Peru Amazon Natives fight for their land

By Renzo Pipoli, Today correspondent

Story Published: May 9, 2009

Story Updated: May 11, 2009

The remaining Amazon Native nations in Peru – some 350,000 people who depend on fishing and hunting in mostly clean rainforest areas they held for centuries – appeared set May 7 for more uneven confrontations after the Peru Navy rammed and destroyed the river barricades they had set up April 9 to protest laws that Natives say threaten their survival.

According to the Peru ombudsman’s office in Lima, on May 4 a Peruvian Navy ship “broke the barrier that kichuas and arabelas had set up in past weeks as part of a Native protest.” Natives wanted to prevent river traffic as part of efforts to halt activities in the Amazon to protest new Peruvian laws that allegedly ease the exploitation of oil, lumber and gold available.

On May 4, a Navy ship broke ropes and crushed canoes that had been tied there in past weeks to prevent transit. AIDESEP, the Native organization coordinating the protests reported that, as a result, three retained ships used by oil company Perenco were able to continue on their way. Perenco officials declined comment.

AIDESEP said that in retaliation, Natives are preparing as many as four new barricades in the same waterway.

A Peru Navy official denied any violence in the opening of the barricade, claiming it wanted to open the waterway for transit. A later report assures that the Peruvian Navy will be on patrol to prevent more barricades in the area.

Why the protests?

Last year, when President Alan Garcia’s administration was about to complete a long-awaited free trade accord with the U.S., he received special powers to get laws needed to implement the accord quickly. But those powers were “also used to enact separate, unrelated legislation,” said Carlos Monge, a researcher at local think tank DESCO. He is studying the conflict, and is also a member of an organization named Revenue Watch Institute, which according to its Web site “promotes the responsible management of oil, gas and mineral resources for the public good.”

The 2009 protests are a repeat of protests in mid-2008 which, at the start, where neglected by the government until Natives occupied gas platforms owned by Argentina-based oil company Pluspetrol in an Amazon area known as Block 56. Peruvian officials rushed to end the protests by promising that Congress would work to repeal the laws they feared. But Congress never acted.

In mid-2008, Pluspetrol had a new gas extraction platform in Block 56 that it could not access as it was occupied by thousands of Natives. Pluspetrol demanded help from the Peruvian government to make the country viable for investment again by improving security.

AIDESEP spokesman Edson Rosales said Natives had intended to carry out blockades, but not occupations in this year’s protests. But Natives occupied pumping stations of the only Peruvian crude oil pipeline which, since around April 24, was forced to shut, according to Natives and other industry sources.

Peru’s state oil company Petroperu, which owns the pipeline, has not said anything about any crude pipeline shutdown. The National Society of Mining, Oil and Energy – which groups several companies operating in Peru including some operating in the Amazon – said it did not have any comment on the protest.

Garcia meets oil investors

In mid-April, Garcia met with the president of France-based oil company Perenco, which has plans to develop an area of the northern Peruvian Amazon as well as build hundreds of kilometers of new pipeline through rainforest to move the crude they expect to be producing by 2013.

In early May, Garcia met with the president of Spain-based oil company Repsol YPF, who informed Garcia of the company’s plans to develop oil and gas exploitation areas in the northern and central Peruvian Amazon by investing as much as $500 million annually within the next five years.

In mid-April, Garcia also hosted a contract signing ceremony where he welcomed oil and gas investors from several countries.

The contracts signed included accords with officials from India, South Korea, Ireland, Vietnam, England and Canada which will do seismic testing and later drill areas of the central Amazon. Contracts were also signed with companies from Spain, Australia and the U.S. for similar efforts in the north Amazon.

Yet Garcia had not met with Natives as of May 6 or made any comment regarding the protests in his nearly daily speeches. Monge said that such government posture appears to be setting up a confrontation.

Mamerto Maicua, a Native leader in the northern Peruvian Amazon, said the Natives were readying more actions including the possible occupation of the airport in the city of Tarapoto as well as blockades of the only Peruvian Amazon highway.

“These actions are a reply to being treated as if we did not exist.”

The Faustian Face of Modern Science

'Scientific totalitarianism is certainly not a new topic in the halls of political science and history. Given its bloody legacy of democide (i.e., state-sanctioned genocide, mass murder, and politicide) and its prolific spread throughout the world, scientific totalitarianism remains a preoccupying sociopolitical phenomenon of the 20th century.

