President halted construction in wake of police violence but remains accused of betraying native peoples Tens of thousands of Bolivians have taken to the streets to reproach President Evo Morales over a police crackdown on indigenous protesters. The marchers decried the perceived betrayal by Bolivia’s first Indian president of his prime constituencies: native groups and environmentalists. “Evo was a very strong symbol for many people. He embodied principles of justice, of human rights. But now these people are disenchanted,” said Jim Shultz, an analyst with thinktank the Democracy Centre, which works on Bolivian issues. Some Bolivians, such as 44-year-old schoolteacher Juana Pinto, said Morales had proved a disappointment. “This government is the worst and it should go because it attacked human beings, the indigenous compatriots who had given it their support, and now it’s turned its back on them,” said Pinto, who took part in a march that brought central La Paz to a standstill. The president issued a statement saying the protests had been a “profound wake-up call” for his government following weekend police action that broke up a march by Indians protesting against a proposed highway through their protected Amazon reserve. “I could never order such violence as has been seen by the Bolivian people,” Morales said in a statement released to news media. He asked for forgiveness from the families of the protesters and urged indigenous groups to hold talks with the government. Bolivia’s main labour federation called a 24-hour general strike on Wednesday. It appeared only partially successful – most businesses were open. Morales championed a new constitution in 2010 that granted Bolivia’s 36 indigenous groups an as yet ill-defined autonomy. He promised to protect indigenous people from industry and developers. But since winning election in December 2005 the president has been forced to weigh development against environmental protection. His “revolution” reached a crossroads last year when he decided to pursue a 190-mile (300km) jungle highway funded by Brazil through the Isiboro-Secure Indigenous Territory National Park, or TIPNIS, in the eastern lowlands state of Beni. About 1,000 people began a march on La Paz in mid-August from Beni’s capital, Trinidad, to protest against the highway they say is an open invitation to loggers and coca-planting settlers and a threat to park inhabitants. That march was broken up on Sunday by riot police who used teargas and truncheons, arresting several hundred marchers but later freeing them under pressure from local people. Bolivia’s defence minister resigned immediately in protest at the crackdown and the interior minister followed, accepting responsibility for police actions. Morales announced on Monday that he was suspending the highway project and would let voters in the affected region decide its fate in a referendum. The original protesters against the highway have promised to resume their own march. Bolivia Indigenous peoples Amazon rainforest guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …President halted construction in wake of police violence but remains accused of betraying native peoples Tens of thousands of Bolivians have taken to the streets to reproach President Evo Morales over a police crackdown on indigenous protesters. The marchers decried the perceived betrayal by Bolivia’s first Indian president of his prime constituencies: native groups and environmentalists. “Evo was a very strong symbol for many people. He embodied principles of justice, of human rights. But now these people are disenchanted,” said Jim Shultz, an analyst with thinktank the Democracy Centre, which works on Bolivian issues. Some Bolivians, such as 44-year-old schoolteacher Juana Pinto, said Morales had proved a disappointment. “This government is the worst and it should go because it attacked human beings, the indigenous compatriots who had given it their support, and now it’s turned its back on them,” said Pinto, who took part in a march that brought central La Paz to a standstill. The president issued a statement saying the protests had been a “profound wake-up call” for his government following weekend police action that broke up a march by Indians protesting against a proposed highway through their protected Amazon reserve. “I could never order such violence as has been seen by the Bolivian people,” Morales said in a statement released to news media. He asked for forgiveness from the families of the protesters and urged indigenous groups to hold talks with the government. Bolivia’s main labour federation called a 24-hour general strike on Wednesday. It appeared only partially successful – most businesses were open. Morales championed a new constitution in 2010 that granted Bolivia’s 36 indigenous groups an as yet ill-defined autonomy. He promised to protect indigenous people from industry and developers. But since winning election in December 2005 the president has been forced to weigh development against environmental protection. His “revolution” reached a crossroads last year when he decided to pursue a 190-mile (300km) jungle highway funded by Brazil through the Isiboro-Secure Indigenous Territory National Park, or TIPNIS, in the eastern lowlands state of Beni. About 1,000 people began a march on La Paz in mid-August from Beni’s capital, Trinidad, to protest against the highway they say is an open invitation to loggers and coca-planting settlers and a threat to park inhabitants. That march was broken up on Sunday by riot police who used teargas and truncheons, arresting several hundred marchers but later freeing them under pressure from local people. Bolivia’s defence minister resigned immediately in protest at the crackdown and the interior minister followed, accepting responsibility for police actions. Morales announced on Monday that he was suspending the highway project and would let voters in the affected region decide its fate in a referendum. The original protesters against the highway have promised to resume their own march. Bolivia Indigenous peoples Amazon rainforest guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …The Amanda Knox of 2011 bears little resemblance to the confident-bordering-on-cocky Amanda Knox of 2009. In a look at how the last two years have changed the American, the AP talks to her family and friends, and paints a picture of a more mature but more wary and anxious 24-year-old….
