Daily Archives: August 25, 2012

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South African bishops call for inquiry into mine violence

Catholic News Service
By Bronwen Dachs

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — South Africa’s bishops condemned the killings at a platinum mine in Marikana and called for a judicial inquiry into the circumstances that led to the violence.

Thirty-four people died and 78 were injured Aug. 16 when police opened fire on striking miners who, armed with machetes and homemade spears, were gathered on a rocky outcrop at the mine, 60 miles northwest of Johannesburg. Continue reading South African bishops call for inquiry into mine violence →

Economic Justice, Rio+20

The Dark Side of the “Green Economy”

YES Magazine
Why some indigenous groups and environmentalists are saying no to the “green economy.”
by Jeff Conant

Photo by Ben Powless.

Everywhere you look these days, things are turning green. In Chiapas, Mexico, indigenous farmers are being paid to protect the last vast stretch of rainforest in Mesoamerica. In the Brazilian Amazon, peasant families are given a monthly “green basket” of basic food staples to allow them to get by without cutting down trees. In Kenya, small farmers who plant climate-hardy trees and protect green zones are promised payment for their part in the fight to reduce global warming. In Mozambique, one of the world’s poorest nations, fully 19 percent of the country’s surface is leased to a British capital firm that pays families to reforest. Continue reading The Dark Side of the “Green Economy” →

Rio+20

International Paralysis in the face of Growing Levels of Poverty and Environmental Destruction.

Fr. Seán McDonagh, SSC
The most upsetting and disturbing outcome from the Rio+20 Earth Summit in June 2012, was the inability of the human community to respond adequately either to the worsening global ecological crisis and the continued impoverishment of more than one billion human beings.  Thirty leading scientists at the Stockholm Resilience Centre have identified what they call planetary boundaries, which, if breached, will cause irreparable harm to planet earth, and as a consequence will impact in a negative way on the entire human family for the foreseeable future.  These scientists argue that human beings have already exceeded three important  boundaries during the past few decades – climate change, nitrogen loading and the enormous loss of biodiversity.  They warn us that humankind are dangerously close to crossing the other six boundaries which they identify as the increased acidification of the oceans, stratospheric ozone, aerosol loading, fresh water pollution, soil erosion and chemical pollution.   Continue reading International Paralysis in the face of Growing Levels of Poverty and Environmental Destruction. →

Kenya

Introducing… Kenya’s dam buster

New Internationalist
Ikal Angelei is winning the fight to save Lake Turkana from Ethiopia’s Gibe III dam.
People call her the next Wangari Maathai, but Ikal Angelei shies away from the comparison. ‘I’m just a young woman who saw a catastrophe about to happen and stood up to speak out and fight,’ she says. ‘Wangari really stood out. She was a symbol across the globe. I admired her because she was willing to do whatever was in her power to make a difference.’ Continue reading Introducing… Kenya’s dam buster →

Brazil

No to a parallel train line

Latin America Press

Judge orders Vale mining company to suspend construction on a railway that threatens indigenous population and ecosystem.

Brazil´s largest mining firm, Vale, must halt plans to build a parallel railway alongside an existing one in the northeast state of Pará, which would have allowed for increased transportation of iron from the Carajás mine to a port in the state of Maranhão. Continue reading No to a parallel train line →

Nigeria

Report: “Religions tensions” not only reason for Nigeria’s sectarian violence

ENI News
Although the Boko Haram violence in Nigeria tends to divide Christians and Muslims, the sectarian conflict is driven by poverty, inequality and injustice, according to a high level Christian-Muslim taskforce comprising the World Council of Churches and the Royal Jordanian Aal Al Bayt Institute. The two bodies plan to work together to encourage the understanding of peace and harmony and invite people of both religious traditions to work for the peace and wellbeing of Nigeria.  Continue reading Report: “Religions tensions” not only reason for Nigeria’s sectarian violence →

Rio+20

Global March in the People’s Summit: Something new is being born

ECO Jesuit
Gilberto Faggion and Lucas Luz
On the afternoon of Wednesday 20th June, thousands of people gathered in the center of Rio de Janeiro for the Global March, organized by the “People’s Summit in Rio+20 for Social and Environmental Justice,” an event organized by global civil society.  Certainly, the Global March was not homogeneous, it is characterized more as a “crowd,” in the sense coined by philosophers Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt.  A true plurality, perhaps a characteristic of an affluent society. Continue reading Global March in the People’s Summit: Something new is being born →

Rio+20

The germinal is in the marginal: Another world is possible

ECO Jesuit
“The oppressed will liberate the oppressors, and along with them, the entire unjust structures of society.” Paulo Freire
Mauricio López Oropeza
The philosopher Martin Buber wrote in his essay “I and Thou” that humanity is going through an extremely stressing moment, where it’s very difficult to find alternatives.  According to Buber, despite these times or perhaps because of them, humankind will find hope.  If Buber is right, then another world is actually possible. Continue reading The germinal is in the marginal: Another world is possible →

Brazil

Activists Alarmed at Release of Dorothy Stang’s Murderer

By Fabiana Frayssinet
RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 23 2012 (IPS) – The release from prison of the Brazilian rancher found guilty of ordering the 2005 murder of U.S.-born rainforest activist and nun Dorothy Stang has alarmed human rights defenders, who warn that it could set a dangerous precedent in other cases involving land disputes and the rights of poor farmers. Continue reading Activists Alarmed at Release of Dorothy Stang’s Murderer →