Interviews


“We need national policies for people affected by dams”

14 March marks the Day of Struggle of people affected by dams. The Latin American Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAR) is growing and taking its motto to different places around the world: “Water and energy are not commodities! Water for Life, not for death!”. In the midst of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, Real World Radio interviewed Diana Giraldo,…

8 March: We must march together

"We resist to live, we march to transform!" is the slogan for the 5th International Action by the World March of Women, set to begin on 8 March, 2020. Every five years, the World March of Women (WMW) prepares an international action which brings together women's movements, to take action against neoliberalism and  mobilize, connecting local struggles and organizations with…

“The hardest part is knowing that Vale continues operating”

During the march of people affected by mining company Vale in Brumadinho (Brazil) held by the Brazilian Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB) from 20-25 January, during the first anniversary of the worst socioenvironmental crime in this South American country, Real World Radio interviewed activist Leticia Paranhos, co-coordinator of the Economic Justice-Resisting Neoliberalism Program (EJRN) at Friends of the…

Brumadinho: one million people affected

“This is the second crime of this type. Brumadinho has been worse than Mariana. How many more crimes will it take to rethink the mining paradigm?” Moisés Borges, member of the National Coordination of the Movement of Peoples Affected by Dams (MAB) told Real World Radio.  The MAB is getting ready to host tens of activists from around the world…

La Via Campesina to hold Solidarity Mission in Venezuela

La Vía Campesina (LVC) will hold an International Solidarity Mission in Venezuela from 20-27 January, with the aim of showing the everyday life of Venezuelan people suffering from the impacts of the US blockade, and how they are facing this with creativity, solidarity and resistance. The Ezequiel Zamora National Peasant Front (FNCEZ) of the Bolivar and Zamora Revolutionary Current will…

On the way to COP25: It’s not only a climate crisis, our present and future are at stake

The Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Climate Change—also known as COP25,—takes place from 2 to 13 December, 2019, in Madrid, Spain. The COP was originally scheduled to take place in Santiago, Chile. But, when the announcement of more neoliberal economic and social measures sparked popular protests amounting to a “social crisis” in this South American country in October, the government…

10th anniversary of the murder of Mariano Abarca: the pain continues

November 27, 2019, marked the 10th anniversary of the murder of Mariano Abarca Roblero, environmental activist who defended human rights and the rights of nature in Chicomuselo municipality, Chiapas, Mexico, by denouncing the socioenvironmental effects caused by Canadian mining corporation Blackfire Exploration, involved in the crime. Since then, the relatives of Abarca and several organizations have been demanding the Mexican…

“We are willing to give our lives if necessary to bring democracy back”

“Neither bullets nor repression will silence the indigenous peasant movement” stated the National Coordinator of the Landless Indigenous Peasant Workers Movement of Bolivia (MST-B), Silvestre Saisari. “We have gone back to the times of the Inquisition, when they colonized you with the Bible and swords”, he added. Real World Radio interviewed Silvestre on Monday, eight days after the coup d´état…

Lula da Silva freed

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva addressed supporters on Saturday in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Sao Paulo State, after being released from the Federal Police Headquarters in Curitiba city, where he was a political prisoner for 580 days. His public address was held at the headquarters of the Metal Workers Union of Sao Bernardo do Campo, where he…

Justice for Golfrid

Golfrid Siregar, member of the legal advocacy team of WALHI North Sumatra was found unconscious on the side of a road on October 3, at around 1 am. He had suffered major head injuries, though the rest of his body remained relatively uninjured. After three days at the hospital, his condition worsened, and he died. Although the circumstances of his…