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Become a European Solidarity Corps Volunteer

ESC Volunteer Vacancies 2021 – Changemaker for a Wellbeing Economy

ESC Volunteer Vacancies 2021

Changemaker for a Wellbeing Economy

Education & Movement

Communication & Campaigns

CATAPA

CATAPA is a volunteer movement which strives for a world in which the extraction of non-renewable resources is no longer necessary. The extraction of such materials always entails major social and environmental impacts and fuels conflict. In working towards global social and environmental justice, we focus on mining issues (ecological disasters, human rights violations, etc.) in Latin America, where we support local communities in Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Colombia who are threatened by large-scale mining projects.

Our main activities are:

  • Internationalisation of the struggle of our partners in Latin-America and capacity building
  • Raising awareness on the impact of metal consumption amongst Belgian population
  • Creating a movement for sustainable consumption and production
  • Networking and research

CATAPA is a grassroots movement, which means that we are mostly dependent on the work of our volunteers – the Catapistas. As a grassroots movement, we also work together with other grassroots movements in our partner countries.

The Need for a Wellbeing Economy

Mining activities cause devastating environmental impacts and human rights violations across the globe. CATAPA’s main objective is to strive towards a world where mining is no longer necessary. Besides that, we urgently need to rethink our consumer society and the linear way we use metals. For this we need a redesign of our economy, we need an economy that focuses on the ‘wellbeing’  of people instead of economic growth and welfare. One of the means to reach this Wellbeing Economy is thinking of ways to make this economy just and circular. Only with a circular use of metals and a radical rethinking of our economic system and society, we will be able to counteract the destruction of ecosystems, social inequality and unbridled consumerism.

Catapa is going to work on the topic of Wellbeing Economy through:

  • Raising awareness of the broader public: (social media) campaigns, educational activities, public actions …
  • Searching and supporting solutions & alternatives 
  • Collaboration & networking with other organisations that focus on mining issues, Degrowth, Circular & Wellbeing Economy 
  • Collaboration with grassroot organisations in Latin America, defending the rights of communities affected by mining.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for an ESC (European Solidarity Corps) volunteer to support the CATAPA movement, and in particular the campaigns on Circular Economy & Wellbeing Economy. The volunteer will be trained to think critically and spread knowledge of these issues and to encourage other young people to become active EU citizens. The tasks are flexible depending on your learning goals and the needs of the organisation.

You will be part of our office team (7 part-time staff + 2 ESC volunteers + variable number of interns) which supports the work of the movement. Since CATAPA is a volunteer movement, you will be working in close collaboration with motivated and enthusiastic volunteers.

Possible tasks

Education and Movement

  • Organise awareness raising and training activities for a variety of target groups (training days/weekends, documentary screenings, workshops, info evenings, public actions…)
  • Develop educational tools and manuals
  • Support volunteers and contribute with volunteer management tasks
  • Participate actively in the Education & Movement  working group and its activities
  • Help to develop and implement our central campaign on ‘wellbeing economy’.
  • Write, revise and proofread articles, educational tools and reports 
  • Possibility to help with research tasks linked to mining and/or circular/wellbeing economy
  • Some administrative tasks related to the daily functioning of our office with the possibility to get an insight in the management of a non-profit organisation
  • Help out with organising our International Speakers Tour: Open Min(e)d 
  • Take part in our Changemakers programme
  • Possibility to develop and implement your own projects.

Communication & Campaigns

  • Assist with creating promotional material for social media and posters
  • Help with the communication and promotion tasks for events
  • Helping to develop and implement our central campaign on ‘wellbeing economy’.
  • Contribute in managing our social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter)
  • Help in keeping our website updated
  • Write, review and proofread articles
  • Helping with the elaboration of low-threshold graphic design
  • Participate actively in the Communication working group and its activities
  • Support volunteers and contribute to volunteer management tasks
  • Assist in the organisation of various educational activities (International Speakers Tour ‘Open Min(e)d’, training weekends, public actions, info-evenings, documentary screenings…)
  • Take part in our Changemakers programme
  • Some administrative tasks related to the daily functioning of our office with the possibility to get an insight in the management of a non-profit organisation
  • Develop and implement your own ideas (for activities) into the work of CATAPA.

