[38] in peace2
Re: Columbia (news)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (The Macomber Family)
Sat Jan 22 09:41:09 2000
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Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2000 07:40:16 -0700
From: The Macomber Family <artmacom@micron.net>
Reply-To: artmacom@micron.net
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To: "F. AuYeung" <auyeung@MIT.EDU>
Cc: peace2@MIT.EDU, jbarrera@MIT.EDU, zan@MIT.EDU
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So, Felix, how does one sort out a problem like this? It appears that the U'wa
is making a claim to property "The drill site falls 600m outside the legally
recognized U'wa Unified Reserve but the tribe claims it is within larger,
traditional ancestral territory." It also seems like the property may be owned
by Oxy, or that Oxy has contracted with the owner for drilling rights. Reading
the article below, it also seems like property rights and a rule of law generally
are not something that are very stable in the region, and thus it will be
difficult to solve the problem without a clear demarcation of who owns what and a
legal structure to enforce the rights of people, including and perhaps especially
the U'wa, to use their property as they choose. It does not sound like they are
interested in buying the property which is outside the Reserve but self-defined
as ancestral territory so they could control it directly, but that they simply
want to intercede with the neighboring owner's plans for their property.
As a peace-loving person, I am not comfortable with the idea of making a claim to
property by the use of such constructions as "ancestral territory," because this
would appear to make individual security in the exercise of rights to use
property subject to the whims of the current political regime - a "rule of men,"
if the women will excuse me for using a common term, instead of a rule of law.
Traditionally, this does not seem to increase peace, but to diminish it and lead
to bloodshed.
How can common citizens of the Earth, such as I suppose are on this list, affect
the property rights of others when the U'wa and Oxy are clearly not either
willing or able to figure it out on a local level? Quite frankly, if folks from
South America came to Massachusetts to judge behaviors of local property owners,
they would get stonewalled pretty fast. I do think the idea of divesting stock in
companies you can't abide is a good idea. This appears to have worked with South
Africa, although I know there are studies that showed that the political process
to dismantle apartheid was well underway before my friends up at Berkeley got
involved. However, that effort was directed at the power of a state, those folks
with a monopoly on the use of force, instead of a corporation, which is not
legally empowered to use force to accomplish its ends. Moreover, I also agree
that Al Gore is an inherent danger on many levels to the safe and secure exercise
of individual rights - on a global basis - so to keep him out of the Presidency
is a good thing all around. Keep up the good work.
What are your thoughts?
-Art
--------
"F. AuYeung" wrote:
> *sigh* looks like another one is breaking out...
>
> ------- Forwarded Message
>
> Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 15:30:06 -0500
> From: Kim Foster <fosterk@gis.net>
> Subject: [Fwd: URGENT COMMUNIQUE! Colombian Military Invades U'wa Land!]
>
> The fax number is 603-668-7358 for Gores headquarters
> email: newhampshire@gore2000.org
> boston contact: Kim Foster 781-321-8674
> cell: 781-308-4530
>
> From: "Patrick Reinsborough" <rags@ran.org>
> To: <rags@ran.org>
> Subject: URGENT COMMUNIQUE! Colombian Military Invades U'wa Land!
> Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 12:07:13 -0800
>
> CALL AL GORE'S CAMPAIGNS HQ IN NEW HAMPSHIRE! 603-622-8303
>
> AL GORE HAS HALF A MILLION DOLLARS WORTH OF OCCIDENTAL STOCK. DEMAND THAT
> HE USE BOTH HIS PERSONAL AND POLITICAL INFLUENCE TO DEMAND THAT THE
> COLOMBIAN MILITARY AND OCCIDENTAL PULL OUT OF U'WA LAND!
> (see article below)
>
> FEB 3! ORGANIZE AGAINST FIDELITY INVESTMENTS! FIND THE NEAREST ONE TO YOU :
> http://personal400.fidelity.com/gen/centers/invstctr.html.tvsr
>
> CALL YOUR LOCAL REPRESENTATIVES AND TELL THEM TO VOTE AGAINST CLINTON'S
> $1.3 BILLION MILITARY AID PACKAGE TO COLOMBIA
>
> FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK 1-800-989-RAIN
> IF YOU ARE IN LOS ANGELES CALL ACTION RESOURCE CENTER - 310-392-7656
>
> Communique from the U'wa People
> January 20, 2000
>
> URGENT URGENT URGENT
> COMMUNICATION TO THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC
> OXY INVADES U'WA TERRITORY
> THE COLOMBIAN ARMY HAS 5000 AGENTS IN THE SERVICE OF OCCCIDENTAL
>
> On January 19, 2000, more than 5,000 agents of the Colombian Military,
> heavily armed, invaded our traditional territory, exactly at Cedeno, where
> Oxy's oil drilling site Gibraltar 1 is situated. Faced with opposition
> presented by the U'wa people, headed by our representative and indigenous
> leader Roberto Cobaria, military forces declared that "the oil will be
> extracted even over and above the U'wa people." Also police forces were
> dispatched to the zone for the security of Occidental's engineers.
