<nettime> Federation of Random Action Calls for a VR Sit-In on Occidental

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--Please Pass This On--

FEDERATION OF RANDOM ACTION

CALLS FOR A VIRTUAL SIT-IN
ON
OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM
**( Oxy and CdnOxy )**


IN SUPPORT OF THE U�WA�S
CAMPAIGN TO STOP THEM.

++++++++
WHEN?

FEBURARY 3, 2000

FROM 9:00 AM TO 12:00 PM (BOGATA, COLOMBIA )

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

++++++++++
WHERE?

Europe:
http://www.lamtar.com/guest/%5b...%5d/fra/fidox/

U.S.A
http://www.this.is/etoy/fidox/


++++++++++
WHY?

The U'wa of the Colombian cloud forest are in a life-and-death struggle to
protect their traditional culture and sacred homeland from an oil project
slated to begin on their land at anytime. The U'wa are adamantly opposed
to the drilling and warn that the project will lead to an increase in
violence as seen in other oil regions of Colombia.  Despite this, Los
Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum and the Colombian government continue
to move forward with plans to drill. The U'wa have made a call for
international support; now is the time for us to answer. 

+++++++++++
 DISCLAIMER

 FRA supports Uwa's campaign against Occidental Petroleum ( Oxy and CdnOxy
) and Rainforest Action Network ( ran.org ).  We have built a mirror site
to their mailing action, so you can send a fax or a send mail as you can
on RAN�s website. 

http://www.ran.org

This Virtual Sit-In is independent of both RAN and RAN�s mailing project. 

Federation of Random Action movement is entirely responsible for this
Virtual Sit-In. 


+++++++++++ LATEST INFORMATION

COLOMBIAN ARMY FORCIBLY EVICTS U'WA FROM DRILL SITE

On Jan. 25, Colombian military and police forces headed by Maj. Victor
Hugo Rojas Aragon evicted U'wa indigenous people from a protest encampment
within their traditional ancestral territory, where they were seeking to
prevent the US oil company Occidental Petroleum (Oxy)  from drilling its
first test well, Gibraltar 1.  The army used helicopters to remove the
U'wa from the site at Santa Rita and Bellavista, in Norte de Santander
department. In a communique issued the day of the operation, the U'wa
reported that "since this action three of our indigenous brothers are
missing." According to the U'wa communique, Norte de Santander governor
Jorge Garcia Herreros referred to the U'wa as "animal Indians" who "have
to be evicted violently." 

On Jan. 19, some 5,000 government troops had arrived and surrounded the
U'wa protest encampment on Jan. 22, 10 trucks had begun bringing in heavy
equipment to be used for clearing a road to the area.  At the same time as
the eviction, according to a report by Colprensa published in the Medellin
daily El Colombiano, a column of National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas
entered the area of the proposed drill site and pushed some of the heavy
equipment over a cliff to sabotage the oil-drilling operation. The ELN has
reportedly announced its plans to support U'wa attempts to block oil
drilling in the region.  [The ELN has frequently targeted foreign oil
company operations, generally by bombing existing pipelines.]

Eight environmental and human rights activists were arrested on Jan. 26
for staging a sit-in in support of the U'wa at the presidential campaign
headquarters of US vice president Al Gore in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Supported by dozens of demonstrators outside, the activists called on Gore
to use his deep family and financial ties to Oxy to halt the company's
planned drilling on U'wa tribal lands. [Media Advisory 1/26/00, jointly
issued by ACERCA, Amazon Watch, Native Forest Network &Rainforest Action
Network] An international day of action in support of the U'wa is planned
 for Feb. 3; see

http://www.ran.org or http://www.amazonwatch.org. 

+++++++++++
URGENT COMMUNIQUE! Colombian Military Invades U'wa Land!

CALL AL GORE'S CAMPAIGNS HQ IN NEW HAMPSHIRE!
603-622-8303

AL GORE HAS HALF A MILLION DOLLARS WORTH OF OCCIDENTAL STOCK.  DEMAND THAT
HE USE BOTH HIS PERSONAL AND POLITICAL INFLUENCE TO DEMAND THAT THE
COLOMBIAN MILITARY AND OCCIDENTAL PULL OUT OF U'WA LAND!  (see article
below) 

FEB 3!  ORGANIZE AGAINST FIDELITY INVESTMENTS!  FIND THE NEAREST ONE TO
YOU : 

 http://personal400.fidelity.com/gen/centers/invstctr.html.tvsr

CALL YOUR LOCAL REPRESENTATIVES AND TELL THEM TO VOTE AGAINST CLINTON'S
$1.3 BILLION MILITARY AID PACKAGE TO COLOMBIA

FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK 1-800-989-RAIN

IF YOU ARE IN LOS ANGELES CALL ACTION RESOURCE CENTER 310-392-7656

+++++++++++++++++ Communique from the U'wa People January 20, 2000

URGENT URGENT URGENT COMMUNICATION TO THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL
PUBLIC OXY INVADES U'WA TERRITORY THE COLOMBIAN ARMY HAS 5000 AGENTS IN
THE SERVICE OF OCCCIDENTAL OIL

On January 19, 2000 more than 5,000 agents of the Colombian Military,
heavily armed, invaded our traditional territory, exactly at Cedeno, where
Oxy's oil drilling site Gibraltar 1 is situated.  Faced with opposition
presented by the U'wa people, headed by our representative and indigenous
leader Roberto Cobaria, military forces declared that "the oil will be
extracted even over and above the U'wa people." Also police forces were
dispatched to the zone for the security of Occidental's engineers. 

