Testimonio: Canadian Mining in the Aftermath of Genocides in Guatemala was dropped by Springer Nature over libel chill

[link removed] Share ([link removed])

[link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fmailchi.mp%2Frightsaction%2Fbetween-the-lines-to-publish-testimonio Tweet ([link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fmailchi.mp%2Frightsaction%2Fbetween-the-lines-to-publish-testimonio)

[link removed] Forward ([link removed])

March 29, 2021
*******
Between the Lines to publish book - Testimonio: Canadian Mining in the Aftermath of Genocides in Guatemala (edited by Catherine Nolin & Grahame Russell) – that was dropped by Springer Nature over libel chill
[link removed]

“Part of what this book’s editors demonstrate in the book is that violating human rights, using repression, and acting with corruption and impunity is how the Canadian-dominated mining industry has operated in Guatemala.
If no publisher will publish the book then this has just compounded the problem of getting at the truth.”

*******
Between the Lines to publish mining book dropped by Springer Nature over libel chill
[link removed]

Grahame Russell & Catherine Nolin, Rabinal Mayan Achi community museum,
Guatemala, January 2020 (photo Brian Gorlick)
A book about Canadian mining in Guatemala that was dropped by its European publisher over potential legal concerns last year will be published this fall by Between the Lines.

Testimonio: Canadian Mining in the Aftermath of Genocides in Guatemala is described as a collection of essays, news reports, and testimonials about the actions of Canadian mining companies in the Central American country. Edited by University of Northern British Columbia professor Catherine Nolin and Rights Action director Grahame Russell, Testimonio had been slated for publication by Switzerland-based Springer Nature.

In an open letter to Springer Nature last November, Nolin and Russell described how they had entered into a publishing agreement in 2017 and submitted their final manuscript in February 2020. After positive initial feedback, Nolin and Russell say in their open letter that they didn’t hear from anyone at Springer Nature until July, when the publishing editor told them in an email that the book contained “unsubstantiated defamatory content” and said Springer Nature would be unable to publish it.

Nolin and Russell say the publisher didn’t reply to their emails asking for clarification, although eventually their editor told them that the publisher could be sued for defamation by a third party if the book were to be published.

BTL managing editor Amanda Crocker said in an email that the Toronto-based publisher reached out to Nolin and Russell after reading a news story about their book being dropped. After a conversation with BTL over Zoom, Nolin and Russell decided to submit their manuscript to BTL’s editorial committee, which “felt strongly that the book should be published,” Crocker said.

“It’s concerning when authors do years of research to produce well-documented accounts of the actions of powerful corporations (mining and otherwise) and then have difficulty finding a publisher to make this work available to readers,” Crocker said.

“Part of what this book’s editors demonstrate in the book is that violating human rights, using repression, and acting with corruption and impunity is how the Canadian-dominated mining industry has operated in Guatemala. If no publisher will publish the book then this has just compounded the problem of getting at the truth.”

Between the Lines ([link removed]) plans to publish the book this October.

*******
RCMP officers [Canadian equivalent of the FBI] came to launch of a Between the Lines book about mining
In Fall 2019, two plainclothes RCMP officers [Canadian equivalent of the FBI] came to the launch of a Between the Lines book, Unearthing Justice: How to Protect Your Community from the Mining Industry ([link removed]) by Joan Kuyek, on the Mount Allison University campus in Sackville, NB.

Afterwards, Dave Thomas, an associate professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Mount Allison, sent an access to information request to the RCMP. A year later, after no response, he filed a complaint with the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada.

This month (January 2021), he got the results. To limit what they released, the RCMP invoked an exemption to the Access to Information Act, whereby they don't have to release information about government institutions involved in “investigations pertaining to ... the detection, prevention or suppression of crime.”

