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Take action in solidarity with the Indigenous people of Peru

Submitted by Judy Rebick on Thu, 06/11/2009 - 9:07am

Today June 11 is an international day of action to stand in solidarity with the courageous people of the Amazon in Peru who are standing up against government and military forces to defend their land against oil exploration and environmental and cultural destruction.  To support them you can

Video from Democracy Now

Demonstrate at Peru Consulate today 1 pm 10 St. Mary's in Toronto or in Ottawa at the Peru Embassy at 11:30 am

Donate to the Amazonian Indigenous people through Rights Action who have promised that all donations marked Peru Indigenous will go directly to the struggle there http://rightsaction.org/contributions.htm

Sign the Avaaz global petition and pass it along to your friends

Write or call  your MP to say we don't want to do business with Peru, a country that we have recently signed a free trade agreement with until they respect the rights of the Indigenous people there

Inform yourself.  A good place to start is with the reports from Ben Powless, an Indigenous activist from Canada, who is there on the ground and you can listen to Ben tomorrow morning on the Current CBC RadioOne

Bob Lovelace, who himself was in jail last year for defending his people's land against destructive development, has written a moving appeal which I reproduce below.  Please act to defend Indigenous Rights, stop the destruction of the Amazon and the economic, environmental and cultural  terror created by so-called free trade

 

Another Day in the - Life of Peru and Canada by Bob Lovelace
June 10th
 
While in the Amazon region of Ecuador a few weeks ago I wrote to a friend, “At least now I can say that I have seen the Garden of Eden”. My worst fear, the gnawing secret I would not have dared to breathe, was that the beautiful courageous people that we met and shared stories with would one day be murdered for their land and the hidden metals of which they had no need of themselves. Just over the hills was Peru. As I looked south I had wondered who lived there. Now I know.
 
In the last six days we have learned who lives there. Mostly they are indigenous people whose genes have flowed through the region as long as the rivers have. They are not poor, because they are at home, because they are among their families and clans, because they walk in the footsteps of their ancestors, because the land that has sustained hundreds of generations will continue to care for them. They are frightened now. Six days ago they were worried that their land would be destroyed; now they fear that everything will perish. They are courageous. They do not hide when the helicopters fly over. They watch them come and go. And they will watch them go, watch them go.
 
Tomorrow will be the seventh day. Tomorrow, Thursday June 11th, our job is to make the world aware of what has happened in Peru. In Ottawa, we will be at the Peruvian Embassy.   In Toronto, we will be at the Peruvian Consulate. Where ever you are tomorrow you must make your voice heard. Call your local Canadian Bank and tell them to stop investing in extractive industries, mining, drilling, forestry and agri-business that are overlooking or participating in human rights abuses. Call your local MP and MPP and tell them that you are tired of them selling your soul for an economy that places so little value on human life. Call your neighbour and ask them to join you in denouncing the media for keeping you ignorant of the truth that Canada is complicit, as a free trade partner, in the murder of people this week in Peru.
 
You see, we can do something. We may not be on the frontline but we can make a difference. We can save lives by making our names, faces and attitudes known. If you have a camera, take pictures at a demonstration, of yourself and friends holding signs, of sidewalk chalk messages that you write on Bay Street, use your imagination and then post those pictures on the web where people in Peru can see them. Tell them with pictures that they are not alone. And then send those pictures to the politicians and to the mining companies and to the Banks, to the US Embassy, the Peruvian Embassy, so that they will know that our brothers and sisters in Peru are not alone. You are not alone.
 
We can also share our wealth or a portion of our poverty with indigenous people in Peru. They can use it right now.
 
I have spoken with Grahame Russell of Rights Action (Canada). Rights Action is an NGO that works primarily in Central America with communities opposing mining and resource extraction. Grahame has agreed that 100% of the donations that are made to Rights Action in the name of “current conflict in Peru” will go directly to indigenous peoples’ organizations in the affected area. I will work with my contacts in Ecuador and Peru to direct the money where it will do the most good. Please encourage people on your e-lists to give something to support healing for people in Peru. And please give something yourself.
 
TO MAKE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS for indigenous organizations in Peru resisting the harms of large-scale “development” projects (mining, tourism, hydro-electric dams) and promoting their own development, human rights and environment projects, make check payable to "Rights Action" and mail to:
 
*  CANADA:  552 - 351 Queen St. E, Toronto ON, M5A-1T8
*  UNITED STATES:  Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887

 

 

 

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