NEWS - Indigenous Peoples Occupy Wo

[TheTruth@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: NEWS - Indigenous Peoples Occupy World Bank Premises In New Delhi

Title: Indigenous Peoples Occupy World Bank Premises In New Delhi
Date: 24-NOV-99
Author: None
Source: Dave Bleakney <DBLEAKNEY@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Style: Action Update
Reference: http://www.agp.org

More than 300 Adivasis [i.e. indigenous peoples] from the Indian state
of
Madya Pradesh, representing all mass-based Adivasi movements, jumped
over
the fence of the World Bank at 12:00 noon.

They blocked the building, covering it with posters, grafitti, cow feces
and
mud, sang slogans and traditional songs at the gate, and went back only
after Mr. Lim, country director of the World Bank in India, went out to
receive an open letter signed by all their movements. 

The letter, denounces the destructive impact of World Bank investments
in
forestry and of the liberalisation in timber products enshrined in the
WTO
system, which range from the commodification and destruction of the
forests
to increasing violence, rape and assassinations.

The letter also clearly states their stand in relation to these
institutions: "We fought against the British and we will fight against
the
new form of colonialism that you represent with all our might."

The attempts of the country director of the World Bank to deliver a
speech
were refused by the Adivasis, who said that after talking with World
Bank
officials for the last 5 years they had concluded that such 'dialogues'
had
the only objective of betraying, misleading and deceiving the Adivasis
while
pushing through commercial and industrial interests.

Adivasi organisations in Madhya Pradesh have repeatedly denounced the
highly
destructive, so-called 'eco-development' programmes that the World Bank
has
been funding for the last five years in their forests. Those programmes
involve the violent forced eviction of Adivasis from their lands (where
all
means of force were used, including several killings), which as so many
other aspects of the 'eco-development' programmes of the WB goes against
the
Operational Directives of the Bank, as well as a remarkably awkward
combination of bans on the activities on which Adivasis have based their
livelihoods since milennia (shifting cultivation, fishing, extraction of
forest produce, etc.) on 'environmental grounds', combined with the
liberalisation of commercial activities to 'make conservation a good
business'. 

The other target of the action was the WTO regime, an increasingly
important
tool for the interests that are destroying the lives of indigenous
peoples
all over the world. The attempts to include in the WTO system a new
agreement aimed at boosting timber extraction and trade were
highlighted,
and the Adivasis expressed their determination to fight against it.