Requirements

Education and Movement

Essential

  • Motivated to work with volunteers
  • Interest in learning about the social and environmental movement and mining issues
  • Good command of English
  • Independent, proactive worker
  • Good communication skills
  • Willing to contribute to positive change in the world we live in
  • Team player with a flexible attitude 
  • Age: below 31 years

Desirable

  • Knowledge/experience on or interest to learn about: 
    • Developing educational material (e.g. workshops) 
    • Organizing educational events
    • Volunteer management
    • Circular and degrowth economy, environmental movements and/or international development
    • Implementation and coordination of campaigns 
  • Good knowledge of Dutch and/or Spanish

Communication & Campaigns

Essential

  • Interest in learning about the social and environmental movement and mining issues
  • Good command of English
  • Independent, proactive worker
  • Motivated to work with volunteers
  • Good communication skills
  • Will to contribute to positive change in the world we live in
  • Team player with a flexible attitude 
  • Age: below 31 years

Desirable

  • Knowledge/experience on or interest to learn about: 
    • Communication strategies
    • Design and layout skills 
    • Circular and degrowth economy, environmental movements and/or international development
    • Volunteer management
    • Managing social media and websites
  • Good knowledge of Dutch and/or Spanish

What do we offer?

  • A warm welcome in our horizontally organized movement with plenty of learning opportunities and new connections
  • A dynamic & motivated team of employees and volunteers
  • Monthly fee: Cohousing accommodation of your choice (with a max. rent of €400) and a reimbursement to cover daily expenses of €400.
  • A personal learning trajectory coached by one of CATAPA’s employees, one language course (Dutch, English or Spanish) and options to follow trainings to develop your personal skills.
  • Work-related expenses are paid by CATAPA

Important: This call is part of the European Solidarity Corps. It’s an European Union initiative which creates opportunities for young people to volunteer in projects abroad. This means Belgian people can’t apply for this vacancy.

The volunteer positions will start from the 1st of September, for a period of 12 months and 30 hours a week.

 

Interested or more information?

Please send your CV and motivation letter to communication@catapa.be before 22h00 on the 30th of June 2021. Please, remember to specify which one of the two positions you are applying for in the subject of the email and in your motivation letter. If you have any questions concerning these vacancies, don’t hesitate to contact us at info@catapa.be.

More information: www.catapa.be

The EU can’t mine its way out of the climate crises

The EU can’t mine its way out of the climate crises

The EU can’t mine its way out of the climate crises

Today CATAPA joins 180+ communities, organisation and academics to tell the EU to abandon its plans to expand dirty mining as part of EU Green Deal and Green Recovery plans.

In 2019, the European Commission published its European Green Deal, an action plan outlining climate and environmental policies and initiatives to be taken forward in the coming years.

Despite laudable intentions, these plans have at their heart the damaging and illogical idea of ‘green growth‘ and assume ‘business-as-usual’ consumption of energy and materials in the EU.

In particular, as they stand, Europe’s Green Deal plans will lead to a dramatic increase in demand for mineral and metals that the European Commission intends to meet through a large number of new mining projects – both inside and outside the EU.

The EU can’t mine its way out of the climate crises

This planned reliance on mining to deliver the Green Deal is a cause of major concern for civil society around the world.

Mining companies are responsible for an enormous human and ecological toll on every continent. The sector is responsible for extensive human rights violations, conflicts with and within affected communities, and the exploitation of labour and exacerbation of socio-economic inequalities. It is also a significant contributor to climate change, global biodiversity loss and water stress.

