SPRING INTO ACTION: Art Builds, Screenings, Actions!

Spring into Action!

We have kicked into high gear! It's that time of year again when Canadian mining companies and their shareholders come together for Annual General Meetings. Every year, while they celebrate the supposed "success," "sustainability," and "social responsibility" of their mining operations around the world, MISN takes advantage of this strategic time to confront these companies with the reality on the ground and with testimonies from directly-impacted communities. We have protests, art builds, film screenings, street theatre, creative direct actions, and lots more on the go and need all the help we can get! Please join us and Spring Into Action!

CHECK OUT our "Spring into Action" website: mininginjusticesn.wordpress.com

TUES. APRIL 22: DEFENSORA FILM SCREENING

WHAT: DEFENSORA SCREENING w/ special guests
WHEN: This Tuesday, April 22 5pm
WHERE: NORTHROP FRYE HALL, rm 003, 73 Queen's Park Crescent East, University of Toronto (steps from Museum Station)
FB Event here
The Mining Injustice Solidarity Network (MISN), in co-operation with the department of Spanish and Portuguese and the Latin American Studies program at U of T, wish to invite you to a screening of the new and award-winning film - Defensora.

This documentary follows the Maya Q'eqchi' community of El Estor, Guatemala in their search for justice. Members of this community have faced immense violence, forced evictions and other human rights violations in the wake of Canadian mining expansion into their ancestral lands. The company involved is Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals. Defensora tells the story of a precedent-setting resistance movement that has successfully brought these claims to be tried in Canadian courts.

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Peter Munk, Barrick Gold, and the U of T: 2 events!

At Barrick's annual general meeting this year, Barrick Gold is set to add David Naylor, former president of the University of Toronto, to their board of directors. Naylor was president of UofT during the signing of the controversial and secretive "Munk Contract" which established the Munk School of Global Affairs. Find out how the Munk School has been used to meet Peter Munk's foreign policy objectives so far. Learn the inside story about how this contract was approved. And engage in a broad discussion (participation encouraged) about what this means for students at the University and the public at large.

FIRST EVENT
WHEN: Thursday, April 24 6:30pm
WHERE: 252 Bloor St., OISE, room 5150
WHAT: Discussion and storytelling: Munk, Barrick, and the UofT
*this is an accessible venue

SECOND EVENT
WHEN: Tuesday, April 30 6:30pm
WHERE: Harvest Noon 16 Bancroft Ave (upstairs)
WHAT: Story-telling and art making: Munk OUT of UofT • Naylor OUT of Barrick Gold!

*this is unfortunately not a wheelchair accessible venue

APRIL 30: Confront Barrick Gold!!!

WHERE: 255 Front St,
WHEN: 11am, Wed. April 30
FB EVENT: here

Barrick destroys communities around the world in their pathological quest for a metal that we no longer need to mine. Join us as we stand in solidarity with communities directly impacted by this gold mining giant!

This annual general meeting is taking place while:

• Barrick is facing a court case in the British High Court seeking damages for the death and injury of local villagers in Tanzania.
• Communities in Papua New Guinea are making urgent calls for resettlement away from the mine site and community members are compensation for killings and sexual assault.
• Communities in the Dominican Republic are also seeking urgent relocation away from the contaminated mine site, and to be compensated for their economic losses from dead cattle and contaminated produce.
• Indigenous Diaguita communities in Chile are fighting to stop the Pascua Lama project, which does not have their consent and has been poisoning their scarce water resources.
• Communities on Marinduque Island in the Philippines are seeking damages from a mine tailings disaster, considered the worst mining disaster in the Philippines.
• Barrick is being sued for fraud by their own shareholders because they lied about meeting environmental regulations in Chile and the cost and time estimates for their Pascua Lama project.

***Musical Performances by Amai Kuda, Test Their Logik, and more! ***

Please come out and support the communities negatively affected by Barrick. Through grassroots solidarity, we can ensure that their perspectives and needs are heard loud and clear in Toronto!

Video by MISN's Monica Gutierrez
Codemuh (the Honduran Women’s Collective) is a feminist and rights-based grass-roots organisation fighting for better living and working conditions for women in garment factories, or maquilas as they are known in Latin America.

ABOUT MISN
The Mining Injustice Solidarity Network (MISN) is a grassroots, volunteer-run group that works to bring the voices and experiences of communities impacted by extractive industries to Toronto, Canada, a country where over 75% of global mining businesses are based. As Canada is a leader within the international mining industry, we recognize the necessity for a movement within Canada to demand accountability in this sector.

Read more: http://www.solidarityresponse.net/about/

Save the dates!

UPCOMING AGM PROTESTS

Barrick (April 30, 11am)
Goldcorp (May 1)
Hudbay (May 8)

CARAVAN TO MINING TRIBUNAL in MONTREAL

Join the Mining Injustice Solidarity Network as we travel to Montreal for the PPT's hearing on the Canadian mining industry in Latin America - May 29th to June 1st.
We are working alongside other groups to coordinate transportation from the GTA to the Mining Tribunal in Montreal.

More info on Mining Tribunal here.
Sign up for the Toronto caravan here.

with rage, love, and solidarity after the murder of Merilyn Topacio Reynoso and the attack on her father

FOLLOWING THIS MOST RECENT TARGETED ASSASSINATION, MISN SENT EMERGENCY FUNDS TO THE FAMILY TO CONTRIBUTE TOWARDS FUNERAL AND HOSPITAL EXPENSES. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO CONTRIBUTE TO THIS FAMILY, PLEASE CONTACT MININGINJUSTICE@GMAIL.COM

Late on Sunday night, Alex Reynoso and Merilyn Topacio Reynoso, father and daughter activists involved in the resistance against Canadian company Tahoe Resources’ Escobal Mine in Guatemala, were attacked by unknown suspects. Alex and Merilyn were on their way home to Matequescuintla after attending an activity in a nearby community. Merilyn, who was sixteen years old, was shot and killed; Alex was severely wounded and remains in intensive care.

MISN member Rachel Small spent time in communities around this mining project in February and March and heard countless stories of activists who had received death threats, who had been attacked, and who have been forced to live in a constant state of fear in their own homes and communities. While details of the attack against Alex and Merilyn remain unclear, this incident clearly forms part of this larger pattern of recent violent acts and intimidation.

Letter in response to murder of Jesuit run Radio Progreso staff member in Honduras

Dear Minister Baird,

We are outraged and deeply saddened by the news of the murder of Carlos Mejía Orellana on April 11, 2014, a journalist and marketing director of Radio Progreso, a Jesuit community-based radio station in El Progreso, Honduras. We would like to express our deepest condolences to Carlos’ family members, friends and colleagues. Our thoughts and prayers are with all who are mourning this senseless death.

Following the coup d’état in 2009, Carlos and other Radio Progreso employees have been targets of repeated death threats because of their commitment to journalistic and social expression, and documentation of abuses of power and impunity. READ MORE >>

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