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.

30 January 2013 | Interviews | Summit of the Peoples - Santiago de Chile | Land grabbing | Social activists at risk

A CELAC of the Peoples

Interview with Diego Monton, of the Operational Secretariat of CLOC – Via Campesina

The process of development of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC, created by the end of 2011) was one of the fundamental issues for several Latin American social movements present at the Summit of the Peoples in Santiago de Chile, that came to an end on Sunday. Read more
30 January 2013 | Testimonies | Social activists at risk

Another Life Taken

Brazil: landless leader violently murdered in Rio de Janeiro

Cícero Guedes, rural worker and activist of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (Via Campesina) of Brazil, was murdered by gunmen on Friday, January 25 near the Cambahyba sugar-cane field, in Rio de Janeiro state, while riding his bicycle. Read more
28 January 2013 | Videos | Summit of the Peoples - Santiago de Chile | Social activists at risk

Easy Business

Interview with Lucia Ortiz, Friends of the Earth International Coordinator

The European Union – Latin America and the Caribbean Summit of the Peoples that came to an end yesterday in Santiago de Chile, and the challenge of social movements to continue working in an articulated way are two of the main issues addressed in this interview with Lucia Ortiz, coordinator of the Economic Justice - Resisting Neoliberalism Program of Friends of the Earth International. Watch video
28 January 2013 | Interviews | Summit of the Peoples - Santiago de Chile | Social activists at risk

We Won’t Disappear

Interview with Francisca Rodriguez, of ANAMURI and CLOC – Via Campesina

Francisca “Pancha” Rodriguez, of the National Association of Rural and Indigenous Women of Chile (ANAMURI), member of the Latin American Coordination of Countryside Organizations (CLOC – Via Campesina) is without question a reference of social movements not only in her country, but also at Latin American and world level. Read more
25 January 2013 | Interviews | Social activists at risk

Worse Than it Seems

Conflicts Over Mining and Natural Resources in Oaxaca, Mexico

Speaking about mining in Oaxaca, Mexico, could be uncomfortable and even painful. It is a very complicated issue because of the social aggression against peasant, indigenous and rural communities perpetrated since the 17th century. These communities know its history, its methods and its results very well. Read more
25 January 2013 | Interviews | Social activists at risk

What is Extractivism?

Interview with Gustavo Castro at the Mesoamerican Meeting Against Mining in Oaxaca, Mexico

Although extractivism as an industrial model of appropriation of resources is an old phenomenon in Mesoamerica, there has been a recent increase in this practice that ignores national borders and affects communities with irreversible destruction of nature and common goods. Read more
18 January 2013 | Interviews | International Tour in Solidarity with communities affected by mining megaprojects in Central America | Social activists at risk

Far From Being Intimidated

“The resistance will continue” in Santa Cruz Barillas

This Thursday, the peasants of the Guatemalan municipality of Santa Cruz Barillas, in Huehuetenango department, released on January 10 after more than eight months of being arbitrarily imprisoned, will tour through the capital of the country to denounce the abuses suffered and demand Hidro Santa Cruz company, in charge of the Santa Cruz hydroelectric project, to leave their territories. Read more
16 January 2013 | Interviews | Summit of the Peoples - Santiago de Chile | Land grabbing | Social activists at risk

“For a peoples’ project in Latin America”

Interview with Francisca “Pancha” Rodriguez, of ANAMURI and CLOC – Via Campesina

The headquarters of the Chilean Workers Union (CUT), in Santiago, capital of Chile, was chosen to hold the press conference that the organizers of the Summit of the Peoples, to take place from January 25 to 27 in that city, carried out on Friday to make the public and open call to this event. Read more
15 January 2013 | News | Social activists at risk

Five Centuries

CLOC - Via Campesina expresses solidarity with Mapuche people over militarization by Chilean government

The repression perpetrated by Sebastian Piñera’s administration in Chile against several Mapuche communities in the region of Araucania has resulted in multiple solidarity actions and expressions at international level. One of them is the Latin American Coordination of Rural Organizations, CLOC – Via Campesina. Read more
14 January 2013 | Interviews | Social activists at risk

Of Death and Pain

Award to the Worst Corporation of 2012: Lonmin mining company and its actions in South Africa

In August 2012, managers of British mining corporation Lonmin urged the South African mining ministry to take “appropriate” measures against striking mine workers at the platinum mine located in Marikana region, with the help of the police and the armed forces. On August 16, 44 miners were murdered by the police while protesting and 77 were seriously wounded. Read more