Since the 15th of November 1999, more than 250 U'wa people have occupied
Cedeno, part of our ancestral territory, resisting the exploitation
brought on by Oxy. Now we are being surrounded by the 5000 military agents
and Colombian police who have put at risk our physical integrity. 

With this deed, Occidental and the Colombian government are insisting on
ignoring our territorial rights over land we have occupied for thousands
of years. We are the owners of the territory on which they aim to exploit
petroleum, without recognizing the constitutional rights of community
lands for our ethnic group which are inalienable, non-negotiable, and
irremovable, protected by public laws over collective property. 

In this way, the Colombian government headed by the Minister of Mining and
Energy with the compliance of INCORA, in a shadowy process is seeking to
declare U'wa territory a special petroleum reserve zone with the false
argument that the national petroleum industry is covered by the law as a
public utility or social interest, with the sole purpose of permitting and
facilitating petroleum exploitation by the multinational corporation
Occidental. We are making an urgent call to the national and international
community, and to all groups who have supported us, to mobilize against
this last attempt to trample upon the U'wa nation, which threatens our
existence and culture. WE U'WA WILL NOT CEDE OUR CULTURAL, HISTORIC AND
ANCIENT RIGHTS.  WE PREFER GENOCIDE SPONSORED BY THE COLOMBIAN GOVERNMENT
RATHER THAN HANDING OVER OUR MOTHER EARTH TO OIL COMPANIES. 


_____________

Financial Times, 1/19/00 World News / Americas


Gore attacked over Colombia oil project By Matthew Jones

Environmentalists and human rights activists are accusing Al Gore, the US
vice-president and candidate for the Democratic party presidential
nomination, of hypocrisy over his shareholding in an oil company
prospecting in Colombian rainforests. 

Mr. Gore has targeted the environmental and human rights vote as part of
his election campaign and was last week rated "the most knowledgeable" 
presidential candidate on green issues by the influential League of
Conservation Voters. 

But the U'wa Defense Working Group, which represents the U'wa indigenous
tribe from the north east of Colombia, says Mr. Gore is inextricably
linked with Occidental Petroleum, the US oil group which plans to start
drilling on its ancestral lands in the next few months in search of an
estimated 1.5bn barrels of oil. 

According to Mr. Gore's official Public Financial Disclosure Report for
1998, the latest information available, the vice-president owned between
$250,000 and $500,000 in Occidental stock inherited from his father,
Albert Gore Sr., who died in 1998. Mr.  Gore Sr. became a board member of
Occidental Petroleum after losing his Senate seat in 1970. 

According to the Center for Public Integrity, a non-profit organization
that analyses ethics in politics, Ray Irani, the Occidental chief
executive, made a donation of $100,000 to the Democratic National
Committee in the early 90s following a stay in the Lincoln Room of the
White House. 

The campaign group is urging environmentalists not to vote for Mr Gore and
to protest about his links to Occidental on the campaign trail. 

Neither the White House nor Mr. Gore's campaign team has responded to
requests for comment. 

Stephen Kretzmann, U'wa campaign co-ordinator for Amazon Watch, a
California-based environmental group, said: "This will not look good for
Al Gore in the midst of an election campaign. It is clear that he could
stop the drilling with a phone call and if he doesn't do something about
this he will lose the environmental and human rights vote." 

The U'wa, who number 5,000, first hit the headlines in 1996 when they
threatened to commit collective suicide if Occidental's drilling plans
were not halted. 

The drill site falls 600m outside the legally recognized U'wa Unified
Reserve but the tribe claims it is within larger, traditional ancestral
territory. 

The UDWG claims development of the site would be damaging to the tribe and
the environment because of the likely increase in oil-related violence
between different armed factions in the politically unstable region. 

It says Occidental's existing pipeline has been attacked more than 600
times in the last 12 years leading to 2.1m barrels of crude oil spilling
into the soil and rivers, and that U'wa members and humanitarian workers
have been killed or injured in the cross-fire. 

Occidental said earlier this month that it planned to start building roads
to the test site at the end of January and would sink the first test well
at the site in May. 

Ken Hufmann, Occidental's vice-president of investor relations, refused to
comment on Mr. Gore's stock holding in the company or any political
donations that it had made. 

He would say only: "We're moving ahead with plans to drill the well but I
have no specific dates." 

+++++++ MIRROR SITES! 

If you would like to host a mirror site. 

Please email:  rcourvoisier@netscape.net or rdom@thing.net

+++++++
STOP THE OIL ARMIES
JOIN
FEDERATION OF RANDOM ACTION�S

VIRTUAL SIT-IN ON
OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM
**( Oxy and CdnOxy )**

IN SUPPORT OF THE UWA�S
CAMPAIGN TO STOP THEM.

++++++++
WHEN?

FEBURARY 3, 2000

FROM 9:00 AM TO 12:00 PM (BOGATA, COLOMBIA )

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

++++++++++
WHERE?

Europe:
http://www.lamtar.com/guest/%5b...%5d/fra/fidox/

U.S.A
http://www.this.is/etoy/fidox/


++++++++++

"no necesitamos pedir permiso para ser libres."

                        -el subcomandante marcos, EZLN


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