H06130
Headlines : EnvironmentAmazon dam designed to service Chinese mines
This is a perfect example of why I hate governments. Even progressives, for whatever reason, when in office, will do horrible things to people who do not deserves such treatment. Yes, they may also do great things that make life better for some, but I think that is the exception.
This quote from Arundhati Roy is very insightful on this point:
“Time and again we have seen that when it comes to the neoliberal project, the heroes of our times are suddenly diminished. ... President Lula of Brazil. Lula was the hero of the World Social Forum last year. This year he’s busy implementing IMF guidelines, reducing pension benefits and purging radicals from the Workers’ Party. ... Former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela — within two years of taking office in 1994, his government genuflected with hardly a caveat to the Market God. It instituted a massive program of privatization and structural adjustment that has left millions of people homeless, jobless and without water and electricity. ...
There’s little point in beating our breasts and feeling betrayed. Lula and Mandela are, by any reckoning, magnificent men. But the moment they cross the floor from the opposition into government they become hostage to a spectrum of threats. ... To imagine that a leader’s personal charisma and a c.v. of struggle will dent the corporate cartel is to have no understanding of how capitalism works or, for that matter, how power works. Radical change cannot be negotiated by governments; it can only be enforced by people.”
[Posted By troy]Republished from New York Times
PAQUIÇAMBA, Brazil – Here at the great bend of the mighty Xingu River, the Brazilian government is pushing to construct a dam that could end up being the world’s second-largest, generating huge amounts of hydroelectric power. But the main beneficiaries of the project are not likely to be the Indian tribes or other local residents, but instead a government halfway across the world, in China.
To satisfy the appetite of a rapidly growing industrial base, state-owned Chinese companies have begun involving themselves in mining projects in the eastern Amazon, ranging from aluminum and steel to nickel and copper. Processing each of those materials requires large amounts of electricity, and the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, intent on forming what he calls “a strategic alliance” with China, is eager to perform that task.
Meanwhile, the river dwellers whose lives will be disrupted by the dam predict it will cause extensive environmental damage and encourage an influx of poor settlers seeking jobs that will not exist. They also complain that they will not receive the power they have long been demanding of the government and will be forced to move.
“If this thing is built, then Lord help us,” said José Carlos Arara…
Posted by troy
I'm a PhD student at York University in the Social and Political Thought program. After two degrees in Economics that failed to convince me that capitalism is a system that truly works for the benefit of all, I am trying to expand my knowledge. I hope to...
the Kayapo are some of the most politically saavy indios in all of Brasil. it should be an interesting battle. theyve learned to access the world through mass media and change the way native people resist big business/government.
But didn’t the Kayapo get the IMF to pull funding on the project? someone else paying for it?
.....dams hurt