Savage Moderns: Avatar-Style Ecocide in the Real World http://www.realitysandwich.com/avatar_ecocide_real_world

We don't have to look towards an extraterrestrial future or colonial past for examples of this type of conflict -- the tribal people of West Papua have been living on the knife-edge of modern capitalism for over thirty years.Grasberg gold and copper mine in West Papua is the largest open-cut mine in the world, a gaping hole visible from space. It lies where the sacred mountain of the Amungme tribe used to be. US mining corporation Freeport-McMoRan, having struck a deal in 1967 with Suharto (the Indonesian dictator infamous for massacres in East Timor), have already dumped roughly a billion tons of toxic mine waste into the mountains and surrounding rivers. 

All of the aquatic life in the area has died. A geologist employed by the company told the New York Times in 2005 that acid from the mine tailings is causing springs in a World Heritage site several miles away to run bright-green.  Sem tried to explain to us how it feels inside when the trees and mountains are torn down. It's something that goes way beyond concern for the community's material livelihood. To these people, who perceive the natural world as their extended body, it is like watching your own mother being murdered. It would be an understatement to say that the local people do not look favorably on the destruction of their forests, their hunting grounds, their villages, their way of life. In 1996 some corporate personnel were taken hostage by the OPM, two were killed. Prior to this, Freeport had already forged tight bonds with the military who manage the local security situation, issues of gross human rights abuses notwithstanding.

They have given army officials huge sums of money -- nearly $20 million between 1998 and 2004 according to their own figures. In the NY Times article cited above, the company said, "our relationships with the Indonesian government and its security institutions are ordinary business activities." Indeed, this appears to be ordinary business activity. From Potosi in Bolivia, to Ogoniland in Nigeria, to Iraq, to Botswana, to Chiapas, to Siberia. If you're unfortunate enough to live in the vicinity of something that's valuable to industrial society, better watch out.Grasberg gold and copper mine in West Papua is the largest open-cut mine in the world, a gaping hole visible from space. It lies where the sacred mountain of the Amungme tribe used to be.

US mining corporation Freeport-McMoRan, having struck a deal in 1967 with Suharto (the Indonesian dictator infamous for massacres in East Timor), have already dumped roughly a billion tons of toxic mine waste into the mountains and surrounding rivers. All of the aquatic life in the area has died. A geologist employed by the company told the New York Times in 2005 that acid from the mine tailings is causing springs in a World Heritage site several miles away to run bright-green. Sem tried to explain to us how it feels inside when the trees and mountains are torn down. It's something that goes way beyond concern for the community's material livelihood. To these people, who perceive the natural world as their extended body, it is like watching your own mother being murdered. It would be an understatement to say that the local people do not look favorably on the destruction of their forests, their hunting grounds, their villages, their way of life.

In 1996 some corporate personnel were taken hostage by the OPM, two were killed. Prior to this, Freeport had already forged tight bonds with the military who manage the local security situation, issues of gross human rights abuses notwithstanding. They have given army officials huge sums of money -- nearly $20 million between 1998 and 2004 according to their own figures. In the NY Times article cited above, the company said, "our relationships with the Indonesian government and its security institutions are ordinary business activities." Indeed, this appears to be ordinary business activity. From Potosi in Bolivia, to Ogoniland in Nigeria, to Iraq, to Botswana, to Chiapas, to Siberia. If you're unfortunate enough to live in the vicinity of something that's valuable to industrial society, better watch out.