We are all the Rio Doce People!
Solidarity with those affected by the Samarco Vale/BHP crime and the March “1 Ano de Lama e Luta” as part of the Continental Journey for democracy and against Neoliberalism
A year after the collapse of the dam Fundão on November 5, 2015, the Global Campaign to Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity expresses its solidarity with people affected by the social, environmental and economic crime perpetrated by the mining company Samarco, owned by Vale and the British BHP Billiton.
We salute the organizations and social movements that have marched together since Oct. 31 from the town of Regency, in Espirito Santo, Brazil, to where where the toxic mud released by the dam burst into the Rio Doce and continued to the Atlantic Ocean. This toxic mud has left behind death and destruction of the environment and of life, and is established as the worst catastrophe of its kind.
Situations like the one experienced by the population living in the river basin of the Rio Doce are graphic examples of what similar devastation we have reported since the beginning of our Global TNC Campaign: the activity of the companies at the expense of the lives and livelihoods of the people and their communities, violating their human rights regardless of the country where they operate. Mariana, together with many other instances of corporate crimes in other global regions, contributes, as well, to unmask “corporate social responsibility” and demonstrate the dishonesty behind the logic of voluntary self-regulation of TNCs.
We fight together for justice and compensation to those affected, case by case. But we also seek to put an end to the systemic economic and political power of TNCs that hijack our democracies as well as our Justice system for their own benefit.
The global mobilization for an international treaty on human rights and TNCs is part of this process. This is how the struggle in Mariana is in solidarity with the miners in Marikana (Africa), with the Indians of North Dakota (USA), with the workers of Rana Plaza (Bangladesh), with the people affected by the Chevron Texaco in Ecuador and communities that resist social and environmental spoliation in Honduras.
Globalise our struggle to Reclaim Peoples Sovereignty!
Sign-ons:
1. Alerta Amazónica, Barcelona
2. Articulação Internacional dos Atingidos e Atingidas pela Vale
3. Asamblea Veracruzana de Iniciativas y Defensa Ambiental (LAVIDA, Veracruz, México)
4. ATTAC – ARGENTINA / CADTM – AYNA
5. Centro de Documentación en Derechos Humanos “Segundo Montes Mozo S.J.” (CSMM)
6. CETIM , Suiza
7. Comité por los derechos humanos en América latina (Quebec, Canada)
8. Comité pour les Droits Humains “Daniel Gillard”
9. Confederación General del Trabajo – CGT, España
10. Confederación Sindical de Trabajadores/as de las Américas (CSA-TUCA)
11. Diálogo 2000-Jubileo Sur Argentina
12. Ecologistas en Acción (España)
13. Foro Ciudadano de Participación por la Justicia y los Derechos Humanos (FOCO), Argentina
14. Friends of the Earth Brazil
15. Friends of the Earth International
16. Fundación de Estudios para la Aplicación del Derecho -FESPAD- (El Salvador)
17. HOMA, Brasil
18. IBASE – Brasil
19. Instituto Pacs – Politicas Alternativas para o Cone Sul
20. Jubileo Sur/Américas
21. Jubileu Sul Brasil
22. Justiça Ambiental, Moçambique
23. Justiça Global
24. Mesa Nacional frente a la Minería -MNFM- (El Salvador)
25. Mouvement VEGA
26. Plataforma DHESCA Brasil
27. Plataforma Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Democracia y Desarrollo (PIDHDD Regional), y,
28. Red Quebequense sobre Integración Continental (RQIC)
29. Rede Jubileu Sul Brasil
30. REDES-Amigos de la Tierra Uruguay
31. Solidaridad Suecia – América Latina
32. Transnational Institute
33. Unidad Ecológica Salvadoreña
34. Unión de Afectados/as por Texaco (Ecuador)
35. War on Want
36. WRM – Movimiento Mundial por los Bosques Tropicales