Archives – Page 67 – Upside Down World

Inspired by the Jungle: The Zapatistas and the Rise of an Indigenous City

February 28, 2013 Umar Farooq 0

San Cristobal has changed more in the last two decades than in its entire five hundred year history. A once small town that barred indigenous peoples from staying overnight has been transformed into a city that is half indigenous. Tzotzil and Tzetzal-speaking Mayans from the rural highlands of Chiapas today constitute a powerful political and economic force that demands the attention of political parties, even some that have long ignored them.

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Colombia: Communities of Huila Continue to Defend Mother Earth from Mega-development Projects

February 28, 2013 Polinizaciones 0

Throughout Huila, the resistance has not only manifested from the communities affected by the Quimbo Hydroelectric Dam, but also from the communities in Gigante and Garzón affected by petroleum company Emerald Energy, as well as communities in southern and central Huila resisting the Master Advantage Plan of the Magdalena River which would hand over the country’s largest and most important river in concession to the state-owned company HydroChina.

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Rio de Janeiro: From the City of Wonder to the City of Business

February 27, 2013 Raúl Zibechi 0

The City of Wonder has become “the place with the highest concentration of public and private investment in the world,” thanks to the big events of this decade: the Rio +20 conference held in 2012, the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, in addition to the Military World Games in 2011 and the 2013 Confederations Cup.

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Haitian Senate Calls for Halt to Mining Activities

February 26, 2013 Jane Regan 0

Outraged that they have not been consulted, this week Haitian senators called for a moratorium on all activities connected with recently granted gold and copper mining permits. In a resolution approved by 15 of 16 senators present, the lawmakers also demanded the establishment of a commission to review all of the current mining contracts and “a national debate on the country’s mineral resources.”

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Book Review – Grabbing Power: The New Struggles for Land, Food and Democracy in Northern Honduras

February 25, 2013 Chuck Kaufman 0

Tanya Kerssen does a good job of describing the several peasant unions in the Aguan and the divisions caused by their different histories and experiences based on varying levels of land titles and the levels of violence and repression on them. However, they do unite in opposition to the coup and against the coordinated violence of the police, military, and the paramilitary thugs of the big landowners, while also forming a pillar of strength within the FNRP.

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Guatemala’s Deadly Lifeline: Over-Reliance on the United States

February 21, 2013 John Washington 0

Guatemala is a country full of contradictions. Grinding poverty, political ineptitude and a recent wave of violence and murder can easily make one forget that it is a country, the largest and most populous in Central America, incredibly rich in natural resources and full of working age youth. One result of these contradictions is forcced internal and external migration.

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Tough Questions for Chile as Ongoing Protests Stall Patagonian Dam Project

February 21, 2013 Diego Cupolo 0

Many Chileans are asking themselves what kind of energy future they want for their country. As the growing nation faces higher energy demands and prices. Government officials and business leaders have long seen the HidroAysén Dam project as the ultimate solution to expand the country’s electric grid, but the project has met met with fierce, sometimes violent resistance from student protesters in Santiago and residents of Chile’s Patagonia.

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Chile: From a Social Earthquake to a Political Tsunami

February 20, 2013 Raúl Zibechi, Translation by Rebecca Ellis 0

“The social earthquake of 2011, the student movement, is becoming a political tsunami. We see it in the rise of new leaders and different visions,” said Noam Titelman, the president of the Student Federation of the Catholic University. One symptom of this “tsunami” is the growing politicization of movements.

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Argentina Profunda: Extractivism and Resistance

February 19, 2013 Darío Aranda, Translation by Clayton Conn 0

“The root of the land conflicts lies in the dispute over the use and control of territorial space stemming from the imposition of one culture over another. On the one side is agribusiness, where land is a space to produce and do business. On the other side there is indigenous and peasant culture, where land is understood to be a place for life,” stated the Chaco Argentina Agroforestry Network (REDAF) in a recent report.

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Ecuador’s Rafael Correa Re-elected by a Wide Margin

February 18, 2013 Marc Becker 0

Rafael Correa cruised to re-election on Sunday with 57 percent of the vote, while conservative banker Guillermo Lasso came in a distant second place with 23 percent. Surprising was how poorly Ecuador’s left fared in the election. Former close Correa ally Alberto Acosta running at the head of a leftist coalition that opposes the government’s neo-extractivist policies won just 3 percent of the vote.

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