[News] Ecuador: Waorani Women Shut Down Court With Singing Protest

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ecuador-Waorani-Women-Shut-Down-Court-With-Singing-Protest--20190314-0026.html 



  Ecuador: Waorani Women Shut Down Court With Singing Protest

Published 14 March 2019
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Waorani women were called without proper notice to present arguments 
against the Ecuadorean state in violation of their rights to free prior 
and informed consultation regarding an oil bloc auction in the heart of 
their territory, located in the country’s eastern Amazon region. Left 
without an interpreter, they shut down the court by singing Waorani 
songs in the courtroom.

In February, in a press statement released by ally, Amazon Frontlines 
<http://waoresist.amazonfrontlines.org/>, the Waorani, organized under 
the CONCONAWEP (Coordinating Council of the Waorani Nationality of 
Ecuador-Pastaza) say they filed the legal action because their “rights 
to free, prior and informed consultation… were violated” when the 
government announced it would potentially sell seven million acres of 
Indigenous territories to oil companies without holding the 
constitutionally required public debates on the matter.

They say their case “aims to keep their ancestral lands free from 
natural resource extraction and to set a precedent for other indigenous 
nations to do the same.”

They were summoned to a public hearing to present their case, but were 
not given the proper notice they requested from the court, at least 20 
days notice in order to gather their elders who are the only 
ones allowed by their laws to make important decisions, and some 
of whom must travel long distances.

Instead, the court gave them just two days notice to prepare their defense.

In addition, the court is mandated by Ecuadorean law to provide 
interpreters -- not all members of the Waorani speak Spanish -- but the 
interpreter did not show up, which meant that not all members could 
understand court instructions.

Despite the various objections to the process, and the absence of the 
Waorani elders, the court continued to try to select one of the women to 
arbitrate‌ with.

In response, the group sang traditional songs in the court, drowning out 
the court voices and stopping all business.

“They rose and sang without stopping until the judge suspended the 
hearing, the song spoke of the unjust treatment of a western justice 
that does not understand and does not respect the Waorani world, spoke 
against the discriminatory treatment that the court is giving us, spoke 
of the lack of guarantees,” a press statement from the Waoranis said.

The Waoranis had requested that the public hearing be held in their 
ancestral territories to ensure that all witnesses could be called. This 
was was denied to them. Instead, they had to travel to the court in the 
provincial capital, and could not properly present their case.

They say oil extraction from their territory will “be a colossal 
environmental disaster... with devastating impacts on the rain forests 
and life, culture, and well being of those who call the Amazon their home.”

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 https://freedomarchives.org/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20190315/6e1e259d/attachment.htm>