Protests in Peru: Another World is Happening
The pre-dawn assault of protesters which led to the violence that has claimed as many as 70 lives is a violent response to the on-going stand-off between the proponents of the free-market and the people who inhabit the land up for environmental liquidation.
When the protesters said “No” to the government’s renunciation of their rights, their rights as indigenous peoples, as moral people, as people who respect the earth, they signaled the latest shift in the on-going struggle against Globalization. Be it oil in the south or uranium in the North, indigenous peoples now find themselves inhabiting the areas with the largest amount of remaining extractable resources. This is paradoxically because they live in some of the least accessible and most inhospitable places on the planet. Also setting them at odds with globalization, indigenous peoples often take the presently estranged position of often preferring to keep natural resources in the ground, rather than viewing the entire Earth as a large, bottomless bank account. As protest leader Alberto Pizango stated, “There are riches there like oil, wood, gold – riches that arouse the ambitions of the world’s wealthy.” He added though, “We are not against development even though we are portrayed as being against the system. What we want is development from our perspective.”
Where the indigenous protesters of Peru do approve of resource removal, they strive to involve local communities to ensure that those persons who incur the direct penalties that follow in the wake of such ‘development’, the penalties of poisoned water, of forests over 1,000 years old reduced to toothpicks, be among those who benefit from the extraction.
Protesters in Peru are responding to edicts of globalization which have become very familiar to many who stand in opposition to empire and in support of environmental and human rights. Mobil and other oil companies view the Amazonian rainforest, the largest remaining contiguous rainforest, as a gold-mine, waiting to be emptied. The 1400 different indigenous communities in the Amazon view the area as their home, the Earth which has sustained both they and their ancestors for millennia.
AIDESEP, an indigenous group representing 350,000 people from 1400 indigenous communities, called for the direct action 2 months ago in response to the failure of the government to consult the people who live on the land as to the future of that land. AIDESEP is demanding an immediate end to 10 regulations, 9 of which were determined by the Peruvian Congress as violating the Peruvian Constitution six months ago, in December 2008. Among the regulations opposed by AIDESEP are “Legislative Decrees” which move to bypass local approval for resource extraction, to break apart communal farms in favor of large, private land-holdings and to privatize water. Indigenous leaders clearly understand the importance of safeguarding these rights and are fighting to protect them. Such rights renounced once are never given back. The Government is predictably referring to the protesters as ‘terrorists’, ‘anti-democratic’ and, interestingly, in-league with Hugo Chavez. The charges are of course laughable and show the government’s lack of desire to speak on equal terms with the indigenous persons about honest grievances.
Alberto Pizango, President of AIDESEP, discusses tactics.
The Peruvian Congress late last year allowed the Executive Branch absolute authority to adjust the legal and regulatory framework of the Free-Trade Zone of the America’s. The move was reminiscent of both the pre-invasion of Iraq, where the US Congress voted away its Constitutionally mandated obligation to declare war, and the NAFTA closed-door dealings which lead to an abeyance of oversight and public debate. Such hidden workings have lead, without exception, to the weakening of environmental and labor laws, the further destruction of natural habitats and the massive displacement of populations.
The current protests that have killed indigenous people, follow protests less than a year ago, in october of 2008, when Jorge del Castillo, the Prime Minister of Peru, was forced to resign over allegations of crooked dealings between the state Oil Company, Petroperu, and Discover Petroleum of Norway.
President Alan Garcia has stated that the oil belongs to all Peruvians, not just the indigenous peoples. The conflict brings to light another struggle, one that has simmered but never ceased for the last 500 years. As recently as 1990, tribes of the Amazon were having as much as 70% of their population die from disease brought in by contact with outsiders. These tribes are among the last of the uncontacted peoples on the planet, and the exploitation of their land is at the center of what the future of the world will consist of. In a sane world, an area that is so interwoven, complex and as yet undisrupted, would be allowed to follow its own course. At what point will we as human beings acknowledge that there are other ways to function as a society? As a civilization? If we truly consider ourselves compassionate, we will stand in solidarity with the tribes and seek all possible means to not ‘develop’ the Amazon, unless we can honestly say to one another that we have tried all other possible courses. As Davi Kopenawa Yanomam, dubbed the Dalai Lama of the Amazon, stated Monday, “We must listen to the cry of the earth which is asking for help. The earth has no price. It can’t be bought, or sold or exchanged. It is very important that white people, black people and indigenous peoples fight together to save the life of the forest and the earth. If we don’t fight together what will our future be? Your children need land and nature alive and standing.”
As of Wednesday morning, Alberto Pizango, leader of AIDESEP had fled the country and been granted asylum in Nicaragua, after he had a warrant put out for his arrest by the Garcia Government. More than 70% of the Peruvian Amazon has been allocated for oil and gas extraction, and the Government of Alan Garcia is hungry for more. The area which has been freed up for multi-national development by the Peruvian Government’s is 170,000 square miles of the Amazon Rainforest. It is an area equal to the size of the entire National Parks system of the United States, plus an extra 60,000 square miles. An area the size of the state of California, or all of New England, plus six extra states. “The government wants to take our territory to give it to the big multinational companies.” Pizango stated.
AIDESEP has stated that they will continue the protests and are demanding an the immediate halt to the violence and the repeal of the 10 National Unconstitutional Decrees. They are organizing a Nationwide Strike in Peru, and are calling for protests worldwide, on Thursday, June 11, 2009 in response to the violence.