Increasing material demand and the EU’s plans to meet it through new mining projects will escalate all of these problems. Mining-affected communities in Europe and their allies in civil society oppose the continuous expansion of the mining industry and challenge the dominant narrative of unlimited growth and policies which uphold it.

The EU can’t mine its way out of the climate crises

The release of this collective statement outlines a civil society analysis of the EU’s current plans and suggests how the EU can address the systemic issues underpinning endless extractivism and turn the tide toward a more just and sustainable future.

The recommendations include the critical need for the EU and Member States to realise in law communities’ right to free, prior and informed consent, including the Right to Say No, as well as to put urgent measures in place to achieve absolute reductions in demand for – and consumption of – raw materials in Europe.

We must urgently and rapidly transition our energy, transport and economic systems to renewables, but relying on expanding mining to meet the material needs of the renewable transition will replicate the injustices, destruction and dangerous assumptions that have caused climate breakdown in the first place. 

In other words, we can’t solve our problems with the same thinking that created them in the first place.

Together, in solidarity with allies in the North and South, we call for:

  • The Right to Say No for all communities facing extractive projects and respect for Indigenous Peoples’ right to Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC);
  • For the EU to set, legislate for and meet binding targets to reduce its overconsumption of materials, in line with planetary boundaries and its global fair share;
  • For just de-growth strategies, not ‘green growth’ or ‘decoupling’, to be placed at the heart of EU climate action;
  • For an end to EU subsidies to mining and undemocratic industry alliances.
  • To treat minerals and metals as common, public goods.
  • Action to remedy mining waste liabilities, to ensure all mining sites are properly restored so that they can no longer continue to contaminate and harm communities and their environment.
  • To ensure EU demand for raw materials does not impact communities and ecosystems in the Global South and that remedy is available when impacts and violations do occur…

 

Find out more by reading our collective statement, signed by 180+ communities, organisations and academics:

‘Driving Destructive Mining: EU Civil Society denounces EU raw material plans in European Green Deal’ – Written by the Yes To Life No To Mining European Working Group. 

The Colombian Government Responds with Extractivism and mining

15 Days of Protests, 40 People Killed, More Than 400 Disappeared: The Colombian Government Responds with Extractivism

NEWS:

15 Days of Protests, 40 People Killed, More Than 400 Disappeared: The Colombian Government Responds with Extractivism

 

After 15 Days of demonstrations and 40 homicides caused by police in Colombia, the government of Iván Duque presents a bill to strengthen the investment of those who intend to exploit gold in the Paramo de Santurbán.

Fifteen days of demonstrations have passed in Colombia against tax policies aimed at taxing the basic family food basket, even though the minimum wage of Colombians is below US$260 per month, and the unemployment rate in the pandemic has increased by 14%. There are currently 1 million more unemployed than at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.

The government has invested money in war, and announced the purchase of 24 war planes costing more than 4.5 billion dollars, despite the fact that the figures for police abuses in the protests are on the rise, with more than 40 demonstrators killed and some 500 people missing. Congressman Wilson Arias has denounced the purchase of more than 14 billion pesos in weapons for the ESMAD (Mobile Anti-Disturbance Squadron), the police used to repress protest in Colombia.

Colombia is literally in flames, the national press is biased, the information is manipulated, the alternative press is violated in the streets, even a journalist has had a grenade thrown at his head according to the denunciation of the FLIP (Foundation for Freedom of the Press).

colombians citizens see army on the streets

…the Colombian government continues to strengthen it’s relationship with the government of the United Arab Emirates, a government that… has a controversial investment in the exploitation of GOLD and polymetals in the ecosystem of the Páramo de Santurbán, in northeastern Colombia.

The southwest of the country, where the strongest demonstrations are concentrated, has suffered power outages and the blocking of internet networks, making it impossible to broadcast the lives of the abuses occurring in the area. There has also been the appearance of civilians dressed in white clothes who call themselves “good citizens”, these people are heavily armed and there is no one to stop them, the police have escorted them on several occasions.

