Ignoring cries of protest from impoverished communities and fierce international criticism, Detroit will begin to serve water shut-off notices on some 25,000 households tomorrow as it prepares to privatise its water department.
… in Detroit has set a precedent for other cities throughout the United States. Earlier …
Detroit is shutting off water to 40% of residents to prepare the water system for a corporate buyout, writes Justin Wedes. Residents are organizing to resist the water shuttoffs, anti-democratic rule and the demands of Wall Street - but they need our help!
… control of Detroit and 6 other majority-black cities last year under a controversial … befallen Detroit and countless other rustbelt cities had occurred overnight like a hurricane …
Detroit is the site of a neoliberal experiment that's already being repeated elsewhere, writes Chris Grove, with unpayable debt used to force the privatization of public services and the terminate democratic power and accountability. But as the city's poor find themselves cur off from water, a new, wider conception of human rights is emerging from the wreckage.
… Chris Grove | 4th August 2015 News Water Cities USA Human Rights Politics Finance …
Liverpool City Council allows electronic arms fair to take place at the Exhibition Centre this October: expect protests.
Stop the electronic war fair Richie Hunter | 16th August 2021 | News Arms Dealings Activism Human Rights Editor’s Picks screenshot_2021-08-13_at_09.41.13.png Liverpool City Council allows electronic …
Citizens of Cáceres, Spain, are opposing lithium mining project that jeopardises World Heritage and sustainable livelihoods at a new extractive frontier.
Cáceres rejects lithium mine Hannibal Rhoades | 10th June 2020 News Lithium Mining Extractivism Spain Caceres Mountains Water Energy Renewable Energy International dpf1ycexkams0kl.jpg Citizens of …
UK police now have free rein to create 'dispersal zones' in public places, writes Josie Appleton. This allows them to exclude people for anything from street drinking to looking suspicious, being homeless, protesting, or merely 'congregating'. This represents a serious breach of our Common Law and Magna Carta rights.
Freedom of speech, assembly, protest? All are nixed by new police powers Josie Appleton | 26th June 2015 Comment Law UK Commons Human Rights wmp-patrol-cut.jpg UK police now have free rein to create …
A crucial component of concrete, sand is vital to the global construction industry, writes Nick Meynen. China alone is importing a billion tonnes of sand a year, and its increasing scarcity is leading to large scale illegal mining and deadly conflicts. With ever more sand fetched from riverbeds, shorelines and sandbanks, roads and bridges are being undermined and beaches eroded. And the world's sand wars are only set to worsen.
… War India China Singapore Sri Lanka Dubai Cities Building dubai-beach-cut.jpg A crucial … Mumbai is also one of the 10 largest cities in the world - with a huge appetite for … into a circular economy" , she said. "Big cities in India crush many old buildings to …
Last week's decision by the Romanian government to seek UNESCO World Heritage status for Rosia Montana, a historic Carpathian mountain village under threat of gold mining, is a massive victory for campaigners after a hard 15-year struggle, writes Alexandru Predoiu - one that has united farmers, city-dwellers and new-age protestors against cultural and ecological destruction.
… for people in Bucharest, Cluj and other major cities throughout the country to take to the … needed to reach people living outside the big cities where the protests had been taking …
Israel's armed forces have destroyed vital water and sewage infrastructure in their bombing campaign of the besieged territory, writes Mohammed Omer. This constitutes a severe breach of the 1977 Protocol to the 1949 Geneva Conventions on the part of Israel and all those conceiving, planning, ordering and perpetrating the attacks.
Gaza: Israel bombs water and sewage systems Mohammed Omer | 16th July 2014 News Middle East Water Health War Law Human Rights gaza-children-cut.jpg Israel's armed forces have destroyed vital water …
Brazil has suffered its biggest ever industrial disaster, write Ana Luisa Naghettini & Geraldo Lopes. Breached and overflowing dams have released a massive slug of toxic muds and tailings from iron mining into the country's fifth largest river system that provides drinking water for downstream cities, destroying ecosystems in rivers and vast areas of biologically fragile ocean.
… that provides drinking water for downstream cities, destroying ecosystems in rivers and …
To ‘protest’ is not just to challenge power, but also ‘to make a pledge, a solemn declaration’ and to drive change.
