News
Rare Earth Exports Need Stronger Regulation
The Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) will be lodging a referral on behalf of the Anti-Nuclear Alliance of W.A (ANAWA) to the EPA regarding the Lynas operations at Mt Weld and their mining of rare earths. Lynas has made a number of changes to their procedures, which have not gone through the appropriate approvals. Lynas are currently operating under approvals issued to them 14 years ago.
Featured Filmmaker: Heidi Douglas
Heidi Douglas is an Australian filmmaker with an environmental bent whose work earned her a place among the Gunns 20 - a group of activists who were sued in a multi-milion dollar action by the Tasmanian timber giant, Gunns. She now runs film production company Dark Lake Productions.
Indonesia's moratorium will not significantly reduce emissions, but has other benefits, finds analysis
Indonesia's moratorium on new forest concessions alone "does not significantly contribute" to its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 26 percent from a projected 2020 baseline, concludes a new analysis by the World Resources Institute (WRI). However the study says the moratorium does support the target in the long-term by creating a window for enacting governance reform needed to stop destructive business-as-usual approaches to forest management.
Palm oil firm pays 'precedent-setting' fine for unauthorized land-clearing in Indonesia
A subsidiary of agribusiness giant Cargill has paid a $1 million fine for clearing land for oil palm outside its concession, a move that could serve as an important example for palm oil developers operating in Indonesia, according to Greenomics-Indonesia, a Jakarta-based environmental group.
EngageMedia video wins STOS Festival 2012 Best Documentary
An EngageMedia film, "Love Letter to the Soldier", won the South to South Festival 2012 Award for Best Documentary category on Sunday 26 February 2012 in Jakarta. Director Wenda Tokomonowir accepted the award.
Blogger faces charges of blasphemy, apostasy after Mohammed tweets
A Saudi blogger whose tweets about the Prophet Mohammed were deemed blasphemous and tantamount to apostasy has been deported from Malaysia back to Saudi Arabia, where he is certain to face trial and possibly the death penalty, report Malaysia's Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ), the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), Human Rights Watch and other IFEX members.
Rainforest Action Network's Valentine Card
Did you buy chocolates today for someone you love? Take a quick second to scan the ingredients for palm oil and palm kernel oil. These controversial ingredients are no symbol of love. A majority of the world's palm oil comes from Indonesia and Malaysia, where thriving rainforests—home to ancient Indigenous communities, majestic creatures, and flora of every shape and size—are torn down by the palm industry and replaced with monoculture plantations, some of which use slave labor.
END:CIV director Franklin López to tour Australia.
END:CIV director Franklin López to tour Australia. END:CIV illustrates the brutality of a civilization addicted to systematic violence and environmental destruction, and the heroism of those who confront it head-on.
Featured Filmmaker: Anna Har, KOMAS
Pusat KOMAS is a human rights centre set up in August 1993 to empower indigenous people, the urban poor, workers and civil society organisations to advocate for human rights in Malaysia.
Political satirist takes government to court over "Cartoon-O-Phobia"
Celebrated Malaysian political cartoonist Zunar (née Zulkifli Anwar Ulhaque) appeared at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today for the first hearing of a civil suit brought by himself against the government and the police, in which he challenges them for his wrongful arrest and detention in September 2010. The case looks set to revisit public discussion on sedition and free speech, and ARTICLE 19 welcomes this as a meaningful opportunity for the Malaysian government to review its controversial censorship laws.
Journalist may have been killed for exposing land disputes
A Thai journalist and political activist who often exposed land disputes was shot dead in Phuket, Thailand, report the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the International Press Institute (IPI) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
Help Videomakers for Change get to Camp Sambel
Next month, EngageMedia’s Camp Sambel will host more than 50 Southeast Asian video activists for five days of video training, screenings and discussion near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The response to this year’s event however has been overwhelming. We will have to turn away some fantastic people if we can’t raise at least $2500 (and hopefully more) for the Camp Sambel Travel Fund. We need your help!
We're Hiring - Migrant Worker/Dispatches Project Coordinator
EngageMedia is looking for a strong, dynamic and creative individual to lead 2 new projects; a Southeast Asia migrant worker video training, production and distribution initiative, and a series of video 'Dispatches', issue based online and DVD compilations.
2nd Uranium Film Festival selected first films
Until the end of 2011, the 2nd International Uranium Film Festival received more than 50 documentaries, shorts and features from all continents that content nuclear issues - from uranium mining to atomic bomb tests, from Chernobyl to Fukushima. We received films from famous and directors like Peter Greenaway as well as productions from newcomers like the Italian filmmaker Riccardo Migliore, who is living and filming in the Brazilian state Paraiba.
Australian government must investigate massacre in Indonesia
With three dead and nine critically injured, Friends of the Earth Australia questions the role of Australian owned company Arc Exploration after a community protest on the island of Sumbawa was attacked by Indonesian police.
World Chronicles
Act to Evolve. News and photos from around the world.
Human rights crisis in palm oil estates in Indonesia
A new report published in November 2011, exposes how local police in the Province of Jambi on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, working with oil palm plantation staff, systematically evicted people from three settlements, firing guns to scare them off and then using heavy machinery to destroy their dwellings and bulldoze concrete floors into the nearby creeks.
Call to Stop Land-Grabbing
Land grabbing is a global phenomenon that has grown even more widespread as a result of the food, climate and financial crises created by the capitalist elites through their own neoliberal policies. Now, those who are responsible for these crises have set their sights on the world's land and natural resources in a new phase of capitalist expansion aimed at total control of the planet's natural wealth.
Climate, Human Rights and Forests in Thailand
In Thailand, indigenous communities have been and continue to be threatened to be expelled from their traditional territories as a result of the implementation of the country´s REDD+ policy. This human rights violation is due to the fact that communities have been accused of contributing to the climate crisis because they would deforest, they would destroy natural resources and they would cause forest fires, all activities that result in carbon emissions. At the same time, they use not to be consulted when this type of analysis and, based on this, policies are being formulated.
Security a Concern as Freeport Miners Ready to Return to Jobs in Papua
Leaders of the PT Freeport Indonesia Workers’ Union (SP KEP SPSI) and managers of PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) will meet today in Timika, Papua province, in efforts to forge fine points and back-to-work terms after a historic three-month strike ended last week at the Grasberg mines, the world’s largest gold and copper deposits.