Not enough with this, on May 11, the national government has decided to propose bills 296 and 312 of 2020, through which the agreement signed between the Colombian government and the government of the Arab Emirates for the elimination of double taxation with respect to income and the prevention of tax evasion and avoidance and its protocols, signed in Dubai on November 12, 2017, would be approved. 

This means that the Colombian government continues to strengthen the relationship with the government of the United Arab Emirates, a government that so far has a controversial investment in Colombia and it is about the exploitation of GOLD and polymetals in the ecosystem of the Páramo de Santurbán, in northeastern Colombia.

This ecosystem supplies the water supply for more than 2,500,000 people in Santander and Norte de Santander, a department that borders Venezuela. For the past 10 years, citizens have been demonstrating against this type of projects, and to date, 3 mega-mining projects have been stopped in the Páramo de Santurbán.

people on rooftop with flags of colombia

MINESA has encountered the same panorama as the previous investors in Colombia: a people that reject mega-mining exploitation

Two attempts by the multinational Greystar, one for open-pit mining and for which its environmental license application was denied. And the second, where the same company changed its name to ECO ORO and presented a subway mining megaproject in the same place where it had presented the previous application.

The company has encountered opposition from the public. Its project goes against the principles of environmental protection in Colombian law, and in response to the denial of the company’s request, it has decided to sue the Colombian State before ICSID (World Bank) for more than US$764 million.

The third project corresponds precisely to that of the United Arab Emirates with its company MINESA, which belongs to the subsidiary of the sovereign wealth fund of the Emirate State: MUBADALA. MINESA has encountered the same panorama as the previous investors in Colombia: a people that rejects the mega-mining exploitation in Colombia and especially in the high mountains of the strategic ecosystems that supply water for the human consumption of 80% of the Colombian population.

So in January 2021 the National Environmental Licensing Authority (ANLA) has decided to archive this application for polymetallic exploitation, but the decision goes far beyond a technical equation of experts who consider totally risky and unfeasible a project of this scale in an ecosystem as fragile as the Páramos in Colombia.

It is not “only” the 9 million ounces of gold and other metals to be exploited by the Emirati prince’s fund. The decision is political. Previous Colombian governments (Alvaro Uribe Velez, Juan Manuel Santos) have made apparently “disinterested” transactions with the government of the United Arab Emirates, the most recent ones: a donation of 10 million dollars for economic reactivation in Colombia or the exorbitant sum of 150 tablets to “reduce the digital gap” in Colombia, a country with more than 50 million inhabitants.

Citizen complaints also go beyond ecosystem protection. So far, there is a regulatory vacuum regarding the delimitation of these ecosystems, and Santurbán specifically is not delimited. The scope of the environmental liabilities is not clear, nor is there any guarantee that the project will not impact the numerous populations living further downstream. 

Virtual classes, but no Internet access: Education during a pandemic in Peru

Virtual classes, but no Internet access: Education during a pandemic in Peru

Webinar:

Virtual classes, but no Internet access: Education during a pandemic in Peru

May 11th, Online

Registration

Imagine living in a rural community where there´s no Internet, no cable TV, close to no means of communication, and still being expected to continue your classes virtually. This is the case in many rural communities in Peru.

The situation regarding COVID-19 exposed many underlying problems in the country, which is why in May last year, Grufides and CATAPA started a new project tackling these issues with the help of the City of Antwerp.

The main goal of this project was to strengthen access to information and communication technology in rural communities in the context of COVID-19 in Cajamarca, Peru.

Join us for this webinar as we showcase the results of the project work, which focused on four communities in Cajamarca, Peru.

Discover how local citizens learned about their rights and how to claim them. Learn how citizen journalism can play a role via drawing attention to the communities internet and educational problems and reality. And see whether the government actually improved their access to ICT over the past year.

Excited to learn more about virtual education in smaller rural communities in Peru?

Excited to see the public denouncement through video and radio which the communities themselves made during this project?

