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Wrr V16 N4-5 Stop Press Efforts to Silence Narmada Activists Grow ndian authorities have recently Writing in the Indian news magazine 12, Canadian citizen Ali Sauer was deported stepped up attempts to silence the Save Frontline, Ashish Kothari says that the on arrival at Delhi airport, despite holding a the Narmada Movement (NBA) and its demand to ban the NBA “would be laugh- 6-month Indian visa. Sauer was given no rea- I supporters. A group of prominent able if it was not so full of tragic implica- son for her deportation but overheard offi- politicians are supporting a call to “ban” the tions for freedom and democracy.” cials referring to her support for the NBA, NBA, the leading group in the fight to halt big Meanwhile, leading activist Medha and saw a document referring to her as a dams on the Narmada. Leading figures linked Patkar, writer Arundhati Roy and the NBA’s “Threat to National Security.” Sauer has trav- to the NBA face possible six-month prison lawyer Prashant Bhushan face contempt of elled to the Narmada Valley but had never sentences on contempt of court charges. And court charges in the New Delhi Supreme been arrested for her activities there. a campaign appears to have started to keep Court. The three have been accused of Two other overseas activists, Nikki War- foreign supporters of the NBA out of India. launching a “blitzkrieg against the judiciary” wick from Australia and Annie Leonard from A body calling itself the National Council by taking part in a demonstration outside the US, were recently refused Indian visas. for Civil Liberties (NCCL) has submitted a the Supreme Court in December 2000. The Warwick, who visited the Narmada Valley memorandum to influential (and fiercely complainants accuse Roy and Patkar of incit- during the 1999 monsoon-season protests, pro-dam) Delhi Home Minister L. K. Advani ing the crowd to kill them. was accused of “Indulging in Anti State demanding that the NBA be banned under The three accused have refused to apolo- Activity” by the Indian Embassy in Australia. the 1957 Unlawful Activities Act. Five former gize for the baseless charges and their affi- Leonard was recently told by Indian offi- chief ministers of the state of Gujarat and davits rejecting the charges are now being cials in the US that she was on the “Adverse two senior politicians from Madhya Pradesh investigated as further examples of con- List” and was prohibited from ever visiting signed the memorandum. The NCCL tempt. Roy’s affidavit states that the case India. Leonard works on toxic pollution describes the NBA’s alleged subversive activi- “indicates a disquieting inclination on the issues and has never visited the Narmada. ties as receiving foreign funding, passing on part of the Court to silence criticism and confidential reports on important Indian muzzle dissent, to harass and intimidate What you can do: Write letters of protest to projects to foreign agencies, and letting loose those who disagree with it.” Atal Behari Vajpayee, Prime Minister of India, a reign of violence against government offi- Attempts are also being made to muzzle 7, Race Course Road, New Delhi 110001. Fax: cials working in the valley. international critics of the project. On July +91.11.301.6857 Email: [email protected] Page 5 Page again. head Auburn Dam rears its ugly its rears Dam Auburn The notorious The California: Page 14 Page resources. new A slew of reviews of reviews of slew A Print: In Page 5 Page wetlands. tion project is restoring restoring is project tion Page 12 Page hippos. rare A floodplain restora- floodplain A China: park and destroy habitat for habitat destroy and park flood one-quarter of a national a of one-quarter flood Page 4 Page dam. control” “flood The Bui Dam would Dam Bui The Ghana: were worsened by a huge a by worsened were Orissa's recent floods recent Orissa's India: Page 10 Page people. to violence against affected against violence to Page 3 Page son. A tiny dam leads dam tiny A Honduras: ruining lives for no good rea- good no for lives ruining Selangor Dam is Dam Selangor Malaysia: Page 8 Page benign. not are Run-of-river dams Run-of-river Lite: Dams Page 2 Page in. sunshine Let the the Let Commentary: Page 7 Page continue. protests Cana Brava Dam Brava Cana Brazil: Page 1 Page kidnapped. around Urra Dam has been has Dam Urra around Page 6 Page crisis. energy activist working on issues on working activist ing in the wake of a major a of wake the in ing An indigenous An Colombia: New dams are surfac- are dams New Brazil: IN THIS ISSUE THIS IN Change Service Requested Service Change ekly A973 U.S.A. 94703, CA Berkeley, Permit No. 126 No. Permit 1847 Berkeley Way Berkeley 1847 ekly A94703 CA Berkeley, PAID International Rivers Network Rivers International US POSTAGE US Non-Profit Org. Non-Profit World Rivers Review Volume 16, Number 4 / August 2001 Published by International Rivers Network Colombian Indigenous Dam Activist Kidnapped by