Residents of the municipality of Lousame in Galicia, Spain are fighting for the preservation of their land and livelihood. These are threatened by the heavily polluting mining activities of the multinational Sacyr Group. The river and the land are becoming unusable, and the residents are threatened with eviction.
Around 1500 families – mainly women – depend on the mussel capture and processing in the area around the Muros-Noia estuary. The mining industry pollutes the soil with heavy metals. As a result, thousands of hectares of seabed have already been closed. The consequences for the community are disastrous: no livelihood without mussel capture. Meanwhile, Sacyr Group is taking legal steps to block environmental groups from taking water samples in sites where illegal discharges of toxic substances are taking place, in order to keep their harmful practices under wraps.
The communities living around the mine are not only in danger of losing their income. They are also threatened with eviction from their homes and the loss of even more of their land. Residents complain of intimidation by the Sacyr Group. Despite massive protests, the regional government continues to support the mining activities.
With the help of Het Actiefonds, local communities are reclaiming the land that has been taken from them. They do this by planting endangered, native tree species in the old mine shafts and mining holes. Many families with children are planting trees in the soil, thus getting right of use to the trees and its fruits. The goal is to restore the affected areas and reclaim the lost ground.
Do you agree that it’s unacceptable that the interests of multinationals take precedence over the rights and health of local communities? Show your solidarity with the residents of Galicia and donate now!
On Saturday, December 15, hundreds of people took to the streets to make their voices heard for autonomous spaces and against the commercialization of the city. This demonstration was organised by ADM, an autonomous community on a squatted site in Amsterdam-West, and financially supported by Het Actiefonds. It was an exuberant, quirky protest, as expected from ADM: with energetic bands, creative signs and banners, and wildly-dressed marchers. We made a photo series and a video report about the march, to show what the actions we support look like in practice.
From Dam to Dame, from Rokin to Beyoncé Boulevard! We gave financial support to De Bovengrondse to make street name signs in honour of extraordinary women, for the action #meervrouwopstraat (“more women in the streets”).
A great action, and desperately needed. 88 procent of the Amsterdam streets named after a person are named after a man. And of the women’s names used, most are “wives of”, according to the action group. So De Bovengrondse took to the streets in August to hang up alternative street name signs. This happened simultaneously in ten other cities in the Netherlands. The original street names were crossed out with pink tape.
The action group made a diverse selection of twelve extraordinary women to honour with this action. Representation matters: if all streets are named after men, this stimulates the idea of only men doing relevant things for society.
The LGBTQI+ community is discriminated, oppressed, and sabotaged in many different ways in the city of Cluj, Romania. This must be stopped. That’s why a group of brave activists is organising a Pride manifestation in the city center.
Cluy-Napoca, or Cluj in short, is the second largest city in Romania. The city is known for its ethnic and religious diversity. But nevertheless, it is the least tolerant city in all the EU member states when it comes to LGBTQI+ people.
The groep ‘Coalition for Family’, a group of no less than 30 NGOs, has even started a hate campaign against the LGBTQI+ community. This coalition wants to secure ‘traditional family values’. And their goal is to define marriage in the constitution as ‘the unification of a man and a woman’. According to them, there’s no place in Romania for same-sex marriage.
Last year, the organisation of Pride Romania also encountered bizarre sabotage actions at the hands of the municipality. The Pride was denied the use of several public spaces and eventually the mayor declared that these kinds of manifestations are forbidden in the city.
It’s clear that Romania has a long way to go in LGBTQI+ rights and emancipation. For that reason, the group Asociatia PRIDE wants to hold the march in the city center, even without permission. Through this manifestation, they aim to make the oppressed community more visible. They want to reclaim public space and make their voices heard against the continuous discrimination, repression and violence. Because the city belongs to everyone.
The primary goal of the Pride is to show the city that the LGBTQI+ community can’t just be silenced. They deserve true recognition. Het Actiefonds is supporting the collective in organising the march itself and in purchasing and spreading promotional materials.
