WORLD WORLDWIDE ITALY News Journal Update - (en) Italy, Gruppo Anarchico Galatea: Panorama: Jujuy, lithium and extractivism from north to south (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 Original: "Panorama: Jujuy, lithium y extractivismo de norte a sur".

Translated by Federica and Ana for the Galatea Anarchist Group ----[The
sentence]"More extractivism, less democracy" sums up the feeling of the
territories shaken by the mining, oil, forestry and agri-food model.
Just as Jujuy has erupted with mobilizations and repression, other
cities are being violated daily, and progressive groups - and human
rights sectors - are looking the other way. Extractivism does not cease
and is imposed with violence. ---- Repression to extract lithium from
the territories of the Kolla and Atacama people. Violence to exploit
Vaca Muerta in Mapuche territory. Process to clear out and fumigate with
toxic pesticides, peasant families and populations invaded by agribusiness.

It is the DNA of extractivism: repression, violation of rights,
contamination, lack of true democracy.

The violent acts of the Jujuy government are another chapter in how
extractivism is being imposed on indigenous communities and peasants
(although not only in these places). The economic and political power -
together with its judicial and media allies - seeks to take possession
of the indigenous territories to hand them over to the mining, oil,
forestry and agri-food companies.

In an attempt to maintain votes and domination over state apparatuses,
the Peronists in power maintain that the events in Jujuy are a technical
test of what the next government of "Juntos por el Cambio" (either with
Larreta or with Bullrich) will be. From the territories subjected to
extractivism, and from the cities that suffer daily repression, it can
be understood that Jujuy is one more piece of what -with varying
intensity- is already happening in the territories, both with Peronist
and radical governments.

An ancient complaint to those who always turn a deaf ear

For more than ten years, the communities of the Kolla and Atacama people
have denounced (also with a hearing in the Supreme Court) the violation
of lithium extraction rights in Jujuy and Salta.

Indigenous suffering and its claims are as old as the history of the
continent. Jujuy's past is full of indigenous struggles. An important
event, not the first, occurred in 1946, during the first Peronist
government, when a hundred indigenous people marched from Jujuy to Plaza
de Mayo to reclaim their territories. The unprecedented event went down
in history as the "Malón de la Paz". It was almost two months of walking
to shout an unspoken obligation to Buenos Aires: the lands of the
indigenous people. They never got an answer.

Sixty years later, another march, against another Peronism (Cristina
Fernández de Kirchner as president of the nation and Eduardo Fellner for
the Province), but with the same claim: 120 communities created the
"Second Malón de la Paz". They walked to claim their lands from the
different departments of the province up to Purmamarca.

The same city where they met last Saturday the 17th and suffered four
repressions in one day. The same province that has already baptized this
indigenous struggle as the "Terzo Malón de la Paz". Where the banner of
the struggle was "down with the reform, long live Whipala".

For advocates of "legal security" it is necessary to remember that
indigenous peoples have abundant legislation that protects their rights
and that obliges states (national, provincial and municipal) to consult
and obtain the consent of the affected communities. This fundamental
right, which is not respected in Argentina, is written into provincial
laws, the national constitution and international human rights treaties
- to which the country has acceded.

Jujuy was Neuquen

The repression lasted more than five hours. In the streets: teachers,
indigenous people, students, workers. On the other side, policemen
shooting at close range. Endless repression. Is that what happened to
Jujuy in 2023? No. It was Neuquén in 2013. When the provincial
Legislature was preparing, in full agreement with the national
government, to vote a law blindfolded to allow Chevron and YPF to start
fracking in Vaca Muerta.

The progressivism of Kirchner and his media allies have not raised their
voices. On the contrary, they justified the repression.

In May 2013 there was also repression in Famatina (La Rioja). Luis Beder
Herrera's government fired rubber bullets and tear gas at assembly
members who rejected the mega-mining. A dozen prisoners and seven
hospitalized.

Andalgalá has racked up half a dozen vicious crackdowns since the
mega-mining arrived. In April 2021, through the judiciary, a manhunt was
launched in the city. They broke down doors, beat men and women, and
without cause arrested twelve members of the assembly who actively
rejected extractivism and, at the same time, fought to protect the water
sources of Catamarca, a province ruled by Peronism for twelve years.
---- In December 2021, in Chubut, the police of Mariano Arcioni (allied
with Sergio Massa) repressed for hours the demonstration known as
"chubutazo", which rejected the governor and once again stopped the
mega-mining.

Neither in Catamarca nor in Chubut was the Secretary for Human Rights,
Horacio Pietragalla Corti (who was in Jujuy). Even the Minister of the
Environment, Juan Cabandié, who in the past waved the banner of human
rights, has not appeared in places where extractivism violates rights.
Cabandié's main concern, in a country crossed by extractivism, is the
recycling of plastic and visits to international meetings.

But it's not just the officials. Urban "progressivism" (not only in
Buenos Aires) chooses which repression to be indignant about. They are
outraged with Jujuy and look the other way in Catamarca, Chubut, Chaco,
La Rioja and many other feudal provinces.

Fiefdoms, democracies and dictatorships

Gerardo Morales' quest for limitless power and contempt for indigenous
communities are not the only characteristics of Jujuy's radicalism.
Formosa, a province governed by Gildo Insfrán, is an emblem of feudal
power and the submission of the popular sectors, in general, and of the
indigenous populations, in particular. But, for the official media and
journalists, Insfrán deserves no criticism.

Lithium, an essential mineral for the false energy transition, is one of
the factors behind Jujuy's constitutional reform and a prized loot for
obtaining dollars.

There is also lithium in Catamarca. The first mega mining company
operates there (the multinational FMC Corporation, with the name of
Minera del Altiplano) which exploits that mineral and those "salars".
And, for decades, indigenous peoples have already suffered from this
extractivism. The community of "Atacameños del Altiplano" has been
denouncing the actions of mining companies and local governments for
years. There is compelling evidence of its environmental impact: they
dried up the Trapiche River. And now they advance along the Los Patos
River. "Who will take responsibility for the looting, the contamination,
the water they use? We have known the mining industries for three
decades. This is why we say no to lithium extraction", observes the head
of the Atacameños indigenous community of the Altiplano, Román Guitián.

They are not the only ones affected. The population of Fiambalá, devoted
to tourism and agriculture, is suffering from the lithium advance of the
Chinese multinational Zijing Mining, encouraged by Governor Raúl Jalil
and President Alberto Fernández.

"Mining dictatorship" is the term coined in Catamarca and San Juan for
the daily repressive actions caused by the mining model, where
governments are the best lobbyists and guardians of companies.

It is incomprehensible how the social sectors, which claim to be far
from the right and marched on March 24, insist on further developing
extractivism. A clear example is Juan Grabois, whom some point to as the
most leftist person of Kirchnerism. Grabois repeatedly promotes the
exploitation of lithium[and calls for]greater state participation (in
line with the statements of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner on May 25 in
the Plaza de Mayo). The socio-environmental organization Pueblos
Catamarqueños en Resistencia y Autodeterminación (Pucará) replied[to
them]: "They talk about human rights but they repress behind the scenes.
They talk about fighting for the poor but go hand in hand with the rich.
They talk about sovereignty but destroy indigenous nations. Fortunately,
against all those who support this looting, there are those who resist
in the territories."

Jujuy is not, as Peronism maintains, a testing ground for the future.
The future has long since arrived: governments and companies that
exploit nature. And the indigenous peoples who protect their territories
and their lives.

https://gruppoanarchicogalatea.noblogs.org/post/2023/08/04/panorama-jujuy-litio-ed-estrattivismo-da-nord-a-sud/
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