International Network of People Affected by Vale: New Forms of Resistance to Global Mining Corporations
Thursday, November 6, 2014
York University, Kaneff Tower – Room 902
2:30 – 4:30 pm
All are welcome!
Since the 1980s, Brazilian mining giant Vale has operated an 890 km railway carrying unprocessed ore from rich iron mines in Carajas to a port in Såo Luis for export to global markets. As many as 26 trains a day cuts through indigenous, ex-slave and traditional communities. The current plan to double the railway is proceeding with as little community consultation and compensation as the original line.
A regional network called Justice on the Rails used the World Social Forum in 2009 as a platform to publicize the megaproject’s destructive effects. In 2010, this network joined other Brazilian organizations in calling for a first international meeting of people affected by Vale, among them Canadian Steelworkers from Vale’s newly acquired Inco operations.
What are the current challenges in resisting the logic and the destructiveness of extractivism and its giant players like Vale? How effective are these new forms of globalization from below such as the International Network of People Affected by Vale?
Presenters:
- Danilo Chammas is a lawyer who has been active in Justice on the Rails since
its beginnings. He built connections with mining activists in Canada during post-graduate studies in Ottawa. He has represented the network in discussions with shareholders at Vale AGMs and was one of those identified by a Vale whistleblower in 2013 as having been a target of Vale spying - Dr. Judith Marshall is an educator and activist.
During her years in the global affairs department of the United Steelworkers
union, she was actively involved in building the network of People Affected
by Vale. This included organizing several trinational exchanges involving activists from Mozambique, Canada, and Brazil - Moderator: Shin Imai, Osgoode Hall, York University
