insurrección

The European Union priorities with Czech Republic as President Since January 1st, 2009, Czech Republic holds the presidency of the European Union (EU). This country joined the bloc almost five years ago, and it is generally considered as "Eurosceptic". The main lines of action of the EU point out a strong bet on economic liberalism and agressive energy and labour policies, to the detriment of the global south.

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The "National Movement in Defense of Land" from Uruguay is aiming at modifying the National Constitution in order to avoid land foreignization. The soy boom, which reached 650 thousand hectares this season -exceeding last year´s area planted with soy of 150 thousand hectares and the forested area for the cellulose industry, has encouraged the buying of lands in Uruguay by agribusiness companies.

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Brazil: Genocide of Kaiowa Guarani people Approximately a hundred indigenous Kaiowa Guarani people die every year in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul in Brazil, as a consequence of the “hunger” of agribusiness and monoculture plantations. This would have to be added to the lack of efficiency of the federal government when it comes to delimiting indigenous lands and the criminalization of their protests, stated Via Campesina in a recent communique. The impunity of the assasins hired by big landowners, the imprisonment of main leaders and the militarization of indigenous populations make this a picture of “violence and killing, comparable only with a genocide”.

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Brussels keeps trying to set up a free trade agreement and ends a year of strong pressures. The EU insists on setting up an FTA with Peru and Colombia in the framework of the Andean Community of Nations, in spite of Bolivia and Ecuador´s opposition. Brussels doesn´t rest... or as a saying from the Soviet era goes “Brussels doesn´t believe in tears”. The European bloc has restarted its campaign to sign a Global Agreement of Free Trade Agreement with Peru and Colombia, despite the fact that these negotiations have resulted in a division in the Andean Community of Nations (CAN).

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A glimpse of the Argentinian Federation of Agronomy Students´ work From Cordoba, the Argentinian Federation of Agronomy Students (FAEA) is working with a wide range of social and political organizations, with the aim of changing the agribusiness paradigm in the framework of scientific knowledge related to agronomy. In an emblematic country with reference to agribusiness, where soy and forestry expansion has reached maximum levels with the subsequent result of people displaced from the country, soil impoverishment, and pollution of natural resources, the work of these agronomy students becomes crucial.

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Uruguay: Workers of GreenFrozen Evicted After twenty days of occupation, a legal ruling forced the workers of the frozen food company Greenfrozen (formerly Calagua) to lift their protest measure. The company is based in Bella Union, Uruguay. Greenfrozen Workers’ Union (SOG) legal advisors will appeal the ruling today. Bella Union’s judge, Luis Sobot, ordered the eviction of the factory in the next 48 hours in response to three amparo appeals filed before his court. One of the appeals was filed by businessman Jorge Rottemberg – owner of Greenfrozen and former advisor of Argentinean ex President Carlos Saul Menem- another one was filed by agriculture and cattle farmers who sell vegetables to the company; and the third one was filed by the employees – mostly managers – who oppose the trade union’s measure.

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Times of crisis and possibility Real World Radio spoke with Guillermo, a member of the Federation of Base Organizations in Argentina, who discussed the coalition's current end-of-the-year mobilizing, and reflected on the effects of the national and international economic crises low and no-income communities. Guillermo also stressed the importance of coordination and unity among autonomous social movements within and outside of Argentina, as well as the need to look beyond the "traditional left" for new models and ideas.

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Evaluation and Pespectives from Argentina's campesinos As the year draws to a close, Real World Radio had a chance to speak with Diego, member of the Union of Landless Rural Workers in the western province of Mendoza, who reflected on the victories and challenges of 2008 and those that await the movement in the new year.

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The struggle against mining On December 19 in the Argentinean province of La Rioja, members of the Assembly of Self-Organized Neighbors were brutally removed from a public ceremony held by president Cristina Kirchner, after unfurling a banner and passing out fliers against the effects of mega mining on the region.

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Uruguay: Representatives Vote Eight Hour Bill for Rural Workers There is reason to celebrate. The National Rural Workers’ Union (Unatra) will mobilize today to celebrate their greatest victory, after the House of Representatives changed its mind and will pass the 8-hour bill for rural workers today. The Senate agreed with the criticism made by different social actors to the bill written by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, and included the requested amendments. The senators amended the most controversial article questioned by the unions: the exceptions to the 8-hour work day. The senators of the ruling party, Frente Amplio, proposed to remove an article providing that the rural workers – nearly 60,000 around the country- should charge extra hours after the ninth work hour.

