Rights Action SPEAKING TOUR, SPRING 2008

“INVESTING IN CONFLICT”

NORTH AMERICAN MINING COMPANIES, TRICKLE DOWN "DEVELOPMENT," & ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION

WHEN: March, early April 2008

WHERE: Central Canada, Western Canada and Western USA

WHO: Dawn Paley

CONTACT: Grahame Russell, info@rightsaction.org, 1-860-352-2448, to plan and host an event[s].

Conflicts around Canadian-U.S. mining projects in Central America have accelerated since the first recent open pit mines were initiated in Honduras in 2000.  What are the causes of these conflicts?  Who benefits from these mining operations, and who pays? What is the role of North Americans – governments, private sector and citizens - in allowing these conflicts to continue, and how can we help bring them to and end?

Dawn Paley is an independent journalist and organizer from Vancouver, currently based in San Marcos, Guatemala.  She has been researching and writing about the effects of Canadian and U.S. mining projects on the development, enviro- and human rights of people in Southern Mexico, Central and South America for the last five years.  Dawn writes for the Dominion Paper, and recently contributed to "Extraction!"; a graphic novel about Canadian extractive companies around the world.

INTERESTED IN HOSTING AN EVENT?  Is your organization, educational or religious institution, union, etc., interested in hosting education events in your community?  Contact Grahame Russell (Rights Action co-director): info@rightsaction.org, 1-860-352-2448.

Rights Action will ask interested organizations to raise funds and contribute towards the over-all costs of the tour.  All profits from the tour will go to the work of campesino and Indigenous organizations in Guatemala, Honduras and Oaxaca that are resisting the harms of the global mining industry.

*******

GUATEMALA & HONDURAS:

A GLOBAL MINER’S AND INVESTOR’S “OASIS”

Central America is rife with poverty, exploitation and environmental destruction due in part to “development” economic policies imposed by and beneficial to the U.S. and Canada.

On-going militarism in Central America - including the physical presence of American soldiers - facilitates efforts to secure access to resources for North American investor and business interests, in particular minerals, petroleum, land, water, coffee and cheap labour.

“Free” trade agreements -- including DR-CAFTA (Dominican Republic - Central American “Free” Trade Agreement) with the USA, and CA4TA (Central America Four “Free” Trade Agreement) with Canada -- are “liberalizing” Central America the way NAFTA “liberalized” Mexico.

GOLDCORP in CENTRAL AMERICA

Specific examples of harmful and contested mining projects are the “Marlin project” in Guatemala and the “San Martin” mine in Honduras, both owned by the Vancouver based company Goldcorp Inc.

In addition to destroying large tracts of land, major issues have arisen at the “Marlin” and the “San Martin” mines around: the contamination and drying up of rivers and sources of drinking water; illness without compensation among workers; health harms widespread amongst the local populations at large; the displacement of communities and the fracturing of their leadership; threats, violence and even murder of local people who take a stance against the company; undermining of the local economies.

Many of these mining concessions - granted without public disclosure or consultation - fall within indigenous territories, in violation of national laws and ILO Convention 169 that indigenous groups in Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala fought successfully to have ratified.

MINING: “DEVELOPMENT” & INVESTMENTS FOR WHOM?

Mining mega-projects offer clear examples of the top-down, environmentally and socially destructive model of “development” promoted by U.S. and Canadian governments and companies and by International Financial Institutions like the Inter-American Development Bank, World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

The World Bank, which invests in mining, along with G-8 nations (Canada, U.S., Britain, Russia, France, Italy, Germany, Japan), have pressured mineral-rich countries around the world to enact new legislation that creates a ‘suitable’ environment for multinational mining companies, regardless of the development, enviro- and human rights needs of local peoples.

Some of the largest investors in Goldcorp are public pension funds in Canada, including: the Ontario Municipal Employee Retirement Fund ($272,515,185); Canada Pension Plan Investment Board ($249,222,732); British Colombia Investment Management Corporation ($196,342,260); and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board ($188,867,713).  Together, the total amount of public funds invested in Goldcorp is close to a billion dollars. (Investment dollar amounts calculated as of January 2008. Source: Stockwatch.com)

* * * * * * *

COME and hear why gold is not “all that glitters.”  Presentation is adjustable to all age groups, and can include audio/video elements.

INTERESTED IN HOSTING AN EVENT?  Is your organization, educational or religious institution, union, etc., interested in hosting education events in your community?  Contact Grahame Russell (Rights Action co-director): info@rightsaction.org, 1-860-352-2448.

Rights Action will ask interested organizations to raise funds and contribute towards the over-all costs of the tour.  All profits from the tour will go to the work of campesino and Indigenous organizations in Guatemala, Honduras and Oaxaca that are resisting the harms of the global mining industry.

PLEASE POST and RE-DISTRIBUTE THIS INFORMATION

* * * * * * *