>
> Since the 15th of November 1999, more than 250 U'wa people have occupied
> Cedeno, part of our ancestral territory, resisting the exploitation brought
> on by Oxy. Now we are being surrounded by the 5000 military agents and
> Colombian police who have put at risk our physical integrity.
>
> With this deed, Occidental and the Colombian government are insisting on
> ignoring our territorial rights over land we have occupied for thousands of
> years. We are the owners of the territory on which they aim to exploit
> petroleum, without recognizing the constitutional rights of community lands
> for our ethnic group which are inalienable, non-negotiable, and irremovable,
> protected by public laws over collective property.
>
> In this way, the Colombian government headed by the Minister of Mining and
> Energy with the compliance of INCORA, in a shadowy process is seeking to
> declare U'wa territory a special petroleum reserve zone with the false
> argument that the national petroleum industry is covered by the law as a
> public utility or social interest, with the sole purpose of permitting and
> facilitating petroleum exploitation by the multinational corporation
> Occidental. We are making an urgent call to the national and international
> community, and to all groups who have supported us, to mobilize against this
> last attempt to trample upon the U'wa nation, which threatens our existence
> and culture. WE U'WA WILL NOT CEDE OUR CULTURAL, HISTORIC AND ANCIENT
> RIGHTS. WE PREFER GENOCIDE SPONSORED BY THE COLOMBIAN GOVERNMENT RATHER
> THAN HANDING OVER OUR MOTHER EARTH TO OIL COMPANIES.
>
> _____________
>
> Financial Times, 1/19/00
> World News / Americas
>
> Gore attacked over Colombia oil project
> By Matthew Jones
>
> Environmentalists and human
> rights activists are accusing Al
> Gore, the US vice-president and
> candidate for the Democratic
> party presidential nomination, of
> hypocrisy over his shareholding
> in an oil company prospecting in
> Colombian rainforests.
>
> Mr. Gore has targeted the environmental and human
> rights vote as part of his election campaign and was last
> week rated "the most knowledgeable" presidential
> candidate on green issues by the influential League of
> Conservation Voters.
>
> But the U'wa Defense Working Group, which represents
> the U'wa indigenous tribe from the north east of
> Colombia, says Mr. Gore is inextricably linked with
> Occidental Petroleum, the US oil group which plans to
> start drilling on its ancestral lands in the next few
> months in search of an estimated 1.5bn barrels of oil.
>
> According to Mr. Gore's official Public Financial
> Disclosure Report for 1998, the latest information
> available, the vice-president owned between $250,000
> and $500,000 in Occidental stock inherited from his
> father, Albert Gore Sr., who died in 1998. Mr. Gore Sr.
> became a board member of Occidental Petroleum after
> losing his Senate seat in 1970.
>
> According to the Center for Public Integrity, a non-profit
> organization that analyses ethics in politics, Ray Irani,
> the Occidental chief executive, made a donation of
> $100,000 to the Democratic National Committee in the
> early 90s following a stay in the Lincoln Room of the
> White House.
>
> The campaign group is urging environmentalists not to
> vote for Mr Gore and to protest about his links to
> Occidental on the campaign trail.
>
> Neither the White House nor Mr. Gore's campaign team
> has responded to requests for comment.
>
> Stephen Kretzmann, U'wa campaign co-ordinator for
> Amazon Watch, a California-based environmental group,
> said: "This will not look good for Al Gore in the midst of
> an election campaign. It is clear that he could stop the
> drilling with a phone call and if he doesn't do something
> about this he will lose the environmental and human
> rights vote."
>
> The U'wa, who number 5,000, first hit the headlines in
> 1996 when they threatened to commit collective suicide
> if Occidental's drilling plans were not halted.
>
> The drill site falls 600m outside the legally recognized
> U'wa Unified Reserve but the tribe claims it is within
> larger, traditional ancestral territory.
>
> The UDWG claims development of the site would be
> damaging to the tribe and the environment because of
> the likely increase in oil-related violence between
> different armed factions in the politically unstable
> region.
>
> It says Occidental's existing pipeline has been attacked
> more than 600 times in the last 12 years leading to 2.1m
> barrels of crude oil spilling into the soil and rivers,
> and that U'wa members and humanitarian workers have been
> killed or injured in the cross-fire.
>
> Occidental said earlier this month that it planned to
> start building roads to the test site at the end of January
> and would sink the first test well at the site in May.
>
> Ken Hufmann, Occidental's vice-president of investor
> relations, refused to comment on Mr. Gore's stock
> holding in the company or any political donations that it
> had made.
>
> He would say only: "We're moving ahead with plans to
> drill the well but I have no specific dates."
>
> ------- End of Forwarded Message
