Communities have a long history of confronting the disasters imposed by corporations and elites. For them, the “emergency” was a reality well before the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet, profit-seekers are abusing the situation to advance land grabs and roll back legislation.
Bulletin 250
COVID-19: An Alibi for more Oppression, Corporate Control and Destruction of Forests
Solidarity in Action
This special bulletin wants to pay tribute to the forest communities and peasant families around the world who despite all odds and difficulties due to the Covid-19 pandemic - including the movement restrictions imposed by governments and the corporate and elite profit-seeking abuses -, have still managed to practice solidarity: From organizing alternative protection systems against the spread of the virus, collective kitchens, food crops distribution for those in need, and markets that while respecting social distancing provide healthy food for a fair price; to welcoming those affected by dispossession and displacement; to supporting women and girls facing violence; to continuing the resistance against destruction of their territories... And there are countless other examples.
We stand in solidarity with you.
This Bulletin articles are written by the following organizations and individuals: CIMI - Western Amazon, Brazil; activists of the Informal Alliance Against the Expansion of Industrial Oil Palm Plantations in West and Central Africa; the Indonesia Mining Advocacy Network (Jaringan Advokasi Tambang - JATAM); GRAIN; Siempreviva Feminist Organization (SOF), Brazil; All India Forum of Forest Movements (AIFFM); members of WRM’s Advisory Committee; and members of the WRM international secretariat.
WRM Bulletin
250
May/June 2020
OUR VIEWPOINT
COVID-19: AN ALIBI FOR MORE OPPRESSION, CORPORATE CONTROLAND DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS
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15 July 2020From its first day in office, the government led by Jair Bolsonaro has been trying to undermine the constitutional rights of Indigenous Peoples and quilombola communities in Brazil. WRM spoke with the organization CIMI in the Western Amazon.
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15 July 2020While palm oil companies present themselves as benevolent donors during the pandemic, communities living in and around these plantations tell another story. Activists against industrial oil palm plantations talk about communities’ situation since the Covid-19 outbreak.
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15 July 2020This article highlights four trends that evidence how the mining industry continues to benefit from the Covid-19 pandemic while continuing its destruction throughout the archipelago. While corporate-oligarchs are hijacking democracy by perpetuating emergencies, a new dictatorship is being installed under the flag of mining capitalism. (Available in Indonesian).
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15 July 2020Agro- and meat industries are winning the jackpot with the Covid-19 pandemic. While the pandemic profits stay at the top, devastation is what trickles down to the bottom. The consequences are deadly. A new wave of structural adjustment is on the way that will focus on increasing foreign agribusiness investment and exports of agricultural commodities.
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15 July 2020With the Covid-19 crisis, the initiatives of movements and collectives based on feminist economics have gained strength. Feminist economics leads us to reflect on the updated mechanisms of control, while continuing to affirm the capacity for resistance and reconstruction of bodies in movement.
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15 July 2020Funds from the Compensatory Afforestation scheme have been allocated for Covid-19 relief measures. The scheme has funded plantations that invade community land and has led to illegal evictions where “Protected Areas” have been declared. This has not stopped during the lockdown.
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15 July 2020Members of the WRM’s Advisory Committee were invited to contribute to this special Bulletin with reflections on the devastating situation of deepening injustices that forest communities and peasant families around the world are facing due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
RECOMMENDED
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15 July 2020The documentary “Selling out West Papua”, shown on Al Jazeera, with associated reporting by news portals Gecko and Mongabay, reveals how two Korean companies, Posco and Korindo, are engaging in corrupt deals as they buy up forests on a large scale to develop oil palm plantations in West Papua. The impacts for communities are devastating. See the video in English and with Bahasa subtitles here and read further here.
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15 July 2020In a series of articles, forest communities talk about the violation of their forest rights as a result of government approvals for forest destruction in connection with hydropower and coal projects that were passed or accelerated during the pandemic. During the lockdown, the Ministry of Environment and Forests approved large-scale industrial, mining, hydropower, roads and highway construction projects without the required due diligence and in disregard to environmental laws and the Forest Rights Act (FRA).
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15 July 2020“Dulet”: A highly transferable disease brought by the meginalew (good spirit) to discipline the wrongdoings of humanity. Alim “Kim” Bandara, a member of the Indigenous Political Structure of the Teduray and Lambangian Indigenous Peoples in south-central Mindanao, Philippines, explains how Covid-19 and dulet are similar in many aspects. In this article, Bandara explains how the Teduray and Lambangian have confronted similar situations before and what lessons these experiences hold. Read the publication in English here.
