Indigenous Peruvian protests continue after bloodbath

This video from the USA says about itself:

Celebrities Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Qorianka Kilcher , Jesse Garcia, Alex Meraz and Clifton Collins pull together in an effort to call attention to Peru‘s Indigenous peoples plight and struggle for survival , health and basic human rights In the wake of the FTA and the Peruvian governments attempts to allow multinational oil, gas, logging and mining corporations to take over their land, without previous consultation or consent of the local inhabitants.

From British daily The Morning Star:

Protesters take Peru airfield

Monday 08 June 2009

Indigenous Peruvians have seized a remote airfield and maintained a roadblock in their bloody dispute with the government over Amazon oil drilling.

…

In a speech in Lima, [President Alan] Garcia accused indigenous protesters opposed to oil, gas and other development on their native lands of impeding progress, either through “elemental ignorance” or manipulation by unspecified outside interests.

But protesters said the police attack on Friday was unprovoked and they could not be expected to stand by as officers mowed them down with gunfire.

Heavily armed police killed at least 30 Indians, according to protest leaders, after moving Friday to open a road blocked since April 9.

Protest leader Alberto Pizango went into hiding after a judge issued a warrant for his arrest on sedition charges on Saturday.

His deputy Champion Nonimgo called on Sunday for the Organisation of American States and other international bodies to investigate the violence.

Meanwhile, about 30 members of the Achuar ethnic group – including women and children – occupied the runway of the small Trompetero airport on Sunday in the neighbouring jungle state of Loreto.

The airport is used by Pluspetrol, an Argentinian oil company, according to a company official who spoke on condition of anonymity as he wasn’t authorised to talk to the media.

Another group of indigenous protesters continued to block a main road between the nearby cities of Tarapoto and Yurimaguas, authorities said.

Indians have been blocking roads, waterways and occupying oil facilities on and off since early April, demanding that Peru’s government repeal laws they say help foreign companies exploit their lands.

The laws, decreed by Garcia as he implemented a Peru-US free trade pact, open communal jungle lands and water resources to oil drilling, logging, mining and large-scale farming.

Indian leaders and environmental groups say the decrees violate Peru’s constitution and break international law because Garcia’s administration has failed to get indigenous peoples’ consent for the projects.

See also Indymedia in Peru.

PERU: ‘Police Are Throwing Bodies in the River,’ Say Native Protesters: here.

PERU: Native Protesters Search for Their Dead: here.

Peru suspends decree that triggered bloody conflict between Indians and police: here.

Peruvian Amazon animals’ photos: here.

Labour should dump Thatcherism-Blairism or perish

This video from Britain is called John McDonnell MP – Labour leadership contender.

From British daily The Morning Star:

Labour Representation Committee chairman John McDonnell MP said: “If Labour MPs and Gordon Brown don’t get the message from these results, we are finished.

“The message is clear that we need a complete change of political direction,” he said.

“New Labour is being eliminated at the ballot box. People are telling us that they want the Labour Party to become a people’s party again. Only then will we regain the voters’ trust.”

Indeed, the Thatcherite economics, the support for wars like in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the corruption scandal tainted politicians, all need to be flushed down the toilet in the Labour party, which should move very sharply Left. Which, of course, does not mean a coup against discredited Brown by supporters of still more discredited Blair.

Labour MP John McDonnell issued a rallying cry to party activists yesterday to support “change candidates” to prevent decimation at the ballot box: here.

Left wing Labour MPs are threatening to stand under their own manifesto at the next election if Prime Minister Gordon Brown fails to adopt their policies: here.

Gabon’s president Bongo dies

This video is called Human Rights Council: “Human rights” and Gabon.

From the BBC:

Gabon‘s leader is confirmed dead

Omar Bongo died of a heart attack at a clinic in Spain

Africa’s longest serving leader -Gabonese President Omar Bongo – has died aged 73.

His death was confirmed by the country’s Prime Minister Jean Eyeghe Ndong in a written statement.

There had been conflicting reports earlier on Monday about whether Mr Bongo, who had led Gabon since 1967, had died in a Spanish clinic. …

The leader of the Senate, Rose Francine Rogombe, an ally of Mr Bongo, is expected to take over as interim leader. Under the constitution, elections must be held within 45 days.

Corruption allegations

But opposition leaders have claimed that Mr Bongo’s son, Ali-Ben Bongo, currently defence minister, has been manoeuvred to take over, and question whether any election would be free and fair. …

Mr Bongo became vice-president, and then president, of Gabon in 1967. He stopped work in May, and entered a clinic in Barcelona. Government officials insisted it was for a check-up, but other reports said he had cancer.

