News Letter Vol.3 - No.2

CJNM - Vol.3. No.2 - News

THE NEWS OF THE MONTH »

The ghosts' coming back

It was called "Operation Condor", the great bird name that symbolizes the prey possessor of heaven that rise in the Andes. It was not a name chosen at random. It was "a move towards 'continental defence against communism' and was speeded by the victory of Castro’s revolution in 1959. The following year General Theodore F Bogart, US Southern Command supremo, invited his Latin American colleagues to a 'friendly meeting' at his base in the Canal Zone to discuss problems of common interest. The outcome was an annual Conference of American Armies (CAA), first held at Fort Amador in Panama. In 1964 it was transferred to West Point: this West Point venue, a secretive meeting place symptomatic of cold war paranoia, was the heart of the future Operation Condor and from 1965 it met every two years". Fifty year have passed since then and still its ghosts come back: in February nine defendants will undergo a trial in Italian Court "for about thirty men and women of Italian origin, swallowed up in the black hole of kidnapping, torture, summary executions often completed with secret flights over the Atlantic Ocean from where the prisoners were thrown into space, dazed by sedatives". For more information, see: Latin America: The Thirty Years Dirty War

THE GOOD NEWS »

Maxima Atalaya back to live on her land

Doña Chaupe, is a simple and yet an extraordinary symbol of the opposition in Peru against the mining business advance and its ideology, the developmentalist extractivism. The judges were right to her and twisted to the powerful mining company Yanacocha, which had caused her house to be burned. Yanacocha Gold Mine has spared neither resources nor energy to take possession of that piece of land where the Chaupe family lives. In the midst of 5,700 acres owned by the mine, rather than a physical obstacle, that piece of land remains a symbol of reference for those who in Latin America resist to bend their knees in front of the disasters that open-air mining extraction is causing in tens of locations. Though with a conviction against her at first, with the support of friends and of almost 120,000 signatures collected in various parts of the world, Doña Maxima has appealed to the Court of Appeal in Cajamarca, where a small group of judges have shown not to fear the pressure of overbearing and the family Chaupe returned to live on the land that is theirs since 1994. Read the whole article at . . .

THE WORST NEWS »

10 Wars to Watch in 2015

The year 2015 began facing new military wars that adds to the wars begun decades ago and not yet finished. Some conflicts of religious or ethnic nature are not what they seem, as they really are driven by extremist ideologies or interests in natural resources. Listening to talk about the world-wide spread of wars is no longer a surprise, as they so easy seem part of the everyday landscape, but is it right? See a summary of the 10 new wars the world has to face urgently in this year. Read the article . . .

Celebrating!		Take Action now!
6 February, International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation Female genital mutilation (FGM) comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons, and is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women. An estimated 125 million girls and women alive today have been cut in 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East. If current trends continue, some 86 million young girls worldwide are likely to experience some form of the practice by 2030. FGM is mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15. FGM cause severe bleeding and health issues including cysts, infections, infertility as well as complications in childbirth increased risk of newborn deaths. On 20 December 2012, the UN General Assembly (Resolution A/RES/67/146) called upon States, the UN, and civil society to use this day to enhance awareness-raising campaigns and to take concrete actions against FGM. To know more, see . . .		"They say: Peace, peace, when there is no peace" (Jer 6, 14). "Everyone talks about peace and the peace process in the Middle East. The reality is the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories with everything that goes with it" (Kairos, Palestine Appeal, 2009). The Palestine's Christians and bishops have being asking for long time that the State of Palestine should be recognized as the State of Israel is. "Until we see a piece of fabric with Palestine colors fluttering over our roofs there will be no peace for Israel either. The Palestinian people is a people like any other; has the right to live in peace, to have a home, to have a capital, to have a passport, to have its stamps, its coin" (Fouad Twal, Patriarch of Jerusalem). The fragmentation of the territory linked to the Oslo Accords, the economic and police structure, the Palestinian diaspora, the Arab citizens of Israel ("Palestinians of '48"), do not make easy the road to two State co-existence, but a step has to be done. Sign the petition "Italy, recognize the state of Palestine. Now!" Firma la petizione Italia, riconosci lo Stato di Palestina. Adesso!

