Social activists at risk - Real World Radio

Features / Social activists at risk

In this section Real World Radio aims to expose the murders of social activists and the cases of death threats against leaders. We will report on the wave of criminalization of the social protest. This new section of Real World Radio is also a memorial page for all those who were murdered in their struggle for a socially just world.

This special section is funded in part by the European Commission.

15 October 2014 | Testimonies | Social activists at risk

Guatemala: new threats by the State against the Peasant Unity Committee and its leader, Daniel Pascual

Harassment by the judicial system, the media and paramilitary forces of communities resisting a cement plant and highway, also exerted on Daniel Pascual of the Peasant Unity Committee (Via Campesina) in Guatemala under Otto Perez Molina was recently denounced at international level in a press conference. Read more
13 October 2014 | Interviews | Social activists at risk

Mexico: leader of the resistance against Picachos Dam murdered in Sinaloa; interview with one of his colleagues in the struggle

Eight hundred families of people affected by the Picachos Dam have been mourning the death of the leader of the resistance since he was murdered at point blank range while working at a local radio station on Saturday, October 11. Atilano Roman Tirado was a leader of the Mexican Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAPDER). He participated in the International Meeting of People Affected by Dams in 2010, which took place in Guadalajara State. Read more
10 October 2014 | Interviews | Land grabbing | Social activists at risk

"Oil palm monoculture plantations are not sustainable"

The expansion of oil palm monoculture plantations in Indonesia has been huge these past years, advancing over biodiverse territories where millions of people from indigenous and rural communities live, such as the case of Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo Island. These monoculture plantations, out of which 70 percent of its production is exported, partly in order to produce agrofuels, covers 13 million hectares, and by 2020, the government plans to reach 28 million hectares planted with oil palm. This increase would necessarily take place by destroying the same number of hectares of native forests. Read more
6 October 2014 | Interviews | Social activists at risk | Misión solidaridad Malasia

Living in darkness: Moving account of the situation in Bukit Koman (Malaysia): "it is so unfair to live like this"

"We don´t know what the company is doing, what causes our suffering, we know nothing", said activist Sherly Hue, from Bukit Koman, Raub District, Pahang State, where a mining company that uses sodium cyanide to extract gold is operating. "We are living in darkness", she expressed. Read more
5 October 2014 | Interviews | Social activists at risk | Misión solidaridad Malasia

Witness in the legal defense of an activist sued for defamation in Bukit Koman tells his story

Woon Soon Fatt is 39 years old, he is the father of four children and lives 500 meters away from the mine owned by company Raub Australian Goldmining Malaysia, that uses sodium cyanide to extract gold in the Malaysian area of Bukit Koman, Raub district, State of Pahang. As soon as the company started operating in 2009, he and his children started to suffer from health problems. He decided not to remain silent and be a witness of the defense in the trial for defamation against local leader Wong Kin Hoong. Read more
30 September 2014 | News | Land grabbing | Social activists at risk | Misión solidaridad Malasia

Persecution of environmental defenders in Malaysian community Bukit Koman

In Malaysia, environmental defense and health concerns by communities are responded to with legal accusations of defamation, trials, police arrests and eventually prison. The criminalization of protests prevails. Several environmental defenders of Bukit Koman, Raub district, in the state of Pahang, Malaysia, can attest to that. Read more
29 August 2014 | Interviews | Free Honduras | Social activists at risk

Renowned Honduran activist murdered: interview with Bertha Cáceres and Rafael Alegría

On Wednesday morning, three hooded and armed people shot and killed Honduran peasant leader Margarita Murillo in Villanueva, a rural area in Cortes department. Murillo died as she lived: with a hoe in her hands, ready to produce and give life in the lands for which she always fought. Read more
21 August 2014 | Testimonies | Land grabbing | Social activists at risk

Police Raids Houses and Steals Property of Guatemalan Community Resisting Dam

An indigenous community of Monte Olivo, in Coban, Guatemala, provided the details of police brutality, including house raids, for resisting Hidro Santa Rita dam, in a press conference held this week. Read more
31 July 2014 | Interviews | Victims of climate change | Social activists at risk

System Change: Outcomes of the Preparatory Meeting of the Social Pre-COP on Climate Change

Ten days after the Preparatory Meeting of the Social Pre-COP on Climate Change held in Isla Margarita, Venezuela, Real World Radio’s show “Mil Voces” interviewed Martin Drago, coordinator of the Food Sovereignty program of Friends of the Earth International. Drago assessed the outcomes of the meeting and highlighted several aspects of the final declaration. Read more
24 July 2014 | News | Victims of climate change | Social activists at risk

Final declaration of Preparatory Meeting for the Social Pre-COP on Climate Change in Margarita Island

On July 18, in Margarita Island, Venezuela, the participants issued the final declaration of the Preparatory Meeting for the Social Pre-COP on Climate Change that was held in Venetur Hotel under the slogan “System change, not climate change”. Read more