Indigenous Anti-Infastructure Protesters Murdered

URGENT CALL TO ACTION:



THE BACKGROUND

Early this morning (June 5th), Peruvian police launched a violent attack on
a nonviolent road blockade held by Amazonian indigenous protesters opposing
10 laws that would open up their territory to increased mineral, oil, gas
and timber exploitation. Police opened fire with live ammunition, killing
at least 28 people.

FMI:
http://www.rootforce.org/2009/06/05/peruvian-police-murder-indigenous-prote
sters-take-action/

WHY TAKE ACTION

The first reason to take action, of course, is simply out of solidarity
with our fellow warriors in the struggle for a just and sustainable world.
But why are we sending out this action alert as Root Force?

For nearly two months, thousands indigenous protesters have nearly
paralyzed Peru's Amazon region with blockades of critical transportation
and mining infrastructure. They have sparked a national discourse over the
limits to development and who owns nature, and have made it clear that they
will not surrender any of their ancestral homelands.

At the heart of the issue are 10 laws passed by presidential decree that
would greatly facilitate industrial exploitation of the Amazon. THIS IS
CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE, intended to supply new raw materials for the
global market. THIS IS ONE OF THOSE WEAK POINTS OF THE SYSTEM that we are
always talking about.

The indigenous warriors fighting for their lives have pushed this issue
into the global eye, and the Peruvian government has placed itself in a
position of weakness by murdering unarmed protesters. Even before the
recent killings, a congressional panel had already declared 2 of the laws
unconstitutional, and only through procedural tricks has the president's
party been able to stall debate on repealing one of those laws.

This is one of those rare cases where SUSTAINED INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE
COULD TIP THE SCALES. If these laws are repealed, it will be a major
setback for infrastructure expansion plans in a truly critical region of
the hemisphere.

HOW TO TAKE ACTION

You can email critical people in the Peruvian government through this link,
provided by Amazon Watch:

http://amazonwatch.org/peru-action-alert.php

You can also organize protests at Peruvian embassies or consulates, or take
other actions that you think stand a good chance of making it back to the
decision makers in Lima.

Make sure to express your outrage at the government's strong arm tactics --
even before the murders, the government had suspended civil liberties in 5
provinces and was calling indigenous people "terrorists" -- and demand the
repeal of the Free Trade laws and any law further opening the Amazon to
mineral, oil, gas, timber, hydroelectric or agricultural exploitation.

In Solidarity,
Root Force