Monti Aguirre n June 2, Kimy Pernia Domicó, a River) just before the river waters were leader of the Embera-Katío diverted for dam construction. A thousand indigenous people from Colom- Emberas travelled on the Sinú River in their O bia, was abducted allegedly by canoes to the city of Lorica. members of the paramilitary group United When the Emberas took their case to the Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) in Constitutional Court, Colombia’s highest the town of Tierralta, Córdoba. judicial court decided in their favor, forcing Kimy, the grandson of a great Embera the government and company to negotiate shaman, had been a highly visible, outspo- with them over their losses. However, before ken leader of the Embera in their efforts to the process could be completed, the Ministry defend their lands, rights and autonomy fol- of the Environment in November 1999 lowing the construction of Urrá Dam, which granted the company a license to begin fill- flooded a large expanse of their lands and ing the reservoir. deprived them of fish, their staple food. Once again, the Embera took their case to The abduction of Kimy is just the latest the judicial system, while continuing other violence against Embera who have publicly protests against the project. 170 Emberas, led stood up to protect their communities from by Kimy, marched 700 kilometers from their lands to Bogotá. There, they staged a four- the dam and other intrusions. Another Kimy. leader, Lucindo Domicó, who played an month vigil at the Ministry of the Environ- important role in negotiations with the Urrá ment, which resulted in the re-opening of company, disappeared in 1999 and was later tropical rainforest in Córdoba state. The negotiations between the Embera-Katío, the found dead. An interview with paramilitary 340 MW project, which cost US$800 million government and the company. On April 19, leader Carlos Castaño in a recent issue of the ($200 million more than initially planned) 2000, an agreement was signed which was to Colombian magazine Semana stated that was 40% financed by the Colombian state have guaranteed that steps be taken to ensure Lucindo was killed because he “interfered and 60% through international institutions, the survival and well-being of the Embera. with dam operation.” including Canada’s Export Development Embera Katío leaders say 16 tribal mem- Corporation, Sweden’s Nordbanken, and the Drug War’s Victims bers have been killed by the paramilitary Nordic Investment Bank. Skanska, a Swedish But throughout this process, violence was and FARC guerrillas over the past three construction company, built the project in escalating in the Embera-Katío’s lands. The years. The most recent assassination since association with Colombian company Con- cause appears to be a struggle for power in Kimy’s abduction was that of Alirio Pedro civiles, and Russian Energomatchexport pro- the region between paramilitary forces and Domico. In Kimy’s words, “We are caught vided the turbines. guerrillas. The Embera’s territory is rich in between two fires – they threaten us, they Construction of the project’s access road resources, and because of its isolation is well- burn our houses and canoes, they kill our began in 1979. According to a document by suited to coca cultivation. Kimy had been an leaders, and involve us in a war that is not the Embera-Katío, “the road brought rapid outspoken opponent of pressure from both ours.” colonization, diminishing of the fauna due the guerrillas and paramilitaries to grow coca to hunting and chainsaws; and everybody in Embera territory. A People Dammed began to compete for lumber cutting. People Kimy visited the United States in 2000 to Close to 70,000 people were affected by the began to abandon the traditional economy alert US Senators and Representatives to the Urrá Dam, including the Embera-Katío peo- and values in exchange for an economy unintended violent consequences for indige- ple and peasant communities living dependent on lumber cutting and money. nous people expected from “Plan Colom- upstream from the dam site; peasant and This has been a very painful process as it has bia,” a US aid package for military aid to fishing communities of the lower Sinú River, also originated internal conflicts in the com- combat coca growing and drug trafficking. and the Zenú indigenous peoples located munity.” The project was also marred by He gave testimony at that time about para- downstream. poor consultation with affected people. military and military collaboration, and The 73-foot-high dam, which blocks the In 1995, Kimy and Lucindo Domicó orga- emphatically stated that increases in military upper Sinú River, flooded 7,400 hectares of nized the Do Wambura (Farewell to the continued on page 15 World Rivers Review Let the Volume 16, Number 4 Sunshine In ISSN Number 0890 6211 Editor: Lori Pottinger hings are not always as they seem in the complex world of big dams.
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