On December 3 to 6, 2011, a Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT) will convene to indict Agrochemical Transnationals for gross violations of human rights. An international opinion tribunal, the PPT will gather farmers, agricultural workers, Indigenous Peoples, fisherfolk, women, children, scientists, consumers, and activists from all over the world to bear witness to the crimes of […]
Two Sri Lankans and an Indian national convicted for the assassination of India’s former Prime Minister , Rajiv Gandhi, are facing imminent execution in Vellore prison in Tamil Nadu, India. This follows the rejection of their mercy petitions by the President of India. If carried out, these would be the first executions in India since […]
Human Development Organization (HDO), Sri Lanka
The Government Proposed Private Sector Employees’ Pension Scheme made the country face protests of gigantic proportion. Though the bill has been withdrawn at present, it should be noted that it created condition for the government to face opposition from various quarters. This makes it necessary to have a clear understanding […]
Solidarity messages from various international groups poured for the Buffalo-Tamaraw-Limus farmers as Hunglos Solidarity Mission kicks off today. These messages generally supported the on-going protest of the BTL farmers to contest the Central Mindanao University claim over 400 hectares of land in Maramag, Bukidnon.
“So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the […]
WE ARE NOT SQUATTERS! In contrast to the statements of Central Mindanao University, we have every right to claim the land as our own. The 400 hectares of land is where we have founded our homes and livelihood.
Tracing the landholdings of Central Mindanao University, their land title for the 3,080 hectares the campus sits on […]
His Excellency Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III
President of the Philippines
Malacañang Palace, Metro Manila
Dear President Aquino:
We are profoundly disturbed by the reported conduct of the Central Mindanao University (CMU), through President Maria Luisa R. Soliven, in prohibiting the farmers-members of Buffalo-Tamaraw-Limus (BTL) to continue tilling their farm-lots inside the CMU premises at Dologon, Maramag, Bukidnon.
Some 800 […]
On June 14 at around 10:30 in the morning, the kampuhan set up by the Buffalo-Tamaraw-Limus (BTL) in front of the Central Mindanao University in Dologon, Maramag, Bukidnon, was dismantled by the security guards hired by the university, assaulting protesters keeping guard over their camp.
Around 15 guards, from the security agency Chevron, were headed by […]
The administration of Pres. Benigno Aquino III seriously puts into doubt the respect for human rights of the farmers in the country. Aquino III is heir to the vast Hacienda Luisita Incorporated landholdings where, in 2004, 14 farmer leaders were massacred in front of its gates for protesting a bogus land distribution scheme that virtually […]
Sompeta, a tranquil coastal town of North Srikakulam district of the Indian State Andhra Pradesh witnessed unprecedented violence on July 14, 2010, when Indian company Nagarjuna Construction Company Limited tried to acquire fertile multi-cropping agricultural land with the help of local authorities and armed police force for construction of a Merchant Power Plant in that […]
Cultural rice festival a resounding success
Hong Kong (Dec 17) — Rice farmers from across Asia who came to protest the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) 6th Ministerial conference also came to celebrate the culture of rice.
Today, the week-long ‘Save Our Rice Festival’ was declared a resounding success amidst the failure of the WTO talks to further […]