International Accountability Project published a critical analysis of GCM's Indigenous Peoples Development Plan for the Phulbari Coal Project.
International Accountability Project published a critical analysis of GCM's Indigenous Peoples Development Plan for the Phulbari Coal Project.
In a protest to defend the natural resources of Bangladesh on December 29th, more than 35 people were left injured after police confronted the activists with batons and tear gas. The demonstration aimed to pressure the Bangladesh Ministry of Power and Energy to accept a set of seven demands, including the cancellation of concessions to build the Phulbari open-pit coal mine as well the eviction of GCM Resources, the London-based mining company currently financing the Phulbari project.
On December 15th, GCM held its annual shareholders’ meeting in London, amidst throngs of protesters demonstrating outside the building. Protesters waved banners tagging the project as”modern day colonialism,” and carried “eviction notices” from the people of Bangladesh telling the company to abandon the Phulbari Coal project and leave the country, according to a report from the news site Morning Star.
Eighty-five organizations, including Cultural Survival, sent a letter sent to investors, urging them to withhold financing for the Phulbari Coal Project in Bangladesh. The project is controlled by Global Coal Management Resources plc (GCM), a London-based company, and its largest investor is Polo Resources, of South Africa. The letter is signed by leading human rights and environmental organizations based in 25 countries.
The people of Bangladesh continue to protest the construction of a large coal mine in the Northwest region of Phulbari. The mine will displace thousands of Indigenous people and destroy their agricultural lands. Cultural Survival launched a letter-writing campaign in February, 2011 to prevent this mine's construction.
A recent article, “Displacing People For Profit: Obama Administration Supports Controversial Coal Project in Bangladesh,” written by Christine Shearer and Joshua Frank and published by Ale
Two thousand Bangladeshi citizens blocked major highways and railways for six hours on March 28 and demanded a response from the prime minister by April 11. They are calling on her to honor a 2006 agreement to ban open-pit coal mining in the country. For seven years, Bangladeshi citizens, including the National Indigenous Union (Jatiya Adivasi Parishad) have fiercely protested a British company’s plan for open-pit mining in Phulbari.
by Kate Hoshour and Christine Shearer
Originally published on TruthOut.org
As the sun rose on March 28, 2011, roughly 2,000 people gathered to demonstrate against a mining project that would displace tens of thousands of people in northwest Bangladesh and establish one of the largest open pit coal mines in the world.
The following two articles regard massive protests that took place in Bangladesh yesterday demanding a ban on open pit mining scheduled to break ground in the northwest region of Phulbari. See Cultural Survival's Action Alert on Bangladesh here to send a letter in solidarity with the Indigenous farmers of this area against the destruction of their land.
On Friday, March 25th, Global Response program director Paula Palmer was interviewed on Bob Kincaid's radio program "Head On" regarding the campaign in Bangladesh against the Phulbari coal mine. A native of West Virgina, Bob is very interested in communities struggles against the coal industry.
TAKE ACTION
At least 2,000 demonstrators blockaded a major highway in northwest Bangladesh last week to protest government plans for open pit coal mining in Phulbari and nearby Barapukuria and demand compensation for lost crops and the destruction of their lands.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.