Stories from Smartphones
Short films from smartphone footage from indigenous partners around the world
**Warning, some footage may be distressing to some**
In East Nusa Tenggara a land dispute between the local administration and the Besipae indigenous community descended into violence and repression. The community had long with stood pressure to give up their customary land in Pubabu forest, which the administration claims as its own, however last week joint personnel from the police and public order agency destroyed dozens of community settlements in Manuban Selatan district, Timor Tengah Selatan.
The incident took place on Tuesday 18th August, 37 houses were destroyed, causing upwards up 300 people to lose their homes.
The largest money managers in the world, BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street – collectively known as “the Big Three” — have a total of $12.1 billion more invested in agribusiness producers and traders directly driving deforestation – yet they have no formal policies to address the deforestation crisis.
Worse yet, since 2012, the Big Three have voted against or abstained from every single shareholder resolution that called for action on deforestation. This is not just inaction – it is wilful neglect.
LEARN MORE: https://foe.org/resources/doubling-down-on-deforestation/
On August 26th the customary leader of the Laman Kinipan community was forcibly arrested in relation to a long standing dispute between his indigenous community and a palm oil company PT Sawit Mandiri Lestari (SML) who are trying to take their territory and expel them from a land they have lived on for generations.
Recorded by a community member of the Embera Dobida peoples in Colombia this harrowing footage on May 20, 2020 from the community of Catrú, municipality of Alto Baudó, Chocó captures this indigenous community fleeing the crossfire of an armed confrontation of ELN and AGC fighting for control of the area. This is on top of […]
The community of Morete Cocha is located in the region of Pastaza Province in the Amazon region of Ecuador. Like many other communities Morete Cocha is under threat by interest of oil companies seeking to exploit crude in the communities land. This is the story of community’s search for environmental and cultural preservation. The phrase […]