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THE INSIDE HISTORY OF THE
ISRAEL LOBBY
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Early last year former US presidents
Bill Clinton and George Bush flew to Asia to meet survivors of
the tsunami and pledged to help them rebuild their lives after
that terrible disaster. Later in the year they visited the southern
states of America hit by hurricane Katrina and set up the Bush
Clinton Katrina Fund, calling for donations from the sympathetic
public to help the survivors of that disaster.
'Poppy' Bush enjoys presenting
himself as a humane and caring man of the people. All the more
surprising then to discover that he should be counted as a leading
instigator in creating ands supporting potentially one of the
most serious environmental man-made disasters in recent times.
Among the armory of titles
acquired by ex-President Bush during his eventful life is that
of Honorary Senior Advisor to the Canada-based Barrick Gold
Corporation (with 22 mines in four continents, the world's largest
gold miner), a position he has held since 1995 when he was brought
on board by founder Peter Munk to develop the company's international
holdings. The job title may sound innocuous, but Bush senior
plays an important role as chief business developer for the company,
his connections with the upper echelons of society have reaped
rich dividends for Barrick in mining deals.
Describing itself, the company
claims: "Barrick's vision is to be the world's best gold
mining company by finding, acquiring, developing, and producing
quality reserves in a safe, profitable and socially responsible
manner. It has quality assets, an unrivalled pipeline of projects
and more than 20,000 dedicated employees working on five continents
to deliver value. In 2006, the Company will start to realize
the opportunities that are available as a result of its new strength,
breadth and scale."
One of the projects in its
unrivalled pipeline due to go ahead this year in the Atacama
mountains between Chile and Argentina is the Pascua Lama Project,
where Barrick plan to dig out an enormous reserve of gold and
silver deposits detected under three of the glaciers there.
Barrick said the Pascua Lama project entails an investment of
billions of dollars and has reserves of some 18.3 million ounces
of gold, which will be accessed through an open-pit mine over
a period of 20 years.
The process, which Barrick
describes as 'relocating ice-resources' will entail breaking
and destroying the majestic glaciers of Chile--an action unheard
of in the history of the world - and the creation of two huge
holes, each as big as a whole mountain, one for extraction and
the other as the mine's rubbish tip.
The assault on the glaciers
will destroy the source of the special pure water which flows
into the two rivers of the Valle de San Felix, and upon which
the indigenous farmers rely to nourish their fields in a region
of low rainfall. Apart from the water shortages and illnesses
caused by the pollution that will result from the working of
the massive open-pit mine, it is feared that the rivers will
become so contaminated by the use of cyanide and sulphuric acid
in the extraction process that they will never again be fit for
human or animal consumption.
The farmers of the area have
spoken out vociferously against plans for this exploitation of
their land, but protests have been stifled. A TV appeal calling
for support in their cause was banned by the Chilean Ministry
of the Interior.
A letter calling for the cancellation
of the Pascua Lama project with over 18,000 signatures presented
to the President of Chile in 2005 was met by police violence.
Protesters were charged when they tried to place chunks of ice
representing the glaciers that the project will destroy in front
of the La Moneda government palace:
We are the inhabitants of
the Huasco Valley, Third Region of Chile, from different political,
religious, cultural and ethnical origins, who have been affected
by the mining activities in the high Andes Mountains," the
letter read.
We consider that the risks
involved in these mining activities threaten the economical,
social, cultural and environmental sustainability of the valley,
to the quality of life of its inhabitants and to their traditional
activities.
The threats to the ecosystem,
to the life and the plans of the present and future communities
of the valley, lead us to reject with determination any mining
activity that has been proven to be non compatible with agriculture,
the health of the people, the water quality and the conservation
of the ecosystems in the middle and the long term.
We live in an agricultural
valley that has proved to be viable, economically profitable
and with a promising future for the population. We will defend
this sustainability against the aggressive activities that threaten
the valley and its people.
Mr. President, we state once
again, after you made a commitment with us, that the air we breathe,
the water we drink and the land we cultivate have more value
than the gold coveted by the multinationals Barrick Gold, Noranda
and the others that will come behind them, in he hope of increasing
their wealth in this Chilean mining paradise.
We will never rest until the
safety of the valley and its people is ensured and we will fight
for it. The people chose you to protect the interests of all
the inhabitants of Chile, not for the benefit of the multinational
mining companies. Mr. President, our interest is to protect the
valley, please respect it, promote it, and safeguard it.
Mining at the headwaters of
the river basins will pollute our water and will destroy our
invaluable glaciers, while the mining agreement with Argentina
tries to tie our hands. We will no longer be able to export our
products, and trade agreements will be of no use for us.
Chile is trying to elevate
its name in the international community but the destruction of
our valley will do the opposite. We and all our future generations
need you, Mr. President, as well as all the elected officials,
to assume your mandates with ethics and responsibility.
We will remain alert and ready
for action, exercising our rights to democracy and participation.
We will not allow our lives and our valley to suffer the consequences
of bad political practices and the abuse of mining companies
willing to increase their profits at any price, even at the expense
of our ecosystems and our people.
At a world mining conference
in Santiago last week, Igor Gonzales, president of Barrick Gold
South America, said remaining details of the $1.5 billion project
were on track for final approval by the Chilean government, and
that the problems the project is confronting are no different
from those of its other projects around the world. "The
biggest challenges we are facing by far, in both South America
and Africa, are 'social' in nature," he said.
The impassioned letter which
the people of the Huasco Valley wrote was addressed to the former
Chilean president, His Excellency Ricardo Lagos Escobar, a self-described
'Socialist' politician. He has since been replaced by first
woman to hold the position of president in the history of the
country, (Her Excellency?) Michelle Bachelet. She also describes
herself as a Socialist.
Surely, therefore, as such,
she might be appealed to in her position of power and authority
to champion the cause of her people and country and prevent the
inevitable environmental, ecological and social disaster that
will result from giving the go-ahead to a gold-hungry foreign
corporation to despoil the beauty of the Pascua Lama and ruin
the natural livelihood of a people that has depended on the water
from the glaciers for centuries.
Water is essential to life.
Gold is a soft and pretty metal that has made men mad. And
when mad man plays God with the planet for the sake of Mammon,
disaster will surely follow.
We await the decision of the
Chilean President. Will she give permission for this legalized
rape of her country by the gold-diggers?
In the meantime let us turn
closer to home and appeal to a self-proclaimed man of the people--(though
far from Socialist!) - His Excellency George 'Poppy' Bush - papa
of the present President of the USA, one himself in the past.
May we not appeal to him, the Appointed Honorary Senior Advisor
of the Barrick Corporation to see beyond his own greed and that
of his familiars, and to call a halt to this latest massive act
of destruction and disaster the company stands poised to inflict
upon our poor patient planet?
Or, on review of past behaviour
by members of the Bush family, and the consequences thereof,
must we ultimately recognize that such an appeal to his humanity
would be useless, and admit to ourselves the bitter truth of
that well-worn adage - as we stare with horror at the brazen
selfish culpability of the Bushes; their unrelenting greed and
hypocricy and corruption
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