… [XR] protests that continue to disrupt 60 cities around the world for the second week of … ‘moving like water’ and popping up across cities to undermine police efforts at …
The Maldives, a vast republic of scattered islands in the Indian Ocean, has worked hard to make its fisheries among the world's most sustainable, writes Tony Juniper. But now the EU has slapped a 20% levy on its fish exports due to human rights concerns - a move that mainly hits poor fisherfolk innocent of any wrongdoing.
Human rights vs sustainability? EU must not attack Maldives 'green' fishery Tony Juniper | 27th November 2014 Comment Maldives Oceans Fishing Human Rights maldives-pole-and-line-cut.jpg The Maldives, …
Romania's parliament has voted down changes to mining laws that would have allowed Europe's biggest open cast pit gold mine to go ahead at Rosia Montana in the Carpathian mountains.
Romania rejects Rosia Montana gold mine The Ecologist | 12th December 2013 News Romania Mining Gold Romania's parliament has voted down changes to mining laws that would have allowed Europe's biggest …
A US-backed billion-dollar gold mine has attracted thousands of protestors in recent weeks. Many have the poor economic legacy of existing mines fresh in their minds, reports Gervase Pouldon in Cajamarca, Peru
Tainted gold: thousands join protest against Peru's largest ever mining project Gervase Poulden | 17th January 2012 News Mining Natural World Gold Peru Indigenous Rights 480x360-(2).jpg Protests …
The alleged murder of activists Aysin and Ali Buyuknohutcu by a mining company following a legal dispute is resonating in Turkey. The married couple had been taken to court by Bartu Mermer after protesting to protect their local forest. In March 2017 the company’s lawsuit collapsed and the mining was stopped. But six weeks later, the couple were shot dead at their country home in southern Turkey, reports BURAG GURDEN.
'Executed' at home: the price one environmentalist couple paid to protect forests Burag Gurden | 7th July 2017 News Mining Environmentalism Shooting Killing Murder Corporate …
Silver, indigenous Huichol communities and the peyote they venerate have co-existed in Wirikuta, northern Mexico for thousands of years, writes Kurt Hollander. But it's become an increasingly troubled relationship, one that illustrates the deepest conflicts of Mexican society. The region is protected as a UNESCO Natural Sacred Area, but foreign mining companies are determined to exploit vast concessions that pose severe threats to the fragile landscape, its inhabitants and their ancient culture.
… makes mining profitable, magnificent colonial cities are no longer built and the profits …
Rupert Wolfe Murray writes to Prince Charles about his grave concerns for the Rosia Montana region of Transylvania, under threat from Cyanide mining.......
… in London, Bucharest and 25 other European cities, but the Romanian media have portrayed …
The Ecuadorian government is in the process of auctioning off eight million acres of largely virgin rainforest to oil companies.
Kichwa people defend indigenous territories Bethany Pitts | 13th August 2018 Comment Recycled Ecuador Indigenous Peoples Rainforest Human Rights img_2070.jpg The Ecuadorian government is in the …
'Green mining' is an oxymoron that is gaining traction in the EU and pushes a risky narrative about an environmentally destructive sector.
… less materially intensive ways. We can build cities that are less car-dependent, increase … than electric cars for reaching net-zero cities. Other solutions include urban mining … the most of the resources we have, European cities can greatly reduce the impact that they …
While governments argue over responsibility for global warming, development experts are thinking about the humanitarian consequences for the world’s poor. Mara Hvistendahl reports from the United Nations.
… by melting icecaps will threaten Asian delta cities like Shanghai and Calcutta. In its … countryside, where adults have left for large cities, leaving the ageing without a support …
For over two years the small community of San José del Golfo has maintained a 24-hour barricade against the US-owned mine El Tambor that threatens to destroy their land and water. The non-violent resistance, led by women, is transforming the traditional 'macho' culture, and attracting support across Guatemala, and beyond.
Guatemala: women lead the struggle for life, land, clean water Jeff Abbott Waging Nonviolence | 1st April 2015 News Mining Water Pollution Guatemala Corporations Trade jeff abbott-cut.jpg For over …