Then join on Tuesday the 11th of May!

 

You can view, invite friends and share the Facebook event here

You can find the Registration form here

This event will take place online, don’t forget to register online in advance, as only registered participants will receive a zoom link.

 

Organized by Catapa & Grufides
#SOSCOLOMBIA

What is happening in Colombia right now?

NEWS:

What is happening in Colombia right now?

#SOSCOLOMBIA

05.05.2021

 

In Colombia, since April 28, 2021, a National Strike has been taking place against tax policies. The government has decided to tax the basic food basket in the middle of a pandemic, despite the fact that unemployment has increased by 14%.

#soscolombia

Official figures state that in March 2020 there were 2,969,000 people unemployed, in March 2021 there are 3,437,000 unemployed people according to DANE.

 

The minister in charge and who proposed this tax reform, has been involved in millionaire corruption scandals in Colombia, and after 5 days of continuous strike, he resigned. Despite these scandals, he has been nominated as a candidate to be president of the Development Bank of Latin America – CAF. 

#SOSCOLOMBIA

Due to citizen pressure, the vice minister of finance Juan Alberto Londoño also resigned from his position. However he was immediately appointed as the new minister of commerce in Colombia.

 

The government has announced the withdrawal of the document proposing this tax reform, but as of today, it is still in the Colombian congressional system (which would approve it), filed as an Urgent request.

 

The Colombian government and security forces have been condemned by both the European Union and the United Nations for the ongoing human rights abuses against protestors, social movements and civil society who have taken to the street to oppose the tax policies.

CATAPA JOIN EEB to work on mining

CATAPA Joins Europe’s largest environmental network, the EEB

NEWS:

CATAPA Joins Europe’s largest environmental network

 

After several years of fruitful collaboration, CATAPA has formalised it’s membership as an associate member of the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) – Europe’s largest network of environmental citizens’ organisations.  

…agenda setting, monitoring, advising on and influencing the way the EU deals with issues.

The EEB brings together over 160 civil society organisations from more than 35 European countries, representing some 30 million supporters and members. It stands for sustainable development, environmental justice & participatory democracy.

CATAPA looks forward to working as an associate of the EEB to tackle Europe’s most pressing environmental problems by agenda setting, monitoring, advising on and influencing how the EU deals with these issues.

The core areas which CATAPA will be working on include; the economic transition, mining and waste prevention, ecodesign in the ICT sector as well as more broadly engaging in policy on climate change, energy, global supply chains, degrowth, Buen vivir, urban mining and resource reduction strategies.

CATAPA looks forward to bringing its expertise to the EEB, to keep the raw materials issue in all its complexity on the EU agenda…

While the primary focus of the EEB’s work is on the EU and its decision-making processes, it works also on wider regional and global processes, at the level of the UN and the OECD, particularly on the Global Agenda for Sustainable Development.

CATAPA looks forward to bringing its expertise to the EEB, to keep the raw materials issue in all its complexity on the EU agenda and to work for an economic alternative that puts well-being, not growth, at the centre of our society.

Escuela de Primavera: Catapa’s spring school on extractivism in Colombia

ONLINE SPRING SCHOOL:

Escuela de Primavera: Catapa’s spring school on extractivism in Colombia

April 21st – May 29th, Online

Registration

Learn about the struggle against extractivism in Colombia through our ‘Escuela de Primavera’.

This year CATAPA are hosting a new online spring school which will include a series of online sessions with front line defenders and scientists from Colombia. The ‘Escuela de Primavera’ aims to inform the participants on the specific struggles of various regions and peoples in Colombia.

We will learn why communities are fighting in resistance, how they are organised and what we can do to contribute.

You can view, invite friends and share the Facebook event here

You can find the Registration form here

 

Schedule:

21 April: Geology for Dummies – A short history of the planet and the minerals in the Andes mountains.

 

29 April: Jericó, The threat of the mining district – How a gold multinational wants to exploit the South-East region of Antioquia, Colombia.

