Interviews


Water: a fundamental human right on Wall Street

Since December 7, water has been listed on the Wall Street “commodity futures market”, as well as oil, gold, wheat or soybeans. Buyers do not purchase physical products at the time of the futures transaction, but acquire rights to a quantity of water in the future, at a fixed price. This is commonly called "financial speculation". The index called NQH2O…

Covid-19: The peoples’ path from crisis to recovery

Real World Radio and Friends of the Earth International present this special show, which aims to highlight the impacts of Covid-19 and national responses to the pandemic on peoples and territories. We look at how social movements and Friends of the Earth groups have responded to the pandemic, analyse the politics behind the health crisis, and explore the possibilities for…

African Peoples Tribunal demands a radical shift in the way transnational corporations operate

The African Peoples Tribunal, organised in Lagos and online by Friends of the Earth Africa, saw testimonies on cases from 10 African countries. The 24-28 November event ended with a call on governments to urgently ensure that human rights are respected and protected. It also denounced the collusion between governments and transnational corporations as objectionable and unacceptable. “This was probably…

Social organisations against UN Food Systems Summit in 2021

“If this Summit, convened by the United Nations (UN), goes on in the same way, whatever guidelines come out of it will most likely continue promoting the industrial food systems that have made people unwell,” warns Saúl Vicente from the International Indian Treaty Council. He was referring to the UN Food Systems Summit, scheduled for September 2021. Vicente added that…

Death threats against CLOC-Via Campesina leader Nury Martínez

In early November, Elsa Nury Martínez, Chair of the National Agricultural Union Federation in Colombia (FENSUAGRO) and member of the Latin American Coordination of Rural Organisations (CLOC-Via Campesina), received death threats against her and her family. These threats came from the ‘Black Eagles’ narco-paramilitary group (Águilas Negras - Bloque Capital), who singled out the peasant leader as a military target…

Irregularities surrounding police investigation in to death of Indonesian human rights activist Golfrid Siregar

Golfrid Siregar, member of the legal advocacy team of WALHI North Sumatra was found unconscious on a roadside on 3 October 2019, and died three days later in hospital. Despite being found fatally injured under very suspicious circumstances, the police said that his death was the result of a traffic accident. “Last year, the police held a press conference regarding…

South African organisations urge government to investigate murder of anti-mining activist

Mama Fikile Ntshangase was shot dead at her home in Mtubatuba, KwaZulu-Natal province, by four gunmen on 22 October. She was Vice-Chairperson of a sub-committee of the Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation (MCEJO) and actively opposed the expansion of the Tendele coal mine near her home. “We feel that she was actually the target, and in killing her, the aim…

Every vote counts

As of Friday morning, Joe Biden had secured 253 electoral votes of the 270 needed to win the Electoral College, with Donald Trump at 214. But in the last few hours, Trump turned to the courts to stop the vote count, tweeting "Stop the Count" and refusing to acknowledge his electoral defeat. Meanwhile, the major media cut off the livestream…

Social victory in Sweden: Oil company Preem drops plans to expand oil refinery

“I'm absolutely sure that our resistance was one of the big factors that made them realise that this was not going to happen” said activist Lena Maloney from Friends of the Earth Sweden in an interview with Real World Radio. “They might have been able to expand their oil refinery if there had been less uproar,” added the environmental activist…