Yes, this is in the middle of the Amazon.

John,

It reads like a futuristic dystopian novel: deep in the heart of the Amazon, where there should be untouched nature, there’s a grotesque aluminum refinery.

Five years ago, the refinery, owned by megacorp Norsk Hydro, dumped untreated wastewater into the river. The company itself called it “unacceptable”. But now, as locals are sick and dying, their blood showing off-the-charts readings of heavy metals, their babies born with malformations…Norsk refuses to help.

So 11,000 affected families took matters into their own hands – and sued the company in the Netherlands. They’ve waited for years, but finally the trial is approaching.

Our team has spoken with the community leaders. They’re ready for trial, but also dealing with an ongoing crisis. They’re trying to install water filters and build a local health clinic for medical help – but they don’t have the funds to do it, and people are still sick and getting sicker. They can’t just wait to see what happens in court and hope for the best.

John, if enough of us chip in, we can ensure the community’s health isn’t left to the whims and the timelines of a court far away. We can rush them a donation and get the clinic built and filters developed – now. Can you help heal this community in the heart of the Amazon?

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It’s a perfect case study of what’s wrong with colonial capitalism. An indifferent $11 billion company goes on churning out aluminum at the second biggest aluminum refinery in the world – selling it to Ford to build F-150 trucks – while the community around them suffers and dies because the company treats nature like its dumping ground.

And they don’t even have the guts to take responsibility.

Not only that, they go around using technicalities to try to get out of the lawsuit. The community initially brought claims in Brazil, but the justice system has worked at a snail’s pace. Needing urgent relief, the victims turned to the Netherlands. And Norsk says…please sit around and wait for this to be handled in Brazil.

With this kind of record, it’s impossible to feel locals should wait around for the case to be concluded and “see what happens”; surely Norsk will find more ways to delay.

This is the kind of fight Ekō was made for. A vulnerable group of people is being exploited and mistreated by a massive corporation that just wants to avoid accountability. John, we’ve won these battles before, and it’s time to do it again. Can you chip in to help this community from the heart of the Amazon get the health care it urgently needs?

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Anything extra raised will power Ekō and our campaigns worldwide fighting for people and the planet.