Paul Paz y Miño, Saqib Bhatti & Beverly Bell on Environmental Justice & Cross-National Solidarity
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This week on CounterSpin: The protests of the Wet'suwet'en in British Columbia, resisting the construction of a natural gas pipeline on their land, have been met with violent raids by Canadian police, which in turn have sparked solidarity actions around the country. A New York Times account detailed how many rail and road passengers were inconvenienced by blockades, noted the "strong support" for the gas line from the Canadian government, and the pipeline company's "promise" of millions of dollars of contracts with indigenous businesses, before granting one line of explanation that "a number of chiefs...fear the project will irrevocably alter their land." The fact that the Wet'suwet'en never signed a treaty, and the country's Supreme Court confirmed (just three years ago) that they hold "aboriginal title" to the land involved, can be found in paragraph 16 of this 17-paragraph piece.
There will only be an increasing number of frontline struggles between extractive, climate-disrupting industry and those willing to stand up to it. Corporate media's inadequate attention, and unwillingness to truly call out the moneyed interests causing present and future harms, make them more often part of the problem than the solution.
CounterSpin has had these issues brought to life by a number of guests in recent years. We'll hear a few of those conversations again on this special archived show. We'll hear from Paul Paz y Miño about Chevron in Ecuador, from Saqib Bhatti about Wells Fargo activism, and from Beverly Bell about Honduran activist Berta Caceres. Environmental justice and cross-national organizing and solidarity, this week on CounterSpin.
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