This Pride march is only the beginning of a series of actions that put the rights of the LGBTQI+ back on the public agenda. Actions demanding respect and tolerance, actions against hatred. In the coming months a referendum will be held about the constitutional definition of marriage. In the run-up to this, the group hopes to open the eyes of the Romanian people.
You can support this fight for equality and equity. With a one-time donation you can help the group continue their campaign!
The current Indonesian government has a poor track record when it comes to human rights. In 2018 the so-called “Ormas Law” was passed. This law introduces a system of regulations for NGOs that threatens to seriously curtail freedom of expression and freedom of protest.
It is now possible to simply ban groups that are seen as ‘antagonistic’ to the government. This is at a time when the right to protest is especially important in Indonesia. Farmers are falling victim to land grabbing, the minimum wage has been abolished, and the cost of living is rising more and more due to the foreign debts of the state.
The Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights has spoken out against the Ormas Law, and on International Human Rights Day on December 10, students and farmers took action against the law. LINK-AR, a small grassroots organization, is setting up awareness campaigns, marches and manifestations – supported by Het Actiefonds. This way, they make their voices heard for a free and democratic Indonesia.
In Tanzania, the action group Organization for Humanity Advancement is protesting the harmful activities of a mining company: a gold mine is polluting the largest water source and causing violations of human and labor rights, sustained by a negligent government.
The North Mara Gold Mine was opened in 2002 near the Tigithe River, in the Mara region of Tanzania. The Tigithe River is the main source of water for more than 250,000 people. That water source is polluted by the gold mine. As a result, there are health problems in the community, the soil is becoming less fertile, and several households have lost livestock to polluted water. There has been sexual abuse of female mining workers by management personnel. Villagers have to walk for miles to get clean water in another river.
Ten years ago, the Tanzanian parliament already demanded that the mine be closed because polluted water had led to the death of eighteen villagers. A government investigation in 2010 showed that the water is not poisoned. But communities around the North Mara Gold Mine say that corruption is at stake.
The Organization for Humanity Advancement group is taking action, with financial support from Het Actiefonds. They demand that the mining company cease polluting the Tigithe River, respect the human rights of workers, and offer compensation for its negligence. The action group wants the government to set up a fair, objective second water quality inspection. They also want the government to start an investigation into the allegations of sexual abuse.
OHA is organizing a demonstration to the Tarime Rural Constituency office and a blockade of the North Mara Mining office in Nyamongo. Het Actiefonds supports them in this, because the pollution of nature and the exploitation of workers caused by the gold mine must stop!
The government of Colombia is planning to build a deep-water port in the Gulf of Tribugá. The government’s intention to build a major port in Tribugá has led to a lot of opposition of the local population. The residents of the department Chocó fear that the arrival of a mega port in their community will destroy their way of life – most of the people of this region are dependent on fishing for their livelihood – and they are afraid that this new port will disturb the fragile ecosystem of the region. The organization Colectivo de Comunicaciones en Puja has therefore started a protesting campaign of thirty days against the government’s plans to build a port in Tribugá.
The marginalized Afro-Colombian community mainly inhabits the department Chocó. A small percentage of the Emberá lives here too: the indigenous people of Colombia. Despite the rich biodiversity and unique history, this region is one of the least developed regions of the country, due to a lack of interest from the Colombian government.
The Golf of Tribugá is one of the few breeding places of the humpback whale.
The Colombian government claims that this megaproject will boost the economic development of this region. However, the residents of Chocó are skeptical: they fear that the arrival of this new port will intervene with their way of life and that it will destroy the unique flora and fauna of this region.
Local activist of the department Chocó started the group Colectivo de Comunicaciones en Puja to promote the interests of the people of this fragile region. They are promoting their communities and their endangered environment by using film, music, and art. Throughout the month July the group Colectivo de Comunicaciones en Puja actively will be actively campaigning to stop the construction of a mega port in Tribugá.
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