Time to rethink		Keep smiling
What is fracking? Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is the process of extracting natural oil and especially gas from shale rock layers deep within the earth (down to 3 miles in the case of shale gas), not through metal pipes, but injecting highly pressurized fluid. Used since 1947 for conventional oil fields, it was developed in the '80s because it allows drilling in a horizontal way and makes accessible resources otherwise inaccessible but with exorbitant costs. High pressure injected from the surface, the fluid "fractures" then, also in the horizontal direction (L), the layers of limestone, sandstone or clay to obtain the escape of oil or gas. To this end, the liquid requires adequate viscosity that is obtained by mixing water with chemical products. When hydrocarbons are trapped in rock matrices, the recourse to a cocktail of additional chemicals is needed, chemicals that are inherently carcinogenic and highly toxic. Piercing the rocky barrier, the liquid spreads everywhere even in groundwater or evaporates without any possible control of it. This technique has allowed the United States to become energy independent, however, American civil society is increasingly against it: in areas where it has been used for 20 years, numerous cancerous diseases are sprouting clearly. The process of fracking is also part of nowadays oil price fighting: the actual cost of the barrel makes the fracking technique unsustainable. To know more . . .		They walk! Do not stop them, please! Salary scale. Soldier: 1,400 € to die; Police officer: 1.600 € for risking life; Firefighter: 1,800 € to save lives; Teacher: 1,600 € to prepare for life; Doctor: 5,000 € to keep us alive; Senator: 19,000 € to enjoy his own life; Minister: 30,000 € to rot our lives! Finally, those who do the most for us... earn the least. But isn't it the easy demagoguery... and good inconscience? After all, these politicians who put them in power? By voters like you and me! What do we expect to be active citizens and responsible for the progress of the world? If all politicians are lazy and rotten, we must remove them all and replace them by whom? With good (!) Dictators! Look! Actually, in 2015 we celebrate the end of the 2nd World War and the fall of a dictatorship: they have made us very happy... for five years! Stop bitching on the couch and roll up your sleeves for work: both many associations and altruistic initiatives need arms more than words. See the images and enjoy it at . . .

Must Watch.		Resources.
The Road to Development Justice Inequality is now so high that a woman garment worker earns less in a year than the Walton family earns every second. Climate change will force 50 million people to migrate from Bangladesh alone. The global crises of inequality and climate changes are both caused by our global economy. Together they threaten the future of humanity. It's time for a new model -a model of Development Justice. This video explains Development Justice and the shifts civil society in the Global South demands. It makes the case for why we need a new development model to address the double crises of inequality and environmental collapse. For citations on statistics used in this video, or dub this video in your language, email leanne@apwld.org. To see the video go to . . .		The World Bank failures A bill for Haiti, that began to be written in 2013, with technical assistance from the World Bank, would be applied by decree this year outside the democratic process. This project would give free rein to the exploitation of gold and other minerals in this country. Oxfam America, an organization working to address the ills of poverty, hunger and injustice, warned that while mining may increase the economic growth of Haiti, can also cost more than the value of this growth if it allows the impacts of mining to degrade the health of people and natural resources. In the nineteenth century, several foreign companies exploited the Haiti gold in what was described as a "negative experience, even catastrophic," according to Justice Collective Mining, which represents some 50,000 Haitians. To read more go to . . .

Witnessing
Impartiality and Reciprocity This Newsletter is strictly concerned with topics of JPIC (Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation) and does not address other topics even when it considers them important. However, what happened at Charlie Hebdo on January 7, 2015 and the flood of words that followed touch the heart of justice and peace, for they bring into play two essential concepts: impartiality and reciprocity. People were protesting against terrorism in the streets of Paris, while militants and the regular army were committing massacres in Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria and Iraq, and the terrorists of Boko Haram continued with their killings. A veiled woman protects her child by holding him tightly and shouts at an overflying bomber: "I am Charlie." But in this context the international reaction was very bland. Why don’t we identify with these deaths? Impartiality should be accompanied by reciprocity. Religious liberty goes hand in hand with liberty of expression. Can we ever legitimize hate speech? To blurt out stereotypical or bigoted epithets to people of a different color, culture or religion is not only racist, but profoundly wrong. Of course, if irony that doesn’t sting is not satire, but satire reduced to insult is not irony, it is a crime. Even if it is subtle and intellectual and it is satire to Western eyes, to others of a different culture and sensitivities it can sound as insulting, offensive and hateful. But, of course, “It is a sign of strength to know that one can laugh at certain aspects of our institutions, since it is a way of saying that what is important to us is beyond the forms that are transitory and imperfect. Humor in one’s faith is a good antidote to fanaticism and to an excessive sense of seriousness, which has a tendency to take everything to the letter.” To read all the article, click here . . .