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In a new documentary, the people of Phulbari, Bangladesh explain why, since 2005, they have opposed an open pit coal mine that would displace them from their homes, and will continue to oppose the project in the future at any cost.  "We are united," explains one community member.  "Any any cost, we will stay united. We will stay alive in our own place, and if the time comes to die, we shall die in our own place."

 

A panel of experts appointed by the government have concluded after a year of study that the construction of an open-pit mine in the Phulbari region of northern Bangladesh is a “practical approach”.  The 17 member committee, headed by the former chairman of the national oil company of Bangladesh, was formed a year ago to give opinions on the appropriate coal mining and its implications on social and environmental factors.

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.

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.

Suscribirse a Bangladesh: Ban Coal Mine, Save Forests and Farms