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Peasant Family Resist Eviction in Patagonia Social, trade union, indigenous and neighbor organizations linked with the Argentinean provinces of Chubut and Rio Negro, prevented a peasant family from being evicted from their lands. A judge accused the family, who has lived there for the past sixty years, of usurping the land where they live, and of which they could be evicted. The family lives in El Pedregoso – in El Hoyo town, Chubut province – a place rich in forestry and mining resources. It is located in a privileged area in terms of tourism. Attorney Enrique Korn claims to have the property title of the lands. He has had a legal dispute with the peasant family, the Larenas, which finally ended with an eviction warrant issued by judge Katrina Estefania.

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Learning to take the fight to the streets In the past few weeks, the Movement of Teresa Rodriguez (MTR) in the Argentinian province of Cordoba, have staged actions outside of local supermarkets in protest of hunger, unemployment, inflation, and the inadequate response of local government.

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Colombian Army Killed Husband of Top Leader of Cauca Regional Indigenous Council The car of the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC) was shot 17 times in Tororo rural area. Fortunately at the time the native leader Aida Quilcue was not inside the vehicle. She would always travel in that van. But her husband, Edwin Legarda, who was in the vehicle, was shot three times to death. For the indigenous community, this was clearly a threat to Quilcue, since the unidentified military person fired at the van where the leader used to travel, and since the vehicle has polarized windshields, there was no way of knowing who was in it.

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Cargill Port in Asuncion Poses Real Threat, environmentalists say The health of 1.2 million residents of Asuncion is in serious risk as a result of the operations of transnational corporation Cargill, on the Paraguay river, nearly 500 meters from the main water source of Empresa de Servicios Sanitarios del Paraguay (ESSAP). Eliaz Diaz Peña, from Sobrevivencia, Friends of the Earth Paraguay told Real World Radio. The civil society’s warnings were not taken into account by the municipal authorities, who approved the permission to Port Fenix, where Cargill installed a logistics and a soy processing center.

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Land reclamation in northern Argentina Alongside the national route 34, towards the north of the city of San Pedro in the province of Jujuy, a Guarani community took back land lost 150 years ago to the hands of the sugar estates of the region; land which they are now looking to cultivate.

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The Canadian transnational mining corporation Barrick Gold suspended its operations in North Mara gold mine, in Tanzania, after 400 people confronted the security staff and assaulted the place, causing damages worth 15 million dollars. According to the mining corporation’s spokesperson in Tanzania, the incidents took place on Thursday, when the crowd entered in the open pit gold deposit Nyabirama. According to the Tanzanian Daily News, there were shootings of civilians in response. Democracy Now reported one person was killed by a bullet. North Mara mine is 100 kilometers from Lake Victoria and twenty kilometers from the border with Kenya. Between 2005 and 2006 alone, Barrick’s security operations killed six civilians from communities close to the mine, claiming they had trespassed the mining area.

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Paraguayan Peasants Mobilize Against Landowners’ Strike The demonstrations of the rural landowners, which are quite frequent in South America, do not reflect the interests of the “rural sector”. This is the general term used by the business people of the sector, who are oblivious of the most urgent needs and the negative impacts of the rural area. In Paraguay, for example, the peasant organizations are criticizing the “tracotrazo” (strike) called by the agriculture and livestock producers, which ends tonight in the country’s capital, Asuncion. The landowners, most of them soy producers, are calling for more security and the intervention of the Interior Ministry in the so called threats to private property.

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Paraguay: Soy producers protest while indigenous died poisoned
Paradox has become a symbol of our time. There are plenty of examples in Latin America. In Paraguay, for instance, while the rural landowners start a day of protests to ask the government for “security and work”, it became public that four indigenous children were poisoned with agrotoxics, and that the youngest died due to lack of health care.
Lack of resources. That was the answer given by the health authorities involved to the Paraguayan health attorney who is investigating the case. The local papers report that the indigenous affected live in Canindeyu department. They were poisoned with agrotoxics used by the Brazilian soy producers and their long tour around the different health care centers began last Wednesday.

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Massive mobilization against hunger in Argentina

In one of the biggest expressions of popular unity in recent years, numerous social organizations in Argentina converged this Friday in the historic Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires to denounce the effects ofthe economic crisis on the most vulnerable sectors of society, such as children and workers, and to appeal to the government to take urgent measures.

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Interview with Stephanie Long, coordinator of the Climate Justice and Energy Program at Friends of the Earth International Lack of progress and commitment from the European Union in the COP 14 negotiations on Climate Change and the lack of action on the dangerous positions taken by other Annex I countries of the Kyoto Protocol - such as Japan, Canada, Australia and the US - is one of the most striking aspects of these negotiations, said Stephanie Long, Friends of the Earth International Climate Justice and Energy co-coordinator. However, the activist believes that the organization and coordination of the G77 (bloc which gathers over 130 developing countries) plus China at the COP in Poznan have been very positive. This bloc is demanding the countries of the North to take strong measures to fight climate change.

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