Message from Penti Baihua, Waorani leader, read in the Yasuni Green Gold Launch event

This Message was read by Karen Morris and her daughter in the Yasuni Green Gold Launch event. We though that this message was already upload in the blog. Really sorry about that. We just delete some personal email adresses because of protect data laws.

"Message from Penti Baihua, Coordinator of Ome Gompote Kiwigimoni Huaorani


My name is Penti Baihua. My people, the Huaorani, have lived in the Amazon Rainforest, in the area known as Yasuni, since before the arrival of the European peoples in the Americas, since before the country of Ecuador was created. We call the rainforest “omede.” We care for her because she gives us everything: food, water, medicine, shelter, and more. She gives us life and our way of life. Without the forest, we could not survive.

My father is Ahua. He is a great warrior, he defended our Huaorani territory with spears. Now I must defend our territory and the forest, omede, with documents and law, speaking Spanish, and travelling far away like the harpy eagle.

I want to thank my friend Bopo for bringing a message that needs to be included in your Yasuni Green Gold campaign. I have two very important things to say:

1. The first thing I want to say is that the oil in the place known as “ITT” – and in all of the area now known as “The Intangible Zone” – must stay in the ground. (The Intangible Zone is a 758,051-hectare area of forest in the Yasuni area, which has which has been designated by the government as a conservation area, off-limits to oil companies and loggers, since 1999. It includes most of the ITT, and additional lands.) The oil must stay in the ground in the ITT and The Intangible Zone because it is our home. If the oil companies destroy all of Yasuni, where will we live?

Since the arrival of the first oil company, Texaco (now part of Chevron), the Huaorani people have suffered many injuries and violations of our human rights. Our traditional territory has been invaded by outsiders who clear the forest, scare away the animals, and contaminate waters, soils, and air. New diseases have sickened and even killed members of our families, and we have been told that our Huaorani culture is savage and sinful, and that the Huaorani people must change and abandon our traditions and way of life.

But we do not want our Huaorani culture and life to disappear. In my community, Bameno, and in other communities in Yasuni, we are proud to live as Huaorani, in harmony with our rainforest environment. We want our children, and our children’s children, to continue to enjoy the benefits of our culture and way of life. Our shaman, Kemperi, has explained why we do not want more oil companies to come, in a message to the peoples who live where the oil companies come from:

“My message is that we are living here. We are living bien, in a good way. No more [oil] companies should come, because already there are enough…. Many companies want to enter, everywhere. But they do not help; they have come to damage the forest. Instead of going hunting, they cut down trees to make paths. Instead of caring for [the forest], they destroy. Where the company lives, it smells nasty; the animals hide; and when the river rises, the manioc and plantain in the low areas have problems. We respect the environment where we live. We like the tourists because they come, and go away. When the company comes, it does not want to leave. Now [the company] is in the habit of offering many things; it says that it comes to do business, but then it makes itself into the owner. Where the company has left its environment, we cannot return. It stays bad. Something must remain for us. Without territory, we cannot live. If they destroy everything, where will we live? We do not want more companies, or more roads. We want to live like Huaorani, we want others to respect our culture.”

2. The second thing I want to say, that I want all of you to understand, is that we, the Yasuni Huaorani who live in the Intangible Zone, are working to defend the forest and our human rights. We are thankful that there is a lot of national and international concern for Yasuni, that so many people want to protect the rainforest that is our home. But we are concerned because so many people in government agencies and nongovernmental organizations want to negotiate and make decisions about Yasuni, without taking us and our rights into account. We now fear for our right to continue to live in freedom, as Huaorani, in our ancestral lands.

My community, Bameno, shares The Intangible Zone with two other communities of ‘contacted’ Huaorani, Bowanamo and Gabaro, and with other Huaorani families who live in voluntary isolation in the forest. The three communities of ‘contacted’ Huaorani (Bameno, Bowanamo and Gabaro) are working together, as communities, to protect the ITT area and the entire Intangible Zone, and the right of our uncontacted neighbors to be left alone. We call ourselves Ome Gompote Kiwigimoni Huaorani, We Defend Our Huaorani Territory, and we have made very specific proposals to the government of Ecuador for how we can work together to protect human rights and the environment in The Intangible Zone. We call upon the government of Ecuador to hear our voice and respect our rights, including our land rights. We call upon them to refrain from sending their military or other functionaries to our territory to live with us as police, or to visit our communities without our consent.

Finally, we invite the representatives of the government of Ecuador, the government of Coca, and the other governments that are present tonight, as well as the Yasuni Green Gold campaign and other NGOs and individuals who are present, to engage in a dialogue with us. We ask that you tell us about your work and proposals for ITT and Yasuni, and that you support us - the local Huaorani communities who are fighting to protect our ancestral lands.

Thank you for coming tonight, and for listening to my message on behalf of the Yasuni Huaorani who live in The Intangible Zone, Ome Gompote Kiwigimoni Huaorani."

Tribal transitions: Yasuni to Tibet

SOAS's openair.fm have come together with Marketplace to bring us a whole day of fun, with money going towards the Yasuni Gren Gold Campaign

11 -13 Marketplace
London
W1 8AH

FREE ENTRY
5 TIGER BEERS £10
5 MINUTES FROM OXFORD CIRCUS TUBE
BRING DRUMS, SHAKERS, FLUTES, TRUMPETS ETC...!

