Hi John, I'm writing you directly because I wanted to make sure
you saw this email before this small, local group of Borneo forest
defenders heads to court. They've built a solid case -- thanks to the
support of Ekō members like you -- but there's no telling what Samling
will throw at them once they step foot into that courthouse. They could
really use your help to defeat this timber giant in court.
I hope you can take a moment now to read more about their fight. I think
you'll find their bravery and determination inspiring...I know I did.
Wishing you all the best,
Yasmin
---------------------------------
[ [link removed]- ]Villagers blockading Samling logging equipment in Malaysia
John,
Global timber and palm oil giant Samling is deforesting huge swathes of
rainforest in Borneo, destroying Indigenous land, fuelling climate chaos
and pushing endangered gibbons, clouded leopards and pangolins toward
extinction.
When a local, four-person NGO exposed the destruction, the timber giant
slapped them with a $1.8 million lawsuit to silence them!
The family that owns Samling is worth over $400 million – and can simply
pay high priced lawyers to bully these forest defenders indefinitely if
they want. But the tiny NGO doesn't need millions to defeat Samling, just
enough to pursue a smart legal strategy that gets this bogus lawsuit
thrown out.
With their first court date now set for May, they’re racing to raise money
for the fierce legal battle ahead – and with your help of even
$1
we can give this small but mighty group of Borneo forest defenders money
they need to fight back in court and win.
[ [link removed]- ]Donate
$3[ [link removed]- ]Donate
another amount
Samling doesn’t even need to win this case in court to win. It just needs
to bankrupt these Borneo forest defenders with an expensive lawsuit to
shut down the campaign, or keep the case dragging on indefinitely to
silence dissent. Either way, Samling can continue its unethical logging
operations.
Letting that happen would set a dangerous precedent against environmental
activists and local land rights -- and people’s land and endangered
animals' habitats will continue to be wiped out by huge logging companies
and palm oil plantations. But this NGO has a good shot of winning their
case -- even the UN says the lawsuit may be unfounded and has issued a
public statement expressing their concerns to the Malaysian government
about Samling's dodgy practices.
That’s why we need your help right now to build on this momentum.
Winning lawsuits like this is crucial in our fight to protect people and
the planet from corporate greed. Together we can give this group a
fighting chance to beat this lawsuit, set new legal precedent that
protects activists against this type of corporate bullying, and keep up
the fight to stop corporate bullies everywhere.
Can you donate to help these forest defenders fight back – and save
majestic Borneo?
[ [link removed]- ]Donate
$3[ [link removed]- ]Donate
another amount
Thanks for all that you do,
Yasmin, Nish, Angus and the team at Ekō
---------------------------------
More information:
[ [link removed]- ]Malaysia: alleged SLAPP against human rights organisation SAVE Rivers
(joint communication). UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders. 02
November 2022.
[ [link removed]- ]SLAPP suit against Sarawakian NGO SAVE Rivers by PEFC-certified logging
company. ICCA Consortium. 24 March 2022.
[ [link removed]- ]Malaysian timber giant Samling takes conflict over logging activity to
court. Mongabay. 19 August 2021.
[ [link removed]- ]300 Long Moh villagers demand justice after unpermitted logging on
their land. SAVE Rivers. 10 March 2021.
Ekō is a worldwide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy.
Please help keep Ekō strong by chipping in $3. [link removed]-