What crime did the RCMP think might take place at this book launch?
* Full article & link to more information: [link removed]

*******
Why did a Swiss publisher abruptly refuse to publish “Canadian Mining in the Aftermath of Genocides in Guatemala”?
[link removed]

November 20, 2020 update: Due to significant interest, we re-publish this Public Letter, along with the Table of Contents and Bios of the editors and contributors.
Thank you, Catherine Nolin & Grahame Russell

*******
The US and Canadian governments, the World Bank and global businesses and investors (in the sectors of mining, dams, African palm, sugarcane, bananas, garment “sweatshop” factors, tourism, etc.) maintain enriching and empowering relations with anti-democratic, corrupt, repressive governments in Honduras and Guatemala, contributing to and benefitting from exploitation and poverty, environmental harms, repression and human rights violations, corruption and impunity.

By Grahame Russell, Rights Action, February 9, 2021
[link removed]

The US government promises pathway to citizenship for 11 million people, but will the US, Canada and “international community” continue to treat Honduras and Guatemala like “shithole countries”, creating ever more forced migrants and refugees?

Rights Action (US & Canada)
Since 1995, Rights Action: funds human rights, environment and territory defense struggles in Guatemala and Honduras; funds victims of repression and human rights violations, health harms and natural disasters; and works to hold accountable the U.S. and Canadian governments, multi-national companies, investors and banks (World Bank, etc.) that help cause and profit from exploitation and poverty, repression and human rights violations, environmental harms, corruption and impunity in Honduras and Guatemala.

Act / Stir up the pot / Chip away
Keep sending copies of Rights Action information (and that of other solidarity groups/ NGOs) to family, friends, your networks, politicians and media, asking ‘Why do our governments, companies and investment firms benefit from and turn a blind eye to poverty, repression and violence, environmental and health harms that caused the forced migrancy / refugee crisis in Guatemala and Honduras?’
* U.S. Senate: [link removed]
* U.S. House: [link removed]
* Canadian Parliament: [link removed]

Follow work of and get involved with other solidarity/NGO groups
* CISPES (Committee in Solidarity with People of El Salvador): www.cispes.org ([link removed])
* www.hondurassolidarity.org ([link removed])
* Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective: www.solidaritycollective.org ([link removed])
* Friendship Office of the Americas: [link removed] ([link removed])
* NISGUA (Network in Solidarity with People of Guatemala): www.nisgua.org ([link removed])
* GHRC (Guatemalan Human Rights Commission): www.ghrc-usa.org ([link removed])
* Breaking the Silence: www.breakingthesilenceblog.com ([link removed])
* Alliance for Global Justice: www.afgj.org ([link removed])
* CODEPINK: www.codepink.org ([link removed])
* School of Americas Watch: www.soaw.org ([link removed])
* Mining Watch Canada: www.miningwatch.ca ([link removed])
* Mining Injustice Solidarity Network: [link removed] ([link removed])
* Mining Justice Alliance: [link removed] ([link removed])
* Common Frontiers Canada: www.commonfrontiers.ca ([link removed])

*******
Tax-Deductible Donations (Canada & U.S.)
To support land, human rights and environmental defender groups in Honduras and Guatemala – including community groups resisting harms and violations caused by Pan American Silver, make check to "Rights Action" and mail to:
* U.S.: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887
* Canada: (Box 552) 351 Queen St. E, Toronto ON, M5A-1T8

Credit-Card Donations: [link removed]
Donations of securities in Canada and the U.S.? Write to: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

Please share and re-post this information
Subscribe to Email Newsblasts: www.rightsaction.org ([link removed])
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed] ([link removed])
[link removed]
*******

[link removed] Facebook ([link removed])
[link removed] Twitter ([link removed])
[link removed] Website ([link removed])

============================================================
Copyright © 2021 Rights Action, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you are one of our subscriptor

Our mailing address is:
Rights Action
Box 50887
20091-0887
Washington, DC 0
USA
** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
** update subscription preferences ([link removed])
Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp
[link removed]