Special Reports


Covid-19 in the Gaza Strip

“The Israeli occupation’s attacks on Palestinians have massively damaged health facilities and targeted health workers.  The ongoing, direct attacks have caused thousands of injuries and hundreds of fatalities, which increases the burden on hospitals,” warned Palestinian researcher in health systems, Aisha Yousif Elbasuoni. Meanwhile, environmental engineer Balqis Khozundar lamented that Gaza is experiencing an “environmental catastrophe.” Lack of access to…

Colombia: systematic murders of social leaders multiply during the pandemic

Since the beginning of 2020, at least 103 social leaders and defenders of territories, and 24 former FARC members undergoing a reinsertion process in line with the Peace Accords, have been murdered in Colombia, according to local NGO Indepaz. The Continental Day for Democracy and against Neoliberalism (La Jornada Continental), which represents different social movements and organisations, denounced the government…

The dire consequences of the gas expansion plans in Mozambique

Cabo Delgado, the northernmost province of Mozambique, is suffering. The invasion of the transnational gas industry, attacks by extremist groups and military deployment from a government that seems to hate its people, are all creating a frightening breeding ground for murders, forced disappearances, the persecution of journalists and social activists and the displacement of peoples. In a context of extreme…

RECORD NUMBER OF LAND CONFLICTS IN BRAZIL IN 2019

Throughout 2019, the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) recorded 1833 conflicts in the countryside (averaging five per day), 23% more than in 2018. This is the highest number on CPT records in the past five years. There was also a 14% increase in the number of murders (from 28 to 32), 7% more attempted murders (from 28 to 30), and 22%…

Remembering Dilma Ferreira on the first anniversary of her murder

On 22 March 2019, Dilma Ferreira was brutally murdered in her home, together with her partner, Claudionor Costa da Silva, and neighbor, Milton Lopes. In celebration and remembrance of her life and struggle, Real World Radio interviewed Soniamara Maranho, Tchenna Maso and Cleidiane Vieria, fellow Coordinators at MAB. We asked them about what it means to be a defender of…

Meeting for new UN framework to protect biodiversity to be held in Italy

Environmental federation Friends of the Earth International reaffirms its concern over the lack of ambition in the new framework currently under negotiation at the UN, which will set the basis for the protection of biodiversity globally from 2020 to 2030. A Friends of the Earth International delegation will participate in the second meeting of the Open Ended Working Group of…

A rebel, but conscious youth

Socialist community El Maiza, located between Lara and Portuguesa states, in Venezuela, is a reference for the community movement of the country. Founded 11 years ago, with diverse self-managed companies, El Maizal is proud to show visitors their productive diversity and their political-ideological framework, with self-government as their banner. One example is enough: the unit focused on cattle production started…

“They have turned our community into a cemetery”

At 12:28 on 25 January, 2019, Dam 1 of the Córrego do Feijão mine, containing 12,000,000 cubic meters of toxic mud, collapsed and spilled the mud over 9 kilometers to the city of Brumadinho (Minas Gerais) and then along the path of the Paraopeba River. The Brazilian Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB) arrived to Brumadinho a few hours…

Healing through the struggle for Human Rights

Lead, mercury, cadmium and zinc are just some of the heavy metals found in the toxic mud left over from mining activities. Government officials in Minas Gerais, Brazil, identified levels of these metals up to 21 times above the acceptable metal in the mud that spread through Brumadinho and the Paraopeba River on 25 January, 2019. Geraldo Martins, a healthcare…

Australia: this is climate change

"Australia is experiencing an unprecedented fire crisis. 10 million hectares have been burned already. Nearly 2000 homes have been destroyed and many lives lost. The fires are so immense they have created their own weather systems, sparking more fires by generating their own dry electrical storms. Firefighters have never seen anything like it. Scientists are now saying many billions of…