In Episode 73 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg interviews Thomas Moore, anthropologist, advocate for indigenous cultural survival, and author of the newly released book, Madre de Dios: Refugio de Pueblos Originarios. The remote rainforest region of Madre de Dios in Peru’s southern… Read morePodcast: indigenous survival and the crisis in Peru
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation that places limits on where and how Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents can enforce immigration law in the state. The new legislation also prohibits state and local police from cooperating with ICE to enforce civil laws. Under the new law, local governments, police forces and corrections agencies are no longer allowed to enter 287(g) agreements, under which ICE delegates immigration enforcement to state or local officers. (Photo of ICE agents in Minnesota: Chad Davis)
Provincial electoral authorities in Alberta have received a petition for independence from Canada. Elections Alberta affirmed that it received the petition, "A Referendum Relating to Alberta Independence," and signature sheets from "pro-sovereignty" group Stay Free Alberta. The group told the CBC news that it has collected over 301,000 signatures, significantly more than the 178,000 threshold. The proposed referendum will ask voters: "Do you agree that the Province of Alberta should cease to be a part of Canada to become an independent state?" However, the verification process for the signatures is currently on hold, pending a decision from the provincial courts on the compatibility of the petition with First Nations treaty rights. (Photo: Magalie L'Abbe via Alberta Politics)
A UN report finds that armed groups operating in the Haut Oubangui region of the Central African Republic (CAR) have been carrying out attacks against Muslim communities and Sudanese refugees, resulting in grave human rights violations. The report, prepared jointly by the UN Human Rights Office and the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), mainly attributes these attacks to Wagner Ti Azande (WTA), a militia affiliated with the national army. The WTA received training last year from the Russian private military company Wagner Group, from whom it takes its name. (Photo of CAR troops wearing the Wagner Group insignia via Corbeau News Centrafrique)
With absurd hubris, Biden in his speech as the last US troops left Kabul declared that "the United States ended 20 years of war in Afghanistan." It's perverse enough that he called the US evacuation of some 120,000 Afghans and Americans an "extraordinary success"—despite the fact that more than 100 US nationals and many thousands of desperate Afghans were left behind. But this reality-denying "ended the war" rhetoric is being uncritically echoed by media accounts. The war in Afghanistan began in 1979, with the massive Soviet military intervention to put down Mujahedeen, and the country hasn't seen a moment of peace since then. Nor is there much prospect for peace any time in foreseeabe future. This is the same imperial narcissism we heard with the much-hyped US "withdrawal" from Afghanistan in 2014, and the "withdrawal" from Iraq in 2011. But this time, Afghanistan is essentially being turned over to the Taliban as a US-collaborationist or even near-proxy force to fight ISIS. The Taliban remain a brutal, intolerant and ultra-reactionary Islamist entity, but are now baited as co-opted moderates by the even more extremist ISIS. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library)
At least 12 US service members were killed in a combined bomb attack and armed assault at a gate to the Kabul airport, where throngs fleeing the Taliban were desperately crowding. Up to 60 Afghan civilians were also killed, including children. US Central Command chief Gen. Frank McKenzie told a press briefing at the Pentagon that the US is coordinating with the Taliban in the effort to maintain "security" in Kabul, saying: "They've been useful to work with." It was also revealed that days earlier CIA director William J. Burns met face-to-face in Kabul with the top Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar. The "secret" meeting was reported in the Washington Post. (Photo via Future Center)
The Supreior Court of Justice for Peru's rainforest region of Madre de Dios upheld a lower court ruling that nullified mining concessions as well as the titling of agricultural properties and granting of water rights to third parties on the territory of the indigenous community of Tres Islas, without prior consultation with that community. The regional government of Madre de Dios is ordered to comply with the ruling, as is the National Water Authority and the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation. The National Police are called upon to enforce the ruling if necessary. Peru's International Institute of Law and Society, which represented Tres Islas in the case, hailed the ruling as "historic." (Photo: La Mula)
Peru's government made much of its rainforest protection efforts at the Lima climate summit—but a new report names it as the fourth most dangerous country for ecology activists.
Swedish police have repeatedly broken up a protest occupation by Sámi indigenous people against iron mining in a crucial reindeer herding area above the Arctic Circle.
Peru’s Supreme Court ruled that decrees on application of the Prior Consultation Law issued by the Energy and Mines Ministry fail to meet standards for indigenous rights.
Mapuche activists are occupying land, planning a march to protest the usurpation of their territory—and questioning the safety of Chile’s growing salmon farming industry.
Argentina’s Mapuche say they will challenge a hydrofracking deal with Chevron, the multinational scofflaw that refuses to pay $19 billion it owes indigenous Ecuadorans.