Yet, few researchers have examined the epistemological foundations of scientific totalitarianism. In turn, an understanding of scientific totalitarianism’s epistemological roots elucidates an occult conception of science, which edified the sundry Weltanschauungs of sociopolitical Utopians (e.g., socialists of either the communist or fascist ilk). In light of this core epistemological commonality, all forms of sociopolitical Utopianism could be considered the manifestations of a trans-historical occult counterculture movement.'

Read more...

WTC7 -- This is an Orange

Quiet Mind

When you realize that there is no method, no system, no mantra, no teacher, nothing in the world that is going to help you to be quiet, when you realize the truth that it is only the quiet mind that sees, then the mind becomes extraordinarily quiet. It is like seeing danger and avoiding it. In the same way, seeing that the mind must be completely quiet, it is quiet.

Now, the quality of silence matters. A very small mind can be very quiet, it has its little space in which to be quiet; that little space, with its little quietness, is the deadest thing - you know what it is. But a mind that has limitless space and that quietness, that stillness, has no center as the 'me', the observer, is quite different. In that silence there is no observer at all. That quality of silence has vast space, it is without border and intensely active; the activity of that silence is entirely different from the activity which is self-centered. If the mind has gone that far (and really it is not that far, it is always there if you know how to look), then perhaps that which man has sought throughout the centuries - God, truth, the immeasurable, the nameless, the timeless - is there. Without your invitation, it is there.
JKRISHNAMURTI
(The Flight of the Eagle - 42)

GM GENOCIDE

This skillfully researched book focuses on how a small socio-political American elite seeks to establish control over the very basis of human survival: the provision of our daily bread. "Control the food and you control the people."

This is no ordinary book about the perils of GMO. Engdahl takes the reader inside the corridors of power, into the backrooms of the science labs, behind closed doors in the corporate boardrooms.

The author cogently reveals a diabolical World of profit-driven political intrigue, government corruption and coercion, where genetic manipulation and the patenting of life forms are used to gain worldwide control over food production. If the book often reads as a crime story, that should come as no surprise. For that is what it is.

Engdahl's carefully argued critique goes far beyond the familiar controversies surrounding the practice of genetic modification as a scientific technique. The book is an eye-opener, a must-read for all those committed to the causes of social justice and World peace.

What is so frightening about Engdahl's vision of the world is that it is so real. Although our civilization has been built on humanistic ideals, in this new age of "free markets", everything-- science, commerce, agriculture and even seeds-- have become weapons in the hands of a few global corporation barons and their political fellow travelers. To achieve world domination, they no longer rely on bayonet-wielding soldiers. All they need is to control food production. (Dr. Arpad Pusztai, biochemist, formerly of the Rowett Research Institute Institute, Scotland)

If you want to learn about the socio-political agenda --why biotech corporations insist on spreading GMO seeds around the World-- you should read this carefully researched book. You will learn how these corporations want to achieve control over all mankind, and why we must resist... (Marijan Jost, Professor of Genetics, Krizevci, Croatia)

The book reads like a murder mystery of an incredible dimension, in which four giant Anglo-American agribusiness conglomerates have no hesitation to use GMO to gain control over our very means of subsistence... (Anton Moser, Professor of Biotechnology, Graz, Austria).

To order Seeds of Destruction click here

Global Research Articles by Priya Kumar

Biopiracy, GM Seeds and Rural India

"Over 100,000 farmers have committed suicide..." By Priya Kumar

Global Research, June 2, 20

The reality for the average Indian remains the same: agricultural cultivation and the ability to farm is the bedrock of rural living. With its historical practices, values, and communal sentiments of respect, cultivation and the practice of farming has embedded roots. Farming for Indians is not only a source of income – it is a source of culture and identity. Since the late 1990s however, Indian governmental officials have wilfully compromised this sentiment for the ‘bright lights’ associated with the West. After over a decade of trade liberalization and free market reforms, mainstream economic development has left rural India to fend for itself. Amidst great levels of industrialization and growth, the vast majority of Indians have been left behind. Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for some 70% of Indians[1].Considering the fact that only 1% of Americans and 2-3% of Europeans derive their livelihood from agriculture, this is a huge level of dependence[2]. India’s desire to become a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the adoption of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPs) specifically has compromised the livelihood of farmers. With the adoption of such neo-liberal policies, the sovereignty of rural India has been threatened. TRIPs in particular has created a gateway for agro-business conglomerates to engage in biopiracy and GM seed monopolization, effectively marginalizing rural communities. Through the manipulation of intellectual property rights (IPRs), conglomerates such as Monsanto have put rural farmers on the defensive. This paper highlights the manipulative nature and destabilizing affects of patents, IPRs and agro-business conglomerates in the context of rural India. Special focus is placed upon the infamous Basmati rice case, and Bt cotton, the first GM seed made available to Indian farmers. Through these case studies, this paper will illustrate both the intent and impact of agro-business conglomerates and the associated costs incurred by farmers. Centuries of indigenous knowledge, tradition cultivation practises and sharing techniques are being compromised. Many farmers have lost their right to cultivate and control the agricultural production cycle. As a result, farmers increasingly find themselves indebt, disempowered and most alarming, suicidal. With approximately one in every four farmers globally being Indian, the rural lifestyle – the cultural origins of India are being threatened[3]. Agro-business conglomerates are promoting a cycle of dependence, which, if not stopped will carry with it disastrous affects for the entire country. Click Here To Read More...

