International Relations

WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)

18 SEP 2008: CALLS TO SUPPORT INDIGENOUS RIGHTS DECLARATION

Contents:

Top News Story

Media Releases & Statements

News

Resources

TOP NEWS STORY:

NIT: Greens expose Labor inaction over UN Indigenous rights declaration

http://www.nit.com.au/story.aspx?id=16037

On Wednesday 7 November around 200
people, successfully began the first ever bi-national protest camp in
the borderlands of Mexico and the United States.

This report is from the Mexicali, on
the Mexico side of the camp.

On this day, 18 years after the fall of
the Berlin wall, we began with a bi-national meeting in the centres
of Mexicali/Calexico. Participating were folks from Mexicali,
indigenous Cucapa people from Baja California, and others from many
states of Mexico and parts of the world.

Do you hear that sound? That’s the sound of the American
dollar crashing to the ground. That whoosh you just heard? That was the sound
of foreign investors pulling their money out of the country. And the other
sound? That tight, hollow sound and the rush of feet? That’s the sound of the
richest 1% of Americans who own over 40% of the assets in this country as they
tighten their sphincters and run with the money out the door. It’s not unusual
for the richest of the rich to bolt with their investments while the rest of
the country suffers. Disheartening, maybe, unusual, no.

14 September 2007, Manila, Philippines. – A crowd of more than 300 workers, farmers, fishers, and environmentalists from the Magkaisa Junk JPEPA Coalition (MJJC) today called on the Senators of the 14^{th Congress to look beyond the rosy projections and government hype surrounding the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), and to carefully assess its short-term and long-term implications. The group’s call came on the day of the first scheduled Senate hearing for this historic, precedent-setting treaty.}