Score! Underground networks exist!

Barrick-Recommended Military Force burns down hundreds of homes in PNG

Hundreds of homes in the Porgera valley of Papua New Guinea are being set aflame. Local human rights organizations in Porgera claim that these fires are part of a strategy to clear people out of the way for the expansion of Barrick Gold’s Porgera mine.

On April 27th, without prior warning, the indigenous land owners of the villages surrounding Barrick Gold’s Porgera open pit mine were violently evicted by a police and military operation with 200 troops. “Operation Ipili” was launched during the middle of the day to allegedly make way for the expansion of a Barrick gold mine. This effective State of Emergency in Porgera was motivated by situation reports presented by Barrick (PNG) Limited, according to Laigap Porgera Member of Parliament Phillip Kikala.

Read More | protestbarrick.net

Past Coverage: Apr09: Smoking ceremony, blockade and protesters occupy open cut pit halting mine operations | Dec08: Thousands raid Barrick’s North Mara mine, destroy $15 million in equipment | Nov07: En Santiago de Chile y en Tanzania: Protestas y huelga preceden a reunión de Barrick Gold | Oct07: Protests and a Strike Precede Barrick Gold’s 3rd quarter shareholders meeting | May07: La Rioja, Argentina vs. Barrick Gold Corp | Apr07: Anti-Gold Mining Conflicts Spreading Throughout the Americas | Feb07: Interview: Mining & Developing World: Barrick Gold’s Porgera Gold Mine in Papua New Guinea | Jan06: Pascua Lama, Bulyanhulu, Lake Cowal and Cyanide – Barrick’s Hunt for Gold

The Demarest Factor: The Ethics of U.S. Department of Defense Funding for Academic Research in Mexico

On October 23, 2006 the Lawrence Journal World or LJ World published an article which silently uncovered a funding scandal within Kansas University, in Lawrence, Kansas. In 2005, the university’s department of geography received at least $500,000 in Department of Defense funds to map communally held indigenous land in the states of San Luis Potosi, and in Oaxaca, Mexico.

As a result of this original story, on November 26th, of 2007 elenemigocomun.net published a feature follow up story on the funding scandal titled “The Road to Hell”, which elaborates on the the potential dangers of this type of militarily funded mapping project. Since the publication of this 2007 article, myself and a growing number of community members and students from both sides of the U.S. Mexico border, have engaged in several extensive investigations into the details of this particular research project. Our growing concern has revolved around, academic ethics violations due to improper transparency with communities about the research funding, and serious U.S. Army violations of Mexican sovereignty, and of indigenous autonomy. Our collective research over the last year has resulted in several key pieces of irrefutable evidence, demonstrating both academic ethics violations, and serious violations of Mexican sovereignty and indigenous autonomy.

Chicago Police Plumb New Depths in Malfeasance

24 Jun 2009

by CIMC – MS

The Chicago Police Department have had a long sordid history of malfeasance and subsequent legal ramifications. Recent developments posted to Chicago Indymedia have revealed new lows even for Chicago’s infamous police.

Exhibit A — Federal Jury Awards Victim Largest-Ever Amount in Chicago Cop Frame-up: A Federal jury awarded the largest-ever compensation for a wrongful conviction in Chicago history — $21 million in compensatory damages — against a Chicago detective who framed a Humboldt Park resident. That resident, Juan Johnson, was sentenced to 30 years in prison over a murder for whose evidence a Chicago police detective wholly fabricated. Read more

Exhibit B — CPD Hit With $625,000 Fine for Violent Police Assault During Traffic Stop: “A federal jury yesterday awarded 41-year-old Curtis Mason $625,000 in compensatory damages for a brutal beating he received at the hands of at least five Chicago police officers during a January 13, 2007 traffic stop on Chicago’s south side. ” The Police Department declined to discipline the accused officers over the assault and the Cook County States Attorney’s Office did not prosecute them criminally. Read more

Exhibit C — Officer in Publicized Bartender Beating Case Receives Only Probation: In a case of Chicago police malfeasance which has received considerable Chicago corporate media coverage, the Chicago police officer who was caught on camera in a public beating was released on probation by a Cook County judge. Read more

It so happens that the Chicago lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police will hold a 1968 Riot Cop Reunion (the police involved in the 1968 DNC crackdown and in political assassinations), but Chicago Copwatch is organizing a protest and march.