Subversion

Principles of Transformation

Profound personal transformation is initiated by the realization that you are capable of direct access to the Divine. This is the realization that the wisdom of the Divine can be discovered deep within you. There is a wide range of means that can facilitate self-mastery through personal transformation. Though the means may vary, the intent behind the means is quite narrowly defined as the intent to expand into a state of integration whereby all aspects of your conscious self become increasingly aligned with your divine essence.

There are three particular life principles that help to align your perspective with the perspective of divine essence and thus inspire profound personal transformation. They are: 1) seeing the Divine in all; 2) nurturance of life; and 3) gratitude. When you apply these principles, a deeper meaning will be revealed to the seemingly random events of your life experience.

Seeing the Divine in All

This is the principle that the Divine is present and can be seen everywhere and in all manifestations of life. It is interwoven in all things like an intricate mosaic whose pieces adhere to the same wall, and are thus unified. However, it is not the picture that unifies the mosaic, but the wall upon which its pieces adhere. Similarly, the Divine paints a picture so diverse and seemingly unrelated that there appears to be no unification. Yet it is not the outward manifestations that unify. It is the inward center of divine energy that unifies all life.

Seeing the Divine in all is the principle that all manifestations of life convey an expression of All That Is. It does not matter how far the unifying energy has been distorted; the Divine can be observed. It is the action of perceiving unification even when the outward manifestations appear random, distorted, or chaotic. The principle of seeing the Divine in all is the perception that life is perfect in its expression because it flows from perfection, and that no matter how divergent its manifestations are, all life is an extension of the Divine.

In light of the obvious turmoil and destruction that are apparent on Earth, this is an outlook or perception that may seem naive. How can life in all its forms and expressions be perceived as optimal or perfect? This is the great paradox of life, and it cannot be reconciled with your mental or emotional capabilities. It can only be understood in the context of the soul, which is deathless, timeless, and limitless.

Calling forth the divine perceptions of the soul is actualized through looking for both the inward and outward manifestations of the Divine. It is not only that the Divine is found within you and within every individual manifestation of life; it is also in itself the wholeness of all life. Thus, this principle of transformation calls for seeing the Divine in all its diverse forms of manifestation, as well as in the wholeness of life itself.

Nurturance of Life

Life, in this definition, is an individual's sovereign reality. It is subjective and impressionable. Life is the wholeness of experience flowing past the individual's field of perception in the present moment. Nurturance of life is the principle whereby an individual is in alignment with the natural expansion of intelligence inherent within all life. This alignment enhances the life energy that flows past the individual with the clear intent of gentle support. It is the action of opening to the highest motive in all people and in all life and supporting the flow of this highest intention towards its ultimate expression. In so doing, the action is performed without judgment, analysis, or attachment to outcome. It involves simply nurturing the highest energy that flows from all people and thus supporting the fullest expression of their deepest essence.

This is a departure from the normal perception that nurturing support can only be granted when others are in alignment with your personal will and desires. When, instead, you view everything in your life as an integrated energy flowing as an expression of ever-expanding divine intelligence, all life is honored as an extension of the Divine. All people and all forms of life can be nurtured and supported to their highest expression.

Energy is an element of life that is so subtly interwoven with form that it is one, in much the same manner as space and time are inextricably linked in union. Life energy is always in a state of becoming. It is never static or regressive in its natural state. You are very capable of nurturing this natural expansion of energy to forge new channels of expression and experience.