 

13 May: Cajamarca – The vibrant and continuous struggle of an unconquerable village for its lands.

 

27 May: Santurbán – Water, paramós and a resistance with no truce: The case of Santurbán.

 

29 May: Tribuga – Movie discussion on the struggle of the Pacific Colombian coast against the construction of a mega port. 

The Escuela de Primavera will take place online, don’t forget to register online in advance, as only registered participants will receive a zoom link.

The El Tingo case

The El Tingo case

Water pollution caused by toxic mining waste has radically transformed the regional ecosystem, poisoning the land.

Author – Giacomo Perna

During one of his visits to Macondo, Melquiades and his gypsies presented to the people what they declaimed to be the eighth wonder of the world of the wise Macedonian alchemists. It was a magnet. By means of this device, José Arcadio Buendía hoped to be able to dig up all the gold in the earth by simply dragging his ingots through the village. If only it really worked, for the world would have been spared centuries of pollution caused by mining. If it did, the lives of the people of El Tingo might be better today.

The community of El Tingo is currently without water. It’s such a controversial situation. Even though the area is rich in rivers and streams, nowadays every spring and water source is in a critical state of contamination, according to university studies and CATAPA’s report. Pollution has reached exasperating levels: it is so high that plants are burned due to the excess acidity of the waters.

The El Tingo community was born as a peasant community. The local economy has always been based on crops and livestock. The current situation prevents these activities from being carried out without risk. As a consequence of water contamination, cases of disease have increased significantly, dangerous amounts of heavy metals have been found in the blood of the inhabitants, and previously unseen malformations have started to appear in newborn animals. And it all happened because of the mining action that affected the territory

Sheep grazing around the Gold Fields mine. The lagoon that used to be a fishing spot is now part of the mining project. © CATAPA

Every water source in the region is contaminated. Lack of resources and income afflict the area. Socio-economic growth promises made by the mining companies did not materialize.

The mining history of the region of El Tingo goes back many years. Environmental liabilities from mining projects of yesteryear still afflict the territory, threatening the well-being of local flora and fauna. Among them is, the San Nicolás project, started in 1972, whose remains represent a still open wound that scars the local environment.

The entire geographical area is seriously affected by excavation and mineral processing. The main reason is that the plans to minimize and neutralize the effects of the toxic waste were – and, according to the local community, still is – not respected and, today, the inhabitants of the area suffer from a lack of resources and income, in addition to directly experiencing the harmful effects of the mining waste.

Remnants of the San Nicolás mine. Despite having been abandoned years ago, toxic wastes from the mine continue to be a problem for the environment. © CATAPA

The community of El Tingo is located in the district of Hualgayoc, in the region of Cajamarca. The area is rich in raw materials and minerals, which does not favor the well-being of the communities. In fact, El Tingo is located between two active mining projects that directly influence the development of life in the community: the Cerro Corona project, started in 2005 by the South African mining company Gold Fields, and the Tantahuatay project, started by the Peruvian company Coimolache, affiliated with the Peruvian company Buenaventura, which discovered the mine in 2010.

These companies have settled in the territory to exploit the huge mineral reserves present in the subsoil: gold, silver and copper. Initially, both companies arrived in the area promising improvements and development, signing social agreements and agreeing to promote socio-economic growth. Unfortunately, they did not live up to their words.

The curious thing is that Peru has a mine closure law. According to regulation passed in 2003, the state obliges companies that own mining projects to ensure the protection of the environment and to cease their activities in areas where mining action could cause environmental risks, but neither the government nor the companies have made any effort to respect – and enforce – this law.

The grass burns due to the high acid concentration of the waters. People and animals suffer from the diseases caused by the environmental pollution of the mining.

It is also worth mentioning that the region is subject to periods of heavy rainfall. On several occasions these rains have caused the tailing dams to overflow, leaking mining waste into the surrounding pastures and water basins and generating catastrophic consequences. An infamous example, is the case of December 2018, where a tailings spill caused the death of 17,000 trout present in the fish farm ‘La trucha de oro’.

