[Imc-newsroom] Fwd: Ecuador: Oil Pollution & Indigenous Resistance

[Pauline Bartolone]

Is anybody interested in taking this on as a project?
Perhaps this could be another segment on the Oil and War series?

We can talk about this at the next newsgroup meeting, but I think we should 
compile all of the Oil and War pieces that we are doing, put it on one disc, 
write a desription of all its elements, send out an email to other media 
outlets, and try to get this series played on other Community radio 
stations. Our great work should be listened to!

Pauline

>From: "Rights Action" <info at rightsaction.org>
>To: <accion at terra.com.gt>
>Subject: Ecuador: Oil Pollution & Indigenous Resistance
>Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 09:01:14 -0500
>
>“OIL POLLUTION AND INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE IN ECUADOR'S AMAZON”
>
>Rights Action is forwarding you this message on behalf of The Advocacy
>Project.  If you want off Rights Action’s e-list, contact:
>info at rightsaction.org
>
>***
>
>The Advocacy Project presents:
>
>OIL POLLUTION AND INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE IN ECUADOR'S AMAZON
>
>If you would like to receive this new series of “On the Record” about
>the indigenous movement in Ecuador, please send a blank e-mail to
>amazonoil-subscribe at topica.com in the body of the message or visit
>http://www.advocacynet.org/mailinglist.html.  Please direct questions or
>queries to info at advocacynet.org.
>
>***
>
>This new series of the online newsletter On the Record will look at the
>efforts of Ecuador's indigenous people to resist the invasion of their
>land by oil companies - a struggle that has major implications for civil
>society in this era of globalization.
>
>The series comes as the government of Ecuador is preparing to auction
>off large chunks of territory, some of it rainforest, to oil companies.
>It will be the ninth round of "block leasing," as the process is termed,
>since exploration began in the late 1960's. Construction of a new
>pipeline has already begun.
>
>On the Record is a product of the Advocacy Project (AP), which supports
>the advocacy of community-based campaigns. The new series was written by
>AP associate Peter Lippman, who visited Ecuador in the spring of 2001 at
>the request of the Centro de Derechos Economicos y Sociales (Center for
>Social and Economic Rights - CDES), based in Ecuador.
>
>Lippman's series begins in the town of San Carlos, which has been so
>badly polluted that cancer rates are many times higher than elsewhere in
>the region. Here, says Lippman, "shoeless children play on oil-drenched
>dirt roads and bathe in contaminated streams."
>
>The series makes it clear that Ecuador's dependency on oil has been a
>disaster for the country. Not only has it polluted the Amazon and pushed
>some of Ecuador's most fabled indigenous nations - the Shuar, Achuar and
>Zapara - close to extinction, but it has forced Ecuador to incur massive
>debts. The government's response has been to impose austerity measures
>that have hurt the poor and provoked repeated popular uprisings, causing
>a serious erosion of confidence in democracy.
>
>Making matters worse, Ecuador's legal system is stacked against the
>country's indigenous people. In theory they won greater legal protection
>when Ecuador ratified Convention 169 of the International Labour
>Organization in 1998. This calls for indigenous people to be fully
>consulted about any development on their land. The problem, writes
>Lippman, is that the state still controls the minerals under the ground.
>
>Lippman concludes that Ecuador's indigenous peoples have been fortified
>and forced to organize by the threat from oil. But, he says, they face a
>major dilemma in deciding whether to resist or negotiate with the
>companies. Resistance is difficult and dangerous "because spears, clubs,
>and the courage of a hunter are no match for the modern corporation." On
>the other hand, negotiating opens them up to exploitation by the
>companies, which try to "divide and conquer" by lavishing gifts on
>individual communities and undercutting the authority of regional
>indigenous representatives.
>
>The same dilemma faces international partners of the indigenous. In the
>early 1990s, some international environmental groups tried to negotiate
>directly with the companies without informing their local partners,
>causing a disastrous backlash.
>
>Groups like the CDES, in contrast, seek to inform indigenous
>representatives of the threat from oil and of their legal rights so that
>they can negotiate from a position of relative strength. They also
>promote "clean" and sustainable development alternatives.
>
>In some cases this approach has succeeded in forcing the companies to
>agree to codes of conduct. But, says Lippman, after years of broken
>promises by the companies, many indigenous groups appear to be moving
>towards outright resistance.
>
>The new series of On the Record will be sent out to subscribers next
>week free of charge. It will be accompanied by a web map of Ecuador and
>illustrated pages on the AP website: http://www.advocacynet.org.
>
>----------------------------------------------------------
>
>If you would like to receive the new series of On the Record about the
>indigenous movement in Ecuador, please send a blank e-mail to
>amazonoil-subscribe at topica.com in the body of the message or visit
>http://www.advocacynet.org/mailinglist.html
>
>Please direct questions or queries to info at advocacynet.org.
>----------------------------------------------------------
>


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