Mr Bongo faced a French inquiry into corruption allegations.

Oil earnings mean that Gabon is officially one of Africa’s richest states but analysts say that the political elite has kept most of the money for themselves. Most of the country’s 1.4 million people live in poverty.

From France 24:

Bongo nurtured close ties with former colonial power France, whose Total SA oil giant is one of the biggest investors in the country.

Gabonese President Omar Bongo (1935-2009). A tool of French imperialism in Africa: here.

Omar Bongo pocketed millions in embezzled funds, claims US cable: here.

Narwhals in Arctic oceanography

This is a National Geographic narwhal video.

From National Wildlife magazine in the USA:

Unlikely Partners in the Sea

By Jessica Snyder Sachs

Narwhals, among the Arctic mammals most threatened by global warming, may help scientists track temperature changes in otherwise inaccessible ocean depths

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• Tenn. man to plead guilty to smuggling narwhal whale tusks in scheme run by ex-Mountie
• Oceanography: A Tradition of Song
• Agent: NJ defendant paid Canadian man more than $85,000 for 33 smuggled narwhal tusks
• Arctic Wildlife and Landscapes are at Risk Due to Global Warming
• Battle of the living instrument platforms: Elephant Seals vs Narwhals

Great tits and woodpeckers

This video is called Great Tit (Parus major) singing.

Today, to the cemetery. A small tree in the street, with great tits and house sparrows in it.

At the cemetery, the sounds of many birds, including young birds begging for food.

Species included: great spotted woodpecker, wood pigeon, jackdaw, nuthatch, jay, and robin.

Related articles

• Robing singing, butterfly flying at cemetery
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• Garden Wildlife
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• Badby bird notes for May –
• My Garden Birds

First gay pride festival in China

This is a gay pride video from Riga, Latvia.

From the Shanghai Pride site, in Shanghai city, China:

Welcome to ShanghaiPRIDE, Shanghai’s first ever PRIDE festival to celebrate Shanghai’s diverse and quickly growing LGBTQI community. The fabulousness will ensue Sunday June 7 and finish on Sunday June 14, with a culminating all-day-all-night festival on Saturday, June 13. Everyone welcome!

Gay rights demonstration in the USA planned: here.

European election results

Many European election results are now in.

In Britain, Blairism-Brownism has managed to make the Labour party not just smaller then the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, but also smaller than the rightist Euroskeptics of the United Kingdom Independence Party.

From the BBC:

Labour’s share of the vote at the European elections was just 15.3% – worse than party bosses had feared. …

In two English regions, the South-East and South-West, the Green Party beat Labour into fifth place.

The far Right British National Party has two seats, including one for Hitler lover Andrew Brons, and for party leader Nick Griffin.

Fortunately, in Belgium, the extreme Right Vlaams Belang lost many votes.

That disenchantment with social democrat “lefts” who act like Thatcherites does not have to strenghten the (extreme) Right, can be seen from the Scottish European parliament results. There, the Scottish National Party (now clearly to the left of Blairite-Brownite “Labour”) won big. While both Conservatives and “new” Labour lost, and the BNP nazis got few votes.

Britain: Statement on the Euro-election results by Councillor Salma Yaqoob, Respect party Leader: here.

Social democratic parties suffer historic defeat in European Union elections: here. And here.

Euro-election Results : the Right’s Victory Is a Sham: here.

Leftists in Irish local elections: here.

BNP leader Griffin: here.

The election result for the neo-fascist Jobbik organization in Hungary demonstrates how extreme right organizations have been able to exploit the economic and political crisis in Eastern Europe: here.

Economic crisis again

The economic crisis continues.

USA: Bolstered by the policies of the Obama administration, Wall Street is waging a political offensive to shed the minimal limits on executive pay that were tied to government bailout funds and to further weaken regulations on the banks’ speculative practices: here.

The northern Detroit suburbs of Oakland County, Michigan, will be particularly hard hit by the General Motors bankruptcy and restructuring plan. The area will lose 6,600 of the 9,000 jobs being cut in Michigan: here.

Ireland’s proposed National Assets Management Agency (NAMA) will channel state spending into the hands of the very banks and property developers whose reckless and criminal speculation has brought the Irish economy to the brink of ruin: here.

From Business Week:

Anxious Japanese Are Working Themselves to Death

As the recession bites, cases of job-related mental illness and karoshi, or death through overwork, are rising