mining (in)justice events this week!

For more information, go to: solidarityresponse.net

“The Devil Operation” Synopsis

Father Marco, a humble priest from the mountains of Peru, is being followed. A private security firm is filming and photographing the priest’s every move; their meticulous reports are code-named “The Devil Operation.” Marco’s allies are murdered and tortured, but he and his disciples refuse to be victims. They turn their cameras on the spies and develop a counter-espionage plan that leads to South America’s largest gold mine.

For the past two decades, Father Marco has defended farming communities against the Yanacocha mine’s abuses, earning him the nickname ‘The Devil’.

The Yanacocha mine is owned by Newmont of Colorado, but mining giants defy borders in their lust for capital: the company’s Canadian subsidiary, Newmont Mining Corporation of
Canada, is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Ontario film-maker Stephanie Boyd has spent 10 years documenting the farmers’ struggle and became caught up in this real-life political thriller.

PROTEST NEW GOLD’S AGM
In 1996 the Canadian mining company Metallica Resources, now New Gold Inc., came to Cerro de San Pedro, Mexico to exploit gold through open pit mining and cyanide leaching. Since the beginning the company has faced resistance from the town of Cerro de San Pedro, the city of San Luis Potosi, and internationally, organized through the FAO (Frente Amplio Opositor – Broad Opposition Front). The struggle has used legal strategies, through which the FAO won the closure of the mine by the federal environmental authority in November 2009. But, in violation of Mexican law, the mine is still operating with the complicity of the Canadian government and financed by the Toronto Stock Exchange. In response, the FAO is bringing the struggle to the streets to Toronto to directly confront New Gold and give their shareholders a glimpse of the scope of the global resistance to the mine at Cerro de San Pedro, and other similarly destructive mining projects throughout Mexico and the world.
RSVP: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=118647984829529

PHOTO OPENING RECEPTION:
Broken promises, environmental disasters, human rights abuses, and cultural genocide, these are only some of the experiences that indigenous peoples all over the world have had to face when coming into contact with the global mining industry, and it’s perpetual pursuit of profit.
Four years in the making, Someone Else’s Treasure is a multimedia project examining the social and environmental impacts of different multinational projects from the perspectives of various affected communities.

Thus far, Someone Else’s Treasure includes the stories of affected communities in Australia, Canada, Chile, Guatemala, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Tanzania. These intimate portraits are both a critique of the myth of progress and a celebration of the spirit of resistance. In an effort to better understand the true cost of an industry that shapes the world around all of us, the focus is on the externalized – the men, women, and children, that have been left out of the equations and are therefore forced to pay the price for someone else’s treasure.

CONFERENCE LAUNCH PARTY! MAY 7, Ram and the Rye

[Part of the Mining (in)Justice Conference, check it out: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=112912948735691&ref=ts]

The mainstream media portrays the G8/G20 summits as rigid dichotomies of mask-clad protesters clashing with faceless riot police in a cloud of tear gas, all while world leaders try to right the global economic ship.

We think that there is more to be told! Come and support the launch of the Dominion’s special issues on the G8/G20!!

The event is also the opening night of the Mining (in)Justice Conference.

There will be bands and fun times! So Far confirmed: illogik and stacey b. DJ Joe Blow

http://www.dominionpaper.ca/g20

CONFERENCE:
Mining (in)justice: at home and abroad is a conference on the Canadian mining industry (including Tar Sands) set to take place in Toronto on the weekend of May 7-9, 2010. It will feature leaders in movements against Canadian mining companies both within and outside of Canada and provide space for growing our own movements in alliance with communities impacted by this industry.

This is a follow-up conference to last year’s mining conference, which brought over 20 front line defenders to share their stories and strategize solutions to ending corporate impunity and strengthening the struggles against destructive mining projects around the world.

This year, we are expanding the conference into a 3 day event, providing more space for participants to meet each other, form alliances, and plan actions to foster a movement in solidarity with impacted communities.