A brave Indigenous community has finally found a way to
stop one of Europe’s paper giants from decimating the Colombian
rainforest. And they could use our help to keep their
resistance going.
For decades, paper company Smurfit Kappa has wiped out huge
swaths of irreplaceable forest to mass-plant the invasive species
they use to make packaging materials -- drying up the water supply
for local communities and destroying the local ecosystem.
Just months ago, the Misak people decided to take on Smurfit by
camping out on their land in protest. And it’s working:
they’ve been able to stop 70% of the paper giant’s
activity! 500 protesters have stayed there day and night,
but the company’s attacks are escalating. Security forces
have started attacking the protesters, injuring and even killing
them.
The Misak community is refusing to give up, but desperately needs
our support. They need money to buy food, equipment, and
shelter to keep their protest going. Сan you chip in now to
help?
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The Indigenous Misak people have lived in the Cauca region of
Southern Colombia for thousands of years. This land is part of their
cultural identity and is full of sacred spaces.
But Smurfit Kappa has scooped up the most fertile land in the
region and is destroying it all to make paper. By planting
non-native eucalyptus and pine to cut down to use for their
packaging, the paper giant has dried up the nearby river,
leaving the local communities without the water they need to
survive.
For decades, the powerful multinational has gotten away with it.
It convinced the Colombian government to give it big chunks of land,
bought up tens of thousands of additional hectares, then lobbied the
government to change laws so it could say these dirty tactics are
‘legal’. Now to top it off, it’s sending the police to
attack Indigenous communities who dare to fight back.
The protesters have already faced 40 attacks, and many have been
injured. In August, a young man, Huver Samir Camayo, was shot dead
by the police.
Despite all this, the Misak community isn’t giving up.
They say they won’t stop their protest until they get their land
back, but they desperately need financial support to keep
going. Together let’s help power their protest and support
other Indigenous communities around the world:
If
you’ve saved your payment information with SumOfUs, your donation
will go through immediately.
Donate
$3 nowDonate
another amount
When the SumOfUs community comes together to rally behind
Indigenous groups fighting against corporate greed, we can make a
massive difference. Now let’s rally behind the Misak people to help
them reclaim their land.
