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hi everyone

the content below was clipped from Intercontinental Cry, and deals with the criminalization of individuals who act in defense of natural systems. this article is focused on Ecuador but it touches on an issue which has impacted many families in Southwest Virginia and beyond.

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"The World Rainforest Movement’s Bulletin for December features an article by Guadalupe Rodriguez, a Campaigner for Tropical Forests and Human Rights, which discusses the ongoing criminalization of anyone opposed to the exploitative activities of transnational corporations in Ecuador.

The article also discusses “the First Summit of Communities Criminalized for Defending Nature”, which was held on November 16th at the Catholic University in Quito, Ecuador.

You can read the full article at World Rainforest Movement website. Here’s an excerpt:

As announced in the call to the Quito meeting, [the Summit] was to be a first step towards “making visible to national and international public opinion the escalade of political, legal and para-legal persecution of social leaders defending nature and life, in opposition to an economist development model, violating rights” and it achieved its purpose. In Ecuador, criminalization of peasants has occurred in the North, in the subtropical zone of Intag and at present in the South of the country, in the Amazon region."

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