The Andes
Colombia: gains seen as peasants end strike
Colombian campesinos ended their national strike and lifted road blockades after the government agreed to suspend a law barring seed-saving to protect corporate GMOs.
Tag: land
Europe
Sweden: Sámi protest British mining company
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.
The Andes
Colombia: students, workers join peasant strike
Tens of thousands have taken to the streets across Colombia, as workers and students joined the strike launched by campesinos in the north of the country.
Southern Cone
Paraguay: military unleashed to fight guerillas
Paraguay’s Congress voted up broad powers allowing the new right-wing president to use the armed forces for domestic policing, following a wave of guerilla attacks on estates.
The Andes
Venezuela: Yukpa killed in land confrontation
Venezuelan army troops intervened in a confrontation between indigenous Yukpa residents and local ranchers over disputed lands, leaving one community member dead.
Africa
Darfur: ethnic war exploding again
Efforts by pastoralist militias to bar refugees from returning to their lands in Darfur have sparked yet a new wave of fighting and displacement—with 250,000 uprooted this year.
Southern Cone
Chile: Mapuche step up struggle for land and water
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.
Palestine
Israeli forces evict ‘protest village’ near Bethlehem
Israeli forces evicted a protest village near the Kfar Etzion settlement compound south of Bethlehem, organized by the Popular Struggle Committee Against Settlements and the Wall.
Mexico
Mexico: municipal uprising against road project
Comuneros in the Mexican village of Tepoztlán seized the town hall and took the mayor captive to demand cancellation of a highway expansion they say violates their land rights.
The Andes
Colombian ambassador to US resigns over land-theft scandal
Colombia's ambassador in Washington, Carlos Urrutia, resigned after being implicated in the illegal transfer of lands from campesino communities to ag-biz companies, including Cargill.
Mexico
Anti-mining protests in Mexico, Canada
The July 22 Global Day of Action Against Open-Pit Mining, most widely observed in the Andean nations, also saw coordinated protests in NAFTA partners Mexico and Canada.
East Asia
China: authorities detain activist Xu Zhiyong
Anti-corruption activist and lawyer Xu Zhiyong was arrested by Chinese authorities on suspicion of having "gathered crowds to disrupt public order."