Peasants Fight to Death to Save Wild Forests & Herds
The whole planet continues to witness peasants fighting to the death against brutal interlopers who destroy their environment: poachers, mining & logging operations, land grabs, toxic dumping.
To see this tragic drama on film, get a copy of the Keke xili (subtitle: "Mountain Patrol"). It has won several awards at film festivals. This movie is based on actual events, told from the perspective of an investigative news reporter sent from Beijing to this remote and wild mountain area, surrounded by vast high plateaus and harsh weather. Peasants in Tibet finally decided that only by organizing their own forces could they prevent the vast slaughter of antelopes by Chinese poachers with machine guns throughout their region. Their struggle was often fatal, but for now, they've been recognized, publicized, and given government assistance. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Pacific, Mexican peasants in the Sierra Madre forests continue to struggle against violent attacks from logging companies -- including the Boise Cascade corporation. Some 40% of this old forest along the coast has already been destroyed. The local peasants held off most of the logging for the past few years, but also with fatal sacrifices. Some have been jailed, tortured, and shot to death. But the group is still organized as "Peasant Ecologists of the Petatlan Sierra" and as of this month, the struggle continues to be fatal for them. They could use more international assistance, since the government of Mexico tends to side with the corporate loggers. For the dramatic details see:
Peasants Pay with Blood to Save Mexico Forest.
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See also:
For what everyone can do to help conserve old growth rainforests:
http://www.rainforestweb.org/What_You_Can_Do/
http://zt.tibet.cn/tibetzt-en/antelope/protection/pr_01.htm
http://info.tibet.cn/en/news/phn/ptn/t20050606_34884.htm
Photo of the KeKe Xili area of Tibet:
posted by E. Heroux @ 1:29 PM
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