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Pearl Jam and director Cameron Crowe talk about the band’s new moive, ‘Pearl Jam Twenty,’ and what makes them continue to play. (Sept. 28)
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Pearl Jam and director Cameron Crowe talk about the band’s new moive, ‘Pearl Jam Twenty,’ and what makes them continue to play. (Sept. 28)
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Facebook friends and fans across the Twittersphere are mourning the loss of Heidi, the cross-eyed German opossum whose cute but confused countenance warmed hearts around the world. (Sept. 28)
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Facebook friends and fans across the Twittersphere are mourning the loss of Heidi, the cross-eyed German opossum whose cute but confused countenance warmed hearts around the world. (Sept. 28)
Continue reading …WARNING: May cause some viewers to spit coffee through their nose. Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry shares a few poignant thoughts via some very Bad Lip Reading.
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Bankrupt solar panel maker Solyndra made a fleeting appearance on the Rachel Maddow show Monday night, just long enough for Maddow to assure her viewers that this too can be seen as Bush's fault. Maddow did her best to put a shine on the situation, suggesting the Bush administration was at much at fault for considering Solyndra's application for a $535 million federal loan as the Obama administration was — for approving it. (video after page break) — To the extent that Washington's talking about alternative energy right now at all, that talk has to do with a failed government loan to a company called Solyndra, a maker of solar panels. In 2009 Solyndra got a loan for more than half a billion dollars from the US government. This month the company closed its plant, laid off more than a thousand people and went bankrupt. Congress called its top executives to testify last week on Capitol Hill. The executives took the Fifth. You can argue the Solyndra case any number of ways, whether President Bush was responsible for it since the loan started under him, or whether you want to blame President Obama, whether either administration should have known better to lend to Solyndra or whether this was just a bad bet in one of those public-private partnerships that are never a sure thing, but that nevertheless elected officials are always saying we need more of. “Whether either administration should have known better” — in other words, equal culpability for both. Unfortunately for Maddow, the administration that didn't know better was the one led by Barack Obama and Joe Biden. That's why clips of both men touting Solyndra's alleged capacity for job creation are only clicks away at YouTube while one will search in vain for George W. Bush and Dick Cheney gushing on the same subject. More from Maddow on Solyndra — Solyndra made headlines last week in the latest round of funding for rural electrification. It's of course the dirty word of clean energy anymore. And this week the conservative weekly The Weekly Standard put President Obama on its cover as 'President Solyndra.' That's what they want to call him, trying to reduce his whole presidency to one loan to one failed maker of solar panels. Maddow deserves credit for even mentioning Solyndra, sensitive subject that it must be at MSNBC, though her doing so was out of character. More than two weeks have passed since Republicans won special elections to fill House vacancies in New York and Nevada — and the seldom-tongue tied Maddow still hasn't uttered a word about it.
Continue reading …Bankrupt solar panel maker Solyndra made a fleeting appearance on the Rachel Maddow show Monday night, just long enough for Maddow to assure her viewers that this too can be seen as Bush's fault. Maddow did her best to put a shine on the situation, suggesting the Bush administration was at much at fault for considering Solyndra's application for a $535 million federal loan as the Obama administration was — for approving it. (video after page break) — To the extent that Washington's talking about alternative energy right now at all, that talk has to do with a failed government loan to a company called Solyndra, a maker of solar panels. In 2009 Solyndra got a loan for more than half a billion dollars from the US government. This month the company closed its plant, laid off more than a thousand people and went bankrupt. Congress called its top executives to testify last week on Capitol Hill. The executives took the Fifth. You can argue the Solyndra case any number of ways, whether President Bush was responsible for it since the loan started under him, or whether you want to blame President Obama, whether either administration should have known better to lend to Solyndra or whether this was just a bad bet in one of those public-private partnerships that are never a sure thing, but that nevertheless elected officials are always saying we need more of. “Whether either administration should have known better” — in other words, equal culpability for both. Unfortunately for Maddow, the administration that didn't know better was the one led by Barack Obama and Joe Biden. That's why clips of both men touting Solyndra's alleged capacity for job creation are only clicks away at YouTube while one will search in vain for George W. Bush and Dick Cheney gushing on the same subject. More from Maddow on Solyndra — Solyndra made headlines last week in the latest round of funding for rural electrification. It's of course the dirty word of clean energy anymore. And this week the conservative weekly The Weekly Standard put President Obama on its cover as 'President Solyndra.' That's what they want to call him, trying to reduce his whole presidency to one loan to one failed maker of solar panels. Maddow deserves credit for even mentioning Solyndra, sensitive subject that it must be at MSNBC, though her doing so was out of character. More than two weeks have passed since Republicans won special elections to fill House vacancies in New York and Nevada — and the seldom-tongue tied Maddow still hasn't uttered a word about it.
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