’s Autonomous Triquis

May 18, 2010 Nancy Davies 0

Twelve people were kidnapped and disappeared in San Juan Copala on May 16, following the ambush of a caravan on April 27 in which two human rights activists were murdered by Unión de Bienestar de la Región Triqui (Ubisort) paramilitaries. The twelve disappeared are women and children. The kidnapping appeared to be a reprisal for the call to send a second, international and larger caravan to San Juan Copala, scheduled for June 8.

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Oaxaca: Aftermath of the Ambush

May 13, 2010 Ramor Ryan 0

In an act of implacable defiance, the Autonomous Municipality of San Juan Copala has called on civil organizations to organize another Human Rights caravan to attempt to break the paramilitary blockade surrounding their besieged headquarters in the indigenous Triqui region of Oaxaca, Mexico. The caravan, called for May 30-31, hopes for the participation of hundreds of national and international human Rights observers and activists, and will be convened by Diocesan Commission of Peace and Justice, and the Bartolomé Carrasco Regional Human Rights Center.

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Haitian Earthquake Survivors Need Social and Economic Rights

May 12, 2010 Beverly Bell 0

“It’s a nightmare from which you never wake up,” said a coordinator for Partners in Health in Port-au-Prince, referring to the January 12 earthquake and its social aftermath. The ‘nightmare’ has long roots in structural violence, the set of national and international systems and policies that have left the majority in Haiti (and the world) neglected and resource-poor.

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Cuba: Democracy Promotion Programs under Fire as Fallout from Spy Arrest Continues

May 12, 2010 Michael Collins 0

The embarrassment over the detention of USAID employee Alan Gross on spy charges last December, and his links to the U.S. government’s controversial democracy promotion programs, has shed light on a murky area of U.S. politics and may have far-reaching consequences for the future of U.S.-Cuba relations.

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Taking Stock of Canada’s Mining Industry: Ecuadorian Landmark Lawsuit Challenges Canadian Mining Impunity

May 11, 2010 Jennifer Moore 0

Marcia Ramírez hopes to set a precedent in Canadian courts that will benefit peasant farmers and indigenous peoples across the Global South. A community leader in her mid-20s, Ramírez is one of three Ecuadorian plaintiffs suing the Toronto Stock Exchange for over $1.5 billion.

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Mexico: International Human Rights Caravan Ambushed, Two Murdered En Route to San Juan Copala

May 7, 2010 Nancy Davies 0

A caravan carrying human rights activists from Finland, Italy, Belgium and Germany as well as members of the Oaxaca Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca (APPO), of Section 22 of the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE), and of the Network of Indigenous Radios and Communicators of Southeast Mexico was ambushed on the road near La Sabana in the Triqui territory of Oaxaca by paramilitaries identified as members of the Unión de Bienestar Social de la Región Triqui (Ubisort), a PRI sponsored organization. The caravan was attempting to break the siege of San Juan Copala by Ubisort.

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Ecuador: The Debate in the Streets

May 7, 2010 Jennifer Moore 0

Amidst deep tensions over Ecuador’s new water law, currently in its final debate within the National Assembly, campesino farmers in the southern province of Azuay celebrated a moment of victory on Wednesday night. The President of the Provincial Court overturned a preventative prison sentence against five community leaders who had been detained and charged during peaceful road blockades the day before on lack of evidence.

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South America: Mercosur’s Cooperatives in an Age of Integration

May 5, 2010 Michael Fox 0

Co-ops across the region are breaking previous paradigms and proving that they are not only economically viable, but have the capacity to join together and support each other in their struggle. It is often not easy, and not always successful, but many are trying.

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Movie Review: The Coca-Cola Case

May 4, 2010 Lainie Cassel 0

Colombia has long held the title of trade union murder capital of the world. With increasing threats against workers and an estimated 4,000 trade unionists killed in the last three decades, the practices of multinational corporations operating in the Andean Nation are beginning to be more vigilantly scrutinized. A new film shines the spotlight on Atlanta-based Coca-Cola.

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The Mothers of May: The Difficult Democratization of the Genocidal State in Brazil

April 29, 2010 Raúl Zibechi 0

Rafael Dias, from the NGO Global Justice, believes that Brazil exists as a genocidal state because “there was never a rupture between the slave-state and the modern state, and we have now an elitist state that operates through violence to marginalize the indigenous, the black, and the poor, who were all considered threats or dangerous classes.”

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