There are many specific actions that can be taken to nurture life. Each soul can transform energy through a wide variety of means. Working through your body, your soul is able to collect and store energy and redirect its purpose or application. This transformation of energy can occur on both personal and universal levels of expression. That is, within an individual's field of awareness at any time, energy can be transformed to conform more to a vision of personal welfare or aligned with a vision of universal welfare and goodwill.

One of the best methods to transform energy is through one's belief system. All beliefs have energy systems that act like birthing chambers for the manifestation of your perceived reality. Within these energy systems are currents that direct life experience. Your soul is aware of these currents either consciously or unconsciously and allows them to carry you into realms of experience that engage your core belief system. By consciously cultivating beliefs that expand and transform energy, you are more able to explore energy systems that are nurturing to life in all its myriad forms. When beliefs are clearly defined as intentions, your life energy engages fully in the present moment. Clarity of intention is essential to engaging the energy system of your core beliefs, and to allowing the nurturance of life to prevail in all activities.

Gratitude

If you are aware—or at least interested in having the awareness—of how perfectly the Divine supports your sovereign reality, there is a powerful and natural sense of gratitude that flows from you to the Divine. It is this wellspring of gratitude that opens the channel of support from the Divine to the individual and establishes a collaboration of purpose to transform the individual soul into a pure expression of divine essence. It is principally gratitude that opens you to connection and alignment with your divine essence.

When you project gratitude, regardless of circumstance or condition, life becomes increasingly supportive. This feeling of gratitude coupled with the mental concept of appreciation is expressed like an invisible message in all directions and at all times. Gratitude is an essential facet of love that opens you to redefine your purpose as a supportive extension of the Divine, rather than the whimsical outreach of fate or the exacting reaction of a mechanical, detached universe. Establishing a relationship with the universe through the outflow of gratitude also attracts life experience that is deeply transformative—experience that is richly devoted to uncovering life's deepest meaning and most formative purpose.

When you are aligned with divine essence and live from this perspective as part of an ever-unfolding reality, you attract a natural state of harmony. This does not mean that your life is without problems or discomforts; rather it signifies a perception that there is an integral purpose in what life reveals. Life experience is meaningful to the extent that you choose to live in natural harmony with divine essence. When your personal reality flows in alignment with divine essence, you create lasting joy and inner peace.

It is the perspective of divine essence that all life is pure love in its fullest expression, and that in this single concept, all life is conceived and forever exists. This becomes the core belief from which all other beliefs arise. And as these beliefs expand outward, this core belief system emerges with a clear intent of supporting a fundamental perspective of seeing, nurturing, and appreciating the universe as the divine cradle from which all life is created and evolves.

These life principles are merely symbols represented in words and served to you as a potential recipe to stir awake the embers of light that tirelessly burn within. There are no specific techniques or rituals that are required to invoke their power. They are simply perspectives. In a real sense, they are intentions that attract experience that expands consciousness. They do not provide quick fixes or instant realizations. They are amplifiers of personal will and intention that clarify how one lives. Their profound transformative power is contained exclusively in the intent of their application.

Through these principles of transformation, you can become a master of empowering your deeper self. If you apply these life principles with clear intent, you have the tools to accelerate the emergence of divine essence. You can awaken the perspective, insights, and empowered abilities of your divine essence to create new realms of possibility and shape them as learning adventures that expand and transform your consciousness. This is the underlying purpose of these principles, and perhaps the best reason to explore them.

For the full seven-page text of this transformational writing, click here
For a two-page summary of the second of this two-part essay, click here

Uncovering the 'me'

When we are aware of ourselves, is not the whole movement of living a way of uncovering the 'me', the ego, the self? The self is a very complex process which can be uncovered only in relationship, in our daily activities - in the way we talk, the way we judge, calculate, the way we condemn others and ourselves. All that reveals the conditioned state of our own thinking, and is it not important to be aware of this whole process? It is only through awareness of what is true from moment to moment that there is discovery of the timeless, the eternal.

Without self-knowledge, the eternal cannot be. When we do not know ourselves, the eternal becomes a mere word, a symbol, a speculation, a dogma, a belief, an illusion to which the mind can escape. But, if one begins to understand the 'me' in all its various activities from day to day, then, in that very understanding, without any effort, the nameless, the timeless, comes into being. But, the timeless is not a reward for self-knowledge: that which is eternal cannot be sought after; the mind cannot acquire it. It comes into being when the mind is quiet, and the mind can be quiet only when it is simple, when it is no longer storing up, condemning, judging, weighing. It is only the simple mind that can understand the real....
JKRISHNAMURTI
(Collected Works, Vol. VII - 325)