(no subject)

[la_vie_noire]

Multinational Banana Corporation Displaces Afro-Colombian Peace Communities.

According to documents released by the Colombian human rights organization, Intereclesial Comisión de Justicia y Paz (Justicia y Paz) , Banacol workers are displacing vulnerable Afro-Colombian peace communities, thus enabling the corporation to occupy sections of communal, resource rich land. This violates the sovereignty of the long-standing communities, and puts them at risk for complete displacement from their collective territory in a country with almost 5 million internally displaced people. They are also bulldozing the subsistence farmers’ crops, destroying natural habitats and contaminating waterways.

Flyers posted in poor neighborhoods and communities across the northwestern part of the country lured the squatters into Curvaradó in the Urabá region of Chocó, Colombia. The flyers assured three months of paid living expenses, titles to 2.5-hectare plots, materials and pay to build settlements, and a contract with Banacol Inc. to grow bananas.

What the flyers didn’t include is that the Curvaradó territory is already inhabited by Afro-descendent communities, committed to maintain their collective territories, granted to them under law 70 of Colombia (1993), which recognizes and protects Afro-Colombians’ right to collectively own and occupy their ancestral territory.

Impact of Tunisia and Egypt: Protests all over, crackdowns and concessions by gov'ts

[the_future_modernes]

Revolt and Revolution seem to be in the air. Newly precarious autocratic gov'ts are watching in some fear. Some of them are already dealing with protests in their own countries. Some of them are making concessions to stave off or calm down cries of democracy now!!! Here's a roundup partly based off a Firedoglake post and off a Wikipedia article



THE UNREST



OMAN

In January after the Tunisian revolt there were protests in Oman Oman protestors call for fight against corruption The headline leaves out the fact that they are also fighting against high food prices

MUSCAT - Some 200 Omanis protested on Monday against high prices and corruption, a rare phenomenon in the Arab Gulf monarchy that seems to have been touched off by the revolt in Tunisia.

"Rising prices have destroyed the dreams of ordinary citizens," read one banner carried by the crowd gathered outside the housing ministry, where police manned a security cordon but did not intervene.

The protesters, who appeared after they received emails and messages on their mobile telephones calling for the demonstration, chanted slogans against corruption and the high cost of living.

"No to corruption. No to corruption," shouted the protesters who called for "higher wages" and "fixed prices" for basic food items, the cost of which have swelled since the global financial downturn. MORE

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