Video report of the tailings spill that occurred in 2018. Despite the complaints urged by the local community, the Gold Fields company classified the event as an accident. © Bambamarca Televisión

The problem of pollution does not only affect the El Tingo area. The streams that traverse the territory flow into other rivers. Among them is the El Tingo-Maygasbamba river, which flows into the Amazon river and then crosses the continent to the Atlantic, carrying its poisons for thousands of kilometers.

On the economic side, the promises made by both Coimolache and Gold Fields company were not kept. According to the community, the agreements stipulated were not respected. Despite the promise not to bring foreigners into the region, companies soon began to hire outsiders to work in the mines. In addition, local workers often suffered violations of their labor rights: firing a local worker seems so much easier than firing a foreigner. Furthermore, the promises of prosperity did not materialize and no improvements were made to the roads, which are in a critical state. Even the local architecture suffers from the consequences of mining. Excavations to expand the mines are carried out through continuous detonations in El Tingo, which over time affects the integrity of community buildings. As a result, cracks and scratches populate the walls of many houses, jeopardizing the structural stability of the homes.

Local growth was not improved. The mining presence caused conflicts and social tensions. 

Cows grazing around the Gold Fields mine. The land that for generations has been used to feed livestock is now occupied by mining companies. © CATAPA

The local community has resisted against the injustices from mining in the territory, evidenced by the social tensions that have been documented since 2008. Indeed, the people of El Tingo have risen up against mining servitude and exploitation. Protests and strikes have taken place over the years, demonstrating the commitment of the local community to defend their land and water.

The people of El Tingo have been organizing themselves autonomously in opposition to the mining industry and have also asked for assistance to publicize their struggle and finally be heard. It was for this reason, that CATAPA became actively involved in the territory together with its partner Grufides, conducting dozens of interviews and collecting water samples from the springs. The tests demonstrated a high level of contamination of the rivers and streams that cross the area. Through the interviews collected, a documentary was produced about the case of El Tingo, to give voice to the testimony of the local community. In addition to this, a webinar and a social media campaign were organized. Today, Grufides’ lawyers continue to fight alongside the communities legal representatives, to support the fight for justice.

The El Tingo history is a tale of unfulfilled promises and abuses. The pressure from the central economy is pushing the development of underdevelopment in the region, relegating the community to a situation of irreversible dependence. The area has become an oasis for mining extraction, a locus amenus where the West found the answers to its expansionist demands. It is hard to believe that such abuses are taking place today. The situation in which the inhabitants of El Tingo find themselves is intolerable, and CATAPA’s aim, together with its allies and the community, is to bring justice to a people who for decades have suffered the ravages of dispossession.

Watch: The Case for Degrowth

WEBINAR & BOOK LECTURE:

Watch: The Case for Degrowth

27th February, 2020

Join expert and author Federico Demaria as he presents his new book ‘The case for Degrowth’.

On Friday 19th February CATAPA in partnership with Oikos and The Centre for Sustainable Development, Gent University saw over 100 participants join the Book Lecture: The Case for Degrowth with Author Federico Demaria.

Watch now, The Case for Degrowth on Youtube. 

 

Overview

Federico opened by presenting his book and making a compelling case for degrowth economics. This was followed by an interesting panel debate featuring Hanne Cottyn of CATAPA, Irma Emmery of Centre for Sustainable Development, Gent University and Dirk Holemans of Oikos in conversation with the Author Federico Demaria.

The panel discussion ranged from, key and critical reflections on the book, the role of the state in a degrowth economy, the commons and much more.

To close, there was an audience Question & Answer session, after which the panelists gave their final thoughts on where can we find inspiration for a future in which degrowth is part of the transformation needed to tackle the contemporary challenges of ecological and climate breakdown.

You can watch the full recording here.