PERFORMERS & SCHEDULE:
- Yasuni Green Gold ( www.yasunigreengold.org ) -
- Movimiento Ecuador UK (www.movimientoecuador.co.uk) -
:: Musicos Equatorianos en vivo con presentacion de instrumentos tradicionales :: 17.00 - 19.30
:: Yasuni Green Gold Campaign presentation:: 19.30 - 20.00
:: SOAS Tibet Society - :: Screening :: Himalaya :: 15.00 - 17.00 w/discussion
:: Face Painting :: All Day
:: T-shirt & Book Sale :: All Day
:: Photo Contest Exhibition:: All Day Winner Announced @ 20.00
- Openair.fm (www.openair.fm ) -
:: Cydetrack :: spinning global freshness - 20.00 - 21.00
:: Ed C :: Disco Funk Maestro - 21.00 - 22.00
:: Steve Rogers :: Legendary Dub Stepper - 22.00 - 23.00

Yasuni Green Gold wrkshop @ Shared Planet

This Sunday the 23rd Yasuní Green Gold will be holding a workshop at the People and Planet Shared Planet conference at the University of Birmingham. If you want to know more about the Yasuni Green Gold campaign come to the workshop, ask questions and get involved from 14.00-15.30

Click here to find out more information...

Yasuni Events - some dates for the diary!

We have a busy busy few weeks ahead of us..

On Monday the 6th of October Anita Rivas, mayor of the Yasuní region (Orellana) will be in the UK to present the issues currently facing the region at the Yasuni Green Gold launch. The event will be held at the Amnesty Human Rights centre in east London and will be looking forward to the attendence of people such as Tony Juniper, the Ecuadorian vice-ambassador and organisations such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.

That morning we will also be having a meeting with DFID, the UK department for international development, and the environmental adviser to Gordon Brown..

On Tuesday we will be meeting with Steve Webb the Lib Dem Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs with a possible showing from Nick Clegg...?

On Wednesday we will be holding a parliamentary meeting and we currently have Tom, who is helping out in the office, trying to get as many MPs as possible to that meeting.

Then Friday morning Anita and Ginés will shoot off to Luxembourg where they have been invited to talk at the Climate Alliance of European Cities with the Indigenous Rainforest Peoples!

On Saturday we head off to Spain with Anita where we'll be doing presentations in Barcelona, Madrid, Cadiz and Cordoba - if you want to come along drop us a line and we'll let you know where to go..

What has Yasuni Green Gold been up to....?

Since we got the book out of the way the Yasuni Green Gold team has been hard at work - doing what you cry?!

Well for a start we have been preparing this lovely new website with a lot of help from our friends...There is still a lot of work to do we know, lots of things missing; lists, letters, banners, downloads, flyers the list goes on! But we are getting there bit by bit so bare with us, the site is improving daily! If you have anything you can help with, maybe you have sent a letter to a minister and we can put it up as an example to help others - let us know!

We've been going round doing talks about the Yasuní and setting up local groups, these are crucial in helping spread the word and creating a Yasuní support network. If you want to create a Yasuní group near you, drop us a line and we'll do what we can to help.

We've been lobbying politicians and NGOs on the phone and by sending them books, thanks to all those kind 'donate a book' contributions to get them on board and start campaigning about the Yasuní.

The New Internationalist also took on this initiative and asked its readers, after finishing with their Yasuni magazine, to put it back in it's envelope and send it on a decision-maker.

So, what is all this lobbying in aid of…..?

We are trying to draw as many groups as possible together to campaign on the Yasuni – this is currently a three pronged attack!

First prong is an NGO sign-on statement, which is almost finished, professing the importance of the Yasuni, its people and what must happen next. You will hopefully be able to view this online very soon!

Second prong is a petition that everyone can stick their name down on in support for the Yasuní and its people.

And the third prong is parliamentary. This is currently being focused on the UK government but hopefully with a bit more support we can get it going around the world. We have an early-day-motion starting. This is like a petition that MPs sign to say something is important to them, if enough MPs sign it – they could discuss the issue in parliament. To push this motion along we have organised a parliamentary meeting on Wednesday in the house of commons with Anita the mayor of the Yasuní region of Orellana and someone from the campaign introducing the issues and then a discussion of how the UK government can be involved to follow....

Movimientos

MOVIMIENTOS AT THE SALMON AND COMPASS
"Música Mestiza. Documentary films. Latin Culture"

Thursday 2th October

Ecuador and Yasuni Green Gold special with documentary films and speakers

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Films upstairs from 7pm
+ Speakers from Yasuni Green Gold and book presentation.

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Music Downstairs

All the freshest old school and contemporary dancefloor Latin beats with Movimientos DJs Cal Jader, Pablo N, Clem George, live percussion & special guests

7pm-2am
Entry: Donations before 9pm / £3 after
Salmon and Compass
58 Penton Street (Corner of Chapel Market), N1 9PZ (Angel tube/Northern Line)